Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-10-08
FOOTPRINTS OF THE oELT.


One of the most eloquent speeches
OF the times was lately delivered at
Middleport, Ill, by DR.. j. f. Keough.
The subject was "Footpr ints Of the
CeIts," and towards the close, the
speaker made the following brilliant
allusion to the political condition of
the country, which we consider quite
equal to Meagher's famous sword
speech:
before the close of the present
year you will be called upon to exer-
else the highest privilege the laws of
your adopted country can confer,
that Of voting for the election of its
future President Without introduce
ing any matter irrelevant to my lec-
ture, or ventilating any opinions to
which you might be slow to sub
scribe, feel that while tracing the
lives of our countrymon who have
climbed the steep ascent Of fame, and
in the "sands of time" have left their
footprints, | may appropriately al
Jude to the course which in my opin-
ion, ought to be pursued to emulate
their deeds and follow their noble
example. You who know me, know
that the grandson of old John Ke-
ough of '98 would as soon cut of the
good right arm that gives him susie
nance, as express a sentiment 10
which my heart did not throb res
sponsively, or counsel an action
which would tarnish the character OF
our race, which seven centuries have
left unsullied. (Cheers) To no men
ought the issue at stake in the COM
ing contest be clearer, or the result
one OF more paramount importance
than TO ourselves. "They jest at
scars that never felt wound" but
we who have been, aud our fathers,
the victims of every indignity and
degradation pertaining to slavery,
can or ought, fifty estimate and nom
or the labors of those who effaced
that foul dark blot on our institu-
tons which inverted the DEGREES of
God, degraded the nature of his land
marks; imperiled life to preserve the
integrity of this glorious Republic.
for whose independence with Spar
tan heroism the New Englanders in
1875 fought and hled. (Cheets.)
You, l repeat, all of the world, ought
to honor and prove your gratitude to
these stout hearts and strong arms
that struck the letters off millions OF
fellow beings ere they burst them-
selves, and, to the ruin of the COM
monwealth armed themselves with
the fragments Great cheering for
independence My countrymen, we
have many faults, we lack many vir-
tues. But one vice no man dared
charge US with, one grand national
virtue we pre-eminently possess, and
that is gratitude to those who held
out to us a helping hand in the hour
of peril. And now, if you are true
to the cause of liberty, for which
Owen, O'Neil and Sarsfeld fell, for
which our fathers blood made Wex-
ford's harvest grow, and impurpled
Limerick's historic Shannon. If you
are true to the great land of your
adoption, you will turn with losth-
ing from the men and the cause
which are being kept afoat by dis
appointed politicians of the Sumner
stamp, who raise the cry alike, slsv-
ish and contemplate, against the SOL
der President whose clear brain and
keen sword saved the Union. Here
"the head and front of his offending
Gle is only soldier" they say; "his
military habits and martial training
unfit him for Office Hear it, you
descendants of Hamden and Plym-
outh pilgrims. Hear it, you sons OF
the men who held Limericks ram.
parts and Derry's breeches, and what
is your manly and indignant answer
Do you think that the man who
bares the soldiers dsuntless breast
cannot possess the material for 3
statesman Despise the soldier ru
Ter What was it thst made Greece
the paragon of obedience to laws and
excellence of arm, but those who
drove the Persian hords off her sol
and raised ct Marathon q moral mon
ument for posterity's generation, the
soldier consuls, Leonidas and Militia.
de. Despise the soldier ruler
Who was it that moulded the motley
mass, Migrants and outcasts from ey