Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1875-07-19

ly roll can present purer character T?
What heroic age can furnish such un-
blemished honor 1t was as if all the
noble experiences of the past had con-
tributed to endow character worthy of
the age, and of the crisis in which the
great question of the success or failure
of Republicanism was to be determined.
When our navy. that indispensable
bulwark of defense. was about to be an
INITIATED; when our strongest vessels of
war were about to be borne down by
that rebel iron clad, the Merrimac, and
onr harhors left practically defenceless,
and our chief cities exposed to pillage
and destruction by our enemies, what
hand unseen instigated one of our broth
er mechanics to devise and construct
that apparently Insignificant craft the
Monitor, and sent it on its mission of
salvation to the nation? Like the class
to which its protector belonged, it was
ridiculed and despised by the slave
driving rebels, as it came steaming up
to the conflict; but how soon were their
defiant SCOTS turned to dismay, when it
was found that the ''cheese-box" upon
its deck, held those thunderbolts of war
which we're to drive them and their
craft, with precipitate haste, to the hid
den fortresses from whence they came.
and teach them lesson of respect for
mechanical genius.
When incompetency in our military
leadership bad we'll nigh ruined our
cause; when, in consequence of this, our
defenders were dying, by thousands, of
disease in swamps and hospitals, their
ardor dampened by inactivity, with no
military chieftain who could lead them
on to a succession of victories, which
their valor, properly directed, would
have ensured when murmurings of dis
satisfaction and distrust were heard on
every hand, and division and discord
among us were about to take the place
of united effort and ensure our final de-
feat; whence came that military genius.
whose persistent, untiring energy, whose
unbending will and unAinching persist
ency, led our boys to succession of
victories ''on that line" which his pro-
found sagacity and military skill had
marked out? Was he not one Of the
common people. the tanner, Ulysses S.
Grant?
The rank and file Of our patriot army
and navy, who served us so faithfully
and so well, were drawn from all class
es, but large majority of them was
from the industrial class and may we
not be proud of our representation there {?
Was ever an army made up of better
material ? Was there ever ono more in
telligent, more susceptible of thorough
discipline, more patient and orderly un.
der trials and reverses 2 Did ever an
army before 50 perfectly comprehend the
principles for which they fought. and
the issues which were staked in the con-
test +? Were ever bullets sent against
an enemy with less of murderous hate,
or more of christian principle behind
them 4? Were ever sabre strokes dealt
more reluctantly, yet more efectually,
than those by the sons Of our farmers
and mechanics in the ranks?
| We have lost by that contest an army
of heroes but we have saved our coun-
try. We cannot recall them. The grass
grows green upon their graves. No
drums reVeille can wake them from the
biEouac of death. For them no bugle
notes shall sound the charge again.
They fell on bloody fields, while fight
ing for civil liberty, for the overthrow
of caste and the elevation of labor and
the laborer They went from hospitals
by wounds received, or disease induced,
while in their country's cause. They
expired in rebel prisons, where they had
suffered t0rtures IaOre fearful and long
continued than were ever inflicted by
American ssEages. No Spartan yalor
could save them from their vile persecu-
tors; no human power Of endurance
could avert the fearful death by starva-
ton to which fends in human form had
doomed them. No prayers or entreaties
could induce their t0rmentors 10 remove
the cause of loafhsone disease which
prevailed among them, or furnish the
needed remedies when developed. We
mourn their sad fate, but shall we heed
the lesson which il teaches US
African slavery in the south caused
the ruling classes there to despise labor
and the laborer. This led 70 ignorance
and degradation in the laboring classes ;
to pride and moral deprayity 10 the edu-
Gated aristocracy. The degraded mass
e became the helpless tools Of the IN
priDeipled few. thus combining the men
tai power Of civilization with the cruel
ty Of the savage hence the intensified
barbarism Of which have spoken, and
its borrid consequences.
The ouly remedy for all this would
have been the abolition Of slavery 10 the
early days Of the republic. and the con-
sequent increased respectability of labor
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