Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-10-31

construed In favor OF Slavery 8uu suo uos
successful assertio of these rights in behalf
of freedom. in a contest precipitated by
slavery, became to the latter power the apollo
~ for treason.
Forgetting in the delirium OF reasonable
iutoxication, the consecrated blood of the
MARTYRS of the revolution, forgetting the IN
functions of the fathers of the Republic, for
getting the blessings of benign government.
forgetting the vows plighted to liberty and
loyalty, the petted children Of the Repub-
lie,
With incratItude more stron than traitors arms,
raised their hands with hellish fury to strike
down free government and civil liberty.
From the recoil of that blow We date, not
only the freedom of race of human
beings, but disenthrallment of liberty
itself.
When the fathers fought for Independence
it was with prOtestatious of loyalty, and be-
cause they were denied the usual privileges
of loyalty. Had their efforts proved unavali-
ing, it would not have been considered fatal
to liberty. But after our long EXPERIMENT.
to free government under circumstances 30
favorable TO its development, it liberty could
not exist here in our chosen home, amid a
people whose genius is hostility to oppres-
sion, whose early history is successful resis-
=
subject than the government of the law, well
might mankind ask in despair, where can the
experiment again be made?
Fortunately for humanity this question
needed no answer ; for here IN our own cita-
del, liberty found her defence in the stout
hearts ana strong arms OF millions OF Tree
men. liz was d rare fortune, my comrades,
that God raised you up to when lie made
you a part of the grand uprising of '6l.
w len the COLOSSUS of France aroused his
assembled hosts under the pyramids of Egypt
to the full intensity OF enthusiasm, by re-
minding them that forty centuries were look
ing down upon their Deeds, the nations of
earth applauded the scene. 1t was the breath
of genius inspiring the machinery of its Gre
alton with fiery life of heroism. Yet In
grandeur and Importance how tri1ing the
scene III comparison with the rush of the
hosts of freedom In America TO resist the reb-
els onset upon GILL liberty No gaze OF forty
centuries from towering pyramids, nor the
magnetic influence of the iIps OF genius, H.
spired the northern heart; but when the
clash Of resoundng arms came sweeping up
ON the southern breeze, 1t was TO the North
man S ear the warning note OF liberty echo
ing through the vduited heavens; and he was
transformed from tue peaceful citizen TO the
rugged soldier by an influence within, more
f iiICoiSlaDAC litu dppSdlS Sl OlotNly, VI
the magnetism OF genus.
j Feeble would be my lips to describe the
warlike attitude OF our own gallant State,
perched high upon these green bills above the
foul atmosphere of treason, in response to the
call OF arms. Not more quickly did Clar
Alpine's warrior answer g through copse anc
Heath the .hrih whistle of Roderick Dhu
than did these bold mountains bristle with
thinking bayonets. The men who answered
this call were not mercenaries, men of low
degree. but iikenod most perhaps, after tn.
heroes of the Revolution, to the Iron-sides O
Cromwell; men OF IS grave char acter, moral
dIligent, accustomed TO reflect and zealou
for pu bic liberty induced to take up arms
not by the pressure of want, not by the low
of novelty and license, not b c the rts of re
cruitIug officers, bnt the highest sense of Pc
htical duty, the preservation of the Repub
lIc !; recognizing binding upon them tn
obligations of she founders of the nation
" hen they pledged their lives, their fortune
and their sacred honor, tor The independence
of the colon les; not unmindful perhaps tina
the glory OF preserving Is equal TO that O
founding an empire. thirty thousaui an
lore OF such men left the fields, the shops
the desks OF Vermont to swell the ranks {
our armies.
Thirty thousand and more of such men
nv comrades, has il been your honor wit
that OF others, whom the grave separates troI
this happy Reunion, 10 lead against the hes
of treason. Are the familiar words of the pC
ct true, that
80 Men, high minded men,
Ne who their duties
But Enow their rights, and knowing dare mai nt.in
constitute a state; Then what d state i. our
w ould you, men of Vermont, know the re
2
tain army :? Then read the history of the r
+ belliop. Follow these worthy SONS of mob
! State from your quiet hresdes TO the fields
their achievements. TO well nigh oil the goI
fields OF the Rebellion.
Hear them frs at Bethel uttering dee
( curses upon the incompetency that restraine
them from performing their mission of cha
: tisement upon the rebel horde. See them {
I the plains of Manassas, unconscious Of defea
reluctantly following our retreatIng column
before virtually beaten foe. Again beho
them wadlng the turbid stream OF Warwic
/ with gun and cartridge box held high abo'
Y Its waters, pressing through a leaden ha
r against Il sheltered enemy vastly superior
d numbers, driving him from his str1nghcl
: and holding them against furious assaults u
] til ordered back alter half their brave hear
K had ceased to beat.
IOiAOH ehClAi liOAIi tHC Nu4CHdL
J. my to the lanes, steinming the tide OF Ill
K aster. burning with shame al those night
q evolutions that abandoned the fields Q + dai
victory to defeated foe.
50 on through, wherever rebellion show
4 its - upreared and AUDITING fronts,'' the
s stood Vermont; at Antietan turning ba
e, the march of rebellion Northward at Ere
e ericksbuTgh storminQ Marie. Heights, al
Is planting her standards upon those memorial
n hills; again on that out-stretched b.ttle-fe
{, from the Rapidan to the Apponattox, ru
70 ming through from May to April, every
IS garnering up laureis that would have ador
ed the chaplets of Roman Epperors In thu
W triumphant returns from the conquest of E
Of pires In the valley OF the Shenandoah snatc
re ing victory from defeat ; at Port Hudson a
E. else~ here on the banks of the Missis.i ppi,
IS the Red river. at the defensts of Mobile
= everywhere indeed throughout the vast are
10 of conflict, making up u record which :
most brilliant achievements of war ne,
ecIpsed.
And here | may be allowed to pause, a
:, dwell for one moment upon two days in p
ticular, which Vermont and the nation v
7s, ever hold In grateful remern brance not tt
of they are exceptional, but types of many d.
en- that added SO largely to the fame of the Gre
'r Mountain Safe; and, at the same time, Sc
r, ing to illustrate both the unpar lleled soldi
ly qualities which her sons can acquire
OF experience, and their native, unframed va
80 in the midst of great emergencies !; one
u Sd of July, 1853, the other The 18th of o,
40 1864. My blood thrills at the thought OF
In glory which the sons of Vermont won uI
TO those memorable days.
In 1t will be remembered that after the dis
trOus battles of Ffedericksburgh and Chi
be cellorsville, the rebels, induced no doubt
a. the gloom that had overspread the count
-; undertook their last great invasion of