Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-05-28

marx 90 not explain lle puIP IPOoo VI InIs
gathering on this day in this editice. The
general order of the G. A. r. calls the
religious services which precede Dscora,
tion Day time-honored custom, and
calls upon the several Posts to attend
service as an organization, on this day
to render praise and thanksgiving to the
God of Nations.
The ritual of the Grand Army pro-
vides for brief religious service at the
: cemetery and at their various Post meet
ings. Why is all this? Many of these
men all over the country are not mem
bers of churches, probably a considera-
BILE majority are outside the pale of the
Christian church. and many thousands
fof them make no open recognition ol
God and divine service. Is it not trib
ute to this great fact that there is God
and that He has to do with Nations, that
all human Pgovernments and political in
stitutions hang pendent from the divine
throne; that sooner or later we fetch ul
lagainst this stubborn fact, that there is
la God? But there is more in it than
this. To-day celebrates the victory over
the grave of One who came to reveal
light and life to men. Religion-the
lOu VI OCSuo VI Wv
source of all safe and genuine patriotic
feeling. Cut loose from this, we hope
lessly drift. The services of Decoration
day are fittingly ushered in by Christian
services.
The greatest historian of our country,
who has written its civil and constitu
tional history says: Certainly, our great
united commonwealth is the child of
Christianity" The Grand Army pays
rightful tribute to this fact. The living
rock is that on which we live and build
our houses, our cities, our railroads, and
all our improvements and our vast
prosperity. There is the coating of soil,
The clay, but beneath is the solid rock
which carries all. So with our institu'
tiens; there spreads under the whole the
solid and living stratum of our Christi
anity, and to-day it has its well-deserved
recognition.
1 Let US now give attention to few
points in the history of the civil war
which are worthy of especial mention.
| Much honor is due to the State of Ohio
for the manner in which she bore her
full share of the perils and sacrifices of
the war. She is the third most pOpu-
lous State in the Union, and her quota
of troops would correspond. New York
leads ali the States in the number of
her people, yet she fell behind in meet
ing her quota for the war by 10000;
Pennsylvania fell behind in her whole
quota by 10000, and yet she was an in
vaded State. But Ohio exceeded her to-
tai quota by 1887, furnishing total of
3I9,659 men. New York and Pennsyl-
| hoJ to
quite fill the total of calls, but Ohio had
enough, and more than $4,000 men to
spare Take another view of it: Ohio is
surrounded by States on every side ex
cept on the north; Pennsylvania on the
east, was in arrears; little West Virginia
fell behind over 5000, Kentucky by 21,+
757, Indiana by 2641, and Michigan by
5635, but Ohio, girded on every side by
States which fell short in grand totals,
ran ahead of the demands of the war
upon her resources. They did nobly
they furnished men in great excess of
all expectations, but Ohio did more nobly
than they all.
May Sd, 1861, President Lincoln called
for 100000 men, and of this number
Ohio's quota was 67,365 but she fur
nished 84,116. July I'd, '62, there was a
call for 100000; Ohio's quota was 36858,
and she furnished 5S,325. l remember
with what bounding pride l first ran
upon this part of Ohio's record in the
civil war. All honor to the great State
which meets all the demands of long
and gigantic struggle, and places more
men at the disposal of the Nation than
the Nation asked. This is simple honor
| to whom honor is due.
Much honor is due to our whole peos
pie for the steadfastness and patience
with which they boro the burdens of
the civil war.
We are not warlike people; we
Americans are driving, busy, matter
of-fact people, and are not caught with
the tinsel and glitter of military glory.
The ancient Scythians worshipped ma
ked sword as their god, and it looks as
if the Russians had inherited the wor-
ship of the god of their reputed ances
tors; but we are not Scythians or Russ
slams, but are at the fartheSt extreme
from them. Besides, Democracies are
reputed unstable. Masses of people go
by impulses and panics. The popular
voice makes rulers and unmakes them.
There is no centralized power to give
steadiness to the administration. Ru-
lers in the old governments looked for
the States which remained in the Union
to weary of the struggle; they thought "A
tickle popular verdict would compel the
government to give up the awful con-
flict. A Nation which had furnished on
ly small levies of soldiers, which since
the Revolution had only engaged in two
brief wars and little fighting with In
dians, was called upon for 100000 men
again and again, and once at least for
100000. The expenses went up to
S3.OOO,000 and even $4OO0,O00 daily, and
the National debt went bounding up ac-
coraingly. The old world looked for a
popular crash. Even so wise and far>
seeing man as Mr. Gladstone, the pres
ent Premier of England, as FREUD to
our cause, watching from beyond the
sea, seemed to have feared some such
result. His great heart, beating high
with the hope of universal liberty, fear |
ed lest we should weary and faint in
the fearful work of saving an imperiled
country. He pays just and glowing
tribute to the stability and patience of
our people in contrasting the way We
have met our burdens with the manner
in which England has met hers.
We here come face to face with this fact that |
the people can be trusted to take care of the |
government of these states.
We remember the months of disturbance, |
of incorporate speeches in Congress, of the
intriguing of politicians and our rulers, of the |
futile efforts at compromise and patching up a
peace, when there was no peace.
We remember how suddenly the final out
burst came and the whole question went to the
people. 1t got away from the halls of Con-
gress, from the knots of plotters and time
servers, and went to the common sense Of the
people. Whether our country was nation of
states or loose confederation, a rope of sand,
went to the thinking, sensible men of the east
and west and north, and they said we
are nation and coercion is in the constitu-
ton. They took hold of the mighty question