Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-06-03


ablest and most powerful aristocrac
the world ever knew. Scoring, de
spising, loathing, all who lived by labor
applying the epithets "greasy mechan
les and ''mudsills of society to the il
lustrious North Calling us cravel
traders whose love for the almighty dol
lar would not and could not let us fight
Holding in scornful contempt, the cour
age, the valor of the North.
In the South, generations Of SLAYER
had made labor for the white man, ex
cept labor of the brain, utterly degrad
ing. A great population of poor whites
who despised themselves for having t
labor, and who would wildly welcom
the opening of any avenue leading t
existence without labor. -Four million
of patient, long-suffering human beast
of burden to provide means by thei
labor; wonderfully prolific country; tn
able, powerful, scheming, goyernin,
class to plan, to scheme, to lead. Wa
ever nation so equipped for conquest
The poor white for the soldier, the arts
tocrat with his supercilious, seornfu
courage for the officers, and the Negro
to feed all
They dreamt of and schemed for ;
vast slave-holding empire. Their vault
ing ambition took in the prosperity,
empire, all the South, the Pacific slope
the Indian and Mountain territories, al
from sympathetic attraction, for the,
reasoned that the first break would rem
der any other impossible.
Then by conquest their empire was t
be limited only by their power to extend
it. Attracting to themselves the adven
turers of all chimes, by promised loot ane
bounty, as William the Conquerorl
army was attracted to him, their schemes
of ACKNOWLEDGMENT were practically lin
itless. To the north, to the Wes
Indies, to the south, even to Cape Horn
the promise was most bountiful.
But they reckoned without their host
The North was not the pusillanimous
craven thing they hoped, but its people
were their equals in physical and i'm
measurably their superiors in mora
courage. The North dared to fight fol
the right, simply because it was right
with no thought of personal or national
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
IF we, Of the generation Of 81, had
been the crayens they hoped, what would
we see to-day? Europe copied every
where; standing armies everywhere
For what race prejudice could be SO in
tense, so provocative Of discord as two
such antagonistic systems, side by sidet
With standing armies comes wars, wars
wars Any pretext is enough for him
who wants to fight Standing as the
Confederacy stood, upon human slavery
as its cornerstone, its rulers could not
have not have been deferred from any
war by any consideration of any human
right.
What a neighbor she would have
beenl With necessary immense stand
ing armies in our midst, how soon might
our liberties be lost. At best we could
have afforded little betterment to the
oppressed of the world. Thus there
could have been no asylum for the OPP
pressed of all nations; our progress
would have been arrested and ciYiliza-
ton set back centuries.
But these dead heroes and their sur
viving comrades with self-sacrifcing pat.
riotism fought this issue out for YOU
then and there, and thus saved you wars
and wars, and all the manifold evils of
large standing armies, and settled for
all time that the heritage the forefathers
bequeathed us shall be forever kept in
tact. That the hope of the oppressed
shall not be blotted out and that the
glorious stars and stripes shall continue
to protect the weak against brute force
all oyer our magnificent domain. This
is only one of the many meanings con-
ycyed to these young men and women
by the sentence, the Union is saved; but
| have not time to enlarge.
More than generation ago the great
Webster said that the proudest boast
possible to human being is Il am an
American" This was true. But may
we not with pardonable pride felicitate
ourselves that it is prouder boast to-
day?
To-day this is in its fullest sense, and
to fullness that never could be meant
until the days of Abraham Lincoln,
aThe Land of the free and the home of
the brave The atmosphere of Ameri-
ca is now so pure that slave needs but
to breathe it to be free. Slavery is
dead deadl deadl Never to be resur-
rected. And this my hearers is our
browning glory, the browning glory of
the dead and living soldiers of 81, that
they helped Abraham Lincoln kill slay-
cry. And this is our one addition to
the common heritage.
Few of my comrades would claim
that they enlisted for this. We simply
confided ourselves and our all to Abra-
ham Lincoln, to use as he thought best
to save the nation. But by the logic Of
uncomfortable events, and his wise
leadership, we reached the sublime
contamination Thus we glory in our
leader and in this, one of the most
glorious compensations of that terrible
war. And to-day when our hearts are
full and eyes overfowing with sorrow
for the loss of all these heroic dead,
while We mourn their infinite sacrifice,
we are profoundly impressed with the
proud compensating conviction that the
worlds history discloses no nobler,
grander cause, and no nobler, grander
sacrifices. For it must be ever borne
in mind, clearly and Enthusiastically, that
in that terrible struggle for national ex-
istence, for human rights, for human
progress, we (of the North) were eter-
nally right and they (of the South) eter-
nally wrong. M
This great issue, as have said, was
fought out for you, by the men and
women of 1861. For without the up
holding sympathy, self-denying ex-
"hP'S, anu oCASAiniuSu pdtIiotisLi vi
our noble women, the hearts and arms
of even those heroes must have failed
them.
Yes, the courage was of piece with
their husbands and sons. And every
loyal man and woman of the North. is
entitled to partake of the glory result
ing from that achievement With such
retrospect and with such a consum-
nation, is it too muchto expect that all
the coming generations shall join us IN
doing honor To these dead beroac md