Los Angeles herald., 1892-05-31

fast approaching, when sthe nworol
shall be beaten into plowshares and tn
spears into pruning hooks;" when thu
enlightened, civilized and Christian
nation, shall never again take up bar
bafous arms to settle claims that could
be and should be adjusted by reason
arbitration and common sense" wan'
to believe, and do believe, that / am ad
dressing ct this moment some OF the
heroes of the last war between American
citizens. The only other war possible
will be with q foreign nation, and
know of no nation under the sun that
would seriously contemplate for one
moment an attack upon the United
States.
In my judgment the lessons taught
our own people from 1861 to 1865, the
most eventful period in the history ol
the nation, will never be forgotten. The
south surely learned, by sad experience
and fearful cost, that civil war il not the
remedy for political wrongs. wish that
it might have learned, ere this, that
loyalty to the union. and true allegi-
arlce to the flag, is not most appropri-
ately shown by ovations and PROFESSIONS
in honor of defeated, unrepentent, un-
reconstructed chieftains, nor by politi-
cal or social ostracism of those who per
lied all that the nation might live.
OF that vast army of brave men
marshaled on the field of battle, men oi
intelligence, men of daring deeds and
noble origin. men with heads to think,
hearts to feel and consciences to guide,
mon who would honor any civilized
nation, tens of thousands never returned.
"They gave to this nation imperish-
able renown" and TO the communities
and homes they represented 9 name and
fame that will never die. "They sealed
their gallantry and their devotion to
country with their hearts blood" AS
brave men they grappled with secession
and rebellion, clung to the flag and bore
it aloft above smoke and dust and din Of
battle. but finally went down in q storm
of leaden hail as withered grass and
weeds 60 down before prairie fire.
Unfortunately, this has not been re-
membered. It pains me to read in the
Associated Press dispatches that at q
reunion of confederate veterans, held re-
Gently in the city ofNew Orleans, Gem
eral Longstreet was ignored and not in
vited to a seat upon the platform with
his old comrades in arms, and but q few
days ago it was said that Wade iHamp-
ton, recently a senator of the United
States from South Carolina, publicly
proclaimed, in effect, that secession was
right and that the principle would as
sert itself at another time.
On the 10th day of November, 1858,
President Lincoln made short address
at the conservation of the National
cemetery, on the battlefield Of Gettys-
burg, in which he said sThe world
will little note, nor long remember what
we say here, but it can never forget
what they did here" He closed that
marvellous speech, which will live on
and on through the centuries, when the
gilded ornate sentences of Edward
Everett, uttered on the same occasion.
will be forgotten, by assuring the people
that this nation, under God, shall
have new birth Of freedom, and that
government of the people, by the peo-I
pie, for the people, shall not perish
from the earth." 3f3
This was not the utterance of king
or an emperor, not that of q Cesar or
an Alexander, but the calm, deliberate,
dignifed statement Of Abraham Lin
coin, the s.incarnation of the people and
of modern democracy" the greatest,
grandest, best gift to the world since
Jesus OF Nazareth, the Redeemer of
men.
These men, Lincoln and Garfield, !,
were 'strue types of the grandeur and
glory of American citizenship" They
reached the presidency of this great
and, while keeping the lofty
trust committed to their hands, died,
to the cause of liberty they
each loved 30 well. When Wilberforce
died, the great Irish liberator exclaimed,
"He has gone to heaven with half q
million broken fetters in his hands,"
When the martyred Lincoln died at our
national capitol, he took with him the
chains that for two and half centuries
had bound race in bondage, and as be
passed through the gates OF pearl into
the New Jerusalem, be threw them as
trophies, down at the feet of the Mas
ter. 4ny snt' SUB aagH
Garfield, in his Christian forbearance
and fortitude, his patience and resig-
nation during eighty long, wearisome
days, in which he made q heroic and
manly fight for life, and in which
death was finally the victor, taught the
world q lesson Of practical charity, pa
tience and love and as he passed in to
the bright and beautiful city, he threw
down as trophies the hates and jeal-
ousies, the discords and prejudices that
had environe6 fifty millions of people,
all Of whom today. in honor of our
sacred and heroic dead. should cheer.
fully drape the same flag, chant the
same requiem and over their graves
strew the richest and rarest flowers.
Today there is not one Of our sixty
millions of people, native born or natu-
rallied, who is not proud of the.fact that
he is an American citizen-not q citizen
of New York or South Carolina, not 9
citizen Of Ohio or of Georgia, but a
plain American citizen-the proudest
title on earth. g.sN w t
There is no place in all the wide world
where the protecting power and infu-
ence of the government of the United
States is not felt and respected. The
sun never goes down upon it's flag. It
lie the recognized symbol of our country's
greatness and power. It kisses the
golden sunlight tip the mountain tops,
and when the signal gun is fired at sum
set in Alaska, the morning has dawned
again In Maine, and that flag is still
seen floating, proudly floating from the
efea
That flag should be the only flag, and
it should be honored and respected by
every man, woman and child in the
United States. A half million of for
eigners, on an average, land ct Castle
Garden every year, and care not
whether they be Arabs, Turks, Rus