Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1848-11-16
Entertainments.
Presentation of the Sword,
COL. KIDDER,s ADDRESS.

COL KIDDERS ADDRESS.
My YOU'VE FRlEND:-The Executive of this
State has entrusted me with commission to you
at once melancholy and grateful: melancholy
that its performance is occasloned by the loss OF
Distinguished citizen of the State, and CRATE
fnI that it is intended to manifest respect for his
ch iractcr, and recognition Of his services to his
Country.
To myself associated during his life with your
lamented llther, not only in private intercourse
but IN puAlc station having been member of
his H;IitHrg family, it is peculiarly pleasing that
bv ne G jusideration of the Chief Magistrate of
t., State, | have the honor of performing this
drtE ri While do so with inexpressible feel
ngs of sncerest regret for the loss Of a friend,
am nevertheless proud that by this ceremony it
is sought to do honor to his memory, and to per-
petuate the remembrance of his name and his
services
When, last year. during the session of the
legislature, he news was officially communica-
~ his EXceency to the General Assembly,
III She gallant leader oftbe New England Reg
trent in Mexico, had fallen, as all knew he
would fall if such were to be his fate, 'nobly
leading forward his splendid Regiment" | well
remember, and many who now hear me, will re-
member, the profound sensation that pervaded
both branches ofthe Legislature, and how in the
stiffness, that follows the announcement of
great calamity, we felt like men whose heats
had been struck by fearful blow. We knew
he had died as he would have chosen to die--we
knew that he had died bravey, and vet all this
seemed to weigh little against his loss. At that
time. while the gaIlantry and personal worth Of
the deceased were fresh in our hearts, the honor
which this ceremony was intended to do him,
vy,u votad hX tho General Assembly
The private and public life Of the late COL
Ransom are too well known to need repetition
here.
A native of the State, he was honored by his
fellow citizens with their confidence, and though
his mind was of a strong martial cast. yet he was
by his amenty and manIlness fitted for high sta
tons Of civil life.
lie was always Jealous Of the reputation of
his native state, and loved and spoke Of her to
the at. His correspondence while in Mexico,
$ that although he was III foreign country,
his eart was still here, and it is fit th i at last
the manly form and the noble heart having been
united again, in the only place of all the earth
where they could have been united, on the banks
of the noble river whose waters are ever rolling
through portion of our country eminently con.
secrated, by struggle and by sacrifice, to the
cause of Liberty, and in the bosom of his own
native State
Peculiarly fitted by nature and by education
for the duties and relations of social life, and
commanding in an eminent degree the respect
and love of all who knew him as private citl-
zen; being in his disposition, frank friendly and
social; most engaging and agreeable compan-
ion; in all respects the finished gentleman; llv-
ing in all the ease and contentnent that make
domestic life desirable, like a true man he an
swered the call of his country, and marched to
the land where her honor and her reputation
were to be contended for, and after being ac
lively engaged in the unparalleled battles Of Ger
ro-Gordo, Contreras, San-Antonio, Churubusco
and Mollno-de-Rey, he fell on the 18th of Sep
TENDER, lS47, on the heights Of Chaputepec, as
on the same day % years before fell Wolfe on
the heights of Abraham
When nation suffers amy thing hut the bod
ieS Of her defenders to be buried, hel own burial
is not far off When nation, worthy OF the
name Of a nation, sees her sons like your gallant
lIther, forego the quletude Of home, personal
comforts, and private hopes and ambitions, and
perilng their lives, fall in her battles the people
rise up, and seek by monuments, mementoes and
public ceremonies, to perpetuate their names,
and make examples Of their patriotic devotion.
And this should be so 1t should be so, not only
who aEiu. them may be called upon to do servl-
ces Of IKE character, may know, that however
and ahe.ever the body may be buried, for the
tarlr the patriot there is grave.
= = sc, who like YOURSELF mourn in the loss
{ 5 servant a father, such testimonials
; us ceremony in honorable remembrance Of
may Sc \ poor compensation: yet to their
on humanity the reward of bravery anC
A. ism must be grateful
Aud the seliishness OF private grief must yielC
to the proud satisfaction OF knowing that by one
of their own blood, public trust has been honor
ably discharged and public service faithfully
performed, and that the generous patriotism
whose impulses they so well understood and ap-
precated, has received the high reward of public
appreciation and public praise.
"As a token Of the respect Of the General As
semby Of this State for the memory" of you
father "to perpetuate the memory of the de
ceased, aud most etfGctually awaken III the DO
som of the son those sentiments OF lofty and fer
vent PATRIOTISM for which the father was pre-
eminently distinguished" | present you thi
sword. Here followed the ceremony Of present
ing the Sword.
Receive it and treasure i'll know you vii
and while you follow the profession you hav
chosen, let it remind you that the history Of you
native state proves that her citizens have Away
been foremost to assert aud maintain their owl
rights, the rights OF the country and the caus
of freedom
LET it remind you of the Nncble virtues tn
generous impulses and the self forgetting patri
3tisln of one, whom as a father, you can neve
fofge and whose memory as a citizen and So
der, the Legislature Of his native state hay
hoaored; let it lead you to manly purposes,