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Address delivered before the William F, Bartlett Post.
AndOTer,I^ss. ,1889.

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ADDRESS

.BEFORE THE

WiUiam F. Bartlett Post, No. 99 6. A. R.

SELAH ^ERRILL, D^., LL.D.

ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE
Members of Gen. WUliam F. Bartlett Post
NO. 99, GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
ON
SUNDAY EVENING, MAY 26, 1889
IN THE
SOUTH CHURCH, ANDOVER

SELAH MERRILL, D.D., LL.D.
- CHAPLAIN OF THE POST.

ANDOVER, MASS.
THE ANDOVER PRESS, PRINTERS
1889.

r '"fi Ctrmrabus

WHOSE COURTESIES I SHALL EVER APPRECIATE
AND WHOSE WELFARE I SHALL EVER SEEK TO PROMOTE
THIS ADDRESS IS DEDICATED

ADDRESS

WHAT KING  SITTETH NOT DOWN, AND CONSULTETH_ WHETHER HE BE
ABLE WITH TEN THOUSAND TO MEET ANOTHER KING THAT COMETH
AGAINST HIM WITH TWENTY THOUSAND  WHILE THE OTHER IS YET
A GREAT WAY OFF HE SENDETH AN AMBASSAGE, AND DESIRETH CON
DITIONS OF PEACE. — Luke xiv. 31, 32.
The writer plainly has in mind the improbability of success
or the certainty of failure, where a small force is matched
against a large force. The same lesson would be taught if we
should speak of matching the strength of a child against the
strength of a man ; or that of a fragile sail-boat against an
ocean storm. When the small must encounter the great, when
the weak must meet the strong, the writer points out the way
to escape disaster and ruin, the way to peace and happiness.
Of this idea I wish to make some use on the present occasion.

What is this organization of the Grand Army ; and what
is its object ? Within a few days past this question has been
asked me by a person whose intelligence all would at once
respect were I to mention his name.

6
I replied at once, " It is not a political organization. Who
ever asserts that it is, whether an individual or a newspaper,
utters a falsehood and a slander. As an organization it has
nothing whatever to do with politics." The comrades present
will all bear me witness that such is the fact. In our mem
bership each of the great political parties is represented.
The Grand Army is composed of loyal men — but in the one
hundred and first year of our national existence loyalty ought
not to be considered a crime — who served in the army or navy
during the War of the Rebellion. The organization aims to
keep alive the memory of.the patriotic dead, and to preserve
our national institutions and honor. Its practical and largest
work, however, is one of charity. The comrades are growing
old. Many are already enfeebled by age, or by disease con
tracted in the war ; the sick must Ije cared for, tlie dead must
be decently buried, and widows and orphans of deceased
comrades often require material aid- Hence I am right in
saying that its work is in the main a work of charity. For
this reason as well as for the patriotic reasons just mentioned,
it deserves the confidence and support of the public.
It has a membership at present of four hundred thousand, or
upwards. These numbers seem large, but by and by they will
dwindle to nothing ; for the years roll on and soon the places
that now know us will know us no more.

I suppose it is difficult for half the audience present, on
account of youthful age, to realize that the few men before me
were once under arms, marching to battle ; that they heard
with their own ears the awful boom of the cannon whose volleys

