The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-06-01


patriotism, in the interest of the present and
the future, let this promise be fulfilled. Let
not another thirteen years roll away, and find
us without some memorial of the worthy part
borne by our Portland soldiers in that gallant
strife.
To you, comrades, whose ranks grow thin
ner as the years roll round, what fifth NO
words can I address! By the sacred MEM
cries of the past by the hallowed influences
of the present, by the yet brighter hopes and
prospects of the future, I charge YOU
preserve your soldier birthright as pure and
spotless as the cause for which Won
fought. Teach your children to love
their country and respect its laws,
and when you too shall "sleep the sleep that
knows no waking tender hands shall strew
your honored graves with natures choicest
garlands, and at each returning spring-time
loving lips shall repeat the simple story of
your noble lives.
Riddefora and Saco.
Post Sheridan observed the day with the
usual ceremonies. Headed by the Institute
band the Post marched to Saco, where the
city government, clergymen, children of the
Juvenile Gold Water Templars, and others,
were received and escorted to Laurel Hill Gem
etery, where, after prayer by the Rev. G. Il .
Bean, brief address By the Rev. Thomas
lyric and dirge by the band, the graves were
decorated. In the afternoon the Post escorted
Governor Conner from the depot to the Bidde-
ford House. The exercises in the evening
We're held in City Hall. Mayor Moses presid-
ed. Excellent singing was furnished by a
double quartette Gov. Conner delivered the
address. 1t was scholarly production and the
tribute which it paid to the memory of the hon.
ored dead was exceedingly graceful and full of
genuine feeling But the address was something
more than retrospect. A discussion of the
pefis which the country escaped through the
devotion and valor of it's citizen so1diery natur-
ally led to consideration Of the dangers
which are now threatening the nation and the
orators treatment of them was eminently wise
and statesmanlike We make the following
extracts:
Holiday-making garlands, and professions,
and music, and praiseful words, honorable as
they are to the dead and living are but the
mockery of remem brance AID honor if we do
not render the fallen the simple justice the
everyday service of reporting them and their
cause Alright on every occasion of reference to
then. Somewhere there rests responsibility
for inauguratug the contest that consumed SO
many lives. Between the two contestants
there was right and wrong upon that point.
There was an attack and defence. 1t was
the firm and undoubting belief of the follow
ers of the stars and stripes that they were on
the side of right, and fighting on the soil of
the Union in defence of the Union against
rebellion without provocation or justification.
Impartial history will sustain the rightfulness
of that belief. The responsibility remains
with those who disturbed the established order
of things,-the Union, the constitution and the
laws. The election of President was not
disturbance of that order. Firing upon the
flag was 1t may be said, it is said, that our
opponents were as full Of faith in the right
eousness of their cause as we're the men they
faced. do not question the existence of that
faith. or their devotion to their flag, or the
fortitude, courage, and other soldierly virtues
which they abundantly displayed. the prop
osltlon, which the friends of the Union are
pledged to its mute defenders by every obliga-
tion of duty and honor to maintain, is, that
they fell as defenders, not aggressors.
Experience is one of the chief g1idss of
conduct. We cannot blot out the past, nor
could we afford to do so if it were possible we
need it for the thorough understanding of
the present, for warning and instruction that
we may prudentiy forecast the future. The in
terests of the nation, as well as HONESTY and
good morals, demand that tbs facts of its past
shall be truly and faithfully delivered. Certain
facts should not be paraded uselessly or with
out right motive or good purpose; still less
should they be brought forward to be falsifed
When the blood-guiluness of the Rebellion is
charged upon those who would not psssively
submit to the disruption of the U non, we must
oppose our Indignant denial to the charge and
appeal Ito the intelligent Judgment of man
kind" upon the facts for vindication. There
is a wide range of sentiment among the people
of the North in regard to the present attitude
of their late enemies towards the country; it
extends from absolute distrust to full convic-
ton of the sincerity of their allegiance. There
Is, however, no exception to the unanimity of
desire for perfect harmony and brotherhood
and of disposition to sweep away every barrier
to good understanding, and to do all that
naly be done without the sacrifice of principles
to cultivate fraterna relations But there are
concessions which from their necessary con-
uecton with firmly held principles aud con-
victions, cannot be made. No intensity of
goodwill can affect the logical sequences of a
pFo aosition. No man can withouG an insincer-
ity and selt-contradiction amounting to rank
sbsuIdity, declare that he rejoices because the
Union has been preserved from the enemies
that encompassed it, and that he holds both
the assailants, who would have destrOyediit,
aud the defenders, who saved it from destruc-
ton, in equal honor.
The arms Of the Union were victorious be-
cause its soldiers knew the value of the stake
which they as citizens had in the contest. The
triumph was not due to purchased devotion.
The strength of out armies lay in the Intelligent
men who took up arms from patriotic motives
10 the veterans who proved their earnestness
aud showed that they had not been animated
By TRANSIENT enthusiasm when at the close of
their first terra OF service, knowing we'll the
sternness of war ana having sad evidence of its
ravages in their thinned ranks. they enlisted
anw to bear their torn banners into victory
Men of foreign birth, citizens by adoption, or
seeking citizenship in the great Republic, well
coined the opportunity to show their attach
ment to the country of their choice and to
identify themselves with it more closely, and
fought to save the Union with as pure a
devotion to freedom as that which led Lafayette,
Koscusko, Pulaski, Stueben and De kalb to
engage in the war which gave it birth.
The triumph of Amercan!natOnality which
is ind;ssolubly connected with the commemora-
ton of its hero-martyrs was attended and has
been followed by such other noble triumphs,
as to signalize the period of the restoration of
the Union as tee grandest IN the annals OF any
people, The entrauchsement of the slaves
was triumph of freedom and human rights.
The peaceful dissolution of our armies and the
speedy absorption of their soldiers in the mass
of citizens was triumph of popular govern
ment. The mercy extended to all VINO had
been guilty of the great crime of attemp ting
the national life was triumph of magnani-
nifty.
Another triumph, worthy to shine in this
galaxy is now SO well assured that we may
fairly lay claim to 1.-THE triumph Of national
honesty. 1t is conceded to be the first right
and duty of a government 10 preserve its own
existence. To that end it may atsneed draw
without limit upon the lives and fortunes OF its
citizens. w hen thl5 government was In peril
of its life the loyal people recognized that right
and duty to the full, and the fervor of 4,
patriotism found expression in pledging "thes
last man and the last dollar for defence. The
preservation of country and freedom was the
supreme consideration. The government
summoned the people to give personal service,
and they fooked to the standard of the nation
by hundreds of thousands. 1t called for money
and millions were. poured into thu public
treasury and the burden Of unprecedented
taxation was borns without murmur. All
other resorts proving inadequate to provide the
enormous sums necessary to carry on a contest
which had assumed gigantic proportions. the
credit of the nation was made use of and the
promises 10 pay of the nited States were
issued, and invested "for the time being" with
the character of money. Thus the country
staked its energies in the future in addition to
its existing strength and wealth on the result
of the war. The soldiers in the field were the
chief guarsntors of the payment of those
promises. They pledged their lives that the
United States should live to redeem them. No
time for the redemption of the promises was
expressly indicated. The honor Of a great
country was assurance enough that reasonable
expectation would be fully satisfied The
Secretary of the Treasury 10 the very year of
the close of the war declared that the war
having ceased, the work of re-oecupying the