The Press., 1892-06-09

" countless miseries, was far preferable to national degradation. If resort to arms was necessary to sustain the law, it was cheerfully accepted. If the fate of this union must be settled by the sword, not one would shrink from duty. And in this I recognize the same spirit which estab- lished for us this independent form of government, not so much the nice ar of functions, or careful balance of powers, but mainly the spirit of liberty. And it is to this spirit, fellow citizens, that we must ever look for the perpetuity of our institutions. We do wrong when we suffer ourselves to depend on the per lection of our government for the preser- vation of our liberties. What is to pre- serve the government? It is not the body that makes the spirit, but the spirit the body. It was not our anti-slavery socie- ties that made anti-slavery. It is not any society that makes the principles the so- ciety inculcates. The society could not exist did not the sentiment which they express exist before them. In the same manner and for the same reason, it is not the free government that makes the free man, but the man the government. Let the sentiment of liberty become ex- tinct in the hearts of this people to-day, and tomorrow the government has be- come despotism. There may be form of freedom, but it is not freedom.
 When Cesar usurped the control of the Roman state he was careful to leave many of the old republican forms, but the liberties of the nation had been undermined. The body was there, but the soul had fled. The examples of the past were before us, and in the great crisis that was upon us there was but one heart and one purpose in the loyal states. Alive to the perils that surrounded us, and to prove to other powers that we were capable of self-government, patriotic a1dor that was unprecedented in the an nals of history, pervaded every communi- ty. Party lines disappeared past differ ences were forgotten, and the north stood a unit
 But, in the midst of many thoughts which come rushing into my mind, one must not be passed by. One character, standing erect among the many, claims surely passing notice. I refer to Presi- dent Lincoln. What can I say to add glory to that name? Let it stand where it deserves to stand-distinct, separate, and alone upon the ear. Let it pronounce it's own eulogy more eloquent than speech, since the man is in his tomb, and all po- litical strife of that nature has subsided. What American will not unite in cele- brating nations bereavement, in repeat ing and recording the honors of his life? And yet who can repeat them. I speak not of the statesman, speak not of the patriot but of the man. Let the artist be employed to delineate on canvas the striking characteristics of his person, and, if possible, the peculiar greatness of his soul and let it suffice for me to say that Abr aham Lincoln combined in himself the most prominent features of those sepa- rate characters which have formed the chief glory of this nation. The example he exhibited was that of true greatness, and in his tragic death we lost what a na- l tion can seldom lose. Oh, how sincerely 1 do the people in such times of peril feel that Ian honest man is the noblest work of God" And this truly was to be found in him who to-day sleeps in martyrs But to return again to the great upris- | ing. No state was in advance of our own in showing her devotion to the national cause. True to the spirit of her revolu- tionary ancestors, the unquenched fire of patriotism gleamed ip the eyes of her cit izens, and with a promptitude of action not to be excelled if equalled by any of her sister states, she rallied to arms with firm and unwavering determination that the unity of the government should be preserved in its entirety as it was handed down by our fathers. Enthusiasm was kindled in the breasts of all our noble sons. Mothers, wives, sisters, animated by the same spirit, and proud of the op- portunity to make sacrifice, gladly offered all that was dear to them.
 Nor was this town, Stafford, with pride may she say, ever wavering in loyalty. Her quota was well filled, her record is 1 untarnished. The air was resonant with vocal patriotism, and though sword gleam- ed in sunlight ready to drink their blood, yet with unwavering steps the sons of Stafford came, ready to lay down their
 lives for the country they loved.
 Time would fail me to rehearse in your ears one-half the sad struggle, or to enumerate the fields of battle upon which
 your sons fell. There are the battles of
 the Wilderness and Williamsburg, Fred
 ericksburg and Gettysburg, and a host of
 others might name, all marked by the
 blood of Stafford. Neither was this en-
 thusiasm momentary, spasmodic, but to
 the end never wavering. When the death
 blow was given to the rebellion among
 the foremost were her sons. And when
 the final issue came they were present to
 meet and greet the rebel host. And the
 manner of that greeting was, in my iudg.
 ment, the grandest illustr ation of that
 command of our Saviour, to forgive ouI
 brother seventy times seven," we have or
 record. It was of truth magnanimity
 unequalled. To think of the perils by land and sea
 to think of the hardships borne, to call to
 mind the many vacant chairs all over ouI
 goodly land, and then in the midst of all when we knew not at what moment tho
 enemy might not, viper-like, turn round and strike the benefactor, I say in the mids
 of all this to present arms, or, in othel
 words, to extend the hands of brothers love and a brothers kindness.
 Come forth all ye sages of the past