Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1866-03-15
Written for the HERALD
Prominent Events Of 1865.

The historical Importance Of the past
year is only equalled by the magnitude
of its events. The more leading and re-
markable of these events are entitled to
the highest consideration Of every Amer
lean citizen.
|. The overthrow and suppression of
organized military resistance to the
laws and constituted authorities Of the
general government, preface the record,
and stand at the head Of the exciting
chapter.
By the united efforts Of q free, sover-
eign and determined people, great and
unholy rebellion has been subdued and
conquered, and the attempted annihila-
ton of our liberties, and the threatened
division and final dissolution Of the
American Union, have been stayed and
averted. The raising and equipping of
large and hostile armies, have ceased
within the period, and their march and
war-like tread through the country have
come to an honorable and successful ter
mination. Our population is no longer
drained for purposes of war, and our in
dustrial and financial resources no long
er imp overished for its prosecution and
support The mild influences of peace,
like the fragrance of thousand flowers,
again float over and still the pulsations
of an excited country, and again fan in
to union and harmony the elements Of
its power and its strength.
These are happy and consoling reflec-
tions; these are cheering and agreeable
realities, whose proper and legitimate
influences tend largely toward healing
the wounds of war.striCken people,
and toward binding up and comforting
the lacerated bosoms of those who sur
vive the slaughtered and the slain. As
we enjoy the return of health, after the
palms and prostrations Of disease; as we
realize and appreciate the return of
spring, after the cold and pinching Sc
verities Of winter, so can we feel and
duly estimate the blessings and enjoy
ments of national tranquility, after
the horrors and calamities of four
years bloody and intestine strife.
2. The beloved Chief Magistrate of a
confiding people has been stricken down
by the hand of the assassin, as another
solemn event of this year, and as the
last and closing act of q wicked and
hellish treason. This damning, diaboli-
ca deed Of assassination, perpetrated in
the city of Washington, in the very cap
ital and heart of the nation, and infiict-
ed upon the honored head of its chief
execs tive officer, has immortalized thc.
year ls 65 in our history, and rer,iered
eternally memorable the do; of our ma
tional mourning and bereavement. The
/ sweet memories of the martyr President
will forever deck the pages of American
history, and long outlive and survive
the costly sepulchral surroundings that
mark his final resting place. His wise
and patient counsels, his prudent and
upse fish control of the government in
the darkest days of its trlbulation, have
won for him a respect, love and an adj
miration as high and fadeless as the
starry canopy that oyerhangs the mil
lions who lament his loss. His purity
and excellence as citizen, his acknowl-
edged ability and integrity as a ruler,
and statesman, have eternally embalm-
ed his memory, and left an impress upon
the hearts and affections of the Ameri-
can people more permanent and lasting
than the marble vault that contains his
dust, or the monumental structure that
proclaims his goodness and his great
ness. =
8. The constitutional guaranty OF
Freedom to the slave, is another event OF
the year, which adds an interesting item
TO its. historic importance. Universal
liberty throughout the country is now