Bridgeton pioneer., 1886-06-03
NO. 1898

amendment to the constitution, for
ever destroying in this Republic the
| horrible doctrine of the right to hold
human beings as property-human
slavery-was not foreshadowed only,
but made certain. But above all, and
| beyond all, the life of the Republic
was here saved.
These blossoming orchards and smil-
ing fields, and happy homes which
here surround US, the temples of
God in yonder town, types of the
hearth-stones and temples, which, in
one vast circle, span the continent
from sea to sea the sixty millions of
freemen who make them vocal with
labor and praise; the great principles
of freedom written in organic law,
which alone render them possible the
many centuries of development which
stretch forward to that unknown
point where time shall be forever
lost in eternity; all these things, and
far more than human minds can per-
ceive or human tongues tell, turned
upon the issues of this.feld. So great
was the cause at stake, so utter might
have been the ruin wrought, that
while on this occasion our souls are
thrilled with joy and devout thanks
giving to God at what was here won,
we may well pause and shrink with
dismay as the imagination depicts
what might have been here lost.
1t is written, that, when repulsed
from the walls of Acre, Napoleon said:
Had st. Jean D'Acre fallen, would
have changed the face of the world"
and so if the gray column which here
advanced, animated and urged for
ward by the traditions and purposes
of the Slave Confederacy had pierced
our lines and gained a firm foo o-hoid up
on this crest, the fate ofhuman liberty
would indeed have been changed. To
that assault, and against such change,
you, my comrades, opposed firm front
and those to whose memory we have
reared this monument, died. 1t is
their fortune, and yours, in the chiefest
| battle of the war, at the most critical
point, alone, of all the sons of New
Jersey to stand, you to survive, they
to fall; of both, alike, to win imperish-
able renown. How changed are the
conditions which now surround us
from those under which we last as
sembled here. Then these crests were
swept by the fire of artillery, and
shaken by our guns in reply; these
green fields were crimsoned; these gen
| tie slopes and yonder broad highway,
were covered with the dying and the
dead; life, property and liberty were
all assailed and all imperilled.
Beyond the limits of this field and of
the continent, at that time, were gath
ering other forces to threaten and de-
stroy the nation. Rebel prlvateers
were fashioned in the Severn and the
CLYDE. Rebel emissaries were whisper
ing in the ears of those in power at the
Tuileries and the court of ST. James.
Mr.. Gladstone, now Prime Minister of
Great Britain, had said in public
speech. THAT the North was fight
ing for supremacy, and the South for
| Independence. The Secretary of
State in formal despatch to our Min
lister to England, under date of August
2, 1862, had uttered these remarkable
words: ''It is indeed manifest in the
tone of the speeches, as we'll as in the
general tenor of popular discussions,
that neither the responsible ministers,
nor the House of Commons, nor the
active portion of the people of Great
Britain, sympathize with this govern
ment, and hope, or even wish, for Its
success in suppressing the insurrection,
and that, on the contrary, the whole
British nation, speaking practically,
desire and expect the dismemberment
Oh Uilo NepuUllC.
Among the great powers of Europe
our only symrathizer was the German
Confederation; our only active friend,
the autocratic government of Russia.
The sentiment and sympathy of the
world were against us; first, because
of slavery, but more strongly because
of the apparent success of the rebel
lion in arms. Then, we were second
rate power among the nations of the
earth. Then, our Western growth was
practically limited by the Missouri
river, and cut off by a thousand
miles of wilderness from the settle
ments on the Pacific slope; our credit
was at low ebb; the chains and
shackles of slavery were upon us, and
the whole continent was upheaved by
war. Then, our best and bravest were
diving in battle and hospital and prison,
and women and children were weeping
and praying for their loved and lost.
Then, there was no method OF suffer
ing, no form of sorrow, no experience
of disaster, no bitter agony, no intense
humiliation, no costly sacrifice that
was not pressed upon our people.
Save in their untlinching courage, and
their unshaken resolution to preserve
their government or die in the strug
gle, the freedom of the loyal States Of
the Union, in the hour when the battle
was fought, as nation, had sounded
the uttermost depts of human woe.
We might we'll have said, with the
great soldier and inspired singer Of
Israel:
'sThey compassed me about with
words of hatred; and fought against
me without cause"
IF it had not been the Lord who
was on our side, when men rose III
against us''
Then they had swallowed us ul
quick, when their wrath was kindleo
against us"
'"rhen the waters had overwhelmed
US, the stream had gone over oul
soul:n
"Then the proud waters had gonf
over our SOUL"
For the enemy hath prosecuted my
soul; he hath smitten my life down tC
the ground; he hath made me to dwell
in darkness, as those that have beer
i, | L., Il