The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-02-28

was tried In the. furnace and proved true.
 7e vas weighed In the balances anu ny Found wanting. He has been pro- nounced Sterling by the general consent of mankind.n .n
 He had dignity of mind and rectitude ot principle. assisted by unpretendins good sense under all conditions and en- vironment of life.
 1T. there be one country upon the map v nations which can challenge our sym patny more than all the rest that country s Ireland. the home of Emmet and Cur ran, Of Phillips and Connell, of Burke ana Grafton, of Dillon and Parneli-pa- triots all. who with heart and hand, ana tongue and pen, "struggled for kindred and the right" The cypress wreath en- circied their eountry's brow, and the funeral dirge was to them familiar sound. The national Tyre was tuneiess. us chords were broken. "A land without ruins is q land without memories"
 
 With loving impulse we gladly spend large sums of money from year to year out of a national fund raised by common taxation to protect and beautify the graves of those who died in defense of the Union. We make liberal apppropria-
 
 structure the particular spots where Fed erai soldiers and sailors fought and fell for their country's sake.
 We are wont to erect monuments to those whose careers have illustrated cour- age. fortitude, patriotism, self-sacrifce. and fidelity to principle ito those who have become renowned in the public. ser vice; to those who have been benefactors to the human race; to those whose en- deavors in the arts and sciences. letters and learning have exalted them among the nations of the earth. We have built magnificent cemeteries at Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Gettysburg, Nashville, Mur- freesboro. Culpeper Court House, Manas- sas, Arlington. Winchester. and on a score of other fields. These silent cities of the dead are surrounded by costly stone fences adorned with trees and parks, and everywhere ornamented with head stones of marble or shafts of granite to mark the green graves of those who died on the periloue edge of battle"
 Washington is a city of monuments; and it is meet that these memorials should arrest our gaze in every park and common. on every street, along every highway, and in every public ground of the nations capital. Father Ryan ex- pressed words as sweet as celestial fruits or the breath of flowers from Paradise when he penned these radiant lines:
 Yes. give me. the land of the wreck and There's grandeur in graves. there's glory For out of the gloom future brightness is born,
 As after the night looms the sunrise of morn.
 But 1t may be asked why a Represen- tative from way down South in Dixie" should feel such an interest in a New England patriot as to be prompted to introduce a measure in this Chamber looking to the erection of monument to his memory. The answer is easy. Descended from ancestors who were with Washington at Valley Forge. am fascinated by any literature which tends to illustrate the arduous struggles and glorious exploits of our forefathers in their contest for freedom. Stand by the old landmarks' is biblical injunc- tion. Some ''quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore" as Edgar Allen Poe expresses 1t, possesses for me the pecu- liar charm of a faded face looking down from an old picture on the wall of an ancient art gallery. Although the dim ming mist of time have gathered about the achievements of the valorous men who participated in that colonial war fare. my heart thrills with patriotic emo tions at the recital of deeds worthy of the poets pen, the minstrels lay, the painters brush, or the sculptors chisel Jeremiah O. Brien was essentially a pro- duct of New England and lived in a sec ton far remote from Alabama. It per- haps. would have been more appropriate for a Representative from an eastern | district to have introduced the bill: but, | in my opinion patriotism obliterates all sectional lines. and the intrepfdity our hero never failed to manifest. and which | shrank not from the most appalling dangers. has become the general heritage of the American Republic. By the in- troduction of this bill I but proclaim the common loyalty and devotition of the Southern people to the old flag and to "a Union that none can sever." The "war of the roses" the white and red, is ended forever. In no country has race or sectional enmity ever been more distinctly marked than in England, and in no country has that enmity been more completely ef- faced. The Saxons and Normans, for | more than one and half centuries open ly hostile. at length mingled into a per- feet political and national harmony. The | two peoples, so long at war, ultimately discovered that they had similar interests | and common enemies. They drew near in friendship and gave as pledge of their last reconciliation the great charter, won by their united efforts and framed | for their mutual benefit.
 The interests of the North and South are identical. National Legislation en- acted by Congress affects both sections l alike. We have one Constitution and l obey the same laws. Yielding each to the other reciprocal dues, 1t has resulted under the infallible guidance and ordi- nances of God that we are now every- where blessed with peace and plenty, happiness and prosperity. The only real liberator is Truth. and she makes l none free save those who strive to break | their own letters.
 Heroism derives its splendor from the motive which prompts men to display 1 courage and fortitude. Know ye the truth; for the truth shall make ye free" | The Bible tells us it shall come out of the arth md azrtnn