St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-07-13
NOTABLE ADDRESSES.


CONGRESSMAN Powers before Chamber
lin Post, G. A. r., on July 4.
Below we give in full the address
of Mr.. Lamson and Congressman
Powers before Chamberlin post, G.
A. R., in Music Hall July A.. The
theme of Mr.. Lamson's address was
was "Our Nation" His address
follows:
The history of our nation is not a
military history. The record of our
achievement and our fame is a
record of peace. AS soldiers you
celebrate today the four years war
but you celebrate with this and with
equal interest the succeeding genera
ton of peace. You are devoted to
the policy that declares that the
army is not a profession in our
country and war is not the occupa-
ton of the people. War is terrible;
it converts producers into Destroy
ers, it ruins industry and commerce,
it defes Gods appointment of men
as brethren, it fills hospitals with
Gain, homes with sorrow, graves
with dead. So long as the Grand
Army lives it will be constant pro-
test against war. Yet there are
things worse than violated homes
and woman's tears, and wounds
and death. The commercial spirit
that makes partnership with dis
honor is worse, the paralys of
virtue, life without conscience, social
cowardice, are worse peace without
manliness, contentment with shame,
are worse. War is costly thing
but now and then it is the price that
must be paid for manhood, purity
and liberty. Having once paid this
costly price you are determined to
preserve by the wisdom and charity
of peace what you have gained by
the wisdom and valor Of battle.
The history of our nation is a
history OF peace, yet our two great
wars seem to come close to each
other in the memories of the living
today. Your fathers knew the men
who shared the victorious defeat Of
Bunker Hill, charged with Arnold at
Saratoga, and saw Lafayette and
Washington, the quiet heroes Of sue
cess, at Yorktown. More, two of
your number have seen the men who
founded the Republic and defended
it, who lighted up the declaration of
independence by the patience of their
suffering and the splendor of their
valor. The echoes of the first war
were not silent before louder
thunders filled our valleys and the
red warrior Mars led forth the
nation in the way of sorrow, glory
and peace.
The day suggests and gives the
purpose and limits of my theme. On
this national celebration we must
join in one the meaning of our two
great wars, the only great wars of
our history. The two great armies
of the Republic must meet today not
for war nor for thoughts of war but to
declare and perpetuate the one idea
that created each of them. We have
had as yet, thank God, no great wars
of conquest, nor defence for the selfish
authority of a monarch. Our wars
have been wars for truth and the
two armies today join in the declara-
ton to the future, live for this truth, as
alast resort fight for it, but never let
it grow weak nor perish. The idea
of both wars, fought for with
wisdom, courage and victory, was
the same, 1--WE are a nation" The
question of the first war was, Shall
we adhere to Great Britain or be-
come nation that of the second
was, Shall we cohere and remain
nation? The single truth to which
we have given elevation and author
ity is this, "We are a nation The
meaning of Bunker Hill, Saratoga
and Yorktown is the same as that
OF Antietam, Gettysburg and Vicks-
burg. The last war was the second
volume of the first, the first con-
tinued, and, let us hope, completed.
In each there was one dominant
issue and but one. Many other
questions, as that Of taxation or
slavery, were settled. No great
truth ever journeys or fights alone,
but the question asked and answer
ed with permanent emphasis was,
are we a nation? The question of
the revolution was not they who
are taxed by the government must
be represented in the government, it
was not that tyranny justihes revo-
luton; these were the immediate oc-
casions, the apparent stimulus to
resistance and the spirit of patriot
ISM but the real cause of the revou-
ton, not known by the soldier, OBJ
scurel y seen by the statesman, was
the tact that in the movements of
history and the growth of the world,
the time had come for new nation.
The real cause OF the republic was
the destiny of the republic. History
is a living thing and its spirit is
prophetic 1t realizes a great future,
begins today a work which only
distant generations shall discover,
and inspires men with truth and
power of which they themselves are