The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-06-01
Of for,y-cignt sovereign, indestructlble

of for'y-eignt sovereign, indestructlble
states.
But time flies; | must pass the eight
years of revolutionary struggle, and
but recall i'm passing the historic fields
Of IcXin2ton, Concord, Bennington and
Saratoga, Valley Forge, Trenton, Bran
DIVINE and Yorktown. and the heroic
Continentals who, on those several
fields, paid the last fun measure of
patriotic devotion To establish free
government among men.
Then came the seven succeeding
years that tried mems soul and all but
nullificd the sacrifices of the Revolu-
tionary war But out of those years
that so sorely tried mems faith sprung
forth, fun armed ana potent as Fate
The Federal Constitution, characterized
by William H. Gladstone, England's
greatest modern statesman. THE most
wonderful work ever struck off at
given time by the brain and purpose of
men"
The signcrs of the Declaration of In
dependence had said 1--WE hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created free and equal" meaning
thereby equal before the law and free
to act under and according To law.
Yet the trainers of the constitution,
with full knowledge of all the facts.
compromised with the waxing slavoc-
lacy of the Cotton states. and thus
were planted in the fertile soil of Sec
tionalism the seeds of discord To yield
such bitter and sanguinary fruit sew
enty years later. Nothing is ever set
tied until it is settled right reiterated
Daniel OConnell. "They enslave their
childrens children who make COM
promise with sim" said James Russell
Lowell
And so it proved. Eightysfive years
after the signing of the Declaration OF
independence and seventy-two years
after the adoption of the Federal Con-
stitution, the slave power in America
had waNed SO rich and crown so DOW
crful that it, Samson-like. sought to-
pun down the pillars Of state, and
Drought on the most stupendous Civil
" " ~ 'ii' hililellS III llSlOIN-d war
that cost more lives and property, ten
times over, than all our preceding wars
"A war so stupendous that at it's close
General Grant had q battle line hf-
teen hundred miles i'm length with
nearly one million men under arms. A
war in which blood and wealth flowed
Tree as an ebbing tide. A war that
gave To history such names as Shiloh.
Frederickburg, Gettys-
burg and Cold Harbor The most SAN
culinary battle of all history, in which,
at the awful bloody angle, the Union
forces lost ten thousand men. i'm the
pride and strength of young manhood
i'm thirty awful fatoful minutes. A
war fought To save the union and to
make the Declaration of Independence
an eternal varity and not a political
platitude
And To you. members of the Grand
Army Of the Republic, and To your
comrades who sleep i'm national Gene
teries and i'm unknown graves, who ST.
lently one by one have fallen from the
ranks since Appomatox day. return in
reverent greeting. The worid can never
forget what you did and how nobly. |
how grandly and how courageously
you wrought for your country and
for us.
And i'm the same spirit that you
saved the Union and conquered n
Peace, YOU taught the misguided and
mistaken brothers of the Soutb that
the brave can be and are magnani-
nous.
TO paraphrase the language of Pres !
ldent Lincoln, Though passion may
nave strained, IL did not break our
bonds of affection. The mystic cords of |
memory, stretching from every battle
Held and patriot grave to every heart |
and hearthstone all over this broad