The Portland daily press., 1889-10-09

| instance the care that In some great disaster
the loss might not fall too heavily on one To-
| cality. But there was greater reason. Our
thoughts were not then of States as States,
but Of States united, thus constituting the
life and being of the people OF the United
States Our hearts heat TO that one high
Thought: our eyes saw but the old flag; and
| onr Souls saw il. glorious with the power of
peace and blessing. in the forward march OF
But now that this victory Is won, this
cause yindicated, ana tne greaS lact OF the
being and authority Of the people of the
United States has been thus sOlemnly attest
ed by the moral forces Of this pc ople, using
the physical as token and instrument of
their convictions, now tho several States
come here in their own name, resuming their
State rights, to ratfy and confirm this action
of their delegates. to set these monuments as
seals to their own great deeds, and new COW
enant of life.
We were not fighting against the States,
but against their claim TO be sovereign and
supreme over and above the people of the
United States. And yet, 1t is the people of
the States, acting not in their numerical or
mass capacity. but IN their political capacity,
who made the Union, who ordained the Con-
stitution; or rather who, being what they
were, actually and by great providential
facts of history, being constituted as they
were, expressed for themselves and for their
political order as united people, the writ
| ten Constitution, conformable to their inte-
rior and actual Constitution.
1t is the people OF the States acting through
| the instrumentality of their State organZa-
ton, who determine all great questions of
public policy or the common veal. But ii Is
| only in Union that the States have their ex-
istence as States. There is no sovereign peo-
gs w' wo tae uS saes 9q there v aTe me
fought for the Union. That is why. having
| brought the rebellious States back and made
them take their places in the Union, to make
| good the sovereignty and authority of the
| people we now hold dear and consecrate the
name and place Of the State. No one of us
| wishes to deny the val0r, the f0rttude, the
courage. the devotion, the manliness of those
| who assailed the authority of the people of
the United States and struck at their very
life. in order to set up the supremacy of the
States, each by each, in and for itself, and
suiiiclent for all purposes and ends. We
have seen the noblest of virtues enlisted in
| mistaken cause.
| Were our own State attacked in its high
place and proper function, as guardian of
what we may call the home rights, we should
defend 1t as valiantly as our brethren OF the
South claimed to be defending theirs. But
no such assault was matchmaking like it.
| Private rights were respected with a scrupul-
BUSINESS never seen in war before. They had |
indeed the opportunity to say that they were |
resisting an invader; that they were lighting |
for their native soil and birth rights; for |
their homes, and for what men hold dear in |
them; and fighting in the name of States |
they looked up to as guardians of those prec- |
ious things. We cannot wonder at their ac-
tion, If under the conviction that their State |
as such was assailed.
But that was not the aspect of the State in |
which the issue was brought
IL was question of political supremacy, |
tlon and national existence. And this is |
quite:a different matter and.m0re far-reacaing |
In Its bearing and effect than that of the i'm |
mediate private rights of any individuals. |
Inc e men Of the South wrapped in their theory |
OF the State forgot the great behest of the |
people; they dsregarded and denied and |
sought to disannul, the great covenant of |
perpetual union in which the people of these |
States united, expressed stheir sovereignty |
and held their political being. We fought no
better perhaps than they; but contend that
we were lighting on higher plane. That
was our power: in that was our victory.
1t is something great and greatenng, to
cherish an ideal; to act in the light of the
far-away and far above; to set aside the near
advantage, the momentary pleasure, the
snatching of seeming good to self, and to act
for remoter ends, for higher good, and for
interests greater than our own.
1t was something like this, think which
characterized our motive, which made us
strong to fight the bitter fight to the victor
l0uS end. and made us unrevengeful and
magnanimous in that victory.
We lifted our souls above the things which
even the Declaration of Independence pro-
n0unces the inalienable rights of human ma
ture for the securing of which governments
are Instituted among men,, Happiness, lib
erty life, we laid on the altar of offering, or
committed to the fury of the powers of de-
struction, while our minds were lifted up to
great thought, and our hearts swelled to its
measure. We were beckoned on by the
vision OF the coming years; we re
cognized the great calling and conservation
OF this people, the sacred trusts committed
TO IT, Its glorious career in the enfrauchi Sc
ment OF man, the power of high aims and of
strong nnrnncQ of
deayor; the onward. upward path of history,
TO GOD. Every man felt that he gave HIM
self to and belonged to something which
could not die
But l said it was a question of politics. Ey-
eryDody knows that do not mean by this,
that 1t was party question, as to what par
tlc9lari set OF persons or policies should con-
troll the government. And when | say that
it was political question, this Is not Saying
that 1t was not also moral question. For
do not think that ethics and politics are so
utterly removed from each other as some
with such strange violence insist. Politics,
L believe. is the sphere of action in which |
people takes upon itself an order for right
living, and to secure the noblest ends of liv-
ing attalnable through association. Il
This Is an order which takes cogniZance of
rights and of rightness. aud of nobleness
which has an ideal type.
The question before us was a question of
politics, as to the nature and place of the
sovereignty Of the people of.the United States
l
sought was the real and existing sovereignty
and not a new sovereignty to be
found or formed. But there was a true
and false about this contention for fact, and
hence there was right and wrong about it.
We were not trying to force a new thing
upon the people of this country; we were
trying to find and maintain the true thing.
Ii Is the States united which make our
try. The States, claiming right or license to
ny asunder and antagonize each other, are
the denial of country In such conception
there En. can an, be no people, but only States.
,r. Inc vice ice, President Of the Confederacy
Between the States" He mistakes the
question, and ignores the issue. There was
no war between the States. 1t was war in
which certain States, having in fact no
sovereignty except as they were participants
Of 1t In the union Of the States, but assert
ing sovereignty of their Own, each by each,
as supreme, undertook tc defy and destroy
the authority and the existence of the people
OF the United States. in which in trush their
own very sovereignty inhered. To that alb
surd pass did that theory come. 1t was in
truth war Of States against the people or
with equal truth, suicide of States.
On the other hand, we are not people in
mass, like the. French or even the English
people, who live under one central govern
ment, which reaches down through depart
Iments. districts, counties, cities and
every legal occasion, before the one supreme ,
power. Far beyond and far different from
theirs Is our application of the principle of
local enforcement; and in our adherence |
to this principle in practice the perpetuity J
OF our free institutions, and the prosperity l
and glory of this people depends. !
When the martyr President, standing on
this very spot at the dedication of this Gem
etery, uttered the noble climax of that i'm |
mortal speech, 'We were highly resolved
that the government of the people, bv the
people, and for the people, shall not perish ,
from the earth," he meant such people as / j.
have described. Surely he did not M can in |
this sublime utterance to justify the rule of /
mere mob majority, nor to furnish watch ,
word for reyolutonists like those who. a S
century ago, drowned France in her own /
best blood, or for the anarchists and dyna- !
mlters of today. who, in the name of the ,
people, would give loose rein to every mans ,
caprice, or greed, or frenzied passion.
tie meant government; he meant people '
holding their liberty under law; exercising +
their sovereignty by deliberation and delega- q
ton; and not in the tumut of a momentary | /
majority. swayed by shifting emotions. He
meant people like sours, protecting its mi
norities, checking its own caprice and facili- !!
ty of change. RELOCATING great questions to
Its sober second thought, and guided ever by q
the consciousness of great trusts and the | il
vision of supreme end Q
Part and narcal nf this .nolit;ooi l,o;,. | |,