The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-01

less policy of determination. This prin-
c1ple is the infinitesimal germ from
which has sprung all of the aesthetic
culture and moral grandeur that the
world has known, and in whose victory
or defeat are bound its downfall and
degradation or its advance and haooi-
ness.
Where could the ideals Of democracy
have found a grander realization. a.
wider scope, than on the broad CONT
nent of America? But TO preserve them
intact, to make them a continual and
pure reflection OF a people one in heart
and purpose and action, from the great
lakes of the north to the great gulf of
the south, the body as we'll as the spirit
of every inha of this glorious land
was ordained TO be free. and the or
deal of four years of sanguinary war
was not in vain.
With peace came a change of
public sentiment. The north became
charitable. The south had not suffered
in vain. Brayely she gathered up the
broken threads of her evenfful history
and holding them at first in trembling
hands amid the ruin and desolation
war had wrought she Wove them Sc
curely into tendons for the banding
together Of those principles upon whose
foundations her broader freedom and
her greater glory rest.
were foremost in secession experienced
no secret qualm, no hidden pang of re-
morse in their ill-advised and hasty
action. An impartial and unprejudiced
review of all the past teaches us that,
regardless of politics, Sectionalism or
traditions, Americans are brothers.
proudly tracing their lineage to COM
mon parentage in whom were inherent
the principles of freedom and justice.
Under whatever circumstances we meet
we cannot fail to recognize our kinship,
our allied interests.
l heard a noble survivor of the war.
SCARED with many battles. who had
fought with Grant at Shiloh and fol-
lowed Meagher up the heights OF
Fredericksburg and languished in the
prisons of Andersonville and Belle Isle,
say that whenever commanded to fire
his heart smote him. If we had been
fighting foreigners he said, my con-
science would not have troubled me,
but God never made too many Amerl-
cans" 1t was the natural feeling of
brotherhood existent everywhere among
the children of one nation, though we
love to think intensified and deepened
here by our blest and cherished insti-
tutions.
It was exemplified at the battle of
Bull Run by two Irish regiments, who
finding themselves opposed to each
other. refused to fight, but passed on
with tears of sorrowful recognition and
cries of God save Ireland"
During those darkened years Of civil
strife, there were broken families in
the north born and bred in the south
who were convinced of the justice Of
the northern cause, and yet with sad
inconsistency to them it's every victory
seemed a defeat. They could not for
get their friends, their near relatives
in the confederate ranks, the devaSta-
ton of the scenes they had loved, the
despoiled and ruined homes, the i'm
poverished fields and all of the horrors
and ravages of war. In many instances
father and son, and brothers were OPP
posed to each other, and as that which
at the first onslaught the firing OF
Fort Sumpter seemed to each side
would soon be settled, developed into
a bitter and uncertain struggle, pray
ers were invoked for the intercession Of
providence with signs and tears as
Rachel wept for her children and re-
fused to be comforted.
When we recall the events of that
awful time ii is natural for US TO think
first and dwell the longest upon the IL
lustrious leaders of the army and their
brilliant victories. In letters of death
less fame upon the bigrhtest scroll are
the glowing names Of Grant, of Sher-
man and Sheridan and Hooker and
Butler. and as the myrtle now entwines
around them with the laurel, we
breathe them softly. speaking low in
memory of those grand heroes of the
nation. We cannot do less than ack-
nowledge our debt of gratitude to them
that today
North and South we are met as broth
erS,
East and West we are welded as
Right of each shall secure our moth
erS'
Child of each as her faithful SON"
Truly their brave example was not
lost. nor their sacrifices made in vain.
AS we recount their illustrious deeds
and remember their discoura gements,
their hardships and perils. we feel that
one of the highest uses of this day is
to foster the spirit of faithful allegiance
to the Union they preserved. and love
and loyalty for the old flag now droop-
ing at half mast over the splendid
mausoleum of our beloved Grant and
the graves Of his brother officers. N
intact might its glorious stars ha'
been, had the former faltered at Wick
burg or turned back at Corinth or Shi
loh: if Sheridan had blanched before
the hosts of Missionary Ridge. or Saer-
man had not led the weary troops fac
ing the binding storm, from Atlanta
to the sea.
There is a stately monument erected
on the site of the battle of Bull Run.
inscribed, ITO the Unknown Dead"
Their bodies were buried there in
trenches after that last and most ter
rible slaughter. and though their names
are unknown to US and their deeds I'M
sung there were many heroes in the
ranks besides these slaughtered thous-
ands, men of true purpose and cour-
age. who leaving their homes and all
that they held dearest. rushed eagerly
10 the fray, counting their lives as
dross to the life of. the nation they
fought to save. Some of them came
home again, after the war was over.
but alas, by far the greater number
never returned. On southern battle
fields they sleep in nameless graves.
But even their kind hands now strew
their graves with flowers. for the past
comes TO us all like troubled dream
as
From the silence of sorrowful hours
The desolate mourners go.
Lovingly laden with flowers
Alike for the friend and the foe
The sanctity OF death is over them.
and the fallen soldiers of our country,
no matter with whom they fought, are
the nations dead. We cannot think of
them as federals OF confederates. but
rather as beloved and vs-iant COM
rades for whose unJimely end we are
deeply grieved, as we bring the fairest
tributes of the earth to deck their
tombs-
And there were some, VINO indeed
came home, but O, so sadly changed
that those who had seen them march
blithely away TO the conflict, their
hearts stirred with enthusiasm, and
their eyes beaming with the hope of
victory and triumphant return, could