shook the earth ; that they saw with their own eyes the flash
of ten thousand deadly guns ; that they themselves stood and
struggled once amid a hurricane of destruction and death.
What to you is a matter of simple history was a terrible
reality to us. It is not my purpose to teach history in this
discourse ; I wish only to remind you that the country is yours
as much as it is ours, and that you should not forget, any more
than we can forget, what the salvation of our country cost.
You study history as a school-day task, and I often wonder if,
when young persons study that eventful period they ever realize,
or try to realize, the vastness of the War of the Rebellion ?
How many men do you suppose there were in the Union
army, counting those who enlisted twice, as many men did
because of expiration of term of service, not as two men each,
but as one, there were in that army 2,000,000 different men.
Putting these two by two in a solid column it would extend a
distance pf nearly six hundred miles. Of this great multitude
almost 400,000 (389,685) gave up their lives, shot down in
battle, cut off by disease, or worn out and starved in southern
prisons. The figures are appalling.
Where did this great loss fall the heaviest ? The state of
New York being one of the largest and most densely populated
of all the states, sent into the war the greatest number of men.
Her troops alone would constitute an army. It was natural
that the greatest numerical loss should be sustained by her, and
the number reaches 51,000 (51,244). Ohio also is a large
state, and she sent into the field a great army ; her loss was a
little over 37,000 (37,831). The same is true of Pennsylvania,
whose losses were nearly equal to those of Ohio, 37,000
(37,302). These three great states, each sending out an army by

8
itself, stand as I have now stated in regard to losses : first
New York, second Ohio, and third Pennsylvania.
But who or what state is to be mentioned fourth in order in
this fearful record of death ? Was it the great and populous
state of Illinois ; Was it that of Indiana ; Was it our own
Massachusetts whose sons first met the rebels in the streets of
Baltimore ? No ; in respect to losses not Illinois, not Indiana,
not Massachusetts stands in the fourth place, because that
place is occupied by the Colored Troops. Let this fact never
be forgotten when we study the history of those bloody days.
Some of us remember well when they were slaves. They sat
in darkness and saw no ray of light or hope. We well remem
ber when our martyred President laid his hand upon their
chains, and they were melted forever. Were they an ungrate
ful race ? By no means. An army of stalwart men rallied
under the flag, and on the high places of battle and amid the
wild scenes of death 37,000 of them (36,"946) gave up their
lives, a sacrifice shall I say, — an offering of gratitude to him
who had set them free.
In those days we were proud, and we have never ceased to
be proud, of our own beloved New England, — Maine, Vermont,
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,
— you know how the living stream of loyal hearts poured forth
from mountain and valley, from farm, store, shop, and school,
and 43,000 of them (43,785) never returned to look again
upon the fair fields and hillsides about their quiet homes.
Taking New England as a whole we think our losses were
great ; but they exceed by six thousand only the losses of the
men of dark skin who showed their faith in liberty by tlieir
noble works.

9
I mention these few facts in all sincerity and earnestness
in the hope that teachers will teach them to their pupils,
that young people will remember them as tliey go over this
period of history, and that when they come to be men and
women they will teach them to their children. The salvation
of our country cost a fearful price, and this fact should enhance
the value of our government and institutions in the eyes of all
tlie people.

Another fact I shall mention ; a fact which in the great rush
of our national life is being rapidly lost from sight. The
generation to which we members of the Grand Army belong
is but a fragment of a generation. Four hundred thousand
union soldiers died in the war. How many rebel soldiers died
I do not know, but the number was very large, and* putting
botli amounts together the sum is simply enormous. These
were all young men and men in middle life, — strong, well men
taken in the short space of four years, from a single generation
and a single country. What an awful gap it made! Put
yourselves back in the prosperous years between 1840 to 1850,
or between 1850 to 1860, what a march by giant strides our
country was making during those years in material strength,
in wealth, and in population. A march unequalled before in
the history of the world. The year 1860 passed by, and then
came 1861 and the years that followed, with their startling
events. Some of us think of census figures as being dull and
dry, — that they can awaken little interest in any mind. Not
so, it seems to me, are the figures of the period to which our
attention is at present turned. They are of absorbing interest.

10

They are not speechless ; they are eloquent ; but their voice is
sadder than any lamentation that was ever uttered by human
lips. That mighty movement to which I have referred in
Wealth and population was suddenly checked, and the great
nation stood still.^ Supposing the waters of the Mississippi
should suddenly cbase to flow ; the whole world would stand '
awe struck before Such a physical calamity.
This fact from the census figures illustrates what a blow the
war was, and it also illustrates and emphasizes what I have
said that the men of the Grand Army to-day are but a fragment
of a generation. By the great rivers and on the sunny hill
sides of the south the rest of us are sleeping.

