National Republican., 1876-10-19

eleded retreats Of Northern hillsidei; some are
1 taking their unbroken sleep IN the National
cemeteries Of the South, It may be, with the sig
| nifcant but irrepressbly sad words inscribed
upon their headboards, "Unknown Soldiers;'
sign, and to which no gentle footsteps can wend
their way in spring time 70 water them with tears
| cannot have this little work OF love performed
| over their graves Dead heroesl Life for life;
theirs they freely gave that the nation might pos
| dead for liberty, dead for mankind, all unknown;
| and this for them is fame! The winds moan, the
not. The vernal time Comes, the flowers bloom
and the music Of birds fills the branches, but they
see9 them 6G All sSsTT On asbns .hs5s
| hearts, travelling along.a weary road down, down
to the tomb, their thoughts ever with those who
points TO meeting with the lost ones beyond the
skies where the sounds of war never heard
I and where peace reigneth forever more some
sleep the sleep that knows no waking in far dis
tant regions, and there they will sleep on till the
bugle call of the universe shall sound the last
| assembly no more will they belong to the Grand
gone to join the Grand Armies OF Heaven and to
wherever they sleep let their memories be forever
green, and while faithful to them let us bear In
kindly remembrance those who were dear to them
Since our last gathering the silent messenger
has entered our ranks with the unspoken but un-
erring message TO which we must ALL sooner
| later, answer, and some Of our associates have
passed to the other shore.
10 eacn OF our annual roll Calls Lnere Is mere
and there the silent response which tells the story
of our diminishing hunters. At each successive
meeting the vacant plases will be more than be-
will be left to give and receive the fraternai
greetings, and unwinding the golden threads
Of memory recount the honored deeds Of the past.
And then, few more years, and the last survivor
will have passed on, and none, and none will be
left to lay the kindly offering upon memory's
which under its illustrious leaders, Grant, Sher-
man, Mcpherson, Logan, Howard and Logan,
said Of it that it never lost a battle-wiil have
surrendered to the invisible conQueror, and
naught remains but the mufRed drum and It's re.
AS our own thoughts course back through the
"reminiscences which the occasion calls up to
bered forms Of Blair, Of Mcpherson and Of Raw
Inns, for they are as indelibly engraven upon the
tablets of our hearts as their names are inscribed
upon the roll of earth's heroes. lift be permit
ted to the dwellers in the better land to be
seious OF what transpires here below, may we not
hope their bright spirits look down 1fom their
heavenly abode and wait to US, on angels wings,
their brotherly greettr gs and Gods blessing.
Brave, generous, gallant Blair his voice viii be
heard by us no more, but his noble deeds are our
Gentle, chivalric, heroic Mcpherson, no more
will he marshal his battalions for the charge, but
his name and his fame will ever remain as sacaed
treasures in our Society.
Just, ever-faithful, noble Rawlins, though years
have passed since last We looked into his face we
cannot forget him. his fame belongs to his country.
1t is fitting that his statue adorns one of the
laIks Oh Ile NdtlOuAl Sdplldl- Anu IL was
also, that we should unveil and consecrate, as we
did yesterday, in the same capital city, in token
of our love and regard, q statue raised to the
Soldiers Of the Union, Iifeless in form thine en-
amples shall ever live. Soldiers of the Union,
mortal. Soldiers of the Union, all hail and fare
we'll Thus we leave them to time nd to his
tory.
Fear not for them on these lower fields,
Let US labor with arms unstained,
That we may be worthy to stand with them
. On the shining heights they have gained.
In times declining sun, 81 .E
When the bugles Of God shall sound recall,
And the battle Of life is won.
The record of duty faithfully discharged which
Union soldier is 10 him priceless treasure. He
has the inestmable satisfaction OF knowing that
the storm Of battle, and saved his country from
impending ruin. He fought to preserve the ma
tional existence; to vindicate the national honor
throughout the land and to all the inhabitants
thereof. Those who died in the conflict died that
s IN
died that we might live as citizens Of the Ameri-
can Republic.
