Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1879-05-31
An Eloquent Tribute.

Monday last. Col. W. q. +. Breckenridge, one
of KeDtucky's most gifted orators. delivered
the following ,ru:y beautiful address:
10 this lovely and sacred city OF The dead are
buried the b"aurtu! the esIoed, lne Wise ana
the ioVec; q, oIud YOU Oh every side are noy
graves ia which lie uutl, the resurrection morn
the bodies of the u. urued, and Yver which have
been plsced memorials Of love AID Rrlef.-
Among these dead are men who gave honor 10
the greet city whose spires and ascending smoke,
the rising iuceuse Of profitable Industry, are 10
our sigh; men whose virtues were living ep's'
| ties read of all who CAT e'lD cootact with them,
| and who's. lives were fiji eXamplars for your
children to initiate; aud still more precious,
scattered ,v4rywhere, are graves OF pl0us mo
rhers idol;z, I'd wives, OF children whose death
| broke YOUR hearts; of friends still mourned-
And vet all these nouored and loved graves arc
! "a, sed BY to day, and this multitudnous throng
| of women aud men, turning from grave OF father
and mother, OF husband aud wife, of ch!ld and
| sister aud friend. of statesman, phliant6roplst
aud sage turning from the family group where
the heat paogs Of she IlVlog Gao oe read 10 toe
names OF the dead. Is gathered around these
rows Of mounds aud upon them have streWn
| trsgraot flowers, aud 10 h0our OF them have
left home aud the duties OF arduous lie. why
this UNUSUAL hnnor2 Why this resouudlDg
music; these exquisite h)Wers; this more signih'
cant gst heriog? Whose trsves are these TO
which this mouroful but beautiful homage IS
rendered. Sums stranger 10 our uldst-an'
other Ansrch, is-a modern Herodotus, ba7-
iog lust reached This city 10 bis pilgrimage.
| turns to some grave, gray headed mao, bearing
| h,Wers. srd axis With eager but restrained
curiosity, wv hat is tie meaning OF this striking
scene" What answer will sou give. middle
sped map cf business and care? Or, ii be
should chance to ask you, fair mstrou, shat
reply would you reufp? What reply can We
to Day returu to such question, when not at
| other but cur ewo hear sek ~ Hare, TO-
day, 10 the sRht OF Almighty God, whose
| heavens bend 20 catch he answer; 10 he midst
OF the graves of those We loved whose spirits
arr witnesses to this scene; 10 The hesrlog OF
our children, VIII Sc lives may be nodded 10 the
| k.nrss Of cur reply Icy my hand upon my
hart, and lift ny eyes to Cad, and ID the name
Of this Assem- blage avow that this homage IL 10
honor OF martyrs to liberty, who died for the
right, and psve tber lives 10 defense OF the
truth; and for The verify Of this reply | COZ
Fl teoily appeal TO Gvd aod history. Tits is
our answer TO whom,oevtr may cavil or gu 81
ton. 1t is GOT our apology or defense. By
the side of these graves We make neither
apology nor defeuse.
Fourteen years. this very day, have passed
since the last Confederate surrender was made,
eighteen since the echo OF Sunter's guns an
nouuced tina, war 10 all its horrible reality had
iudeed betallen our unhappy land.
| Death has been busy during these years,
| apd The actors 10 those tour years OF war are
rapidly psssiog sway, snd q peW generation
! lie rskiug their places. The mbj IIty OF those
who hear ms we're not participants 10 that
! struggle.
The kindly powers Of nature and the active
Industry OF bad are obterating all the pbysl-
cal evide1c Of the camp, the treoch and
battle fell. TIE golden grain, or the greco
grass, or taugled upderbrush conceal the trench
behind which human hearts bled to death, or
on which heroic courage WoD glory and wrested
victory. The ravaeed fields have been refeuced
and tho burnt homestead has been replaced
With 40 humble, but loved rooftree, uodrr which
wife and little ones lie down to sleep. 80. too,
the stern necessities and the daily duties of life
| have called forth and absorbed all the energies
OF manhood and womaubood. Houses have
been rebuilt, cities re-estaNlIsbed, railways COO
struoted States regained, and liberties reooV'
cred.
During these years, time apd labor aud nc.
cessity; The pew duties the new Vacations, the
| have modified nuil new generation is entering
into life under auspices, relations and clrcum-
Stances peculiar 10 this day. 1t is but natural
| that the causes spd events of our war should
| seem to be mere matters of history, uoimport
| ant, ssye ss q romance or study, ADD that this
| feeling will grow each day. And as it grows
| there may be 30 srqnlesence In The new charge
| that these men whose graves We hooor we're
indeed heroic men, but we're rebels ADD traitors
who fought to preserve human slavery, who
rebeIled without cause, and went to war for
| uuhoy purposes, and during that war commit
ted grave exceses. permitted borrid crueltes;
and that their defeat was ne cassary for hmanly,
liberty and free government. Upon these
graves aud upon the graves Of ell our dead and
the good pane of all our living has this charge
been made. The ear of the world has been
diuned With its camor and at the bar of every
nation and OF poserity We stand coDfrooted
With the CHARGE do not c,me to answer it
TO day. but [ do come to plead that it be Az
sWered 10 It's leogth and breath, and the answer
true answer is complete and accurate history
of the causes which produced the Confederate
war, the events of that war, civil and military,
and Of its results. This history is the true
monu meut We owe to the memory of our dead
comrades, and this is the justification our cb
dren have right TO ask at our baods for their
ssKes.
A history will be written. We owe it to every
sentiment Of honor patriotism and gratitude
that at least We furnish the materials for true
history. 1t may be said that / am urgiug that
all the aoimcsities of the war be revived that
after fourteen years of peace and common Gill
nship, Of social life and intermsrrisge, am
dragging f,rth The SHELTON OF those terrible days.
Nay, not So No one has more sincerely
sesrned for return Of true fraternity than /,
and over these lowly but precious graves am
ready to do all that gentle man and soldier,
pstroit aud ei!z %, CO 10 honor and duty do to
secure for our couoiry and cur children true,
g-percus. equal des;ily. But truth is the only
corner -tobe 10 which prscs can be built, and
rhr Truth, as It s. 60 by GOD, is that truth which
| do pray TO be known Of those cau,es, events
aud result.. My friends such a war Can Dol
b. iguor, q; is lessons " Il bs Iesrbed BY mao
klud; It's Voice las rev rbersled through ali
the worlo; IFS heroes bsve entered ioto the TEN |