Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-08-17

sand shall continue to be wall OF ada
mant around US all.
But Bennine ton t, aches. too. that the Tor
eigner must come hilhcr To enjoy and not to
destroy our Institutions, Ms abiding
citizen, never IL II hwlcss invader. lie
may not mistake the home Of freedom ior Il
land of license. Eor think that. when he has
escaped the terror of the gems d'armes
| abroad. he may inaugurate reign OF terror
| here. The communists wha burned down
the Tuileries and the hotel de NIlle cannot,
under the names # hrarhr,% 'nd+ and
unions. be suffered to make hnnh,G- nf our
railway stations and oar warehrn-,s Hos
| tile bands will no more he permitted Ia
| plumber our trains of merchandise than for
merly to seize the stores Of Bennington, and
| if Breymann with the best troops OF Europe
might not obstruct this great highway with
his cannon, still less may the Films and
Loshers and Iepps with rufiian hands arrest
the movements of our great steam thorough
fares and paralyZe the whole business
of this country. The strong arm OF the ma
cion must teach them that. if they will not
| work, neither shall they forcibly arrest the
| honest work of other men. No mob, though
| it be 40 600 strong, shall trample on the
laws and rights af forty millions. And one
grand lesson that should signalize the open
| ing of the new century is that all hostile
violent demonstration upon peaceful cit
liens shall be as thoi, ughly and as sum-
marly quelled as they were on this spot
one century ago. When bands OF men patrol
our streets with threats in their mouths and
fre-brands in their hands. it is war, and
they are enemies. 1t is no time for blank
cartridges, but for point blank shot. Next
after the riot act and a warning to disperse
comes the bayOnet and the bullet, grapeshOt
and canister. At Pittsburg, three weeks
ago last Saturday and Sunday. Oh. for
one hour of Warner regiment and Stark's
brigade. 1t would Lave cleared the way
from New York to San Francisco, and
hero on the borders OF that old battlefield
and in the freshness of these glorious mem
cries. let these noble bands of Green Noun
tain boys lift up their hands to heaven and
swear that the descendants of those whom
the best soldiers OF Britain and Germany
could not expel from their farms and their
homes. shall never be driven from their law
full labors for an hour by the floating scum
of Europe and America.
But VIC are reminded that the same old
inmities are dead or dying. Six weeks ago
| searched in vain on that Hessian bill for
trace OF these intrenchments which once
blazed with hostile fires.
Long silent, to, has been the drum.
Suspended by its tatooed marge.
That rolled and ratified to Hessians charge"
Even four years ago. stood in the old home
of my ancestors in England. whose occu-
pants. century ago. were probably in full
sympathy with the government against
whom my American progenitors were con
tending with sword and musket, but was
there welcome guest, and but Just now in
the palace where the demented George was
hardening his good-natured heart against
our country, the British Queen received to
her home circle our great captain President
while the whole nation strOve to do him
honor. Thank God that British hands no
longer strike at Anglo-Saxon lives. that
English blood no longer drips from fratri-
cidal wounds, but on both sides of the wide
Atlantic flows fresh and strong in sympa-
thetic hearts. We celebrate, to-day. the
vslor that achieved our liberties, without
thought of bitterness toward those from
whom VIC inherited and from whom We
wrested them-yery Britons from very
Britons
And let us re loico also to-day that these
centennial concentrations have come in
to throw veil over the later and bloodier
wounds, that Concord and Bunker Hill and
Bennington are superimposed upon An
tietam and Gettysburg and Wilderness. 1t
is well that bygones should at length be by
cones. | am one of those who thought that,
for their slaughter Of a million lives and
their assaults upon the nations life, dozen
chief criminals should have been hung be-
tween the heaveus and the earth. but it was
not so done. Another policy prevailed.
This mighty nation of nations of the earth
could pardon and yet live. The cup was
full OF bitterness. but We drank it down.
and now We may throw away tho dregs, for
Southern soldiers have strewn their flowers
on the graves of their Northern conquerors,
and the Southern Governor of South Caro-
lima has pledge protection to the liberated
slaves. As in III the tide of battle turn
ed, so in 1877 at length has turned the tide
OF peace. This year, for the first time in
our national history, the work of our earli
er and later wars is accomplished. We
dwell at last IN u real and homogeneous
MON Of Tree commonwealth 1t is one
harmonious republic, where no sovereign
State is Joined to its fellows by federal bay
onets, and no fugitive for liberty isremand
cd by federal courts to his chains; but,
American citizens. free everywhere, free to
govern themselves, we look hopefully down
the broad vista OF peace and prosperity,
What tongue dare foreshadow the tale
which, if God will, shall be told here one
hundred years hence?
All honor to the brave and honest chief
magistrate. who, after q decade OF fruitless
experiments and smoldering strife, had the
good manhood to break away from all mar
row and partisan restraints. cast himself
upon the sound sense and Christian senti-
ment OF the American people, and lead off
the new order Of centuries; and let the East
and the West and the North and the South
say. Amen and amen.
William Cullen Brysnt'5 poem was then
read.