The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-05-31
Mr.. PeelIe's Address.


Comrades and llow-citizens
The causes which led to the war for the pres
ervati0n of the Union, we'll as the results OF
that war; yet fresh in the minds of the peo
pie, and although truth glistens with repetition
and brightness with tho lapse OF time, shall not
to-day, In the few minutes I have, attempt to
recount the history of that struggle, or picture
Its sorrows; hut will content myself with few
general observations.
To the soldiers who survived the war, and
GaniZed themselves into the Grand Army of the
Republic. are we indebted for the observance of
this day; and In obedience to their wishes we
meet to decorate the graves of those who fell
that our Union might be preserved and univer
sal liberty established
In doing so We not ci,ly honor the dead in the
presence of the living, but we show our appraoI-
tion of "A country whose wealth consists, not in
it's dollars, but in its virtues; virtues which
sprang from the seed of oppression, and gave us
our independence, and which afterwards
made to bloom in the hearts OF the people by the
sacrifice of these men. The patriotism Of those
VINO gave their lives for our common country is
questionable, and these flowers which kind,
walls ef these narrow earthly homes
fit emblems of love. sweetened
they are by the breath of heaven
and beautihed by the sun. To-day their life and
Deanty seem lmperishable aud their fragrance
gladdens the heart of yOnder widow, parent and
child tomorrow they fade their beauty is gone;
but the patriotic and virtuous deeds of those
whose memory they honor stil live, and viii
illumire the ages TO come II the people but act
who sleep In these doOress and wndowless
houses; their mission with us ended when they
gave their lives for our country; their love for
the Union made manifest to the world by
their death, as 1t had been to us by their serV-
ices. We ASK no more of them, and what
they did is part Of O1r cOuntry's history, writ
ten not only IN their blood but written across
the aching hearts OF their surviving widows,
mothers and children to be transmitted By
their services and their death they ask much OF
us, not merely of material gifts and care for tho
loved ones left behind, but they ask, and their
death demands OF us, our lnselnsh devotion to
the principles which guided them in the war and
anchored them in death. When they shifted
worlds IL was not to shun turbulent sea, whose
world, but to rebuke the winds that peace might
reign and our Union be safely landed
upon the shore of universal liberty. Ours
is a nation born OF mans will with Gods
CONSENT rocked in the cradle OF the Revolution
amid storm and tempest starved by withdraw
ing that which WIS essential to its existence,
until in the throes of DEATH the States, for self
preservation, breathed into 1t new life, and it
became living nation, with power to execute
its own laws and preserve itself, not only
against foreign powers, but against the nggres-
sOns of State, u country horn, c0nfederacy
died, q nation resurrected and a Union pre-
served; constituting to-day one mighty nation
with thirty-eight indtvisiOlo branches, each be-
ing watered from the same fountain, ANA in re-
turn yielding obedience to national authority.
A government without an emperor or q king;
and no Kremlin but the hallOt-hOX Here men
are measured not by title, but by the virtues
they practice and impress upon the public
mind There are no selt-au1ustable crowns
here; the people are the nobility, and by their
will they transfer power from the most exalted
to the most humble citizen, whilo the death OF
no man impedes or checks the progress of MA
tiOna affairs Blessed as we are with fertile
fields and growing institutions and with our
altars Of religion for tho shrine of man, our ex-
ample should DO such as to reNOluuOni2e tho