The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-06-17

Nor are there wanting men at the North who
rising high above the prejudices OF their sections
and the trammels OF popular opinion. dare to
assert In language as lofty sentiments as noble as
those so eoquently expressed by this great ora
tor. 1t was my good fortune, on recent occasion
In New York, to hear one who would be an honor
TO any country, address an audience composed
OF Southern as well as Northern men. In touch.
ing the great issues which had SO lately arrayed
the two sections in war, he drew glowing
picture OF patriotism. He told US how this virtue,
beginning with ones family. spreads In ever
widening waves till 1t embraced all we have as
country; and then turning to the Southerners
pride to their eyes By exclaImlng: "Aud, gentle.
men, the only reason why you will not hereafter
be regarded as the nobest patriots who ever
lived, Is simply because 1t has happened that
George Washington fought In the same cause
before You dld.''
You, my friends, OF the Light Infantry, who
bear the name, the Father OF his Country has
made immortal, must feel your hearts swell with
patriotic pride when you know that the great and
good Of other lands deem you not unworthy TO be
placed alongside Of Washington. You bear his
name, and you have proved yourselves worthy to
do So There are other historic associations pecu
lia" and proud interest, which connects your Or
ganlzation closely with the great name 1t bears.
Amid that grand group OF revolutionary heroes
lion OF '76, In the history OF South Carolina, no
name is held In higher esteem than that OF Wm
Washington, the worthy knsman and follower OF
his illustrous namesake. On the bloc ly fields OF
Cowpens and Eutaw, his glorious banner-the pre-
cious gift OF devoted woman-swept through car
mage to victory. That same banner OF Washington
which had been consecrated by the prayers OF
woman-baptized In the best blood OF Carolina
sanctifed by the cause OF freedom In which tt
had waved-venerated by our whole people as
the symbol OF victory, the ensign OF lberty=was
committed by Washlngton's widow to the Wash.
ington Light Infantry. and her own honored
hands presented 1t. When she gave this flag
which her patriot husband had so nobly borne
through the war Of independence she solemnly
adjnred your company to defend It, II need be
sailIed, be forever true to the great cause
the cause OF lree1om-in which It had first been
unfurled. Men OF the Washington Light Infantry,
sons OF the men who fought by the side Of Marion,
OF Sumter, OF Moultrie, OF Pickens, OF Rutledge,
OF Huger and 0f Washington, how have you Kept
that solemn charge? Let Manassas, and Seces.
Cold Harbor, and Galnes's Mill, and Malvern Hill.
and Drury's Bluff, and Fort SUMTER and
Petersburg, and Battery Wagner, and Ben
louisville, and Chickamauga, and FredericEs- I;s
burg, and q score OF other glorious battle
fields, inscribed In mpershable letters on that I'M
mortal banner Of yours, answer. You, the men
who stand here to-day, and those whose names
are written on yonder slab, have fought under
the same flag In the same cause your fathers did,
and fought with q patriotism as lofty. courage
as high, a devotion as noble as ever animated
the hearts OF your patriot sires You have proved
that the blood which lows In your veins Is not de-
generate, and that you have been worthy custo-
dians OF the precious charge entrusted TO your
keeping. Be true, then, each OF you, | con1ure
you, now and ever, whatever trials vicissitudes,
or suIerngs beset you, to your lineage, your prin
cipIes, your renown. Let all the ends thou atmst
at be thy Gods, thy Country's and TRUTHS" then
If thou fallest, thou falest blessed martyr.
