Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-29

wick Post, No. 1, G. A. R., and of Sedg- wick Woman's Relief Corps, No. IS, at Trinity Methodist Episcopal church Sunday morning, Rev. F. w. Coleman advocated preparedness as the only means of safeguarding the nations freedom. The veterans and members of the ". R. C. were present at tho service by special invitation. Prayer was offered~by Rev. E George Riddle, vice commander of Sedgwick Post and a member of Col. Shaw's famous regi- ment. Rev. MT. Coleman took his text from Mark 18-7:l And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be not troubled; these things must needs come to pass: but the end is not yet. Once again we find ourselves gath cred upon this memorial occasion in the house of God to give thanks to Him for His mercy towards us in pre- serving our life as nation and to revere and honor the memory of those who fought and died for their country, said Rev. MT. Coleman.
 It is true that the men who fought so nobly nearly 50 years ago are never absent from our memory--for every | day of our lives were are reminded of the vast and beneacent results that are our permanent possession through 1 their sacrifices.
 Truly, if you require their monument ] look around you, not only at the marble and granite monuments erected I to their memory scattered throughout ! the lafld-b1t at the political and moral results they have achieved for US by tbeir efforts.
 And I venture to say these results | will loom hundreds of years hence with even greater significance than they do today.
 The curse of slavery had insidiously crept into our national life at it's very commencement.
 This was as much the fault of the. north as of the south.
 ! No nation can sin against the laws | of God and escape punishment. This brought division among the states and | conflict became inevitable. It is not necessary for me to dwell upon any single part of that struggle. No words of mine can adequately de- | scribe the courage and heroism dis played upon the field of battle.
 Only those HIso lived through those times have the right even to attempt | to describe them.
 | To you old soldiers this week brings painful memories of the carnage of war, the groans of the dying, the noise of battle. the shriek of muswetry and the roar of cannon.
 Memories of hunger and thirst, of forced marches, of aching limbs, of rartings with loved ones, of compan- l leaving Gleir bodies in unknown graves.
 All this was necessary before this conflict could be brought to success full end, the curse of slavery removed and the nation united indissoIuably by the blood of sacrifice
 Today as never before we hear o1 1 wars and runnors of wars.
 JAS we watch with eager eyes and pertrbed hearts the stupendous con-
 hict now raging, and as we try to un- l derStand 1t in the light of the Civil war, it seems to me there are certain lessons we ought to learn.
 First: We ought to learn that we Lave to reckon with war as sterr fact of human life
 Second: That war may be juStif1able
 Third: That we ought to learn the
 lesson of preparedness.
 We must learn to reckon with wal
 as real factor in human life. Not
 withstandins our hopes, our aspira- | tions, our dreams as to the future iT
 the present state of things it is a fact
 War is foolish. mad, stupid thing.
 But it is Q fact. I am not here ts
 say it is a biological necessity Blu so long as human nature is what it is- selfish, unreasonable, bigoted. envious , ambltlouS-so long as men strive fo
 more and yet, more-so long as thosi who have not, want what others hayi
 -there will be war!
 Two years ago men declared tha : what is terrible fact today was i'm possible.
 People said prior to the Civil wa
 the same thing-that it was impossible Then when the war did begin the, ! said it would only last a few weeks It would soon be over; but 1t lastel !, four long and bitter years, until on ; side was utterly exhausted. 5 Surely the present and the past teacI l us that war is liable to come at an, |, time from almost any quarter. Is war ever justifable? This is ksacvl T1-- : swered by a positive Noi It can neve {; be justifaIole.
 T To take such an attitude is to insul = the intelligence and patriotism of t1l 7 men who fought so nobly during tn > Civil war.
 ,, The men who fought in that war be i' 1ieved that they were fighting in a jus
 and righteous cause and that they wer r Justified in their attitude. They Ina
 no Irisgfvings they, and they have ha
 none since.
 Fl For it was not war dictated by tn
 whfm or the caprice or the pride of
 single ruler or oligarchy of rulers.
 certainly was not a war of aggrandize
 ment waged by self assertive rae
 desiring domination and extension (
 it's territory.
 It was rather the struggle of a na
 ton for it's own political existence
 the struggle of a peace loving peopl
 who only knew the arts of peace, an Who reluctantly turned to war and tE b art of war after all efforts fer peaS
 had been exhausted.
 When a vast army which had bee f preparing for years rushed down lil if human avalanche upon the unpr(
 tected borders of France with a feroc e ty. brutality and utter disregard f. l. the rights of humanity, never befo1 ,s sarpassed in any war, ancient or moo a crns was not every Frenchman just
 fled in taking up arms to stem Il
 tide and to die if need be in the a ia tempt?
 le believe thoroughly in the words "a one of our great leaders,:
 Remember that the paciflsts of t 'e day. the peace-at-any- men, GhoV B. ever well meaning, are the spiritu d and moral heirs of the men who d .h Eounced and opposed Washington; = the men who denounced and voti
 against Abraham Lincoln. We can on lg be loyal to the souls of Washing1 n- and Lincoln. and to the soul of t |, great people that caught flame fro their teachings, if we set our faces Ii la flint against the unworthy spirit whi m today would teach us that peace stan k above righteousness and that this u = righteous peace can be secured by | cE | xrS f0 Gofn {