The National tribune., 1910-07-14
"LET US HAVE PEACE"

"LET US HAVE PEACE"
Memorial Day-Its Meaning and Its
Message.
Address by Capt. Henry A. Castle, Past
Department Commander, at st. Paul,
Mimi, May 80, 1910.
Forty years ago today it was my
privilege to preside as the Commander
of Acker Post, G. A. r., then newly or
ganized, at the first observance of Me-
mortal Day in the city of Saint Paul
Only two years previously had been
established, by the action of Gen. John
A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief Of our
Order, this a hallowed ceremonial,
which has been annually commence
rated with increasing interest and i'm
pressiveness until now.
Two years previously, moreover, the
wars all-conquering hero. Gen. Grant.
in his letter accepting his Presidential
nomination had coined the expressive
phrase, Let us have peace" Both
from the context in which that phrase
was used and from the antecedents Of
him who used it, We may fairly as
sumo that the peace invoked was that
which resulted from moving immedi-
ately on the enemy's works; from fight
ing It out in a given line, if 1t required
all Summer peace that involved un-
conditional surrender, with all that the
term implies.
Let us have peace!
In all human experience, everything
worth having has been fought for; all
satisfactory and lasting peace has been
won by cruel and relentless war. Even
the Prince of Peace, in recognition of
this great truth, said, Think not thet
I am come to send peace on earth; 1
came not to send peace, but sword. y
The war between right and wrong is
eternal. Often it takes the form of
physical conflict; always 1t RACES in
some phase, as prelude to enduring
peace. And no controversy Is safely
settled until wrong has gone to the
scaffold and right has ascended the
throne.
Thus interpreted and applied this
magnanimous invocation for peace
was the keynote of our first celebration
here and has been the keynote of all
those held here and elsewhere under
the auspices of the Grand Army Of the
Republic during the intervening years.
1t embodies the meaning Of the day,
and voices its message to mankind.
That meaning will be cherished and
that message will be repeated by our
worthy SUCCESSORS, the Sons of Veter-
ans, as they carry on the observance
in the years to come.
The fear that this ceremony would
tend to rekindle the animosities of the
war has long since been dissipated. 1t
is now recognized as one of the domi-
nant factors in our assurance of en-
during tranquility.
Let us have peace!
The vital issues involved in the war
for the suppression of the rebellion
were settled at Appomattox beyond
cavil, beyond retrial or appeal. Among
those issues were Union, Emancipa-
ton, the Supremacy of National Power
as a guaranty of individual freedom.
To secure a welcome peace, founded
on the final settlement of these con-
tentions, the loyal North made its tre-
mendous sacrifices; her patriotic SOL
diery suffered and marched and fought
and conquered; the martyred heroes,
whose valor and devotion we commem-
crate today, yielded their precious
lives.
They did not die in vain. We have
peace as to these principles and policies
of transcendent import to us, and to
countless generations of our prosper
ity. Other issues have arisen and will
arise, but we may confidently trust
that the same virtues and valOr and
loyalty which saved the Republic in
that supreme crisis will suffice for all
emergencies.
The quaking pessimist, shrouded in
gloom and solaced only by his rooted
confidence in impending catastrophe
has no allotment in the enthusiasm Of
this suspicious day. His provisions
of blight and pestilence, of clash and
crash and ruin, find no confirmation
in the felicitous meditations here in
viction that the embodied and glorified
Republic may reverently reiterate the
injunction of the Master, Let not your
hearts be troubled" For in the core
and kernel of the worlds contempo-
rary annals we may read that liberty
Is everywhere militant, triumphant
and God, over all, reigneth forever.
i, Our comrades did not die in vain,
and. as to the vital principles for which
they fought, we have an abiding faith.
as firm as the everlasting hills. as deep
as the fathomless ocean, as pure as the
purpling heavens that arch over us.
that we conquered for this Nation a
|never-ending peace.
But there are other problems yet
unsolved which vex the currents of our
political life and there are interna-
tional complications, incident to our
new position as a world-power, which
make the merciful rescript of the ST.
lent Soldier ever pertinent in an hour
like this oh, Iron Commander with
the heart of gold, we thank thee most
fervently for teaching us these words.
We hear large segments of our peo-
pie clamoring for deliverance from the
grasp of the boss on the one hand and
the guile of the demagogue on the
other--protesting against machine poll
tics, plutocratic greed and socialistic
nostrumS. From certain sections come
the pungent fumes of applauded lynch
ings, the shrieks of enslaved thousands
in blood stained prison camps, the ex-
postulations of disfranchised millions.
to whom 'the consent of the govern
ed' is a sterile sarcasm. In other Sec
tions, we are pointed to fostering abb
scesses in State and Municipal Govern
ment, tainting the air with the deadly
fetors of political corruption. From
various congested localities come the
imported roar and tumult and jargon
of mOngrel alien races seething with
sporadic revolt in the alembic of assim-
iiation.
Evils like these must De encountered
and vanquished before we can have a
perfect peace. Meantime, other evils
will be generated in the measurelesS
caverns of human cupidity and venal-
ity. Thus the never-ending warfare
goes on between the forces of error
on the one side and on the other those
who stand in all sincerity and manli-
ness for an uplift of patriotism, of po-
litical honor, of culture, of morals, of
religion undefiIed.
The surviving yeteranS of the IIpiOp