The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1913-06-10
IngersolTs Fine Tribute to
iCivl War Veterans Recalled

IL was a meeting held in indianapolis,
September 30, 1876 meeting largely
made up of veterans of the civil war,
that furnished Robert G.. 1ngersoll the
inspiration that found voice in the most
stirring and patriotic address that this,
or perhaps any other country, has ever
known. The orator rose to a sublimity
and fefvor of patriotic feeling that pro
foundly stirred his hearers, who voiced
their emotion from time to time with
shouts of 'glory" and deep-toned cries
of "amen.o
This speech delivered on that historic
day was made in drizzling rain to
throng of perhaps two hundred and
| fifty, persons crowded about a speaking
ttand erected on the east side of what
was then "the Governors Circle, now
Monument Place. These auditors were
gathered under umbrellas, which served
to shut out from those on the outskirts
of the crowd view of the orator or
opportunity to hear well what he said.
This speech, to which has been given
the title. "'The Vision of War; was
published in the Indianapolis Journal
the morning following its delivery, and
1t has been said that it way by chance
! that this part ablaze with patriotism,
which formed the opening part OF
political address, came to be printed
at all, the managers of the party organ
thinking little of it, as it had emo
bearing on the issues of the day.
After it appeared in the Journal,
however, different view was taken
of this part of the address, and it was
printed on big posters which were sent
out over the state and did much to
keep the boys in blue in line for "the
grand cid party" though indiana did
east her vote for Tilden and Hendricks.
Words Of Address.
The memorable words of that address
are AS follows:
"The past rises before me like a
dream. Again we are in the great
I. struggle for national life. We hear the,
sounds of preparation; the music of
boisterous drums; the silver voices Of
heroic bugles. We see thousands of
assemblages, and hear the appeals of
orators. We see thes pale cheeks of
women, and the flushed faces of men,
and in those asseuiblages we see all
the dead whose dust we have covered
with flowers. I'VE lose sight of them
no more. We are with them when they
enlist in the great army of freedom.
We see them part with those they love.
Some are walking for the last time in
quiet, woody places with the maidens
they adore. We hear the whisperings
=. and the sweet vows of eternal love as
they lingeringly part forever. Others
are bending over cradles, kissing their
babies that are asleep. Some are re-
ceiving the blessings of old men. Some
are parting with mothers who hold
them and press them to their hearts
again and again and say nothing.
Kisses and. tears, tears and kisses
ldivine ningling of agony and love.
And some are talking with wives, and
endeavoring with brave words, spoken
Yin the old tones, to drive from their
hearts the awful fear. We see them
part. We see the wife standing in the
door with the babe in her arms-stand-
ing in the sunlight, sobbing. At the
turn IN the road NJ hand waves-she
answers by holding high in her loving
arms the child. He is gone, and for
ever! = .r
To the Music of War.
"We see them all as they march
proudly away under the Haunting flags,
keeping time to the grand, wild music
of war-marching down the streets of
the great cities, through the towns and
across the prairies, down to the fields of
glory, to do and to die for the eternal
right.
1--WE go with them, one and all. We
are by their side on all the CORY fields,
in all the hospitals of pain, on all the
weary marches. We stand guard with
them in the wild storm and under the
quiet stars. We are with them in ra-
vines running with blood, in the fur
rows of old fields. We are with them
between contending hosts, unable to
move, wild with thirst, the life ebbing
slowly away among the withered leaves.
We see them pierced by balls and torn
with shells, in the trenches, by forts,
and in the whirlwind of the charge,
\ where men become iron, with nerves of
steel.
"We are with them in the prisons of
hatred and famine; but human speech
can never tell what they endured
1--WE are at home when the news
comes that they are dead. We see the
maiden in the shadow of her first sor-
row. We see the silvered head of the
old mar bowed with the last grief
Picture of Slavery.
"The past rises before us and we
see four millions of human beings gov
erned by the lash; we see them bound
hand and foot; we hear the strokes
of cruel whips; We lee the hounds track
ing women through tangled swamps.
We see tabes sold from the breasts of
mothers. Cruelty unspeakable! Out
rage infinite!
-Four million bodies in chains
Four million souls in fetters! All the
sacred relations of wife, mother, father,
and child, trampled beneath the brutal
feet of might. And all this was done
under our own beautiful banner of the
4 free.
"The past rises before us. We
hear the roar and shrek of the bursting
shell. The broken fetters fall. These
heroes died. We look. Instead of
slaves, we see men and women and
children. The wand of progress touches
the auction block, the slave pen, the
whipping post and we see homes and
fresides 'sehoolhouses and books.
and where all was want and crime and
cruelty and fear, we see the faces of
! the free.
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plantations of the Territory of Ha.
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