The Republican journal., 1901-06-06

| ffict, am now gray-haired man approach
ing, it seems to me with tremendous strides
life
Icannot forget that since that war gen
GRAFTON has grown to manhood and woman
hood, and that a large majority of thos,
whom l now address have been born sine,
the war and can have no personal recOllec
ton OF that important period in their Coun
try's history; To these more particularly
wlsh to speak, and to these it seems appro
pirate to speak, lest they forget the debt ol
gratitude they owe the men to whose mem
Ory this day is sacredly dedicated
In speaking of these men, there seem tt
be uppermost in my mind two words
the words "Heroism" and "Patriotism.
These combined in either way stand for the
highest type of American citizenship
Heroic Patriotism Patriotic Heroism'
No body of men ever combined these
qualities in a higher degree than the mer
who fought for the Union in our great Civi
War.
While we glory in the fact that the pas
slons engendered by that war have passed
Southern men were heroic, and in oul
charity now grant that they were sincere
While we now recognize the existence of
both the qualities of heroism and patriotism
in our brothers of the South, yet the lessor
OF this day will lose much of its significance
they were in rebellion against the govern.
ment.-sincere. heroic, rebels
Standing as we do upon the threshold OF
a new century, it seems appropriate tC
briefly recall the history and condition of
the times before the war
Slavery and the plantation had created in
the South ideas, habits and desires that dis.
tinguish it from the North. The Southern
men had been trained under the social sys.
TEN which directed all their thoughts and
endeavorS to one idea and one policy, name
ly.: To rule and perhaps the extreme doc.
trlne OF state sovereignty. Their idea that
the State was supreme and might set All
naught the action of Congress was but the
logical outgrowth of their condition and the
time. Slavery was in the Constitution, but
Congress might legislate for the territories
and | am one of those who believe that the
war was inevitable; that it was indeed an
lrrepresslble conflict 1t was Just as inevi-
when Patrick Henry made his famous
speech in the first American Congress. The
cloud of war had been gathering for forty
years. just as in the physical world the
currents of air from the North and South
cOntendlng gather the cloud, condense the
moisture, and bring the thunder roar and
tightening flash. and deluge the land with
rain; SO, in our National life, the spirit of
tyranny in the South and the rising spirit of
freedom in the North, contending. were
raising cloud of war which was inevita-
bly, destined to burst with terrible fury
and deluge the land with blood. For long
time this cloud had hung like a pail over
the nation.
Thomas Jefferson, then in his old age,
saw it when Missouri applied for admission
as slave state in 1920, and the first great
controversy arose over the extension of
slavery, resulting in the Missouri Compro-
mise, and wrote to member of Congress
q u,
touS one which has ever threatened the
Union In the gloomiest hour of the Revo-
lutlonary War | never had any apprehen-
sions equal to those which l feel from this
source
Andrew jackson saw it in 1882 during his
second term as President, when the state of
South Carolina declared null and void the
act of Congress imposing a tariff upon i'm
ports, and refused to obey the law. Other
southern states were ready to fall into line
with South Carolina, and talk of secession
was rife. Fortunately for the country, at
that time heroic patriot occupied the pres
idential chair. With big oath, it is said.
he swore, sour Federal Union: l. must and
shall be preserved, and ordered the United
States troops to Charleston, South Carolina.
and Augusta, Georgia, to aid in collecting
the tariff.
Again in 1888 the House of Representa-
tlves sought to allay the rising storm by APP
voted that Every petition, memorial, reso-
luton, proposition or paper, touching, or
relating IN any way, or to any extent what
ever, to slavery OF the abolition thereof,
shall, on presentation, without any further
action thereon. be laid upon the table with
out being debated, printed or referred
Daniel Webster saw the rising cloud and
sought to stay it by the magic power of his
matchless eloquencc. He painted two very
vivid word pictures which every school boy
in the North learned by heart. He prayed
God to grant that when his eyes should be
turned to behold for the last time the sun in
heaven, they might not see the first picture,
but rather that their last feeble and linger-
ing glance might behold the other. The
eyes of Daniel Webster never saw the first
picture in all its terror nor the last in all its
glory, but you, my older friends. and |, saw
both. Ten years after Daniel Webster was
in his grave, we saw the States discovered,
dlScOrdant, belllgerent,-the land rent with
civil feuds and drenched in fraternal blood
but thanks to the patriotism and the heroism
OF the men whose memories we now honor
we saw the gorgeous ensign of the Repub-
lie, borne through it all, emerge, bearing
upon its ample folds, for the first time in
their full significance, every word of Daniel
Webster's motto $50 dear to every true
American heart > "Liberty and Union, now
and forever. one and inseparable.'
Again in 1854 this cloud was seen grown
larger and darker when the Missouri Com
promise was repealed, resulting in the sub
SeQuent mad rush for extension of the slave
power in Kansas; and there upon the soil
of Kansas the two spirits, of freedom from
the North, and tyranny, represented by
slavery, from the south, met and blood was
spilled.
Abraham Lincoln saw it before he was
elected to the presidency, and declared ::
The Union cannot long exist, half slave,
half free" The war cloud was growing
still larger and darker when the presiden-
tial campaign of 1860 resulted in the elec-
tion of president hostile to the slave
power. The South refused to accept the re-
suit, and State after State seeded. There
was then in the presidential chair man
who had rendered too long and valuable ser
vice to his country to be called other than a
loved his country, bat he was not heroic.
He sincerely deplored the action of the
seeding States, but could find no authority
in the Constitution to coerce them. We re-
member the deep mutterings and murmur-
lngs OF that winter of 1861. Even the peace
full poet, choosing Northern emblem from
the woods of Maine and Southern from
the forests of South Carolina, was moved to
make the reverent threat and prophecy CON-
bined: God help them if the tempest swing
the pine against the palm" We also re-
member that many men, whose patriotism
we cannot doubt, Shuddered and turned
pale at the thought of war, and said, "Let
them go, let they go.''
All eyes were looking forward to the
fourth of March when Abraham Lincoln
was to take his seat as President. A great
responsibility Was placed upon him, greater