, 1888-06-14

sanctioned great injustice. We
stilled the voice of conscience and de-
fed the mandate of God we sought in
the virtues OF our ancestors to find an
excuse for their errors we put union
before justice and above liberty, and
with the memory of dead compromis-
es sought to shut out the knowledge Of
living wrongs. We failed. A great
gulf suddenly yawned, stretching
from ocean to desert, dividing the ma
ton into hostile camps. Still we
were slow to learn the Roman lesson,
and the teaching became sharp and ter
rible. For weary days and months.
and years the war dragged fruitlessly
on. We we're fighting to restore the
old union; they were fighting for
slavery, and no help came to either.
God meant that we should fight for
liberty, and whatever statesmen may
plan. or armies strive tor, ellis truth
goes marching on"
When we struck for liberty, the war
ended and the gulf closed, but not till
we had cast therein our most precious
possessions; the growth, the strength.
the virtue, the patriotism OF the land.
From homes where gray haired grand.
sires still spoke of Washington from the
cabin which sheltered the emigrant of
yesterday; from the lap of luxury and
the hut Of poverty, from the wayside
shop of the blacksmith and broad acres
of the farmer; from the clearing of
the pioneer and ;he cave of the mine,
from the college halls where students
gathered and the marts OF trade where
merchants thronged; they came in II
grand array two millions strong, To-
stand between the nation and its foes,
Life was as dear to them as to others,
death Just as unwelcome. But life
must end and death must come to all,
and their hearts sang the song OF the
old hero "who kept the bridge so we'll"
"Then out spake brave Horatius
The captain of the gate;
To every man upon the earth
Death Coineth soon or late;
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes OF his fathers
And the temple of his Gods?'
The gulf closed at last but the land
ridged and SCARED with 100000 graves
reminds us how deadly the danger and
how great the sacrifice.
Not till men had wasted from before
from the MONDAY sun; not till the
voice of mourning was heard in every
hamlet and town; not till the reaper
death had gathered harvest Of the
noblest and best into his voiceles gar
ner; not till rivers of blood in crimson
streams cried from earth to Heaven
did that chasm close. The sweat Of
agony is the price of publication.
Via crucis via lucis The way of the
cross is the way of light. The bodies
Of brave men, sown thick in the fur
rows of war, are the seed from which
springs enduring national life. That is
the costly price we pay for the glory Of
an unbroken republic.
The conflict had long been gather.
ing. IL was not an affair Of moment.
airy impulse The battle was being
set in array even from the time the
new nation had been brought forth,
yea, the antagonizing forces had been
forming ever since the first shaver
traded the first African for tobacco in
Virginia. The corner stone of the
republic was laid in the cement of uni
versal liberty-"all men are created
equal" but the political walls were
builded with untempered mortar.
In the concessions and compromises
of the constitution slavery intrenched
itself, and the long duel began. The
clash Of discussion was heard in every
nook and corner of the land. The
free civilization Of the nineteenth cen
tury debated with the narrow caste
spirit of the fifteenth. Liberty gained
in every intellectual crossing of swords,
until the defeated side appealed to
arms, and staked everything, like II
reckless gambler, on the single issue of
battle. The 2,O00,00O boys in blue
who crowdedIto the front, took up the
naughty challenge, and slavery went
down forever. From the soil stained
with their blood has sprung the con-
summate flower Of impartial freedom,
equal laws, IL common birthright, a
perpetual nationality, an enduring des-
tiny, one namei These comrades fell
that the nation might rise with the
resurrection of nobler fuller human
ity They died that liberty might
live. Every forward step, every new
right gained for the race, has been
reached through human blood and
pain. Thus mankind moves onward.
Had these, our brothers, not set
their breasts living barricade be-
tween the fatherland and the foes of
its own household, where would this
nation have been to-day? The index
of civilization would have been turned +,
back on the dial of the world. The
stars and bars, emblem of II shattered
union apd belligerent states, would
have foated from the dome of the
capitol The famous rebel would, as
he predicted have called the roll of