The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-18

two great European Powers would nave
recognized the Independence OF the Noh-
federacy; so that you who fought mere iossy
one wears ago have the profound satlsiac-
tion of feeling that you played well your
part in one of those crises big with me lat.
of Mi mankind. You men OF the drand
ARMY by YOUR victory not only rehueieu
all Americans your debtors Tor eEerinore'
but YOU rendered all humanity your deptors.
If the Union had been dissolved, II we ga.
by mighty Washington ana ms competLrs
had gone down in wreck and ruin the result
would have been an incalculable calanhty.
not only for our peope-anu mos, VI al
for those who, in such event, Would nave
seemingly triumphed-but for all mankiho.
The great American repupnc woula Ha nav
become memory of derision, ana the laiiure
Of the experiment of self -government py
great people on great scale would nave
delighted the heart of every foe OF republican
institutions Our country, now SO great
and so wonderful, would have been spit lnto
little iangling rival nationalitles, eacr %i.h
history both bloody and contenptlpie.
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 mlghtiS!
future; whereas had you failed we Woui NOUS
all of us, North and South, East and west
be now treated by other nations, at the BEST
with contemptuous tolerance; at the WORST
with overbearing insolence.
Moreover, every friend Of liberty, every
believer in self government, every ideallst
who wished to see his ideals take practlcal
shape, wherever he might be in the world,
knew that the success OF all IN whlch ne
most believed was bound up with the sue
cess of the Union armies in this great strug-
ole, I confidently predict that when the
final Judgment of history is recorded II Will
be said that in no other war OF which We
have written record was it more vitality es-
sential for the welfare OF mankind that VIC
tory should rest where 1t finally rested
There have been other wars ior lndlvioual
freedom; there have been other wars Tor
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 1915, but we must keep
in mind that the Revolutionary war would
have been shorn of well-nigh 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
amentably long list of cases in which peo-
ples have shown that after winning their
liberty they are wholly unable to make good
use of it,
It 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 as, The patriotism, the courage, the
unf1inching resolution and steadfast en-
durance of the soldiers whose triumph was
crowned at Appomattox, must be supple
mented on our part by civic courage, civic
honesty. cool sanity and steadtast adher-
ence to the immutable laws OF righteousness
You left us a reunited country-reunited IN
fact as we'll as in name; you lett us the right
of brotherhood with your gallant foes who
wore the gray--the right TO feel pride in
their courage and their high fealty 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 careers you showed
| in practical fashion that the only safety IN
our American life lies in spurning the acct
dental distinctions which sunder one man
| from another and in paying homage to each
man only because of what he essential lily is
in stripping of the husks of occupation. OF
position, OF accident, until the soul stands
| forth revealed and we know the man only
| because of his worth as man..
There was no patent device Tor securing
victory by force of arms forty years ago
and there is no patent device for securing
victory for the forces of righteousness ir
! civil life now. In each case the all-import'
ant factor was and is the character OF the
Individual man. Good laws in the State
like a good organization in an army, are
the expressions Of national character
Leaders will be developed in military anc
in civil life alike; and weapons and tactics
change from generation to generation
as methods Of achieving good govern
ment change in civic affairs, but the funda
mental Qualities which make for gooc
citizenship do not change any more thar
the fundamental qualities which max.
good soldiers. In the long run, in the civi
war the thing that counted for more thar
aught else was the fact that the aNerag'
American had the fighting edge; had within
him the spirit which spurred him on through
toll and danger, fatigue and hardship t.
the goal of the splendid ultimate triumph
So In achieving good government the
fundamental factor must be the characte
of the average ctizen-that average citi
zen's power of hatred for what is meal
of cowardice and his determination to wa
unyieldngly against the dark and sordi'
forces of evil.
The Continental troops who folowe'
Washington were clad in blue and buh
and were armed with clumsy fintloc
muskets You, who followed Grant, wor
the famous old blue uniform, and you
wea pons had changed as had your uniform
and now the men of the American Arm
, who uphold the honor of the flag in the ia
; tropic lards are yet differently armed an
differently clad and trained; but tn
spirit that has driven you all to victor
has remained forever unchanged. SO
, is in civil life. As you did not win in mont
or year, but only after long years OF har
and dangerous work, SO the fight for gov
ornamental honesty and efficiency can b
won only by the display of similar patienc
and similar resolution and power of en-
! durance We need the same type OF char
7 acter now that was needed by the men VIII
with Washington FIST inaugurated the sys
tern of free popular governnent-the systeI
of combined liberty and order here on tn
} continent that was needed by the men VIII
under Lincoln perpetlated the governmer
which had thus been inaugurated IN tn
! days of Washington. The qualities esser
tial to good citizenship and to good publ
1 service now are in all their essentials exact
: : the same as in the days when the nrst 20,
crosses met to provide for the establish
ment of the Union; as in the days, sevent
, years later, when the Congree SEES met who
had to provide for its salvation.
There are many qualities which we nee
g alike in private citizen and in public maj
but three above all-three for the lack
g which no brilliancy and no genius can ator
and those three are courage, honesty ar
common sense.
At the conclusion of his speech Mr.. Roos
v welt passed down the line of veterans in Il
/, driving rain and shook each by the han'
K The Pres ident rad intended, after the e
o ercises, to visit the spots Of special intere
! on the field bu, he was so wet and II wi
1 raining so hard that he went immediate
I, to his train Later in the afternoon. no,
II ever, he made the tour Of the ground. j
r visited the famous "Sunken Road
:, Bloody Lane" in which the Confedera