History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 58

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Ohio > Medina County > History of Medina county and Ohio > Part 58

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

whizzers and whirligigs, and fire balloons" amazed and delighted the assembled erowds. A fine pyrotechnie display was made on the baleony of Phoenix Hall, where a piece of fire- works, after a little fizzing, blazed out into the large letters, "L. S. & T. V. R. R." The day's festivities elosed with a grand ball at Phoenix Hall.

The exeursion train was furnished by the Cleveland, Columbus, Cineinnati & Indianapo- lis Company. It was brought to Grafton by "Cuyahoga," Engineer Blush, and from Grafton to Medina by the " Maryland," Engineer Welsh. The eonduetor of the train was Mr. C. Lang- don. The returning of the train was set for 4 o'eloek in the afternoon, but it was nearly 5 before it got started. Each guest was furnished with a ticket which read as follows :

LAKE SHORE & TUSCARAWAS VALLEY R'Y. OPENING EXCURSION. Wednesday, November 15th, 1871.

PASS THE BEARER TO MEDINA AND RETURN. W. S. STREATOR, President.

Excursion Train will leave the Union Depot at 10.30 o'clock A. M. Returning, leave Medina at 4 30 P. M.

Among the guests in attendance upon this oeeasion were : Selah Chamberlain, J. F. Card, H. M. Claflin, E. G. Loomis, C. L. Russell, Di- reetors of the new road; L. T. Everett, its Treasurer ; and Judge Tyler, of Cleveland, whose serviees as lawyer for Medina's interests made him especially weleome as a guest on this oeeasion. Dr. W. S. Streator, the President of the road, was detained at home on aeeount of siekness, to the great regret of all. Of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cineinnati & Indianapolis Company, there were the President, Osear Townsend ; Superintendent, E. S. Flint; As- sistant Superintendent, Robert Blee, and others ; from Cleveland, there were Mayor F. W. Pelton, and several eouneilmen ; T. P. Handy, D. P.

Rhodes, A. Cobb, E. P. Morgan, E. Mill, N. B. Sherwin, Gen. John Crowell, T. L. Jones, A. W. Fairbanks, Philo Chamberlin, William L. Ter- rell and others. The press was represented by W. F. Hinman, of the Cleveland Herald ; F. H. Mason, of the Cleveland Leader ; Thomas Whitehead, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer; C. G. Washburn, of the Elyria Democrat ; J. M. Wileox, of the Berea Advertiser ; J. A. Clark, of the Wadsworth Enterprise ; and Judge Sloan, of the Port Clinton Union.

The following letters were received from some who were not able to be at the celebration :

ELYRIA, OHIO, November 18, 1871.

Committee on Invitations : GENTLEMEN-I am in re- ceipt of your favor inviting me to attend the celebra- tion of the opening of the Lake Shore & Tuscarawas Valley Railroad to Medina, on the 15th inst. I sin- cerely regret that judicial labors on that day will pre- vent my acceptance of your friendly invitation, and deprive me of much enjoyment to be derived by being present at your celebration. Though absent in the body, I will be with you in spirit and join in your congratu- lations. I am and remain very truly,

Yours, W. W. BOYNTON.

AKRON, OHIO, November 13, 1871.

H. G. BLAKE, EsQ .: Dear Sir-Your favor of the 10th, inviting me to be present at the opening of the L. S. & T. V. R. R., received. I am sorry I cannot, on account of business, be present to join in your grand re- joicing on the 15th. Akron, proud of her own success, joins, however, in spirit with Medina and hopes that her new road will add greatly to the wealth and pros- perity of her inland neighbor.

Respectfully yours, L. S. EVERETT, Editor of the Akron Times.

UPPER SANDUSKY, OHIO, November 14, 1871. HON. H. G. BLAKE, Committee on Invit ations, M. dina, Ohio:

Dear Sir-Your kind note of the 10th inst., inviting me to be present at the inauguration of the L. S. &. T. V. R. R. at your village on the 15th inst., received yester- day, and have delayed answering the same in the hope that Imight be able to so arrange my business as to allow my absence, but I regret to say that I am disappointed. I would delight to be with you on the happy occasion of welcoming the " Iron Horse" to your place. I have many pleasant recollections of Medina and my brief

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residence there. Heartily congratulating you and the good people of Medina upon your final success in secur- ing a railway line, and thanking you kindly for the cordial invitation extended to me, I remain

Very truly yours, P. CUNEO.

