National Republican., 1880-05-31
THE ARLINGTON GRAFTON.
An Eloquent Address by Hon. George
c. HazeIton.
Some Strong and Earnest sentences-The
Ancient Memorial Customs-The story
of the Rebellion Told without
Mincing words-The Mean
ing of tho Confiiot-The
Future Full of Hope.
Representative Hnzelton,s Grafton.

Following is the full text of the Grafton de-
livered at the Arlington national cemetery
Saturday by Hon. George G. Hazeton, of Wis
consin:
VETERANS OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE
REPUBLIC, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: There
is in the human heart a natural venoration
for all that is heroic noble and sclf.sacrifcng
in the history of the human race.
The world is full of monuments which
commemorate public and private virtue. The
mouldering sepulclre, consecratod by tho un-
dying eloquence of Pericles, is still associated
with the most brilliant of nll victories n
Athenan history.
"The peasants Of the Tyrol think there Is
no monument in all the world like theirs and
no memory half so dear as that of Andreas
Hofcr. Amid the cantons of FREQ Switzerland
the horo of the old legend is to-day bright
reality, while in Scotland, from the borders TO
the crags of the highlands, the sword Of
Wallace still CLEANS and the memory Of Bruce
is still cherished.
AT Westminster Abbey the English people
for eight centuries have crowned and buried
their royal rulers, aud within that gray old
tomb of the arist0cracy have been gathered
through successive ages the illustrious remains
of those who had built for themselves still
more enduring monument in learning and
philosophy, in art and literature, and of those
who had been the captains of.armies, the
leaders of parties, the oracles of senates aud
tho ornaments of courts" And however
much we may desire to linger among the
h0nored dead of the old world, we turn in
stinctively this morning to heritage of our
own, more precious than ALL the great ceme-
teries and the many lonely graves upon our
own free soil, set apart aud consecrated forever
by free people as the sacred places of the re-
public, wherein rcpose Tie remains or forms
once manly and brave, who surrendered up
their lives II willing sacrifice TO the cause of
liberty and union. These graves who shall
number them? These dead-who shall tell
their story? From the far southwestern
borders of Texas to the pine.cad hills Of
Maine, and from the source of tho mighty
river of the great Mississippi valley, among
the lakes of the north, until it pours its resist
less flood into the humid gulf Of the south, are
sown MS If broadcast the white stones marking
the last resting-places Of four heroic dead.
There are, too, three score great
NATIONAL CEMETERIES
In which are gathered all that remains OF
those who were denied tho final boon of n
grave by their own streams or on their own
hillsidcs. In them are gathered the scores of
thousands who fell where only heroes fall, at
the front, where kissing bullet and shrieking
shell tell that brave men are daring all the
terrors of deadly battle, for principles sake,
Almost score of years have passed, and yet
what memories some of these great cemeteries
recall. Pittsburg Landing and Seven Pines,
Stone river and Antietam, Vicksburg and Get
tysburg Chattanooga and Fredericksburg,
Marietta and Cold Harbor-to mention but
these few names is to bring. to mind the
grandest struggle ever waged in free
dom's behalf; to attempt to tell that
in them lie the dead of full hundred OF
mighty battles would be to give the history
of one of the longest and cOstliest wars, in
life and blood, ever waged by man. Nor can
l pause here; there are still four more kindred
to themselves, over whose mention tho heart
shrinks and the tongue well nigh refuses ut
terancc-Forence, Richmond, Salisbury and
Andersonville-th saddest spots on earth
where moulder away by thousands brave
prisoners of war, murdered by starvation
whose ghastly visages thrilled death itseli
with horror, whose skeleton shadows darken
tho walls of war memories forever, and foi
whose torturing of body and mind there can
be no excuse, and no atonement Oh earth or in
heaven. 1t were better for humanity if this
sad picture could be voiled forever from the
sight. Taken together, then, tho national
cemeteries are the tokens and the evidence OF
the priceless inheritance which we enjoy
They constitute the source from which free
people shall draw their proudest inspiration
| and they shall remain the hallOwed shrines
of liberty, cherished and protected by a
grateful nation so long as she shall main.
tain in this broad land her empire and her
home. Not alone then to Arlington, but tc
all these grateful people bring to-day their
yearly tribute of love aud flowers Tho con.
| flct OF arms IN which over quarter of mill.
| ion of American freemen sacrificed their
manly lives, and which you of tho Grand
Army of the Republic happily survive, was the
natural and irresistible rosult-the culmina.
tion in war of a long civil conflict over princi'
pies which underie free government, aud
which constitute the very foundations of civ.
ilization and human progress. 1t came like
storm clouds, surcharged with heat, long-gath'
erng, which at last burst in bolts of fire and
falling floods, to purify tho earth and air.
THE ISSUE
between the two forces, closely drawn and
we'll Defined compassed tho territorial integ.
rity of the government; the destruction of the
union and of liberty itself. The one sprung
to arms upon the abstraction that the right OF
secession was reserved TO the states, and upon
the theory that by right capital should own
its labor, control it, buy it, sell it, debauch it.
The other came to the fields Of war with the
conviction entrenched in its heart that the
union was insepaTable, that labor should be its
own master, wear no shackles, and stand
erect before the law of government, aud before
God and man, honorable and honorcd. Lib.
erty, then, must cast her fortunes with the
union cause, or perlSn on our continent,
Under the Rgis of the doctrine of state rights
slavery could rocoil within state lines and
exist for n time; but smitten with the fear of
death by circumscription or elimination by
the growth of free sentiment in the north, il
had become aggressive, aud had sought to make
its sentiments aud its power national. With an
eye to its own aggrandizcment it had gained
political asccndency in the republic through
the completely and alliance of partisan
friends in the free states, By converting to its
own use the rich lands of the south, in vast
plantations, aud by the absorption ofall indus-
tries, il had forced its free middle classes into
the border free states, and. strange us IL may
seem, there to strengthen by political alliance
the power from which they had been compelled
to flee 1t had extended its lines aud outposts,
carried its sentiment and its flag into the new
states of the Pacific coast, into the great terri.
tories, aud among the Indian tribes; had drawn
into its service IL large portion of the press Of
the north; had invaded the army and tho navy,
aud sOiled the ormine of the courts. 1t trusted
no man who was not known TO be as faithful to
its interests MS the needle TO the pole. 1t sou ght
the suhvCrsion of freedom and its own national
ACKNOWLEDGMENT through the power Of party or.
ganization, for thirty years dominant in the
republic, with adherents in every stat Q
in the union, commanding the allegiance of
its northern wing by lavshing iavors, tempting
ambition with the hOnors aud emoluments of
Office, dispensing the patronage of great gov
ernment with royal generosity, until at last,
whnn IL saW that pOpulUr will which intended