Evening Star Newspaper, May 30, 1891, Page 10

IN ARLINGTO hes 4 nM Hy i wi] N CEMETERY. FLOWERS OF SPEECH. Orators and Poets Celebrate the Deeds of Fallen Heroes. THE LESSONS OF THE HOUR. ‘Text of the Addresses Made at the Ceme- teries Today—Patriotic Lines From Poets— ‘The Great Conflict Reviewed—Honors to the | ‘Memory of the Dead. Orators and poets today vied with each other im honoring the memory of the brave ones who sleep under the flowers in the cemeteries that overlook the Potomac. Foets recited their pa- triotic lines, orators recounted the desds of the fallen, reviewed the national events which this ay recalls and pointeu out the lessons of the hour. There were orations at Arlington, at the Soldiers’ Home, at the Congressional cemetery and at the cemetery attached to St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Below will be found the text of the orations and poems: IN THE ARLINGTON AMPHITHEATER. Hon. G. W. At ‘s Oration at the Great ‘National Cemetery. Mr. Atkinson spoke, without manuseript or notes, as follows: “‘La- dies and gentlemen, the lamented Garfield. stand- ing upon this platf over twenty years ago, said: “If uilenice be ever olden it must be here fecide the ves of these 13,000 soldiers, whose lives were more significant than speech and whose death was a 7 poem the music of which was never sung.’ The martyred President, great as he was, never ut- J MK ATEINSUS. nobler. grander truth than that. “These 13,000 dead soldiers sleep the dream- less Unmindful of these august ceremo- nies and deaf to all words of praisa they rest reamless and alone, each in bis sepulcher of glory. It is all one to them whether we un- cover our heads and shed our tears upon their tombs. They are dead to you and dead to me, and our flowers shall fall and our words of ‘shall sound unheeded. Nothing we can sey or do can awake them from their slumber. but the thunder call of God can arouse ‘them from their dumb resting here beneath the elods of Virginia, within the shadow of the monument erected to tuate the memory immortal Father of His Country; and but the bugle of God can produce that harmony that will give forth to of everlasting peace. of the crypt of St. Panl’s London rests the body of the great Christopher Wren. Ona marble are written the words: ‘Reader, behold bis monament, look about standing here today neath God's igen Seieas skecl or coaraceaa yument which these dead soldiers gave ives to tuate—this great, massive, republic,» the freest, ‘greatest, best benesth the circle of the sun. and temples, and mausoleums and like these thousands about us today out of sight forever; but monu- deeds, monuments of sacrifice for ‘and ‘monuments of dying for th is beautifully illustrated by this, the of all our national cemeteries, cannot be lost sight of. These unpre- Theadstones will ‘ultimately crumble it the humble graves they merk can- jonuments Laurels like Hitt Hy f i i } i & t e bat tears that every 20th the graves of this mass- dead? The honors of fleeting. Xerxes conflict upon the red-flamed field of battle. ‘These thousands fell in duty’s line. —— down while following the flag, the whole wor! honors them for what they did, and every loy- ‘alist will say that each sleeping bra dis- tinetively s patriot’s grave. And here amid wilderness of flowers they are resting: here, where the willows bow and the gentle ‘Stade cing aisbys, cur saluted ° Fheks May-day garlands, sweet and charm- fagand fragrant as they are, tell of vacant of broken hearts, tell of saddened tell of widowhood and . ‘They unfold to us a world of memories, a world Of deeds, « world of tears, a world of sorrows, '& world of memories as unfading as the dead, these soldiers live. Let us live ins better world; live amid throng; live with a happier company. history and song: live ss the manon defenders; live in the unfading memories their surviving comrades; live in the hearts countrymen. Watered every 30th anation's tears, their graves will be embalmed snd sainted dead, Dear as tig blood sousaves NeTaiplous fovtoters lee saa tread be beruage of Your svave: TRE CALL TO ARMS. “When the strong arm of rebellion attempted to pull down our fiag the government here at Washington said: ‘We must have balfa million men who are willing to go to the front and, if need be, offer their lives for their country's war, of which number 41,000 gave up their lives in prison pens rather than desert the flag, whict all prisoners of war had an offer todo. In this eat conflict 340.000 federal soldiers went lown, but they went down, thank God, to hon- ored graves. “Such patriotism, such bravery, such en- durance, such obedience, such ’ self-sacri- fice, such adherence to principle, such love of country, und such devotion td the nageen are unparalleled in the history of the world. ‘These soldiers followed Grantand Sherman and Sheridan and Hancock from Forts Donaldson and Henry to Vicksburg, and from Vicksbur; to Atlanta, and from Atlanta toward the nort again, and finally to Richmond and to Appo- mattox. They cut in two the greatest rebellion of modern times, if not of all ages, and gave us one flag instead of two, and gave us also a united country from the surges of the Atlantic to the sunset sea, whose waves make music in the golden sands of California. “On the Boston Common is a costly granite monument, on which I read and from which I copied this description: “To the men of Boston who died for théir country upon land and sea in the war which kept the Union whole, de- stroyed slavery and maintained the Consti tion the grateful city has built this monument, that their example may speak to coming gen- e ions.” “My friends, that monument and inscription are expressions of true patriotism, and that is the feeling that should be expressed by all Americans toward not only the dead, but the surviving soldiers of the war for the Union. I mistake not the indications of the present, that is the way our entire people will feel and act toward them after a few more generations shall have come and gone. LIXCOLN’s WoRDS. “The :mmortal Lincoln—and let me say right here, it makes no difference how high on the pyramid of American statesmen and patriots the names of other great men may stand, all unbiased persons will admit that the name of Abraham Lincoln stands pre-eminently above all the rest. ‘The immortal Lincoln in hie great speech at Gettysburg expressed in, language that seemed to be on fire and is blazing yet that sympathy and love which should be cher- ished within the breast of