Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1898-05-06


ANY committee % Americans going across
! the ocean 20 see what could have been
/ done would have found no better accom-
modations than London Tower. The only
way il could have been done was by the
sword. your grvAt-grandiathers sword.
Jefierson's pen could write the Declaration
I Of Independence. but only Washington :
/ sword could have achieved Il, aud the
other swords bath-d In heaven.
"Arbitrament will take the place OF war
between nation and nation, and national
armies will disband as IA consequence, and
the time will cOme-Gcd hasten it,-wher
there will be no need OF an American
army or navy. or a Russian army or
navy. But some time ate. that cities will
have to keep their armories aud arsenals
and well-drilled militia. because until the
millennial day there will be populations
with whom arbitrament will be as impossi-
BILE as treaty with a cavern OF hyenas or a
Jungle OF snakes. These men who rob
stores and give garroter's hug. and prowl
about the wharyes at midnight, and rattle
the dice in gambling hells and go armed
with pistol or dirk. will refrain from dis
turbances OF the public peace just in pro-
portion as they realize that the militia OF 4
citv instead of being an awkward squad.
and in danger OF shooting each other by
mistake, or losing their own life by looking
down into the gun barrel to see II il is load
ed, or getting the ramrod fast in their boot
leg, are prompt rs the sunrise. keen as the
north wind, potent rs thunderbolt. and
accurate and regular and disciplined in
their movements as the planetary system.
Well done then | say to the Legislature,
and Governors and Mayors. and all officials
who decide upon larger armories and bet
ter places for drill and more generous
equipment for the militia. The sooner the
sword can safely 20 back to the scabbard
TO stay there, the better: but until the hilt
claugs against the case in that final lodg-
ment, let the sword be kept free from rust;
sharp all along the edge and its point like
needle and the handle polished, not only
by the ehamols of the reglmental servant,
but by the hand Of brave aud patriotic off,
GERS. always ready to do their full duty.
Such swords are not bathed in impetuosity,
or bathed in cruelty or bathod in oppres-
sion, or bathed IN outrage; but bathei in
heaven.
Before speak of the doom OF the sword
let me also say that it has developed tho
grandest natures that the world ever saw.
1t has developed courage--that sublime
energy Of the soul which defes the uni
verse when it feels itself to be in the right.
1t has developed self-sacrince which re-
pudiates the idea that our life is worth
more than anything else, when for u prin-
ciple 1t throws tina. life away, rs much as
to say: 1T is not necessary that | live, but
it is necessary that righteousness triump phi. >
There are tens of thousands among the
Northern and Southern veterans OF our
Civil War who are ninety-five per cent.
larger and mightier in soul than they would
have been had they not, during the four
years of national agony, turned their back
on home and fortune, and at the front sac
rihced all for principle.
but the sword is doomed. There Is one
word that will yet be written in every
throne-rOom, in every war office, in every
navy yard, in every national council. That
word is Disarmament. But no government
can afford to throw its sword away until
all the great governments have agreed to
do the same-until disarmament and con
sequent arbitration shall be agreed to by
all the great governments, any single gov
eminent that dismantles its fortresses, an
spikes its guns, aud breaks its sword
would simply invite its own destruction.
Suppose, before such general agreement
England should throw away her sword;
think you France has forgotten Waterloo?
suppose, before such general agreement
Germany should throw her sword away;
how long would Alsace and Lorraine stay
as they are? Suppose the Gar OF Russia
before such general agreement should throw
away his sword, all the eagles and vultures
and lions Of European power would gather
for piece OF the Russian bear. SuppOs5 in
some future time the United States, with
out any such general agreement of disarm-
ament, should throw away her sword, it
would not be long before the our great har
bors would be ablaze with the bunting Of
foreign navies coming here to show the
folly of the Monroe doctrine
What horror is war and its crueltics
was well illustrated when the Tlrtars after
sweeping through Russia and Poland, dis
played with pride nine great sacks file |
with the right ears OF the fallen and when
II correspondent of the London Times. writ
ing of the wounded after the battle OF
Sedan, said: Every moan that the human
voice can utter rose from that heap OF
agony, and cries of water! For the love of
God, waterl doctor, A doctor! never
ealsed. After war has wrought such cruel
tiles, how glad we will be to have the Oil
monster himself die. Let his dying couch
be spread in some dismantled fortress,
through which the stormy winds howl.
Give him for pillowa battered shield, AMI
let his bed be hard with the rusted bayOnets
of the slain. Cover him with the coarsest
blanket that picket ever wore, and let his
only cup be the beached bone Of one of his
war-chargers, and the last taper by his bed
side expire us the midnight blast signs in
to his ears: The candle Of the wicked shall
be put out.
In this time of our national trial let us
dedicate ourselves anew to God and our
country. In the English conflict called
the War of the Roses, Il white rose was the
badge of the House of York, and the red
rose the badge of the House OF Lancas-
ter, and with these two coiors they op-
posed each other in battle. To enlist you
in the holy war for all that is goo |
against all that is wrong | pin over your
heart two badges the one suggestive OF
the blood shed for our redemption, and
the other symbolic Of soul made white
and clean, the Rose of Sharon and the Lily
of the Valley.
"And as for our beloved country in this
crisis there are three reasons why We
should do our best for that. Three reasons:
Our fathers graves, our own cradles, our
children's birthright. When | say your
+ fathers graves your pulses run quicker.
Whether they sleep in city cemetery ca
in village graveyard, their ashes are pre-
cious to you. They lived we'll and they
died right. You will not submit to have
their tombs dishonored by the foot of any
foreign foe. Then this land has been our
| cradle. 1t may have rocked us roughly,
| but it was good cradle to be rocked in.
| Oh how much we owe it. Dear land oil
our boyhood and girlhood days. Aud il
is to be our children's birthrght. Wewil
| after awhile be through with it; we will
| see only n few more blossoms of the
| spring; we will gather only "A few more oil
| the harvests of the summer we will pluck
| only little more of the fruits OF the au
tumn; but our children, they must get il
| through US, as we got 1t from our fathers
"a free land, happy land, u Christian
land.
,JApAN Is FRIENDLY