The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1895-12-11

It was not courage against cowardlce,
it was not wealth against poverty, L
was not large states against small states.
It was heroism against heroism, it IVES
the resources of many generations
against the resources of generations, 1t
was the prayer Of the north against
the prayer of the south, it was one-hah
of the nation in armed wrath meeting
the other half of the nation in armed
indignation. What could come but ex-
termination?
At the opening of the war the COM
mander in chief Of the United States
forces was man who had been great in
battle, but old age had come, with
many infrmities, and he had a right to
uuietude. He could not mount horse,
and he rode on the battlefield in car
riage, asking the driver not to jolt 1t
too much. During the most Of the four
wears of the contest, on the southern side,
was a man in midlife, who had in his
veins the blood Of many generations OF
warriors, himself one of the heroes OF
Churubusco and Cerro Gordo, Contreras
and Charultepec. AS the years passed
on and the scroll Of carnage unrolled
there came out from both sides hero
ism, and a strength, and deteTmina-
ton that the world had never seen mar
shaled. And what but determination
could come when Philip Sheridan and
Stonewall Jackson met, and Nathaniel
Lyon ard Sidney Johnston rode III from
north and south, and Grant and Lee,
the two thunderbolts of battle, clashed?
Yet, we are nation, and yet we are at
peace. Earthly courage did not decide
the conflict. The upper forces Of the
text-they tell US there was batrte
fought above the clouds on Lookout
mountain, but there was something
higher than that.
A Friend OF the Nation.
Again, the horses and charlots OF God
came to the rescue Of this nation in
1875, at the close of a presidential cleo
ton famous for ferocity. A darker cloud
vet settled down upon this nation. The
result of the election was in dispute, and
revolution, not between two or three
sections, but revolution in every town
and village and city of the United States
seemed imminent. Tro prospect was
that New York would throttle New
York, and New Orleans would grip New
Orleans, and Boston, Boston, and Sa-
vanuah, Savannah, and Washington,
Washington. Some said Mr.. Tilden was
elected, others said Mr.. Hayes was
elected, and how near we came to uni
versal massacre some Of us guessed, but
God only knew. I ascribe our escape
not to the honesty and righteousness Of
infuriated politicians, but I ascrlbe 1t
to the upper forces of the text. Chariots
of mercy rolled in, and though the
wheels were not heard and the flash was
not seen, yet all through the mountains
of the north, and the south, and the
east, and the west, though the hoofs did
not clatter, the cavalry Of God galloPed
by. tell you God is the friend Of this
nation. In the awful excitement at the
massacre of Lincoln, when there was q
prospect that greater slaughter would
open upon this nation, God hushed the
tempest. In the awful excitement at
the time of Garfeld's assassination God
put his foot Oh the neck Of the cyclone.
TO prove God is on the side CT this na-
ton I argue from the last eight Or nino
great national harvestS, and from the
national health Of tho last quarter CT 4
century, epidemics very exceptional,
ard from the great revivals Of rel Slon,
and from the spreading Of the church OF
God, and from the continent blossom
ing with asylums and reformatory insti-
tutiors, and from al Edenizaticn which
promises that this whole land is to be a
paradise, where God shall walk.
l am encouraged more than [ can tell
You as I see the regiments wheeling
down the sky, and my jeremiads turn
into doxolosies, and that which was the
Good Friday Of the nations crucifiXioN
becomes the Easter morn CT its resulrcc-
ton. Of course God works, through Eu-
man instrumcntaIities and this nation
al bCttcrment is TO come amCng ether
things through a scrutiniZCd ballot box.
By the law OF registration it is almost
impossible now to have illegal voting.
There was 4 time-you and | remember
it very wcll-whcn droves Of vagabCnds
wandered up and down Gil election day,
and from POLL to poll, and voted here,
and voted there, a3d voted everywhere,
and there was no challenge, or if there
were, it amounted to nothing, because
nothing couId so suddenly be proved
upon the vagabonds. Nov, IL every we'll
organized Ue;ghbCrhooG, every voter la
watched with sevcrest scrutiny. II am
in a region where I am allowed a vote,
I must tell the registrar my name, and
how old am, and how long I have re-
sided in the state, and how long have
resided in the ward or the township,
and if I misreprcscnt, so witnesses Will
rise ard shut me out from the ballot box.
Is not that a great advance? And then
notice the law that prohibits man
voting if he has bet Oh the election. A
step farther needs to be taken and that
man forbidden vote who has offered or
taken a bribe, whether it be III the shape
of free drink, or cash paid down, the
suspicious cases obliged to put their
hand on the Bible and swear their vote
in if they vote at all. So, through the
sacred chest of our nations suffrage, re-
demption will come.
God will save this nation through an
aroused moral sentiment. There has
never been so much discussion Of morals
and immorals. Men, whether or not
they acknowledge what is right, have to
think what is right. We have men who
have had their hands in the public treas
ury the most Of their lifetime, stealing
all they could lay their hands on, dis
coprsing elcquently about dishonesty in
public servants, and men with two or
three families Of their own preaching
eIoquently about the beauties of the sew
enth commandment. The question Of So
bricty and drunkenness is thrust in the
face Of this nation as never before and
takes part il our political contests.
The question of national sobriety is 60