Wichita eagle., 1888-07-04

| make I'D our minds that man for man tn
soldier from the south will be watch TO
the soldier from the north, and vic
versa" By singular fortune, like Wash
ington, through both parents son o
Virginia, he shares with Washington th
affectionate gratitude OF his country
Upon this field he spoke the few simpl
words which enshrine the significance O
the great controversy and which have be
come part of this historic scene, TO en-
dure with the memory of Gettysburg ant
to touch the heart and eXalt the hope O
every American from the gulf to the lake
and from ocean to ocean, so long as Thu
valley shall smile with spring and GLOW
with autumn. and day and night and seet
time and harvest shall not fail.
Already he had said with the pathetic
warming of true American heart while
the war was imminent but had not yet be
gun: ''We are not enemies but friends, We
must not be enemies. Though passion
may have strained it must not break oul
bonds of affection. The mystic cords o.
memory, stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave t
every living heart and hearth
stone all over this broad land, will yet
swell the chorus of the union when again
touched, as surely they will be, by the bet
ter angels of our nature" Today his pro
phetic vision is fulfilled. The murmur OF
these hosts of peace encamped upon this
field ofwar this universal voice Of friendly
greeting and congratulation, these cheers
of the gray echoing the cheers of the blue
what are they but the answering music OF
those chords of memory; swelling the cho-
rus of the union responding to the better
angels of our nature? If there be JOY in
in heaven this day it is in the heart OF
Abraham Lincoln as he looks down upon
this field Of Gettysburg.
But the occasion has yet another pro-
found interest of association. 1t was on
the 21st and 25th of June, 17SS, that the
votes of New Hampshire and Virginia de-
cided the adoption of the constitution OF
the United States. This year, almost this
the country could the glorious anniversary
be celebrated with such perfect propriety
as On the field where. by the majestic de-
cision of forces from which there is no ap-
peal, the constitution was decreed to be an
imperishable bond of national union and
liberty Like all enduring political
instruments the constitution was not
as Mr.. Gladstones phrase would imply, an
inspiration, in the sense of a work struck
out at once completely fitted for its pur-
pose. 1t was not an inspiration, but a
development. 1t was founded upon the
experience of governing British col
onies, embodying the ancient muniments
of English liberty and the traditional dis
tribution of political power. The whole
scheme had been already
tested in simple political communities
The distinction OF the constitution is the
application of that scheme not to another
simple political society, but to the creation
of one of the most composite political
ever known, a successful
system of complete double citizenship. 1t
a congress of colonies into a
nation OF states.
1t was as United Colonies that on the
naughty day" of which tomorrow is the
one hundred and twelfth anniversary, the
American people declared their 1ndepend-
ence of Great Britain. But twelve years
later the sentiment of state independence,
a condition which, strictly speaking,
bad never existed, as the colo
MES were united in the crown.
had become so jealous that in devising the
new constitution much was left obscure.
this opportunity of vari-
Gus interpretations, however, so strong
was state feeling that except for conf
dence of America in Washington the
most sagacious observers of the time
doubted if the constitution would have
been adopted. Besides the obscurity there
were compromises indispensable to its
formation, but the scope, the operation,
and the consequences of which no human
wisdom could forecast. More than ali
else two things completely eluded antici-
patton or calculation. One was the sec
tional development of slavery which com
PEELED the important compromises of the
At that time it seemed to
be a passing cloud of controversy, but it
was destined to overshadow the land and
to burst in an awful tempest OF wrath
and fire and blood. Tine other
was the sentiment OF nationality,
rs yet uncertain and vague, but
which springing from homogeneity of race,
language, religion and political tradition,
was destined to grow with the marvellous
material development OF the country. with
The ease and simplicity Of popular govern
nent, and with the passion and pride OF
an English speaking people, until the
union would become not so much an in
genious political continuance as the ark of
the covenant, the sacred shrine of the
deepest instinct of the American heart.
In all these conditions lay the final causes
of the civil war. In one view it was a war
of constitutional vindication, in another of
view it was an inevitable war, if ever such
a phrase may be used. Conflicting con-
interests. passions, were all so
absolute, so complicated, so powerful, SO
defiant, that. however the lover of peace
and of the mild sway of reason may de-
plore the tragedy, il was forecast III the
nature of man. The issue at stake was
ostensibly the nature and vitality of a
great political union. But beneath and
beyond lay the problem of a social and
industrial system ineXtricably involved
by the compromises of the constitution
with the national conscience and the ma
tlonal life. 1t was a war without prece-
dent for the grandeur Gifts significance for
the vastness of its resources, and for the
stern tenacity of its combatantS. 1t was a
contest not of regular armies nor of mer-
cenary levies to crafty dynastic ambition
or to extend ruthless conquest, but OF re-
publican citizens self-organized into mill
tary hosts to maintain conflicting princi-
pies held with equal sincerity and defended
with equal courage. Only American valor
could successfully maintain it. Yet even
that heroic devotion might not have with
stood the fiery onset of an equally eSolute
political conviction. But when union be-
came Identical in the minds of its defend
ers with human liberty and human well
fare, then the stars in their courses, the
hopes and prayers of mankind. fought for
the union, and even Ii the conflict had
lasted a hundred years the final event of
the mighty assault upon the union would
have been typi1ied in the last. brave, des-
perate deed upon this field upon this day
twenty-five years ago, the steady, stern,
herolc-hopeleSS, charge OF
the, gallant Pickett.
But that the glory of this day, and of
America, and Of human nature. may be
full, 1t is the veterans and survivors OF the
armies whose tremendous conflict inter-
oreted the constitution. who today, here
upon the field of battle and upon its
1wenty-tifth anniversary. clasp friendly
hands of sympathy TO salute a common
victory. This is spectacle without pre-
,edent in history. No field of the cloth of
gold. or of the grounded arms, no splendid
scene OF the royal adjustment of con-
quests, the diplom;tic settlement of treat
es, or the papal Indictment of crusades,
-iVals in moral grandeur and Significance