Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1868-06-27

Soldiers, qp Ariihgton Heights, Ji'yiaad, liay
30H, 1868. ,..5....... .....
l am oppressed with sense of the i'm
propricty of uttcring words on this oc-
casion. If silence is ever golden, it must
be here, beside the graves OF fifteen thou
sand men, whose lives were more signIll-
cant than speech, and whose death was
poem the muse Of which can never he
sung. With words we make promises,
plight faith and praise, e,yirtue. Promises
may not be kept, plighted faith may be
broken, and vaunted virtue only.the cum
ninp mask Of vice. We do not know
oDe promise these men made, one pledge
they gave, one word they spoke; bat we
do know they summed up and perfected
bv one supreme act, the highest virtues
of men and citizens For love of country
they accepted death. That act resolved
all doubts, and made immortal their pat
riotism and their VII tue. 49,
For the nobIeSt man that lives, there
still remains conflict. lie must still
withstand the assaults of time and for
tune; must still be assailed by tempta-
tions, before which lofty natures have fal-
len. But with these the conflict was
ended, the victory was won, when death
stamped on them the great seal OF heroes
character; and closed a record which
years can never blot.
l know nothing more appropriate
on this occasion than to inquire what
brought these men here. What great
impulse led them TO condense life into an
hour, and to;crown that hour by joyiully
welcoming death? Let lis consider:
Eight years ago, we appeared the most
unwarlike nation OF the-c earth. For near
Iv fifty years, no spot in any OF these
States had been the scene Of battle.
Thirty millions Of people al an army OF
less than ten thousand men. The faith
of our people in the stability and Perma-
| pencv of our institutions was like their
eaith i'll the sun and stars. Peace, ibcr
ty and personsl security were blessings
as common rs sunshine and showers and
fruitful seasons; and all sprang from a
single source-from the principle pro
claimed i'll the Pilgrim covenant, that all
owed due submission and obedience to
the lawfully expressed will Of the major,
ity. This is not one OF the doctrines OF
our political system; it is the system
itself. 1t is the encasing air; the breath
of the nations life Against it the whole
weight of the rebellion was THROWN
It's overthrow would have brought such
rain as might follow in the physical uni
verse if the power of graritatlon were
destroyed, and
-"PIanets rlsUing from aspects malign,
OF fercest opposition in mid sky, should col-Daf,
And their jarrng spheres confound
The nation was summoned to arms by
every high motive which can inspire
men. Two centuries of freedom had rem
dered the people of this Union unit tol
despotism. They must save their Gov
ernment or miserably perish.
As flash of lightningh i'll a midnight
tempest reveals the abyssmal horrors OF
the sea. SO did the flash Of the first gun
disclose the awful abyss into which re
bellion was ready to plunge us. That
one moment lighted the fire in TWEEN
ty million hearts. l love to believe thai
no heroic sacrifice is ever lost that th'
characters of men are moulded and IN
spired bv what their fathers have done
that treasured up in American souls arr
all the unconscious influences OF lh'
GREAT deeds of the Auglo-SaXon race
from Aoincourt to Bunker Hill. L
WAS such an Influence (which led
Young Greek, 1000 years ago, when NJ
! heard the news Of Marathon, to aexclan
'The trophies of Milliades will not lie
me Sleep" Could these men be silent II
lS61-these whose ancestors had felt tn
inspiration of battle on every held wher
{ civilization has fought in the last thou
# sand years Read their answer Is III IN
+ green turf. Each for himself gathere'
up all the cherished purposes OF lie; II
5 aims and ambitions; its dearest altet
tions; and flung all, with life itself, mt
It the scale Of battle. AT first they Tough
J for the Union alones but soon new ell
: ment was added TO the confict7-an ell
B. ment which filled the army and natio
n with cheerful but intense religious eI
= thusiasm. In lessons that could not /
misunderstood, the nation was taugl
that God had indissolubly linked to II
l. own destiny OF an aenslared raee-th;
their liberty and our Union were instee