In these times of proposed fraternity and recon.
ciliation it may not be amiss to suggest whether
the purpose for which the Union soldier, both /
dead d. and living, , fought, may M not be 9yershsdoWed
new born sentimentality which proposes to forget
the issues Of the war, to blend the blue with the
anu " eludl uOuOEs Inc sOlultT
who periled his life to destroy the Republic and
the soldier who perfled his life TO save II. For
myself yield assent to no such doctrine but
tion's security should never be effaced, that we
won the victory in behalf of national justice and
national nation H1RRGE %R, and f6sv an nsepaTaSs
lost it in behalf of national injustice and national
dishonor, and the attempted dismemberment of
the nation. To Danish this distinction is to offer
an insult to the memory Of the dead, and to the
honor Of heliying Union soldier. This sentiment
IS an evidence Of the magnsnimity OF the victors
point to the fact, and q most extraordinary one
il is too that by virtue Of the laws they enacted
those who for four years waged unrelenting
war upon the nation for its overthrow, now die.
tate laws to that nation and to us, its defenders
sues Of the war shall be forgotten. May the time
never come when Donelson Vicksburg, Chatta-
the march to the sea, Anteitam, Gettysburg, the
Wilderness, Petersburg, Richmond and Apo
mattox shall not be remembered as familiar
things but rather let them be set forth in letters
of enduring light. resplendent with the glory of
nation saved, shining like stars in the national
crowd, and growing brighter and brighter as age
tant times the cost and the sacrifices by which
liberty was saved to America and to mankind.
We earnestly long for fraternity and recOneilia-
tiOn, but not at the expense of national honor,
not by the surrender Of the objects for which the
nation marched through the throes and convul-
siOns of civil war TO final triumph. There will
be reconciliation when in every State service in the
Union ranks shall no longer be the badge OF dis
longer be the condition to preferment when poiti-
cal assassnatiOns shall longer blur the civli-
zatlop and 6laeken theChrlstianity Of the nine
citizens of the Republic have fallen victims to
Their adherence topolieieal lprineples-have dleda
martyrdom to the act of the Almighty in creating
them members of a despised race. i introduce no |
partisan politics in this presence; away with par
racy when the lie Of the Citizen Is ar stake or the
integrity Of the nation is involved. speak only
as an American citizen, as a lover Of my country
these things be disgrace which should burn and
seethe into the very heart and conscience of the
people, uiaM a ine OF piaekness across the
free Government, are ne nation? |
There will be reconciliation when every citizen |
ocean, and from the souther boundary Of British
power on the north to the shores washed by the /
Mexican sea shall be in the complete possession |
and unmOlested enjoyment of every civil and po- |
litical right guaranteed by the statutes of the |
country TO every citizen who obeys the law. As |
alike, gladdening the hearts Of the faithful |
workers and bringing for than abundant increase,
tee ana law 50 mus the Blessing and ID Sspscen
influence of enlightened and just laws rest upon |
all an The bel people upon Jew and Gentle, Catholic
and black, native and foreign, upon each and all
alike, as well as upon the occupant Of the hum |
mansion. Such is the perfection Of law. whose |
voice is the harmony Of the world" Such is the
perfection Of ofrepublican government WHOSE edict |
Peace will come to our country and to all the ,
people thereof when all shall recognize the ab- |
sOlute supremacy OF law; when the life giving {
principle of the sublime Declaration which pro- |
claims the equality Of all, craven with Furnished
steel dipped in blood into the fundamental law of
the Republic, shall be the Shekinah to which |
every citizen Of America may look and live in |
the possession of an imperishable birthright for |
this principle Of equal justice is the spirit and the
essence of the teachings Of that matchess code of
morals and Of laws proclaimed by Him who, while |
ON earth, spake never man spaketh, and is en- |
during as the everlasting hills, immortal i'm |
mortality itself, for it is emanation from the
tribunal of Almighty intelligence and power and |
perfect justice.
The protection Of citizen is the highest flnc- |
tion Of Government; that secured, the main |
object of government is obtained. England with |
her thousand years Of history, with her trophies
gathered in all the wide domains of learning, of |
philosophy OF law, and constitutional government |
appears in no nobler light than when she mar |
shaled army and sent ID across the desert wastes
and the burning sands of Africa to rescue six Eng
lish subjects from the captivity of the Abyssnan
King, and restore them TO their country and /
kindred again. When nation stretches forth /
its mighty arm across continents and seas and /
its Tag courses the globe to shield Its citizen
subject from harm, the act is sublime. Not L
sparrow layeth wounded under the hedge with |
out the tender notice OF Him whose watchful eye /
guides the course sof numberless worlds in. the |