The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1897-05-31


ary field. and hand them down as preci-
Gus mementoes to their children. This
is human. IL is manly, it is admirable.
No true soldier but would stand with
bowed and uncovered head above the
dust of these our brothers fallen in an
uuriehteous, unholy and lost cause.
And today We as a nation, can we'll
afford to join hands around a vast
mound and reverently place a wreath
of immortals from the grey clouds Of
the South and the blue heavens of the
North. The former in respect for the
dead, the latter cIasped in an unbrok
en- chain of a nations honor and in
memory of a nations veal. When
faith. the anchor of Christian lifts
the coffin lid of hope. But we desire it
to be remembered that there is an eter-
nal difference between right and
wrong. an impossible gulf between
loyalty and treason. And we must ever
remember and and be ready to assert
and maintain that we were in the
right. we want that fact transmitted
to and engraved upon the memories
of the remOteSt posterity. We know
that we are grandly in the right and
that they were terribly in the wrong.
1t is today the unquestionable YER
dict of history; that distinction shall
pass down through all times if loyal
lips and works and words can give it
eternal significance No lapse of time
will change it. no jugglery of words
shall obscure it, no spurious gospel of
sentimentaIism shall confuse in our
minds the old loyal land marks. Keep
ing the distinction between loyalty and
treason clearly and sharply defined
M choII hannoQfh m the
sons of veterans, our children, the
same sacred duty.
Who then, shall dare to impeach the
honor of the boys in blue, or the JUS
tice of a cause for which they fought?
In the language of another:
"The soldiers of the Republic were
the soldiers of liberty and right" They
fought to preserve the blessings of
liberty. and that their children might
have peace They were the defenders
of humanity and the destroyers of
prejudice the breakers of chains, and
in the name of the future they slew
the monster wrong of their time. They
finished what the soldiers of the Rev
olution commenced. They relighted the
torch that fell from their au-
gust hands, and filed the
world again with light They
blotted out from the Statute book laws
that had been passed by the hypocrites
at the instigation of robbers, and tore
with indignant hands from the const1-
tuition the infamous clause that made
men the catchers of their fellowmen.
They made it possible for judges to be
lust and statesmen to be humane and
honest, they broke the shackles from
the limbs of slaves and the souls of
masters. from the hearts and brains of
men. they kept the country on the map
of the world and our flag in heaven.
They rolled the stone from the Sc
puIcher of progress, and found there
two angels clad in shining raiment-
Nationality and Liberty. The soldiers |
were the savious of the Nation; they |
were the Iiberators of men.
In writing the proclamation of eman-
cipation, Lincoln, the greatest of our |
mighty dead, whose memory is as
gentle as the summer air, when labor !
ers sing among the gathered sheaves, |
copied with pen, what Grant and his |
brave comrades wrote with swords; |
grander than the Greek, nobler than |
the Romans. the soldiers of the Re
public with patriotism as shoreless as
the air. battled for the rights of others, |
for the nobility of labor. fought that |
mothers might own their own babes,
that arrogant idleness should not scar
the back of patient toll, that our coun-
try should not be a many-headed mon
ster made of warning states, but ma
tion sovereign, money was leaves and |
life common air until our flag fioated |
over a Republic without a master and |
without a slave. Their victory made us |
free. and rendered tyranny in any land |
as insecure as snow upon the volca- |
nos lips.
Rest then. comrades, resti None |
dare to impeach the cause for which
YOU gave your lives. If / were to say
a word to the living men and women
of this day as to the measure of their
duty to their country, ii would be our
duty to our country, whether of birth
or adoption. is to love it, guard and
protect it. to keep it always in our
hearts, to be most jealous of its honor,
to preserve its purity, to enrich 1t all
with our manhood, our courage and
affections. Not merely must we de-
fend it, but our duty calls us to make
it pure and noble and worthy of being
loved. to feel that nothing is dishonor-
able that can benefit or advance it, that
no work is dishonorable to which it
calls us. to give it with clean hands
and pure hearts our best and most
IoyaI service. and when our duty calls
MS to leave it, to bequeath it to our
children as their most precious inherit
age. So no one shall say it is idle and
puerile TO garland these graves and
pay honor to these dead men, when
such lessons come to us in the very
act of homage we perform.
Before the clouds of war had dis
appeared and the sunlight of peace had
kissed the land that had been cursed
by the fratricidal war, two soldiers or
phans appeared at the door of the Ex-
ecutive Mansion at Harrisburg. Penn
sylvania, begging for bread. The in
Justice to the dependent children of
our slain and noble warriors aroused
the zeal of our gallant war governor,
AndreH G Curtain. the pure patriot