Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1900-06-05

There's nothing told
Again into the woof of the nations
life were woven the scenes that chasten
nations patriotism. Across many a
hearthstone came the old mans trem-
bling blessing. Over many a threshold
the boy whisKed the tear from his moth
er'S trembling caress as she ran her care,
worn fingers through his hair At many
station amid be noise and hustle of
departure there was the sweetheart's
furtive tear; and the whispered PRAYER
of the wife who, sorrowiDg, vet would
not diSsuade, tries bravely TO hide her
grief in the eyes of her child that smiles
and crows goodbye to him who per
haps came back no more Such ex-
perjences bring to the Younger gener-
alton an understanding Of what the
long years of '61-'64 meant to those
whom we now honor Vt deepens our
appreciation of the fading generation
1t haiows our veneration for those who
then died that the present greatness of
constitutional government among the
nations of the earth might be made pos
sible
In the light of subsequent events it
is given to us to see more clearly the
debt the nation owes TO its defenders of
the sixties. The century we had then
lived was but a moment in the life of
the nation. The verdict of history was
against the perpetuity Of a nation foun-
ded upon the equality Of man. With
the beginning Of political reasoning cen
turleS ago Dem OStheneS laid down the
proposition that republican forms of
government, from their nature. could
not be long lived. Political thinkers
then and since feared that with the
growth Of territory and the rise of
sectional interests democracy must fall
prey to partisan interests and sec
tiOnal ambitions, and must ultimately
fall TO pieces to be gathered up into
the Capitalization of monarchy: and
the verdict Of history, ancient, mediae-
val and modern, seemed to have verified
this Judgment With the union of the
American states upon an artificial
written instrument made at the hands
of men, the Statecraft of the world
smiled knowingly and scoffed openly
at the idea of the perpetuity of such
a state The war of 1861 was a war
for the perpetuity of constitutional
institutions. 1t was a war for liberty,
but indissOlubly united Herewith it was
a war for union, Liberty and union, one
and inseparable, was the result of that
anu Guo DEuId VI QlSllJ6GFSGlO0
SUNK away into the receSses of theory
and democratic nation of sovereign
states as world power became firmly
established as an enduring entity among
the factors in the worlds advancement,
The generation that made this posi-
bic is slipping away. One by one they
are mustered out to join the great army
IN the silent beyond. 1t is therefore
right, nay, it becomes our sacred duty.
to recall those heroic days when the
life of constitutional government hung
IN the balance. That war was a war
fearful in its carnage, terrible in the
numbers ergaged and in its heightened
mortality lists, fearful in the treasure
of h'"od and money expended, powerful
in he great social and political results
that ensued tharefrom. But it will
stand as one of The wars of history. not
for reae nns such ~ these, but distinctive
| as conflirt of principles, conflict of
ideas, thHt had been promulgated ages
before and that had been strengthened
by generation upon generation of Gus
| tom and racial temperament. England
fought one Of her greatest wars over
picture. The North and South, brothers
of common mother, bred of the same
stuff, and born of the same sinew
foug ht one of the greatest wars of his
tory for principle.