Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-31
PAY TRIBUTE TO THE. SOLDIER DEAD
Past Post Commander j. Herbert
George.
'esponse,a
Chaplain E. George Biddle.
Memorial address.
Rev. e. A. Legg.

80
Chaplain E. George Biddle. !
Memorial address,
Rev. E. A. Legg. |
America.
Taps. |
Rev. Mr.. Legg spoke as follows, with !
Americas Answer to the Historic
as his subject: +,
A mornentous year has passed since
last we met to pay our tribute d re-
spect and love to those heroes who
gave up their lives upon southern
battlefelds, who have passed away
since the great conflict ceased and
who are still spared to US today
There we're many who withstood the
and sabre of the conflict,
but none can long Withstand the can
the ranks are being thinned and the
Grand Army of the Republic is rap
idly vanishing away.
1t hence becomes an increasing priv
ilege and duty each year to honor
those who gave their blood as an
atoning sacrifice for the sins of our
fathers. They permitted a nefarious
business to become so firmly rooted in
the national life that it may truly be,
said concerning it. Without the,
shedding of blood there could by no
possibility be remission of sins and
our nation be purged of the blacklist
spot that ever stained its history.
Although the echo of the last anda
greatest war has barely died away and
our memories are freshened every day
with new stories and revelations of
that titanic struggle, the heart of
America is today turned to those
stormy scenes now nearly sixty years
away. Those Of you who were at the
front can rehearse the story of wars
activities and horrors. Those oe You
who were at home cannot >but reEem-
Der the anxious dread and suspense
that wore the long days through
when husband, son, brother O. father
were somewhere in the southland, and
you knew not whether living or dead.
Each mornings paper kindled dread
in your heart as you seized it, each
mail was opened with feverish yet re-
luctant fingers, lest it bring the news
you feared might come some day. All
honor upon. this. Memorial day to the
heroines and old fathers who mad to
stay at home while they gave to their
country. that which was 1earer than
their own lives. There are unknown
thousands whose names are never
heard upon this day. there were acts
of heroism and deeds Of bravery ut
never be recorded in the annals of his
tory, but, because of them results have
been accomplished which will be more
| lasting in the life of our nation than
even these monuments of granite and
bronze. To the known and the I'M
known brave are dedicated such me-
MORALS as this that decorate every
town and village green throughout the
north. In memory of the brave acts
the sacrifices, the sufferings, the de-
vout examples of patriotism seen and
! unseen are these stories erected.
But let us remember that in a larger
sense these memorials, even this Me
mortal Day are the index Of Ameri-
; cas- response to far flung challenge
! It is the challenge of injustice to jus
tice; the challenge that oppression
throws to freedom, the challenge thai
tyranny 1urls at liberty the challenge
of the spirit Of monarchy to the grow
ing spirit OF democracy.
| Within the limits Of one hundred
and fifty years Americas response t.
this challenge has been clear, definite
and of world reforming significance.
| When George III. thought to supper
t ten thousand British troops in hi
! quarrel with France by taxing til,
! American colonies without their con
sent, or, as Burke put it in parlia
lnent. turning the American colonist
into pack horses. it was challeng,
/ thrown across the sea to a liberty
! loving and self-reflecting people
! Whicsil challenge was answered by
I Declaration, of Independence anc
| backed up by Bunker Hill, Lexington
Saratoga and Yorktown. This wa
! the beginning of modern democracy
i a curiosity at first sneered at, thel
i tolerated. at last respected and nov
i feared-feared, not as the power o
some princely despot has been feared
not as a monarchy of this size a hun
dred years ago would be feared, bu
i because it is the highest and finest eX
i preston of new world spirit. spiri
that recognizes the royalty of folk
i rather than sat of counts and baron.
; a spirit that is topping thrones an
:. scrapping crowns and making king
| ship the least desira Bile occupation i
all the world.
? Again. when the British naval pol
. icy directed the kidnapping Q
u Americas sailors ON the high seas.
) was the challenge of injustice to
people who believed in fair play and
square deal. The answer to this chal
lenge was not entrusted to polite di
plomatic correspondence but was de
; livered by Captain Isaac Hull of th
Constitution and Commodore Perry o
: Lake Erie. an answer vehemer
} enough to convince the world that tn
young republic in that year of 1S1
3 had grown out of its swaddling clothe
and was sufficiently strong to comp'
81 the respect of the world for the right
, of small nations. 1t was a lessol
5 however, that was soon forgotten t
: the great sorrow of these moder
t days.
3 But the great challenge of the la.
: century came directly to you men {
Y the Grand Army. When the south
81 ern part of this nation exalted II
r doctrine of state sovereignty abo7
/ that Of national unity and attempte
: to divide, the country into two par
4 that should be forever. separated 80
t seized the gage of battle thu
Il thrown down and said 1T must n,
a be- But why should nation l
4 thrown into deadly civil strife on
such a claim? Has. not man Il
:, right to leave the company he HI
: been keeping il he finds it to his az
: vantage to do so? Has not a state IL
e right to seceed if it finds it's intern
d policies at variance with those of
: neighbors? But this was not the ful
e damental question involved in Il
S challenge. This doctrine of sta
d sovereignty was bolstered up by b
8 lief in tragically mistaken econom
system, system that made the pro
': perity of the south dependent upc
enforced and unequited labor B
more fundamental than this was Il
social conception that part of the h
man race was fit only to be the slav
of another part A conception al
policy that is thus morally wrong ca
not be made economically right. 7,
challenge then was not that of ind
vidual liberty to collective unity, Il
that of states right to national so