The National tribune., 1882-09-28
III. R. XANNEMAN
Lale NapJ. 20. q, oIJn IND. InI
WOODBURY., n. j., Sept 18th, 1882.
ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND
Fourteenth Annual Reunion at Mslwaukee.-Gen'l



Grosyenor's Address.
Special Correspondence National Tribune
MILWAUKEE, WIS, Sept. 20.-The fourteenth
annual Reunion of the Society of the Army of
the Cumberland opened to-day, Gen. Phil
Sheridan presiding. Gems Nathan Kimball,
of Utah, and j. S. Fullerton, of ST. Louis ac-
companed Sheridan and many other distin-
guished generals. Addresses were made by
Gen. ]. d. Cox and Gen. Grosvenor. g
GEN. GRosvENOR's ADDRESS.
Comrades of the Army of the Cumberland:
It is more than seventeen years since the great
war between tho armies of the United States
and the rebels who sought to overthrow and
destroy the Nation ceased. Unlike the dead of
other wars, the memories of our patriotic dead
have not withered and grown old. Their
places at the fireside are yet kept open, and
their vacancies among their fellows have never
been filled. The fallen heroes of Balaklava lie
in the obscurity of forgetfulness. But our
dead live on. They live in the grand exam
pies they set to their fellows. They live in
the national life they made possible; they live
in the broken shackles of the slave and the
song of hope of enfranchised bondmen; they
live in the hearts and memories of their
cOuntrymen, and, living, inspire the present
generation of men TO value the priceless boon
they saved for them, and be jealous of the
StItty VI Olo COulilly tItS ulCu 10 ISSCue.
These seventeen years constitute an epoch
marvellous progress. The material growth
the nation has by far surpassed the most en-
thusiastic anticipation of the men of 1865.
This period will always be noted and distin-
guished as one conspicuous for the development
of invention, the progress Of scientific knowl-
edge and the perfection of art. No equal
number of years that preceded it has borne so
much and so choice fruit. From no conceiv-
able standpoint is America less great, less pure,
less good, or less prosperous than twenty years
ago. From every conceivable standpoint is she
better richer, stronger, greater and purer.
The States lasely III arms TO overthrow the
Nation to-day share fully with the North in
the blessings of prosperity. The barriers of
prejudice and sectionalism have been broken
down. The people of the North and the people
of the South know and appreciate each other,
and we have learned that no section OF this
country can be really prosperous while any
other section is suffering. The men who fought
to destroy the Union in 1861 arc its best and
most intelligent friends in 1852, and the new
race of young men which has come forward to
take the places of the generation passing away
recognizes in one country, one constitution
and one flag the only hope for the regeneration
and permanent welfare of the South. Now
that the Union is forever safe, now that all
sections of the country join in allegiance to it,
the time has come when plain language may
war was begun, and for the determination OF
which it was wagcd. We did not
Go TO WAR FOR \ SENTIMENT
The people ofthe States, North and South were
too wise for that. We did not go to war to
defend or destroy slavery. The people had
not been educated up to that point. What
then? 1t was To destroy the idea and fact of
national supremacy and indivsible Union that
tho people of the South went to war 1t was
to establish maintain and make perpetual this
idea that the North went to war 1t was to
maintain all we had of Union and constitu-
tional government and so enlarge it's scope
and operation that the North resisted the
South in its attempts to destroy and rebuild
Union and national supremacy on one hand!
Secession and State sovereignty on the Othcri
Political antipodes! Opposite poles. The diff
tarences were organic and fundamental To-
day we meet the brave men who sought the
destruction of the Government as brothers,
one and all-brOthers in allegiance to the
saved and glorifed Nation. We harbOr no
trace of anim0sty toward them, but we can
not forbid ourselves the happy thought that i'll
this great contest we were on the right side.
We assemble at cur annual memorial altars,
and cast the offerings of eloqucnce, of tears, of
flowers, of music, over the graves of our fellow
comrades because they
DIED IN \ JUST CAUSE.
Let the soldiers of the United States join
in the discharge of their duty as citizens with
the best light they have, but let few things,
a few opinions, a few demands, few ideas, be
held in common by every one of them. Let
us demand purity of National, State and mu-
nicipal administration. Let us pun niSh cOrrup-
tiOn with the wrath of an offended and out
ragged people, wherever it shows its form and
shape. Let us demand the most rigid honesty
i'll the administration of all the public affairs
of the people of his country, and let us brand
as a traitor to this country and an enemy to
his race the man who, by means of political
promotion, seeks to aggrandize his personal
fortune at the expense of the public treasury.
Upon this platform we can all unite. Place
the civil service of the Government away
above written rules and regulations, place it
where we have placed the education of our
people, upon the great questions of loyalty
and Union; place the idea ofcivil service reform
ard the purity and honor of the civil service
in the education, i'll the hearts, in the love of
the people, and the citadel can never success
fully be attacked.