The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-12-06
COL. 1NGERSOLL ON THE VOLUN-
TIERS
From his speech at the Grand Banquet in


From his speech al the Grand Banquet In
Chicago.
"The Volunteer Soldiers of the Mon
Army They were the defenders of hu-
mainly, the destroyers of prejudice, the
breakers of chains, and in the name of the
future, slew the monster of their time
They finished what the soldier Of the
Revolution commenced. They have relit
the torch that fell from their august
hands, and filled the world again with
light. They blotted out from our statute
books the laws passed by hypocrites at
the instigation of robbers loud ap-
plausel and tore with brave and indig-
nant hands from the Constitution of the
United States that infamous clause that
made men the catchers of their fellow
men. Applause. They made it pos
sible for Judges to be just, for statesmen
to be humane, and for politicians to he
the limbs of slaves, from the souls of
masters. and from the Northern BRAIN
They kept our country on the map of the
world and our flag in Heaven. Ap-
plause.l They rolled the stone from the
sepulchre Of progress, and found therein
two angles clad in shining garments
Nationality and Liberty. Loud APP
plauSe.
The soldiers were the saviours Of the
Republic; they were the Iiberators of
men. In writing the Proclamation Of
Emancipation, Lincoln, greatest Of our
mighty dead, whose memory is as gentle
rs a summer air when the reapers sin.
amid gathered sheaves, copied with the
pen what the grand hands of brave com
rades had written with their swords.
Applause. Grander than the Greek.
nohier than the soldiers OF the Republic.
with patriotism as careless as the air,
fought for the rights Of others. for the
mobility of labor, and battled that a
mother might own her child. that AFRO
giant idleneSS should not scar the back of
patient toll, and that our country should
not be Il many headed monster made OF
warning States. but a Nation, sovereign
grand and free. Applause. Blood
was water, money was leaves. and life
was only common air. until one flag
tloated over one Republic without mas
ter and without slave. And then WAS
asked the question, will a free people
voluntarily tax themselves to pay Ma
tons 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. the mines.
They had not been demoralized. They
had been ennobled. [Cheers. Mocking
at reverses, laughing at poverty, they
made a friend of toll. They said, I'VE
saved the Nations life. and what is life
without honor?' They worked and
wrought, with all of Labor's royal sous.
that every pledge the Nation made might
be redeemed. And their great leader,
having put shining band OF friendship.
Il girdle of clasped and loving hands
around the globe. came home to lind. and
finds, that every promise made in war
has now the ring and CLEAN OF gold. En-
thuSiastic cheers.
There is another question still. Will
all the wounds of war be healed? an
swer yes. The Southern people must
submit. Not to the dictaton of the
! North, but to a Nations will and the YER
dict of mankind. [Great applause They
were wrong, and the time will come when
they will say that the people are the vic
tors. who have been vanIui>hed by the
right. Freedom conquered them and
freedom will cultivate their fields will
educate their children, will weave robes
OF wealth, will execute the laws and ill
their land with happy homes. APP
pIause.1 The soldiers Of the Union saved
| the South as well as the North. They
gave US the Nation. They gave us liber-
; ty hero, and their grand victories have
made tyranny the world over as insecure
as snow upon the lips OF volcanoes, APP
plause.
And now let us drink to the Volunteers
, to those who sleep i'll unknown and sunk
| en- graves, whose names are known only
to the hearts they loved and left OF those
who oft i'll happy dreams can see the foot
steps of return. Let us drink to those
who died where lifcless famine mocke ID
at want. Let us drink to the manned
whose scars gave modesty tongue. Let
us drink to those who dared and gave to
chance the care and keeping oftheir lives.
Let us drink to all the living and to all
the dead-to Sherman, and to Sheridan,
and to Grant. the laure!ed soldiers of the
| world. and last TO Lincoln, whose loving
life, like q bow of peace, spans and arches
all the clouds of war.