The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-08-25

| your dead died not, but continued to fight on
with you in your battles to the end One of
your comrades, MORALLY wounded and dying,
| when told he had but few moments to live,
made this reply: "If it be true" said he,
'that after death we may go where we choose,
IshaH go to the front and rejoin my regiment"
And his was the very soul of Christian
| he fell, he rebuked his weeping comrades for
| lamenting his fall so particularly. 1T is no
worse for me" said he with emphasis, "to die
| for my country than for any other man." Turn
| my face to the enemy!" was the last request
of your departing comrades.
Such souls indeed died not nor was their
valor inferred with their bones. 1t survived
| to the living, as their proper inheritance, and
| made your little battalions, when reduced to
only twice hundred, very gods in war!
| But Names contingent of seventy thou
sand strong, was but a part of that patriot
host that sustained the great cause, and won,
for us and the world, the final triumph-the
victory you, this day, celebrate.
What shall we say of that victory, that
| great event that kept the nation whole and
made it wholly frees Events are great only
because great things follow. Great victories
| followed by great defeats make no lasting i'm
| preston upon human affairs. But the VIC
tory of Appomattox of its greatness, re-
| garded in its results, God alone hath knowl-
| edge. But this we know. the victory we eel
| citrate was complete. 1t settled the two great
issues which divided and distracted our coun-
try, almost from the formation of the govern
ment. 1t was only by the happy concurrence
of the most fortunate circumstances, yes, by
the greatest miracle of human wisdom and
moderation, our constitution of government
was passed and adopted; by so great mira
Gle, indeed, it seems rather a boon from
Heaven than the offspring of human wisdom.
In that instrument our fathers were wiser
than their times. and we of this generation
had to pay the penalty.
Two-thlrds of century our country was
divided on the construction of this great
charter; the one side contending, under it, for
the sovereignty of the States and the right of
property in man; the other, for national
sovereignty and the equal rights of all men.
These were the two great issues-Freedom
and Nationality-which produced the war and
were settled by it. Their settlement was
worthy of the gigantic struggle which they
produced. The strength of the charter had to
be tested-tested by the guage of battle, and
thank God and the valor of heroic men, it
stood the test-was equal to the emergency,
and to-day, by the blessing of Heaven, it
stands victorious, vindicated, the immaculate
constitu ton. as our fathers intended it and as
we will transmit it.
Then again your victory was final and ir-
reversible as well as complete, quality in
which you all on this day have the greatest
felicity. For no power on earth can ever rob
you of your glory by reversing that victory.
If events are great because great things fol-
low, how inconceivably grand will be the
figure in history made by the irreversible VIC
for Of IL both
into the heart of man to conceive the future
greatness and glory of the Republic. saved by
that victory. AS widely extended as are
its bounds, they are not fixed, and there is no
earthly power competent to say with authority,
''Thus far and no farther. and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed Those proud waves
shall prevail and continue to prevail, until
future millions of this great continent have but
zone country, one constitution, and one des-
tiny"
What happiness, then, is ours, that great as
was the price paid the victory is worth all it
cost How unlike most civil wars which, like
family quarrels, are unfortunate affairs al
ways to be regretted or to be forgotten as
soon as possible! But who that loves his
country, now regrets the terrible struggle and
would restore the condition of things prior to
the war; Better by far that five hundred
the land should sleep in soldiers graves better
weight of thousands of millions
of debt; for. great as was
the sacrifice Of blood and treasure, we all know
now, it was necessary to preserve and vindi-
cate the work of our fathers; necessary to
make our government truly and practically
Republican, and to settle forever its true con-
struction, its true intent and meaning to be
E plari5us unum. What an advance in good
government! These grand results of our victory
would have required centuries of strife and
conflict if possible at all, as triumphs of
Peace.
The war is over. That great evil, human
slavery. that severed and estranged our people
and thus made us enemies.-both the curse
and enemy of the Republic-that is destroyed.
The proclamation by the pen of the grent
Liberator Is made good by the sword. Then,
the constitution of our fathers and all our free
institutions complete, are preserved and stand
to-day at once the wonder and blessing of the
world. and now, after all that can be said, is
not this the conclusion of the whole matter:
after the sacrifices Of the war-the hundreds
of thousands slain, the thousands of millions
of treasure poured out; is it not true that the
union of States is better cemented and stronger
in the affections of the whole people-south as
well as north-that the Republic is more
beautiful, more powerful and more respected
among all the nations of the earth to- day, than
it was before the war: This in very truth is
our bright and glorious history, secured to US
and the generations to come, by the final
triumph at Appomattox.
What honors then. belong to our nations
defenders for the victory which has so ad-
vanced the Republic and the cause of good
government and Of equal rights to all men.
The same honors. the same great praise and
the same great gratitude which always have
attended and always will attend those who
have perilled all, life itself, in battle for their
country.
"Let me remind you," said Washington,
hundred years ago, congra tulating his army
upon the final triumph of independence. "Let
me remind you-you the private soldiers of
the dignifed part you have performed in this
great struggle; for happy, thrice happy will
he be accounted hereafter who has contributed
in the least degree, to the establishment of
this stupendous Republic, upon the broad
basis of Freedom and Empire"
Happy, thrice happy, we exclaim, shall you
be accounted hereafter, our nations defenders,
who have contributed so much to the pressrva-
ton of the Republic, upon the broad basis of
Freedom and Nationality. Immortal honors
shall be accorded to you as saviors of the Re-
public, no less than to our fathers as founders
of it.
Again, comrades, survivor of the survivors,
bid you welcome. Welcome to your grand
Reunion. to this your glad Feast of Victory !!
At the close of the Governors address the
Band played the "Star Spangled Banner
after which Gen. Chamberlain introduced
Gen. O. o. Howard as follows
Comrades and So1diers:-We have named
this camp after hero who sacrificed his life to
the cause of his country. God spared another
honored name, and he who bears it is here,
present before you. Every man will remem-
her the gallant soldier who lost his arm at
Fair Oaks, and who waved the stump aloft as
signal of victory and led his battalion against
the enemy. 1 introduce to syou General
Howard.
AS the General came forward there was i'm
mense cheering, and it was some minutes be-
fore an opportunity was afforded to hear him.
His keen, bright eye, pleasant smile and
military presence all seemed to magnetic the
audience. He spoke as follows:
GEN. o. O. HowARD's RESPONSE
| Coz. Plaisted, Sailors and Soldiers, Comrades:
| Ladies and Gentlemen,-I am not used to
this sort Of battery (referring to the prolonged
II habo1f of o,r onn,noJo,