The Press., 1890-06-12

The Willimantic papers say good things of the memorial day address of w.. A. King, Esq. The Journal says that if Chad the charm of not being too long, and it was scholarly and finished effort. It was listened to with the keenest interest. He paid glowing tribute to the courage of the American soldier, and praised the work of the American volunteer. His ad- dress was frequently applauded, and the most favorable comment was to be heard as the audience dispersed"
 The speaker paid the following tribute to the courage and efficiency of the Ameri- can soldier
 ssThe nation had but to lift it's imperial hand, and the most gigantic armies the world ever saw sprang into being. Not all Americans, ,-oh, no! Thousands who stood shoulder to shoulder with you, first saw the light across thousand leagues of ocean. While the world exists all history will praise their courage. I said all his- tory. Let me qualify that One Sir Garnet Wolsely has written an article in which he expresses doubt as to the Ameri- can soldier. l understand he belongs to that somewhat antiquated institution, the British nobility. He won distinction in Africa. There, under the changeless des- ert sky, at the head of as brave troops as Europe ever saw (Englishmen), after four days fighting he succeeded in killing three or four hundred half-armed, half clad, half lf.starved Arabs. And on the strength of that he ventures 10 criticise our army
 Well, a little over @ hundred years ago, one Lord Cornwallis, also 8 member of the British nobility, entertained a somewhat similar opinion of American troops. After that affair at Yorktown. when the foreign flag came down, and the old flag went up over the city,-when the American troops formed in lines, and Lord Cornwallis with his troops marched between them, prison CTS. of war,-Lord Cornwallis revised his opinion. Question the courage of the American soldier Go to Culp's Hill, at Gettysburg, where Reynolds died, where brigades melted into regiments, regiments into battalions, and battalions into noth- ingness-stand on those graves snd ask of American couragel Go to Chickamauga
 where one brigade, ordered to hold a po- sition, threw themselves into line like a
 wall of iron, and took 20 minutes to die. When achievements came up, where
 there had been living, breathing men,
 there was only blackened mutilated
 mass. And if you still question it, go to Pickett,s charge up the steep slope at Get. tysbnrg hopeless, despairing, magnif- iOent ' know they wore the gray l
 knou they were under the 'bonny blue flag r. But Lalse know that, as President fLincoln looked down the hillside up which they swepk he exclaimed, I shall always tbe proud that they were my countrymen. You remember Cedar Creek, where the army of thsS Shenandoah (Sheridan's army,
 was shattered to; fragments. Only one regiment remained in line, it's colonel dead
 on the field, it's drummer boy bending
 over him. General Wright, who had com
 mand during Sheridan's absence, rode up
 and ordered the boy to beat the retreat EThe boy never moved. sWhy don't you beat the retreat ? cried the general sharp. ly. Then the little fellow, pointing at his
 dead officer, looked up and said: sHe never taught me that But can beat g tcharge that will make the dead fall into line Ibeat 1t at Fredericksburg, beat
 1t, at Chantilly oh, sir, may beat il inowY In l6 minutes Sheridan's ride was lover; he was in the midst of that army
 no longer beaten, no longer retreating The boy did beat the charge, and Cedar Greek became another name of glory. And
 you went forward, forward, till on the ole
 flag where you had written the names IVicksburg, Gettysburg, you wrote tha,
 other name, Appomattox. Turn from tho
 verdict of Sir Garnet Wolsely to that o
 one who knows the American soldier a.
 none ever did one who was with him a
 Vicksbure, with him at the Wilderness Ewith him at Richmond. Years after tho lsmoke of battle had lifted, in the quiet O \ his home he wrote: The armies which
 commanded were seldom equalled, neve
 surpassed, in the history of the world.
 He who wrote those words is gone from ul
 now. He-sleeps under his laurels, within tsight of the blue waters of the Hudson
 But I know this audience will accept tn, Judgment of that man, for it was Ulysse
 s. Grant,"
 I After speaking briefly of Harriet Beech CT Stowe, and the woman of the war, MT
 King paid the following encomium to tn mothers, wives and daughters of the boy , in blue: