Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-08-13

looked upon 1t as a CHASTITY monster
whose march is the music of the wild.
ows' sighs and the orphans cry. He
loved peace and pursued it. BLESSED
are the peacemakers, for they shall bt
called the children of God" was his be
attitude. In his London speech in 1877
he said: although soldier by educa
ton and profession, l have never fell
any sort of fondnesS for war, and have
never advocated it except as a means Of
peace" This was the energy of his cour
age.
He would not waste life and treasure
to gain advantage, while the means were
left to the enemy to regain them. He
understood the necessity of sacrifice to
achieve a greater advantage. He sur
rendered the lesser to obtain the greater
He was not Indifferent to the precious
ness of human life. Did he expose his
troops? He protected them by shorten.
ing the time of the war and by the great
er vigor of his attacks. His was the
arithmetic of blood. Some Quintus Fabi
us Maximus would have sacrificed 100,'
600 more men and S35O,OOO,Oe0 more
| treasure by the slowness of his mOve+
ments and the feebleness of his efforts
How can L save my country and pre-
vent the greater effusion of blood? y
was his supreme question; and his su
preme answer was: "By an energy that
knows no defeat" Thus he reasoned
and to-day the people bless him.
Doubtless he will be best known in
coming ages as the foremost soldier OF
the republic. Unknown generations
will read his battles with wonder and
admiration. In every hamlet, in every
metropolis, his martial form will be cast
In bronze and sculptured in marble. His
torians will vie with each other in pay
ing homage to his genius; but the time
will come when men everywhere will
recognize the greatness and benificence
of his administra tion as President of the
United States. 1t were crime against
history and an injustice to his memory
were we to lose sight of the statesman
amid the glory of the warrior. Such was
the magnitude of those great measures
of state, of domestic and foreign policy /;
so far-reaching their influence, SO COM
prehensiYe their mission, that genera
tions may pass from the vision of the
world ere the true and full estimate of
his political worth shall be determined.
Then his administration of eight years
will receive the calm consideration and
Just approval of his countrymen. When
the memories of PARTY strife shall have
been forgotten; when the disappointed
aspirants for office shall have ceased to
tester; when the rivals for place and
power are no more then, as comes the
sun from the mist of the morning, so
shall his administrator appear in great
est splendor. Then the historian of that
calmer age will wonder how a soldier
by endowment and education, accustom-
ed only to camp and field, unlearned in
statecraft, unfamiliar with political sci-
ence, unacquainted with the methods of
civil administration, could have display
ed such breadth of craftsmanship in the
measures which he originated and ap-
proved.
Great and benifcent as were his meas
ures of reconstruction, amendments to
the Constitution, of finance, of the i'm
provement of the laboring classes, of the
treatment of the Indians, of the eleVa
tion of the freedmen, of the promotion
of education, and of the concessions he
compelled foreign powers to make, yet,
in the interests of universal peace, in the
ultimate recognition of the brotherhood
of nations, in the advancement of Chris
tian civilization in all the earth, the
treaty of Washington will be esteemed
of immeasurable grandeur and benifi>
cence, not to be estimated by millions of
dollars, but by the possibility and proph-
ecy that all international disputes may
be adjusted by. peaceful arbitration, when
Nations shall learn war no more. Such
was his dream of the future, expressed
to the International Arbitration union
in Birmingham, England, when he said
Nothing would afford me greater hap
piness than to know, as believe will be
the case, that at some future day the ma
tions of the earth will agree upon some
sort of congress which shall take cogni
Zance of international questions of diff
Guilty, and whose decisions will be as
binding as the decision of our Supreme
Court is binding upon US.
The martyrs of one age are the proph-
cts of the next. Fame succeeded defa-
nation. Time changes everything.
Washington endured like ordeal. His
neutrality proclamation touching the
war between France and England gave
mortal offense His action was denounc-
ed in Philadelphia, N.York and Boston.
His mock funeral was enacted in Phila-
delphia. The treaty was burned in pub
lie squares. His character was aspeIsed.
He was declared destitute of merit as a
statesman. He was charged with hav+
ing violated the Constitutions; with hav-
ing drawn from the public treasury for
his private use, and his Impeachment
was publicly suggested. Time has chang
ed the verdict OF the people. He is now
enthroned in the hearts of his country
men and so shall his illustrious success
sor forever dwell in the grateful affec>
tions of the American people.
If to-day we lay upon the altar of his
memory, as our votive offering, our lib>
critics, our wealth and our homes, let us