National Republican., 1880-05-31

HUOnS llS army NOT was TINS all Commencing
near Fortress Monroe the work of the union
sailors began. Away southwark, around stormy
Hatteras, down along the low swampy coasts
OF the Carolinas and Georgia, around th Q
great peninsula of Florida to tho harbor Of
Pensacola, and thence along the Gulf coast /
past Alabama and Mississippi, Louisiana and
Texas to the Mexican frontier at the mouth OF
the Rio GTande, stretched q tiroless. sleepless
line of tho union blockade almost two thou
sand miles long. Every harbor on this enor-
nous limo was scaled, every intent and creek
every bay and bayou was watched by day aud
picketed by night. Operating with this great
ilcet wore two large armies, one In the CarOlnas
aud one with New Orleans rs lis base on the
gulf. Tukiug no step backward, this mighty
line moved forward to certain victory, and
when this was achieved, aud the authority of
the government established, these armies,
Injured to war; and stronger for d0ty than ever
before, leaving the fruits Of their victories TO
tho craftsmanship of the nation, melted away
into the civil pursuits of life, returned TO their
altars und their homes,
TO APPEAR NO MORE
in army array forever
"Sncc then peace hath produced grand re-.
suits The great people who solved the prob.
lem of war have been engaged in preserving
the principles which IL vndicated and in
making forever permanent in their govern.
ment the fruits of its victories. Not in tho
extension of national domain through con-
quest, by which sin the old nations perished
but in the practical and successful solution of
tho problem of free self-governmont in that
broad territory which we now have, rests the
glory Of the present aud the security of the
future.
"Thcrc have been other wars in the worlds
history which have decided tho fate OF nations,
but greater than all was this which eliminated
slavery from a continent enthroned free
dom in power, and placed the republic of the
new world at the forefront Of the nations of
the earth.
"Iu March, 1861, stood at the east front of
the capitol, among the vast asscmblago that
witnessed the first Inauguration of Abraham
Lincoln. In its rear and on its fanks were
artillery shotted to tho muzzle. Tho atmos-
phere was hot with hostility TO the incoming
administration and toward tho government of
the fathers. ! saw that day gang Of slaves,
men made in Gods image, driven in chains
up Pennsylvania avenue, like u herd of brutos
under the masters lash. Now the shining
towers of Howard university, the freedmen's
scat of learning, greets the white monument
TO Washington as it rises higher and higher
uuto the heavens. look over the broad land;
and other and kindred institutions appear to
bless the freedmens way to life, liberty aud
the pursuit Of happiness
81 SEQ your dusky faces now amid this great
mullltuuc Ol Tree lnCu una Tree women. lou
have come to Arlington, to these shades OF
the mighty dead, with gratitude in your hearts
and with sweet wild flowers in your hands to
strew upon the graves of those who in the ranks
of war helped to break your chains and give TO
you sovereignty higher than prince or
throne could give. Their work is finished. If
you cannot in the future as race acquire and
possess the elements of manly power, if you
cannot bring in time, as the fruits of your re-
knnNyIa1nn
and that courage and manhood which know
its rights and knowing dare maintain, then
your part rs citizens in this free government
will be a mournful failure. The nation, with
abiding confidence in your capacity to accom-.
plish all this, takes you by the hand this day
and bids you try.
ITO the development OF all the war secured
the way is opening broader and broader with
THE ONWARD MARCH OF TINE.
How can the vanquished of the south long
hate the generous victor that shares with him
in full tho fruits of victory? How shall
he complain of the generous condition upon
which he is allowed to return, after four long
years of warfare against the government, to
stand upon an equality with every citizen of
the republic who has been faithful in all things
to her interests? The friends of those who fell
in the rebellion, obedient to the natural atfcc-
tion of the human heart, build monuments
| and strew the sweetest flowers that springtime
brings upon the graves of their departed he
roes; but the flowers will wither, and the
monuments, in time, will crumble aud perish
as n new south, best by freedom and progress,
shall take its inspiration, with us, from these
graves, where sleep forever her best and true
| est friends.
Virtue alone outbuilds the pyramids
Her monuments shall last when Egypts fall.
"The future is full of hope and promise. The
cause Of freedom will hold its place and move
onward to higher results
IL stood but yesterday in the great presence
of the statue of emancipation in Lincoln park,
an ideal to me of one of the grandest deeds in
| all mankind's history. l seemed to hear him
whose martyrcd life went out for liberty, de-
clare, Upon this act, sincerely believed to be
an act of justice, l invoke the considerate
! judgment of mankind aud the gracious favor
of Almighty God,' as he broke the chain to let
the oppressed 60 free.
II saw the freedman with severed manacle,
type of the race of slaves redeemed, catch the
first thrill of freedoms inspiration as the great
delvcrer bade him rise
II saw the armies of the union sweep the
fields of bloody war MS lightninas cleave the air
81 saw the constitution of the fathers built in
compromise transformed by the power of war
and peace into the inllncss of freedoms magma
charta, in whose light the God'given law of
equality for man stood rcsplcndent.
II heard the highest court on earth, the ar
bitter of American law, rcmovCa former decree
and declare the eternal principles of freedom to
be the law of the republic forever more
~ saw the union OF the states, united in
bands of love aud harmony, devoted to free
dom and progress, carrying in its right hand
length ordays and in its left riches and honor,
and over all l read tho immortal words of Ban
croft:
"'At the foot of every page in history may
be writton-' GoD REIGNs.'"
WISE AND OTHERWISE