Connecticut western news., 1878-09-19
Thursday Morn'g, Sep. 10. 1878.
GOV. HUBBARD'S SPEECH AZ
 LHTCHFlELD.

The following Is the speech maoe py Governor R. D. Hubbard at the reunion oi the veterans of the Second Connecticut heavy artillery at Litchfield on Wednesday:
 lam glad of the opportunity to be present at this reunion of the Second artillery, in the midst of these welcoming flags and this favor ing coneourse of your favoring fellow-citiEens. know that the distinction is not intended fer myself personally, but for the office which l have the honor to hold. In that sense I cept it, and thank you for the compliment.
 The eloquent gentlemen who have just spok- en have recalled the career of your regiment in the field; your mastering place on the green slopes of wonder hillside your depart ure for the front your gallantry at Cold liar Dor, before Petersburgh, ill the valley of the Shenandoah, and at Cedar Creek; your return at close of the war, trave.-stained, battered and scared with the marks of honorable ser vice and so am I here to-day to give you sal utations and thanks for the gallant services with which you honored yourselves, this brave old county of yours, and the good old common wealth whose sons you are.
 people that fail to honor their defenders in the field dishonor themselves, forfeit all
 
 fense in time of need. To every man, there fore, who lifted an arm in defense of the Union; to all that great multitude of men-no, not to all-not to the coward, not to the deserter of his flag, nor the infamous bounty -jumper,- eternal shame and execration on all these but to that great multitude of true men from every loyal state and territory, who not from venality, treachery or hire, but from an honest love of country, mustered to their country's defense in that great struggle which shook the foundations of the republic :; to that million of men in arms beneath whose tread the conti- nent quaked, and who nevertheless, at the conclusion of peace, dropped their arms, as at the wave of wand, and melted back into the peaceful occupations of industry and the obedi- ence of law-to all such, no matter of what race, condition or creed, I bend myself in grat itude and admiration ; but especially to the 54,000 bravo sons of Connecticut who went out of our midst atthe call of their country, and fought where the fight was sorest, ,and counted not their lives dear for the honor of the state not alone to those who fell, but to those who survive as well not alone to the great, con- spicuous leaders of thu war like Grant and sherman and Sheridan, or like our own Sedg- wick, Mansfield, Lyons, Terry and Stedman, but rather and chiefly to the obscure and un- distinguished heroes of the rank and file who, not for glory, but from simple duty, braved the dangers of the lonely picket and the prison pens of the enemy, or stood on the ridges of battle and trod the red-hot plowshares of war and more especially here to-day and i'll this presence, to the brave sons of this old mountain county of yours, to the village Putmans and Starks who, sixteen years ago, came thronging up from her green hills and valleys, and pour ed shemselves into the files of war, and return ed bearing their shields or borne upon them to all these, and to every one of them, I give brotherly greeting, and homage and honor from the commonwealth they served so we'll The state is the debtor, repeat, of every one of her sons who staked his life in her cause To this debt there is no statute of Limitations. It is sacred, sacrifcial, and of perpetual re- membrance. The world will take little note, it may be, of these humble heroes of ours and their numberless sacrifices, but the state whose sons they are will never forget them. Their names are recorded on her rolls of honor, and are sculptured on hundred memorials ill gran ite or marble. They are held in motherly care and are numbered on the books of her remem- brance forever.
 You have read the history Latour d'Auvorgue an old grenadier of the French army, who rose from the ranks to the grade of captain, and re- fused all further promotion, though command ing at one time vanguard of 5000 men. Retiring from the service, he again rejoinod his company, under the first Napoleon, and fell in the thick of battle by the lance of German ulhan and ever after, until the fall of the great emperor, his name was borne on the company roll, and at every daily roll-call of the dead grenadier, the oldest sergeant advanced to the front, bowed his head, and answered, "Died on the field of honor." Veterans of the Sec ond artillery, for every of your intrepid comrades who, like true son of Connecticut, fell with his face to the enemy, and is as silent at your roll-call to-day, I bow my head and an- swer in the name of the state, "Died on the field of honor." For these who having fought good fight, came back, whether maimed or scared, or whole, bearing the tattered and riddled ensigns of the state, have no need to answer. They are permitted, in tho good providence of God, to witness the results of that great arbitration of war, which has given new proof to our courage and constacy in arms, more enduring foundations to the Union, and freedom to 4,00O,000 of bondmen, and, last of all and better than all, of those noble recon- ciliations which have united us together again, victor and vanquished, under common flag, I in the bonds of a common unity, and in the | love of a common country.
 know of no instance in human history where the conqueror and the conquered have l so soon forgotten their enmities in sentiment | of common brotherhood. If however, there | be one fallen adversary in whom, like Milton's | apostate chief the spirit of revolt still survives and who mocks the clemency which spared | him by ill-timed babbtngs secession and the | lost cause, lot his desolate and blasted life be | both lesson and & condemnation. Maiedictions, yes, maledictions, on every | enemy of the country's peace whether he | fought under the stars or bars and honor to | all good men, both them of the blue and those of the gray, whose hearts are true to the peace | conquered by our arms and to those reconcilia- | tions which have made us all brothers again | and common heirs of & common inheritance of | liberty and law.
 A hospital IS to be built in San Fran cisco for Chinese lepers.
 Another famine In Ireland is threat | ened, by the failure of the potato crop.
 The Rev. Pierre F. Irving, nephew of l Washington Irving, died at his home on | Staten Island, last Tuesday, aged 72 years.
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