The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-06-14

and Deaths ana n0L1c6S OF q lellgiouo Shai
respectfully solicited, and will be inserted gratis
A REBEL SOLDIER AT THE GRAVES
80 OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS.
Address of Editor Watterson, Of Louis
vile, at the National Cemetery
in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mr.. PRESIDENT, FELLOw.SoLDIERs
AND FELLOW CITIZENS: l should not
have ventured to come here to-day
should not trust myself to speak IN this
presence, if i were. conscious of any sec
tional or partisan feeling that may not
do honor to a citizen Of the United States:
It would be an afectation in me II L
should ignore the exceptional circum-
stances of my coming, or fail to be guided
in the discharge of the duty you have
assigned me by recognition OF that cir
cumstance. Herein, it has seemed to me,
lies all that is good or fit in the occasion
which brings US together. "On the IL
brary wall of one of the most famous
writersof ,America"-I use the words OF
one Of the most famous writer's OF Eng
land-"there hang two crossed swords
which his relatives wore in the great war
of independence; the one sword was
gallantly drawn in the service OF the
king, the other was the weapon OF
brave and honored republican soldier"
The noble service has been given Us to
cross in the everlasting peace OF death
swords that were crossed in the death
struggle, proud of the undoubting spirit
which carried them in life; proud OF the
fortitude and courage which sustained
them to the end; proud still, though sor-
rowful, of the tragedy which made them
flash the prowess of our era, our country
and our race throughout the world. The
day will come when the picture of the
soldier who wore the gray will hang side
by side with thatof the soldier who wore
the blue, and be pointed to with glow
of honest love and pride. by a common
progeny. The day has already come
when the animosities Of war, growing
less and less distinct as the years have
passed, should disappear altogether from
the hearts of brave men and good women;
can truly say that each soldier who LAID
down his life for his opinions was my
comrade, no matter where he fought:
We are assembled, my countrymen, to
commemorate the patriotism and valor
of the brave men who died to save the
Union. We stand upon consecrated
ground. In the deep seclusion OF this
hallowed spot there is nothing to disturb
the mind or infame the heart. The sea-
son brings its tribute to the scene; pays
its homage to the dead; inspires the
living. There.a images of tranquility
all about us: in the calm sunshine
upon the ridges; in the tender shadows
that creep along the streams; in the
waving grass and grain that mark Gods
love and bounty; in the flowers that
bloom over the many, many graves.
There is peace everywhere in this land
to-day ss9a
"Peace in the quiet dales,
Made rankly fertile by the blood Of men;
Peace in the woodland and the lonely glen;
Peace in the peopled wales,
Peace in the open seas,
Inall lourshelteredb bays and ample streams,
Peace where'er our starry banner gieams,
And peace in every breeze"
The war is over. It is for us to bury
its passions with its dead; to bury them
beneath d monument raised by the Amer
ican people to American manhood and
the American system, in order that "the
nation shall, under God, have new birth
of freedom, and that the government OF
the people, by the people and for the
people shall not perish from the earth"
There is no one of us, wore he the one
cloth or, the other, come he from the
granite hills of New England or
the orange groves of the Mississippi
valley, who has not an interest for him.
self and for his children in the preserva-
ton and perpetuation Of our republican
system. tits reciprocal, as we'll as a
Joint interest and, relating to the great
est of human affairs, it ought to be sa-
cred interest. The most obstinate of par
tisans, the most untraveled of provincials
cannot eface or obscure, still less dispute,
the story of heroism in war, of modera:
ton in peace, which, written in letters of
living light, will blaze forever upon our
national tablets. The occasion that brings
US here has this significance: it is illus
trative; it tells us that We have come to
understand that there could be no lasting
peace, nor real republicanism, whilst any
freemen's rights was abridged, or any
patriots grave unhonored. The freedom
of each and every State, of each and ev-
cry citizen, is at length. assured; and
there remains no longer so much as a
pretext why the glory of the past, marked
by the graves of all who fell in the battle,
should not be the common property of
the whole people. The old feudal ideas
of treason do not belong to our institu-
tions of our epoch. Their influence in
public affairs, has been hostile to our ma
tional unity and peace. Our future is to
be secured by generous concessions, tor
ours was a war of mistakes, not of dis
graces. 60
There was an organic question left fa-
tally open by the authors Of our consti-
tuition. There was property interest
madly entangled with the moral nature
of the time. There was no tribunal hav.
ing power to determine the issue. 1t is,
perhaps, little to say that, had the people
foreseen all the consequences, they would
not have resorted to arms but recent ex-
perisnce shows us that they would have
made supreme sacrifices for the sake of
peace. History teaches US that wars are
more or less the subjects of misconcep-
ton and mischance. 1t is rare indeed,
if ever, when all the right is On the one
side and all the wrong on the other. In
our case, and I take leave to speak for
both sides, we have much to deplore,
nothing to make us ashamed. Assured
ly. the world has never seen terms so lib
eral extended to soldiers beaten in civil
broil; or known such abstinence from
sanguinary revenges during the progress
of the strife. 1t is necessary to remind
no one of the conduct of Grant and
Sherman in the moment of their triumph.
The conflicts of this present hour cannot
shut out from the hearts of grateful men
tho snectacle of that dismal day, when,