Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-06-17
A UNITED PEOPLE,

Which ,Pervades Postmaster General
| Villas Grand Grafton on Decoration
| Day-Honor to the Forgiving. Brave
Conquerors and Honor ~ the Brave
| Conquered-Tender Tributes to Grant,
| Mcclellan and Hancock.
| President Cleveland and his Cabinet
i attended the meeting at the Academy
Of Music, New York, which was hs4d
upon Decoration Day, Postmaster
General Villas delivering an affecting,
broad-minded and brilliant Grafton,
from which the following extracts are
| selected:
| "Mr. President, Comrades of the War. La.
dies and Gentlemen: The day has bee n taken
| from our eager labors for the future to testi.
| ~ our reverence for the past. In decorouS
! parades. with music and with banners. with
| solemn pomp and show, amid every circum-
| stance of honor. the people of the Nation
| have repaired to hallowed graves and cele-
| brated with the tender rite of flowers the
| memory of the Nations saviors And now
| that we are gathered by prayer, by song and
speech to tittingly finish our share in the hon
| ored ceremonial, tie spirit of the day rules
the thought and points the theme. quarter
of century has sunk into the grave of time
since the dread alarm of civil war rang
| through our land. A new era has begun. a
| new generation Is upon the stage of lite. You
see now everywhere. in all your daily walks,
| active men, whose hands are on the levers of
| affairs, who carry no useless memory of the
| events of those direful years. By many a
| hreSde, amid circles of blooming children
sit happy mothers who tell of the great
| war but as troublous affrightment of their
child hood. Of our present population. more.
| by millions, were in that period not existent
| here or possess no remembrance of its scenes,
t ina al, or every class and age, then within
closed upon your great achievements, COM
rades. and to the Nation of o-day they are as
| a tale to be told. Swiftly, oh! how swiftly, do
| the actors of that mighty drama now fall
| from the column of living men, Yet few
years more, and none shall be to bear person
| lie of the trying hours of her deliverance.
| 1T is duty and privilege of two-fold
value to recount and emphasize the features
| of the patriotism: purposes and grand results
| by which our Union soldiers gained their
| title to the generation of their country men
and the world: first, to them. in the keeping of
their rightful glory bright and pure; and then
| quckening and better understanding of the
| love and duty due our country.
1t is not from their soldiership alone that
the sheen of their renOwn is so bright; their
| labors, privat;ons and dreadful sufferings.
| their valorous courage and gallant deeds in
! ennoblement. These they shared with their
adversaries, whose SOd'erShip, approved on
many ard-foughr and bloody field. worth
| lily completes for its equal place on the page
| of military fame. Beyond the soldiers quail
| ties, though unsurpassed in them, the men
| who wrought by arms the salvation of this
| Government raise nobler claim to gratitude
and remembrance in the unselfSh chivalric
| spirit of their sacrifice for the liberty and
| ing benefits bestowed by them on their
countrymen. Their need of praise rests on
| imposed in human'affairs: conditions exigent
of more generous self-forgettfng national
ana personal hio s th fruits to be gath
than liberty or philanthropy ever demanded.
| or it had entered into the heart of man to
| conceive could be offered by any numerous,
wide spread people to such a cause alone. In
| the calm of history, now that the clouds of
contemporaneous turmoil have Disappeared
NAV distinguish, in clear view. the
height of the great argument to which their
| ton history as peculiar titles of honor to the
| soldiers of the Union. But. comrades. it
would be false as vain-glorious to arrogate as
| theirs alone any feature of these honorS. They
are the property of the Nation. Patriotism.
| high purpose. and great sacrifices in the time
| of war were shared by ALL however varying
| in degree. And for more than twenty years
| the outcome of results has been incumbent
wholly on the patriotism and conduct of
| Americans citizens and not as soldiers. Not
| those of the faithful States alone. let it be
| Justly remembered, but of the South well
Vanquished as well as victOrS had to bend
passion knee to duty; and to accept, not less
than to bestow, forgiveness and magnanimity,
per, wisdom and character has been unex-
ampled, but the issue has been triumphant,
and the great purposes of the war have been
secured by magnanmity on the one hand and
honor on the other, blended in restored COM
mon national love and pride. The paramount
remaining duty Is fraternity and mutual hui
man love. The best and bravest of the SOL
diers of the Union. and the best and braveSt
of the soldiers of the South, long since joined
their friendly hands, hOnOring each others
valor, proud of their common nationality.
banishing remembrance of error, uniting
Nation. and pledging themselves to it's future
power and glory; They who have Az. JUSTIFIED
enough to trust and worthy to be trusted, In
brigades and divisions they have marched off
the field in this worlds strife. and passed
land of death In that unknown world. if
our hopes and faith for the life beyond have
joyous happy union they possess the realms
Of bliss. Shall their children left behind pur-
legacy of their reconciliation? The past can
not be altered: the future, under God, is in
union uni Of fellowship eemented by interest. by
patriotism and by pride Reproaches for
deeds beyond redemption. for conditions
tanned, but long turned to ashes. may be
worse than folly-they may become a crime.
light or fan a flame of sectional discord among
this fraternal people aims at the Nations
ana fe ne mas o ro sh no sge
filings vain taunts and SCOTS. the lingering de-
mons of the past. or on the other sentimental.
ing mummy. the lost cause" Let him who
can. pitch his prophetic vision through the
deur Of this land teeming with multiplied
millions of freemen. rich in resources, en-
llghtened by weIldlHuSed knowledge, ana
happy in developed life, and rs he coutem-
plates the safely moving tram of human hap
pineSs. weigh the iniquity that would cast an
obstruction on its track. Rash with enthusi-
asm and inexperience. we sent out our EARL
est body of troops as If victories in war re-
quired only feverish desire. They soon re-
turned in panic and the land quivered with
tremOr of humiliation and fear.
mcclellan took the mob. and an army came
into being never surpassed in all the ages OF
war. That splendid corps was his, the Army of
the Potomac. From the beginning to the end
it COPIED in constant struggle with the best
trained and best led enemy. In checkered
fortune, it bore the direst shocks and blows of
war, but none could break its spirit or its
form. Relentless in its iron purpose. at last
it gained the triumph of the age and took the
sword of Lee. Never more magnificent than
when he led it, through all its renowned
career it renamed McClellan's army and
loved him its father to the end. And
though cruel fate denied hum but to look upon
the glory of his army that won it will forever
irradiate h name.
"And Hancock's name was also called by that
dread constable who summons to the grave.
The superb Hancock. The beau ideal OF
manhood's splendorI Fancy's figure of the
fighting General! Bred in all the learning of
the martial art, practiced in Its exercises IN
stature port and speech the soldier and the
gentleman in lustrous perfection. His
brilliant star shines in the galaxy OF tie
heroes of the battlefield, whom. from both
sides history has chosen for the ornament
of military fame. In that great combat on
which. more than any single one beside. the
Nations safety hung, the supreme moment
of decision was committed to his conduct
His command sustained the desperate assault
which Pickett led. stalking the battle on the is
sue; with bloody penalty, drove MIN PACK
and won the mOmentous day. And there,
stricken with grievOuS wOuno, MIS- own
blood poured upon the earth. But it fell upon
the roots of his renOwn and among the
laureS of the field of Gettysburg HancOckS