Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-05-28
DR DINsk0RE'S ADDRESS
Before Wadhams Post. {. \. R. d
 First CongregsdonaI Church.


 livered the Memorial address last night before Wadhams post, c. A. R., the Women's Relief corps. Sons of Veterans and others, after the ren- dition of a special musical program. Tho address in part:
 Your presence with us this even ing, soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic, determines my theme.
 It must relate to that period which bound this people into an indissolu- ble union, and which shed irnperisha- ble glory on the American arms. National sins are punished by na- tional calamities. God rules the world by physical laws. Punishment follows law as shadow pursues g man. The same Is true in the moral sphere. That summer comes after the spring is no more certain than that hard after the spring is no more certain than hard after the wrong. doer hasten retributive justice. In the life of a nation stretching through many centuries cause and effect are clearly seen upon grand scale. Here we learn that God Is not mocked and that Divine justice does rule the world. God has written this truth large in history, written 1t in fire and blood, and he is blind who cannot read 1t.
 "Yet nowhere Is this truth that God punishes national sins more sub Timely and terribly taught than in the chastisement God visited upon this people for the sin of slavery. But tile south was not alone guilty, the nation sinned and God compelled her to drink of the wine of his wrath.
 The debt of 250 years of unre- warded toll could not be paid by ig- norance, lack of full prosperity and the crippling of institutions. The blood of the first born of very house. hold was necessary. Without the shedding of blood there is no service. The cannon that reverberated over Charleston harbor was the trumpet of Jehovah calling this nation to judgment. Through four years of terrific war God scourged this nation. The slaves had toiled for two cen turies and half to pour gold into our coffers. We wiped out the bond by paying over eight billions of dol lars. 1t was an enormous price, but | 1t was just. The north had slime l. she gave hundreds of thousands of lives as an atonement. Every groan that had come up from the rice swamps and the cotton fields of the south was answered by a wall from some northern home. Upon the south lay the heaviest guilt and God did not stay the hand of war until that beautiful land lay stripped and peeled. Not until every slave was free and every dollar of wealth that had been unjustly accumulated had been destroyed and every household had suffered did he allow peace to be restored.
 There Is no page In the Bible more inspired than that black leaf of our history, telling of America'l slavery. Over it God has written his fiery, bloody gospel of national jus tice. Yet we have not learned the lesson. We still put the success of our party and the gain of a moment above righteousness.
 The second thought that impress es us is that God was working in the war to accomplish his own purposes. When MT Lincoln became president he was not pre-eminently religious man, but the responsibilities of the national crisis gave him a faith as childllke and sublime as that of the Hebrew prophets. His second in- augural is not surpassed by Isaiah in lofty eloquence and religious trust.
 God did have his own purposes He smote the north with blindness so that 1t did not apprehend the magni- tude of the contest. He sent confu- sion into the councils of the southern leaders. Not until the last stain of slavery had been burned out by the red brand of war did the Almighty stay his wrath.
 The last lesson I wish to draw from this heroic epoch of our own history is that righteous and intel ligent people are capable of self-gov- ernment.
 "The theory of our government is that the instincts of the common peo- pie. when not blurred by passion or swerved by self-interest. are right and that their conclusions are just. In nation of our magnitude only a few are interested in any scheme or business. this leaves the majority free to judge of what is right and wrong, hence we let the majority rule and in the long run it's decision is almost invariably correct. Our civil war was the sublimest demon stration in history that the people are capable of managing their own af- fairs, and that while a section or . few generations may be swept away by passion or blinded by monetary gain, ultimately the people see truth and duty and obey them loyally.
 There was one dramtic Incident that pre-eminently demonstrated our ability to govern ourselves. The hope of the southern confederacy was to secure European aid. In Novem- Der. 1861. MT Mason and Sir Slideil were sent as emissaries by MT Davis to England and France. The success or their mission would baye meant the triumph of the south. They were On board the British vessel Trent, sailing between Havana and Kings ton. Captain Wilkes of our navy cap tured them as contraband of war. His act was enthusiastically ap- proved.
 Captain Wilkes simply took two men who were not citizens of Eng land. but enemies of our government bent on the avowed mission of enlist ing Europe against us. England had committed a worse ofense against us thousands of times without redress or apology. And although she ceased her depreiatIons after the war Of 1s12. she had never formally given