every true American when he said: ‘It is for us, the living, to dedi- cate ourselves to the great work which our sol- diers, living and dead, have so far s0 nobly advanced. It is for us, the living, to conse- erate ourselves to the work remaining to be done, that from the graves of these heroes we take increased devotion to the cause for which the dead soldiers of the republic gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this Union, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that Coenen of © le, by the people, for the people not perlah from the earthen “Fellow citizens, more than any other one thing patriotism constitutes the state. From 1861 to 1865 our citizen-soldiers were the state. It was not the powers here at Washing- ton, during that dark period, that were the government. It was the soldiers in the field. They were the state. High-raised battlements ick, massive walls or proud cities orstarred and spangled courts do not constitute a state; but rout, noble men—men who know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain them; men who back the sovereign law and are loyal to its teachings; men who will crush the tyrant while they rend his chains, and, if necessity require it, offer themselves as a sacrifice for their coun- try's good and glory. These constitute a state, Such were our citizen-soldiers in the late war for the Union. Those of them that are yet alive are the nation’s wards, and a grateful people will see that they are cared for, because they were participants in the greatest war of tory. “My countrymen, we rejoice today over a united nation. It’ was Prentiss who said: ‘I can stand by the far-away Penobscot and say my countrymen. Ican stand by the rippling waters of Lake Erie and say my countrymen. Ican stand under the shadows of the Rocky mountains and say my countrymen, and here beside the father of waters I can say my eoun- trymen!’ So, standing here today on the sum- mit of these historic heights, while the Poto- mac river, ever memorable as the name of one of the divisions of our great army, sweeps by its base on its ever wandering way to the sea, and the nation’s capital, with its domes and its ires and its minarets and its monument to the father of his country, towering above all other stone monuments on the earth—here in this historic, this magnificent presence I can say with Prentiss, ‘My countrymen! Our citi- zenship is not hemmed in by the lines of states, but like the patriotiam of our soldiers, livin and dead, it has the majestic sweep of the con- tinent. ‘THE ORIGIN OF DECORATION Day. “Decoration day was first instituted upon the motion of Aristides the Just in the Athe- nean senate; shortly after the great battle of Platea. Thucydides, in his history of the Pel- loponisis, gives us a’ brief report of a decora- tion-day address delivered by Pericles, the ora- tor, more than 2,000 years ago. The graves of the heroes of Marathon and Salamis and Plates were strewn with flowers precisely as you have covered these graves today, generations, centuries, before the beginning of the Ch: tian era. “This ceremony does the dead no good, but it educates the living, an‘ instills into the minds of the rising generations patriotism and respect for the brave and manly virtues of their heroic ancestors. The classic literature of Greece is the natural outgrowth of the | shad martial glory of her people. They refined every true and honorable sentiment that could adorn human nature in their day, and by it created an imperishable record. ‘Their patri- otism, therefore. can never be justly ques- tioned, and better than all they loved their fellow men. So it may be said of the educated Romans. After Pompey and Cwear had fought a terrible battle, Cato. ashe looked upon the bleeding bodies of a thousand dying Romans, covered his face with his hands, and weeping loudly exclaimed: ‘Though they were enemies they were my countrymen!” too, it may be said of us. Although the confederates were our enemies they were both our brothers and our countrymen, and a quarter of a century of time, after the smoke from the last battle field of the republic sscended to the sky, has driven our hearts the last vestige of hatred that ndered by the ‘our anwer for ever When they laurel the craves of Our dead.” “The war in which these soldiers fell ex- tended over @ period of four years, caused s more lavish expenditure of money and called into the field larger forces of men and arms than any other war of modern times. ‘The fighting was desperate on both and offi- cers and soldiers exhibited a courage and prow- not superior, to any hitherto on ew it reco: ee Pts cendant, with cotton ruling the commercial world, the Fog Semen and — and the overnments of Europe predictin; speed: Sowntall of the American re} able and fe a Vision into petty provinces and domimons. It closed, thank ‘doa, with slave abolished, the nations of the worl their thraldor yet improving in temper, and the E governments ready to acknowletige the power of republican institutions to, pass through an ordeal which would have involved in ruin many of the older and supposed stronger Constitution and Under that call thous, ments of Euro ands and tens of thousands promptly went out. | _ “It is seid that no nation becomes secure From nearly 500,000 homes they went--these | Without three wars, and it is a pleasing it s** | that we have had ours. The frst was for “low they went forth to in! fore the foreign nations ates Sa was ESS the one in which brothers were enynged in t saest iden sou the ch ateetay | deadly combat. Let us hope that this predic Moru-tried (bousences irom the Maker’ ira, S See ns appli’ to car country, and that po cc ; years to come our fair land thay never bet saga nr nt rosy nbs at eth again be drenched in fraternal blood. the im the front of deaths . Fet ineeUne Without tear ‘LESSONS OF THE CONFLICT. Torsing io tbe rear “My friends, an important lesson of the late ~* ‘How they went forth to die! fratricidal confict ie that both personal and Ee a Eighet cost of phyeicl ana tabetonten et footprints of the prosrese of the frve. to fara the soapiecs Ore “Through 5,574 battles they went, and through | portunities for the exercise of that four weaty years of ote piel a which is the germ and essence of every virtue, et a cost of Killed in battle, 49,000 died of | and for that ve ad amlioraiog cul Wounds, 189,000 died from disease and exposure | ture by which one's entire nature is io (end 160,000 were captured and masle prisoners of the