The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-06-02

geneous community. received by the
rite of baptism into the expanding cir
,cle of American civilization.
This, veterans of the Civil War. is
your work and the work of your broth
ers who have ascended to region of
higher activity.
1861 to 1905! Veterans, do you realize
: all that. during this brief period, the
Grand Army of the Republic has orig
mated and which you. living before me.
have been privileged to witness?
In your time the few thoughts that
rule the world have generated an ever
increasing motive power. through
which the toll and growth of centuries
are compressed into a generation. One
or the bloodiest acts of the realistic
human tragedy originated in altrui m.
resulted in national unity, without the
sacrifice and indeed with the extension
of individual liberty, ob'iterated rrlju-
dice of race and caste and strengthened
the social bond, produced unprecedent-
ed and systematized energy. vindicated
self government. raised the general
level of mankind tended at least in the
direction of universal concord. pro-
NOTED moral and religious elevation,
developed our Republic beyond the an
ticipations of statesmen and even the
dreams of sentimentallsts, and poured
its accumulated products into the
Twentieth Century, in which the Pa
cific, under the rule of the Powers.
American. European and Asiatic. that
control the world, is to be the theatre
of such advancement as will exceed the
combined records of all previous ages
The War of Independence followed
by the Federal Constitution and the
multiplication of self-governing States,
had left the most vital issue between
the two sections of the Republic un-
settled. 1t involved the question of the
perpetuity of the Union. The confront
ing populations represented the best
strains of race, the highest intelligence.
the most determined and sincere con-
victions. 1t was inevitable that the is
sue should be settled by war and the
end of that war was equally inevitable.
The Union was essential not only to
our own country, but to the world. 1t
was for the world, as well as for our
selves, that, consciously or unconscious
ly, the resources of the nation were al
most drained in the struggle to pre-
serve our institutions
The Civil War developed greatness
that was equal to the opportunity. OF
Lincoln, the central figure of the gov
ernment, it may be reverently said that,
as Washington was the Father, he was
Rn1aaplar nf 1r,hi
under his administration, sealed by his
death, was purged from it's original sin
and cleansed from every element that
retarded it's consolidation. But, to
adopt the chief idea in his matchless
oration at Gettysburg, an army of free
men was the only instrumentality
through which, out of defeat, reverses,
sacrifices, the lavish outpouring of
patriotic life. the final triumph could
have been secured.
This is not. however, the time to re-
capitulate either the details of the Civil
War or of the national progress 'of
which it was largely the cause. Strike
out that conflict from history and how
far would civilization be set back!
Where would humanity have been to-
not existed? To this question there can
be but one answer. 1t would still have
hovered in indecision on the edge of its
most important movements and the
sovereignty of man might have sunk
into the blackness of night
You are few in number, veterans here
assembled. There may be few only of
your comrades in the Territory. There
are about twenty graves of veterans in
this cemetery, to which a very few may
be added, whose mouldering bodies are
scattered through the other islands of
the group. But you who live are
wrought into the fibre of modern prog
ress and have seen the ascendancy of
the civilization you helped to make, even
in the latest accession to the front ma
tional rank. When, in 1866, the first
post of the Grand Army was establish
ed at Decatur, Illinois, what existing
intelligence could have predicted the
events that have been unrolled like
panorama before your eyes?
There are no dead soldiers of the Re-
public. All live some on earth, others
in the realms above. They all possess
two immortalities-the individualized
Immortality of unending existence and
the Immortality of their works and in
the heart of grateful mankind This is
not Requiem over the Dead but the
Festival of the Living. Let the flags
wave and let the exquisite tints of
flowers adorn the spots where, in the
sacred name of patriotism, the physi-
cal remnants of American manhood and
of American honor have been deposited.
But let the hearts and the souls of
Americans cherish the veterans who
have ascended and the veterans who
yet remain, in undying memory, as the
loftiest expression of appreciation and
of love.
The organization of the Grand Army
of the Republic should not be perpet-
uated. 1t should be left intact until it's
last member responds to the roll call
of the Almighty. There, in the dim
sphere of continued life. the veterans
of the Civil War, who have put away
their mortal cerements, await their
comrades. And, when the Grand Army
is finally dissolved, and the last veteran
floats through the ether to join his de-
parted brothers, may his departure be