Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-05-05
WITTY PATHETIC AND ELO-
QUENT.

Richard Guenther, state treasurer, at the
soldiers mass meeting in Milwaukee on
Tuesday April 18th, was fine effort
We take pleasure in reproducing it. Mr..
Guenther was accorded the heartiest kind
of applause he said:
Mr.. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN: Having received notice from the
reunion committee to be present on this
OCCASION and being informed by my mil
itary friends that refusal would be an
act of insubordination and subject me to
a court martial, am here, ready to meet
my fate, but hope to be dealt by with leni-
ency.
Commendable as the spirit is that
prompted this demonstration, / am still Of
the opinion that, as far as it is it's object
to increase the attendance at the coming
reunion, you might as well have dispensed
with it. It's gram. success is already an
assured fact, as esly body can tell you
who has kept his eyes and ears open for
the last six months, know that the sol
diers all will rally around the old flag in
June next. They hare said SO and you
know they always keep their word.
You will have soldiers enough here to
conquer world should the necessity
arise And now, gentleman, it having not
been my good fortune to be in this coun-
try during the late Hnpleasantness, / sim
ply represent and speak for the grand
army of non-combatants, and herewith
give you due notice that it will not be
within human power to keep us away.
We are bound to be in the city during
this grand gathering whether you have
| room for us or not, and whether you want
us or not. You may cut off all railroad
communication and we will walk; you
| may tie up all steamboats, and we will
come in canoes or in balloons; you may
intrench yourselves and we will storm
your Notifications; you may issue pro
clamation to hang us, and We will risk it
we would rather hang here during
these days than to sit on the sombre saw
logs at Oshkosh, or on the lonely steps Of
the state house at Madison and read the
dispatches Of the glorious times you are
enjoying here. Gentlemen, we can stand,
if necessary, the distant roar and thunder
of battle: we can face without finchipe
the captured and disarmed enemy; we
can endure the hardshiLs OF civil life in
times of war; we could see you soldiers
crowned with the green laurels ofvictory,
without getting even single leaf of that
beautiful wreath ourselves,-we could
stand all tli;. But if you expect us to
stay away from this peatable engagement
next June you will have made the reck-
| Oning without your host The soldier
spirit is aroused in our ranks and like
Hannibal of ancient fame we will cross
the Al ps Of obstacles YOU may put in our
way. Ard mind you, we'll not come
al ne We will bring our wives, our
| children and those not blessed with these
dear ones, their sweethearts. And why,
you may ask us, do you come? For them
[ will answer: Not merely for idle curl
osity, not only because the beautiful
Cream City offers so many attractions
not only because we are sure of a royal
good time, but to help to pay off the debt
of gratitude every loyal heart throughout
this broad domain of freedom owes to the
soldiers We want to greet the valiant
men, we want to hail the brave defenders
| of our nations honor, we want to cheer
the surviving gallant patriots, we want to
! cherish in grateful reverence the humblest
of our immortal dead who with their own
warm life blood sealed the declaration for
| time and eternity that the union of the
states must be indissoluble and forever.
| We want to see, we want to show our
| children, the men, the heroes, the battled
SCARED veterans who, in the dark hours
of our nations peril, in the great struggle
for liberty and union-forgetful Of every
| thing but their devotion to their native or
adopted land, inspired by the loftiest pa
triotism, placed their all, their lives, upon
| the hallowed shrine of our common coun-
try. We want to show them, not the
soldiery of despotism, not soldiers by birth
Or profession, not soldiers for paltry gain,
not soldiers who do the bidding of mon
archs and kings for vain glory or brutal
conquest, but the grand army Of volun-
teer citizen soldiers Of the republic, led
by the majestic, the divine, the American
goddess of liberty in the noble cause Of
right, Of justice and equality for all. We
want to take these brave men by the
hand; we want once more to thank them
for their heroic Deeds for their unfalter-
ing love for our free institutions; we want
to rejoice that through their courageous
perseverance we are permitted to day to
so fully enjoy all the sweet boons ofpeace
prosperity and united free and powerful
country, of which we, all of us, are proud
to be sovereign citizens.
Gentlemen we will all come and my
advice is: prepare for the invitable."