Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1866-11-02

| ever did deny To fail in this duty would be a
| depth Of degradation to which LOYALTY could not
| descend. To fail in IL would be treason.
In the Declaration of Independence the fathers
! planted themselves upon two fundamental princi-
| pies first the equality Of man second the right
Of people under certain circumstances TO cast off
their allegiance to their government revoul-
| ton based upon these principles resulted in sue
cess From this revelation emerged the great po-
/ litcal event Of hstory-our Representative Fed
eral Republic With love of liberty intensified
by the fires OF the revolution, and fully confident
that liberty was safe only in the complete recogni-
ton Of che principle that are equal the fathers
hlstened to bind their countrymsn TO this truth by
placing it foremost in their bills Of rights. Thence
Onward It has Stood recognized in all the fitness
| OF is meaning by portion of the country, denied
in its application to a certain race by the remlin-
der. Taence arose the unholy struggle, the cir
! rcpressible conflict
| On the one side was arrlyed self interest and the
preljulce Of race-,n the other consistency aud
| justice. The unparalleled prosperity OF the
ton, It's giant strides to power, our own conceit.
at times well nigh closed eyes to justice.
/ Then the colhict would temporarily subsids. Our
ears we're continually soothed by the lullaby Of
compromise. At.rst all acknowledged the incon-
sistency OF slavery with equality AT length a
portion, blindedby selfinterest, became the friends
of slavery, and necessarily in the same degree,
the enemies Of equality. As nation we pro-
| claimed equality, we practisei injustice. The con-
slant encrolchments Of slavery naturally consol-
/ dated the power OF liberty. The equality which
slavery at first denied TO its victims il at 9Th de-
med 20 the nisoffreedon Constitutional rights
became sacred only construed in favor of slave
ry and the first successful assertion OF these rights
in behalf Of freedom, in a contest precptated by
slavery. became to the latter power the apology
for treason.
Forgetting in the delirium Of reasonable intox-
ica.ion, the consecrated blood of the martyrs of
the revolution forgetting the iniunctons of the
! f.tb .,ft lie tba
of benign government, forgetting the vows pligh-
te TO liberty and loyalty, the petted children of
the Republic,
with ingrati,ude strong than traitors arms"
raised their hands with hellish fury to strike
down free government aud civil liberty. From
the recoil of that blow date, not only the free
dom of race of human beings but the disenthrall-
ment OF liberty itself.
When the fathers fought for Independence il was
with protestations-of LOYALTY. and because denied
the usual privileges Of loyalty. Had their efforts
proved unavliling, It would not have been consid-
cred fatal TO liberty. But after our long expert
ment OF free government under circumstances
favorable to its development, If liberty could not
exist here in her own chosen home, amid people
whose genius is hostility to oppression. whose ear
~ history is successful resistance to tyranny whose
will is not more the subject than the governor of
the law well m ght mankind ask in despair, where
can the experiment again be mme?
Fortunately for humanity this question needed
| no ansWefi IOr mere IN ner own cltt1el, uOcfJy
| found her defence in the stout hearts aud strong
arms Of millions of freemen. 1t rare fortune,
my comrades, that God raised you up to when He
made you Il part OF the grand uprising of '6l.
| When the colossus of France aroused his assem-
bled hosts under the pyramids of Egypt to the full
intensity of enthusiasm, by reminding them that
forty centuries were looking down upon their
deeds the nations of earth appauied the scene.
| 1t was the breath OF genius inspiring the machine
ry ofits creation with the frey life OF heroism. Yet
in grandeur and Importance how triflng the scene
in comparison with the rush OF the hosts of free
dom in America TO resist the rebels onset upon
civil liberty No gaze OF forty centuries from
towering pyramids, nor the magnetic influence of
the lips Of genius inspired the northern heart but
when the clash of resounding arms came sweeping
up on the Southern breeze, it was to the North
mans ears the warning note of liberty echong
through the vauted heavens and he was trans
formed from the peaceful citizen to the rugged
soldier by an influence within irresistible
than the appeals OF oratory, or the magnetism of
genius.
Feeble would be my lips to describe the warl ike
| attitude of our own gallant State, perched high
upon these green hills above the foul atmosphere
of treason, in response to the call to arms. Not
more quickly did Clan Alpines warriors
Through eopse and heath the shrill whistle OF
Roderick Dhu, than did these bold mountains bris-
tie with thinking bayonets. The who an
swered this call were not mercenaries, men of low
degree, but hkened most perhaps, after the heroes
Of the Revolution to the Iron-sdes of Cromwell
men of ''grave character, moral diligent, accus-
toned to reflect and Jealous for public liberty,
induced to take UP arms, not by the pressure of
want not by the love of novelty and license, not
by the arts of recruiting officers but by the high
sense of political duty, the preservation OF the
Republic recognizing as binding upon them the
obligations of tho founders OF the nation, when
they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their
sacred honor, for the independence OF the col
onies not unmindful perhaps that the glory of
preserveg is equal 10 that of founding empire.
Thirty thousand aud more of such men left the
fields, the shops, the desks of Vermont to swell
the ranks OF our armies. Thirty thousand and
more Of such men, my comrades, has 1t been
your honor with that Of others. whom the grave
separates from this happyreunion. to lead against
the hosts OF treason.
Are the familiar words of the poet true, that
"Men, h gh minded men.
Men who their duties know
But know their rights and knowing dare maintain"
constitute state2 Then what a state is ours.
Would YOU, men of Vermont, know the record oil
this gallant band, this Green Mountain army?
Then read the history Of the Rebellion. Follow
these worthy of a noble State from your quiet
resides TO the fields of their achievements to well
nigh all the CORY fields Of the Rebellion.
Hear them first at Bethel uttering deep curses
upon the incompetency that restrained them from
performing their mission of chastisement upon the
rebel horde. See them on the plains OF Manassas,
|
retreating columns before virtually beaten foe.
Again behold them wading the turbid stream Of
Warwick, with gun and cartridge box held high
above its waters, pressing through leaden hail,
against a sheltered enemy vastly superior in num-
bers, driving him from his strongholds and hold
ing them against furious assaults until ordered
back after half their brave hearts had ceased to
beat
Follow them through from the Chickahominy
to the James, stemming the tide OF disaster. burn
ing with shame at those nightly eyolutions that
abandoned the fields OF daily victory TO defeated
f~.
So on through. wherever rebellion showed its
'upreared and abuttng fronts" there stood Yer
mont; at Antietam turning back the march OF
rebellion Northward at Fredericksburgh storm
ing Marie's Heights, and planting her standards
upon those memorable hills again on that out
stretched battlefield from the Rapidan to the Apo
mattox running through from May to April, eve
ry day garnering up lanrels that would have
ad orned the chaplets OF Roman Emperors in their
triunphal returns from the conquest OF Empires;
ia the valley Of the Shenandoah snatching victory
from defeat at Port Hudson and elsewhere onthe
banks OF the Mississippi, up the Red river, at the
defsnses of Mobilo-eyerywhere indeed through
out the vast arena of conflict, making up record
| which themost brilliant achievements OF war new