Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-06-13


not qnite SO welcome. i,
GENERAL sHERMAN's ADDRESS.
Mr.. President, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
The grand pageant we have witnessed to-day
in the streets of this busy mart of commerce,
and the handsome assemblage of people that
now fills this hall to overfowing, demonstrate
Enthusiastically that the public interest in the
events of 1S61-'65 did not die out with the
lives of the heroes and martyrs of that epoch
We know that all over this broad land this
memorial day has been dedicated to the beau.
tiful custom of decorating with earth's fairest
and freshest flowers the graves of the patriot
men who died that we might possess in peace
al united country and a Government worth
having. The fragrance of these flowers, rising
to Heaven from such affairs, cannot but prove
an acceptable peace. offering at the Throne of
Him who holds in His hands the destiny of
all people. The silent prayers of the widows
and orphans WHICH this day been registered
in heaven will touch the hearts of the living,
more especially of those who have sworn to
maintain and defend the Government of the
United States, and to protect the lives and
property of its people against dangers from
any and every quarter. Fortunately, our po,
sition on the earths surface is 30 isolated, and
SO distinct from the other great civilized
States, that we fear no invasion, and can look
with composure and profound regret at the
wars and strife of the other hemisphere,
scarcely comprehending the causes which
have led them to marshal armies and navies of
gigantic strength in a contest for power and
influence which scarcely seems justified by
the civilization of the age. Within, however,
we are but human, subject to all the conten-
tions incident to a vigorous race of men,
struggling for wealth, for power, for influ-
ence, and all that man has ever labored for
and fought for. sEtH al5 q. So ut.H T.
Though a new generation has grown up
since the events we are now assembled to
commemorate. there still remain here, in this
very presence, some of the witnesses of a
fierce civil war which left half a million of
graves and an untold amount of human pain
and anguish; million of widows and orphans
left to struggle in cold world, without the
support of the strong arms on which they had
a right to lean; pension roll of 232, ,104
names, at an annual cost of $25, 1851 ,215; ns-
tional debt of over $4,000, ,O00, 900, the inter-
est on which Is annually near $100, ,OO0, 900;
and a vast amount Of property, the result OF
the toll of hundred years, leveled TO the
earth and destroyed forever; yet we hear men
of influence. contend that all this should be
forgotten. 1t has long since been forgiven,
and some of the very men who caused this
state of facts share in the councils of our
Government, and I would be the last man
to will it otherwise. [Cheers.] They are
now our equals in all the attributes of Citizen
ship; share in the common taxes and respon-
sibilties, and l am most happy to bear wit
ness that many of them manifest the most ar
dent desire 10 join with US in making the fu-
5ture more safe and glorious than the past.
GCheers. We.liaye welcomed them back
into the family group, as was the prodigal
son of old, and it may seem to some of our
old Union comrades that it has gone too far
to the prejudice of the remainder of the fam
lily who stood faithful all the time. This is
one of the great political questions now on
trial, and for one Il hope and pray that our
our old antagonists Of the South will have
learned wisdom, and by their acts prove to
the world the sincerity of their patriotic
declarations n Some Of them, however, con-,
tend that because their Individual motives
were pure and honorable = theysare entitled to
the same measure Of honor; and glory as
those who had the right on their side, and
who, by war, and violence, had to enforce,
submission to lawful authority. Gcn n..il I'd
Llyy RIGHT AND WRONG IN THE WAR. ( las
71 There. are such things as abstract right and
abstract wrong, and when history is written,
human actions must take their place in enc OF,
the other category. We claim thai, in the
great civil war. we of the National Union
army were right cheers + and our adversaries
wrong; and no special pleading, no excuses.
no personal motives, however pure. and spe
cious, can change this verdict of the war. l,oT
Iwouldl not for the world, revive the angry
passions of that period of time, nor do / ques.
ton the personal motives OF our then antago-
nists; but ! do and ever will contest the, pro-.
position that we should tear from,the history
:of our country the pages which record the,
great events froml 1850 to 1885; for they
should stand there forever asa warning to
those who come after usaiwlio, from passion,
self Interest, sriIanye human cause or pretext