Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-05-31

| ly the dearest rights of American citizens,
| but the highest interests of the coming
generations, the triumph of republican
| liberty throughout theworld, and, as ne
cessary sequence thereto, the noblest re-
suits and fairest fruits of Christian civil
zation. a. In this faith, the result both Of
early teaching and of mature thinking,
when the storTn-cloud of civil war, which,
| to use the magnificent imagery of Burke,
"blackened all their horizon" burst upon
the land these dead, whose myriad graves
are honored shrines to-day, turned aside
from all their worted pursuits of life, sew
cred all domestic ties, bade1 adieu to those
dearer than life itself, and flew to arms,
animated by the very spirit in which the
Whittier: Ela-IaoEe-F
r, "Then Freedom sternly sale, shun
z Nostrife nor pang beneath the sun, 3
When human rights are staked and won. ::
Z II knelt with Zisca's hunted flock, - a-sFI
/ watched in Tousssint's cell of rock,
walked with Sidney te.the block.
The moor of Marston felt my tread, fE
Through Jersey SHOWS the march led,
My voice Magsnts's chargers sped. '3'N n
Ia It was to maintain and preserve, not to
disintegrate and destroy, they dOnned their
country's uniform of blue It was to fore
stall the possibility of America presenting,
through successive generations, spectacle
such as idisunited; Germany has shown
during the three centuries that have elaps-
ed between the times of Charles V. and
the Emperor w lillian, through all which
period the German people have been in
yolvedin a aconstant succession of wars, Ger
mans battling against Germans, and vast
ing the resources and pouring out the life
blood of a common fatherland in contests
concerning the boundaries of petty states,
and the gfeudal rights. of petty dynasties.
They comprehend fully the meaning of
Webster's grand plea for the unity of our
common country; and his prayer that his
eyes might never look upon the broken
fragments of a once glorious Union, on
States discovered, discorded, belligerent"
had sunk deep into their. hearts, and if
they were, as is sometimes charged, mere
men of one idea, fthatidea. was the grand
eur and Immortality of the Republic
They knew that the thirty millions of the
census of 1850 would swell to one hundred
millions before the close of the century
This progress in numbers involving a. cor
responding increase in wealth, in culture,
in national power and development, they
knew, even before this generation, should
pass from the earth, would place their
country foremost and without a, rival in
the vanguard Of advancing, because free
and Christian nations. They fought, as
they believed, the battle of all humanity
not for theirs and themselves alone. No!
They felt their victory ought TO- be, and,
in the providence of Him who raises up
and pulls down nations at His will,
would be the victory of North and South
alike; that it would, in its beneficent re-
suits, be the common heritage of their
own, and the children and cbildren's chill
dren OF those then wearing Of the gray"
who stood arrayed in arms against them,
but for whose manly courage even,s in
mistaken cause, they felt respect
and admiration akin to that which the
Cassacks of the Don exhibited for the
splendid horsemanship and gallant bearing
of Murat, when leading his fiery and inn
petuous charges against their ranks I need
not, / can not, in the short half hour you
lend me, recount the story of the Nations
dead. The world knows it by heart from
the opening of the contest at Sumter to
the closing scene at Appomattox. Not to
pass beyond the limits of our own State,
Donelson and Nashville, Knoxville and
Chattanooga, Lookout and Murfreesboro'
have become household words forever
And the deeds of high daring, of unself- |
ish sacrifice, of persistent energy and de- |
votiOn, which they, whose memory we |
this day consecrate, wrought out on the |
battle fields of the war will live |
in the remembrance of grateful hearts as
long as noble deeds shall win the plaudits /
Of mankind. To them the world was as
fair, home as loved and dear, and life as
sweet as to us who stand above their
graves. And we use the language of hu-
mility when we say that the sad history
Of war, speaking only of the dead, has
placed no nobler names on fame's eternal
bead roll than those of Sedgwick,
whose bold yet gentle heart was stilled
forever in the terrible struggle of the will
ierness Kearney, with his flashing eye
and heart of fire; Mitchell, whose soul has
those stars he studied so
Iong and knew so we'll Baker, who fell
ealy in the fight, fresh from the Senate,
where his wondrous eloquence was the
gentleman, rare genius, stout soldier
Thomas, grim hero and glorious COM
mander, whose proud eulogy is, he never
made mistake and never lost battle
Farragut, fit compeer of England's Blake,
and equal of Nelson, that greatest sailor
since our world began. But why eDumer-
ate when the list is well nigh number
ess? Measureless is their meed of praise
For who can fix the value of their sacri-
fee? ~9e.ss,syk
What price was Ellsworth young and brave
How weigh the gift that Lyon gave, 9H
Or count the cost Of Winthrop's graye?p
Our services and ministrations here to-
lay are no idle ceremony. Most fitting is
It that gentle hands should drop flowers,
those lOveliest children of spring time, 7
upon these lowly graves. For, scattered /
al over this Union are homes wherein |
there is void that will never be filed |
from them presence has gone forth that |
will never return; ana to visit and beeutify |
and care for these silent graves, where so |
many sleep far from the homes of those |
they loved, and from which at the call of |
their country, they went forth to suffer |
and to die, is an act Of charity that enobles |
the living while it honors the dead! And |
in the name Of the unknown absent, the |
the orphans, the sorrowing, grey |
haired mothers, they who mourn these |
slunaberers, i thank you for the |
kindly interest you manifest and the sym |
pathy your presence here declares.