scale of and is clothed with the ae S| eee mae oS THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON, D.C. grace, dignity and authority of the lords of tii ‘treation. “With « noble system of internal i ments penetrating and rewarding the industry of our people, with moral and intellectual sur passing physical improvements, with churches, school houses and daily multipl throughout the land, bringing education an religious instraction to the homes of all the le, they may not only challenge the ad- Pettion of the eivilized ‘world, but conquer in civilization’s name every foe that may chance to cross their pathway. These great man—the in- dividual federal soldier—in @ higher ot development and society in a happier civiliza- tion than could possibly be the outgrowth of any government not ground of universal freedom. Thus standing, thus equipped, thus marshaled ina massive army, like Constantine the Great, our soldiers in the field looked upward and saw the sign of deliverance under, freedom's banner, and in that sign they confMered. “And the lesson of the war is the great sacri- fice, the marvelous sacrifice that men will make for principle. This lesson of patriotism, this lesson of endurance, this lesson of devotion to the unseen, this lesson of love for the right can never be forgotten, can never be lost on a cultured, loyal race of men and women like these that make up this and similar audiences today. Generations yet unborn will be im- rowed in the same manner. Adown the ages the multitudes will read and be persuaded that nothing short of principle—great princi ple— Could induce men to make the sacrifices these dead and living soldiers made for their country and their flag. ci CITIZEN SOLDIERS. “Still another lesson of the war, and one that this flower day particularly emphasizes, is the deep. unfaltering love that the masses cherish for the citizen-soldier. Remember, my friends, that the soldiers’ graves you cover with flowers today were not professional soldiers—were not men educated for war. were citizen-sol- diers, and we should remember also that these soldiers, this vast army of volunteer citizens, suppressed the most gigantic rebel- lion that the world has any record of. The English rebellion of the seventeenth century, which began in 1642 by an effort of parliament to seize the military power of the country, was one of the great rebellions of history. jorable confliet parliament obtained the ascendancy, Charles I went to the block in 1649 and a republic succeeded monarchy under the Protectorate of Cromwell. “The Freneh revolution of the eighteenth century, which wasa violent reaction against that jutism which had come in the course of time to supplant the old feudal institutions of the country, was also one of the noted re- bellions in history, but the American rebellion, nd carnaxe, surpassed them both, and these citizens-soldiers put itdown. It’ took four of the best years of their lives to do the work, but durin, ime they settled two reat questions for all. th . The first of these great problems was, ‘That human slavery was not of God, nor was it in sympathy with the spirit and genius of our institutions, and it, in consequence of these facts, had to go down.’ It was burned to death amid the blaz- ing rafters of the southern confederacy. The second problem settled was that this is » na- tion and not a confederacy—that the states are not sovereign. but, on the contrary, the na- tional government alone is supri Now that these two great questions have been dis- posed of it is universally conceded that they were properly settled—that the cause of the Union was right, forever right, and the cause of the confederacy was wrong, forever wrong. “These soldiers were actuated by higher and purer motives than any other soldiers thut ever assembled, and they exhibited a spectacle of unyielding fortitude and self-d ying mag- nanimity unequsled in the annals of mankin: Others for spoils or honors may have fought as desperately. Others when far from their homes or their country have endured and per- severed for self-presevation, but where in all history is there an example of asoldiery that continued in the service as did these men, ex- cept it was from an inward principle and a sense of duty? They,were imbued with a loftier and a more expanded spirit of patriotism and philanthropy and achieved more for the hap- ess of their country than any other army bist ever existed, and where. in al the ages is there an act of moral sublimity equal to their last act of self-devotion? It has been aptly said by another that ‘we will never needa standing army in the United States as long as We can even remotely remember the civil con- flict from 1861 to 1865." “These are some of the achievements of the war for the Union, and this isa part of the record of what the citizen-soldiers of America did for their country in the hour of its greatest peril. Is it anything but reasonable, therefore, that we should honor them today? A HIGHER IDEAL OF FREEDOM. “Still another lesson of the war is the new dispensation it brought to our country und our people. Slavery and state sovereignty were buried in the same grave. In their stead a higher ideal of freedom in the republic grew up, and greater confidence in the perpetuity of our national life was established. In ante- bellum times all questions of foreign and do- mestic polity, all economic questions, the re- lations of labor to capital, and the relat the states to the nation,|were all influenced and controlled by a constant dread of a dissolution of the Union. Witness today the gigantic strides of the great republic under the new order of things in these post-bellum times. Our population has actually doubled since the war. Hailways pave more than quadrupled. The national wealth has grown from $12,000,- 000,000 in 1860 to over $50,000,000,000 in 1890. Why. my friends, more wealth has been ere- ated in the United States during the last twenty- five years than has been added to the accumula- tions of the world since the western continent was discovered. The past can offer no parallel to the present, because it knew no similar con- ditions. The conflict in the past has been largely one of personal right. As Judge Tour- gee expresses it, ‘the citizen has been evolved from the serf, and the freeman from the slave.’ To this end ail of the forces of civilization have been shaped. The present is not a question of ronal right, but of just opportunity. We ve simply come upon a new era, The max- ims of the past are no longer safe landmarks. ‘The social of the past are too narrow for the demands of the Rresent. The domain of Tsoni uty en grea’ enlarged. The "relations of the Sndividual have been extended. The area of mutual ob- ligations bas been amazingly increased. ‘The citizen has become responsible for direc- tion as well as allegiance. ‘The individual is now the pivot of progress and personal inde- pendence is the test of social forces.’ Under this new regime there is confidence, safety, security everywhere. No phantoms over- jow our land. No either of slay- ery or secession, haunt us, nor ‘does any ab; yawn for our destruction.” Truly nder ‘& new dispensation. Our people taken new departure. They have ~~ out ona higher plane of living and their ideas of national life areas thoroughly new as they were the day they threw off the British yoke of tyranny and became citizens of free and inde- pendent states. There is sunshine in almost every American home. ‘There is prosperity in every business. There is thrift in every call- ing. The hum of our industries never ceases. Ours are the most contented on God's by all the other green footstool and are en nations of the world. There is no approaching ship that does not bring to our shores a cargo of human freight to join their interests and their destinies with ours, and to share our Dlessings and our toils. : i i it i Fi éf ip # tt ef Wh } at f E 5 # dead soldiers have been given such places as delieve that can boreaye them of the records they made here, and that they are now somethin; advanced in state and that they wear brighter crowns than man can ever weave “Let us pledge ourselves anew to wear to their memories this fabric of state until its towering monument shall catch the first rays of the rising and the last rays of the setting wn b work is done. But while the races of mankind endure, Lettl ar stand fates Sep UGCA fe atean pee beat all and throwwh all bt sory, path of duty be the way to glory. “*For though the giant ares heave the bill, break the shore, and ever:nore Make and break. and work their will: ‘Thouch world on worid in myriad myriads roll ‘Round us, each with different powers, ‘And other furs of life than ours, ‘What know we greater than the soul? ‘On God and god-like men we build our trust.” ‘DR. 3. E. RANKIN. Dr. Rankin's Poem, UPON YON BASTIONED HEIGHTS OF SNOW. 1 f Upon yon bastioned heights of snow, Is that the morning glow, ‘That kindles the empyrean so? Ah, no, it is our banner fai ‘That makes a morning in ‘Where'er its ripples flow. Droop low today, thou banner fair! Here sleep the men in God their trust, ‘Who found thine emblems trailed in dust, In battle shock, whose valor h! Set back thy stars within the sky, ‘Left them eternal there! ir, 1 Beneath you Alpine summit white, Is that a garden bright? Do roses redden in the light? Ah, no, it is our banner’s bloom, Advanced fall high to make man room, Close to the stars of night!— Droop jow, today, with all thy bloom, And kiss again the sacred spot, Nor be these men who died forgot. A wall of Gre they girt thee round, And consecrated Made a ‘That gave them early tomb. mt Is that some bonfire in the west? Or sinks the sun to rest, : As mid the islands of the blest? Ah, no, it is our banner’s flame, ‘That shines eternally the same, For all of earth’s opprest.— Droop low today and drape thy flame; Here sleep the men in long array, Who knew thy visitation day ied; Who back the tide of battle rol Wrote freedom on thine ev'ry fold, Blancned out with blood thy shame. wv Auroras these that deck the sky, Leap up the zenith high, And come and go to mock the eye? An, no, these are the red and white; ‘That tremble on the banner bright, ‘That rules our destiny.— Droop low today in all the sky: With flow’rs of May, and soldiers’ tread, We pace these aisles where sleep our dead. ‘These are the meu. giory arrayed, For all mankind, the debt who paid; ‘Who died, but never die! AT SOLDIERS’ HOME. ‘The Address With Which Comrade Taber Called the Assembly to Order. Comrade A. 8. Taber, junior vice commander of the Department of the Potomac, who pre- sided over the exercises at the Soldiers’ Home, in calling the assembly to order said: Comrades and friends: Hero worship in some form is as old as humanity itself, and we are assembled ‘here to- day in this silent city of the dead to pay nual tribute o our departed comrades. Twenty-three years ago 7 today ‘the first observ- ance of a national fes- tival in honor of ‘the dead soldiers of the re- public was inaugurated in compliance with or- ders from our beloved commander-in-chief, Gen. Jobn A. Logan, A. 8. TABER. 7 | and I feel a special pride in having been as- signed to take charge of the ceremonies inci- dent to this sacred day within the shadow of his tomb. e Nothing that I can say can be more appro- riate than to quote from his General Order, No. 11, of May 15, 1868: “We are organized, comrades, as our regula- tions tell us, for the purpose, among other things, of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings ‘which have bound together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress’ the rebellion. What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts ‘a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom toa race in chains and, their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is buta fitting iribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant pa invite the coming and going of reverent visitorsand fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or the coming gen- erations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic. If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack and other hearts cold in the solemn trust ours shall kee} it well as long as ht and warmth of life remain tous. * * ‘The beautiful custom thus inaugurated bas been (sod org each year snd today all over this broad land wherever loyalty is cherished asa vistue loving hands are strewing flowers and laying garlands upon the grassy mounds which contain our “ rmy of the dead.” How swiftly time flies! ‘Thirty years ago the nation was convulsed with the horrors of im- pending civil war, which, during the four suc ceeding years, brought into the defense of the national government nearly three millions of triots. Of that mighty host that went Battle for the Union eee one-! mow aoe ’ SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1891-SIXTEEN PAGES. . M. TABER. ‘The revelation of the vernal tide As old as Time, but still forever new. = loved