The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1886-06-17
PATRIOTIC WORDS.
Address at Alexandria, Va, on Memo
rial Day. by Hon. James I. Johnston,
of Indiana.

tive stranger, having never until yesterday set
my foot upon Virginia soil, save in the capacity
Of n Union soldier and dressed in soldiers
uniform. / accepted this invitation four days
ago, since which time have been occupied with
other duties that have engroSsed my entire
time. am, therefore, unprepared to address
an audience of this kind. / will have to ask
You to bear with me while / present such
thoughts as may come to my mind upon this
occasion. / realize fully that stand upon his
toric soil-the land of Washington and Jeffer-
son, and upon the soil where the two great
contending armies met; where Grant, in COM
mand of the Union forces, uttered that grand
saying. that will be handed down to future
generations, and is now held as q sacred phrase
among the loyal people, Z" propose to fight it
out on this line. if it takes all Summer"
We come together upon this occasion for the
purpose of doing honor to our brave dead. Not
that il will do them any good, but as q consola-
ton to their friends, and it will furnish, I hope,
a lesson OF loyalty and devotion to Us ALL For
they are the men who laid down their lives
that Nation might live, and that we might
have Government of the people, for the pe0-
pie and by the people" as our fathers intended.
1t is now p years since the war began-25
years since brave Ellsworth fell within 100 feet
of this spot. A quarter of a century has elapsed
since the first gun was fred-one- fourth of the
lifetime Of the Nation. IL is now 81 years since
Confederate forces surrendered 10 the triumph
ant army the brave host he led. A generation of
voters and soldiers have grown up and blOOmed
into manhood since the first gun was fired upon
Fort Sumter. The little boy that played and
prattled about his fathers knee when he babe
him final farewell, not realizing the condition
OF the country, and not knowing that he was
never to see him again, is now a voter; and
the sons OF these men are now or soon will be
in control of and have in their hands the desti-
mics of the Nation that their fathers saved. The
bright eyed, rosy checked little girl. with her
auburn locks that threw her dimpled arms
around her fathers neck and kissed him a last
adieu. is now the motherly matron, with her
little family around her, giving them words Of
inspiration, and teaching them either to love
the flag of our fathers or teaching them a con-
trary doctrine. 1t may therefore be well
upon an occasion of this kind, and in view Of
the fact that a generation has thus grown up
since the war began, to briefly rehearse
TIE CAUSES AND THE DIFFERENCES
that led to that war, which we from our stand
point claim was cruel, causeless and useless.
Prior 10 the Revolutionary War we were liv-
ing under a Confederation composed of ID indie
pendent colonies. Virginia was one of the
grandest and most powerful her sons being
acknowledged leaders and the great apostles of
liberty, having done as much az, if not more
est Nation on earth, and as such deserving of
great credit. Every patriot should hold them
in grateful remembrance. They enunciated
the great doctrine that all men are created
equal-endOwed by their Creator with certain
inalienabie rights, among which are life, lib
erty, and the pursuit of happiness" Their grand
leading idea was liberty; that every man born
in the image of his Maker, had the right
to enjoy liberty and the protection of the Gov
tTnment. After they bad gained their indie
pendence and compelled the mother country to
accord to them the right of self-government it
became apparent that there must be closer
union that they were unable to maintain their
liberties with l3independent governments, each
claiming it had rights and powers superior
TO the General Government. Thereupon they
inaugurated our present form of Government
and adopted the present Constitution. ia it
saying, We, the people Of the United States"
do ordain and adopt this Constitution not We,
the people OF the States" nor the people of Yir-
GINA, South Carolina. or Massachusetts,, but
We. the entire people" do ordaiu and establish
Government that is to be superior in its rights
aud powers to any local State Government.
They found, however, one disturbing element
for which they were not responsible, it having
been entailed upon them by the mother Gov
ernment-that of human slavery. They viewed
1t rs an evil, and one that should be eradicated
at the earliest possible day. But with il they
had TO compromise and provided that after q
certain number of years the slave trade should
be abolished that man should no longer i'm
port his fellow-man to be held as slave. Many
OF the States provided for gradual emancipa-
tion. and they all looked forward to the day
when the evil
SHOULD BE ExTERsrINATED.
When the grand old Commonwealth of yir-
ginia ceded the great Northwestern Territory,
which she then owned, to the General Govern
ment so anxious was she that the blighting
curse Of human slavery should never be entail
ed upon the sturdy men that were to settle il,
that she engrafted upon the articles Of cession
the solemn prohibition that slavery nor inyol-
untary servitude, except for the punishment of
crime, should ever exist therein, and made it
one of the conditions upon which she surren-
dered her title to the Territory.
The State in which i was born and to-day
have the honor in part to represent was carved
out of that Territory and am proud to say, in
forming our organic law we followed the ad-
vice and lived up to that article in the cession,
and excluded slavery from our SOIL Other
States were carved out of the same Territory,
and likewise followed the teachings of the
grand old Commonwealth. And Jefferson,
whom all Virginans delight to honor,-and no
man can upbraid them for it, for he was great
apostle of liberty,-after having spent lifetime
in advising against the spread Of the insttu-
ton, gave up in despair, and said Z" 1 trem-
BILE for my country when / dream that God
is just, and that His mercy cannot sleep
forever" 1t appears in looking at it now,
after the terrible experience we have had, that
il was prophecy, inspired by one who controls
the actions and destinies of all men and nations
Washington, the Father of his Country man
whom we all delight TO honor and worship and
future generations will be taught to speak his
name with reyerence,-was likewise opposed
to the further spread of slavery, and after long
and eventful life said, =" will do for my slaves
what the Government should do for all-giye
to them their liberty"
The men who afterwards controlled the sem
timent and education of the South saw not only
in slavery ease and comfort to themselves but
also a political power, and thereupOn CON-
menced the defense of the institution, and in
place Of admitting it was an evil, rs the fathers
had taught, began to preach the doctrine that
10 was right; and their Ministers of the Gospel
were compelled to teach the doctrine that it
was a divine institution and authorized by
Holy Writ. When they preached to the slaves
they invariably took the text, Servants, obey
your masters"
From this, young men of the South, let us
draw lesson; you can never compromise with
wrong without imperiling the right. No man
ever defended wrong successfully il he adj
mitted that he was wrong, consequently when
they commenced their course of defending
slavery they were compelled to place it upon
the broad ground of right. If a Minister of
the Gospel finds an evil existing in his church,
and attempts to compromise with it and apollo
gize for it, and to keep on good terms with the
men who are advocating it, soon or late the
church will crumbe. So it must be with a
Government. No great nation can admit and