Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1880-06-01

| result. Never pausing for reflection, never
stopping to consider the constitutional safe
guards by which they we,s surrounded, blind
ed by passion and carr led away by the fsrvid ap
peals Of hot iooded leaders, they cast the
teachings Of Washington and Madison to the
winds and aimed heir heavy blows at the tot
| terlng fabric of the Union. The dread ordea
| had come. Without an army or navy, with
a depleted treasury and an exhausted credit,
with one third of its people i'll armed rebellion,
| the mighty Republic of the West found itself
| struggling In the mae.ssrom of civil war. And
was this to be the end of free government
Were the hopes of futurity to be thus ruth
| lessly blasted and the ark of freedom foundered
ia the sea Of discard No! If the seeds of
| dsintsgraton had been sown broad asst
| throughout the South, devotion to the Union
| had been Taught in every village school of the
North and when the struggle could no longer
| be averted it found the patriotism Of the peo-
pie equal to the strain. Long the conflict
! ragged. Bull Rua, Fredericksburg an. Chicka
manga carried desolatlon and sorrow to the
nation hear, and robed the heavens in black.
Chattanooga, DonelscM ana - >urg came.
Joy restored, and the .a, u ..as flooded
with light. And so the tide of war rolled on,
victory alternating with defeat, antii the white
winged messenger settled once mere upon a
united and happy land. The principle Of ma
tionality had Conquered, and the banner Of the
Union, without stain to mar its beauty,
waved in triumph and in peace. Five hun
bred men had died, but the nation lived, and
the world had gained by the sacrifice. From
the St. Lawrence to the Cuff, aud from the
Gulf to the foaalng breakers Of the Pacific,
the country was SCARED and disigured by
newly made graves, bnt those caves were
watered aud ssnc,iGed by the joyous tears of
enfranchised millions. Palace and cottage
wers filled with mourning and every family
circle had its vacant chair, but the spirit OF
liberty lowered above it and shed halo on
TIA gloom.
Nothing could Lave been more terrible than
that convulslon; nothlng could have been
xrsnder than It's results;-and surely nothing
could be more beautiful than the sentiment
which brings us here to-day for
the memory of those who fought and fell in
that holy cause. Humbly and reverently,
with charity for all and malice toward none"
We gather around the gra of our dead. |
Sadly our thoughts fit backward to the days
of long ago, when We stood together i'll camp
and in Fl and those who now lie here So |
stark and I'D were radiant with life and hope.
1t has been said that deep in the nature of |
every man lies hidden spring of tender feel |
ing, and that at times r. eds but touch to
bring it yelling to the surface. How true
does this appear on these occasions, when the
food-tids of memory brings as face to face
with the past, and the features of a.aost for
gotten comrades with their varied associations,
are reproduced before US. The baser passions
disappear, and all that is pure and lofty in the
mind of man swells into life and being We
look down the dim vista of the years that are
aea, and think of those whs with US no
more. And with what world Of pathos those
feelings manifest themselves in the services of
Memorial Day! Love, gratitude, fraternity
and patriotism sweetly and harmoriousy
blended and exp 'sslon i'll the unpretendlng
tributes which Y > off to the memory of eur
ormer 'panons. u those who have here
oand their last resting place one emily was
member of Custer Post, but they were our
still, sharing with us the tolls and
lang rs of soldiers life. Strangers we may
have been, and widely separated in tn ID,
out the same thoughts inspired us, and we re-
,ard every man who wore the blue in the
graz 0.my Of the Union, as being equally |
entitled 10 our tributes and our tears. Bat ,
We can never consent to divide the honors be-
ween the Blue and the Gray. Not that we
ire unforgiviRg; not that we harbor a feeling
# bitterness net that We are incapable of ap- |
'reciating the magnificent courage Of these ,
Tho fought beneath the ensign of the confed- I
racy. We remember with thrill of adml- !
alton the exalted heroism which animated the =,
esions of Jackson and Johnson and Lee, and
viii never refuse upon all proper occasions to d
ID them every honor which brave soldiers can 4
emand. But this is not merely question
# bravery great principle is involved.
70 place the Blue and the Gray upon an eqnal =
lane, is to sweep away every distinction be- I
ween treason and loyalty, a r. which no 4
eople can rord to do. l. 10 because our .
omrades cor. bned loyalty with their bravery,
hat adern their graves with flowers and
tho ground wherein they sleep. | q
loyalty has always been regarded as one of r
he grAndest and noblest sentiment implanted
4 the breast Of man. and from the earliest
sriods of ";'uity it has breathed forth its
eniGcent hruunce on the fortunes Of the HUI '
ian race Tempered by love Of freedom /.
nd the christi.L virtues, that influence
as been ever on the side of coed, and II
as carried mankind steadily forward to u
higher and nobler destiny. Regard L
70 the cultivation of this sentiment as .
vitalimpo.tance to the future of our coun
y, feeling that without it free go-.rnh,en, q
.nnot exist, the organization KIN, the
rand Army Of the Republic has made it the
-eat predominant feature Of its creed. Loyal
is the handspring Of our action, the guiding D
ar of the order, and We feel it our duty to v
impress it upon the minds of others, that
hen We shall cease to be, and for lsng age.
hereafter, that star may still CLEAN in the in
ravens, & beacon light to posterity, the death a,
IS watch Ere Of the nations life and unity.
is with this object in view that We have
ade HMemsrial Dav" necuIiarlv aur o. n | h.