Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-06-01

MISS OeorEla CAyNan TeCIlcu i uS NS-
Voluuonary Uprising"
Gen. Logan entered late in the evening,
and was rOundly cheered.
ADDRESS OF POSTMASTER GENERAL
WILLIAM F. Villas.
Gen. Villas spoke as follows:
Ar. President, Comrades Of sae War, Ladies
and Gentlemen:
The day has been taken from our eager
labors for the future TO testify our reverence
Tor the past. lp decOrous parades, with music
and with banners, with solemn pomp and
show, amid every circumstance of honor, the
people of the nation have repaired to hallowed
graves and celebrated with the tender rite or
flowers the memory Of the nations tavlOurs.
And now that we are gathered by prayer,
by song and speech, to dttingly finish our
snare IN the hOnored ceremonial, the spirit or
the day rules the thought and points the
taeme. a quarter of century has sunk into
tne grave of time since the dread alarum or
clvll war rang through our land. new era
has begun, new generation is upon the stage
OF LIE. You see now everywhere, IN all your
daily walks, active men. whose hands
are on the levers Of affairs, who carry no use
tul memory OF the events Of those diIeiul
years. By many Preside, amid circles of
blooming children, sit happy mothers who can
tell of the great war but as trOublous
afrightment of their childhood. OF our pres
ent population, more. by millions, were in
That period not existent here or possess no re
mcmbrance of its scenes, than all, OF every
class and age, then within the compass OF the
Union. History has foreelosed upon your
great achievements. comrades, and TO the ma
tion OF to-day they are as tale to be told.
swiftly. oh how swiftly, do the actors OF thab
mighty drama now fail from the column of
| living men. Yet a few years more, and none
shall be to bear personal witness to the chill
dten Of .he great republic of the trying hours
of her deliyerance.
IL is easy to give reasons which demand pa
triotc devotion in sacred duty from every
citizen; another thing, TO SO answer the call
that the noble passion mounts to the cold
heights of self sacrifice. Patriotism and piety
are kindred elements and obligations OF man.
! hood. both the souls homage to the great
glvers Of happiness. Life and all the boun-
teous provision OF nature for its joys, man
takes from heaven; from his country, the
peace and care of law in which to possess
them.
Yet IN peace, even, how many deny or neg
lect the Obligations of their citizenship; from
mere incidence or british unconcern; from
fear OF meu, in many a different hue; from
barter for time to pursue gain, or some baser
bargain still,
And when, in war, the country cries for
help, hard. hard indeed comes to the true and
peaceful citizen the summons 70 arms. What
though his heart ne stout and his eye finch
not dangers front. Is life not dear to the
noble spiFted2 Is home sweet but tn the
base? Are prlvatiUn and toll and disease, alb
sence from them you love, the steady round
OF daily hardship aud the frequent look In
the face of death-thOugh IN the path Of duty
not stunned by the br2Ve-yet objects of de-
sirc2
Sweet and glorious to die for natig land
sans, long ago, the Roman poet; and many
noble heart has poured richer than royal
blood upon this soil of liberty, in true and holy
unison. But propose it to your elf, who have
never tried IT: and by your hearts answer,
measure conntry's gratitude TO them who 30
have died.
What, then, was their duty who faithfully
acknowledged the allegiance, that was the
debt OF all, TO the union Of these States?
All the experience of men never held suCh
a question before. Liberty had been Oft the
inspiration OF war; but always liberty for
them who fought for 1t, either to acquire or
defend its blessings for themselves. Holy,
holy, holy, in nobility Of selfishness, had that
cause been sung, and its daring champions
worshiped as the godlike of men.
But in the name and for the cause of liber-
ty, why, to what end, should the men Of the
faithful States, themselves free and in their
freedom uncnallenged aud secure, carry else
where their lives and treasure in the dreadful
waste Of war?
Stay, for brief space, to contemplate the
practical questionable business aspects of IL,
SO to say, TO calculating minds; fer, through
the effect Of selishness in tse men whose ma
lures they misconceiyed, the plotters OF seces-
sion reckoned on an easy seizure of the sep
arate dominion they coveted. See how the
great argument-bY comparison with which
the constitutional contention was but trifiing
in wnrds-stood addressed to the happy
households of the land, where rejoicing in tue
fruits of labor, amid family and friends in
peaceful security. the future soldiers Of the
Union gazed anNlOusly, IN WOuderment and
pain, on the rapid explosions of the well-laid
train of rebellion.
''YVlll YOU 90 TO this war for liberty Why.
in all the meaning Of its sacred name2 If
some states be discomfort to live in company
with o hers, may nOtsimplH separation be en-
dured? Wherein suffers liberty by that2 viii
yours be thereby shortened, your union less
your own, your institutions or your constitu-
tiOu be altered, or your government less con-
trO{lable by you? VIII you OF your property
be harmed, YOUR pursuits diminished, or your
opportunities abrdgedg Nay. ii you shall
with arms tyrannouslY bind your union on
unwilling brethren, how do you not violate
the rights OF freedom? Do you so love the
abstract principles OF your vaunted con-
s,Juiionf Behold, the South accepts
them, and hes re-enacted 1t well
nigh entire. You may well pause, too,
daunted in such a purl Ose. Eleven millions
of people are now unted-uniie ed TO be free
from you; they are desperate In determina-
tion, courageous IN spirit, practised IN arms
ant bred to personal contest. They possess
as homes and rule as States the territory TO
be disputed. You VIII bO invaders; they de
Tending their homes and hreside-. What
though you outnumber them few millions and
have Dv plOdding industry gathered greater
wealth. Your very riches have unified you
for war; your training has been only TO peace.
And IL you do by somewhat prepOnderate ia
the statistical enumeration of power, how
can you find that preponderance sufficient at
arms length in the hostile territory?
But II victory be counted as surely yours,
in what time and at what costY Years OF
blood must pass, the latest remaining resource
OF the South be exhausted, the last man i'm
pre- .sed, her overthrow utter ana complete
And what shan be your suffering thereby?
Your treasure sba, be wasted and your chill
dren's labor mortgaged for generations 10
come. The blood Of your noblest shalt be
poured out a. waser on the sand: the cripple
the widow, and the fatherless be multiplied in
your bor iers; ana long shall It be ere your
womeus tears ensce the blood stains on your
hearthstOnes.
"And 10 what triumph will you go? You
can make no conquest; you want no iand; you
have no gains to reap by war. lfyou abide by
your own constitution, you will win but To
yieid: you conquer but TO reotOre: YOU will
bleed and strive only that you may hold your
enemies as brothers In the end, and continue
70 share with them. cO-equally, all the powers
and privileges You possess yourselves.
"What patriotism, what sentiment, can
warrant you thus 20 join in 20 gigantic and so
doubtful war al such fearful cOst2 How shall
you reckon it with your families aud your
pOsterity If, thus rashly ngnting. you shall
fail: cOnsgning them TO long depressing Obli-
gatiOns-a land spotted with domes tic sorrows
and sunk In humiiatOnW
Well might the calculating wisdom OF the
world, reckoning the palpabie sci f-intere.ts Of
the wing generation, predict the supine
sulerance OF separation! set debit and
credit in their different columns. ana how did
every merrenary argument touching living
men. swell the balance against the UnOnf On
what might rise the hope that patriotism
a Hs.HHa a.