The Van Buren press., 1875-06-01
-nman of the land

Ne North-no South-at Arlington
Between their pious thought and God
Stood files of men with brutal steel,
The garlands placed on rebel sol
Were Piled in the common clod
To die beneath the hireling heel
Facing this triumph of the Hun
Our Smoky Cesar gave no nod
To keep the peace at Arlington.
Jehovah judged-abasning man,
For in the yigils of the night
His mighty storm avengers ran
Together in one choral elan
Rehuking wrOng-rewardlng right;
The tempest heaped them, dewy-bright
On rebel graves, at Arlington.
And when the morn came young and fair
Brim full of bushes ripe and red
Knee deep in skyseDt roses there,
Nature began her earliest prayer
Above TRIUMPHANT southern dead
So in the dark and in the sun
Our cause survives the Tyrant's tread
And sleeps to wake, at Arlington
OF all places in the Union, Arlington is,
above all. the place for the final burial of all
animosity between the sections. Looking
down upon that city, where assemble the rep
reSentatives OF this great people. is the ceme-
terry containing the graves of victor and van
Quished. Here Is peace. and silence relgns
supreme in this city of the dead. The pas
sions engendered by fierce and bloody strife.
are forever Lushed. Side by side sleep the
blue and the gray. What a powerful lesson
should all this teach those trusted representa-
tives Can the tones OF reconciliation be mis-
taken? Is not renewed traternal feeling
waited upon every breeze from those heights !?
The wise man and statesman should long age
have needed the lessons taught by those dead
teachers. What matters it though we girdle
the earth with the story of our Individual
greatness, if fraternal feeling dwclls not
among the people, our country is unsafe and
her future uncertain. Let us hope that upon
the re-assembling of our representatives. they
may humbly turn to Arlington for inspira-
tion and,liled With u feeling of union and har
mony, they may bless, the country with wiser
counsels. Soldiers who met in the shock OF
battle, now meet and grasp the hand of friend
ship. How much more creditable to Ameri-
can civilization, if all had long ago Joined
hands over the graves of our fallen heroes.
Can it be that those who fell in the struggle
are deserving OF less charity than those ho
passed unSCathed through the terrible ordeal
1t is undoubtedly source of qualification to
us all. that we have begun the good and chris
tian work OF devoting some time to the me IL
ory OF those who sleep here. Their spirits
no doubt look on us to-day. and if sublunary
actions can produce emotions in seraphic
breasts. their eyes are dmmed with tears of
joy because they are not forgotten. 1t is Gus
tomary. when doing honor to those who have
fallen as these did, to recount the battles
through which they passed, and to narrate
historically the exciting events Of the war
This must omit. The story is too full of
sadness The campaigns we cannot recall
for all ended III our defeat. The Nictors may
proudly boast of their hard earned fields, but
we cannot traverse the four years bloody
path from Bull Run to Appomattox. The
heart fills and the tongue refuses its Office.
The flag We once looked to with pride and
love, has become the winding sheet of our
greatness. Our land j. filled with
the widows and orphans of our brave men,
and they through their tears look back over
the field of carnage only to have their gaze
arrested by the little mounds that mark the
last resting places of the loved ones. Our
high hopes of Independence went ont at APP
pomlttoN, when the genius Of the ConIedera-
cy turned from the field with streaming eyes
and bursting heart and tlcd from us forever
1t Is useless to eulogiZc those noble spirits
who led our armies. When time shall have
come will look with pride uron the record OF
their great deeds for they were all American
citizens. They fought as did our revolutions
airy sires, for Il principle 1hcy believed they
were right, the fault lies in their failure. AZ
ter the watch fires we're cXtingui>hcd on
every hilltop, and the Instruments of death
were returned to their nrmorics-mute wit
nesscs to the return of peace-sordid ambi-
tion brought upon our dcsoated land Il time
of gloom, almost Of despair. Let us not even
cast glance into the terrible darkness OF
those years Of strife and ill-will. Let us turn
from its calling memories as we do from a
horrible ightnare when the sun drives away
the grim shadows ofnight, and shake offevery
recollection of them forever Thank heaven.
fellow -citizens of the south. our bitter trials
are about over. and we can look back with
Il Al
with truth we are not responsible for the
c angeS made in our Federal constitution. or
for the outragcS committed against that in
strument. II those amendments finally result
in completely changing the form of our gov
ernmcnt, it is and must not be because of any
acts of ours Let us aid in giving the cOnsti.
tuition, as it stands. Il fair trial. and if our fu
ture is to be dark and distracted. the blame
must not be ours. We must reflect upon the
lessons taught rs by the past. When we I'M.
roll the scroll of time. we find many sad sto
ries of fallen national greatness. We in i'm
agination behold the many grand govern.
ments that have arisen along the track Of
time. We see the glittcring pageantry o
monarches and listen to words of wisdom
irsm statesmen in upholding them. We lis.
ten TO the eXtravagant laudations Of republics
that in their solid simplicity, promised to ride
the billows of passion for centuries But a.
we travel toward the present, We stumble
upon the tombs Of monarchies and the hum
bic resting. place of republics. They have
gone down from their high positons-they
have prostrated themselves before the inevt-
able, they have succumbed to the forces tha,
are to-day at work, that are now and ever
have been deadly toes to all forms of govern
ment. Governments where all power i
vested in one man, called an absolute mon.
archy. always first decay at the head-thC
centre of power. Republics where the power
Is not centred in one but belongs to the whole
people, must fall when the people become
corrupt. When public opinion toleratcs OF il
Indifferent to corruption in the officials of a
republic, the time is close at hand when we may
look for a violent upheaval Of the foundations Of
that government This may result iu a successful
usurpation Of all political power by some amb
tious Caesar or Bonapare, or it may result in an.
archy In either event, the grave of another free
gov, rnment i, prepared aud 1t will follow others
to the realms Of oblivion. We are in no danger
from of:ial corruption, if the people are not cor.
ruptcd, The ballot can purify. so long as we
believe in tn blessings Of free government, it is
a solemn duty we owe to humanity to our poster
ity to our ourselves, to do all in power to pre-.
vent its overthrow. We owe this as a sacred duty
to those to whose memory we to-day do honor.
They fell battling t-r the true principles Of free
government When they closed their eyes in death
they felt that their lives had been given to vind.
dicate the will of the people II we truly reyrre
the memory Of these patriots, how sacred Il duty
we owe to make that popular will one that must
respect as being based on virtue and in.
We cannot better .vince our love for
the dead than by following their prccepts and ful.
filling their wishes We must, them pay our hum
ble tribute to them not stated and fixed occa.
sions only, but in our daily lives. We rnust aid
in purifying the fountain Of political power and
the minds Of those who are 10 fill our
places in the future.