The sequel to this chapter is found elsewhere, and, while it does not realize the pleasaut the- ories propounded in regard to the value of stock held forth in these speeches, yet the great out- come to the county has been grandly beneficial, and, with this example freshly before their eyes, the citizens in other parts of the county are quite as eager to invest in the building of a new railroad.

The " Fourth of July " is of very aneient ori- gin, and it is firmly believed by a considerable portion of the people in this eountry, that Adam " raised Cain " on that day very much as is the fashion of this age. While this belief is prob- ably cherished principally by the younger por- tion of the community, a very general respeet for the day obtains among the older portion, and " Fourth of July celebrations," of late years, have not been so rare as generally to become a matter of historical mention. But the occasion to which reference is had in these pages, was an exception, which, like that floral phenome- non, the century plant, blooms but once in 100 years, and then with a glory so short-lived that its odor is lost in a day. The " Centeunial Fourth " was a subjeet of national considera- tion, and in the State of Ohio, at the suggestion of the Governor, it was made, in most of the counties of the State, a special oceasion for the review of the history of the county, State and nation, and that of these fragments nothing should be lost, many of the county authorities have taken measures to preserve them for fut- ure ages. On this occasion in Medina, both the history of the county and the nation were reviewed. Of the historical paper presented by Judge C. G. Codding, this whole volume

may be considered an elaboratiou, and the sketch of national history, the oration of the .occasion, presented by J. H. Greene, we append in full at the repeated request of friends of this enterprise :

" MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW CITIZENS : A Fourth of July celebration without an 'ora- tion,' would be like the play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet left out. The committee were unable to secure the services of a speaker from abroad, and their partiality assigned to me the duty of taking this part. I can prom- ise you no studied rhetoric or polished oration, such as would well befit the occasion. but, if you will give me your patient attention, I will try to give you a little plain talk on the theme that is uppermost in all our minds and hearts to-day -the commemoration of the one hun- dredth birthday of our nation. It is an event, the anticipation of which has stirred the blood of the most sluggish, and kindled the enthu- siasm of all, until to-day Ameriean patriotism finds expression in celebrations that fill the land with jubilant voiees.

" We celebrate the birthday of the youngest of all the uations of the earth. It is true, that in our time we have seen all of Germany gath- ered under the flag of Prussia-but those States have before been in league. It is true, that in our time we have seen the Italian na- tiou emerge from the Papal domiuions-but it was Italy re-united, not ereated. The South American Republics are yet in a chaotie state. Under the strong influences radiating from our successful experimeut in the North, the South- eru continent may, in our time, crystallize into a nation. But, to-day, there is none to dispute with us the palm of youth.

"A hundred years is a brief period, and compared with the age of other nations, we are but an infant. Far back in autiquity, nations arose, flourished through thousands of years, and fell to pieces by wars, calamities or the slow processes of decay. Others have survived all

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the vicissitudes of time, and still exist, hoary with many centuries. China, containing nearly one-half the population of the globe, has been a compact empire for four thousand years and over. Egypt, under various rulers, has existed for more than three thousand years, without radical change in territorial area or character of the people. Persia dates back to the same misty antiquity, and is Persia still.

"The moderu natious of Europe are from five hundred to twelve hundred years old. And away up in the Northern seas-on the border- land of that unknown Polar country, to discover which so many heroic lives have been sacri- ficed-only within the past year Iccland cele- brated her one thousandth birthday, and it was the good fortune of America to be represented in the festivities of the Northmen by Bayard Taylor, who so well represents the courage, ad- venture and culture of his countrymen.

"Compared with maturity like this, we can realize the brevity of our single century ; yet side by side with the nations that have grown gray aud old, we come, to-day, with our hun- dred years, and challenge the records of an- tiquity or of modern history to furnish a par- allel to our marvelous growth and develop- ment.

