Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-06-01

men. Inc gratitude OF the nation RENAME
uncnanged. Others will, in future, perform
the sacred duties we have observed TO-DAY.
and - time bears ~ and posterity further and
further from the great events of the civil var.
We may hope TO see reared fitting monuments
in every hamlet in the land, inscribed With the
names OF those who by their valor and hon.
age, a. in the days Of the Roman republic,
have deserved well of their fellow men.
Unlike most of the wars in the worlds history,
ours was no contest for ambition, fame or
conquest. Through the revolution . nation
was born; by the war against rebellion, il
was saved. Let as ask ourselves anew 1t this
time - What was it all for What did
the war accomplish For what did our BROTH
ers die They died to give the nation peace
The soldiers won for us a Union. That this
10 still nation.-that it 10 ANYTHING but an
accidental alliance Of a few jealous and war
ring States, we owe to them. The picture
which rises so grandly before the American
eve in foreign countries, of continent which
is a home of liberty and receives the Door
and the hnmble from all nations of the earth,
giving to them shelter protection and EMPLOY
ment, and to their children education. that
belonged to the work achieved by those who
followed the stars and stripes by land and
sea. But for them, each one of US might still
have State, but not one of us would
have Nation; every American born
would be q man without country.
The soldiers won for this nation liberty.
l remember reading the speech of Phillips.
wherein he said of Garrison, MAY he not
die till he has heard the shouts of the liberia.
ted millions he has helped to Free" It sound
ed eloquent, but incredible; it was az if q
man invited you to visit him hundred years
from today. But Garrison has died, full of
years and of honors; and his last words were
q plea, not for slaves but for freemen; not
for negroes as slaves in Mississippi. but as
free emigrants into Kansas. That every
American may now go where he pleases and
work as he pleases, you owe to the soldiers
who fought beneath their country's flag. The
soldiers gave to the nation, prosperity. We
have mourned our long business depression,
but it resulted because it had taken all these
years to recall US from the period of imitation
in which the war left US. Business may be
good or bad, the returned soldiers may have
been successful or unsuccessful. but the
most successful business man in the country
owes it to the soldiers that there is any such
thing as business at all. Let the time never
come, comrades of the war, and citizens of
OF Augusta, when we shall cease to laurel our
soldiers graves. Let it not come. at least,
shall camp side by side in death.
The circumstances that led to this mighty
conflict of arms has been the theme most
dwelt upon by orators, on occasions of this
kind, since the close of the war 1t is not
my purpose tonight to reiterate what has so
often been said upon this subject. Suffice it
here to say, that from the very foundation of
the American government there had been
conflict of opinion regarding the rights of the
States which composed the Union. One
party, fearing the evils which spring from the
weakness of the governing power, sought
protection from these evils in the close union
of States under strong government. An
other party impressed BY the unhappy condi-
ton of the Over-gOverned nations of the Old
World. feared the creation of q government
which might grow into a despotism. The
aim of the one was to vest the largest posi-
BILE measure of power in a central govern
ment: the aim of the other was to limit the
powers accorded to the central government,
and give the widest possible scope to the SOW
ereignty of the individual States. These two
sets of opinions continued to exist, and to
conflict irreconcilably. In the North the be-
lief prevailed that America was a nation,
formed by the voluntary junction of States,
and made indissoluble by their agreement
that it should be so In the South, on the
other hand, it was maintained that each indi-
vidual State retained her sovereign right to
withdraw, at pleasure, from the Union. Be-
lieving thus in their right, and the fact that
the South saw that the rapid development of
wealth and population in the North would
soon take from the former section its COM
manding influence in the councils of the
nation, and holding that the Northern antip-
athy to slavery created a sufficient occasion
for its exercise, the slave-owners entered
promptly on the dark and bloody path of
secession. The war came. Irrespective of
party affiliations, the people responded till
9, soc, 900 men had been summoned to dc lend
the flag OF these $4,000 fell on the field of
battle, 200, 900 of wounds and disease. To-
night they constitute that vast army of heroic
spirits in whose presence we stand, and whose
memories we cherish with reverent and ten
der devotion. The historian may record the
struggle, but there is an unwritten history his
art m Ay never trace the struggle between love
and duty that called the soldier to the con-
fiict; the weary years of watching for those
who never would return; the sufferings in
camp and in hospital; this can never be writ
ten by human hand, nor told by human
tongue. And yet the courage and patriotism
of these noble men never faltered-neither
could they learn how to yield; and when we
consider their wonderful achievements by
land and sea-when we remember how q
navy was created, an army mustered, armed,
clothed and fed, an empty treasury replenish-
ed-and the envy and rapacity of foreign ma
tions held in check-who can Withhold their
gratitude and admiration, not only for the
soldiers who fought upon the field, but for
the statesmen who guided the affairs of the
nation, and the loyal men and women at
home who contributed their treasure and en-
couragement for q cause that was destined to
20 down in history as the mightiest achieve
ment since the downfall of the Roman EN-
pire! This vast expenditure of life and
treasure was not in vain. We, who survive
to-day, witness the glorious results of the
peace sealed at Appomatox. 1t prevented
our disruption into petty States; it preserved,
by maintaing the country's unity, the advaut-
age, over foreign governments, of a nation
intrenched between too great oceans, with no
hostile power on the continent strong enough
to compete with it in the arts of war. The
grandeur and influence of people, so cir
cumstanced, able to stand unarmed before
the nations of the earth. and command their
Difference and respect, must be apparent at .
glance. In the light of high heaven-meas-
ured by the standard of eternal right and JUS
hce-by the divine necessity of baptismal war
-one result stands transcendently high, and
leaves the national escutcheon untarnished
before the nstions of the world. The one
blemish upon the fsir face of our republic
d;.&~,.tf,,ilv roroonized nv the framors ~