Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1861-05-17
MR.. EVERETT ON THE WAR.

There was great meeting in ROxbury,
Wednesday night for the benefit of the Mass,
families of the volunteers from that city /;
twenty-five cents admission fee being charged,
while the hall was packed. Edward Everett
WIS enc Of the speakers. and closed a calm
and forcibe review Of the pending war, as
| follows
q Such is the nature and foundation of
the war in which we are engaged. As you
perceive, it is for the very existence of the
government; it is a contest in which no good
citizen can remain neutral. | am often asked
how long [ think it will last but that
is question that the South alone can an
swer. She makes the war; she has seized
by surprise such Of the strongholds Of the |
country as she was able; she has possessed her
self Of the navy yard at Norfolk, which guards |
the entrance to Chesapeake bay of Iiarper's |
Ferry. which commands one OF the great |
highways from the Ohio river to the Atlantic
ocean; and above all, of the mouth Of the
Mississippi, the outlet Of the most extensive
system Of internal communication on the
face Of the globe. There will, in my judg-
ment, never be peace, ill the flag of the
Union again floats from every stronghold
from which it has been stricken down. Do
you think. fellow citizens, that Ohio, lndi-
ana and Illinois viii allow their most direct
communication with the seaboard to be
obstructed at the pleasure Of an alien State,
at Harper Ferry? Do you imagine that
eastern Pennsylvania and southern New
York, whose tributary watere flow through
the SuSquehauna into Chesapeake bay, To
say nothing Of the Delaware and Chesapeake
canal, viii tolerate 4 foreign master in
Hampton Roads? Above all, do you believe
that the Giant Of the West viii accept his
pathway to the Gulf Of Mexico as privi-
lege granted by this mushroom conlederacy2 ;
Yes, they viii submit to this degrading !
yoke, they viii acknowledge this CALLING
usurpatiOn; but it will be when the Ale
ghanies shall bow their imperial heads to
the level OF the sea, and the current of the
Mississippi and the Missouri shall flow back {
ward to the Rocky Mountains.
Ny friends, deprecate war,-no man more
So; and, Of all wars, most deprecate civil
war. And this, if prosecuted By the South
in the spirit in which she has commenced it,
will be what the stern poet Of the civil wars
Jl Rome called a bsL'Um pluSgllam cirile,-a ,
more than civil war. | deprccdte more than /
can express, a war with the South. You
know nay political course. L9gan, the In !
lian chief, mournfully exclaimed Such was
ny ljye lor the whites, that my cOuntrymen t
pointed at me as they passed, and said, 'LO- o
gan Is a friend Of the white men : have [
leen pointed at for years rs the friend Of the c
south. For maintaining WHAT deemed her 7
constitutional right have suffered nosmall
portion of obloquy, and sacrificed the favor T
'i large portion Of the community in which
was born, and when, from my youth up, L
have cnjciy0Tcd u serve libOrlJusly, duti- /
ully, and afectionately. ! was willing, 2
yhilo this ill-starrcd movement was confined 4
% the States Of the extreme South, and they ;
lbstalncd from further aggression, that they s
h0uli 20 in peace. This course, | thought,
would retain the border States, and bring
)ack the seceders in year or two, vearied
md diSgusted with their burdensOme and
1erious experiment. Such understood to
nave been, in substance, the programme of 3
he adm instTatOn. But tie South r
las Wilied it otherwise She has struck !
arricidal blow at the heart Of the Union =
md to sustain her IN tins unnatural and .
inri-hteous war, is VIVA, my conscience for :
lids. Neither will | remain silent and see .
bis majestic framework Of Government, :
he n]biest political fabric ever reared by :,
human wisdom, prostrated in the dust to =
ratiy the disappointed ambition OF few -
spring men (ior that Mr. Wee President y
stephens 5ravcly told his ieIiow-ciJizens last a., -
November, was the cause Of "A greater part "
art Of our troubles), and this under cover 81
( a sophisticated Interpretation Of the Con :
tItUton, at war alike with common sense, -
With contemporary history and the traIi- Al
ions Of the Government unsupported by - -
!ugle authority among the trainers OF the :,
Constitution, and emphaticllly denounced h
" Mr.. Madison their leader aud chief What II
hen remains, itliow-citizens, but that We n.
hould. without uncArIstian bitterness To-
5lIds our misguided countrymen, meet II
almly and resj.uteiy the demands of the Il
risis: that W. should perform the duty Of ..
ood citizens with resolution and steadiness; ;
hat we should cordially support the Gov o
rnment OF the country in the difficult posi- +
ion in which it is placed; that We should ;,
heer and encourage the brave men who have
beyad It's call, by generous care for their d,
antilles and to sum 1t all up in one word, a
One veal or woe, that we should stand by r
he flag of the Union.