then with hearts as strong and e AAs we love now, in these, our peaceful days, And all our joys and hopes and fears they knew, For love forever finds the self-saine Way8. ‘The husband with the hallowed tie that bound His heart to her, his fond and faithful wife, His children and his home, wherein he found, As men do now, the happiness of life: ‘The lover who had found in some sweet ey ‘The answer to the passion of his heart: Could any fateful circumstance arise x ‘To steel their souls to say: ‘YToday we part? ‘Yes! Deep below the heart's most fond desire, And all unquenched at even Love's behest, ‘They felt the glow of patriotic fires at long had smouldered in each noble breast. With swelling hearts they save the fag unfurled, ‘They heard the echo of War's distant cry. And then the guns of Sumter shook the world, And men went forth to battle and to die. Oye, whose heartstrings then were torn by woe, ho gave your country all you held most dear, When sets thie sun of Time, Fame’s after-glow Will gild with glory every fallen tear. With throbbing hearts th Beneath the starry flag And how they earned the fadeless crown 0} ‘These graves around us eloquently tell. But, God be praised, they did not die in vain; A\priceless heritage they left behind; ‘This lesson from the dead the living gain, Let it sink deep in heart and soub and mind: ‘Uphold the flag of our united land! Let every added star give added love. speaks the voice of that imimortal band ‘That now look down upon us from above. And, 80 we reverently come today, As others, too, will come In future years, And on each sacred grave with love we lay A benison of flowers and of tears. ‘Through the trees, Vernal breeze, Hum and blow Come and go: Blow from over fields of clover, Sweet and low- Autumn winds will soon be sighing, Sheaves be lying, “aves be dying, As the swallows southward fying; Softly blow, Whisper low, ‘Tell the story Of the glory Of the men Who fought the fight, And died for honor and for right In the years ago. When slowly falls the curtain of the night And none are here, except the sflent dead. ‘When pales the western sky in dying light And ashen grayness comes in crimson's stead, ‘Then will we know each buried hero tranquilly re- poses ‘Midst memories of music and remembrances of roses, Hon,-Clinton Lioyd’s Oration. The oration of Abraham Lincoln at Gettys- burg stands forever- more in human history and English literature as the model for addresses on all similar occasions. It is unique alike in sen- timent and_ expression, and will challenge the admiration of mankind as long asthe language in which it was written shall endure. Although I know it is more or less familiar to you all I can- not refrain from quot- A ing it entire as the HON. CLINTON LLorD. fittest prelude to my own remarks on this occasion. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new na- tion, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the roposition that ail men are created equal. Flow we are cugaged in a great civil war, test, ing whether that nation, or any nation so con- ceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final esting place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But ina larger sense we cannot dedicate, we can- not consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, have conse- crated it far above our power to add or de- tract. The world will little note, nor long re- member. what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.’ It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the un- finished work that they have thus far so nobl: carried on. It is rather for us here to be dedi- cated to the great task remaining before us: that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that those dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall under God have a new birth of freedom, and that the {mitre of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth. , TO RENEW VOWS OF FEALTY. ‘We have met here today to renew our vows of fealty to the memory of those who gave their lives that liberty might live, and whose bonesare gathered and garnered in this quiet spot. We come with heaven's choicest treas- ures, “the fragrant jewels of the earth,” to seatter on their graves, in token that their deeds are still fragrant in our memories. Old and young; fair women and brave men; those who have survived the conflict, and the widows and orphans of the fallen.in the struggle alike are here to do honor to the illustrious dead and pay their votive tribute of affection to the memory of those whose deeds are fragrant as the flowers with which we bedeck their —— It is fitting and proper that we sh ould do thi and in the doing of it we best obey a nat impulse of the human heart to honor those who counted not life dear that they may serve their fellow men and save their country; an impulse which has found expression in some form in all ages and among all nations, but in none ever more beautifully expressed than in the simple ceremonies of today. A RETROSPECT. if The occasion, it seems to me, can be most profitably improved by a brief retrospect of the struggle in which they fell whose deeds we this day celebrate, and then by brief consid- eration of the duties and responsibilities which devolve upon those who have survived the con- flict. ‘The struggle was the legitimate result of & principle of wrong which was permitted to find lodgment in the Constitution incompat- ible with the very purposes for which it was established. Those pmzpowe, as declared by ‘its faners were to form a more perfect union, estal , insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of lib- vive, and uy them devolves duty of | erty for themselves and their posterity. Upholding the cause for which their conedc, | ie to hae upg, the theory, on ile very eerfully gave their lives. We fill be true to | corner stone, of the civil and political equa our trust,and it is with noble emotions that | of all men; and yet, with inconsistency, ‘we, the survivors of that memorable conflic which shobk the continent tocits costar attracted the attention of the civilized ‘world, annually meet upon sacred id homage and tributes of adfectinn sna eey oor Ra ft recognized the lawfulness of human slavery, an inconsistency so great as to lead Jefferson toczclaim,"“Whatan incomprehensible machine is man! who can endure foil, famine, stripes, not wane; to the iain ‘Sinoeee Wo will address pop apd ourselves to the sacred. if 3 i C3 é ff Hts dial of i i tf | | [ a il & ij £ &é | Hy if and they rose as one maa for the rescue of the imperiled governmen ‘was pre- sented wach a spectacle as the world bad never before beheld—the spectacle of a free rushing into the grim dance of death music of hissing shot and as gaily as to a ball where the it strains and “Beauty lends its witchery to the hour.” Then was seen a people, so long immersed in the arte of peace as almost to have forgotten what war meant, suddenly converted into a mighty army, forth, like Minerva from” the head’ ot Jove, in ail” the noply of war. Drop) ina moment the Fiplements of industry; converting the plow shear into a sword, and the pruning hook into.a spear and learning the art of war and military tactics even as they ran; from hill top and valley; from mountain and glen; from the office and the workshop; from homes of luxury and huts of poverty; from every pur- suit and avocation of life they came, a mighty avalanche of men, until it seemed “*As though thi earth again Grew quick with God's creating And from the sods of grove and clen ‘Rowe ranks of lion men he death.” Moved by one impulse, inspired by one ‘motive, animated by a common purpose, they came, gathering enthusiasm from the very con- tagion of numbers, and shouting as their bat- tle cry the words of that grand addition to our national anthem which the exigency of the oc- casion itself inspired, . Se ea cr nr Jurnais Selle puerta ue ee seas talc pnereaeeee By the miliions unchained when our birthright we gained ‘We will keep that bright blazon forever unsti And'the starapaneiel banner in rump wall Soee Wiuie the land of tue free is the Lowe! the brave.” And no less remarkable than this spontaneous uprising of the people was their whole conduct | of the war. It was from first to last the people's Wealth and blood were alike poured out in generous profusion. Besides voluntarily taxing themselves to the enormous amount of $3,000,000,000 the Christian commission col- lected and expended $6,000,000 and the sanitary | commission $15,600,000 more of voluntary | contributions for ‘the soldiers’ comfort, while everywhere, both on land and | sea, were “witnessed prodigies of valor | unparalleled in the annals of mankind. If, as has been said, “one man with God on his side is a majority of the whole people,” there was never any good reason to doubt the final issue of a struggle so inaugurated and so con- ducted, a struggle between 18,000,000 of people fighting for the right, in a just cause and for the preservation of the fairest fabric of government in which human hopes were ever garnered, and 8,000,000 of men of the same race and lineage battling for the preservation of an institution and in a cause that was abhorrent to the sense of ju of the civilized world. Thanks be to God this day, and tothe brave men, livin and dead, 73 settled beyon: shell in which time-consecrated theories are being ‘swept away like foam on the cataract’s plun; an age of investigating and doubting and ques- ing of principles which we had thought were yond all question and this very rest- Jess spirit of free inquiry umposes on every one of us @ responsibility to guard against being swept away by the on-rushing tide of a mighty skepticism, very character of our insti- tutions imposes upon us the necessity to see to it that the freedom which they guarantee to every citizen be not to our destruc- tion, and this is = duty, be it ever remem- bered, that can never be left to the gov- ernment alone to perform, for the govern- ment is but the reflex of the popular will, and will always be ji as as the people it represents, and no better, as the stream can rise no higher than its source, nor be purer than its fountain. Our peculiar form of government imposes upon every man 0 special obligation to faithfully discharge all his political duties, never forgetting that he 1s part | and of the sovereignty of the nation, and | that it is only by an intelligent and conscien- | tious discharge of his duties as fuch that the | sovereignty can be wielded in its full power and influence for the public good. The people must be taught the true principles of ireedom; they must be made to understand that liberty does not consist in license; that it is not to be found in communism, nor agrarianism, | nor socialism, nor red-republicanism, nor Molly | ireism, nor Mafixism,nor in the opening of | beer gardens on Sunday, nor in the exclusion of the Bible from the public schools, nor in breaking down the most beneficent system of public instruction that ever blessed mankind the flimsy pretext of religious freedom. STORMS MAY ARISE. There are some special dangers to which it might be profitable to direct your attention did time permit, but I must not transgress the limits which custom sets to such an address. Suffice it tosay that we need not expect the ship of state to always have emooth sailing in the future any more than it has in the Storms will arise and skies grow dark and the waves will sweep the decks and hurricanes will tear through the rigging and shiver her tim-| bers, and with mast and rudder gone put out she will drift time, at the apparent merey of doubt’ suffer for national sins in the fi jone in the past. But I have the that sustained President Lincoln in the darkes accomplish that will destruction. close this imperfect addrese by asking you to all join heartily with me in that grand Greatest poet: i ite hopes of future years, took part in the struggle for the right. Honored be the survivors of the conflict and m be forever the memory of the fallen. he war has long since ended. the noise of hellish enginery no longer vexes the air, th waste it wrought has been already repaired. Peace has come again, as we fondly hope, to stay. Nature with kindly hand has veiled the horrors of the battlefield with a rich garniture of living beauty, the violet covers the decay- ing skull and the grass mantles with living green the bones of fullen heroes. Our people, met together again in fraternal union, now ben; their efforts not to destroy, but to benefit and bless each other, and everywhere throughout our vast domain is now heard naught but the music of the busy hum of peaceful industry, and everywhege the eye is regaled with the waving richness of plenty. Far be it from me on such an occasion to revive any of the bitter memories which time has hushed to sleep; rather let me, as did the sons of Noah, walk backward with ‘averted gaze and cover with the mantle of forgetfulness my country's shame, exclaiming, in view of our own guilty