The Indianapolis journal., 1903-09-18
The Presidents Address.

President Roosevelt, he arose to ac-
cept the monument on behalf of the federal
government, was accorded an ovation. He
spoke follows:
Governor Murphy and you, Veterans of
New Jersey, and you men of the Grand
~ tbanR xnu oeTs of Ns mere, Irss 1 greet rec you:
ument to the troops of New Jersey who
fought at Antietam and on behalf of the
Nation l accept the gift. We meet to-day
upon one OF the great battlefields of the
civil war. No other battle of the civil war
lasting but one day shows as great per
centage OF loss as that which occurred here
upon the day on which Antietam was
fought Moreover, in it's ultimate effects
this battle was OF momentous and even
decisive importance. for when it had
ended and Lee had retreated south of
the Potmac, Lincoln forthwith published
that immortal paper, the preliminary decla-
ration of emancipation; the paper which de-
cided that the civil war, besides being a
war Tor 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
mat memorable day; and / congratulate
you, Governor Murphy, because on that
day you had the high good fortune to serve
as lad with credit and honor in one of the
battle. -Four of those regiments, by the
way, served in the division commanded
by that gallant soldier, Henry W. Slocum.
whom we of New York can claim as our
own. The other regiment, that in which
Governor Murphy served, although prac-
tically an entirely new regiment, did work
as good as that OF any veteran organiza-
ton upon the field and suffered a propor-
tional loss This regiment was at one time
ordered to the support of a division COM
manded by another New York soldier the
gallant General Greene, whose son him.
self served as a major general in the war
with Spain and who is now police commits
sioner of New York, rendering as signal
service In civil life as he had already rem
dered in military life.
PLAYED WELL THEIR PART.
"If the issue of Antietam had been other
than it was it is probable that at least two
great European powers would have recog-
nized the independence Of the Confederacy.
so that you who fought here forty-one years
ago have the profound satisfaction of feel
ing that you played we'll your part in one
of those crises big with the fate of all man.
kind. You men Of the Grand Army by your
victory not only rendered all Americans
your debtors forevermore. but you rendered
all humanity your debtors. If the Union
had been dissolved, If the great edifice built
with blood and sweat and tears by mighty
Washington and his compeers had gone
have been an incalculable calamity, not only
for our peopie-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 of self-government by a great
people on great scale would have de-
lighted the heart of every foe of republican
institutions. Our country, now so great and
| so wonderful, would have been split into
nttle Janghng rival nationalities. each with
history both bloody and contemptible
1t was because you, the men who wear
| the button of the Grand Army, triumphed
In those dark years that every American
now holds his head high. proud In the
knowledge that he belongs to a Nation whose
| glorious past and great present will be sue
| ceeded by an even mightier future; whereas
| had you failed we would all of us, North
and South, East and West, be now treated
| by other nations at the best with contemp-
tuous tolerance-at the worst with overbear.
| ing insolence.
Moreover, every friend of liberty. every
believer in Self-government every idealisi
| who wished to see his ideals take practical
| shape, wherever he might be In the world
knew that tie success of all in which he
| most believed was bound UP with the sue.
cess of the Union armies in this great strug.
| gle. l confidently predict that when the
| final judgment of history is recorded ii will
be said that in no other war OF which We
have written record was ii more vitally es
sential for the welfare of mankind that vic
tory should rest where ii finally rested
There have been other wars for individual
| freedom. There have been other wars fol
| national greatness. But there has never
| been another war in which the issues al
stake were so large. looked at from either
| standpoint.
MORE IMPORTANT THAN 1776.
/ Eve take just pride in the great deeds o.
| the men of 177s but we must keep in MIND
that the revolutionary war would have
been shorn of well-nigh all it's results hac
the side of union and liberty been defeated
In the civil war. In such case we shoult
| merely have added another TO the lament
I ably long list OF cases in which peoples
have shown that after winning their lib
erty they are wholly unable TO make goo,
I use of IL.
1T now rests with us in civil life q
| make good by our deeds the deeds which
you who wore the blue did In the grea