Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1865-07-28

Prize speaking, which Is an entirely new fea-
ture Of Commencement week, occurred on Mon
day evening. The Junior prizes were awarded
to Benjamin Osgood True, Of Meriden, and
prizes to Joseph Hartwell Ladd, of Sharon, Vt.
and Abram Brown, Of Canterbury.
The Glass Exercises, which were Of an un-
usually high ORDER took place on Tuesday af-
ternoon, and were attended by very large au-
dience. In the evening came the address be-
fore the Theological Society, by Rev E. Z.
Adams, of Philadelphia. His subject was
"Man and his Relations to the World" After
the address, Judge Chase held public recep-
ton at the residence of Prof. Patterson, which
was very pleasant affair.
WEDNESDAY. July 10.
The exercises Of Wednesday consisted of an
Grafton by Prof. Alpheus Crosby, of Salem,
Mass, before the Phi Beta Kappa Society," and
Poem by w. A. C. Converse, Esq, Of Tole-
do, Ohio.
The subject of Prof. Crosby was Reconstruct
ton, and the leading points which he discuss
ed, after referring TO the changed condition of
things from what it was three or four years
since, was, what is the position of the seeded
States as it respects the Government. Are
they in the Union? That is what the rebels
now claim, and what they desire to have adj
mitted for If they are in the Union, then they
are in the Union under the Constitution, and
have all the rights Of other States. If they are
out of the Union, then all their acts, while thus
out, are valid as sovereign States, and should
be so recognized Neither superstition was to
the speaker satisfactory. There was in this what
loglcians call the fallacy Of equivocation. The
Union is sometimes spoken of as the governing
power of the States, and sometimes as the
States i. e., the territory which they contain
4 al coll, noGt o. a
ficulty is, that, so far as the Union consists in
the governing power, the seeding States are out
of it. They have voluntarily retired from it, as
any State may do by neglecting or refusing TO
send Senators and Representatives to Congress;
but the territory which they embrace is not and
cannot be out of the Union, as regards the gov
erning power of the nation. 1t is therefore.
the duty of the nation still to govern this terri
tory as it does all territories, and not to receive
back those States until there is evidence that
they are prepared to become good members of
it, and carry out the one grand object of the
partnership. Whatever there is among them
which goes to prevent their doing so, should be
corrected before they come back.
The orator advocated impartial suffrage for
blacks and whites, and thought the ballet in the
hands OF Robert Small would be as safe as in
the hands of Robert Lee. In 1889 South Car
DINA was the only State whose Constitution
prohibited colored men from voting.
The orator argued that this is matter which
scholars and educated men should discuss in or
der TO form a correct public sentiment
The Poem by Mr.. Converse was, as a whole,
fair production, containing some fine passa-
ges.
At the close of the services, though greatly
protracted, Chief Justice Chase was called for,
who spoke briefly. He referred TO the time
when, 80 years ago, he stood upon that plat
| form, looking forward with trembling and yet
with hope. He would not pretend 10 counsel
those before him who were wiser than himself.
hut If he were TO give a word of counsel 10 the
younger portion of his audience, It would be
embraced in single sentence. Maintain at all
times firm adherence to the conviction of duty
both towards man and towards God.
The Grafton before the Literary Societies was
delivered in the afternoon by Hon. A. Ii. Bull
lock of Worcester Mass. subject, The Epochs
of Amencan Nationality. These were FIVE.
/. That OF Colonization and Settlement
2. The Colonial Period.
8. The Revolutionary Period.
| 4. The Constitutional Period.
8. The Present.
As Introductory, the orator paid fitting
tribute TO Mr., Choate, Mr.. Webster, and Chief
Justice Chase, who was present. The two for
mer, he said, had graced the Courts of the Ma
ton, and done honor to American law, and now
the latter had been taken to grace the Supreme
Court Of the Nation. The orator referred, in
well chosen language, to the different settle-
ments which, effected at different points, widen
ed and spread until they embraced the whole
land to the struggle for empire which was
carried on between the Anglo-Saxons and the
French, and the triumph of the former; t, the
Revolutionary struggle, in which France, hav,
ing been driven from the field, turned her hand
against her former enemy, and helped to de-