The Portland daily press., 1874-06-01
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE


banners to the Gulf, in dramatic vindication Of
the supremacy of the Union. Even now and
among our own people the impression exists In
many minds that the war was an affair of han
hazards, unnecessarily prolonged and COSTLY
ana that success was far more owing 10 sheer,
piepohderance OF numbers and resources than
10 the Intelligent formation aud skiIlfnl exacu
Nan N OF great plans of action; that had a great
n. poleon tpn or Won Moltke been vouchsafed to
ro.th the rebellion would have been crushed with
hIan5 precision and far less effusion of
mary indarast Ton.tast to this superficial aud sum-
na;iy salent Is the better opinion that pre-
vans whenever the impedimepts and com Mica.
t'ohs aiectihg the conduct of the war are fair
ly understood and Considered Wv "'' "ie i"h-
An English military critic of ra,,.u -,
Gently declared that 'the military eYceiIsnea
displayed in the great war in America has been
unduly deprecated" and that ''the conditions
of war on a grand scale were ilustrased TO the
full as much in that contest as in those more
recently waged on the Continent"
1t is grateful and inspirting reflection, and,
believe Just one, that the need of the repub-
fc disclosed men of genius and capacity who
controlled and gave skllfu and efficient direc-
ton to the great atinstrumentalities and forces at
their command; that the mistakes commit
TED and failures incurred were no greater
or more numerous than those that battle
the most highly intelligent provision in
all human affairs, and were necessary
part OF the description required to accomplish
the heavy task Such belief serves to confirm
and enhance the national pride, to secure fair
fame to the deserving, and to give to sorrow the
alienation of feeling that its lamen ed dead
were not sacrificed to recklessness and incom.
potency but were demanded by the cruel and
exacting conditions of the fierce struggle
The energy of the nation, the power that Law
IN lts wealth, natural resources and proficiency
IN the mechanic arts applicable to war; aud the
skill OF generaship, all depended for final ex-
efcise and effect upon the arms that welded
sabre and rifa. nd tbp rio
not wanting to the trust reposed in him.
WHITTIER can we turn for higher exempIifica-
ton of soldiery virtues, and aptitude for the
many exigencies of war? The best that was
IN HIM was called forth. for the hostile ranks
ne faced were composed of his like The
critic whom have already quoted Col. Ches-
ney says that mo European forces have ex-
perlenced the amount of resistance in combat
which North and South opposed to each other,''
and of the survivors of that conflict that
''if a mans claims to be regarded as a veteran
are to be measured by the amount Of actual
fighting that he has gone through. the most
seasoned soldiers of Europe are but as con-
scripts compared with them"
= On the seas, the flag that there won its
earliest slories, floated proudly as of yore, and
gathered fresh splendor and renown. The
navy, ever the pecu lar pride of the American
heart. has been tenfold more endeared to it by
the faithful performance of the arduous tasks
imposed upon it, and by brilliant exploits and
deeds of heroism as grand as any that ever
moved the world to admiration. 100 yG.
Look back upon the war and among the
first visions to rise are Farragut laundering up
the Mississippi to New Orleans, and again
side, ana lurked in awful form in the
depths below; the Alabama swaying
and sinking to the roar of Winslow's guns,
while thousands watched with bated breath
from the shores around; and, saddest and most
moving sight, the mast tip rising over the water
of Hampton Reads but high enough to bear
the flag that told how glorionsy Morris and
his men went down in the Cumberland. 40
The glory of the victorious issue is not that
common kind that lies in the humiliation of
the enemy, is reflected from captured arms and
banners, wrested territory and treasure, and :
sheds no light of happiness on the coIquering
people. A far brighter splendor crowns the
perfect consummation wrought by the labors,
sufferngs and sacrifices voluntarily undertaken
and borne by free peoDle to secure to them
selves and to the world the tried safeguard of
liberty and order. All around US and part Of
us are its beneficent results. We walk in the
sunlight Of peace and feel its blessings as
never in the DAYS before it was ebscured by the
rolling clouds of war.
We are filed with inexpressibe joy and
gratitude that the Union has been preserved
and purified and left free to work out that high
destiny that orators have prophesied, poets
have sung, and the people have steadfastly
fixed their hopes and aspirations upon. The
young Republic that was styled "a giant with
out bones" now stands in the firmness of per-
feet manly structure with sinews hardened by
the tense strain of the combat bearing a con-
seriousness of strength that gives assurance of
immunity from future attack.
There are other sequences of high signifi-
canoe and promise. How swift and noiseless
was the Transformation of war-worn veterans
into peaceful citizensi Their vast array van
ished as if at the waving of magician's wand.
We do not point in wonder to the spectacle,
but in pride as an illustration of the character
and purpose of the soldiers of the Union The
servants of liberty, law, and order, could not
have done otherwise.
Borrowing Macaulay's words written of
CromwelPs men, may it not be said of them.
that they laid down their arms and retired
be distingu shed only by superior diligence, So
briefly, and regularity in the pursuits of peace,
from the other members of the community
which they had saved"
The fibre of our nationality has been re-knit
and strengthened by the association and COM
radeship of the people and the soldiers of all
sections of the conHtry in a common cause.
Native and adopted citizens, the free-born and
those who waited long for freedom, feel more
deeply that it is their country because their
riches, the strength of their arms, precious
years of their lives, and their blood, have been
given to make it what 1t is. In the enemies of
yesterday we to-day see but our countrymen.
We have no sentiment toward them but kind
~
speedily recover from the injuries of the war.
and enjoy a greater degree of prosperity than
they have ever known. 1t was a Virginian
who struck the keynote of s'the music of the
Union" in the convention of the colonies that
met hundred years ago and said, ssrhe distinc-
tions between Virginians Pennsylvanians,
New Workers and New Englanders are no
more, 1 am not a Virginian but an Amer
ican." On the hundredth birthday of the
nation, now near at hand. may there be no
voice within all the allpoiance of the sfar-I;t
flag that will not proudly re-echo that senti-
ment. 1l<sa $50. Tla .
There remains also the changeless glory of
the brave over whose dust we have to-day laid
green garlands, emblems of the immortality of
their fame, and strewu flowers that symbolze
the fragrance of their memory. Filling three
hundred thousand graves they lie, and whether
lowly turf mound or sculptured stone marks
soldiers resting place, there is a patriot-shrine.
Three hundred thousand? All, how that scroll
of honor has been heightened by the uncount-,
ed thousands who have gone with Thomas,
Meade, Farragut, Rawlins and Canby-lives as
truly given to their country as those of the
slain on battlefields for as when the fight is
done the sorely-wounded maintain their hold
of life but for few days of wretchedness,
so after the war fingered thousands, worn,
stricken and exhausted, pale shadows of their
former selves, and one by one they have fallen
out and are seen no more. Their glory does
enter our breasts if its influence be not appar-
ent in our lives We are thankless for that
self-sacritice that was for our sake, insensible
to that spirit in which thev acted, unmoved by
the heroism they displayed, if we are not
therefore better men in all the relations OF life,
firmer and truer patriots.
Thus will our heroes have indeed living
memory, and their love, that was stronger than
life, will prove stronger than death,
SIBLEY'S PATENT