The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-05-31

relaxed his hold till its eyes were set
in DEATH
Long before the death-slots of
Petersburgh, and the swift move
ments around Appomatox,I think Lee
foresaw his inevitable DOOM Indeed,
all after the seven days battle in the
Wilderness, was murder. No, yalor,
however desperate, could much longer
defeat destiny. The God of battles
had ordained the doom of slavery. In
fact, both parties had been thoroughly
punished for their participation in the
crime Of human bondage. On aSerual
day in April, Lee surrendered to
Grant. The rebel chief camein the
splendOr of a gorgeous uniform, with
a golden sword by his side. The
modest man of determined will, who
received this last emblem Of Con-
federate power, was in his well-worn
and dusty blouse, and swordless, and
nothing To mark his distinguished
rank but the stars upon his shoulders.
But these stars shall shine IN the
pages Of history with the enduring
lustre of planets in the sky.
Comrades, to you realities OF that war
seems now like some awful dream. At
the distance of thirty-fOur years, you
look back over its tragic path with
strange feelings Of veneration and
dread. We shall look in vain, through
all history, for the same mighty sue
cession of events, as those IN which
you were then the living actors. In
the grand empire Of your operations,
in the extent Of your marches, IN the
number Of your SkIrmiSheS, in the
list OF your battles, you yield to no
military story in the annals OF man
kind. From the Ohio to the great
Gulf: from the Red River Of LOuisi-
ana to the Atlantic covered a
field as great as that OF the wars OF
Caesar or Napoleon. You have fought
battles greater then Austerlitz or
Waterloo; you have won victOrs great
er than Marlborough or Wellington.
Ii Napoleon fought beneath the
shadow of the pyramids, you have de-
livered battle above the clouds. But
it is not by marches and battles alone
that the value of your services are to
be ultimately measured. The Union
soldier was a schOOl-master, to. estab-
lish certain fundamental principles in
the republic. He reversed the bred
Scott decision by the force Of his
bayonet. He obliterated the color
line, which outraged church and
state. He made LincOln's proclama-
tion of liberty to the slave, not only
possible, but reality. He lifted up
the broken columns OF the Union, and
restored the government to more
than its former glory. Old questions
which had troubled the courts, stirred
Congresses, veXed cabinets and states
men, were settled on the battle field
by the powers of his good sword. He
was the teacher with bayOnet, who
made free press, a free pulpit and
established free schools cO-eXtensive
with the nation. He put the true
meaning and logic of the war into
statutes and constitutional amend
ments for the government Of all the
people. Men of the Union Army,
you have erected a temple whose
are praise The war derives addition
al lustre from the inevitable and
grand results, which must forever
flow from its successful issue. 1t was
not simply the knitting again to-
gether, the North and South under
better conditions 1t is the boundless
bequest for good it carries to the in
terminable future Of our children.
Life, happiness, business, have been
opened up as never before in the
history OF mankind. The pace and
the pulse of the world have been
quickened, as the lines Of progress
radiate from the results Of that war
in every department Of human activi-
ty. If, as Tennyson says:
Better are fifty years Of Europe,
than cycle of Cathay," then, better
is decade OF America, than CEN
fury Of Europe. 1t was your bayonets,
which unlocked the gates Of enter
prise and gave the United States the
key of the future. Had the North
lost, and the old Union been Mexican
lied, all these'happy conditions would
have been squandered for years, if not
forever. The results of the contest
have made this republic not only the
seat OF the supreme power among the
nations for the future, but consider
the effect of such mighty people
upon the monarchies of the earth.
The moral force OF our luminous eX-
ample must in brief period, de-
stroy despotism the world over.
We are to revolutioniZe Europe, not
by the sword, but by the force of eX-
ample. Civil liberty and free Chris
tianity are the two forces that will
yet win the empire of the world, and
the United States is their only true
home today. On an old rock on the
shores Of Monument bay, in Massa-
chusetts, there was drilled, over a
century and a half ago, these pro-
phetic lines:
1.-THE eastern nations sink, their glory ends,
And empire rises where the sun descends."
Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Ma
tiOns, predicts the transfer Of empire
from Europe to America. Charles
Sumner wrote Of the time which
would soon come when s'the national
example will be more puissant than
army or navy for the conquest
Of the world" If the genius of our
institutions are to achieve these SUI
perb results, as fondly believe, then
your deeds produced the causes and
paved the way for so august a tri-
umph in the competition of nations.
Your sword has carved out the SUI
premacy and made the United States
1.-THE heir of all the ages in the foremost files of
time"
/ am well aware that wise men to-
day see perils on our political and
social horizon. We have riches and
poverty, millionaires and monopoly,
socialists and anarchists, skepticism
L