The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-08-10
MOURNING AT MILAN.
The 0bsequies OF the Late Gen. U. =.
Grant Saturday--ApprOpriate
COmmemOratIOn of the Sad
Eyent-.-The Address.

The Grant memorial services were held
in the Town hall at Milan at ? o'clock
Saturday afternoon. The hall had been
neatly and appropriately decorated and
was well filled when the procession led by
the G. A. r. Post, reached it. The ser
vices opened by the Rev. Kaufman, with
| a brief sketch of the life of the eminent
soldier. A chorus of twenty-five voices
| rendered Rock of Ages" in a touching
manner, and the Rev c. F. Carson de
livered the following able eulogy:
Let any man look upon the American
republic today, and from the British pos
| sessions on the north and the Gulf of
| Mexico on the south, from the rolling
| Atlantic on the east to the broad Pacific
on the west, he will see sixty millions of
people in the full enjoyment of that life,
liberty and happiness for which our faith
ers fought. Whilst other nations are
looking upon each other with Jealous
eyes, whilst they are magnitying every
little circumstance into cause for war,
whilst the whole eastern world is kept in
a constant turmoil over their relations
with the nations about them, whilst their
domestic tranquility is disturbed and
their financial stability unsettled, America
is at peace with all the world. Her TEN
pie of Janus is closed If there ever was
a picture of national tranquility and peace
America presents that picture today
1t was not always So with this favored
republic Though a mereiful God smiles
, upon her favored possessions today, the
time has been when her destiny was ems
veloped IN cloud Of omiuous blackness
"a time when the passions of men so
over balanced their judgment that they
pushed this nation into the whirlpool OF
civil war and almost into the very vortex
of destruction.
turn back the pages of American his
tory twenty years, and what do see? |
see great civil war in which brother
fought against brother, and father against
son, brought to II termination. | see the
treaty OF peace signed by 'hc command
ers OF the opposing armies. | see Grant
= grasping the hand nf Lee with all the
warmth of christian brotherhood and ai>
lection. But right upon the very heels
of this day of victory and rejoicing, IN
which the north and south are again
united in more enduring union, cement
ed together as it is by the best blood of
: all nations, see dark cloud hanging
like Il pail over this nation As its honured
| =. - gtrial-.p .I,N-n i,E hnligt
of "A murderous assassin. | see men al
/ most frantic with Indignation rushing
: through The streets and great thorough
, fares Of our cities and towns, scarcely
, knowing what they were doing. see on
a balcony before one of those frantic AS
semblicS man of commanding figure
!, Some one in that vast assembly shouted
4 the name OF an obnoxious newspaper
: and that sea of angry faces, dashed Ia
frenzy by the storms of human passion,
) turned toward the binding Indicated.
: No one knows the outcome OF that terri
t BILE crisis as that angry crowd swayrd ia
and fro in that dcnsely packed street, had
not an arm raised on that balcony and a
l voice speaking above the din of that vast
, assembly exclaimed. Fellow citizens
r Clouds and darkness are round about
n him His pavilion is dark waters and
thick clouds of the skies Justice and
u Judgment are the establishment OF hi.
e throne! Mercy and truth shall 90 before
i his facel Fellow ciiizensl God reigns
and the government at Washington
lives
This shall be my theme at this time
e God reigns and the government at Wash
Y ington lives.
We are brought together today IN sad
ness and sorrow. one who IN times
% passed has led our armies 80 victory; ont
{ who has twice served as the chief eXecu'
= tive of our nation aud one who has been
q honored by this nation and by the world
AS perhaps no other American citizen evel
has. today lies silent IN death. The life
n the energy, the indomitabe will of thai
man that misfortune could not crush
# that opposition could moi conquer, tha
prosperity with It's hattering epucement:
could not swerve from the path OF integ
rity and duty, is forever sllenced. Hi.
U life and actions had much to do with The
- destinies Of this government in its mos
.
would have been today, or what N0ult
e have been the results and the outcome o.
IS the late war if Ulysses 5. Grant haC
ia quietly remained at his home in Gaena
as private citizen, no man can tell i
NAV be that other generals would 10 somt
extent have taken his place, and possibly
have carried The war TO successful ter
miuation. But without his consummatt
skill, without his indomitable courage
Is and without his fertility of resource
" could that cruel war in which he figured
. so conspicuously, and in which all trn'
American patriots and citizens had sucl
u an intense interest, been brought to IA sue
n cessful close without spending millions
n more of the public money and wasting
=, hundreds and thousands more of precious
lives From all human appearances thu
10 skill and generalshir OF that one man wa
: necessary for the very life OF this nation
3e We can look at this question to SOM
IN extent dispassionately today, after TWEEN
ty years have taken away the prcludces
softened the asperities, and eliminated tn
G hatreds of that exciting period of our ma
d tional history, when one section of on
# common country with their mind
strangely infatuated by a vision of mag
: mary wrongs, dragged the flag of our ma
ton in the dust and set up open delianc
to the very authority of the nation itself
As we look back upon that period to
day in all the light of after events and a
our minds are relieved from the passion
q that then stirred mems minds, can we pu
h our finger upon any military leader tina
could have filled the place of that illustri
Gus hero who lies silent in death, who's
r memory we revere and whose fuuera
obsequies we celebrate today.
# We NAV differ in our opinions of hin