The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-06-14

image you cherish in your hearts with
a feeling strong as the first love of bud
| ding womanhood- he whose discipline
in the camp and bravery in the field
made his imprint on the officers and
soldiers of this Division. We imagine
we still see him
Through the smoke created night
OF the black and sulphurous fight,
There, where deaths brief pang was quickest
And the battles wreck lay thickest.
Whilst the broken line enlarging
Fell, or fed along the plain,
There, be sure, was Reynolds charging
There he ne'er shall charge again {"
Well might Meade exclaim at Gettys-
burg, on the death of this patriot, as
Napoleon did at Marengo, on the death
of his great Observation-Disclosures
Victory at such price is dearp How
clear the memory, how vivid the recol-
lections of this decisive battle. Let us
state the positions of the contending
forces as planned. General Lee says lit
was determined to make the principal
attack upon the enemy's left, and en-
deavor to gain position from which our
artillery could be brought to bear with
little Round Top" This, the COnfeder-
ate commander directed General Long
street to do. Opposed to him was the
Third Corps, and to this menaced point
the key of the whole po ition-was
moved with other troops) the Pennsyl-
vania Reserve Corps. On came the
masses of Longstreet, without even be-
ing preceded by skirmisher. The
Third Corps, alter manful resistance,
is forced back; the first Division of the
Fifth Corps meets the same fate,
and then the steady valor OF the Reg
ulars is opposed to this on-coming
tide. They are outfianked-compellel
to change front and fight their way
back Yet on comes the column of
Texans, headed by Hood, shattered,
but steady. They essay to carry the
slope ofthe little Round Top. You had
the proud privilege of meeting them
midway You had the honor of re-
pulsing them. You threw them back
as the rock hurls the ocean wave in
fragments from its front. On the day
succeeding, your determined courage
broke their line and added fresh laurels
to your brow. But why particularize?
Your action won the admiration of your
comrades, the commendation of your
officers, and tended to free the soil Of
your State from the foot of the invader.
This engagement requires more than
passing notice. 1t was the spot where
the aggregate powers of the COnfedera-
cy had set their fortunes on a single
cast, resolved to stand the hazard ofthe
die. The stake was what? Not inde-
pendence, but that which would have
tended very much towards it. The rec
ognition of the Confederacy by foreign
powers as de fdctO government. And
if the Southern diplomats at the Euro
pean courts will tell the truth, this in
vasion was planned by them, with the
guarantee that if successful their Euro
pean sympathizers would hail them as
a legitimate power among nations.
What gave Franklin and dhiscolleague5,
under direction of our first revolution,
recognition at the cOurtOfLOuiS? WaSit
notOur prestige won at Saratoga? A SIM
liar result at Gettysburg for the Confed-
crates, in my Judgment, would have
tended to the same end, dignified trea-
son, and changed the term insurrection
into successful revolution. Let us yet
advance. With the measure of your
glory filled to overfowing, you are Gull
ing fresh laurelS from the thOrnS of
danger strewed in your path, from the
RappahannOck to the James. The Will
derness. Spottsylvania, the North Anna
and Bethsada Church shine in lustre on
your banners! Five Forks is fought;
the strife is ended, and those massive
columns of sOldiery, organized with
speed that astonished the world and
made monarchs quake in their palaces,
moved noiselessly from these Warlike
scenes corporations to their quiet hon e.;
not as Othello, "With their occupation
gone" but Cincinnatus like, returning
to their daily avOcations, having served
ment like this, when passions are lull-
ed and reason holds supreme sway, af-
ter traversing this sea of blood, it is of
all importance TO critically state results,
especially as they apply to the govern
seen, although all powerful to defend
herself, as at Marathon, against foreign
invasion, finally wasted her SUBJ
stance in civil wars with her confed-
crate States, and fell an easy prey
into the lap of monarchy. Rome,
''she who was named eternal and
arrayed her warriors but to con-
uuer," became the victim Of one of
her own sons. Caesar passed the Ru-
bicon, civil war was inaugurated, and
Rome was free no more! Venice, the
republican bulWark of Europe against
Ottoman invasion, exists only in histo-
ry. In Holland the name of fCOmmon-
wealth is gone, and she bows to the
sceptred sway of king. The short
lived republicanism of France is driven
out of the Senate chambers; and crush
ell in the nation by the bayonets of Ma
poleon's grenadiers. / have read, some
where, the no less beautiful than truth
full expression, "that the republics of
old appear like an unhappy maniac,
who, in a paroXysm of madness, crush
ed at his feet magnificent vase, gorge
Gus i'm hue and priceless in value, is seen,
in the first interval of returning reason,
endeavoring to gather up and re-unite
the glittering fragments, butstrugg ling,
alas! i'm vain"
Let us accept results from the pages
ofhistory. Let us be taught experience
from others errors. Let us bind up
the wounds of the Republic. Let us
like all brave men, have magnanimity
i'm our hearts for fallen foe. Let us be
animated by the spirit that made Burke
the great Irish statesman in the English
House of Commons, pending therevOlu-
ton of '76, utter the sentiments "tnat
he gloried in the bravery of the colon
les" our revolutionary forefathers; and
when called to order for such disloyal
utterances, replied that chad they not
fought manfully for what they believed
to be right, they would be unworthy