" We boast our hundred years ; We boast our limits, washed by either sea ; We boast our teeming millions, and that we All, all are free!'

" But, while it is true that as a nation we are only one hundred years old, as a people we are much older.

"The forces and ideas which culminated in the Declaration of Independence and the Revo- lution, had been in operation on this continent for at least a hundred years ; and the causes which resulted in the colonization of America, had convulsed Europe for a hundred years be- fore that. Civilization was then passing through the ordeal of a death struggle between eccle-

siasticism and the toleration of individual thought. All the principles of civil, political and religious liberty, upon which the fabric of our government has been built, were fought for and died for under the shadow of despotisms which exercised unlimited sway over the bodies and souls of men, while Columbus was yet searching for the shores of the New World.

" The seeds of American liberty were planted in the dykes and ditches of Holland in the six- teenth century. When William the Silent-the Washington of the Dutch Republic-fought for and established religious toleration in the Neth- erlands against the sway of Rome, and the cruel Philip of Spain, the battle was for us and we reaped the victory. Although separate na- tionality and independence was not in the thought of the Puritans and Pilgrims, it was in their every act. The Declaration of Independ- euce itself was foreshadowed in the spirit of that small colony which could put on record, while surrounded and occupied with nothing but hardships and dangers, the resolution that they would abide by the laws of God until they could find time to make better ones !

" The hundred years of colonial life previous to the Revolution was a period of preparation. The circumstances and condition of the people were fitting them, unconsciously, for an inde- pendent national existence. Necessarily, they were trained to habits of self-reliance; and, although they had no right of choice iu the selection of their Goveruors and Judges, and no voice in framing the measures which affected their relations to the Crowu or their inter-colo- nial interests ; yet they had almost unlimited control of their local affairs. Their religious, educational and material interests were confided to their care; and the town meeting became a source of power at the carliest period iu our history, greater than Parliament or Congress, and has continued such to this day. It natur- ally follows that the habits of self-government thus formed should make them more and more

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restive under the restraints of a Parliament and King, separated from them by the vast ocean ; and the rightfulness of their exclusion from the control of their own affairs in larger matters, became a question of absorbing inter- est. Objection to taxation without representa- tion, brought on the struggle for independence. " But separation from the mother country was scarcely thought of, much less supposed to be probable, except by a few prophetic souls. The right of representation-the right to a voice in the choice of colonial rulers, the right to levy their own taxes-these did not seem to imply separate national lifc. The kind of gov- ernment that would have suited the colonies, under which they would, no doubt, have been willing to remain, and, content and satisfied, would have been some such system of parental government, as that which the United States extends over its Territories to-day. Some of the best statesmen of England, with a strong popular sentiment to back them, entertained and advocated views in favor of a radically modified colonial system of government. The hope that this result would be reached, was ever uppermost in the minds of the colonists ; and their loyalty to King and attachment to mother country were of such a nature that no revolution could have been inaugurated, had the issue been separation and independence. And, even after the struggle had begun, after the great bell that was 'to proclaim liberty throughout the land, to all the inhabitants thereof,' had been rung in Independence Hall for patriotic purposes, there were not wanting earnest, able and honest men to assure the timid, that separation was not the aim of the Colonies. But George III and his Ministers, and the controlling element in power were in- flexibly determined to rule America with a rod of iron. They entertained no notions of mild government for the colonies. And to their severity, to their uncompromising hostility to show anything like favor to the American colo-

nies, more than to any other cause, are we in- debted for the full measure of freedom and independence which we enjoy to-day.

" The story of the Revolution is a melancholy page of history. He does no good service to the rising generation, who, on this centennial anniversary, paints the picture of that seven years' struggle in glowing colors. Since time began, there never was a people so little able to cope with a powerful foc and carry on a pro- tracted war as were the Americans of 1776. It needed the Boston massacre, the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor, and the battles of Lex- ington and Bunker Hill to unite and solidify the patriot sentiment of the colonies in favor of independence.

