The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1879-12-03
COLONEL INGERS0LL'S SPEECH
AT TIE BANQUET GIVEN TO GENERAL GRANT,
BY The ARMY or The TENNESSEE,
IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
rmr VOLUNTEER SOLDIERS.

7 y
the barbarism of the clan and the ia
| sanity OF secession confronted th,
civilization of our century, the ques
ton, "WiIl the great Republic defenC
itself?" trembled on the lips OF ever
lover OF mankind
Tie North, filed with intelligenc:
and wealth-children of liberty
marshsled her hosts and asked only
for leader
From civil life g man, silent
thong poised and calm, stepped
forth, and with lips of victory voiced
the Nations first and last demand
"UncoDGitionel aud immediate sur
render From that moment the
end was known That utterance was
the first resl declaration of war, and
in accordance with the dramatic uni
ties of mighty events, the great sol
dier who made it, received the fnal
reward Of the rebellion. Loud sp
! plause
The soldiers Of the Republic were
not seekers after vulgar glory. They
were not animated by the hope Of
pluIder or the love of conquest. They
| fought TO preserve the blessings OF
liberty and that their children might
have peace.
They were the defenders Of human.
ity, the destroyers of prejudice, the
breaker of chains, and in the name Of
their future they slew the monster
Of their time. They finished what
the soldiers of the Revolution COM
menced. They relighted the torch
that fell from their august hands and
filed the world again with light.
They blotted from the statute books
laws that had been passed by hypo.
critics CT the ins,igation Of robbers,
and tore with Indignant hands from
the Constitution that infamous clause
that made men the catchers OF their
fellow men.
They made it possible for judges to
be just, for statesmen to be human,
and for politicians to be honest. Ap.
piause
They broke the shsckles from the
limbs Of slaves, from the souls Of mas
,ers, ard from the Northern brain.
They kept our country on the map Of
the world and our flag in heaven.
Great applause
They rolled the stone from the sep
ulchre Of progress and found there
two angels clad in shining garments
Nationality and Liberty The sol
diers were the saviours of the Nation;
they we're the liberators of men. In
writing the proclamation of independ-
ence, Lincoln, greatest of our mighty
dead, whose memory is as gentle as
the summer air when respers sing
amid he gathered shesves, copied
with the pen what Grant and his
brave comrades wrote with swords.
Grander than the Greek, nobler
than the Roman, the soldiers OF .he
Republic, with patriotism as stain
less as the air, battled for the rights
of others, for the nobility of labor,
fought that mothers might own their
babes, that arrogant idleness should
not seer the back of patient toll, and
that our country shall not be a many
headed monster made of warning
States, but Nation. sovereign, great
and free Applause.
Blood was water, money was leaves
and life was common air until our
flag flosted over a Republic without
a master and without slave. Ap-
plause
Then was asked aquestion "Will
a free people tax themselves to pay
the Nations debt ?"
The soldiers went home to their
waiting wives, to their glad children,
and to the girls they loved-they
went back to the fields, the shops and
the mines. They had not been de-
morslized They bad been ennobled.
Applause.
They were as honest 10 peace as
they had been brave in war. Mock
ing at poverty, laughing at reverses.
they made a friend Of toll. They
said:
I'VE saved the Nations life, and
what is life without bonor 2" Thev
worked and wrought with all the la
boris sons that every pledge the Ma
ton gave should be redeemed. Ap-
piause
And their great leader, having put
band of Friendships girdle of
clasped and happy hands-around. the
globe, comes home and finds that ev-
cry promise made in war has now the
ring and CLEAN of gold Prolonged
applause.
There is another question still
viii all the wounds OF the war be
healed? answer, ves The South
ern people must submit, not to the
dictation of the North, but to the
Nations will ard to the verdict Of
mankind Applause They were
wrong, and that time will come when
they will soy that they are victors
who have been vanquished BY the
right
Freedom conquered them, and
freedom will cultivate their fields, ed
ucs;e their children, weave for them
the robes of wealth, execute their
laws, aud gill their land with happy
homes Applause.
The soldiers of the Union saved
The South as well as the North. They
made US q Nation. Appiause ]
Their victory made Us free and rem
dered tyranny in every other land as
insecure as snow upon VOLCANOES
lips.
And now let us drink 10 the volun-
teers, to those who sleep in the un-
known, sunken graves, whose names
are only in the hearts OF those they
loved and left-of those who often
hear in happy dreams the footsteps Of
return.
Let us drink to those who died
where lipless famine mocked at want
to all the manned whose scars give
modesty tongue-to all who dared,
and gave to chance the care and keep.
ing of their lives-to all the living
and to all the dead-to Sherman, to
Sheridan, and to Grant, the foremost
soldier of the world, and last, to Lin
coin, whose loving life, like bow Of
peace spans the arches of all the clouds
of ua- TproIonDod oDr,lauao