Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-06-22

tyranny in the isle of Cuba. II the war
results in her utter humiliation as a ma
ton, it is well-the world will be we'll rid
of a power that has lived but to Cypress
and destroy.
Though there is grief In my heart that
words cannot express hen think OF the
loss that will come to US, the broken fam
lily circle, the desolate hearth-stones, the
suffering that war always brings, ! glory
in the fact that God has chosen the
United States to be His weapon, His
mouth-piece to administer chastisement
to Spain for her cruelty and oppression,
and to bring in a reign OF freedom and
light to the down-trodden people OF
Cuba.
| SPANIARDS WILL FIGHT.
No doubt the Spaniards will fight we'll.
They love to fight. They fight as do the
wild beasts, that they may tear and de-
YOUR their prey and lap up their blood.
They have fostered this bloodthirsty
spirit until it is stronger than any other.
But "our boys" will fight because they
love their country and their flag, and are
seeking to carry freedom, one OF heavens
best gifts, to those whose blood has
drenched their soil again and again as
they have striven to be free from their
oppressors.
A Spaniard will go into this war with
the blessing OF his church upon him, in
spired by former victories that he has
gained over the weak and helpless, and
with the pride and arrogance that marks
hn
name and with the blessing OF Almighty
God upon us, and
Conquer we must for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto in God is our trust"
land they that trust in Him shall never
be ashamed" Had we not gone to the
rescue OF this people, we should have been
false to our principles and to our flag;
we should have been taking a backward
instead Of forward step in the accom-
plishment Of the purpose for Which God
made US a nation.
An incident OF the civil war comes to
me here. 1t was i'll battle, and one Of the
color bearers had carried the flag far in
advance OF his regiment. The colone ell
sent an order for him to "bring the colors
| DdCh W Iue reg llueul Inc soldier
looked at the flag, then at the one bring
ing the order and said: $50 tell the col.
onel to bring the regiment up to the col
ors.'
He was not there to make back-tracks,
not there for retreat, but to carry the
flag forward until it was In possession of
its own. So as nation we have not come
| tn bipb TO
ward in the march OF progress and lib
erty. We could not stay at home with
this despot at our very doors.
Let our foes, the Spaniard, our foes on
the continent, at home or elsewhere say
what they will as to our motive for en-
tering this war-let them attribute to US
the basest motives-the very fact that the
Cuban has been obliged to shoot down
the women OF his family rather than that
| they should fall into the hands of the
Spaniard and meet a fate worse than
death, shows that the time had come for
| the United States to say to Spain: GLANDS
off. This kind of warfare must cease!'
Were such things known before? Was
! here a single instance Of this kind
known during the civil war by any sol
dier who wore the blue or the gray? Nay,
nay. That was left for the Spaniard to do
| III the light of the nineteenth century,
and that at our very doors. God speed
our boys to bring deliverance to our sis
/ teTs, the Cubans, from such an awful fate.
When the record is made up concern
ing the nations of the earth, it will be
written as a memorial for the United
states of America that she freely gave
her wealth and her sons for the sacred
cause of freedom, and that not on her
own soil but on what was not her own, or
hat she ever cared to own, but she did
it that she might fulfill her God-given
mission to "undo the heavy burdens and
let the oppressed go free. May it please
God that when another year has told its
J tale OF days and months, and we gather
again to pay our tributes of gratitude
and love to our fallen comrades, the
star OF peace may have arisen in our ma
tional sky and blended with the star OF
Bethlehem, declaring that wars shall be
no more forever and forever.
Soldiers of the grand army, in the name
of the church of Christ of which l am
| representative, greet you, III the naile
of the United States of America, whose
daughter am, greet you; as one of the
great throng who will live forever, greet
you; and as we clasp hands and review
the awful struggle through which you
passed, thank God for what you did and
the victory He enabled you to win.
look up, see the flag floating above
me; around me, and | realize that it was
you, and those whose graves We decorate
to-day, that kept it through the night
war and the storm of treason that burst
upon our heads when we were all unpre-
pared. realize, as another has said, that
"that flag waves over better homes, better
institutions, better schools, than any
other flag, and that it was you, our boys