Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-01

self. The mistake our fathers made had not
been corrected. The foundations Of the repub-
| lie were Insecure The great dome Of the tenn
pie was clad In the light of prosperity, but the
corner stones were crumbling. Four million
OF Truman beings were enslayed. Party cries
| had been mistaken for principles, partisanship
for patriotism. success for justice. But Pity
| pointed TO the SCARED and bleeding backs of
slaves; Mercy heard the sobs of mothers reft of
babes. and Justice held aloft the scales in which
one drop of blood shed by masters lash out
weighed nations gold. There were few
men, few women, who had the courage to
attack this monstrous crime. They found it
entrenched In constitutions, statutes and
decisions, barricaded and Fashioned by every
department and by every party. Politicians
We're Its servants. statesmen its attorneys
Judges its menials Presidents its puppets, and
upon its cruel altar had been sacrificed our
| country's honor. 1t was the crime of the
natiOn-Of the whole cOuntry-north and south
responsible alike
Earth has produced no grander men, no nober
women. They were the real philanthropists, the
| true patriots. When the will defes fear when
the heart applauds the brain, when duty throws
! the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns
to compromise with death-this is herOism The
abotiOnists were heroes. He loves his country
best who strives to make it best The bravest
! men are those who have the greatest fear of do
ing wrong. Mere politicians wish the country
| to do something for them; true patriots desire
/ "
without conscience is a wild beast; patriotism
without principle is the prejudice OF brth-the
| animal attachment to place. These men, these
women, had courage and conscience, patriot
| ism and principle, heart and BRAIN
The south relied upon the bond-upon a bar
Dar0us clause that stained, disfigured and de-
| tiled the federal pact, and made the mOnstrOus
Claim that slavery was the nations ward. The
spot OF shame grew red in northern cheeks, and
northern men declared that slavery had poisoned,
cursed and blighted soul and soil enough. and
| that the territories must be free The radicals
OF the south cried: "No Union without slavery!''
The radicals of the north replied: mo Union
without liberty" The northern radicals were
right. Upon the great issue Of free homes for
free men President was elected by the free
| states The south appealed to the sword, and
raised the standard OF revolt. For the first time
in history the oppressors rebelled
But let us to-day be great enough to forget
individuals; great enough to know that slavery
was treason, that slavery was rebellion. that
slavery fired upon our flag and sought to wreck
and strand the mighty ship that bears the hope
and fortune OF this world The first shot liber-
ated the north. Constitutions. statutes and de-
cisions, compromises platforms and resolutions.
made. passed and ratified in the interest of
slavery, became mere legal lies, mean and mean
ingless, base and baseless. Parchment and
paper could no longer stop or stay the onward
march of man. The north was free Millions
instantly resolved that the nation should not
die. that freedom should not perish, and that
I slavery should not live. Millions of our broth
ers. our sons, our fathers, our husbands an
swered to the nations CALL The great armies
| have desOlated the earth; the greatest soldiers
have been ambitions dupes. They waged war
| for the sake of peace and pilage, pOmp and
power. for the ignorant applause of vulgar mil
lions for the flattery of parasites, and the adu-
laton of sycophants and slaves.
| Let us proudly remember that in our time the
greatest, the grandest. the noblest army of the
world fought, not to enslave. but to free; not to
| destroy, but to save; not simply for themselves
but for others; not for conquest, but for con-
science; not only for us, but for every land and
every race. With courage, with enthusiasm.
ton and purity OF purpose never equalled. this
grand army fought the battles of the republic.
For the preservation of this nation. for the de-
structOn OF slavery, these soldiers these sailors
on land and sea, disheartened by no defeat, dis
| couraged by no obstacle, appalled, by no danger,
! neither paused nor swerved until stainless
| flag, without a rival, fiOated over all our wide
domain, and until every human being beneath
its folds was absolutely free. The great victory
for human rights, the greatest of all the years,
had been won won by the Union men OF the
north, by the Union men of the south. and by
| those who had been slaves Liberty was ma
tiOnal; slavery was dead.
The flag for which the heroes fought. for
which they died. is the symbol of all we are, OF
| all we hope to be. 1t is the emblem of equal
| rights. 1t means free hands, free lips self
government and the sovereignty of the indi.
vldual. 1t means that this continent has been
| dedicated to freedom. It means universal edu-
cation, light for every mind, knowledge for
every child. 1t means that the school-house is
the fortress OF liberty. 1t means that ''govern-
ments derive their just powers from the consent
| of the gOverned;" that each man is accountable
TO and for the governments; that responsibility
goes hand in hand with liberty. 1t means that
it ID the duty of every citizen to bear his share
OF the public burden. to take part in the affairs
OF his town. his county. his state and his
country. 1t means that the ballot-box is the
ark of the covenant, that the source OF
authority must not be poisoned. It means
the perpetual right of peaceful revolution.
1t means that every citizen of the republic
native or acknowledgements be protected; at
home In every state; abroad in every land, on
every sea. 1t means that all distinctions based
that our government shall stand between labor
and capital between the weak and strong.
between the individual and the corporation,
between want and wealth; and give and guar
antee simple justice to each and all. 1t means
that there shall be legal remedy for every
wrong 1t means national hospitality-that we
must welcome to our shores the exiles of the
world, and that we may not drive them back
Some may be defOrmed by labor, dwarfed by
hunger. broken in spirit, victims Of tyranny and
caste-ln whose sad faces may be read the touch
ing record of weary life, and yet their children,
born of liberty and love. will be symmetrical
and fair intelligent and Free
That flag is the emblem of supreme WILL of
a nations power Beneath it's folds the weakest
must be protected and the strongest must obey.
1t shields and canOpies alike the Hottest man
sion and the rudest hut. That flag was given
to the air in the revolutions darkest days It
represents the sufferings of the past, the glores
yet to be; and, like the bow Of heaven, it is the
child of storm and sun. This day is sacred to
the great heroic host who kept this flag above
our heads sacred to the living and the dead
sacred to the Scared and MANNED, sacred to the
wives who gave their husbands, to the mothers
| who gave their sons. Here in this peaceful
land of ours, here where the sun shines, where
flowers grow, where children play, millions Of
armed men battled for the right and breasted
on thousand fields the iron storms of war.
These brave, these Incompatible men, founded
the first republic. They fulfilled the prophe-
cies, they brought to pass the dreams, they rea-
lized the hopes that all the great and good and
wise and just have made and had since man was
man. But what of those who fell? There is no
language to express the debt we owe, the love
| we bear, to all the dead who died for u.s. Words
are but barren sounds. We can but stand be-
side their graves, and in the hush and silence
feel what speech has never told They fought;
they died; and for the first time since man has