Year: 1868

J.
Cruffts, Cogswell, Belknap and others.
| A,mass meeting of the grand armies
was held in the Opera House. which
was presided over by Gen. George H.
Thomas, and General w. I. Sherman
delivered the following address of well
come. The fact is, the country may
well be proud Of Sherman as speaker,
as we'll as a soldier. AS we remember
the great Generals services to our
country and read his patriotic and gol-
den utterances, our heart silently and
earnestly proclaims: Long live w. T.
Sherman. sau f


Here is his speech. Read it twice:


FELLOW SOLDIERS: 1t is made my
pleasing duty to address you, this eve
ming, words of welcome for the deeds
that have been spread beforeyou From
the city and from theJcountry, from the
town and the village, you have &C ME to-
gether,the representatives ofyonr grand
volunteer armies which responded to
the country S call in her hour of danger,
and fought her battles, sometimes side
by side, and sometimes far apart. yet al
ways in unison. ICheers.] At her bid
ding You returned to your homes, as
farmers and as mechanics, as artiZans
and as citizens, and after short rest
you have again assembled as it were
upon a pinaele to look back toward that
vale wherein you struggled so long, to
point out to each other the spots of
greatest interest and to live over again
those hours and days and months of
deepest anguish or of joy. 1 know that
you have laid aside forever the feelings
of animosity and anger which you may
have entertained, and that you have
dropped into oblivion the little jealous
les and riyalries of the hour. You now
stand here with hands extended in fra
ternal friendship, who have rather glo-
ried in the right to defend the flag of
your country on land and sea. You
have fought for the Union of our faith
ers [cheers] and the flag of our whole
country. [Cheers.] Nomore self-glro-
rification now animates you, but q just
pride in your own actions, and a deep,
intense love of the comrades who stood
by your side in the hour of deadly strife
and shouted with you in the hour of
victory. [Cheers.] Happily, my friends,
YOU did not belong to that class of our
people in whose hearts was planted from
| youth the pernicious doctrine of State
power, and that the citizen should love
=. part of the country hetter than the
| whole. [Applause.l You were reared
in better school and taught to revere
the Constitution of your whole country
and to love the wise and genial int1u-
ences under which are assured the larg-
est measure of security and happiness
consistent with the safety of the whole.
We believe that the will of the majority
should rule; we believe that in this we
| have discovered panacea for the ills
that have, from the earliest history of
the world, ravaged and afflicted the hui
man family. But we were no exception
to the general rule that nlinorities will
not always bow peacably tothe decision
of the majority. and found.that we must
maintain the privileges of our. birth
right by force. You may search history
in vain for more fragrant violation of
faith than that which resulted in our
civil war. Never were a people more
ruthlessly, more unwillingly dragged
| into long and bloody conflict, and
never was the occasion so utterly unpre-
pared, for the attempt to prepare for the
danger was called cowardice, and the
whole civilized world was taught to be-
lieve that the broad stripes on our flag
were to be trailed in the dust. the stars
sunk forever from the view. and that
our fair fabric of union was broken. up
beyond recall. Our attempts to reason
were laughed at. Our laws were derid=
ed to scorn. The public was, seized land
a war began. Men wasted their elo-
quence i'll the vain attempt to avoid this





peaceful remedy, and not until this time
was the last arbiter resorted to. The
volunteer soldier then stepped forth in
to the field and offered his life and his
government against all its enemies.and
swore ON oath that rebellion and anar-
cby should not rule this land of ours,
but that liberty, justice and law should
be restored to their rightful throne
! [Cheers.] He has kept his word, and
you now behold the good ship OF State
again full rugged and once more on her
free course towards glorious future.--
You know that flag is still there
| [Cheers.] There has been lost not a
stripe. That same flag we have follow


ed so often in the glare of Il scorching
sun, by the. moons pale beams, by the
light Of the blazing pine torch, now
waves aloft in victory and peace. Shall
l not. then, claim for you who repre-
sent this ideal volunteer the higher hon
or, yea, the highest honor that is con-
ceded by mortal on earth. You can
easily recall how long the war seemed
to us in its progress, but how short,
even now, looking back on after pc
! riod of a little more than three years.
How inconceivably short, then, will it
appear to those who, a hundred years
hence, will grope through the pages OF
its history to learn of the events and
causes that led 100000 of people to re-
bel when no single act of oppression or
tyranny was ever alleged. We owe it
to them. while still in the vigor of life
health, to record the parts we played in
this grave drama of life with the mo-
| tives and feelings that actuated us
through its various stages. Many a
time and oft you have lain upon the
bare ground, with no canopy above you
| but that of heaven with it's hosts of glit-