Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-11-06

naal feast. Nine years has elapsed since
/ this organization had its birth. In thai
time the country hashad history of re
/ construction as in the previous foul
years it had a history of war. Now We
/ need no army in the. field and l hope
/ .'our country and its flag" needs no de
i tenders anywhere. In the days which
| preceded the rebellion, the editor of one
/ of our old abolition newspapers used te
| publish at the head of his columns 5
/ verbatim copy of the constitution of the
| United States, prefaced with this sen.
tence, GA covenant with death and az
agreement with hell" Four years Of
war and ten years of reconstruction has
| destroyed the full force of that criti.
cisn, and no man is sorry that the crit.
cism is destroyed, and that no man un-
der our flag and constitution has right
| to hold slave. Your work in the field
| rendered this necessary, and has re-
moved the last Vestage of inconsistency
from our solemn professions and our
| practices am not accustomed to raise
| my voice for ''the country and its flag,
aside from the sentiments they represent.
/ 1t is not patriotism to say-our country,
right or wrong. There is no patriotism
unless the patriot has in his heart that
which makes country worth preserv-
ing. 1t is one of the proud and signifi-
cant trinmphs of which you can boast,
that you have by your yalor in the field,
been able to make this country worth
preserving that has added new lus-
ter to the flag, and make it emblematic
of nothing that can dim one of its bright
colors.
Tie orator of the evening set an eX-
ample of brevity, and the presence of
| the ladies reminds me of other festivi-
ties that are to follow, which makes it
desirable that |, and the rest who have
been assigned part in this
portion of the exercises should
follow his example in that re-
spect The struggle you took part IN
WAS struggle for the integrity of the
country. We have compelled, by the
strong arm of battle, the South to live
with us, and we own to the Gulf of
Mexico, as well as to the Lakes. We
are, to-day, one people, with one flag,
and one testimony. We ought to stand
together in defence of oar, country In
proud recognition of what the new Uni
ted States is, without desire to return
to what the old United States was
THIRD SENTIMENT. ~.
The I'restde1t and Congress- Of The
United States r.
RESPONSE OF Hoy., LUKE 2. POLAND.
Mr.. President IL never had the for
1 tune of being present at an occasion of
this sort but once before, and supposed
if l was to say anything / should be
called upon to recount nay services in
the war and in the battles ! helped to
fight, and l was fully prepared to tell
all did and all / did not do, but as l
came in WAS served with paper that
notified me that was TO speak of sOme-
thing else Brother Willard has said
were it not for you and othcrs like yon.
We would now have no country; il is
equally true that we .Sbeuld nave no
President nor Congress. Did any of yea
ever think that the President Of the
| United States holds the highest Office in
the world 2 In other countries the THler,
be he Emperor OF. King, becomes snch
by reason of being born in certain
family, because a certain man was his
father or a certain woman his mother;
| bat the President is made the Chief
Magistrate Of the country by the free
| choice of the people of the country. No
Office in the world compares with it.
Now let MS turn from the office to the
man. We elected Gen. Grant as ain in
.strument to carry ouf the law. He is
the chosen Instrument Of yuur viii TO
carry out and execute ths laws you
make by your servants, the. Representa-
tivcs in the two Houses of Congress.
Gen: Grant came to this high office with
no experience as. a civil magistrate or
statesman, never having, to my know
ledge, held any civil appointment. He
was. selected solely by. reason of hts ef-
fcient and patriotic service as General
commanding our armies to put down the
rebellion. To some it seems a boldness
and audaeity to call man to such a
high office wholly without experience,
but all history has shown that the man
who had judgement enough to command.
greaf armies successfully would be com
petent to be great civil leader. /
do not propose to enter upon a political
discussion, but believe that Gen. Grant
has. proved success as o civil magistrate
and has with faithfuiness and fidelity
performed every duty as President, and
executed the laws. In reference to Con-
gress, / should have some delicacy in
stating what l believe about it and its
members. In theory the government
and its power rests in the people,
and they make the laws through
their agents, the members of the
two Houses. They are the instruments
and mouth-pieces, who stand in your
behalf and syeak for you as your agents
and attorneys. Great responsibilities
rest upon these agents and attorneys.
They are not perfect, but are selected
from among frail men and are imperfect
and weak as other men are imperfect
and weak. They have only delegated
power, while the real power is in the
people, and represented in congress by
IL A. r. Al
theories of those people who cast us in
to rebellion was that this government
was partnership of sovereignty. When
you subdued the armies of the rebellion,
by the Providence of God, we had a
President who believed precisely the
same theories as the rebellion was found
ed upon. Congress said to the rebels,
you must give guarantees that we shall
have no further rebellion. We all re-