New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-05-30

from their lowly pillows in our hearing
words that touch to fame the patriotic
hea<t Thirteen thousand pulseless breasts
lie In this city of the dead, but away out
over the wide and glorious land for which
they surrendered their lives their pulse
throbs are still felt to the lands extreme.
Thank Godl the war cry has. died out,
lake the murmuring waves along the,
shore. Thank Godr the cannon does,
not send its sad and sIllen boomihgs over
our hills and along our valleys. Thanks
be unto Godi the clatter of the musket,
the din of the heavy war wheels and the
measured tramp Of stately columns are
not heard in our land. Yes, thank God,
the drum beat hurries no armies on the
long and weary march, the war trumpet
wakes no tired sleeper from tho bivouae
upon the plain with call to battle. Nay,
but all is hushed now as the hearts be-
meath us; all is peace from ocean to ocean,
and from the silver lakes of the North to
the great Gulf whose murky waters almost
touch our feet. The smoke of battle has
cleared away; the dead are laid to rest,
| and their sepuieAres have been garnished; /;
the sun shines cut of the heavens as bright
as of yore, and yonder floats in the soft
air and sweet light of this bright May day
the beautiful banner of the Republic,
throwing its protecting folds over as all
alike, the living and the dead; the white
and the black, Che blue and the gray.
can not but think as stand here at
this hour what hopes lie buried about us;
what sad hearts, somewhere in the great
worlds throng, hover over each one of
these graves what love bands were sew
cred by the sabfe's keen blade; what
fond hearts were crushed and what
| bright hopes were clouded when
these men went down under the
blighting touch of disease in the hospital
or fell before the cannon's fiery flash in
the awful hour of battle. What sombre
weeds away over there in the Northland
tell even yet of sorrowful memory and
of unperished and unperishable love. 0,
stricken heart of wife, mother, maiden
rise from your ashes and look up, for
Love doth evermore enrich itself
| Its bitterest waters run some golden sands
| No star goes down but climbs in other skies,
The flower of sunset folds its glory up
| To burst again from out the heart of dawn;
| And love is never lost though hearts run waste
| The deepest dark reveals the starriest hope
And faith can trust her heaven behind the veil.
have no apology to bring for putting
down rebellion. l can not extenuate thu
offence which was committed against {
glorious history. There were no JUS
grounds in my humble Judgment, for tn,
uprising in the South. It seemed crue
on the part of the South to attempt t.
correct few grievances, which were a
least supposed to exist, not only at the
risk of bloody war, but at thu
risk of killing off the grand young anC
growing nation ere it reached the wisdom
of its manhood. l come with no palli
sting excuse for carrying on the war will
ever-increasing determination until tn
armies of the Confederacy were swep
away and the national authority wa
maintained. There was no other alterna
tive but to fight and win or die as tn
brave die What else could we, as Sa1
ons, do?
And yet to-day would not spoOlr on
reproachful word nor lay one ounce more c
weight upon the still breasts of the brav
men of the gray who sleep beneath tn
violet blossoms.
We have gone too far out along th
pathway of national peace to turn bac
now and tear open the old wounds b
holding an inquisition upon the motive
|, of men. That secession was at least
fearful mistake; that the leaders were i
deepest error I fully belieye-I have rigt
; to believe-but even then, the men VIII
surrender their lives, with all the love
and hopes that cheer and brighten th
pathway in this world for cause whic
they believe to be just, some how after al
command my respect, and did l stand
this hour in the presence of an equal arm
of the fallen men of the gray, would il
stinctively uncover my head in solem
reverence.
We can not forget the severity of tht
strife as well as its prolonged continuanc
And pray what else could we expect frol
men of our own blood?
when Greek meets Greek
Then comes the tug OF war;"
Our brothers fought well and gave sign
the nations that no cowardly blood creeE
sluggishly along in the eveins of the Amer
, can soldier. But the saddest chapter IL
{ student in American history will ever rea
will be that which records the steps b
which the two great sections drifted apa
until the hostile feelings culminate
in the red blaze of battle It wi
ever stand as black-lettered day in Oh
national calendar, from which we wi
turn with shudder. The one only brigl
spot amid all the gloom, if bright it ma
be called, was the bravery, the darinj
the skill, the intelligence that characte
, lied the struggle to sustain a wrong.
There was indeed something of th
spirit of admiration in our breasts as "
j read of the Cromwellian spirit of ''Ston
wal" jackson, and of the magnifcel
military genius of Robert E. Lee. Her
. | OF our feet, are few of the marks of the
too well aimed bullets; here are sad M
mentoes of an uprising which well mig
: changed the map of the nations by striki1
of from its face the freest and grande
of them all,
While | have no bitter words to spes
against the men who smote thenation viii
a mighty stroke, making the whole fabr
tremble to its centre, have praises
offer in the name of the millions who th
day call this land their own; in the nan
of the oppressed of the Old World, WI
look to this fair land for home and FORTUNE
in the name of those from whose liml
the chatting manaeles have tallen in Il
name Of the generations Of the past WI
: laid the solid foundation of this great an
/. free republic, yes, have praises to of,
} to the men of the blue who rushed |
J battle, and poured out their blood lii
! water for the cause of the Union.
: That the men who fought again
+ the Union believed their cause to /
: just I can believe, but if they wei
as honest as they were brave, de
} perate and earnest, not less SO sure
were the men on the other side. An
Q so We let the matter stand The blr
! was victorious over the gray in the ent
not because they were led by braver (
, I eli F,nE 1d