Besides all these incentives to noble actions,
presented by the great traditions and hallowed
! memories OF the past, you have many Others con-
nected with the formation and history OF your
CORPS, ana In the sacred objects contemplated
| now by your association. You cannot forget that
the washington Light Infantry owes Its existence
to tile patriotic impulse which called Its founders
10 repel foreign invasion. and made Them resort
to arms to defend that liberty which their fathers
had achieved. Need recall to your memory the
name OF your first captaln-a name justly dear to
every Carollnian's heart, honored wherever integ-
rlty OF purpose purity of-lle, or power OF intel.
lect, are eSteemed-the name OF one, OF whom
Henry Clay said "0f all the men l have ever
known, the best man, the wisest, the purest, and
the greatest statesman, was William LoWnesE'
On the roll OF your company, Illustrated nrst Dy
this great name, are to be found many others
worthily distinguished In the annals OF our State,
fit successors OF your lllustrOus captain Nor need
you fear to place the record you made Tor your
selves during the late war by the side OF tnat OF
| OTHER command, nor to compare the officers and
men whom you gave to the "Lost Cause" with
any who served the Confederacy. You gave three
| general oficers-Pcttigrew, Conner and Logan
| all worthily distinguished In that cause, and
| with them added, Us field officers, Johnson, De-
TrevilIe aud Simonton, while almost every COM
| mand from this State drew from your ranks, 80
| prolific OF gallant soldiers, many OF It's most ell
Client subaltern officers and men. How the rank
| and file Of the Washington Light Infantry did
| their duty to their country Is told In mute, but
! eloquent language, by the long list OF honored
naales that meet yonr eyes on this monument,
which you have dedicated revereutiy and aflec-
| tionately to your noble deal. Wei worthy are
they OF all the honor yOm can pay Them. for they
| surely fell blessed martyrs. and this conviction
| on our part Is full OF comfort TO those who see
the names OF their Kindred written on the South's
nf which records
| / know how vain Is oil human consolation TO
the heart that is called on to give up some object
| around which the tenderest affections cluster. |
know that many parent IN our mourning land:
will well up from his heart, at some loved name,
| perhaps on that tomb. or some stone that covers
| all that was mortal OF one who was his pride, his
hope. his darling, cries out In the pathetic IAN
| guage wrung from bereaved fathers heart:
''Oh, my son AbSalom my son, my son AbSal0m
| Would Cod had died for thee o, Abselom my
| sen, my sou ~ I can understand, can feel-l
have felt all this. But still, feeling deeply for
those who mourn their kindred slain, knowing
| how and for what our sons have died, cannot
each one who has given his children 10 his coun-
try, concealing the grief or the father In the holy
zeal OF the patriot say proudly, as lie stands by
| the grave OF his son:
why then, Gods soldier be he!
''lIad ! as many SONS, Us | have hairs.
81 would not wish them fairer death.'
| 1t is right and proper that you should preserve
! the memory of our dead heroes. Would that We
| could erect TO them q monument whose founda.
tions should be Us eternal rs the great truths for
which they died; lofty as their fame; pure as our
| love; lasting a5 our gratitude; rising proudly
from the earth that holds their clay, and pointing
| with its spotless shaft 10 that heaven where We
devoutly trust that they are now ut rest. 1t Is
| touching and beautiful article OF belief IN the
| creed or that strange system OF theology, which
| takes its name from Its founder-one OF
| the most wonderful men OF the last century-that
those who fall in battle fighting honestly
diately transported to heaven, to partake Of
the highest joys Of that bssfu abode: and though
no such promise is held out by our religion to Its
yotaries it surely Is not inconsistent with Its holy
! spirit or divine teaching that this may be the
case. The trust of the patriot and the faith Of
the Christian may then unite In hope, so full OF
joy and consolation, that our dead patriots
OF their lives for their countrys liberty standing
now In the presence OF the Eternal God, looking
down with grateful hearts on this solemn scene,
bringing their prayers for you, who are now man
restlng your reverence and love for them, to the
very footst0ols OF the Throne OF Grace are inyok-
Ing with deyout supplicatlons from the Father Of
Mercies, for you. oil those rich bles sings which
He, and BE alone, can bestow.
During the Generals address, a shower oi
rain, which had been expected for an hour OF
more, came up and dispersed the ladies and
their escorts, but the remainder Of the au-
dence remained and heard the speech through.
AT the close of the address, the audience
was dismissed with the benedlctlon, by Rev.
! A. T. Porter, cx-claplain of Twenty-flfth Regi-
ment South Carolina Volunteers, and the