The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-06-07
THE NATIONS DEAD.
Col. Ingersoll's Magnificent Tribute t,
Their Memory.

Col. Ingersoll's Magnificent Tribute to
Their Memory.
Special Dispatch to the Globe-Democrat.
New York, May 3o.-There was an i'm
mense gathering in the Academy of Music this
evening to hear Robert q. Ingersoll deliver
the memorial address. The academy was
decorated profusely with flags, bunting and
the scene was most brilliant. Gen. ames
McQuade presided. On the stage were Pres
ident Arthur, Gen. Grant, Gen. Hancock,
Secretary Folger, Secretary Brewster, ex-Sen-
ator Conkling, Rev. John P. Newman, Mayor
Lieut. Danenhauer occupied box.
When Ingersoll appeared he was loudly
cheered. Upon being introduced by the
chairman he began abruptly, saying: "This
day is sacred to our heroes dead. Upon their
tombs we have lovingly laid the wealth Of
spring. This is day for memory and tears
A mighty nation bends above its honored
graves and pays to noble dust the tribute Of
its love. Gratitude is the fairest flower tina,
sheds its perfume in the heart. To-day we
tell the history of our country's life; recount
the lofty deeds OF vanished years, the toll and
suffering, the defeats and victories OF heroic
men, Of men who made our nation great and
free. [Applause. We see the first ship
whose prows were gilded by the western sun.
We feel the thrill of discovery when the new
world was found. We see the oppressed, the
serf, the peasant and the slave, men whose
flesh had known the chill of chains, the ad-
venturous, the proud, the brave, sailing
AN UNKNOWN SEA,
seeking homes in unknown lands. We see
the settlements, the little clearings, the block
house and the fort, the rude and lonely huts,
brave men, true women, builders of homes,
fellers of forests, founders of states. APP
plause. Separated from the old world, away
from the heartless distinctions of caste, away
from scepters and titles and crowns, they gov
erned themselves; they defended their hon es,
they earned their bread. Each citizen had
voice, and the little villages became almost
republics. Slowly the savage was driven foot
by foot back in the dim forest. The days and
nights were filled with fear, and the slow years
with massacre and war. and cabins earthen
floors were wet with the blood Of mothers and
their babes. But the savages of the new world
were kinder than the kings and mobiles Of the
old, and so the human tide kept coming and
the places of the human dead were filled
Amid common dangers and common hopes
the preiudices and feuds OF Europe faded slow
ly from their hearts. From every land, of ev-
cry speech, driven by want and lured by hope,
exiles and emigrants sought the mysterious
continent of the west. Year after year the
colonists fought and toiled and suffered and
increased. They began to talk about liberty.
to reason Of the rights of man. They asked
no help from distant kings, and they began to
doubt the use Of paying tribute to the useless.
They lost respect for dukes and lords, and held
in high esteem all honest men. There was
the dawn of a new day. Applause. They
began to dream of independence. They found
that they could make and execute the laws.
They had tried the experiment of self govern
ment. They had succeeded. The old world
wished to dominate the new. In the care and
keeping of the colonists was the
HISTORY OF THIS CONTINENT
of half the world. On this day the story of
the great struggle between the colonies and
kings should be told. We should tell our
children of the contest, first for the Justice,
then for the freedom. We should tell them
the history of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, the chart and compass of all human
rights, that all men are equal and have the
right to life, liberty and joy. This declara-
ton uncrowned kings and wrested from
the hands of titled tyranny the sceptre Of
usurped and arbitrary power. 1t superseded
royal grants, and repealed the cruel statutes
of thousand years. 1t gave the peasant a
career, it knighted all the sons of toll, it
opened all the paths to fame and put the star
of hope above the cradle of the poor mans
babe. England was then the highest ma
ton, mistress of every sea, and yet our faith
ers, poor and few, defed her power, Zap
pl.use. To-day we remember the defeats,
victories and disasters, the weary marches,
the poverty, the hunger, the sufferings, the
agonies, and above all, the glories of the Rev.
o1ution We remember all, from Lexington
to Valley Forge, and from that midnight of
despair to Yorktown's cloudless day. APP
plause.
We remember the soldiers and thinkers,
the heroes of the sword and pen. They had
the brain and heart, the wisdom and the cour-
age, toutter and defend these words: "Gov-