The Portland daily press., 1888-10-15


nIty years ago, De TocqueYille, the eminent
French statesman, visited this country and
spent TWO years in the careful study Of the
WORKING Sa OF our institutions. He seems to
| oughly understood them, and in his famous
Dook, democracy In America" published
aIter MS return, he pointed out slavery as the
ehlei source OF our danger, and fore
s4i e4lu the troubles TO which 1t would
give rise. He could only foretell, however.
nor could any one prevent Moral laws
WORK as certainly and as remorselessly IN the
domain OF politics as do the laws which gov
ern the operation Of nature
Mute thought has a sonorous ecboo saws
an eminent French writer. He might have
added that the rovegb berations Of the echo are
proportional to the mora power Of the
thought. The thunders Of thB'-~=tillary al
Gettysburg, louder than had ever before been
heard on an open field OF battle, were the
echoes Of the preamble to the Declaration of
Independence. They proclaimed that none
but free men should live in a free country.
and that they all should have equal rights
ana power under the laws. Only in this way
can free government exist, as the trainers
and signers Of the Declaration well under
stood. The war of the rebellion was, then,
contest on the part OF the government for
self-preservation, a duty as incumbent on a
democracy as upon an individual.
The nation had shown its pOwor to resist
foreign foes; would 1t be able to overcome
those OF its own householder Should the bal
ance Detweeen the centripetal and centrifu-
gal forces, under which 1t had been intended
tnat tne members OF our political system
should move in harmony around a common
centre, be disturbed, and these members be
allowed to drift off into space at their own
Will, perhaps hereafter to be constantly com
ing INTO collision with one another? These
questions were decisiyely answered at Get
tysburg. The end did not come then. but 1t
was made certain. No rational person
doubted the outcome after Gettysburg. The
RED handed perJurer and usurper who then
sat on the throne Of France waiting and
wishing and plotting, but not daring 10 inter
pose Lor the destruction Of government
Wnlch MS own nation had helped TO estab-
nsn, concealed more carefully, II he did
not cease, his Vaccinations. The
OF everybody but themselves,
confined their assistance TO the Confederates
to such acts as could not be made the pretext
for war; Thenceforward TO much greater
moral support of the civilized world were on
the side OF the Union. The battle of Gettys-
burg had shown the possibility and the prob
ability. ay, the certainty. Of the fulflment Of
Bishop Berkeley's famous prophecy
Westward the course Of empire takes its wav.
The four nrst acts already past;
A fifth shall close the drama with the day,
Times noblest offspring Is the last"
The fulflment Of this prophecy will result
from the lessons taught by the war, lessons
ocratic form Of government can be perman-
ent only when all men living within IL have
equal rights under the laws, and have suff-
clent intelligence and moral sense TO exercise
from them. The government being under
obligation to prolong its own existence, as
the expressed wish of the people. has the
right and the power to enforce the perform
ance OF these conditions. An education sufi-
cient to enable q man TO transact the ordin-
ary business Of life, which shows inclusive
those principles Of morals which underlie all
religions, should be made compulsory upon
those who hereafter may aspire to the priv
uege OF suffrage. Intelligence and morality
are the formation Of republican institutions.
Beyond that every man may safely exercise
MS own belief. be he heather or Christian,
Hebrew or Mohammedan, or. to speak in a
paradox, even have no religious belief at ALL
recent developments seem to make plain
also that it is the duty of the Government in
tne exercise OF the instinct Of self-preserya-
tl0n TO prevent the immigration OF those mis-
guided people who are hostile to all forms Of
government. Their belief may
De due TO the unfortunate conditions under
which they were born and bred in foreign
lands, but it Is already not the duty of this
country to harbor those who confess allie
glance to none.
In considering the supreme Importance of
tne victory at Gettysburg, could not help
making these suggestions. They seem nat
uraily TO arise from the subject They might
De expanded into volumes, but | can trust
tne common sense OF this audience to take
them 1 and work them out to their proper con-
One more pecularity of the victory at
gettysburg, considered as the turning point
OF the war. Although only 25 years have
elapsed, yet, already, both victors and van
qulsned unltesin expresSiOnsfOf satisfaction
at the result. Nowhere else In the past his
TORY OF the world can this be paralleled. It
was hundreds OF years after the conquest Of
England by William the Conqueror, before
Anglo Saxon and Norman grew together in
to homogeneous nation, and the French
man Oh today has still an antipathy to ''per-
fidious Albin," because it humbled the
eagles Of Napoleon at Waterloo This here
tofore has always been the case between con-
querers and conquered. Family quarrels
have even been proverblal for their bitter
ness. and this was bitter enough while IL
lasted. The era Of fraternal feelings be-
tween North and South which has already
arrived, Is an auspicious omen for the fu-
ture.
And here let me say we could take no cred
u Tor what we did on this field II we had not
Deen confronted by men as brave as our
selves. saw the famous charge Of Picketts
Division on the third day. more magnif-
cent sight l never saw than when, after
forming, they advanced across the fields tow
ardsitbe Emmettsburg road. have read the
history Of many famous charges, but never
OIL one that marched so far and so steadily in
"a
no falling out, except by those |
disabled by our merciless fire, they advanced
Till further advance was an impossibility.
As the 18th Maine lay on picket that night
on the ground over which they advanced,
| saw, the next morning, eight or ten
files front lying on their faces, side by side,
as evenly as IL placed by hand, where our
canister had swept through them. ending
their forward movement and their lives at
the same time 1 realized more than ever
the horrors Of war and the bravery Of tne
men who had been fighting.
So, with all honor to the men we fought |
here, and with no desire for self-laudation, |
we have come to dedicate this monument. |
set up in the interest Of history, to mark the |
spot where the nth Maine Regiment, the |
first in the famous "Wheat Field" the |
whirlpool Of He'll" as it has been aptly |
called, did its duty to the best of its ability.
We should be doing injustice to them and to
ourselves did not those monuments do honor
also to the brave men who here gave up their
lives. The patriotic and eloquent words Of
our martyred President, chiseled upon the
stone in yonder cemetery, immortal as the
church they commemorate, will never be
equalled; but 1t Is a question whether those
who die for their country. even as he also
died, are not rather to be congratulated.
"Dulce et decortD. est pro pdtria moni:" ut
Is pleasant and honorable to die for ones
country" said the Latin poet, 1000 years
ago, and modern sentiment echoes his words;
"Come to the bri dal chamber, death
Come to the mother when she feels,
For the first time. her first-born's BREATH
Come when the blessed seals
That close the pestilenee are broke,
And crowded cities wall its stroke;
Come In consumptions CHASTITY form,
The earthquake shock. the ocean storm;
Come where the heart beats high aud warm,
With banquet song, and dance, and wine;
And thou art terrtDe-the tear,
The groan, tine knell the pail, the bier,
And all we know, or dream, or fear,
OF agony are thine.
"But 70 the hero, when his sword
Has won the battle for the free,
Thy voice sounds like prophets word,
And In It's hollow tones are heard
The thanks OF millions yet to be-"
Following Gen. Hobson's address was the
poem written and read by Capt. George w.
Verrill, of Portland, as follows:
FIELD.
The foei the foe advances. Marx you now his
Straight for the Union left where half formed lines
are seen.
He aims to hurl his columns with reslstless force
Upon and through the Orchard, hlushing with its
fruit,
The Hillock, slumbering in the shadow of It's
trees,
Across the wheatneld, happy with its ripening
over the erags and pits and slOughs Of Devils
Den.
Around and up the sleeps of Round Tops ragged
To smite, to pierce and crush; to tear and sweep
The slender thread of Blue stretched out to bar