Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-08-06

the American people may rise again
and proclaim their treason through
out all that region, He who ruleth
in the heavens will I believe, bring
upon them a aiudgment-a judgment
which the polls shall manifest at the
coming November election. Loud
applause
Meeting many OF you here as |
do to- day, looking into your smil-
ing and happy faces as you greeted
me at the depot and here upon this
stand, / cannot but remember that
there are hundreds of my friends OF
past years whom | am never to
meet again. Here upon this tair
ground whore we stand to-day, |
spoke to regiment after regiment CT
the brave men who came from every
; township and every school district
in this county Of ours and through
out this district, to offer their young
lives as sacrifices for the preserva'
ton of our beloved land. / had
been throughhut this district over
and over again, attempting to in
spire them to this noble and patri-
otic work, and they had come hith-
er to lay aside the peaceful garb of
the citizen, and to enroll themselves
in the armies of the Union, ready,
if needed, to repeat the historic
story Of Curtius, and to leap into
, the yawning gulf that imperiled our
Republic. I spoke to them here
the last words of cheer, | gave to
them a warm and cordial good bye.
And when they came back, those
regiments, decimated by rebel bull
lets, by the diseases of the hospital,
and fatigues Of the march and the
camp, these men left behind them
many faces you and shall never
see again They fought, they bled,
they suffered, they died for this
country of ours. They offered up
their lives that treason should not
rule in this Republic of ours. They
sleep in their bloody shrouds until
the morning Of the resurrection
There is no patriot heart here that
has forgotten them that is impossi-
bIe. History has immortaIized them
as the defenders and sayiors of the
Union.
Here upon this spot, hallowed to
me by these recollections, they
came up, leaving behind them all
the endearments of home-came up
from homes happy with the sunlight
of affection and of love, turning
their backs upon wives, precious TO
them IS the apple of their eye, and
children as dear as their own hearts
blood, to go forth to protect that
banner from becoming the winding
sheet Of the worlds best hopes
My heart goes out toward the hon
orcd dead to-day. God bless the
families they have left behind; God
bless their memories, and may they
ever be green in the hearts of every
one for whom they made this sacri-
ticc-the greatest sacrifice country
can require of its citizens.
These men were near and dear
to you and me; men whose friend
ship with us lasted to the grave,
and even beyond the grave. May
that hallowed memory be kept
green and fresh and perennial for
ever.
! come back to the old theme. 1t
is the theme Of gratitude. 1t is the
theme of thanks, that is struggling
with feeble words to give to you the
expression of a heart overtlowing
with affection toward you. In this
busy season of the year, these as
sembled thousands are n fit answer
to every falsehood end calumny that
has been used against me
| was struck by the fact when
coming from your depot, this very
day, that the escort Of the one hun
dred and forty Germans Of the Ger
man Grart and Colfax Club, put the
seal of their condemnation and their
denunciation upon not only the cal
umny but the forgery to which |
have been subjected here, You
know it is a falsehood, You know
that never, in my public life, from
the commencement to the close, in
one year or month, day or hour,
have | ever held any other doctrine
than that principles and character,
not birthplace and breed, were the
true test TOR official promotion.
Men who may resort to forgery
may sign my name with their felo-
nious fingers, for forgery is q fel-
ony. You, here, know that there
has not been an election for the last
twelve years that l have not gone
to the polls, not with closed bal
lot, but with an open one, and vo-
ted for men Of foreign birth and
who worshiped at n different altar
from myself. Here is the only
place where | shall answer that
calumny. Let it be buried in the
tomb where are buried calumnies
and forgeries like itin the years that
are past.
Now, my friends, / shall not
speak to you at great length. |
come now to the conclusion of
these remarks. If there is one
thing, for which | long in this land
of ours to-day if there is one tho't
that rises uppermost above other
thoughts, ii is that thought embod-
led in those brief, sententious words
of the great captain Of our armies,
embodying as much as speech of
an hours duration, because it is ex-
I'll. -. - .a,,,,I