The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1904-06-09
MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
DELIVERED BY COMMANDER H. R.
DAWSON BEFORE E. NJ. BILLINGS
POST AT MONROE MAY goth.


H. R. Dawson was the Memorial day
orator at Monroe this year, and spoke
extemporaneously, using neither notes
nor manuscript. He said, in part:
COMRADES, LADIES OF THE RELIEF
CORPS AND CITIZENS:
There is no need Of an apology why l
am the speaker on this occasion. AS
you will see our ranks are growing
thinner and our Roll of Honor is grow
ing longer each year, and as the years
roll on our ranks will be getting smaller
and smaller until we are all gone. And
as the Grand Army of the Republic,
unlike any other organization, cannot
increase its membership, we are des-
tined to disappear as an organization
i'll few years from now. But while
we survive the story of the civil war
will be told, the flags and flowers will
be placed on the graves of our comrades
who have gone before us. until the last
one of us shall stand alone at the monu-
ment, deposit his flag and wreath and
days and wonder why he should be the
dead.
This 30th day of May is a day set
apart by the government as a national
holiday, as a day to do honor to and
keep in remembrance the men who
gave up their lives that the country
might live. 1t is day, my comrades,
when our memories sweep back to our
young manhood, and to the days when
with musketS on our shoulders we stood
between our country and dishonor. How
we'll we remember the days from 81 to
90 We remember the call for men and
how we responded to that call, and the
story of those days will never be erased
from our memories until the last one is
gone.
All wars have their causes, and the
wars of our country are not different
from others. There has been reason
for the wars we have had, and in my
way shall try and bring them before
you this afternoon. You all know the
history of the first war, when we were
one of the dependencies of Great Brit
ain, and how that government placed
excessive taxes upon the colonies and
how on the 18th day of July, 1776, the
Declaration of Independence was issued
and we determined to be a free people.
After eight years of bloody war we
gained our independence and our coun-
try was born. The Stars and Stripes
became our emblem and you. my COM
rades, when we are about to pass away,
can look at the old flag, greater and
brighter, and hand it down to those
who will come after US without the loss
of star or stripe-and flag that has
never been dishonored.
The war of 1912 and the Mexican war
of 1916 resulted in victories for the
United States and peace seemed to be
assured for our country. 1t is we'll, my
comrades, to look back in the history
of our country and see what was the
cause of the war in which we were ell
gagged. The cause began before we had
gained our independence. In the year
1920 two vessels were upon the ocean
at the same time. One was the May
flower that landed the Pilgrims at Ply
this part OF the country descended: the
other a Dutch trading vessel that land
ed at jamestown, Virginia, a load of
negroes and sold them as servants or
slaves. From that transaction resulted
all the trouble that came two hundred
years later and brought on the great
civil war. The immediate cause of that
was the attempt to extend slavery into
the new States that were seeking to
come into the Cnion. The people in
the North were willing that slavery
should stay where it was. but not that
il should be extended into other States.
The trouble continued. Hard Wolds
Were exchanged in our legislative halls
and the crisis almost came at the time
of the Dred Scott decision, when a
negro of that Dame was arrested and
returned South to his socalled owners.
About that time, or soon after, Mrs
Harriet Beecher Stowe, a sister of that
great preacher Henry Ward 3eecher.
wrote a book called Uncle Toms Cabin,
IN which slavery was portrayed in its
most hldeous form. 1t told how slaves
We're bought and sold like cattle and
their families broken up by their sale:
and how slaves were whipped to death,
as in the case of Uncle Tom. The book
almost caused bloodshed, and to cap
the climax Preston Brooks, Southern
Senator. caned Senator Charles Sumner
IN the United States Senate chamber
Then the people became excIted and a
new party Was formed in this country,
called by its enemies the Black Repub-
hcan party. In 1856 this party brought
forward John c. Fremont as its candi-
date for President. James Buchanan
was nominated by the Democratic or
southern party anG was elected. Dur
ing the four years of his administration
the country was involved in turmoil
and strife, which eliminated in what
is known as the John Brown insurrec-
ton at Harper's Ferry. He had con-
ceived the idea of arming the slaves
and have them free themselves from
slavery by killing their masters. The
lnsurrectlon came to naught, however
as Brown and his followers were over
powered and captured by U. S. troops.
Brown was tried, convicted and hanged
at Charlestown, Va.
The convention of the Republican
party was called in 1860. Abraham
Lincoln of Illinois was the nominee.
The Democrats were divided by dis
sensions and placed three different
candidates in nomination and Abra-
ham Lincoln was elected President of
the United States. Then the States
south of the Mason and Dixon line be-
gan to talk secession. They were de-
termined to take themselves out of the
Union. South Carolina led, six other
States followed in rapid succession, and
on the 4th of March, the day OF Lin
coins Inauguration, five States had
already seeded. During this time of
excitement the Secretary of War and
the Secretary OF the Treasury of the
United States saw to it that the few
war vessels we had were sent to for