Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-05-30

reclriess f1efamer is written in the blood Of
| the church's children on every battlefield
from Gettysburg to Florida. Among the
] friends and admirers of our glorious re-
public and its institutions, ever ready 10
K prove their royal attachment even al the
sacrifice of their hearts blood, none are
more staunch than Roman Catholics, anu
none more DESTROYS and determined TO per-
petuate the blessings which American citi-
/ zens enioy. In Cardinal Gibbons article
contributed TO the April number OF the
! North American Reuicp, certain means for
| the preservation of our political institu-
tons. with the blessings they ensure, are
| pointed out. l call your atten-
! ton especially to his fifth sug-
gestion-so GprOpos OF your annual
elebration-namely, "a more hearty cele-
nration of our national Holidays con
those days, His Eminence aptly re-
marks. "When the usual occupa-
| tions of life are suspended,
every citizen has leisure to study and ad-
mire the political institutions Of his coun-
| try. and to thank God for the benedictlons
| that He has poured out on US as people.
In contemplating these blessings we may
well repeat with the Royal Prophet: He
hath not done in this manner 10 every ma
| ton, and His judgments He hath not made
manifest to them.' Continuing, he says:
| the manor born. they are stat more lmpor-
atively demanded for the foreign popula-
ton constantly flowing into our country,
and which consists of persons who are
strangers to our civil institutions. The
annually recurring holidays will create
and develop in their minds a knowledge
of our history and admiration for our sys-
TEN of government. 1t will help also to
mould our people into unity OF political
faith. BY the young especially are holl-
DAYS welcomed with keen delight; and as
there is a natural, though unconscious as
ISOLATION in the mind between the civic
festivity and the cause that gave it birth,
their attachment to the day will extend to
the patriotic event, or to the men whose
anniversary is celebrated
Memorial Day, with its attendant cere-
mony of decorating the soldiers graves, IS
well fitted to keep alive the memory OF
those unnumbered sacrifices so cheertully
made for the preservation of the American
Union, and 70 thus indelibly impress on all
American citizens the priceless value Of
their political institutions. Perhaps 1t
NAV indeed be asked, "Does it not also
keep alive the memory Of all the horrors
of that dreadful, frRtricidal strife, and
thus tend TO perpetuate the bitter anlmosl-
ties which that civil war engendered!"
That untold horrors followed in the wake
of that, as they do in the wake Of every
great war, do not deny. But in
the first place, can see nothing improper,
much less unchrlstlan, IN celebrating
the glorious victories won in defense OF the
most precious OF all temporal blessings,
and in clarifying the heroes who achieved
those victories and purchased those bless
ings. even though the horrors Of war were
necessarily involved. In the next place, l
maintain that, perhaps In no other war Of
such magnitude were the evils incident to
war so perceptibly diminished. And l as
sert finally, that if animositieS then engen-
dered have been perpetuated, it IS not the
soldiers in blue or in gray who have kept
alive these feelings Of bitterness and ha-
tired.
Was it wrong to chant TIE DeHms of
thanksgiving when the Stars and the
Stripes were borne in triumph over the
blood-stained ramparts Of the enemy's po-
sition and thrown to the breeze over their
conquered citiesl Was it wrong TO cheer
the victorious columns, when, the war
over, they carried their battle-stained
colors on their triumphant return to their
honest If not, why should it be wrong TO
immortalize those victories and Victors IN
the minds and grateful hearts of our coun-
trymen! War, indeed, is ever to be de-
plored; yet does ii seem at times neces-
sity from which there is no honorable es-
cape. Surely if it be permitted for the In
dividual man to defend his life even by tue
sacrifice of his unjust aggressor, nation
must be permitted TO defend its life and
honor, even at the cost of Understanding
and all the dire consequences OF war.
Would to God no such necessity ever arose
Would that all differences could be AMIGA
bly settled by some recognized peaceful ar
bitration! But there is little hope or any
such provision, until the nations shall be-
come imbued with the spirit Of Christ-of
Him who is the Prince of Peace.
Christianity has not as yet been able 10
avert the evils of war; but it has exerted
q powerful influence in mitigating those
evils. Not only are wars OF less frequent
occurrence than in the days when Pagan
ism ruled the world, but the horrors OF
warfare have been immensely diminished.
Under the Roman Empire, the normal con-
dition was war; peace was tHe exception.
The reverse is now happily the case. The
motto Of the Roman, as OF all Pagan con-
ouerers, was "Uds UictiS''-"woe TO the con-
duered. y Neither age nor sex was spared,
unless it were 10 drag out a miserable life
in the most degrading slavery. What
blood-curdling butcheries were practlced
even by those who were reputed COM
paratively considerate towards their con-
ouered foes. Alexander the Great had
two thousand of the captured Tyrians
crucifed. and all the rest either butchered
or sold into slavery. Caesar ordered
forty thousand of the inhabitants
of a conquered city put to the
sword. Titus. after the fall OF Jerusalem,
carried off ninety-seven thousand Jews in
TO captivity. OF these two thousand i've
hundred were inundated in honor of his
brother, Domitian, and numbers OF others
were sacrificed on the feast-day of his
father, Vespasian. Conquered Kings and
princes were led along IN chains TO grace
the conouerer's triumph, and afterward
nut to some ignominious death. Such bar
barities at least are unheard OF in Chris
Iian warfare. Towards prisoners OF war
as toward the captured sick and wounded
the requirements of our common humanity
are not forgotten. Thus in many ways has
the spirit of Christianity mitigated the
horrors of war; and l am convinced that
our own war was no exception TO this
Christianizing influence.
Indeed YOU will search in vain for an in
stance of nobler Inagnanimity towards a
fallen and conquered foe than that shown
bv General Grant at the surrender Of APP
pomattOx-a lnagnanimity heartily en-
dorsed and bravely sustained by President
Lincoln. No train of disarmed captives
was required to grace the triumphant
march of the conqueror. All that was ask
ed of men and leaders was 10 lay down
their arms, and return to the peaceful avo-
cations of their homes.
$50 died the hatred OF our brother feud;
The coiict DER, the triumph was subdued.
What victor King Ger spared the conquered Zoe:
How much OF mercy did strong Prussia show
When ancuished Paris st her feet lay prone?
The German trumpet rang above her moan,
The clink Of Uhlan spurs her ten pies knew,
Her Arch OF Triumph spanned their triumph,
too" =
John BOYLE O'Reilly, from whose poem
ON America those lines are taken, truth
r..fl.. -, rl-.,1 IN on ndArass Aalivarad