The Portland daily press., 1888-07-04

ccmctcrys 0cutTdl hODlnSOuy Oh new IOfks
leaning heavily on his crutches, requested
Rev. DIR. Twitehell, Of Hartford, to open the
second days reunion exercises with prayer.
When In concluding he began the Lords
Prayer. the crowd joined him. The poet,
George Parsons Lathrope, was unable to be
present. A part Of his poem was read by
General Horatio G. King. secretary Of the
Society of the Army Of the Potomac, and re-
celyed by the audience with much applause.
When the orator, George William Curtis,
was presented, three cheers were called for
by General Sharpe. The speaker was greet
ed with hearty applause at the conclusion of
his Grafton. he spoke as follows:
Mr.. Curtis's Grafton.
Upon this field consecrated by American
valor we meet to c0nsecrate 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
1ealousies OF sections, and the bitter root Of
all our national differences, human slavery.
Here long and angry controversies Of politi-
cal dogma, of material interest, and of local
pride and tradition, came to their decisive
struggle. As the fate of Chlistendom was
determined at Tours, that Of American Inde-
pendence at Saratoga, and that Of modern
A%oAoPO az W atOAAOO, tuC ucottuy VI tUc
American Union was decided at Gettysburg
hundred other famous fields there are of
the same American bravery in the same
tremendous strife; fields whose proud and
terrible tale history and song win never tire
OF telling. But it Is here that the struggle
touched its highest point. Here broke the
fiery crest of that Invading wave of war,
From this field the civil contest, through re-
nowned campaigns of courageous endurance
Oh fearful carnage, and OF accumulating
heart hrpak for Markham nd Cnu hn.
slowly receded toward its end. This, there
fore, Is one OF the historic fields Of the world
and to us Americans no other has an interest
so profound; Marathon and Arbela, Wor-
cester and Vaimy, even our own Bunker Hill
and Saratoga, and Yorktown, fields of undy-
ing fame, have not for US a significance SO
vital and SO beneficent as this field Of Gettys-
burg.
As we see it to-day beneath this summer
sun 1t Is a happy valley OF golden harvest
fields, Of stately woods, of teeming orchards,
Of glistening waters and Of cheerful homes
Beyond those airy walls Of fmountain stretches
westward to the Sierras and the Pacific,
northward to the lakes, southwark to the
gulf OF Mexico, aud eastward to the Atlantic
the continental empire OF an Industrious and
fraternal people. Its great aspect. its char
acteristic features are all unchanged. Over
1t beam the benignant heavens, upon its
broad and beautiful expanse lies the bene-
diction OF peace. From the day when pio-
".
on through the gradual development of civil
lzatl0n and Its transformation by TRANQUIL
industry from wilderness to a garden, II
had been the happy valley that we behold,
sudden blaze of glory, with its heights and
slopes and meadows, Seminary Ridge, Culp's
Hill and VOLTS Hill, Round Top, Little
Round Top, the Peach Orchard, and Ceme-
terry Hill, all caught up into immortal remem-
brance.
In that fierce light this noble landscape
rises at once into history and becomes dear
to the human heart. Around its chief and
central interest gather associations of fe-
llcjtous significance, as If the Divine Provi-
dence delighted to enrich spot so fair In
itself, so precious in its story, with kindred
memories. Like the House Of Delegates in
williamsburg, where Patrick Henry reused
Virginia to resistance; like Fanueil Hall in
Boston. where Samuel Adams lifted New
England to independence: like Carpenter's
Hall in Philadelphia, where the Continental
Congress assembled, this field is invested
with the undying charm of famous words fit-
ly spoken. While yet the echoes Of the bat
tie might have seemed to linger in the awed
and grieying air, while far beyond the Poto-
mac the hostile armies still lay encamped
and the final issue of war was veiled, stood
the sad and patient and devoted man, whose
burden was greater than that Of any man Of
his generation, and as greatly born as any
solemn responsibility in human history-the
man from whom no disappointment, nor cal
umny, nor defeat, nor calamitOus disaster
could extort an unkind or ungenerous word
of single foe-the man who said Of the
Southern soldiers when the war began that
like their opponents they "are American cit
liens with essentially the same characteris-
tics and powers; exceptional advantages on
one side are counterbalanced by exceptional
advantages on the other; we must make up
our minds that man for man the soldier
from the South will be a match for the SOL
der from The North and vice versa" BY a
singular fortune. like Washington, through
both parents son of Virginia, he shares
with Washington the affectionate gratitude
of his country. Upon the field he spoke the
! few simple words which enshrine the signif-
| canoe of the great controversy and which
have become part of this historic scene.
