The times., 1898-05-31


| Gods providence that kent the New
1 World in all its virgin strength and beau
| ty until the restless races of men had
reached civiiiza ton fit TO be transplant
ed here. IL was Gods providence that put
| the preposterous idea of a round world
4 into the quickened brain of q Genoese
/ sailor. When he sailed out into the un-
/ known sea Providence stood at the helm
and guided his ship Alright. and when he
/ landed on the unknown strand it raised
above him the great white cross of n Sa-
vior's love, the emblem Of immortal hope
1 IT gave strength and courage and victory
to the little band Of sturdy patriots who
wrought the mighty miracle of American
/ independence. 1t spoke in every line of
! the Declaration of Independence. 1t in
spired the pen of emancipation, and the
sword Of ASpomattoX. Columbus Wash
ington, Lincoln, Grant, Did chance select
/ them each for his glorious work so glo-
| riously performed? Let the fool answer
! how he will, l prefer to see the finger of
! Supreme design. That finger, maybe, is
even now moving toward another man;
1 man who shall lead our triumphant
hosts TO a glorious victory for liberty
and humanity, who shall wreak God S
vengeance wicked, cruel, merciless
! Spain, and drive from this hemisphere
! the last vestige of tyranny and oppres-
Z sion. And ii may we'll be that some sword
1 God, that liberty might be the heritage
of every American child VIII now by com
mand Of Jehovah Himself leap from its
scabbard TO give liberty and self-goyern-
ment 10 the oppressed and downtrodden
people of the beautiful island Of Cuba.
What an inspiring sight to see those
] who once fought against each other now
/ rallying under the one flag, exulting and
4 rejoicing thai the azure field Of the Union
banner holds in equal honor every star
/ of Statehood, and singing together the re-
arranged music of the Union-"Yankee
1 Doodle" and "DiXie''-the faYorite airs
I'VE are united as never before Every
! trace Of bitterness is gone at las. But
! this perfect reconciliation, this union OF
! hearts and Of hands, as well as of States.
/ has not come because we have forgotten.
You of the South still hold in tender
memory your heroic dead. We of the
North will ever do the same. There is no
story of any American battlefield that
should ever be forgotten. Americans are
/ strong enough and brave enough to stand
by the truths of their heroic history
and history will ever stand, immutable as
! the stars-that the inherited institution Of
human slavery was destroyed by the JUS
tice of God.
Thomas Jefferson gave us the genesis
! of American liberty in the Declaration OF
/ Independence, but the gospel of its New
I Testament WAS NIlllcH Dg AbId
coin in the Emancipation Proclamation.
GLORIOUS are the dead who die for lib
/ erty. Blessed are they whose blood is
] shed for the welfare of their fellowmen-
! The great conflict in which our dead
! fought was, in the beginning, contest
/ between men, between sections; ii was
J the Union against the Confederacy. But
| ii is evident that over and above the pur-
! poses Of men was Gods purpose He
would not give victory to the Union arms
until with il would come liberty to race
1 in chains. The careful student of the war
I of the rebellion has no difficulty IN seeing
/ that up to the time Of the emancipation
! proclamation the doubtful tide of battle
! set most strongly against the Union
| shore. Disaster had followed disaster
until Lincoln himself almost despaired of
ultimate victory; until it seemed as if the
/ exhulting Southern hosts We're about to
1 make good their boast of proclaiming the
/ Confederate government from the steps
] of the Nations Capitol. But from the
/ hour Of emancipation, from the hour in
1 which the cause of the Union became the
I cause of liberty. from the hour in which
/ the flag Of the Republic became the flag
of humanity, from the hour in which its
Stars and Stripes no longer fioated over
/ a slave, yea. from the sacred hour of the
/ nations new birth that dear old banner
/ never faded from the sky and the brave
j boys who bore il never wayered in their
I onward march to victory. With the sin
/ gle exception of Charlottesville and that
stubborn, doubtful day at Chickamauga,
no decisive field Of battle was ever lost
! by the men who sang with redoubled en-
/ thusiasm John Browns Body Lies
/ Mouldering in the Grave, but His Soul
/ Goes Marching On" Gettysburg at the
! East. Nicksburg at the West ratified the
/ Presidents s action and woke the morning
of our national holiday with grand ju-
/ bilee of JOY. From Chattanooga TO APP
pomattox from Atlanta 10 the sea, the
/ hearts of the war-worn, battle SCARED
| veterans took new courage: all along the
I line they touched elbows with a steadier
| purpose saw in each others eyes a no.
/ lier fire joined with a new inspiration
IN that glorious anthem:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the COM
ing of the Lord,
1 He is tramping out the vintage where the
He hath loosed the fateful lightnings Of
His terrible swift sword,
Our God is marching on.
He is sounding forth trumpet that can
never call retreat;
! He IS sitting out the hearts of men before
His judgment seat
! Oh, be swift, my soul, TO answer Elm, be
jubilant, my feet.
Our God goes marching on.
! After a third of a century Of peace and
/ prosperity ali the children of our common
| country kneel at the altar of reunited
faith The blue and the gray lie in eter-
! nal slumber side by side. Heroes all
| they fell face TO face, brother against
| brother. 10 expiate a nations sin. The
| lonely firesides and the unknown graves;
| the memory of the loved, the yearning
| for the lost; the desolated affairs and the
! broknen hopes are past recall. The wings
/ of our weak protest beat in vain against
the iron bars of fate. But through the
mingled tears that fall alike upon the
| honored dead of both, the North and
| South turn hopeful eyes to that new fG-
ture of prosperity and power. possible on
| ly in the shelter of the dear old flag. To
| the conquerors and the conquered, to the
! white man and the black, to the master
| and the slave the result was Gods proyi-
| dence.
What sail we say of the men who
| fought, of the men who fell? What pen
can write what tongue can voice a fit
| ting need of praise? History has immor-
| talized 800 Spartans who at Thermopylae e
| held the gateway of their country until
| all but one had died; the chivalrous devo-
ton of Napoleon s Old Guard VINO at Wa
| terloo made absolute verify of their
watchword. 1.-The Old Guard dies but never
| surrenders has filled the world with
wonder; and the song of a Tennyson has
! thrilled the hearts of all mankind with
the story Of the noble 600 who at Bala-
klava charged an army. The heroic
achievements of Americas boys in blue
on countless battIefelds will not suffer by
comparison with these. Some of our he