Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-07-06
THELES son OF GETTYSBURG.
An Add ess by George william Curtis Be
fore the Veterans of the Army of the
Potomac and the Army of
Northern Virginia.

northern virginia
When the orator, George eWilliam Curtis,
was presented, three cheers were called
for by Gen. Sharpe and he was greeted
with hearty applause at the conclusion of
his oration. Mr.. Curtis spoke as follows {:
Upon this field consecrated by American
yAlOr we meet to cnnsecrate ourselves to
American Union. In this hallowed ground
lie buried, not only brave soldiers of the
blue and the gray, but the passions OF war,
the jealouses of sections, and the bitter
root of all our national differences, human
slavery AS the fate OF Christendom was
determined at Tours, that of American
Independence at Saratoga, and that of
modern Europe at Waterloo, the destiny
OF the American Union was decided at
Gettysburg. A hundred other famous
fields there are Ul the same American
bravery in the same tremendous strife :;
fields whose proud and terrible tale hls-
tory and song will never the OF telling.
But it is here that tue struggle touched
its highest point. Here broke the fiery
crest of that invadn-, wave Of war. From
this field the civil cOutcs., through re-
nowned camLaigns of courageous endur-
ance, OF fearful carnage, and OF accumu-
lating heart break for Nol thern and South
ern homes, slowly receded toward It's end
This, therefore, is We of the historic nelds
of the world, and t. rs Americans no 9th
er mas an interest 81 JlOlOullti
and Arbela, Worcester and Valmy, even
our own Bunker Hill and Saratoga, and
Yorktown, fields of undying fame, have
not for us Il Significance so vital and so
benefcent as this field of Gettysburg.
Like the House of Delegates in Williams
burg, where Patrick Henry reused Nir-
ginia 20 resistance like Fanueil Hall in
Boston, where Samuel Adams lifted New
England to independence like Carpen-
ter's Hall in Philadelphia, where the Con
tlnentat Congress assembled, this field Is
invested with the undying charm OF fam
Gus words fifty spoken. w Whlle yet the
echoes of the battle might have seemed to
linger in the awed and grieving air, while
far beyond the Potomac the hostile armies
still lay encampeG, and the final issue OF the
war was veiled, stood the sad and patient
and devoted man, whose burden was
greater than that of any man OF his gen
GRAFTON, and as greatly borne as any sol
emn responsibility in human history-the
man from whom no disappointment, nor
calumny, nCr defeat, nor calamltouS dis
aster could eXtort an unklnd or unSener-
GUS word of a single toe.
Upon this field he spoke the few simple
words which enshrine the significance of
come part of this historic scene, to en-
dure with the memory of Gettysburg, and
to touch the heart and exalt the hope OF
every American from the Gull TO the
Lakes, and from ocean to ocean, so long as
this valley shall smile with spring and
glow with autumn, and day and night and
seed time and harvest shall not fail.
Already he had said with the pathetic
yearning of true American heart while
the wal was imminent, but had not yet
begun: 1--WE are not enemies but friends,
we must not be enemies. Though passion
may have strained, it must not break our
bonds of affection. The mystic cords of
battle
and patriot grave to evcry living heart
and hearthstone all over this broad land,
will yet swell the chorus of the Union
when again touched, as surely they Will
be, by the better angels of onr nature, !"
To-day his prophetic vision Is tulnlled II
there be Joy III Heaven this day 1t 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. III was on
the 2lst and 25th OF June, l'so, mat the
votes of New Hampshire and Virginia,
decided the adoption of the constitution Of
the United States. This year, almost this
very day, is its centenary, and no where
in the country could the glorious anniyer-
sary be celebrated with such perfect
propriety rs upon the Held where, by
the ma jestic decision OF forces from
which there is no appeal, the constitu-
ton was decreed to be an lmperish-
able bond OF national union and liberty.
In one view the civil war was
war of constitutional vindEauion, in an
other of constitutional Interpretation. But
in any view it was an inevitable war, If
ever such phrase may be used. The issue
at stake was ostensibly the nature and
vitality of a great political union. But
beneath and beyond lay the problem OF
social and industrial system inextricably
involved by the compromises OF the con,
stitution with the national conscience and
the patlonal life. 1t was a war without
precedent for the grandeur OF its slgnlfl-
canoe, for the vastness of its resources,
and for the stern tenacity of its combat
ants. 1t was contest not of regular ar
mics nor of mercenary levles 10 gtatlfy
dynastic ambition or to extend ruthless
conquest, but of republican citizens self
organized into military hosts to maintain
conflicting principles held with equal sin
cerity and defended with equal courage
Only American valor could nope success
fully to assail American Union, and moth
ing but the same ValOr could successfully
maintain IL. Yet even that heroic dtVu-
ton might not have withstOod the llerN
onset of an equally resolute political cou-
vction. But when union became identi-