Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1872-09-28
Hon. S. a. NorLhway's
Address at tho Dedication of the Soldiers
Monument at Mentor, Sept. 4th, 1872.

When the public mind is wrought up
to an intense pitch of excitement, as du-
ring great conflict, it is scarcely proba-
Bile that an accurate Judgment of men or
deeds will be formed. Misguided euthu-
siasm or patriotic zeal may lead the ex-
cited mind to bestow unbounded praise
where none belongs; to mistake luck tor
sense; to name that as great victory
which at best was but partial success; :;
to sing praises upon whom should be be-
slowed censure only; and to cover over
with a halo Of short-lived glory that
which should, and will in after years,
cause the check of every good citizen to
tingle with shame. That same enthus-
asm or patriotic zeal may cause the pour
ing out of wrath upon those upon whom
in after years none but the choicest of
blessings will rest may denounce which
after all, may have been wise ard pru-
dent; may denOunce as defeat, that
which afterwards may prove glorious
victory. Wild enthusiasm is but storm
at best which lashes the ocean of public
thought into wild rolling pillows, for the
moment elevating on the topmost crest
miserable wreck, and at the same mo-
mcnt burying from the sight the staunch-
est and truest Of banks but when the
storm has abated, and the surglng waves
have receded back 10 tranquility, then
may be seen the many wrecks lying
prone and helpless, while out upon the
waters float in majesty those staunch
vessels that have outridden the storm.
The terrible storm which beset with ter
rible fury upon our own country eleven
years ago, which bore upward as if in a
whirlwind, twenty millions of men and
women here at the North, and which
spent its fury seven years ago, leaving
the once agitated public to come gradu
ally back to tranquility, affords us many
marked examples OF how we fail ir
Judging Of men and deeds while the con
tlict is raging. See how one, who had
never won victory, who knew but little
of the stern realities of war, suddenly
burst upon the excited, patriotic public
in such blaze of glory, that he was
carried almost to Dedication, and yet in
two short years, see how amid the ditch
es, parallels and quagmires of the PENN
sula, the bubble burst and his glory de-
par g forever.
Through excitement and patriotic zeal
we at first misjudged the man. We pro
nounced that glory, which was a sham
we overlooked that which was, and
thought it what it ought to be.
One other man came upon the scene
so quietly that we scarcely knew hi,
name. lie rose just above the horizon
and at Belmont and Pittsburgh Landing
we denounced him as a worse than stu
pid failure.
Through excitement and patriotic
zeal, we at first misjudged the man. W.
denounced that as defeat, which was il
reality a victory. AT his birth as mill
tary man, no glory Eeralded his coming
aud once or twice the surging pillows o
excitement almost hid him from view
yet Just at the period when the whirl
wind breaks, he stands out before an ad
miring world on the topmost pinnacle o
tame.
; These lessons teach us, that calmnes'
is necessary for the writing of correct
history; that popular verdicts pronounc
ed during great excitements, are no
such as will stand the test OF accuracy
or lead the public mind TO correct con
clusions,
Through quiet reflection we are en-
ahled to form correct Judgment Thg
liz happens that almost all histories of I