It is proper that I should direct your attention for a moment
in another direction, since we stand to-day on the dividing
line between the century that is past and the uncounted future
years. No doubt some of you were pained, as I certainly was, at the
representations which seem to have been made by at least one
of the chief speakers at the centennial of Washington's Inaug
uration, which has just taken place, to the effect that our
country in regard to manners, morals, and politics, is sinking
to a lower level, rather than rising to a higher plane, which has
been the dream of our people, and the effort of every leader in
every department which concerns the moral and physical well-
being of our country. Has the dream of our best people been
only a dream ; Have the efforts of these moral leaders been a
1 The Census for the years 1861 to 1865 tells the story. During the remaining
years of that decade, 1866 to 1870, some slight advance was made.

11
failure ; Have we dotted our country with schools and churches,
with the homes of intelligent, loyal, and Christian citizens in
vain ; Do our eyes and ears and hearts deceive us, and is it
true that all the time we are in morals and manners going
down hill ? I do not believe it. This man, and the few who
claim to hold similar views, point to the days of Washington
as if they were extraordinarily high and pure in their moral
tone, and as if the manners of the people then were far superior
to those of the present time.
What was really in the minds of these men that led them to
make such representations ; Are they dissatisfied with the
present ? Long ago I read in an old Greek author of a class
who were dissatisfied with the present, and who were always
praising the past ; they were described as " praising the dead
out of hatred to the living, and using the bones of their fathers
with which to beat the children."
The way I read history is this : The days of Washington
were days of anxiety, they were days of weakness, they were
days of experiment, they were days of doubt, they were days of
great"uncertaiuty. AU that is now changed. Our country has
passed successfully through several important crises. Obstacles
that seemed to our public men as formidable and threatening as
breakers to a full-rigged ship under a stiff breeze, have been
successfully overcome. We are now a united people. Railroads,
the post-office, the telegraph, reaching everywhere, and a
uniform and reliable currency, show that the material currents
of our national life certainly are in a normal and prosperous
conditiop. To-day we are rich in experience, and out of
experience cometh strength, out of strength cometh confidence
and also hope. We have, to-day a solid foundation for the

12
highest national hopes, such a foundation as has never before
existed, such as our fathers could not have had. Think of
the lack of experience in Washington's time ; think of the
lack of public credit ; think of the depreciated and multiform
currency ; think of the little respect which we could command
from other countries ; think of the lack of hearty union and
co-operation in state and national affairs. In W;ashington's
time if public men met together for discussion and became at
all excited it was not uncommon for them to resort to violent
oaths to emphasize their meaning. Such a thing would not be
tolerated to-day. In Washington's time drunkenness in public
and among public men was a common sight. In our day such
a state of things is practically unknown. The sentiment of
the nation is against it. Do these facts indicate that we are
going down hill ? [" S^ eadily deteriorating." — Bishop Potter.]
In Washington's day there was an immense amount of brutality
in the army, in the treatment of prisoners, and in the treat
ment of men by their officers. Brutality in the navy was at
that time proverbial. These things have passed away 
This catalogue of marlced changes for the better between
Washington's time and our own could be increased to great
length. ' '
For a single good illustration of progress I will take the
word magnanimity. It has a meaning now which it never had
before. Some of you know that when Christianity appeared,
certain Greek words which previous to that event had a fixed
and definite meaning, were seized upon by the new religion,
they were enlarged (as to their meaning), broadened, deep
ened, enriched, and ennobled, so that they came to express what
they were never capable of expressing in the palmiest days of

