The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-12-14

i do not know how many can read
the history Of those times without ad-
hitting the contest was decided by the
upper forces. Then, In 1861, when our
civil war opened, many at the north
and at the south pronounced 1t ma
| tional suicide. IL was not courage
against cowardice, it was not wealth
against poverty, twas not large states
against small states. It was hero
ism against heroism, it was the re-
sources of many generations against
the resources of generations, 1t was
the prayer of the north against the
prayer OF the south, IL was one-half of
the nation In armed wrath, meeting
the other half of the nation in armed
Indignation. What could come but
determination?
At the opening of the war the COM
ma nder-in-chief Of the United States
forces was man who had been great
in battle, but old age had come, with
many infirmities. and he had right
to quietude. lie could not mount
horse, and he rode on the
battlefield in a carriage, asking
the driver not to jolt 1t too
much. During the most OF the four
years OF the contest, on the south
ern side, was man in midlife,
who had in his veins the blood of
many generatsons of warriors, himself
one of the heroes of Cherubusco and
Cerro Gordo, Contreras and Chapulte-
pee. AS the years passed on and the
scroll Of carnage unrolled there came
out from both sides a heroism. and
+ n strength, and determination
that the world had never seen
marshaled. And what but exter-
mination could come when Philip
Sheridan and Stonewall Jackson met,
and Nathaniel Lyon and Sydney
JOHNSON rode in from north and
south, and Grant and Lee, the two
thunderbolts of battle, clashedi Yet
we are a nation, and yet we are at
peace. Earthly scourge did not excite
the conflict. The upper forces of the
text. They tell MS there was n battle
fought above the clouds on Lookout
mountain; but there was something
higher than that.
Again, the horses and chariots of
God came to the rescue of the nation
in 1876, at the close of presidential
election famous for ferocity. A darker
cloud yet settled down upon this
nation. The result of the election
was in dispute, and revolution, not be-
tween two or three sections, but revo-
luton in every town and village and
city of the United States seemed inn
minent. The prospect was that
New York would throttle New
York. and New Orleans would
grip New Orleans, and Boston,
Boston, and Savannah, Savan-
nah, and Washington, Washington.
Some said Mr.. Tilden was elected;
others said Mr.. Hayes was elected; and
how near we came to universal massa-
ere some OF us guessed; but God only
knew. l ascribc our escape not to the
| honesty and Righteousness of infuri-
| ated politicians, but ascribc it 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 gallopcd by. tell you
God is the friend of this nation. In
the awful excitement at the massacre
of Lincoln, when there was a prospect
that greater slaughter would open
upon the nation, God hushed the
tempest. In the awful excitement at
the time of Garfeld's assassination
God put His foot on the neck of the
cyclone. To prove God is on the side of
this nation, argue from the last eight
or nine great national harvests. and
from the national health of the last
quarter of century, epidemics very
exceptional, and from the great re-
vivals of religion and from the spread.
ing of the Church of God, and from the
continent blossoming with asylums and
reformatory institutions, and from an
Edcnization which promises that this
whole land is to be paradise, where
God shall walk.
l am encouraged more than I can
tell you as see the regiments wheel
ing down the sky, and my jeremiads
turn into doxologies, and that which
was the Good Friday OF the nations
crucifixion becomes the Easter morn
of it's resurrection. OF course, God
works through human instrument
talities, and this national betterment
is to come among other things, through
scrutinized ballot-box. by the law
of registration 1t is almost impos-
sib1e now to have illegal voting.
There was time you and ! remem-
Der it very well--when droves of vaga-
bonds wandered up and down on cleo
tion day, and from poll to poll, and
voted here, and voted there, and voted
everywhere, and there was no chal-
longe; or. il there were, it amounted
to nothing, because nothing could
so suddenly be proved upon the
vagabonds. Now, In every we'll
organized neighborhood, every voter
is watched with severest scrutiny. II
am in regioh where l am allowed n
vote, must tell the registrar my name,
and how old / am, and how long have
resided in the state, and how long
have resided in the ward or township,
and IL misrepresent, fifty witnesses
will rise and shut me out from the bal
lot-box. Is not that n great advance?
And then notice the law that pro-
hibits man voting IL he has bet on
A.. A cd. a. -.