Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-06-04

since the Mohammedan movement,
which took Jerusalem and held
that country eight hundred years.
Their idea of God seemed to be that lie
only saw the great masses OF men and not
the Individual. Coming over to England
we find for several centuries the Same
status OF affairs. We find upon the stat
ute books of England that person who
antagonized the government must be
condemned Why, up to the closing
of the year 1920 the Parliament OF Eng
land believed that ignorance OF the people
was necessary to insure obedience to the
law and at that time only one child In
twenty was was allowed to attend school,
The form OF such a government did not
please some of the people; who left and
went to Holland. They wanted a Chris
tian state, and after constant think
ing they said 1--WE will cross the ocean"
which was done and they plant
cd a colony in Massachusetts. Cal
vert, who was secretary OF state under
King James was inspired with the same
feeling that the people must have
civil liberty and crossing the wa
ter he established colony in
Maryland and by its charter 1t was
to be a Christian government. He invited
all nationalities of people to settle there
and Christianity was acknowledged. The
Massachusetts colonies first planted school
houses. There was a desire to bring the
masses up intelligently. and a system OF
education has grown to wonderful proper
lions in America. desire for equal
rights and FREQ government were
famed from n small spark into a
flame and people were talking nothing but
| liberty, and the result was the framing
Of that great document which has chal-
lenged the admiration of the world. The
slavery question came, but the business
was n profitable one and the North real
lied the class Of politicians that were grow
ing up were killing the idea once fought
for In 1876 the North were aroused and
said Thou hast gone so far but not one
step farther" There seemed to rise for
the occasion a strange character, Abraham
Lincoln, n product of civilization and free
government. never think of
him without comparing him with
John the Baptist. What went
We out into the wilderness to see? reed
shaken with the wind?' No! "a man
clothed in soft raiment?" No! "But
what went We out for to see?" A proph ct!
Yea, I say unto you more than n prophet.
for among those born OF women there hath
not arisen greater than John the Bap-
list" a character such as Abraham Lin
coin history has never seen. Some Of
us remember the great hush after that
election when the news came that Sumter
/ had been fred upon. IT was worth living
to see the Old men young. mothers made
| Spartan mothers, and patriotic men on
all sides anxious to rebuke the insult. But
| the North was greater and the faith In free
| government and God never left such lead
crs as Grant and Sherman. When the
news of the disaster after dlsas-
ter came that president sat In
his chair Knowing we were right,
and when the call came for troops they
came solid columns. 100000 strong. The
people were loyal to government. What
would have been the result had ii been
| otherwise? Can any one conceive? Gov.
| Mansur said the other day at Clevela nd
in speech THAT we were fighting for a
Union and not for n Norm" In talking
with two ex-Confederates "a Texas a few
/ years ago, they SAID: why. If
We had succeeded as a Confederacy Texas
had every capacity to make n government
OF Itself and would have seeded from the
Confederacy." I saw In the Free Press to-
day where Charles Dudley Warner truly
said in Hartford: The obligations of the
American citizen are greater than those
of any other, because each man Is person
ally responsible for the character and con-
duct of his government" All nations are
looking to the United States and the
| thought OF liberty prevailing here is
spreading everywhere. This Is the result
of our war, and If you will go along down
upon the stream of history the contrast
is wonderful. A government like ours Is
an honor, and you have helped TO link the
| history with your brave comrades who
laid down their lives and made the day a
legal holiday. 1t Is n most fitting thing to
thus honor the soldiers and to carry on the
lesson so that all the world shall be blessed
by 1t.
! AS ex-Gov. Dillingham; closed his elo-
quent address a round of applause burst
| forth and when II subsidized the chaplain
of the day pronounced the bcnedictior
and as the vast audience moved out Shcr'
mans band played a selection closing the
exercises enjoyed not only by the old
soldiers but by every American citizen.