Arizona republican., 1903-09-18
President Speaks atFamous
Battlefield.
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS
Mr.. Roosevelt Rises to a High Plane
of Oratory-A Feeling Discourse on
the War and His Favorite Theme Of
the Essential Virtues.

Sharpsburg, Sept. 17.-Under lowering
clouds a magnificent monument erected
IN the historic battlefield of Antietam
by the state of New Jersey to its men
who fell in that great engagement was
dedicated today. The occasion was rem
iered more notable by the presence of
President Roosevelt and Governor Muir
ply of New Jersey. The president was
accorded an ovation as he rose to
speak.
Governor Murphy; and you, veterans
of New Jersey; and you, men of the
Grand Army, ard all others here, 1
greet you:
l thank you OF New Jersey for the
to the troops of New Jersey
who fought at Antietam, and on behalf
Of the nation L accept the gift. We
meet today upon one of the great bat
Ilefelds of the civil war No other bat
lie of the civil war lasting but one day
shows as great a percentage of loss as
hat which occurred her upon the day
on which Antietaln was fought. More
over, in it's ultimate effects this battle
was of momentous and even decisive
Lee had retreated south of the Poto-
nae, Lincoln forthwith published that
immortal paper. the preliminary dec
aration of emancipa ton: the paper
which decided that the civil war, be-
sides being a war for the preserva ton
of the union, should be a war for the
of the slave. so that from
that time onward the causes of union
80
and Individual liberty, We're one and
me same.
NEW JERSEYS GLORY.
Men of New Jersey, [ congratulate
your state because she has the right to
claim her full share in the honor and
glory of that memorable day; and
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 regi-
ncnts which your state sent to the bat
tie. -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 practically an entirely new
regiment. did work as good as that of
any veteran organization upon the field.
and suffered a proportional loss. This
regiment was at one time ordered to
the support of 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
of New York, rendering
as signal service in civil life as he had
already rendered in military life.
WHAT IT MEANT.
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
so that you who fought
here forty-one years ago have the pro-
found satisfaction of feeling that you
played well 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
your debtors forevermore.
but you rendered all humanity your
debtors. If tie union had been dis
solved, 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 ca
lamity, not only for our people-and
mcst CT all for those who. in such event
would have seemingly triumphed-but
for all mankind. The great American
republic would have become d memory
or derision; and the failure of the eX-
pertinent Of elf-gorernment by great
people on great scale would have de-
lighted the heart of every foe of repub-
lican institutions. Our country, now SO
great and so wonderful. would have
been split into little jangling rival ma
tionalities. each with a history both
bloody and contemplate. 1t was be-
cause you. the men who wear the but
ton of the Grand Army, trumphed III
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 succeeded 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 ma
tions at the best with contemp.uous
tolerance: at the worst with ovcrbear-
Ing insolence.
VICTORY VITALITY ESSENTIAL.
Moreover. every friend Of liberty.
every believer in government ev-
cry idealist who wished TO see his
ideals take practical shape, wherever
he might be in the world, knew that
the success of all in which he most be-
lieved was bound up with the success
of the union armies in this great strug-
gle. / confidently predict that when
the final judgment of history is record
ed il will I've said that in no ether war
of which we have written record was
it more vitally essential for the welfore
of mankind that victory should rest
where il finally rested. There have
been other wars for Individual free
dom. There have been other wars for
national greatness. But there has never
been another war in which the issues
at stake were so large, looked at from