"The country was without friends abroad or resources at home. The war was not a series of brilliant campaigns, of daring adventures, or great victories ; but for the Continental army was a series of reverses and weary retreats. The large cities of the country were successively in the possession of the enemy, from which they emerged at their convenience to chase the "rebels." Oh the sorrowful sight that history presents of the patriot army with such a char- acter as Washington at its head-flying, flying -retreating, retreating-almost continually, before the well-fed, well-clothed, well-appointed British armies. His troops were half-naked half fed, poorly armed, and not half-paid. Their recompense, if it ever came, would be the grat- itude of succeeding generations. For them there was only hardship, weary, wounded bodies, poverty and death. About most wars there is the glory and charm of 'battle's magnificently stern array'-the 'pomp and circumstance of glorious war'-to kindle the ardor and inspire the enthusiasm. But there was no romance in the Revolutionary war. It was the dreary, heart-sickening struggle of a down-trodden, des- perate people.

" Often the wretched army was on the brink of dissolution-often on the point of disband-

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ing from sheer despair. The body which, by courtesy, was ealled Congress, was powerless to aid it. It could only appeal to the already beggared colonies for help for the famishing soldiers, and for reeruits for their wasted ranks.

" But for Washington, irretrivable disaster must have overtaken the eause. Through all the difficulties of those days, his patience and his serenity seem to us, at this distance, almost divine. He held the country up to the work which it had put its hands to do. He never despaired or beeame discouraged when every one else lost heart and hope. He snatched vietory from defeat. He bore the ealumuy and envious earpings of disorganizers ealmly, never onee losing sight of the interests of the country.

" American Independenee would at some period have been seeured; but, to George Washington is it almost entirely due that the Revolution was sueeessful 100 years ago.

"It seems miraculous that sueeess eould have been reached through sueh a sea of diffi- eulties. Even the superhuman energies and efforts of Washingtou must have failed, for the time at least, had it not been for the aid fur- nished by Franee through the ageney and per- sonal endeavors of La Fayette-a name that will be pronounced even to-day with quivering lips and moistened eyes-a name forever honored in America, and forever enshrined in the hearts of her people. The story is old-it is 'as familiar in our ears as a twiee-told tale ' -- but we would be ingrates, indeed, if on this day of all others we neglected to reeall his serviees and honor his memory with the tribute, feeble though it be, of our grateful praise.

" The long struggle for freedom and inde- pendence elosed, and vietorious peaee crowned the sufferings and trials of our forefathers. The foremost nation in the world reluctantly coneeded the independence of its colonies, and withdrew its forees.

"The Continental army was not invineible,

but it won a victory for progress and civilization, against difficulties that seemed insurmountable. Our hills and mountain fastnesses and South- ern swamps fought for us. Our inaccessible forests and bridgeless rivers were our allies. Our very feebleness, which compelled us to worry and harass the enemy, rather than en- gage him, exeept on fields of our own choosing, was our very strength. The King and Parlia- ment of Great Britian, by their harshness and bitterness against our eause, fought for us. A divided publie opinion in England helped us. The God of battles was on the side of the weak and the weak won.

"We come now to that period in our history about which the least is known-a period run- ning over as many years of peace as there had been of war, from the close of the war to the adoption of the new constitution-a period, which it has been said, the historian would gladly eonsign to eternal oblivion.

" We, who have gathered here to-day, have still fresh reeolleetions of the elosing seenes of a war of far greater magnitude. It may, there- fore, be worth our while to revert briefly to the condition of the army and country at the elose of the Revolution.

"The country had been drained of its re- sourees, and was helplessly bankrupt. The people were wretchedly poor, and the nation, if it could be called a nation, was without eredit. Polities were in a ehaotie state. The authority of the Confederate Congress had dwindled to a low ebb. It could vote to raise money, but the operation was like ealling spirits from the vasty deep-would they come ? The States were in a league, not in a union as we have it now ; and so slight was the compact that it was seri- ously proposed each of the thirteen States should send ambassadors to treat with foreign powers. They were distraeted by jealousies of each other, and consumedly tardy in granting power of any kind to the General Government. Tax-paying was almost optional with the indi-

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vidual, and the tax gatherer was considered as a standing joke. The treasuary vaults were empty-not a dollar in hand for the public serviee. The eurreney of the confederaey was worthless. Two hundred millions of paper money had been issued by the Government, but 88 millions had been taken up and eanceled by the States in payment of taxes, at the rate of forty dollars for one. Congress attempted to eall in the balanee by issuing new bills, but the new bills rapidly depreciated to par with the old. Down went the paper money until it touched 500 for I in gold, and then lower and lower it sank until one thousand dollars of the Continental money was gladly exehanged for one dollar in gold or silver! A lower depth could not be reached, and when the slang phrase was invented by the Yankee patriot, 'not worth a continental !' the rag baby of the Rev- olution disappeared.

