The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-08-16

The civilized world stood aghast at the
North, and tho churches through Christen-
dom Incorporated into their liturgies the
pious prayer:
"a furOro N~ormanorum
liberia nos, Domino"
But these gallant sailors of the far North
land did more than conquer and destroy.
They sailed boldly out upon the broad At
lantic. With nc compass, with not even a
tradition to direct them, but guided by the
stars in their courses they crossed the vast
ocean; their storm-tossed ships first sailed
our western seas; their feet, first of white
men, trod the shores of America. And all
this five hundred years before Columbus
discovered the islands On our southern
coast.
And there are greater obligations of a
later date, which place America under a
debt of gratitude to the Northland. When
our forefnthers rose in arms to throw of
the yoke of Great Britain; in that long
SUFukRlc VI LILO IctOluGtClls UlluU LlIuc GllhG
tried mems souls, let not America forget
that next after our ally, France, it was the
gallant little kingdom of Sweden that, first
among the nations of the world, recognized
our newborn republic. made with us a
treaty of friendship, and welcomed us into
the great sisterhood of nations.
We, OF this generation, can never forget
the incidents Of the great American rebel
lion, that titanic contest that for four years
ragged over this continent. We can never
forget our bright days of victory, we can
mover forget our dark and gloomy days of
defeat and disaster, when everything that
was dear and sacred to us as q nation
seemed trembling in the balance. Shall
We ever forget one memorable morning
when the rebel RAM, Merrilnac, steamed
out of Norfolk harbor, and with her PROV
of iron came down upon our wooden
wallis of defense lying at anchor at Hamp-
ton Roads. How cruelty that monster iron
clad ;,ored ono after another of our brave
ships to the death, while the shot from our
cannon ratified OFF from her coat of mail
harmless as hail stones. How bravely
went down the good ship Cumberland with
the stars and stripes still tloating from her
masthead, and with three hundred i'm
mortels on board who fired the last broad
side rs the waters Of the ocean poured into
the muzzles of their guns. Then all was
terror and CONSERVATION. kilograms were
sent from headquarters to New York, Bos-
ton and Portland, to all our marine cities:
THE Merrimac has escaped. Sho has
broken tho blockade. She has sunk tho
bravest ships of our navy. We have moth
ing that can cope with her. Take care of
y~ourselves-we cannot protect YOU"
I recollect we'll how the news was re-
ceived in Portland. How our citizens con-
suited together. How it was proposed to
construct RATS of long lumber, and chain
them across the entrance of our harbor, to
save, if possible, our beautiful city by the
sea from the shot and shell of this rebel
monster. For a few short hours that rebel
ram was "Mistross of the Seas"
Then what! A little nondescript craft
comes steaming in from the ocean, "a
Yankee cheese-box on a raft' it was called
in derision. But she steams straight for
the Merrimac, tho big turret, 'the cheese
box begins to r~evolye, the big guns are
run out, and the big cannon balls arc
l-n1o1 ocxor klD An, r-,kl ~r,,ols--
effect against the mailed armor of the con-
federate cruiser. The contest was long;
tin fight was hard; but at its close this
rebel ruler of the waves, crippled, disabled
and defeated, was glad to crawl out of the
fight, to roam the seas no more.
Now, my friends, all this is us familiar
to you as household words; but let us not
forget that the inventive genius who
planned and built and gave us the "Moni-
tor" that apparently insignificant means
of defense, which in that hour, under God,
was the salvation of our navy, our block
ade, and our prestige on the seas, let US
not forget, I say, that he, the inventor of
the Monitor was no American born, but
the Swede, John Ericsson, the son Of a
Swedish miner, born and bred in a miners
hut in the back woods of old Sweden.
We Americans welcome all christian peo-
pie to the magnificent battle of life on this
vast new continent, where, with equal
rights for all, honest labor meets with it's
surest and best rewards. We welcome all
to share in our goodly heritage where, as o
Maine poet has said, they may have
equal voice in making laws,
Equal peers to try each cause,
Peasants homestead mean and small,
Sacred as the monarch's hall"
Yet, let us never forget that there is no
people to whom we owe a warmer welcome
than to that gallant race of the far North
land, whose first permanent settlement on
our shores, a quarter of a thousand years
ago, is to day commomorated and honored.
Rev. Dr. Pimrose-Im forgive you this
time, but if I eve catch you again in my
hen-house I'll give you up to the law.