complicity in the foul wrong which produced such a harvest of death, “What battles a these, where even victory is defeat and the conqueror blushes and couceals his scare?” NOT WITHOUT ITS COMPENSATIONS. The conflict; while it cost us fearfully in blood and money, bas not been without its compensations. If the soil of every southern state was plowed by war and enriched with human blood it was. as we may fondly hope, to prepare it for the bringing forth of a better civilization. The graves of patriot soldiers that ridge the land like furrows shall hail for all time to come the fragrance of their self- e victory of sacrificing devotion to their country in its great crisis hour. “The wealth piled by the bondsman’s 200 | years of unrequited toil,” in the langnage of Lincoln, “may have been sunk and every drop of blood drawn with the lash repaid by another drawn with the sword,” but the vast expenditure has purchased for us a redeemed Union, an untarnished escutcheon anda free flag. It has given usa Unica, not as it was, but as it was intended to be; a Union true to the | purposes of its origin; a Union in which the | only inconsistence that marred its symmetry has been forever removed; a Union in whic! “truth shall beno longer gagged, nor conscience dungeoned;” a Union in which shall be given Practical exemplification for all time to come of the great truth that “all men are created ” a Union in which the glad message of eon earth and good will to men,” that has come to us from Bethlehem’s heights, shall be caught up and sent echoing down the ‘aisles of coming centuries with a renewed and mightier emphasis. ‘The struggle has demonstrated to the nation that republican government is not an experi- ment merely, but an assured success, It has given new life to the engle and new power to the fiag. It has taught us more than in our wildest imaginations we ever dreamed of—our capabilities as a nation and of our exhaustless resources. It has exemplified the truth ex- pressed in Robert Winthrop’s magnificent metaphor, that, “Like one of those won- drvus rocking stones reared by the i which the finger of a child might vibrate to its center, but the might of an army could not move from its place, 40 our Constitution is so nicely poised that it seems to sway with every breath of passion, but is so firmly fixed in the hearts and affections of our countrymen that the wildest storms of treason and fanaticism dash over it in vain.” And now, purged of the only cause of sectional strife and purified in the fires of @ rebellion that would have destroyed any government not resting on the affections of tne people, we have entered upon the second centennial period of our existence till free, prosperous, happy and united people; marching in solid’ 2olumn as when of old we fought for liberty and inde- ndence; “keeping step to the music of the Baion,” and bearing aloft our country’s ban- THE PROGRESS OF THE KATION. As we contemplate the wondrous growth afid progress of our nation during the first century of its organized existence, and the perhaps still more wondrous circumstances of the discovery and settlement of our couatry, we cannot but feel that Providence, having speak, of course, humanly but, reverently) in the experi- ment of setting apart e single nation to be the witnesses and recipients of wer and, in His own geod time, brought forts ae. other people from under of the task- masters and Pharaohs of the old world, Pi a aa ed, their enemies and brought them into another i § ct it & 4] Eee 21 L i a : j Hd 4 i Hibs : il i f Us lanucins breathless on vr tn We know what inaster iad th What workmen wrouct thy siuee of st Who made each most amici and rope, Wat anvils rans, beat, Ip what a forge a! wunt a heat Were suaped the anchors of thy, hope, Fear uct eavh stidden sound snd shock, STs ot the ware amt not the Cat the dapping of the satl, not a Feut mad: by the wale "Tis And roar, spite of rocks and tempest An spite of false lizhte on tiv sh ‘Sail on, nor fear to breast the se: Our hearts, our hopes, are ali with thee, Learts, our hopes, our prayers, our teara, Our iaith, triumphant o'er cur fears, ‘Are all with thee—are all with thee’ AT LOGAN'S TOMB. The Address of President D. A. Ray of the AMinots Republican Association. The Republican Association of Tilinois in Washington comes today to this spot to give earnest of its reverence and affection for those who made it possible that such an association should live. But today we are here as Ilinois- ansand as Americans, and not inany degree as partisans. On this day ‘of peace and love we have stripped ourselves of the garments of po- litical strife. Bide “by side, here today, in this memorial ceremony, are those who differ in some things. But they Go not differ as to the duty of honoring man- le D. A. RAY. hood and patriotism. The Illinois Republican Association comes to renew its memfories of that honored leader who drew bis earliest breath in our wonderful Illi- eulogies of Senators Morgan, Hamypto fervent regard as were those of his co and life-lon; Cullom of Illinois. Aggressive, he was never in ambush. Py d fires | NO man in Illinois ever had such entbusiastic helplessly for a | followers. the | sadly missed. waves, through starless nights. We shall no | hin: "s history, that God bas a | wither us the north winds breath purpose in this nation and a destiny for it to| set. But all. not permit of its total | own, And so I feel that I may fitly | he believed in the i | accepted death, th apostrophe to the Union from the pen of our | learned to buried. Here judges of the courts of the United States, when they have put off the black robes of the white win buried. out by work and w: their rest of Pp a peacefully as the silent Side them, shadowed by these beautiful trees, Thus, thousands call his name bere im this city of the memorable by Gon. Logen bite catch the whisperings of the soldiers from spirit world we would doubties ten the honor to Logan is honor te them: ¢ of praise to him, who dic widows and orphans, would be gr ceived by them; that the requiem honor would be the sweetest’ mari efforts in speech, the most blessed, and his fellow citizens from Il his tomb on thts day. Lincoln, Grant, Logan—the propheti ta silent and’ the magnetic—Illinces sift ce nationand @ grand sisterhe of states re united and comented in patriotic. blot, clnsp hands in “fraternity, charity and loyalty” and claim the triumvirate as their own. PARTIRAN AND PaTRior. Logan was partisan, but he was most in- tense