The Taney County republican., 1900-06-14


the shadows OF monarchy, knew no CEN
tralfzation except the Capitalization of
personal government. He did not under
stand that in a representative govern
ment the greater danger is not in CEN
traliZation. but in diSintegration. He had
not come to realize that the greatest
tyranny is the tyranny of the chief of a
petty tribe. and that in empire there is
hDerty. That In great representative
government, where all power comes from
the people, there Is no danger OF central
lzation. Calhoun, as the disciple of JEFF
ferson. carried this idea to its logical con-
clusion. and advocated the right of uuln-
hcation and secession. and closely con-
nected this question with the other great
question of human slavery. This con-
test brought into action the transcendent
eloQuence Of Daniel Webster. whose de-
tense of the supremacy of our federal
government will always be a part Of our
ma ational history. 1t found it's most dra-
matte incident when Andrew Jackson
faced South Carolina in its notification
and. with uplifted hand, swOre by the
Eternal that the right of the federation
vas above the right of any state. And
thus commenced the contest that ended
only in the civil war.
Then the storm which had been
gathering for more than half century
broke with all its fury and violence. The
first gun fired Fort Sumpter was the
| voice of destiny calling on the young re-
public to do battle for its life. No great
challenge. 1t was not to be mortal COM
bat between the equipped and mobilized
armies of two great foreign powers, but
under the dark cloud of impending war,
loyal citizens asked themselves, would
the nation die," or would the nation
live?' BY their fresides. with prattling
children upon their knees. with the tear
full eyes of wives upon them. men sought
swered from the plow, the workshop. the
hill and dale, from country and city the
people focked to arms.
They came as the waves come when
armies are banded.
They came the winds come when
navieS are stranded
"And above the thunder of the mutter-
ing storm was heard the voice of lion
hearted people crying to their leader:
1--we are coming, Father Abraham, one
hundred thousand strong.
You all remember those dayS-how the
firing on Fort Sumpter aroused the pa
triotism of the people. You remember
the news of the defeats at Bull Run and
Charlottesville: how the splendid Army
of the Potomac wasted with disease and
inaction. Then it belonged to you SOL
diers from the cornfields of the west to
look, with Grant, into the fiery mouths
of the cannon at Fort DOnnellSOn, and
give TO faltering cause the courage of
great victory gained. 1t was your
stubborn courage that changed defeat in
to victory at Shiloh. You waited with
place gave way before your grim de-
termination. And then came the glori-
Gus news of Gettysburg; how Meade
threw shrapnel into the ranks of Lees
defeated army. Many of you were with
the boys in blue amid the clouds at Mis-
sionary Ridge, and when they met the
storm of leaden hail and death at Chick
amauga. Some of you remember Logan
at Atlanta: how after Mcpherson had
fallen he rode to the front with his long,
h hal str ming in the breeze. his
eyes flashing, his sword drawn that
caught its brightness from the princely
cleaning of his soul. "a mailed warrior,
plumed knight" who plucked victory
from defeat even at the cannon's mouth.
and with the ferocity of a tiger, compelled
submission from bended knees. There
may have been better trained generals,
but there never was braver soldier than
John A. Logan. He was the hero volun-
teer soldier of that war. Some of you
veterans marched with Sherman to the
sea. And the stars on our banner grew
brighter as Sherman marched down to
the sea.
.'Then Grant, who never lost battle.
ioined in the last death struggle with Lee
in the Wilderness; and then was heard the
glad acclaim of the people, when the bot
tom dropped out of armed rebellion upon
the field of Appomattox.
"You soldiers from the cornfields of the
west joined In the grand review at wash
ington, marching down the streets OF the
national capital cheered by all Christen-
dom. And no braver. better soldiers ever
formed the phalanx of Caesar or followed
the eagles of Napoleon.
'"Then was lifted into the forum of the
constitution, to shine forever and ever like
a star, the great principle of equality OF all
men before the law. Then the Shackles fell
from 1000, 900 slaves and they were lifted
from chattels to the rights of American
citizenship. Then this river in its joyous
march to the Gulf, and from the Gulf to the
sea, told no story of Iowa, sang no song or
Illinois; in it was not heard the name of
any state, but in that ceaseless murmur
between two great oceans was heard a
grand anthem to the American republic;
in it was heard the voice of a nation pro-
claiming the will of the people. 1t now
flows by the home of no slave and no bonds |
man.
Through the blood and tears and suffer- |
Ing of that great war there was breathed
into this nation the breath of broader ma |
tional life. Human slavery was abolished, |
state sovereignty was dead. and the lib
erty of thought, of speech and of publica- |
ton were established.
standing with new generation to-day, |
looking back, we see the clouds of war lift |
ing. We see our republic entering upon
career of progress unequaled in the his
tory of nations, and yet in the forenoon of |
its greatness. Seeing all these things. re- !
the precious price that has |
been paid for this heritage, let us not for |
get the words of the immortal Lincoln, as |
he stood upon the famous field of Gettys-
burg: Here let us highly resolve that the |
dead shall not have died in vain. that the
nation shall. under God. have a new birth
of freedom. and that the government of |
the people and by the people shall not per-
ish from the earth
''Since that great war this republic has
grown from less than IS. 900 of people to