The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-31

@o-.s " is introduced and spoke as tOllOWs;
The scene presented here to-day
IS one that could not be witnessed in any
country but our own; and for this reason.
II no other, II possesses a significance
worthy OF the gravest consideration. A
rev years ago brave men from the north
ana from the south stood facing each
other in hostile array. and the best blood
OF the country was poured out like water
on many battlenelds. Thousands, hun
dreds Of thousands. Of our bravest sleep
IN bloody graves; men who gave their lives
10 prove the faith OF their convictions and
now the north and the south standing by
these graves, wherever they may be. grasp
hands across the bloody chasm.
and proudly claim the federal
ana the confederate soldiers as
Americans, men who have given to the
world as noble examples of courage and
devotion to duty as can be enrolled on the
pages Of history. Nor is this all that
marks this occasion as exceptional and re-
BILE, and which would render it me-
moraole in our annals for all time to
come No monument in the world has such
an honorable history as attaches to yon-
der one that marks the graves Of no vic
torlous soldiers, but of followers of a lost
cause; II stands not on southern soil, but
on northern; the men who rest under its
shadow come from our far off southland
and II owes its erection not to comrades of
| erosity and magnanimity of their former
Toes, citizens Of this great city. All honor
then, to the brave and liberal men of Chi
cago, who have shown by their action
that they regard the war as over, and
that they can welcome as friends on this
solemn and auspicious occasion, their for
mer enemies. AS long as this lofty column
points TO heaven, as long as one stone of
It's foundation remains, future generations
OF Americans should look upon it with
pride, not only as an honor to those who
conceived its construction, but as a silent
though noble emblem of a restored union
and reunited people. In the name of my
comrades, dead and living, and in my own
name, l give grateful thanks to the brave
men of Chicago, who have done honor
to our dead here not as confederate SOL
diers, but as brave men who preferred i'm
prisonment and death rather than freedom
obtained by dishonorable sacrifice of prin-
ciples for which they were willing to die.
"Of the 5000 confederates buried here
not one was an officer; all were privates,
In no way responsible for the unhappy
war which brought an Had of woes upon
our country.
and yet these humble private soldiers,
any one of whom could have gained free
dom by taking the oath of allegiance to
the federal government, preferred death
to the sacrifice of their principles. Can
men of Chicago because they are willing
to recognize the courage and the devotion
to duty Of these dead confederates? I'm
agine, If you can, my friends, the despair
the horror of these poor privates. linger-
ing in prison and dying for their faith
They died here, in what they looked upon
as foreign and hostile land, far from the
land of their birth, with no tender hand
of mother or wife to soothe their entrance
into the dark valley of the shadow of
death, and with all the memories of their
far-off homes and loving kindred to add
the sharpest pangs to death itself They
were true men, and say, If you please, that
they were mistaken, that they were wrong
no brave man on earth can fail to do honor
to their courage and their steadfast ad-
herence to what they conceived to be their
duty. You,the brave citizens of Chicago.
in doing honor to their memory honor
yourselves and humanity. Nor will you
blame us of the south, while appreciating
gratefully your generous action in behalf
of our dead comrades. for cherishing with
pride and reverence their memory You
could not respect us were we TO feel other
wise. Death places it's seal on the actions
of men, and after death, that we measure
men,
"A king once said of prince struck down,
Taller he seems in deah,'
"And this speech holds true, for now as
then.
'It is after death we measure men,
And as the mists of the past have rolled
away,
"Our heroes who died in their tattered
grey,
Grow taller and greater in all their parts,
It'll they fill our mind, as they fill our
hearts;
"And for those who lament, there is this
relief,
THAT glory stands by the side of grief.
''Yes, they grow taller as the years go by.
"And the world learns how they could do
and die
''The nation respects them. The East and
West;
1.-The far off slope of the Golden coast,
THE stricken South and North agree,
'"That the heroes who died for you and for
me
Each valiant, in his own degree,
whether he fell on the shore or sea
did deeds of which,
''This land, tho rich
I'm histories, may boast,
''And the sages book and the poets lay,
Are fun of the deeds of the men in grey.
mo lien cleft from the rock is ours,
''Such as Lucerne displays.
"Our only wealth is in tears and flowers,
"And words of reverend praise
And the roses brought to this silent yard,
Are red and white. Behold.
I'm the blood of Englands S best writ down,
Left Britain a story whose moral old,
us fit to be craven in text of gold
1.-THE moral is that when battles cease
1.-The ramparts smile in the bloom of peace /
"And flowers to-day were hither brought,
From the gallant men who against us
fought,
york and Lancaster-Gray and Blue,
Each to itself and the other true
And so l say
'Our men in Gray
Have left to the South and North a tale
(which none Of the glories Of earth can
pale.
I'VE, of the south. measure our dead
comrades buried here by the standard ap-
piled to men after death, and you, of Chi
cago, have measured them by the same
standard, the only standard by which we
can measure men, and by applying this
YOU have shown that you have come to
the highest standard vouchsafed to men,
and on this north and south can stand,
with honor alike to both sections.