"Our ambassadors in Europe-Franklin, John Adams and Jay-were begging on their knees for help, thankful for every miserable pittanee that was doled out at exorbitant rates of interest; and our Minister of Finanee had no other means of raising funds than to draw on the Ambassadors and sell the drafts. The private fortunes of the prominent patriots had been swallowed up to sustain the army. That was no meaningless exelamation-no ‘ glitter- ing generality ' in the Deelaration of Independ- ence, where they pledged their lives, their for- tunes and their saered honor. Their lives and their fortunes were freely offered upon the altar of freedom, and their saered honor will remain untarnished to the end of time !

"The patriot army was to be disbanded. The soldiers had not been paid for months or years, and the only prospeet before them was starvation. No wonder they mutinied in Phila- delphia and surrounded Congress with their determined bayonets ! It was all that Wash- ington and Gates could do to suppress the ris- ing storm in their eamps-and there is no more

pathetie pieture of the whole Revolution than that seene in camp where Washington stood among the diseontented veterans, eyes dimmed with tears, wiping his speetaeles and speaking simply and pathetieally, 'Fellow-soldiers, you pereeive I have not only grown gray, but blind in your serviee.'

"They had fought the fight to the end, and, instead of marehing to their homes as vietori- ous conquerors, to the sound of martial musie, and under the shadow of waving flags, with the plaudits of a grateful people eheering them on, the soldiers of the Revolution were penniless, in rags, and the objeet of fear and reproach by the people. On many obseure country roads and lonely by-paths, the 'Old Continental in his ragged regimentals,' with his well-worn flint-loek on his shoulder, and his empty haver- saek by his side, trudged his weary way from eamp and garrison to the home he had left years before, to the home in ruins or in wasteful de- eay, and to friends on whom labor and care, and poverty had left their marks.

"The soldiers of the Revolution went out from the army, and down into eivil life, down into the toils and struggles of rebuilding and repairing the wastes of war, down into poverty and drudgery, and down into the pages of his- tory, where the record of their glorious lives will forever shine as a beaeon light for liberty.

" Independenee was achieved and liberty se- eured, but the union of the States was yet to be accomplished. The era of statesmanship had arrived. Traditional poliey must be sup- planted, by experiment, in new lines of politieal aetion. Public opinion must be edueated to aeeept radieal changes in society and govern- ment. The political action of the States was independent of each other. Each claimed and exereised sovereign power. Even in so impor- tant a matter as the treaty of peace with Great Britain, each State elaimed aud exercised the right of atifying or rejeeting so mueh as it saw fit. If the resources and power of the thirteen

Oliver M Coulter

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original States had been equal to their inde- pendence and assurance, they would have formed the greatest confederacy the world ever saw!

" It seemed a hopeless task to sneh states- men as Hamilton and Madison to convince the States that their very existence depended upon a closer union, and they were denounced as monarchists for advocating a central govern- ment. Washington incurred wanton and severe abuse, and yet, he said there were not ten men in the country who wanted a monarchy. John Adams drew maledictions upon his head by the remark that the English Constitutiou was one of the grandest achievements of the human race.

"There was widespread opposition to a standing army, and a distrust that the reeently disbanded soldiers would beeome a privileged pensioned, idle class. The Order of Ciucinnati, which the officers of the Revolution formed at the close of the war, was fiercely assailed by civilians, as the beginning of a military aris- tocracy. 'So general was the apprehension that the military would overshadow the civil authority, that the regular standing army of the United States was reduced to righty men, twenty-five of them at Pittsburgh, gnarding public stores, and fifty-five of them stationed at West Point; while the highest officer of the army was a Captain!'

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History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 58

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014