The Portland daily press., 1870-05-07
DAILY PRESS.
PcH1LAND
Saturday Morning, May 7, 1870.


The Reunion of the Third Army Corux.
The annual reunion of the Third Armv
Corps took place on Thursday afternoon and
evening at the Parker House, Boston. This
was the first corps organization, having been
formed on the I'd of September, 1863, in the
field. Since the close of the war reunions
have been annually held, but never before in
New England. Most of the officers present
at the meetings Thursday were from New
York, Philadelphia end New Jersey, though
Maine and Massachusetts, were well repre-
sented.
AT the business meeting the following Off
GERS were elected: President, Major-General
| Daniel E. Sickles of New York; Vice-Presi-
dent, General c. p. Mattocks of Maine; Sec
retary, DR.. Edward L. yelling of New Jersey;
Treasurer, Major-G General Gershom Mott of
New Jersey; Directors, General George H.
Sharpe of New York, Colonel Clayton Mac
michael Of Pennsylvania, Colonel Charles b.
Merrill OF Maine, Major 7. Barclay Fasst of
New York, Major VIM. P. Shreve of Massa-
chusetts, Major A. Judson Clarke of New
Jersey, and Major Charles F. Bowers of Wis
consin.
AT halfpast seven o'clock in the evening,
the company reassembled for the festival ex-
erclses in the large private dining-room of the
hotel The apartment was elegantly decorat-
ed with new flags, draped over the windows
and on the walls. The entrances were sur
rounded by tablet coats of arms-national,
State and.city. Over each window was a dia-
mond-shaped field, the diamond being the
corps badge, and on these were inscribed sep
srately the names of Sickles, Hayes, Birney,
Whipple, Berry, Kearney and Hooker. In
the centre, overhead, were the names of
Washington and Grant. These, and all the
other arrangements of the day, were super
vised and provided by the committee of ar
rangements for the day consisting of Major
William p. Shreve, Colonel Charles B. Mer-
rill, Major E. B. Dow, General Charles p.
Mattocks, Captain Benjamin S. Calef, and
Major Edward L. Yelling. The head of the
table was occupied by General Mattocks of
Portland, the orator of the evening; and on
his right were Mayor Shurtleff and General
Cowdin, and on his left Lieutenant George
A. Marden of the Lowell Courier, the poet of
the occasion. After the dessert was removed,
letters we're read by the Secretary from Gen.
Hooker, Gen. Geo. III. Sharpe and Col. ii.
Edwin Tremaine, conveying expressions of
regret that they could not be present. The
Secretary then introduced the orator, who
delivered long and finely written Grafton, of
which we give an abstract:
He began by referring to the striking sinh
larity between the true developement of indi-
vidual manhood and the successful attain
ment of material greatness. A nation's sole
strength and safety, he said, lie in the intelli-
geEce and morals of the masses, and in the
strong arm of the government, or in other
words, the military power at command OF an
upright and honest executive. In whatever
country OF whatever age either of these three
important elements has been lacking or has
obtained the ascendency to the exclusion or
even the prejudice of the other two, history
has been compelled to record the most lamen-
table results. Even where religion itself, of
whatever creed or denomination, has obtain
ed and exercised an undue proportion of influ-
ence or temporal pow er, the evils of disorgan-
lied society and national weakness have been
sure to follow. Those northern hordes which
swept down over the fair face of Europe, not
withstanding their barbarity and lawlessness,
did more to to develop and perfect individual
manhood, than could have been acquired
from any other source whatever. The close
of the late war has thrown upon our own So
turned soldiers are the "barbarians" of to-day.
If they are DO, it is our duty to see that this
new influence is as beneficial to the civiliza-
ton and the power of our own coun-
try as the barbarian element to the
civilization of modern Europe. While we
must ever regret the vast amount of blood
and treasure which has been so lavishly offer
ed up upon the sacred altar of our country
during the past two years, we must perceive
that there is good as well as evil results from
the war of the rebellion. An element of nat
ural greatness has been developed which to-
day places us in the foremost rank among the
nations. That element-it is the military, or
If you will, the barbarian-had been slumber-
ing through years of peace and inactivity, but
9ursed into new life and new energy by the
suggestions of a faction on the one side, and
the answering patriotism and devotion on
the other, has now become one of the compo-
nent parts of our greatness as a nation. This
very element, turbulent as it was during the
war, is to-day both at the North and South
the guardian Of our safely. Had the great is
sues of the war been left to the returned sol
diers of both armies to settle we should now
be enjoying the blessings and happiness of an
undivided country in the truest sense. He
then pictured the characteristics of the an
cient and medieval civilizations, showing how
they differed. kThe ancient was favored with
systematic and thorough mental and physi-
cal culture, but lacked the moral. The med
ieval lacked the mental, but enjoyed at a con-
siderable extent the advantages of the moral
and physical culture and Development Com
pairing the civilization of the nineteenth CEN
tury with its predecessors, he claimed for
it that the moral and physical capabil-
tiles of the individual are each more
fully developed than ever before. And he se-
lected our own country of to-day as true and
perfect type OF modern civilization. He then
commented on the lessons of the past few
years, reviewing in the same connection the
progress of liberty in the other nations of this
continent. The time is not yet, but will come
as sure as the millennium itself, when the
progress OF ideas will eradicate the remaining
political evils, by peaceable means if possible,
forcible If necessary. And he claimed that in
the future as in the past there will be reforms
which ages OF peace cannot accomplish; but
which must be enforced at the point of the
bayonet. War itself is the greatest of oppor-
tunities. Within the past few years new
element of national character has been thrust
upon us by the active scenes Of war and
bloodshed which we have been called upon to
pass through. These years of war and blood
shed have called forth and nurtured spirit of
patriotism, have begotten confidence in our
selves, and have made impression on the
whole world which can never die. The
speaker dwclt upon the manifold influences
upon the national character which the war
brought forth, and spoke eloquently of the
part which the newly awakened barbarian
is to play in the national development.
Abundant applause and enthusiastic cheers
followed the conclusion Of General Mattock's
GRAFTON, which was listened to with the clos
est attention by the members present.
Items.
-"Brick" Pomeroy is talked of as Morris