OUR ULTIMATE TRIUMPH. 341 achievements and your patriotism, than any language can portray. Yes, you have by that flag and your deeds of valor, erected a prouder monument, a more enduring fame, than would be perpetuated by the loftiest mausoleum that the genius of man could erect. While we sympathize and do honor to you who appear with us to-day, we must not forget your companions—the patriot dead—who fell fighting for civil and religious liberty; for the great principles of constitutional government. They have offered up their lives on the altar of their country, and their and your names will fill the brightest page in history for all coming time; yes, this day we must think of the sacrifices of fathers and mothers; of the desolate homes; of the tears and the sighs of the widowed, and the sufferings and sorrows of the bereaved. You have nobly met the necessities of your bleeding country, and obeyed her every call, until the last hour of your enlistment expired, and may we, your countrymen, catch the spirit of your patriotism and fill up the ranks in our country's defence. We shall triumph; our country again shall hold her high position among the nations of the earth. The principle, that man is capable of selfgovernment, shall here be maintained. Your example has shown us that no sacrifice is too great; that the Stars and Stripes of our native land again shall float in triumph over every foot of American soil, and the Bird of Liberty shall again expand her pinions, and with one wing touch the sun-rise, and the other the sunset, and cast her shadow over the whole world. It may be truly said— 342 RESPONSE BY LIEUT. COL. CORNING. "Your country's glory, 'tis your chief concern: Lieut.-Col. Corning responded to the address by thanking the speaker for his complimentary allusion to the men of the Thirty-third. They were worthy of it all. "If you could have seen them," he continued, "on the battle-field, a spontaneous feeling of gratitude would have burst from your hearts. Yes, they are worthy of all the honor you can bestow upon them. We thought at one time that your loyalty was growing cold, and that the 'God bless you,' tendered to us at parting, had been forgotten. But, thank God, I am pleased to find it different, by the splendid manner in which you have welcomed us home to-day. These men are entitled to all the honor you can bestow on them; and the sick, those who had to come home on account of impaired health, are equally entitled to your honor and your regard, with those who have passed safely through the perils of a battle-field.” After the singing of the "Red, White and Blue,” by a choir of young ladies and gentlemen, Colonel Taylor stepped forward and returned to the ladies of Canandaigua the beautiful flag which they had presented to the Regiment two years before. As he did so he remarked, that " it had been given to them with the pledge that it should never be sullied by cowardice, or a dishonorable act, and it had never been; and it never trailed in the dust, except on one RETURN OF THE REGIMENTAL BANNER. 343 occasion, when the color-bearer sank from sheer exhaustion on the field. It was a beautiful flag when presented to the Regiment, but it is now torn and soiled, but to him and the Regiment it was all the dearer. He had no doubt it would be dearer to those who gave it, as a relic of the bravery and patriotism of the gallant men of the Thirty-third. It was very heavy to be carried on the field, but it had always been carried with them. On one occasion six out of eight of the color-bearers had been shot down, and another man was called for to support it, when Sergeant Vandecar immediately sprang forward with a gun and bravely and heroically bore the flag aloft. The Regiment, when he assumed the command, numbered about eight hundred men, and now there were not four hundred of them left. If they had come home some two weeks ago, there would have been about six hundred of them; but two hundred fell killed and wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg. It now only remained for him to hand the flag back, remarking, in conclusion, that had it been necessary, for want of others, he would himself have stepped forward and defended the flag with his life. On receiving back the now torn and tattered banner, the ladies presented the following address, read by A. H. Howell, Esq. : COL. TAYLOR: When two years ago you honored the ladies of Canandaigua in accepting for the Thirty-third Regiment this Banner, the work of their hands and the gift of their affection, the Regi 344 WORTHY SONS OF ONTARIO. ment, through you, pledged themselves with their lives, to protect it from dishonor and cherish it as the emblem of Love and Loyalty. The Recording Angel registered that vow in figures of Life, and nobly has the pledge been redeemed in the blood of Malvern Hill, Fair Oaks, Williamsburg, Lee's Mills, Antietam and Fredericksburg. This` bullet-riven, blood-stained Banner is dearer to us, now that we know it has inspired acts of courage and patriotic ardor, and that it has been as the presence of mother, sister, wife, home, to the dying soldier, than it was when we parted with it in its freshness and new life, impatient for the pomp and circumstance of war. We were proud of it as a beautiful offering. We receive it now with its honorable scars-as a weary soldier seeking rest and shelter. We will guard it carefully and protect it tenderly. Many a home in our midst is desolate-many waiting, watching hearts are bereaved; but every true woman will thank God it was not made so by the death of a coward or renegade, and that her dead are "Freedom's now, and Fame's." Soldiers! on the field of battle you proved yourselves all that was noble, brave and manly-worthy sons of old Ontario. The women of Ontario will expect you to do battle in their service, by respecting as citizens those laws and domestic institutions for which you have perilled your lives; and to your latest posterity your children and your children's children can have no PARTING ADDRESS. 345 prouder heritage can make no prouder boast, than that you were members of the gallant Thirty-third. The choir now sang the "Star Spangled Banner," after which Chaplain Lung delivered the following parting address to the Regiment: GENTLEMEN AND FELLOW SOLDIERS:-You have reached the evening of a two year's military life. The cause in which you have been engaged is one in which you may well be proud. It gives me pleasure to know that the military glory which surrounds you this hour, is a thing that you have nobly earned. The honors which you now enjoy have been bought by your toil, and sweat and blood. They have been purchased by long and weary marches, by drill and duty in camp, and by your unflinching bravery amid the thunder and peril of battle. My fellow soldiers, you are standing here to-day, with the pleasing consideration that you have done your duty, and can receive an honorable discharge. Sooner than have been ingloriously dismissed; sooner than to have been branded with the name of deserter a stain never to be washed out, a stigma to mark your remembrance and disgrace your children after you are dead-sooner than this should have ever overtaken you, you have showed by your gallant conduct that you would have preferred to have been riddled by the enemy's bullets and died on the field. There were those in our own ranks who have thus died. As a flower when bruised, mangled and crushed, will give forth all the richness of its odor, so these bruised ones who have |