Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1896-06-05

rancor and hatred, and personal and
partisan clamor, beat in vain against
the word of Grant. You remember
when General Lee was indicted at
Richmond, Virginia, for treason, and
ii warrant for his arrest was signed in
1863, Grant was informed of this. He
went at once to the president of the
United States and said to him: Seen
eral Lee has given his parole; my
honor and the honor of the Union
armies is pledged that he shall not be
molested. If General Lee be arrested,
l shall tear the stars from my uniform
and resign from fine army of u govern
ment whose pledged faith has been
violated"
Grant could not only conquer, but he
could reconcile, and this distinguished
him as Il great statesman. He did not
think of himself when the great crisis
came of settling the terms of peace.
He thought only of his country, and
this embraced in his heart the North
and the South. What a peace he made!
The wonder of the ages, that astonished
the monarchies of the old world, that
COMPOUNDED the enemies of freegovern-
ment. Two million of battle SCARED
soldiers of the North and South dis
appeared as if they had vanished from
the earth. Yet no battles we're ever
more fiercely fought, no such armies
have ever been marshalled. no conflict
had ever been more bloody and obsti-
nate and desperate; and yet, in an hour
after the surrender at Appomattox, the
mighty struggle was over and peace
was Observation-Disclosures the country
as if by an angel from heaven. Lin
coin and Grant bless their country
year after year by their deeds, the
glory of which sheds luster over Ameri-
citizenship throughout the world.
STATE SOVEREIGNTY n SLAVERY.
Great and patriotic men created the
Union by the federal constitution
adopted in 1857, under which our
fathers and we lived and prospered up
to 1861. But great and wise as were
the founders of our government, they
left undecided two problems. They did
not fix the supreme power, and did not
say whether the first allegiance of the
citizen belonged to the state or to the
federal government. The other prob
lem was slavery, which the constitution
recognized. They left these two things
about which they could not agree, out
of the mighty work of making the
Union. For there were other obstacles
in the way, and difficulties enough to
overcome. 1t required the use of all
the immense personal and patriotic
influence of Washington to secure the
ratification of the constitution
and the making of the Union.
The two great problems we're
to be settled by their defendants. You
and /, my fellow soldiers. took a part
in settling these great problems on the
battle field. The bayonet writes more
plainly than the pen. 1t was settled
for all time that this nation shall live,
that the first allegiance of the citizen
is to the national government, and it is
settled forever that in the Union there
shall be no slavery. We solved the
problems left to us by the founders of
the Union in a way that not only did
not impair their work. but made it
more glorious.
Slavery while it existed. was the
greatest political power in the country.
1t was a money power with an unity of
purpose that neverchanged. The slave
holders welded this power from gener-
alton to generation. and controlled the
federal government from its foundation
up to 1861. But slavery was at last an
obstacle to the growth of the nation,
and with it. a national life for the
American people was impossible.
Lincoln saw this. as clearly in 1858
as we see it now. Yet the slave
money power grew till its property was
worth billions of money. 1t made and
nnmade presidents, admitted new states
into the Union. or kept them out; it
made public opinion in the South and
i'll the North, made and broke solemn
;demandedthe submission
of the great leaders of the wing and
democratic parties; dictated the poll
cies of both; and controlled the adj
ministration of the government ut
Washington, no matter who was presi-
dent. This is a short sketch of the
slave power as a factor in the politics
of the past, made in the spirit of his
torical freedom.
II CONFEDERATE SOLDIER.
Tho confederate soldier is thankful
that slavery was blotted out of this
constitution. The Confederate soldier
did not fight for slavery. There was
not a day during the war. he was not
willing to see it eNtinguished. The
Confederate soldier fought-may l tell
you for what he fought? He fought
to repel the invasion of his state; he
fought for his home. for the loved ones
around the family altar. for the graves
of mis- dead. You. my fellow soldiers,
under the leadershipof Lincoln, fought
for the Union: you were not willing
that a single state should be lost, that
a single star should be blotted from
the flag.
Looking back, we can see that the
billions of money invested in slaves
gave birth to the doctrine of state
sovereignty. and state sovereignty gave
birth to secession. and secessionto war.
In the providence of God, the South
itself, gave as "a gift to the nation, one
of its OWL sons, Abraham Lincoln, who
as president of the United States gave
A. A. 49, -