The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-05-31
DECORATION DAY.
The Graves of DEPARTED soldiers
StreWn with GarlaHds.
Eloquent Address by His Excel
Iency J. l.. Stevens.

.
Iency J. l.. Stevens.
The procession of the Geo. W. de
Long Post, G.. A. R. started from
their King street hall at 3:15
o'clock yesterday afternoon. A
squad of police headed the process
sion; next came the Royal Ha-
waiian Band, followed by the
Household Guards, next the mem
bers of the G. A. R. The band of
the U. S. Flagship San Francisco
preceded a squad of marines and
blue-jackets from the Cruiser San
Francisco. The long procession
marched along King street and up
Nuuanu avenue. On arriving at
the Nuuanu Cemetery the G. A. R..
members were seated beneath a
temporary awning His Excel
lency A. S. Cleghorn, Governor of
Oahu, and staff, were also there.
A number of ladies and gentlemen
under the direction of w. w. Hall
were placed near by. They sang
several hymns, including ''Amer-
ica," with accomplishments by the
Flagship band. The order of ex-
ercises was as follows
Reading Orders. .Adjutant Simerson
Ritual. Past Commander Turrill
Prayer. Chaplain Y. B. Emerson
Ritual. Past Commander Turrill
Decorating the Graves. ........ =. .....
.............. Members of the @. A. r.
Ritual ................... Chaplain Emerson
Music. ........ $500. .. Hawaiian Band
Oration..... His Elk. J. l.. Stevens,
U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary
Roll Call 49,. go. ....................
Three volleys were then fired by
marines from the Flagship San
Francisco. The exercises were
closed with benediction by Rev. E.
G. Beckwith, after which the pro-
cession marched back to town in
the order in which they went up.
The graves at the cemetery were
all decorated with flowers. A very
large number Of people were pres
ent during the exercises.
THE GRAFTON.
His Excellency J. L. Stevens,
U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary,
spoke as follows:
The scene which we now witness,
and the circumstances which have
brought us here at this hour, make
upon us striking impression. They
awaken tragic memories. They
touch our hearts - they stir all
that is best within us, with solemn
eloquence, for which no spoken or
written words are adequate. The
near presence of the graves of men
and the monuments reared to their
memory, always should awaken
within US serious, if not saddened,
reflection. But this assemblage, in
honor of the heroic dead, has a re-
markable significance. What has
called it forth? Why are we here? 1t
actors in war, Of themselves consid-
cred. Back of heroes there must be q
sacred cause, principles that are
eternal, grand as human liberty and
broad as the common welfare of men
A hundred years ago American pa
triots, all aflame with the love of lib
erty, struck for it's defence, with the
might of arms. They won, and their
memory is immortal, and honored in
all the nations of the earth where the
human heart responds to the divine
! truth, that men are born free. A gov
eminent was created-a Union of
| States took its place on the theater of
the world. For three-fOurths of q
century that Union marched on, in
| its magnificent career, beating back
| triumphantly all its foes from with
| out, untouched by q hostile hand
within. Thirty-one years ago the
| Nation with this history-then num-
! bering thirty-two millions-saw itself
| threatened with grave trials, if not
| terrible disaster. In the early history
of the country, hundred and fifty
years before the Republic was born,
| the Americans had received from the
monarch cursed and enslaved nations
| of Europe, the fallaciOus and miser-
able notion, that "cheap labor was
| necessary to raise tobacco, sugar, and
cotton. That is conception OF
human cupidity so inherently
false that whatever country re.
sorts to it, to solve a present diff
Guilty, discounts it's future at crush
ing rate of interest and bequeathe:
suffering and sorrow to the following
generations of its people. That delu'
sion so full of poison, so damaging tC
all that is noblest I'm the interests anC
institutions of civilized men, had
caused to grow % political canceI
on the American body polite. 1t haC
created an evil of colossal proportions
threatening the disruption of tn,
great Republic, and carrying in it
train the terrible evils of civil war
The constitutional voice of the peopl
had inst placed in the presidential
chair one of the most humane AM
noble statesmen ever at the head of
nation. At the side of Abraham Lin
coin stood Seward, Chase, Stanton
and their honored associates. Stron
in the sense of right, the Government
did it's utmost to avoid calamity
through the agencies of forbearanc
and peace. 1t made no threats; it Oh
, dered no arrests; it did not begin b
, crowding prisons with suspected per
sons. That would have been a sign {
weakness, and to follow in the Ions
trodden path of despotic government!
unbecoming civilized peoples, an
, generally more harmful than benefiC