| to endure with the memory of Gettysburg,
| and to touch the heart and exalt the hope OF
| every American from the Gulf to the Lakes
| and from ocean to ocean, so long as this val
| ley shall smile with spring and glow with au-
| tumn. and day and night and seed time and
harvest shall not fail.
Already he had said with the pathetic
| yearning of a true American heart while the
| war was imminent, but had not vet begun !:
"We are not enemies but friends, we must
| not be enemies. Though passion may have
| strained it must not break our bonds Of affec-
| ton. The mystic cords of memory stretch
| ing from every battlefield and patriot grave
to every living heart and hearth-stene all
| over this broad land, will yet swell the che
rus of the Union when again touched. as
| surely they will be, by the better angels OF
| of our nature" Today his prophetic vision
| is fulfilled. The murmur Of these hosts Of
peace encamped upon this field Of war. this
| universal voice of friendly greeting and con-
| gratulations, these cheers of the gray echo
| ing the cheers of the blue, what are they but
the answering music Of these cords Of mem
ory; the swelling chorus Of the Union re-
| spending to the better angels of our nature
| II there be joy in 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 profound
interest OF association. 1t was on the 2isi
and 25th Of June, 17SS, that the votes Of New
Hampshire and Virginia, decided the adOp.
| ti0n of the Constitution Of the United States
| This year, almost this very day, it is cente.
| nary, and no where in the country could the
glorious anniversary be celebrated with such
perfect propriety as upon the field where, by
| the majestic decision OF forces from which
/ there Is no appeal, the Constitution was de.
creed to be an imperishable bond Of national
union and liberty. Like all enduring politi
| cal instruments the Constitution was not as
| Mr.. Gladstone's phrase would imply an in
spiration, In the sense of work struck out
/ at once completely fitted for its purpose. ii
| was not an inspiration but a development
1t was the result OF actual experiment. y
| was founded upon the experience of self
| governing British colonies, embodying the
| ancient miniments of English liberty and the
traditional distribution OF political power
| The whole constitutional scheme had been
/ already tested in simple political communi.
| ties. The distinction OF the constitution Is
| the application of that scheme not to another
| simple poll tcal society, but to the creation
i of one Of the most composite political com.
| munities ever known, a successful system OF
complete double citizenship. 1t transformed
/ a congress of colonies into nation of States
1t was as United Colonies that on the
"haughty day." of which tomorrow Is the
one hundred and twelfth anniversary, the
American people declared their independ-
| ence, of Great Britain a condition which
strictly speaking, had never existed
| as the colonies were united in the
| Crown, had become so jealous thai
| in devising the new Constitution much was
left obscure. Notwithstanding this opportu.
nity of various Interpretation, however. SC
strong was the State feeling that except fol
the confidence Of America In Washington
| the most sagaeiOus observers Of the time
doubted II the Constitution would have beer
| adopted Beside the obscurity there were
COMPROMISES indispensable to its formation
but the scope, the operation and the conse
| auences of which no human wisdom could
forecast More than all else two things con
| pletely eluded anticipation or calculation
| One was the sectional development of slay
cry which compelled the important compro
misses of the Constitution. At that time 4
seemed to be passing cloud of controversy
but it was destined to overshadow the lane
and to burst in an awful tempest of wratf
and fire and blood. The other was the senti
ment OF nationality, as yet uncertain anC
| vague, but which springing from homogene