Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-10-18

The Essential Portion of his Address nt
the state Monument.

The immediate origin Of the rebellion is
familiar to us all The slave holding states
rcpudiated the confessedly fair and consti
tutiona election of president who believ
ed in liberty for all, and who it was GER
tain, would not promote the interests of a
slave system, or defend them beyond such
clear line of duty as the constitution i'm
posed upon him. On this ground and this
alone the rebellion-under the false name of
secession. which President jackson had OBJ
liberated 30 years hefore-was inaugurated
and carried on. 1t was unique. | believe
such a rebellion was without precedent or
parallel in any country at any time. In
the abundance of struggles against the con
stituted authority of states and kings, | am
sure none can be found in which the effort
was to overthrow government devoted to
lawful liberty, and to build one whose chief
corner stone and whose sole reason to be
was the preservation and maintenance of
human bondage.
1t was to defend and maintain the nation
al government against such an assault that
our citizen sOlders,-as well as the brave
and patriotic of other states-left their avo
cations of peace in farm and shop and store,
IN school and Office and pulpit, and came to
this and many other fields of conflict, and
gave their lives to a cause that can never
become unworthy or obsolete, and won
wreath of honor that can never fade.
But even now, after quarter of cen
fury, it is apparent that the full and final
benefit and benefcence of the great sacri-
flee is not vet reached In many of the old
slave-holding commonwealth there has ex
listed, and continues to be methodically
practiced, a systematzed repression of the
liberated race and of those white citizens
who defend its rights of free speech and
lawful voting, and which not only robs the
citizens of all other states of the full weight
of their Just and lawful influence in the
legislation of the country, but which, in its
various forms of fraud, tyranny, violence
and cruelty, sets at naught those essential
principles of social order and morality,
without the practice of which no free and
Christian society can exist. These things
affect the welfare aud the true life of every
part of the republic and it is the duty of
every citizen of whatever race, creed or
party, to exert himself to bring them to an
end. Until secure and peaceful freedom
and equality, both political and civil, come
to every citizen of every state, these monu-
ments will not have shown their full and
true significance.
am not reviving what hippant and willy
politicians are so fond of calling 1.-THE bit
terness and hatreds of the war" There
never have been any such sentiments in the
hearts of the citizens who stood for the
unity of their country other or further than
an intense dislike of rebellion prosecuted
for the perpetuation of human slavery, and
the hatred, then and now, of cruelty, tyTan-
ny and oppression. pray that such senti-
ments may continue earnest and active in
the hearts and minds of men, for they are
inseparable from the love of truth and JUS
tice and liberty. II was the inspiration of
such sentiments that led the Vermonters
and the patriots of other states to this great
battlefield, and our memorial to them will
not be complete until such sentiments are
realized in the fullest sense in every part of
the republic
To the memory of those of our own citi-
zens who fell here in the critical battle of
the war, of those who persisted in the line
of duty anywhere, and to the honor of
those who still survive the great contest,
our sturdy and steadfast state erects this
shaft, formed from the granite of her own
Green mountains and surmounted by the
bronze image of one of her heroic sons who
commanded her troops on this field, Long
may it stand secure, with its associated
monuments, not only as memorial of he
role deeds for liberty and justice and true
Republican government, but as AN inspira
ton to us and to all who shall come after
us in future time to devote themselves
against whatever temptations and in spite
of whatever peril or adversely, TO the de-
Tense and extension of liberty, justice and
equal rights among men, Thus there will
be always for our country and we may
hope la the not far future for every other
IA career whose ways are ways of pleasant
ness aud all whose paths are peace.