Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1885-08-29

recognition they received from foreign
potentates and powers was such as
might be extended to any people whose
from of government was considered
doubtful experiment.
In such a state with the memory in
some of lost nobility-an uneasy long
ing for something that wealth could
not purchase nor ease Danish from the
mind, disregard of law and indivi-
dual right, cloud was seen TO rise
in the west, at first not larger than
mans hand, which soon extended from
ocean to ocean, enshrouding the ma
ton with the habiliments of woe, and
watering its fields with the blood of
her noblest citizens. The spirit which
saved to the English people their liber-
ties at the time when that country had
reached the crises, which had SO often
proved fatal to public freedom-the
time of the Reformation which eX-
tended to another hemisphere and a
distant age, to the emigrants whom re-
lIgious oppression drove to the forests
of America, the spirit of the Puritan
and Quaker, if you please, the most
potent forces in the formation of their
character, was again aroused in the
American people and led to the forma-
tions of armies on our soil beneath
whose mighty tread the earth trembled.
Distant powers stood i'll awe at the
spectacle, secretly desiring the death
of that nation which had openly as
serted the right of man to self-govern-
ment and rested upon the affections ct
her people. Our country triumphed in
hat or onA 70 Go
world the truth of the theory of its
government, the capabilities of free
people who waged war not for con-
quest, and whose citizens will die rath-
| er than tamely submit to the disregard
Of principle and right even though the
| blow of resistance must be aimed at q
| brothers heart.
When the hour of conflict came there
was no blind superstition which led the
citizen or soldier to consult the divine
| Oracle for guidance. There was no
sacrifice prepared and offered to gods
unknown from which he might angur
good or evil from the course linking
his destiny with or against the govern
ment. No. COnfessing an lnvjncible
Presence, righteous and eternal will,
which would establish Righteousness
upon the earth, there arose in his soul
"the conviction of direct personal
responsibility which could be tempted
by no external splendor. Shaken by
no external agitation, and which could
not be evaded or transferred" Follow
ing this conviction the men of the south
rose up against that which they believed
threatened them with oppression-and
the men of the north against that which
threatened the disruption of their cOun-
try, and they fought only as such men
can fight, from conviction Of duty, not
by the aid of mercenaries, but with
their own best blood and the blood OF
their children.
When you consider that there was
subdued in the short space of four
years, territory four times larger than
ever yielded to the conquests of Napo-
leon, garrisoned by force larger than
the whole allied armies of Europe were
enabled to bring against him at any one
time, the achievements of the Union
army rise in grandeur and splendor
compared with other wars in the
worlds history, while the noble de-
fense made by our compatriots of the
south would fall into utter insignifi-
canoe if they were not opposed by foe
men worthy of their steel.
The war ended, the Union of the
states preserved, the dark cloud of hu-
man slavery lifted and rolled away from
/ their free land, harmony and fraternity
restored, the south has recovered from
: the shock of war, and in the majesty
and graces of invigorated youth pro-
crosses onward and upward until it is
almost foremost again in statesman
ship, manufactures and prosperity.
What is to be the result to us as a
nation? What is to be the result to you
and your children, who meet to day to
renew your friendship cemented by
noble blood Oh many contested fields
Are you to forever turn with melan-
chOly to the past and with poetic fire
), address your departed comrades:
"Sleep sweetly in your humble graves,
Sleep, martyrs of q fallen cause,
Though yet no marble column Graves
The pilgrim here to pause.
|. In seeds of laurel In the earth,
:, The blossom of your fame Is s0wn,
II And somewhere, waiting for its birth
The shaft is In the stoneT
Go learn from history that the nation.
, al character possessed by the English
people-the public benefits they now
enjoy-the freedom by which they are
distinguished, and the energy by which
they are sustained are in great meas
s ure owing to the renOvating storms
that in former ages passed over their
!, country. 1t is from the wars of the
Heptarchy, the Norman conquest, the
contests of the Roses and the great re-
bellion apparently the most disastrous
in their annals, those in which civil
r discOrd was most furious and the pub
. | lie anf1orinr 20
just such periods you may trace the
Q peculiar temper of the English charac-
ter, and in which the greatest additions
, were made to English prosperity.
t So if the American citizen shall learn
from the civil war to respect the indi-
!, vidual rights of Others, shall learn
to value and adore the priceless boon
and heritage of his citizenship, shall
possess and cherish greater reverence
for his national government as the
guardian, the only sure guardian and
? protector of all the institutions and
liberties that characterize this citizen
/; ship, if he shall learn that the laws of
the country must determine every dis
b puted question, ,and finally that religion
alone can guide the steps of liberty-nO
grander monument can ever rise to our
J, fallen heroes than the union, whose
. foundation was laid in tho historic
blood of our sires, whose superstruc-
= ture has been cemented by the blood of
their children, and whose future will
be guarded even unto death by their
children's children while time shall last
Happy then may your hearts be to-
day, and when by aud by day shall
be the "Auld Lang Syne" may there
3 be happier reunion for each and
e every one of you.
Beyond this sphere of time,
OF sin and fate's control,
D Serene in endless prime