as such when the line between partisan, ship and patriotism was indced very narron He always commanded litical opponents, and after the was over, pone restored and the nation saved he bumbered among his strongest personal friends men whe had confronted him in the open tield of batt! And when his latest sun bad « ie of men who had bravely f a re heard in bis praisy, and the Cock. thos and eague ig friend, the earnest Shelby M rell and Daniel were as full o! MiB FOLLOWING IN TLLINors. Logan was s positive force; bold, frank and ps Certain it is none were wo live in hearts we i ve be is not to die.” Logan was taken away at ‘es | the threshold of bis highest manhood and in ith | tell possesion of his highest faculties “Leaves have their time to fall and flowers to —thou hast all seasons for ©, death.” Above all he was a hrist ration of the bible Christ as bis personal Savior ough sad, was yet triumphant, und read ‘it with true p THE CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY. Comrade Howard's Oration Among the Graves of Statesmen. Commander, comrades and citizens: There seems a peculiar fitness in assembling here for the purposes of this anniversary, here at the capital of the na- tion, on this very spot choven as a sepultore for the nation’s dead, and consecrated by al most a century's devo- tion to that purpose. For here are found graves of the peo) Tepresentatives in gress of the nation and of the representatives of the sovereign states in the Senate of the DR. B.X. HOWARD. United States. Here Vice Presidents and Presidente judicial distinction and put om sheets of the dead, lie Here the nation’s soldiers, weary and worn been laid away to Here they all sleep, as Tiver that flows on be- planted by the hands of devoted countrymen. lere the sun in heaven looks down upon them nois. All who join us are welcome. For such | i benediction by day, and the moon and stars kindly service we thank them in of Ili- | Sing together their requiem by night. Hore nois. To whatever nation, church or political | they will all sleep on and on till the morn of faith they may belong. on this day and in this cause we welcome thei. We all know the deep sympathy, the kindly recollections which will always bind the hearts of all Grand Army men, of all old soldiers, to the Sacred memory of their sleeping comrades. canall conceive of the pure affection and wealldo realize the holy love which brings them on each recurring Memorial day to lay flowers upon the tombs of comrades gone before. ‘The poet has said: ““Kind words will never aie” to which I may justly add: Kind deeds shall live forever. The deeds these old soldiers perform on this day and on other days like this are diamonds | j, which shall never grow dim. They will sparkle in the light of all future time, and make brilliant the firmament of eternal glory where patriot souls are enshrined. But you soldiers— ‘ou who wore the blue—you who claim brother- | hood with the dead-are clothed with panoply of honor and are entitled to @ share of the renown of the departed heroes. We grant all this—we who were not soldiers. We bend our knees where the soldiers of the nation lie under the weeping willows, and, | While we glorify them, we can honor you who stood beside them in life. We can pay our tribut to their hallowed dust while we add our laurels to your crowns, But the great soldier who rests in this spot! What may of him? How shall I of him? » the hero of the west: Logan, the volunteer soldier; the fearless ora- tor of the Senate; John A. Logan, the idol of his loved state of Hlinois. We of Illinois knew him as a man, we were honored by his friendship and we sadly won- der why in the providence of God our hero was taken, while we remain to wear the crape and to deck this tomb with these tokens of our sor- rowing love. The voice that seems hushed within this si- lent sepulchre still speaks to me; it welcomes me as of old. The words that do not break the silence here still bid me that familiar “-good- bye” at his door; the hand which seems forever at rest still clasps mine, and bis thrills me as keenly as ever it did. He is not 1 i ( i H i Hy f ef ? i E [ 5 ! | Fe f Hi HE 8) t i | Ep i resurrection. if it, too, rested _ But there are other of the nation’s dead whe lie here, whose memories to us are dearer, more sacred than these. ask: Who are they? rest they here? And why this throng of wens congregated to memories and to scatte bound by forms of religion which they per Ocean, landed upon cold, unfriend, where the foot of civilization hed oor They mankind-loving pioneers jectors of a new and to be independent nation— submit no longs hi 3 Josty of humility, rebelled i i ie i | HE This day's work were complete here 1t may be well to pause and Whence came they? Why pay tribute to their T flowers upon their er half ago there was a people of the old world, across the sea, educated, industrious, civilize ’ poopie, who smarted under the wr sion of , they bad nohand or voice in making, iP ther loved nor revered, burdened by responsibilities laid upon them which they did not create. No wonder that when such burdens became too Erievous to be borne this peuple resolved to Sbandon the land of their birth and of their world, fathers and to seek a home in the m there to found a nation of their own creation to make laws of their own enacting, and where they could” worship God according dictates of their own conscience. to the They sailed away, braved the an the soll where ret they trod, They left unstained pore they found. Freedom to worship God. * were our forefathers—God-fearing, in @ new world, pro- overnment of the by the people. hat pioneer period lasted for a hentosy and half, during which the few hundred of emi- grants attained the marvelous increase to three millionsof souls. Still the kings of the old world remained their sovereign, the laws of fhe old world oppressed them and the re- jons of the ok world held them in iron ds. re came a time when yer—when they rose in rebelled would sgainst their rulers, People. 4 an be They had counted the cost; they fought for nine years of bloody war to gain what they had declared to be their inalenable rights, the art of self-government, and their first attempt, the confederation, proved but « of sand and only lasted for seven two parties in the confederat i beld views of the Dest form of | fi ; & oft fi H i g 4 | uy E i u L ¢ ‘nor srengtacaed = 3 tf if i if | ’ He | i it sf i | E | Hy 4 H ij j iu if tit i i f ' Fy | FE Hi Hi j H 3 iy it i i if i | i i fi