The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-18
The Battle That Turned
the Tied.
Continued from First Page.)

nationalities, each with history both
bloody and contemplate. 1t was because
you, the men who wear the button of
the Grand Army, triumphed in those
dark years that every American now holds
his head high, proud in the knowledge
that he belongs to a nation whose glorious
past and great present will be succeeded
by an even mightier future; whereas had
you failed we would all of us, North and
South East and West, be now treated
by other nations at the best with con-
temptuous tolerance; at the worst with
overbearing insolence.
Moreover, every friend of liberty, every
believer in elf-government, every idealist
who wished to see his ideals take practical
shape, wherever he might be in the world,
knew that the success of all in which he
most believed was bound up with the
success of the Union armies in this great
struggle. 1 confidently predict that when
the final judgment of history is recorded
it will be said that in no other war of
which we have written record was 1T
more vitality essential for the welfare of
mankind that victory should rest where it
finally rested. There have been other
wars for individual freedom. There have
been other wars for national greatness.
But there has never been another war in
which the issues at stake were so large,
looked at from either standpoint. We
take just pride in the great deeds of the
men of 1776, but we must keep In mind
that the Revolutionary War would have
been shorn of, wellnigh all its results had
the side of Union and liberty been de-
feated in the civil war. In such case we
should merely have added another to the
lamentably long list of cases in which
peoples have shown that after winning
their liberty they are wholly unable to
make good use of it.
1t now rests with us in civil life to
make good by our deeds the deeds which
you who wore the blue did IN the great
years from 81 to '65. The patriotism
the courage, the unfllnchlng resolution
and steadfast endurance OF the soldiers
whose triumph was crowned at Appomat
tox must be supplemented on our part by
civic courage civic honesty, cool sanity
and steadfast adherence to the lmmutabie
| laws of righteousness. You lett US a
reunited country; reunited IN fact as wei
as in name. You left us the right OF
brotherhood with your gallant foes who
wore the gray; the right to feel PRIDE IL
their courage and their high tealty to an
ideal, even though they warred against
the stars in their courses, You left us
also the most splendid example OF what
brotherhood really means; for in your
lcareers you showed IN practical 1ashlor
that the only safety IN our American life
lies in spurning the accidental distinctions
which sundcr one man from another, and
in paying homage to each man only be
cause of what he essentially is; in strip
ping off the husks of occupation, of pc,
sition, of accident, until the soul stands
forth revealed and we know the MAI
only because of his worth as man.
There was no patent device for securing
victory by force of arms forty years ago
and there is no patent device Tor secur
ing victory for the forces OF Righteousness
in civil life now. In each case the all
important factor was and is the characte
of the individual man. Good laws IN th'
State, like good organization in al
army. are the expressions OF nationa
character Leaders will be developed II