The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1882-06-08

war. The destruction Of property by the
military operations would also constitute
another very large item to be considered.
One can hardly comprehend these amounts.
But the loss of life and property and the
expenditure Of money do not constitute the /
entire consideration which this country has .
paid for the preservation of the Union, and .
the archives Of the Government, however /
carefully kept, are very far from indicating |
its extent and measure. In the records kept |
by the recording Angel youder, not alone |
are the lives and the red drops Of blood /.
which fell from the veins of our wounded I.
and dying countrymen all counted, but |
numbered and recorded there, are all the |
sacrifices of the noble women Of the
land, all the tears and heartaches Of the
mothers who mourn for their children be-
cause they were not, all the pains and priva-
hons of families, all the sorrows Of broken
and saddened homes, all the misery anda 60
ny attendantu pom that fierce conflict. Eter-
nifty alone can tell, and Omnipotence alone
can measure the magnitude of the price paid
by the American people for their liberties.
No man can state, and no mind can cOmpre-
hend the debt which we owe, aye, the debt
which the whole world owes to these defend
ers of constitutional government and the
rights Of man.
There is one thing about which there
should be no controversy, and in regard to
which / desire to be especially emphatic to-
day,
The cause for which these soldiers fought
was right -everlastingly right. The cause
against which they fought was wrong and
utterly indefensible in every respect. The
| struggle between the Union and rebel ar
mics was not a mere contest between par
] 4 800. NT.. ID
| tending moral and political forces, which
have been warning with each other since
governments began 1t was a struggle be-
tween different and opposite forms of civil
ization involving the most sacred rights Of
the human race.
1 shudder when think what would have
been the result if the government of the
United States had been defeated in the con-
test Imagine for a moment the condition
of affairs. There would have been a dis
membered union" ''petty, warning and dis
cordant States" a sO-called Confederate
Government with slavery as its chief corner
stone the sacred rights of millions Of Gods
children trampled down; the right of a
mother to her own babe, of man to his own
wife, to his own labor, ignored property
in the blood and brains and souls of men
recognized; a whole race condemned to an
eternal servitude land of whips and
. chains and auction-blocks and scourges and
ignorance and sorrow a land where the
: doctrine of caste is established, the nobility
of labor denied; the right to the proceeds
, of your own toll denied the equality oi
l man before the law denied; the hopes Of
3 the people of other nations disappointed
5 the cause of civilization retarded; the hands
, on the dial Of progress turned back a thous
! and years
i For it can not be doubted that the causl
of the whole humane race the world owe
u was involved in this contest, and that thu
. nations Of the world were watching the re
T. suit.
5 In that war of the rebellion the concen
y trated agony of two hundred years of bon
d dage found a voice, The wrongs of cen
. turtles were appealing for redress. Th
D; everlasting yearnings of the nation and tn
u race for liberty, justice and equality fount
Il expression and recognition. And now
5 America, after the conflict is over and tn
: dawn of peace has come rising up from tn
i graves of her martyred children, with tn
'' broken chains of the slave at her feet an,
. the sacred constitution in her hands, witt
q hallelujahs in the hearts of her people, an,
q alteration to the God who has led us through
+ this wilderness Of sorrow, has, trust, be
- gun career of progress, prosperity am
y power uneTampled among the nations o
II the earth.
1 have indicated in q general way tn
character of the calamity which would hav
u beflllen the country if the Rebellion ha
!: succeeded, and have also family limited a
u the blessings which followed the victorie
Al of the Union armies Let me enter NOR
I into detail. Let us analy2e the results G
the war. What has been accomplished
" First, The life of the nation has been saved
y ! Can any of you comprehend the meanin
/, and force of that single fact? 1t was a ma
e tiOn which secures to us the blessing of civ
u il and religious liberty and the rights o
y conscience. 1t protects us in. our home
10 and firesides. Under the genius of its in
e stitutions, churches colleges and system
u of free schools have been established, Sc
q curing 10 all the inhabitants the blessing
% of education and religion. The great indus
u tries of the land have been developed, an
B. an unparalleled growth in all department
T. of enterprise has been witnessed 1t is
government which affords the highest an
4 best opportunity for the full and perfect dl
Is velopment Of the race In no other com
~ try of the world has man so good a chanc
q to secure happiness, wealth and distinctio
70 as here.
r Second. That victory secured and estal
~ Hshed upon firm foundations and with irr,
"a vocable guarantees, the doctrine of the al
IT, sOlute equality of all men before the Law
l- Good has made of one blood all the nation
'r of men for to dwell on all the face of TIA
De- earth, " is the declaration Of holy writ. ThI
truth, announced by Divinity itself, durin
pI all the years of the world, had been disrt
"a garded and denied in the practical admiui
tration of governments To my mind
III was, and is the most important doctrine j
l- the foundation and framework Of a natiOr
Y Now, by the prosecution and results of th
70 war, this cardinal truth has been crystalize
Ol AS a diamond and is set in the very furefroI
e. of our National Constitution. How glor
o. Gus is the thought and how satisfactory it
to know and feel, that uuGer our Cover
y ment the rights of the humblest citizen N
es regarded with the same tender care as thOs
&c of the most exalted that the man who live
10 in a log cabin is clothed with the same p,
e. litical power as the occupant of a palace
III that here, all have the same chance in I'll
race Of life. The rail-spltter, of Qlinoi
ne can become the leader Of the people, an
n- from the quiet farm homes of the COUNT
G- shall be chosen the men who control n
ll- great affairs of the Republic
re Third. The results of the war have d
h7 monstrated the capacity of man for self-go
ne ernment, and the fact that Republics ca
'n sustain the shock of war and the strain an
" danger arising from domestic dissention
ca and still preserve their integrity and unit
ile From the time Of the Revolution down
or Concluded on Eighth Page,)