News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-05-27
Memorial Day.
{ Written for the NEWS & CITIZEN ]

an its wake! We recall the day wheI
the wires flashed to us the startling
news that the first gun had been fred
upon Fort Sumpter. 1t was in 1861
on the 12th day of April, just twenty
minutes past four o'clock in the morn
ing, that fifty heavy cannons in one
murderous volley began to pour their
terrific fires into that defenceless fort.
Battery after battery responded in
deadly conflict from that little garri-
son of Union soldiers and the boom
ing OF the cannon as it reverberated
over the land, from hill and dale and
mountain peak announced the fact
that war was inevitable and, indeed
had begun. At the South all were
jubliant, while at the North conster-
nation was depicted upon every face.
The first thought was of our coun-
try and our flag, our homes, our lib
critics, our all. Then there came rush
ing through the mind sense of duty,
OF obligation, of right, of honor; and
now, as the years roll by, we recall
the noble deeds, the daring, the cour-
age, the bravery of our heroic dead
the trying vicissitudes of searching
suns and drenching rains, in the heat
of the battle and in the prisons. We
now take a just pride in paying them
that tribute of respect, honor and
gratitude justly due from a nation
whose very existence and perpetuity
once reached a crisis SO critical in it's
history, that deviation, possibly of
hairs breadth from the divine princi-
pie of right, would have set us back
as nation on the dial plate of hui
man progress ages, for aught we
know. In the older countries where
the desire for aggrandizementas ascend.
ancy and increase of territory is the
governing motive'among rulers, bat
ties may be fought and won, victories
gained or lost, and the nations main
tain nearly the same condition, max
ing but slow, if any, progress, often
retrograding as we think.
After the bloody revolutions and
wars in France, when the nobIest of
nobility, who escaped death on the
battle field, were dragged to the
guillotine, when brave men and heroic
women, women like Madam Roland,
were publicly beheaded in the presence
OF lnturiated mobs, what was gained |
After the battle of Waterloo, after the |
Crimean War, can aDy one tell us |
what christian principle was vindi- |
Gated? But if it is asked what i'm |
portant principle was established as
a result OF our late Civil War, the |
ready answer is, the best government
in the world was saved from destruc
ton; principles involving the inter
ests and we'll being OF mankind were
more thoroughly recognized and es
tablished; principles eventual'y guar
anteeing the freedom of the entire hu-
man race. LII our government stands,
the liberties OF the world are secured |
And then the half has not been told
Time would fail us in enumerating
the inestimable blessings of our free
institutions. Nothing in these United
States stands in the way of the true,
the brave, and the competent, no
matter what the color, race, birth or
antecedent. We sometimes doubt
Americans, even, comprehend the
momentous significance of that ever
memorable struggle between the
North and South. If Americans fail
to see the results Englishmen do not.
Sixty years ago in the English Parli-
ment Lord Brougham said, "Iknow
thegood sense which, generally speak
ing prevails among the people in
America; the sound policy which, for
the most part, guides its government.
Long may thatpoIicy continued Long
may that great Union last It's en-
durance is OF paramount Importance
to the peace OF the world, to the best
interests of humanity, to the general
improvement of mankind" How
prophetic these words The thoughts
OF great men, like the steam engine,
rush along far into the future, leay-
ing the masses in doubt and igno-
rance.
Had our Union been divided, des.
troyed, where to-day would be the
slave mother with her children, some
OF them perhaps nearly as white us
our own, lnheriting the white mans
intense love OF liberty and genius for
good or evil? Where would be the
poor Cubans? And with the naughty ,
Spaniards for our next door neigh
Dor, and the ambitious greedy Eng
lishman on our northern boundries,
and our nation, perhaps, without
battleships or prowess, where would !
stand the nation with the omnipo- !
tent principle of right and Justice in ,
one hand, and in the other the mighty 5
power to enforce the human bene6- :
cent and God like ideas and princi. g
Piles that are the only salvation of
the world ?
We're the nation to hold the bal I
ance of power amid the plots, in I
trigues and expressions, as well as +
honorable business relations of con- '
dlcting interests, that now CON- \
plete net work nearly encircling the
globe; where, but for the united C
force of our nation, would have been Z
The power to withstand the crisis Y
brought on by the Boxer element in e
china, involving the interests of al
most every nation, and wei nigh en-
quilting in the terrible massacre the C
faithful and trust-w0rthv oua tions | q