The Republican journal., 1892-06-02

OF the Rappahannock. Fair Oaks and
Cold Harbor, Savage Station and the
Peach Orchard. Winchester and Malvern
Hill-all illumine the grandeur of the
scene And there is Fredericksburg with
its frowning heights, its walled defences.
For hours the fight has been waged with
unabated fury, but the banner cross of
the Sunly South still waves there in tr
umph. Now, Hancock, with pity on his
sun Drowned face, orders up the regiment
fol the desperate onset, and at his word
the Forlorn Hope has taken its position.
All. stalwart and brave are these noble
fellows as the light of battle flashes from
their eyes. Rarely has the sacriticial altar
been honored by nobler victims than
these: Fix bayonets. Charger.
stereotyped command but ., heavens!
what a response. 1t is Meagher's Irish
Brigade. which to-day, as ever, holds the
post of danger. There they charge on
the sheltering ridge and dash across the
bloody spaces strewn with the dead and
the diving of the brigades that have pre-
ce,led them The killed and wounded fall
like leaves in autumn-but still they fal-
ter not Again and again. against that
impreynable wall of stone they make
their furious charges. and when at last
night ends the massacre. their desperate
yaor is portrayed in the multitude of
slain less than a hundred yards from the
Georgian ; rifle lines. That sympathetic
bard OF humanity and humilty-the la
mented John Boyle @ Reilley-thus elo
uuentlv sings of these Emerald bannered
martyrs:
.rhe column has reeed. but it is not defeated;
In front ot the guns they reform and attack
SIX times they have done it. and six times retreat
Twelve hundred they came. and fwo hundred ="
Two hundred 30 back with the chivalrous story;
The wild day is closed i'll the nights solemn
4 thousand lie dead. but their death glory
That calls not for tear>-the Green Badges are
proud.
Again there is presented in gorgeous
and dazzling resplendence the battle of
Brandy Station. Gaze tenderly. sons and
daughters of the Pine Tree State, gaze
lovingly upon that scene. A brother may
have struggled there-your father may
have died. Gentlemen of the First Maine
Cavalry. this was your maiden effort.
You blushed, and then you won. We see
Stuart Cavalry, the chivalrous cavaliers
of the South. as flushed with the pride of
| recent victories, they dash from out the
woods five. aye ten, times outnumberinG
the hoIsemen of the North, Surely. the
palm OF superiority will not be wrested
from them to-day: for look. The first
squadron to oppose them-the Tenth New
NOrk-has no sooner opened the engage
ment than they are hurled back like
leaves before the storm. The Harris
Light, with all its exalted prestige, next
meets the advancing column. 1t, too, has
a brilliant record. but that avails it
naught to-day Already it begins to Wa
ver and under the very flashes OF its
CHIEF impeIious eye. is forced back and
repulsed 1t is now when the day seems
lost that down the line dashes the i'll
domitable Fitzpatrick despair and hope at
once expressed in a single glance. Halt
Inc at the head OF the column, where the
First Maine is anXiously awaiting ORDERS
he cries "ut in clarion tones: ''Men OF
Maine. You must save the day: follow
me How eagerly these brave boys catch
the inspiration OF their leader words
Men OF Maine. Yes, they Will honor
their mother State to-day. Straining
every nerve they steel their blooded
chargers ON. A war-cry rends the morn
ing air and then a clash OF sabres. See.
they have struck the enemy $ tlank-it is
broken-they have shattered it. And up
the hill they go in triumph, over the dead
foe. over cannon belching forth their fires
of death, as they lead the way to victory.
And from this hour can be dated
series Of victories which ended only when
the banner of the cross went down at Ap-
pomattoX. and the emblem OF Union and
Humanity took its place torevermore.
Then let the national keyboard resound
with music of sweetest melody. Sweep it
With the combined skill Of all the oaugl-
ters OF Euterpe, until the swellin@s of its
raptWous cadence shall proclaim the deeds
OF the valiant, the chivalrous and the
brave American soldier.
But that no diScor;l may mar its harmo-
ny, that the symphony may be complete.
that nationality may breathe from every
note. come tonight to strike. with all
the others. a long neglected cho'el-the
chord which sounds the praises of the
Soldier OF the South.
Gentlemen and ladies: | am disposed to
be charitable: want to he generous. But
there ale two classes of people for whom
entertain undi>yuised contempt. Tine
one Is the sectarian bigot: the other is the
sectional demagogue. Each is alike a
deadly foe to our American civilization.
The chameleon-poltician. who changes the
color of his words to suit climatic influences
is not Slakespearian Falstatf. He is an
American Arnold. The man. who, for
political advantages. voices sentiments be
fore an audience in Maine which he knows
would be justly branded false" and
''cowarlly' by a Carolinian. may never
experience the pangs of a delicate con-
science-but he, nevertheless, is traitor
to all the traditions of the past and all the
institutions of the present. Truth, my
friends, is not divided by locality. 1t re-
cognizes neither North nor South. Like
its Eternal Source, it is everywhere the
same. Truth is of essence divine, and in
its presence party, race and creed must
bend a devotional knee. Whoever detracts
from the valor and the chivalry of the Con-
federate soldier, detracts in an equal meas
ure from the fortitude and the courage of
these stainless veterans of the North. And
nobody is moIe desirous than the Union
soldiers to bestow a we'll deserved need
of praise upon those foemen whom they
found worthy OF their steel on many hard
fought field.
Then. strike that long y-silenced chord
with patriotic impulse. Strike it now be
fore the others. And strike it once again.
its sound when the orchestral peal bursts
forth.
Surely the Southern soldier is deserv-
ing of praise. The principle for which he
fought, he sincerely believed to be right.
From earliest boyhood he had been taught
that the hapnpr of his Stata yavaI a litt1a