Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-10-14
Grants Speech at the Soldiers Re-
union at Des MOines.


AFTER a few humorous remarks in ref
erense to the calls for himself and Gen.
Sherman, in which he said it had been
customary at the reunions of this army to
call upon him just because he always
made the shortest speech, the President
said he had concluded to disappoint them
this time, and he had, therefore, jotted
down what he wished to say, when he
read as follows:
g COMRADES 1t always affords me
much qualification to meet my comrades
in arms Of ten and fourteen years ago, to
tell over again the trials and hardships of
those days-hardships imposed for the
preservation and perpetuatiOn of our free
institutions. We believed then, and we
believe now, that we have Government
worth fighting for and, if need be, dying
for. How many Of our comrades paid
the latter price for our preserved
Union! Let their heroism and sacri-
flee be ever green in our memory
Let not the results of their sacri-
flee be destroyed. The Union and the
free institutions for which they fell should
be held more dear for their sacrifices. We
will not deny to any Of those who fought
against us any privileges under the Gov
eminent which we claim for ourselves
On the contrary, we welcome all such who
come forward in good faith to help build
up the waste places and to perpet~ate our
institutions against all enemies as broth
ers in full interest with us in common
heritage; but we are not prepared to apOl-
ogiZe for the part we took in the war. 1t
is to be hoped that the like trials will
never again bcfall our country. In their
settlement no class Of people can more
heartily join than the soldiers who sub
mitted to the dangers, trials and hardships
OF the camp and the battlefield, on which
ever side he may have fought. No class
of people are more interested in guarding
against a recurrence Of those days. Lei
US, then, begin by guarding against every
enemy to the prosperity Of free republican
institutions
81 do not bring into this assemblage
politics, certainly not partisan politics,
but it is a fair subject for the soldiers in
their deliberations to consider what may
be necessary to secure the prize for which
they battled. In a Republic like ours
where the citizen is the sovereign and the
official the servant, where no power is ex
is important that the sovereign people
should foster education and promote that
intelligence which is to preserve us as q
free nation. If we are to have another
contest in the near future of our national
existence I predict that the dividing line
will not be Mason and DiXon's, but be,
tween patriotism and intelligence on the
one side and superstition, ambition and
ignorance on the other
"NOW, the centennial year of our ma
tiOnal existence, | believe is a good time
to begin the work of Strengthening the
foundations of the structure commenced
by our patriotic forefathers 100 years
ago at Lexington. Let us all labor
to add all needful guarantees for the
greater security Of free thought, free
speech, a free press, pure morals, unfet-
tered religious sentiments, and OF equal
rights and privileges to all men, prospect
i've Of nationality, color, or religion; en-
courage free schools and resolve that not
one dollar of money appropriated to their
support shall be appropriated to the sup
port of any sectarian school; resolve that
neither the State nor the nation nor both
combined, shall support institutions OF
learning other than those sufficient to at
ford to every child growing up in the land
the opportunity of good cOmmOn-school
education, unnixed with seCtarian, pagan,
or atheistical Leave the matter of re-
ligiOn to the family altar, the church, and
the private school supported entirely by
private contributions, and keep the church
and the State forever separate. With
these safeguards I believe the battles
which created the Army of the Tennessee
will not have been fought in vain"