The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-05-24

OulO TlNeT we WOulu see hnOlneT nag
flying over the public buildings,
representing another Government, the
cornerstone of which would be hu-
man slavery; and we know how ir-
ritating and unsettling the results OF
two such governments so situated
following after the war would have
been, and how different in the conse-
quences would have been our condi-
tion from then until now
SO that the first result, the mega
tive result that | would call your at
tention to, is what we prevented in
defeating the establishment here OF
two governments-I might say pos
sibly more than two governments
for IL the Southern states had sue
cessfully established the doctrine of
secession, that they could withdraw
on account of slavery, why should
not the Pacific Slope states have an
equal right to withdraw on account
of the Chinese or Japanese questions,
or anything else that it might suit
their judgment to withdraw on ac.
count Of? And the same might be
said of the New England states. We
do not know how many governments
we might now have So that our
first result is salvation from tha
sort of misfortune.
Now another thought; If we had
been defeated, after the boundary
lines had been settled and established,
the next question would have been
the size of the indemnity that we
would have to pay. General Lee
would have reminded General Grant
and no doubt quite properly-that
all that our erring sisters wanted
was to be allowed to go in peace.
They claimed the right to secede.
They had established that right which
he had interposed to prevent, and
in consequence, they having won the
victory, we were in tho wrong, and
being conquered we would have to do
just as France did when Germany
came out ahead in their last war-we
would have been required to pay an
indemnity. In the first place we
would have been required to pay our
own war debt, the loyal states alone;
and in the next place we would have
had to pay their debt also. That
would have imposed upon us bur
den of such magnitude as not only
to make pensions impossible in the
sense in which we have known them,
but Of such magnitude as to make
impossible the great prosperity that
We have been enjoying, We were
saved from all that by being victor
ious.
Now | do not need to speak of the
affirmative results; they speak for
themselves. They speak for them
selves not only throughout this coun-
try but throughout the world. You
have all been reading, no doubt, as
have been during the last two or
three weeks, the exciting events that
have been transpiring in Turkey.
What is the matter with Turkey? A
great struggle is eliminating there
for constitutional liberty and parlia-
mentary government and the inspira-
tion for It was given when we were
successful at Appomattox. Gap
plause.) And what is happening in
Turkey is happening also at this very
moment in Persia; it is happening
throughout the world. We ought to
feel very proud OF the fact that, fol-
lowing our example and inspired by
our success, every government on the
Western hemisphere is based on writ
ten organic law. Almost all the
great states of Europe have adopted
written forms of government in which
the rights OF the people are protected
and the powers of government are
enumerated. Not only Turkey and
Persia are following this example,
but even China, awakening from her
sleep of centuries, has taken the pre-
liminary steps looking to the adop-
tion of a written Constitution.
Think what wonderful progress
is being made! II all started from
us. If we failed at Appomattox; If
this Government o; these United
States had been overthrown; If our
Constitution had been destroyed in
stead of being preserved and per-
fe-ted: il a mans capacity to gov
ern himself had been there demon
strated a failure, none Of the won
derful things 10 which / refer that
we have witnessed occurring through
out the world would have come to
pass.
There was another thought that |
would speak about. That was a
dreadful war. 1t continued four
years. First and last more than
three million men we're under arms
contending against each other in bat
tie. Hundreds OF battles were
fought. In many or them the per-
centage OF loss was greater than in
any of the famous battles 70 the Ma
poleonic wars. Figures running up
into hundreds of thousands must be
employed when we number the cas-
ualties. Grief and sorrow darkened
every home in the land. The cost
of all was beyond calculation. Of