Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-11-18

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60 1 - taaA alas some L
beryl y pMsnen had crlec
- q nvok he judgment Of God
- slo koldsr, 1T about with cotton
- warM streng and insolent, very soor
|snppe9 - hnGmg ~ - line &C. 30, an,
tough : tr6ckllnG judiciary tackled OF
Drodd Scat as an amendment; whicl
made the declaration read, the negr'
has no rights which the white man il
bound to respect" Meantime public
opinion throughout the civilized world
always a little cynical, and not withou
something of justice, towards what it hat
termed the hollow pretensions of thi
country to liberty, said that judgment hat
already been too long suspended !; tina
the American people had utterly failed il
their declaration, and ought to have suffered
non-suit and been turned out of court Ions
before. Such was the situation when, il
1860, the people, with conscience anc
pride both singing to the quick, by solemn
verdict declared, in the election Of Abra
ham Lincoln, that no more free territory
should be passed over to slavery. Slavery
de6antly answered, vested rights, tht
divine sanction and secession, and ap
pealed to arms. Thus came up to the las
tribunal of earthly resort, the arbitramen
IF tho cuor1 tho 01oS,sf,, ojJ.;1 oftbir oroa
question in the declaration, which fol
more than fify years had shook the fabric
of this government to its very base, ant
which, before it was finally settled al
Appomattox, invoked the largest chancery
powers of the great heart of great man
and taxed to the utmost the physical re-
sources, the patience, the tenacity and the
courage of the American people. 1t was
sought for time to carry on the war con-
stitutionally; for the preservation of the
Union alone, wholly ignoring the declara
ton; but, like the ghost of the murdered
Banquo, this great question would moi
I" down J" not even at the bidding Of
senates, and cabinets and commanders
1t shook the "gory locks" of 100000
slaves in the face of Abraham Lincoln,
and called the great chancellor himself to
witness that he "made of one blood all
the nations of men," Right at last pre-
vailed, and the proclamation which fol-
lowed, striking off the shackles of the
enslaved, returned to first principles, re-
iterated and made practical the truth in
the declaration that call men are created
equal !" straightway the constitution, by
amendment, was made to conform there
with, and suddenly, as light after an
eclipse, England's boast, through her
gifted Mansfield, became our boast.
F." Slaves cannot breathe in our land il
their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they ara
free"
Such was the character of the struggle
from the Vermont standpoint. Our
people from the first looked upon the
contest as one OF ideas and principles, and
as but the closing out oe the Revolution OF
'76, in which the fathers but half did the
work making it a revolution not merely
in the external forms of administration
but in the great principles which underlie
the very foundations Of government itself.
And such has been the constancy OF Yer
mont to these principles of liberty and
ever since she opened the revo-
luton on the 18th of March, l775, by
breaking up the Royal Court at West
(Which, by the way, Massaehu-
sets never could understand, was before
the affair at Lexington in the April after, }
and such her devotion thereto that for
years she has been pointed to as . the
star that never sets" As an incidental
outcropping of these principles, her
judiciary long since decided, on requisition
for the return of fugitive from slavery,
that before a Vermont court, nothing short
Of a bill OF sale from God himself would
give man title to his Fellow man.
Imbued with such sentiments, and sig
nallzed with such birth and early history
as we have seen, and crowned too with
such herosm in former wars who need IN
guire, what of Vermont during that strug-
gle 2 who could doubt that Vermont
would throw her whole soul into the con
dict Who could doubt thu. when the
clarion Of war should SQUAD, Vermont
would be ready for the fray
To prove this, need | recount how from
hillside and valley, and mountain fastness
Nermonters rallied at The call--how the
farmer left his pillow, Putnam like, 10 rest
III the furrow ho@ from every depart
ment of industry in the State, and from
every walk i'll social life how from the
cottage and the villa men came forth with
the blessing Of mother and sister, Of wife
and lover, the far ones even emulatng
the lofty example Of the revolutionary
who !" took down from its hang
ing place on the wall the truaty firelock
anj handing il to husband, brother, or
son, said, 90 and in Gods name strike for
liberty" Need | follow these men to the
field, aud remind YOU that Vermont, with
her armor on, was in the first battle Of the
war /; aud how, ever after, wherever Yer
mont troops were stationed, whether in the
department Of the gulf, beneath burning
sun, IN the MIDST of malaria and fever, or
with the oft-beaten but never defeated
Army of the Potomac, through the blood
and carnage of her forty battles whether
in the valley under Sheridan, or at Port
Hudson under Banks whether IN camp
or on the march whether giving or re
ceiving battle how everywhere, u al
times and under all circumstances Yer
mont soldiers did their duty, and preserved
unsuliled the ancient honor Of the State
Need | recte the deeds Of these brave
men upon the Peninsula, at Antietam,
Fredericksburgh, the Wilderness, where
the 'sold brigade" through a terrible
slaughter which cost more than thousand
men, saved the End Corps from capture,
and the left wing of the army from ruin
Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and the final
conflict which drove the enemy from
their entertainments in front of Rich
mond ? Need | follow Early in that
stealthy but. rapid March on Washington
in July, 1864, by which he expected 10
surprise and capture the capitol, but how
he found the 9th Corps, with the Yer
mont RS ahead and the column well closed
m . only twenty four honrs fram ee,s