13

the schools of Athens. Supposing that Judas Iscariot had not
put himself out of the way, and that twenty years after his
betrayal of our Lord he had been made bishop of the Infant
Church at Jerusalem 'i The world was not ready for such an
act. Supposing that Washington immediately after his inaug
uration had seiit to England for a dozen of the most notorious
Tory traitors who had run away from America, and had put
them into the highest positions at his command ? The world
was not ready for such an act.
What has happened in our own time ? The men who sought
to destroy our national life ; to bring ruin upon our fair land ;
the men who starved us at Andersonville ; Where are they
now ? A large bo;iy of them are in the halls of the National
Legislature and are making laws for you and me to obey.
The right or wrong of this I am not discussing. I am only
stating a historical fact patent to everyone. Never in the
history of civilized nations has an event occurred that could
be compared to this. Never before in the history of the world
has the meaning of the word magnanimity been enlarged and
illustrated as it has been in our time.
I fear that Bishop Potter and some others have been reading
out of the wrong book ; perhaps from no book at all, but from
their own imaginations. The tone of public morals is in every
particular higher now than it was in the days of Washington.
Much as I respect his name and memory I do not believe that
the period in which he lived was the golden age of our country.
That I am sure is not behind us. The world will not be saved
or o-reatly benefited by rebuilding ancient temples, — the
beautiful Parthenon at Athens, the massive and magnificent

14
structures of Thebes, or the sacred houses at Jerusalem.
Before us is the battle-ground. There is the place for temple
building for every earnest soul, and when a temple to God and
truth has been erected in every home and in every human
heart, then will have come the golden age for America and the
world. I do not believe that the golden age of our country
was in Washington's time, or that we should be benefited by
bringing back the state of morals, manners, and politics which
existed in his day. All signs are favorable for something better
before us as a nation than we have ever enjoyed in the past.
Some one may ask if in the future of our country I see only
clear sky, if there are no clouds in any part of the national
horizon. In reply I would say : It cannot be denied that great
dangers threaten our country, and two of the most vital ques
tions that are before us at the present time are those of citizen
ship and the ballot. American citizenship should be regarded
as a precious gift, and it should be bestowed only upon those
who are worthy of it. That judge in Pittsburg who recently
rejected ten applications for citizenship, because the applicants
failed to show that they were men of good characters set the
nation an example, and his act is deserving of universal praise.
On the other hand when once citizenship has been granted to
any individual, his rights should be guarded by all the power
and authority of the law. Until any American citizen, whatever
his race or color, in any part of this broad land, can go to the
ballot-box and deposit his vote unmolested, and have his vote
counted in all fairness and honesty, there will be a stain and a
reproach upon our national honor. There are sections of our
country where men cannot vote without molestation, or if they

15
succeed in voting it is with the moral certainty that their vote
will not be counted. Our people are fast becoming aware of
this evil, and many wise men are striving to devise methods
by which it may be corrected. Perhaps never in the history
of our country has so much been said about safeguards for the
ballot as within the past twelve months. The legislatures of
many of the states are taking hold of this matter in earnest.
Miracles can be wrought in a moment, but reforms that are
brought about by human instrumentalities require time.
Public evils are corrected only when attention is called to them ;
by agitation and discussion the public n;iind comes to distinguish
between what is right and what is wrong ; at last a popular
movement is made and justice prevails. It is so with regard
to the important problems that I have mentioned. By and by
they will be decided, and I fully believe, they will be decided
right. I believe the sober general judgment of the American
people is of a high order. The popular heart beats for liberty,
equality, fraternity, for loyalty to country and to God. That
is a sad day for any national reformer when he loses faith in
his own countrymen.
There are, however, individuals and classes that form an
exception to the rule for high-minded character which I have
given to our people. For instance, a man of some local
prominence has recently advocated in public, the disfranchise
ment of a large body of his fellow citizens ; the man who holds
and advocates such views cannot be loyal to the best interests
of his country. The men who resort to assassination, as the
murderers of Clayton in Arkansas have recently done, for
political reasons, those who secretly connive at such deeds, and
those who by their indifference show that they do not care to

