The Portland daily press., 1888-06-01
LET US HAVE PEACE
Hon. c. e. LittIefieId's Eloquent
Words before Penobscot Veterans.

From the Memorial Day Address at Bangor.l
More than twenty years, with their bur-
dens, have rolled into eternity since the
victors and the vanquished laid down their
arms. As we recede from those bitter days
we can look back toward those, then in arms
against US, with less of passion and preju.
dice. We received them back as citizens. II
was our right, and duty. to demand Of them
faithful obedience to the law. We looked
Tor immediate and hearty acceptance of the
results of the battle. We expected that the
rebel of to-day should be-the loyal citizen of
tomorrow. If he was allowed to resume the
privileges of citizenship, without proscrip-
tion and punishment, we felt that he should
recognize our magnanimity and conform
gladly to our standard of his duties. He
must forget and blot out the past. Had we
any right to expect all this, human as they
were, human as we are? Could we have
done 1t? They were overwhelmed with de-
feat. They had staked their all and lost.
Their sectional prejudices still existed, EN-
Filtered and intensified by defeat Their
broad untitled acres were ever present wit
nesses OF their humiliation and degra-
dation. The presence Of the freed
man was but q perpetual reminder Of
ished dream. His elevation to citizenship, a
complete reversal of their social life, con-
tlnual trampling on their pride and sensibil-
tiles. Flushed with victory, and stung with
the bitterness Of its cost in blood and treas
ure, conscious Of the rectitude OF our cause,
AID keenly alive TO the injustice and crime
OF Rebellion, Is IL surprising that we were
thus unmindful? Should we not have modi-
ned our hopes and expectations? If we
reached out toward them helping hand,
could they but help remember that 1t was the
same land that had ruthlessly struck them
down? Have we not both been look
ing through glass darkly, and are we
net now beginning to see face to face? Is
1t not true that the mighty strides in develop
ment, both social and material, inspired by
Tree enterprise and labor, that the last de
cade has witnessed In the land Of the orange
and the palm, has convinced those that
sought to profit by 1t, that Slavery was their
own greatest curse? Are they not beginning
to acknowledge. as declared by one OF their
foremost orators, that 1t was the natural
consequence Of the Rebellion, that the
unity and integrity Of the United States as
a Sovereign Nation, should be established on
the battle field, that its government should
come out OF the conflict with prestige and
power greater, perhaps, than any on earth %
Are they not soon TO join without reserva-
tion In his declaration, that Slavery is dead
buried in a grave that never gives up its
deadY When all jealousy, prejudice, anger.
and hate shall have faded away, and these
great truths be everywhere recognized and
exemplifed, may they not rejoice with us In
that valor and devotion, and patriotism, that
established the right, and forever crushed
out the wr0ng?" Can we not then remem-
Der with them the val0r and prowess Of the
Southern soldier, though we remember in
sorrow, not in anger, that he followed a
wicked phantom, a baseless dream? Then
shall be fulfilled the yearning prophecy of
the Hero Of Appomattox, written as he went
serenely down into the valley and shadow Of
death; II feel" he wrote, shat we are on
the eve Of new era, when there shall be
great harmony between the Federal and the
Confederate. / cannot stay to be a living
witness TO the correctness of this prophecy,
but feel 1t within me that 1t is to be so. The
universally kind feeling expressed for me, at
a time when 1t was supposed that each day
should prove my last, seemed to be the be-
ginning Of the answer to 'let us have peace" "
SO be 1t. How sublime the thought We
then saw the stern, unyielding. unc0mprom-
ising, old warriors heart, firm in the conYie-
tiOn of the Righteousness Of the cause for
which he unsheathed his sword, but mag
unanimous and oyerfowing With charity and
forgiveness for the erring fallen, and an
abiding love for all OF his fellow country
men. Well was it that the whole nation
mingled its tears with his ashes as they were
gathered TO those of his Fathers. Then shall
be ours the full fruition of that wondrous
divine saying: They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy" When that time shall come, as
come 1t will, with sincere fraternal feeling
pervading the republic; with the indissOlu-
DlllLy Ol the Union, anu tne unlVerSdllty OIL
freedom and equality under the law
as unalterably fixed as though
craven with an iron pen and lead in the
rock forever" with what confidence may we
not appeal to the twentieth century? Ay, To
time SO long as ii shall endure? For the
achievement of these glorious results we are
indebted, under God, to the heroes OF '6f
We gave into your hands the Republic, "dis.
cordant, discovered, belligerent." You gave
Ii back to us. not as 1t was, God forbid but
purged. purified, renewed, strengthened, in.
vincible. You found the flag trampled under
Treason's heel; you restored IL TO us, eOnse
Grated by your blood, the unsullied emblem
Of the free. How glorious Is the land you
saved How magnificent its domain How
unparalleled its prosperity How boundes:
its resourcesl How unlimited its possibili
ties! How stupendous its destiny! 1t is, in
itself, the majestic monument, most and only
worthy to preserve and perpetuate the mem
ory of your heroic deeds.
Great God we thank thee for this home,
This bounteous birth land Of the free,
Where wanderers from afar may come,
And breathe the air of liberty
still may her flowers untrampled spiinE,
Her harvests wave, her cities rise,
And yet, till time shall fold her wing,