Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-05-31

Ing rlcn ana we or q younger gcucId-
ton, who have inherited the vast |
wealth preserved by their valor, can
well afford to be just or even generous. |
1t seems to me fitting upon this day, |
set apart especially to keep green the
memory of our hero dead, after decorat-
ing their graves with flowers and re-
calling the grand achievements and
great sacrifices of the soldiers both llv-
ing and dead, to reflect seriously about
the wars, to inquire the causes that
lead to such bloody conflict among
the people of a common country, and
to ask ourselves if there be any dangers,
remote or near, that now threaten
similar affection upon this people. 1t
ought to be our duty to learn wisdom
from the past and not leave as herl-
tage to future generations this Nation
inOculated with any deadly poison that
will sap its moral and intellectual
powers, and to get rid of which poison
the antid0tes of blood and tears must
be given.
The war was the result of an irrecOn-
cilable conflict between liberty and
slavery.
This nation could no longer remain
half slave and half free. 1t was neces-
sary either to divide our country, or to
make it all slave or all free.
Had any man used such language as
the foregoing thirty years ago he would
have been considered in the north
crazy fanatic and in the south base
criminal, and yet so rapid is the growth
of ideas in a revolution, that twenty
years ago or ten years thereafter, the
above statements were universally rec
ogniZed as true as now, that slavery
was wrong! Then "uor pOputi, U0I des"
is not always true saying, and yet the
basic stone of our governmental struct-
IRE is that the majority shall rule:
The voice of the people is the voice OF
power if not always the voice of God.
Witness the act of our fOrefathers
in fastening slavery upon this country:
Think of men, who went barefooted
and suffered all kinds of privatiOns for
seven long years rather than acknoWl-
edge a mild form of servitude or even
concede the right of Great Britain to
lew tribute upon them: think, l say, OF
such a people being so unjust and
shortsighted as to found a country half
slave and half free.
Others may talk about the greatness
! and goodness of our fOrefathers. Ii
suits my purpose to talk about their
follies and national crimes.
can point the lesson better today
by telling you that George Washington
owned slaves. and that the heroes OF
the revolution believed IN the divine
right of slavery.
The voice of the people was heard in
favor of slavery in the first congress
and i'm every congress thereafter until
, a lust God pricked the conscience OF
the nation with sword. To get rid of
slavery. heritage left us by the franz
ers of this government, slavery, the
S curse supported by the voice of the
; people, three hundred thousand brave
men ripped open their veins and poured
their life's blood upon their country s
altar. 1t cost vastly more than that
it cost an ocean of tears wrung from
the ewes of women and children: it cost
=, golden treasure piled mountain high;
it cost broken home circles never more
r. to be restored, it cost an era OF crime
!, and peculatiop, the fruits OF which CAN
,, not be measured this side Of eternity.
|, Indeed. our fOfefathers were brave,
good men, but they left an awful curse
= upon their descendants.
But did they fasteR slavery upon
this country willingly No, no, a
thousand times, no. 70 say that would
= be to SANDER all the dead OF the revo-
!, luton. and all who lived aftei them for
= more than half a century. Had Wash
inpton and his colleagues been lifted
- to taxS lxalted intellectual national
: plateau to which, @s haTe been thrown
= by the volcanic eruptiOns OF ilteFpe-
: cine strife, slavery would have died in
: this country before the constitution
! was framed, and the late war would
7 have beep ayerted.
We can better understand how faI
! from the truth is the saying, rQr popYl,,
zoe de,." by brief appeal to history.
1t was the voice of the people that
supported the bigots in their use Of the
thumbscrews and the racks in the
Spanish inquisition. 1t was the voice
:, of the people that sanctioned the
crimes of the Duke of Alva in the low
countries. 1t was the voice of the peo-
plo-of the people of our country-that
i demanded The burning of supposed
witches in New England. Ninety-five
millions of people today boeiieye that
! Mohammed was q prophet; they would
/. die fof their religion just as readily as
Christians would die for their faith.
The vol ,e of the Reaple SANCTIONED
! Solomon's action in the keeping of his
7 concubines, and David in his atrocities
in war. The voice of the people in the
!, past has upheld every kind of religious
: worship, from the mothers sacrifice OF
: : her child to the ypggernaut to the SIM
: pie faith of the Christians prayer.
In the world of amusement the voice
: of the people at one age or another has
! asked for the bloody arena, the martial
4 vet brutal lonst. the cowardly bull
. fight. the weird approximations OF del
; ties, devils and angels. the vulgar yari-
Z ety show. and the Interpretation OF the
ennobling characters of the immortal
Shakespeare. In government the voice
! Of the people has supported every form
conceived by the devil, and sanctioned
every abuse of power assumed by am
bitiOn and maintained oy pGe sword
But when we reflect that civilization
> has been a growth, is yet a growth,
, that laae has struggled through dark
ness up to higher PLACE; that
! THE thoughts or men gre xiaeAed With the
D. process of the suns
; and then remember how far in advance
; of liberal thought were the trainers of
our country to the rulers of any other
{ vet in existence, and how much nearer