16
bring the criminals to justice ; such men cannot be loyal to
the best interests of our country. If any one is to be disfran
chised it should be such persons as these. Perhaps it would
be a healthy movement for our country if we should disfran
chise such persons ; if we should go further and disfranchise
that rather large number who steal our money and run away
to Canada ; if we should disfranchise those who traffic in liquor
and ruin the happiness of families, and the bodies and souls of
their many victims. We feel tliat it is right to withhold
citizenship from men whose characters are notoriously bad,
and I do not know why, as a measure of public safety, we may
not take away citizenship from desperately wielded men, whose
business it is to injure the body politic.
If Bishop Potter, or any other person, tells us that our country
is going to ruin, let us, members of the Grand Army, and
everybody else, live and act so that it shall not be true.
The character of our country depends upon the character of
individual citizens. On the statue of Nelson in Trafalgar
Square, London, are engraved the words, almost the last words,
of that noble hero, — " England expects every man to do his
duty." To win a battle a brave general is not alone necessary, but
a brave heart beneath every shouldered musket.
Our comrades were brave in the battles of the war. Let
them also be brave in the moral battles which the citizens of
America are called upon to wage.
The great questions of the hour need sober, thoughtful,
earnest, high-minded men for their solution.
The great interests of our land, educational, moral, religious,
and social, need behind them an army of intelligent Christian

17
patriots, as much as General Grant needed behind him an array
of loyal men when he moved on to Richmond.
The great reforms of the day cannot reach full and merited
success unless we as individuals rally for their defence as once
we rallied for the defence of the stars and stripes. This matter
of individualism cannot be too strongly presented. Each has
a character to develop ; each has a country to bless ; each has a
God to glorify. If every man possessed an enlightened, con
scientious will, which enabled him to transmute sentiment into
action, there need be no gloomy apprehensions as to the future
of the land we love. Let us never forget our personal respon
sibility in the matter if we would save our country, and make
it to those who come after us what the Promised Land was to
the Hebrews of old. I present this personal thought to
reasonable men, hoping that every one will apply it to his
individual case.

Twenty-four years ago this beautiful month of May, Wash
ington was the scene of the greatest military display of which
our country can boast ; a scene moreover that has rarely been
surpassed in the history of any other country. An army of
200,000 men passed in review before the President and officials
of the United States and the assembled throngs of citizens.
The day, or rather the days, were lovely, for a perfect sky
over-arched a perfect earth, and a gentle breeze held out a
wilderness of flags to a multitude of admiring eyes. These
men were not new recruits, but veterans ; the columns were
steady, the step was exact, the discipline was excellent, and the

18
spectacle was imposing beyond any words of mine to describe.
There were cavalry, infantry, and artillery. Cannon that had
spoken for liberty on a score of bloody fields ; horses that had
carried their riders through many a scene of peril and death ;
pontoons on which our men used to pass unfordable rivers ;
ambulances and baggage wagons, and even the mules that used
to drag the welcome supply trains to the hungry and exhausted
men at the front. The whole paraphernalia of camp, and
march, and siege, and battle were there. At nine o'clock a
single gun announced that all was ready, and the great proces
sion began to move. On, and on, and on, without interruption,
for six long hours, moved those steady ranks. On the second
day, fair and lovely as the first had been, at nine o'clock, a
single gun set the endless column in motion again, and for
more than six hours that stream of men swept by, since two
days were required for them to pass a single point.
One of the leading Boston dailies of the date referred to, says
of this display, " One of the largest brigades was that com
manded by Col. Sumner Carruth in which are the 35th, 36th,
and 58th Mass., the 7th Rhode Island, the 39th New Jersey,
and the 51st New York regiments, all showing evidence of
careful drill and good discipline." The younger persons in
the audience and any strangers present may be pleased to
know that Col. Sumner Carruth thus pleasantly spoken of, is
sitting with us to-night an honored comrade.
But at whatever point one looked it was an inspiring
sight to gaze upon those victors thronging past. Everywhere
through the long avenues the flowers, the handkerchiefs,
the waving banners were bewildering to the eye, and the
ear was deafened by the shouts of applause with which

