The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-05-31


graves, the memories that we glorfy are
all that link the rising generation with the
realities of which they read. These me-
mentoes, like the slant rays of the setting
sun, already have begun to glimmer. The
Grand Army of the Republic can never be
recruited save from number which is
yearly growing less, but as the circle mar
rows toward the focal point, the warmer
VIII grow the atmosphere of gratitude and
love- More than u quarter of century
ago celebration in this town drew from
the regions far and near small band of
the veterans of 1776 Most of them met as
strangers, but they felt kinship which
made them more than friends. The popu-
lace gathered to behold them with curl
osity almost as great as If they were risen
from the dead. a distinguished orator and
statesman toasted them as ''the peoples
honored guests, who comchere, some on one
leg, some on two, but all on their last legs,
God bless them !" Victor Hugo, think it
was, who said that when he entered the
Hotel DIES lnvaides andsooked upon those
tottcring veterans of the Old Guard. he felt
that he was more in the presence of France
than when he sat in the National Assem-
bly,. Comrades, judge by history-and |
know do not read our people wrong
when say that this little badge, made from
cannon which perhaps you helped to cap
ture, will by and by enttlc you to honor
which none will be too high to pay. 1t is
no heraldic symbol, indicative of caste and
transmlssible from sire to son but it is
rather like the star of the Legion of Honor
or the Iron Cross of Germany, which tcsti-
fy of deeds,and when the wearer dies, 90 to
the Emperor or hang in proud remembrance
on the homestead wall Long live the vet
Grams of the G.. a. r. Green be the
memories of our comrades mustered out :,
Forever thrive and greater grow the land
which calls no man slave and owns no
sovereign but God
But appropriate as Is the observance of
to-day, thrilling as are its recollections and
deserved as are its encomums, there is yet
better way in which to honor the living
and to glorfy the dead. 1t is but due to
them that their work shall be completed.
The arhitrament of war did not pretend to
settle all that it decided, nor was the ex-
pendture of blood and treasure the only
incidental or resultant evil
1t is lamcntable that n portion of the
South is not yet composed it is humiliat
ing that sectional animosities still exist it
Is outrageous that any right of citizenship
should be denied or circumventcd to any
one beneath or flag; it is contemplate be.
You'd expression that hordcs of political
cormorants should desert their native seas
and swarm down there to fatten on the
new born public life All these things de-
lay the contamination of that lasting. honor
able peace for which our heroes died
Who hates the South? DO you, my com
rades No. have seen you clasp hands
with her gallant sons who yielded to you in
the strife Who hates the North? Not
they who tested your highest qualities and
found you too brave to be unkind. o, let
the old, old venom pass away Laugh
down your fossil masters of the lash. fair
South Call home your thieves, great
North BE just, be generous, he one, and
when this day shall fully come, then will
the dead be honored as they should and the
laurel that we bring no more be twined
with rue.
plead for one thing more. Before the
war there was more honesty than now.
Men lived within their means. Officials
felt the sacrcdness of trust Contracts,
whether made with citizen or with the
public, were adhered TO. ''Strikes" and
grabs if not unknown, were not yet
dignitied by politics nor justified by law.
Eric had not then throttlcd Capital nor
purchased Virtue with his theft. Tam
many had not scalped his captive city nor
fattenedon hersblood Credit Moblier had
not then stalkcd across the continent nor
pulled down greatness with his snuous
tail. Our own peculiar Chancery Gyro-
scope had scarcely begun to revolve its
wheels within wheel. But the war, like
all wars, brought on an era of speculation.
Now and then Il commission was purchas-
cd with whiskey and cigars. Occasionally
a quartermaster saved his wages" King
Shoddy flashed his diamonds and giddy
youth went mad Initiation, luxury and
ton. A false light glared on every
thing Truth paled her Intellectual
rays. Reaction was not dreampt of.
and accountability was ignored, or cir
cumvcnted and postponed. 1t was braz-
en- age. The press was subsidized and public
men retained The livery of plundered es-
tates, the robes of misplaced confidence,
the ermine of the tricked and thwarted law
were donned and Haunted as the garb and
glory of great enterprise and thrift. Men
went down on their knees and fawned and
licked the dust. The tyranny of power re-
pressed all honest thought. If any voice
came from the wilderness and cried "Woe,
woe a thousand votaries laughed it into
silence. If any Cicero held Catalina and
Ncrres up to scOrn, in the corrupted cur
rents of this atmosphere his cloquencc was
blown away. 1t was an iron age. A free
people were cnslaved and knew it not
paint the picture as of the past. Would
that it were, Think you that this was
what our soldiers fough for? In that
great moment when they conquered pru-
duence, put aside self-seeking and bore
their young lives to the very altar, think
you that if foreknowledge had been given
them of the greed that was to follow they
would have thought the prize was worth
the cost In those cold days when uni
forms grew thin and the Government had
none to spare when wives and children
cried at home and the paymaster came not
near; when food was doled out by an enc
my and the prison opened not its doors
would it have added to the ardor of their
patriotism to see the Forty-second
Congress steal away with double store {?
When they struggled for four long years
rather than yield single State to slavery !;
nay, when our brave old Second would
have fought till this time to hold their cap
tured riile-pit at Spottsylyania, would they
have thought that land was worth SO much
could they have seen their western heritage
bestowed on companies and seen them pur-
chase with it the national honor which trea-
son could not destroy?
These abuses would have driven more
jealous people to the verge of revolution.
do not stand here to speak
against union of effort nor the con
centration of capital; they develop our
resources, they make us great; but |
plead for more fidelity to public and pri-
waite trust and would throw off the iron of
monopoly wherever it spreads beyond its
grade. We need that frequent recurrence
to fundamental principles" of which the
Constitution of Vermont so quantity but so
truly speaks we need to guard against
that rapacity which, as Montesquieu says,
''ever grows with prosperity, but ever en-
dangers the State !" we need that "eter-
nal vigilance" which jefferson says lis
the price of liberty" In this country,
where every man is sovereign, responsibility
is on us all. We cannot gcneralize it, we