The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-09-21
KEIrEK AZ TOPEKA
HI. address to me soldiers al the state
Capital Last evening.
An Eioqusat rrIbute to the Defenders
of the Union.

= am 0GSPly Se1Slulc Oi Inc AOnOt
conferred by my selection as your ora
or. wish ! possessed the power Of
speech to repay you for It.
II is q beautiful and ennobling Gus
lom tor the living actors in our nations
last and bioOdiest drama, with its many
scenes of triumph and defeat, TO assem-
BILE and renew the firm knit bonds of
soldieriy fraternity, and likewise recall
the high qualities of their dead CON-
rades who, IN the midst OF the fiery con-
hiet, paid the penalty of heoric devo-
ton 10 country and cause.
You, my comrades, are representa-
tive Survivors of the greatest of all
wars, when il is measured by the num-
beers engaged, the lives lost, the total
wounded. the number OF separate bat
ties. affairs and skirmishes within the
period of its duration, the high stake
fought for, the principles involved and
the moral and material results attained
Ii Is supremacy significant, that on
the plains of Kansas such vast multi
tnde of surviving soldiers and sailors
should peacefully assemble seventeen
years after the echoes of war have died
in Il Q land.
March 9th, 1920, the Missouri CON-
promise act was passed, which dedicated
ali this-then supposed wor thless re-
gion-to freedom.
BY IL all United States territory north
Of SO degrees so minutes was never TO
be trodden by the foot of the slave. For
thirty-four years (until May 25th, 1854.
when repealed. the line of SO degrees 80
minutes stood like an impossible wall
of fire, which mans GROWING iniquity
TO man could not break through.
With its repeal came the fiood-tide
of aggressive slavery, and the supreme
efforts, in which governmental power,
fraud, violence and barhaFic crime COM
bined to seize and dedicate to slavery all
the fair territory of this now teemlng.
prosperous, free state.
Here the political truism uttered (Ju-
ly, 1852 by the immortal Lincoln was
demonstrated:
"a house divided against itself cannot
Mr.. Seward afterward, at Rochester,
n. Y, October 25ih, 1848, in other
words voiced the same truth when he
said there was then going on in our
country san irrepressible conflict be-
tween opposing and enduring forces -
which sooner or later must make il all
slave or all free. Blood flowed. The
dauntless advocates of freedom, divin.
ing the future of this great state, and
trusting in the righteousness of the
cause, stood firm in adversely, and
through conflict and suffering bore on
high the banner of faith, until freedom
| first victory was won.
The sublime utterances of the great
and good Lincoln becomes a fulfilled
prophecy. He said:
1--WE will hereafter speak for freedom
and against slavery as long as the con
stitution gysraptees free speech; until
everywhere on this vida land the sun
shall shine and the rain shall fall, and
the wind shall blow upon no man who
goes forth to unrequitted tolls
Here John Brown opened battle
| against human slavery which was long
aud bloody. and epded only under tha
apple tree of AppamattOE,
| Who knows but that tile repeal of the
| Missouri compromise and the victory
| for freedom first won in Kansas, and the
consequent agitation of the slavery
question both .n9rth and south, WI
| should have had no war, and the Jaw es
| tabiished line, 80 degrees 80 minutes
| would still mark the vision In the wesI
between freedom and slavery?
The struggle ended here when Kansa:
was admitted into the union-January
90, 1S6l-bAt it was Immediately trans
ferred 10 the broader theatre Of wal
which taxed TO the utmost tension tht
whole powers of our Republic.
| How did Kansas, the youngest of the
| thsn galaxy of states, do her duty?
She was ennPed TO conflict in such ,
cause. Her sons responded from city
village and pioneer home.
| Her population in 1860 was 101 ,206
and not to exceed 10000 men able Il
bear arms in war.
| Kansas full quota under all the CALI
! of the president, from the beginning Il
| the end of the war, was 1881 men anC
| she furnished q, 140 in RESPONSE 1S
in excess of her share. Reduced TO I
| three years standard. the state Furnished
| IS, 7O6 soldiers and sailors to the union
army-more men than were required t.
plant our victorious banner over Monte
zuma's ancient capital.
| Kanaas sYelled the union hosts will
! nine regiments and two Independent
companies of cavalry; With ten regi
ments and one independent company o
infantry; with five batteries lone 0
state militia), and six companies O
| home guards. Three hundred ant
| twenty.ni men only were drafted.
For proof of the fact that Kansas mel
were in the foremost of danger and duty
| and were found where battle flags Yer
| unfurled, let US look into her list of cas-
| ualities.
A possibly incomplete list furnished
| me by tho war department shows that 3
officers and 769 enlisted men died wher
they fell on the Geld, - other officer
| and 102 enlisted men died of thei
wounds, and 2,01O enlisted men died o
disease during the war.
| Kansas, death-Toll from the opening 4
| the close of the war had reached the un
paralIeled number of 3,106; above fifteeI
| per cent of the total number furnished
| This does not include the many witt
have died Of Diseases and wound
| since the var.
| Kansas furnished a due share OF dis
| tinguished commanders. Il would b
| ingidious to name any. Her SONS tough
and fell on the principal battlehelds o
the war. They were under Mcclellan
Burnside, Hooker, Meade, Sheridan
and others In the east and along the AT
lantic slope; they were in the battle lint
| under Grant, ROsecrans and Thomas
they fought IN Missouri, down boil
banks of the Mississippi and ON th'
gulf; they were with Sherman in hi
campaigns to Atlanta and the sea- they
marched and fought through the Caro-
1
| in North Carolina of the last great army
of the Confederaey under Gen. JOSEPH
| E. johnson.
| As sailors and marines they manne(
war vessels on the rivers and the gulf
l Her sons blood was spilled wherevel
| sacrifices were required. They had M
| seciicnalism in opinion or duty; theJ
were for theiE c64ntry. Their achieve
| ments are The common property of al
the st6tes.
MY comrades, am not deceived int
the belief that speak to-day only e
those who Joined the army from THU
state. We know there were others WHIT
did their duty. personally recogpizs
! the the CLINT OF the unclm
med' eye, and the voices of many before
me. Who danped the blue in othel
states,
From whatever sis,s they eane Inior
men did their duty.
Here are soldiers and sailors OF all th(
states. When the war clouds had dis
persed and the still armed union voiun
| teer hosts were gathering for the final
tnuster ont. many of those who had
proved false pE12heis as to the results ol
the war, TO feed . dying hope, assumed
70 foretell that when the soldiers and
sailors were disbanded they would oyer
run the country, turn bandits and rob
bers. and break up the peace and order
Of the republici prodHce anarchy, and
finally the only governmeft on iife tace
of the earth solely maintained by the
sovereign viii of It's people would pass
INTO iEEsirieYsble disorder and would
thus fal.
A few people who loved the union
gave some place in their minds 10 Ike
prophecies, and entertained fears for its
future. Others, With stronger hopes,
still wondered wheEG the hundTeds OF
thousands of men, trained in the years
OF war to scenes of strife and blood,
should find homes and become content
ed. In the light of the present, and
with full kpoRledge of the nature of the
conflict, these false prophecies, un-
founded fears and eppFehsIsiops, were
more than unjust.
The question asked, Shall the repub-
lie live Unanswered in the affirmative
by the verdict rendered as the result Of