19
the heroes were welcomed home. But flowers, banners, and
wild hurrahs, and the flags floating on the breeze were only
outward expressions of something far deeper and more sig
nificant than them all. At that moment the heart of every
loyal American was overflowing with gratitude to God that
his country had been saved. These veteran soldiers were
really soldiers no longer. That vast army was not now
marching to battle, but was about to lay down its arms and
to return to peaceful pursuits.
I have called up, as in a vision, these events of twenty-four
years ago for one sole purpose. Standing at any given point
you could not see the head of that j)rocession, nor could you
see the rear of it. You saw only that moving column. And
to-day you have only to sit down, close your eyes, and reflect
a moment for your imagination to bring vividly to your mind
the picture of that moving, moving, moving column. This
was twenty-four years ago.

Go back one year more, twenty-five years ago, also in the
beautiful months of May and June, to the siege of Vicksburg.
Although situated on a high bluff, it was within easy reach of
the batteries on the river, and the hills inland from the town
afforded excellent positions for the heavy siege guns and the
operations of the besieging forces. At last the lines weie
completed around the doomed city, and the fearful cannonading
began. No language can describe that awful scene. You
would have thought that a score of earthquakes had seized
those hills, and were shaking them into confusion and dust.

20
It is estimated that during that long siege as many as ten
thousand shot and shell were tlirown into Vicksburg every
twenty-four hours. The loss was great, the suffering was terri
ble, but still the -besieged held out, and still the cannonading
went on ; and it was only after weeks of the bravest and most
persistent efforts that the place was entered by our victorious
troops. On the highest part of the bluft" stood the Court House of the
city, a conspicuous object from almost any point. In the tower
of that Court House there was a clock which during all that
long siege went on day after day with its quiet, regular work.
The air was full of iron and steel, screaming missiles of des
truction and death ; but that tower was never hit ; that clock
remained uninjured through it all. Every day as the sweet
morning light broke over that wild scene of havoc and ruin,
ten thousand eager eyes turned to that clock, whose steady
hands never once ceased to point out the minutes and the
hours to friend and foe alike. Tick, tick, — tick, tick, — from
the day the first gun was fired imtil the stars and stripes
floated again above that tower, — their rightful place.

These interesting incidents of the war, so widely differing in
character, I have called up because they are in some respects
symbols of the Grand Army, of ourselves to-day. We thought
the column of veterans in the streets of Washington was
endless, but it ceased at last. We thought the clock in the
tower at Vicksburg had a charmed life, but it could not tick
on forever. In like manner the column of the Grand Army is
moving on, — moving on. Every year some fall from the ranks

21

and we see their faces no more. Surer than the thrust of
sword or bayonet, more certain than the unerring and fatal
bullet, is the arrow of death ; no one has ever been able to turn
it aside. We must move on. We must go to meet One who
is stronger than ourselves. Him who has infinite strength. We
cannot match our wisdom with His. We have no righteousness
that shall commend us to His favor ; our strength is weakness.
Have we made the necessary preparation to meet the King
when he cometh. The weaker king as we read in Luke,
although weaker was wise. He consulted, counted the cost,
admitted his weakness, and made peace with the other. There
is a way in which we may stand before the King of kings
clothed with immortal honor. Reason, wisdom, our heart of
hearts urge upon us the necessity of making with Him an
abiding peace.

Comrades, it is not as a pastime that once a year we meet thus
in the house of God, but that we may listen to earnest words,
and have our minds impressed with serious thoughts. Were
I to utter words of any other character, or to make any other
impression, I should deserve and receive your censure. As a
section of the moving column to which I have referred, we
have halted to-night with our faces to the future. Beyond us
is the river of death, which we soon must cross. We even look
beyond that, and catch glimpses of the hills of glory. There
is the King eternal, the Father of us all. Let us make Him
our everlasting friend. Once we were proud to rally under
the starry flag ; let us like men hasten to join that grander

22

army under a heavenly Leader, that when the order comes to
us as individual soldiers, as it certainly will come, to go for
ward, we may pitch our tabernacle yonder with the tents of
the victors, and join with them in their triumph song.

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