The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-18

civil war No other battle of the civil war lasting but one day shows as great a percentage of loss as that which oc- cured here upon the day on which An tietam was fought Moreover, in its ul- innate effects this battle was of momen- tous and even decisive importance. for when 1t had ended and Lee had retreated south of the Potomac. Lincoln forthwith published that immortal paper, the pre- linlinary declaration of emancipation; the paper which decided that the civil war, besides being a war for the preservation of the Union. should be war for the emancipation of the slave, so that from that time onward the causes of Union and of Freedom. of national greatness and individual liberty. were one and the same
 Men of New Jersey. I congratulate your State because she has the right to claim her full share in the honor and glory of that memorable day: and I congratulate you, Governor Murphy because on that day you had the high good fortune to serve as a lad with credit and honor in one of the five regiments which your State sent to the battle. Four of those regiments by the way, served in the di- vision commanded by that gallant soldier Henry w. Slocum, whom we of New York can claim as our own The other regi- ment that in which Governor Murphy served, although practically an entirely new regiment, did work good as that Of any veteran organization upon me field. and suffered a proportional loss. This regiment was at one time ordered to the support of a division commanded by another New York soldier, the gallant General Greene, whose son himself served as a major-general in the war with Spain. and who is now. as Police Commissioner af Work in civil life as he had already rendered in military life.
 The Issue of Antietam.
 If the issue of Antietam had been other than it was. it is probable that at least two great European powers would have recognized the independence of the Con- federacy; so that you who fought here forty-one years ago have the profound satisfaction of feeling that you played well your part in one of those crises big with the fate of all mankind. You men of the Grand Army by your victory not only rendered all Americans your debtors forevermore. but you rendered all hu- manity your debtors. If the Union had heen dissolved. if the great edifice built with blood and sweat and tears by
 mighty Washington and his compeers had gone down in wreck and ruin, the result would have been an incalculable calam- fty. not only for our people-and most of all for those who in such event would have seemingly triumphed-but for all mankind. The great American Republic would have become a memory of derision; |; and the failure of the experiment or self government by a great people on great [ scale would have delighted the heart Of every foe of republican institutions. our country. now so great and so wonderful would have been split into little jang- ling rival nationalities. each with his tory both bloody and contemptibie. IL was because you. the men who wear the button of the Grand Army. triunphed in those dark years that every American now holds his head hlgh. proud in the knowledge that he belongs to a nation whose glorious past and great present