The Bennington daily banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1877-1877, 1877-08-17

Thus reviewing cursor1ly the early history
Of this State, we may safely say, that none
has history more romantic in its incidents,
or more illustriOus for the herOism aud saga
city OF Its chief men; nor more marked for
the sturdy Independence and honesty Of its
people, for their energy, persistence, Will
indOmitable to defend their rights, and rea-
diness to accord like rights to others. If we
of to-day have become spindling and weak,
it is not the fault of the fathers. True, we
nave not had their personal experience and
training in tho hardships of pioneer life, TO
teach that practical sagaeity which comes of
necessity; nor yet that schooling of n whole
people IN civil rights and law aud statesman
snip, which their long controversy with New
York, New Hampshire, Great Britain and
congress gave them, during the years of that
great awakening of thought which preceded
accompanied and followed the American
revolution, and made Of plan men shrewd
thinkers and wise judges. But they have
left us their thoughts, their spirit their in
stitut1ons-town organizations, those little
demoeracies where the inhabitants, as
semblod in common meeting, discuss and
decide all matters of local government, dis
tribute the offices Of administration and jury
service, by which, and the official service
imposed upon those esteemed the fittest. the
people are put to school in the principles of
government and kept in training for the du-
ties of civil life, and made at one with the
law which they make and administer They
have left us, too, the school house and the
meeting house. and foundations for religious
teaching, for the grammar school and the
university, as well as cleared fields. roads,
bridges and mills-and we have entered into
their labOrs.
II Isl question which presses upon us,
whether the State in it's subsequent devel-
Opnients has proved itself worthy its origin,
and whether we OF to-day deserve such an
cestTy; how far the spirit and the times of q
hundred years ago have impressed them
selves upon the century, aud made it's histO-
ry what it has been, and the people what
they are. In the way of partial answer to
such questiOnings, it may be truthfully said,
that the age has not passed beyond the inn
pulse which first set In motion the State and
its institutions; that the temper and spirit OF
the fathers are yet traceable IN the moral lin
feaments of their posterity: that the princi-
Piles upon which they founded the State lie
under it to-day, undisturbed in place upon
the bedrock Of truth. untouched by decay.
Thus, upon all questions of human lib
erty, especially in the fierce conflicts which
nave since been waged between the absolute
right and the expedient wrong, between the
doctrine of human equality and the wild fan
tasy of property in man, Vermont has ever
been true to her early declaration, and fixed
as neutrality-suspicious. even an agrees
sive zeal for liberty and holy anger against
slavery contemptuOus of all excuse or apollo
/ gy for such invasion of human rights Thus
il happened, that the teachings of the early
abOlitiOnists seemed no new doctrine but
the awakened echo of the voices of the faith
ers who had passed into silence, and their
appeals fell upon willing ears and sank into
sympathizing hearts. 1t was this kinship
to the spirit of the fathers, which inpelled
our people to the verge of the compromises of
the National constitution, or beyond it, in
their legislation upon the subject of fugitive
slaves; and made hostility to slavery the
dominant question of politics, making and
unmakinR parties, and moulding the policy
or debating the utterances of all parties
This spirit mingled largely with the spirit OF
nationality which inspired our people to the
heroic devotion displayed In the late civil
war, and made 1t, in their esteem, wal
twice holy, since in its issue was hound VI
as well the liberty OF the slave. as the ma
4 toms life.
So If we consider the part taken by Yer
mOnters III the wars which have arisen since
the Revolution, it may be claimed of them
that they have not disgraced the memories
OF the men who took Tic0nderOga and con
quered at Bennington. Thus Lake Cham
plain and Plattsburg cheered the rush of tn
| Vermont farmers, TO repel the British invasion
of1Sl4 SO in 1861, the gun fired on Sumte
/ was heard in every hamlet in Vermont. Tn
spirits of the Green Mountain Boys of 9TH
GTants,p slnmbering in the caves of thei
mountains, seemed to arouse to q quickene
life, and Allen, Warner and their compeeI
once more to walk the earth. Every hear
was stirred with q divine anger, and frol
every valley, hillside and mountain to
echoed back the responsive cry, "Since yo
will have it so, so be it,-aud God defen
the right And so Vermont sent forth 1
the fray some thiTty-fOur thousand of h,
, sons, with her gift of blessing and armOr
+ the spirit of the fathers, and they so fOugl
as to make the name of Vermont and ii
Vermont Brigade a historic glory, and
died, to the number of five Thousand, in tt
shock of battle, as only heroes know how
die. And so the nation was saved by Il
sacrificial blood of her sons.-the issues
: the fratricidal strife happily solving, as "
trust, the riddle of Samson, Out OF the ca
er came forth meat, and out of the stron
came forth sweetness /" the riddle of n
time-gOod out of evil,-the wrath of ma
praising God. thus far, in spirit Of freedor
and self-sacrifice, In patriotic devotion an
heroic courage. l note no degeneracy, w
are to bear in mind. that it is the times an
f teeiT nsseessltlss chat search ont the be
the opportunity creates the man for the on
| portunity and the great occasion makes til,
man great for the occasion, who, wllhou
such stress, would have seemed but common
clay, and have died without giving sign O
the greatness that was potential ia him. S
it is, that in the dull times of peace and tn
hum-drum quiet of easy life, the shades O
/.
and are enlarged to OuF vision by the mist
distance that lies between. This Is vel
since 1t keeps alive reverence and aspiration
and kindles divine emulation to be Xix
them. But as there were brave men befOr
Il AgamemnOn, so, as think, Vermont has ha
heroes like Ethan Allen and Seth Warner
wise governors SINCE Thomas Chittenden ;aC
c0mplished diplomats since Ira Allen; abb
statesmen, legislators and jlrists since Ma
thaniel Chapman, if not as great as he,
Those improved means Of inteTcours
among men and reader intercommunicatioi
of Thought and knowledge, the result of move
inventions and new applications of scienc
which have marked the present century an
affected the civilization of the world hay
not passed Vermont by, and her people hav
thereby become less provincial more cosmC
politan, less peculiar people, than our faith
ers were, And yet, being largely agricultu
raj people, with no very large towns or cities
with few milliOnaires and few very poor. ant
little chance TO become rich by speculations
we have not been tempted to stray very fa
fom our fathers ways of industry, economy
simplicity of living and providence 70
the future. And, since we are gathere,
hero ahOut the old hearth-stope, W
may be allowed, in the freedom and con
tidenee Of the family circle, to felicitate our
selves as VermOnters, not only for what on
fathers were, for their heroic lives and his
tOrio deeds and the institutions they oreatet
ity have so faithfully guarded, preserve,
and wisely improved them and have so wei
kept alive the spirit of those institutions AM
the temper of that heroic ge;-that educa
ton is free, and that we have freedom in re
ligiOn, both moving In wider aud deepe
channels than aforetime Of culture an,
Christian charity THAT a greater softnes
of manners has not made us effeminate :
that we are in good degree temperate
sober, self-restrained people, standing b.
good order and obedience to law, oonserva
tive and yot progressing, having a steadfast
ness that may be counted on, and a will o
our own not having parted with practica
wisdom and common sense, nor yet far de
( parted from the religion Of paying our debts
From this little hive and nursery of men
how many have gone forth to the broade
and more inviting fields Of the expanding
West, to the great marta Of commerce, ant
wherever the spirit of adventure has i'm
PEELED, or of gain or ambition lured, carrying
with them the temper and training of thei
birthplace, and planting in virgil
cred in boyhopd upon thes