The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1876-11-01
SHALL BTGoEEs be BYGOHEa?
AN ELOQUENT p

AZ III uflUrlf End-r lFfu ~ ~
ing-on Thursday evening, the 18th inst, Major
A. Wilson Norris, secretary Of the Republican
State Committee, was one OF the speakers.
Aner discussing the issues Of the campaign, ar
raigning the Democratic party for its crimes of
the past and criminal inients in the future, he
closed with the following eloquent and brilliant
appeal to the Republicans Of Pennsylvania:
seventy-fiye rebel officers are now in the
United States Congress. Veterans, you of the
old Potomac army, you gallant sons OF the Re
public, who followed sherman to the sea, & 1t
not time to cry a haiti If eleven years after
these traitors laid down their arms and begged
for mercy they are to be given possession OF the
Government, what Is 10 become Of your victor
les and your triumphs. Have the leaves of the
laureis you Won at Gettysburg and Atlanta
already faded OF what avail were your great
sacrifices, your chiyalric deeds, sour patient en-
durance through the long years Of the war,
your heroic suffering In prison pens, II, while
the noise Of the strife yet stuns your ears and
the poison of prison life is tainting your blood,
the men who were your j~ailers, and who
shottcd and pointed the guns in that strife, are
10 be raised over your heads and given the Gus
tody of your property and lives: Politicians
who, assassin-like, stabbed the country in the
back when you had your faces to the foe, who
refused money to buy you bread when hunger
was gnaving at your very yitsls in your long
and exhaustive campaign who refused you
money TO buy clothing when, almost naked, you
stood shiyering In the trenches; who refused
you money TO buy bullets when your cartridge
boxes were empty, because the Government
commanded you TO shoot Democrats with these
bullets whose faces were covered with glooia
when you won, and roseate with JOY when you
lost Il battle these politicians, who are hanging
around the public crib, Ike the miller's dogs,
licking their lips, waiting till the bags arc M
ffp1 these hir1g Qf Hrey those arcru talon and
beak Is s~haTpened for the feast these honest
men, these reformers, are glOating over the long
waited opportunity of reyenging themselves
upon you for your valor: OF getting some re-
compense for the stripes you laid Oh the backs
OF their brethren when they attempted TO 90 out
of the Union without: leave. When they remefn-
Der your heroism how It viii delight them to
degrade and humiliate you. Don't you believe
iti If not, let some soldier who was In one OF
the prison-pens Of the war whistle down the
past, and see how many memories viii coInc
trooping up TO answer his call, every
one freighted with recollections OF mean,
~cowardly indiguities and cruelties heaped upon
him when he was a helpless captive. What joy
viii be yours when you look ON and see these
politicians crown with honor the men who shot
down your comrades In arms Veil your faces,
my iellow-soldiers, that you may not see your
shame and witness the reward offered to trea-
son Put on sae1eloth and ashes, for the men
az 0NAAl th 1I1 Vol HA0NAt' . ~ W
C invested With distinction Where is the
heritage Of glory left us by our Meade, Thomas,
Reynolds, sedgwiek, and McPherson! Cover
your scars conceal your sabre cuts lest they
invite insult and scorn remove from your
blood-stained flags the golden letters that tell
of your brave deeds and The victories you won,
and keep from sight these sheil-torn and bullet
pierced banners lest our repentant and return
ing brethren, who are coming back to rule us,
be offended at the spectacle Efface from the
tombs of our comrades the inscriptions they
bear lest the record stir up unpleas SAINT memories,
and hail with blessings those of our brothers
who sleep In unknown graves, FOR the soil that
covers them will be sacred from the touch of
the Southern martyr. Take down the dear old
sabre and trlsty musket that hang on your
walls, and which you hoped TO show TO your
children, and tell them how their father bore IL
in the fight, for even now you and your ehii-
drcn are insulied by the outrage offered 10 your
valor. Men who fought you, robbed you, I'M
prisoned you, starved you, are now to lceislate
for You. Shades Of our fathers, must we ac-
cept the condition they win impose4 Ny coun-
trymen, can Won vote for these men whose
hands are red with the blood Of your sons3 Can
you vote for them with the pale, emaciated fea-
lures OF your poor, starved boys staring You in
the face. The spectres of our dead soldiers
beckCn Us on in this fight, and their
shadowy fingers point the way for every
honest man and patriot. In their name,
in the name Of the men who fell at
Gettysburg, of the Thousands whose bones are
bleaching at ChancelIorsville and around Peters
burg, the myriads whose dust mingles with that
about Port Hudson, Of the hecatombs Of the
starved who sleep in nameless graves at Auder-
sonyille and under the shadows Of Libby, in the
name of the widow, the fafherless children, the
soldier who begs for bread in your
streets, in the name of al that is noble, gener-
Gus, and brave, Of justice and humanity, Of re
hgion and God, | veg you to be true TO the
principles that Inspired these men to die that
our Republic might live. Shall 1t be said that
your patriotism was a lie shall it be said that
Your belief in unselfishness and valor was a
trick, that your proiessed admiration for brave
men was a snare to entrap them into fighting |
foT your country, and that after the fight WAS |
won You despised those who shed their
blood or gave their lives in such a
cause Vengeance Will be slow indeed if it
does not ~oyertake Us if we forget the blood
that rcddens and the CHASTITY remains that
whitcn the soil Of the South. Do YOU believe
that the Almighty will pcrpetuate a government
whose people are Tccreant 10 the memory Of the |
men who bed or died for its integrity. IL brave !
deeds are to 20 -unrecOgnized in this land Of
ours ii patriotism Is to become a crime and
treason a virtue if all thai IS great, good, and
manly in our nature is 70 give way TO q senti-
and mistaken sympathy for rebels if
you take the manhood of your country, depletc
your workshops Of their bone and sineT
and nerve, take away the strong arm that
directs the plough, Gull out the flower Of your
youth, take from the mother her hearts jewel, |
her beardless boy, and from the aged father his
'~talygart son. the pride and support of his tot
age-take all these and send them forth
affirm the unity Of the Government and vim
iicate the supremacy Of law, and then sing
peans over the victory of their foe, then the
sooner such a country is rent into fragments
and made the prey Of faction and tyranny the
,estar fnr civilization and bunaui+v /