New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-05-31
GREAT CROWD STANDS IN RAIN TO HEAR ADDRESS

privilege Of transmitting To those who came
after them. n heritage OF honor forever, not
only the memory OF their own valiant deeds
but the memory OF the deeds Of those who. no
less Valiantly and with equal sincerity of pur
pose. fought against the stars in their courses
The war left 20 us all. as fellow countrymen. as
brothers. the right TO rejoice that the Union
has been restored in indestructible shape in a
country where slavery no longer mocks the
boast of freedom and also the right TO rejoice
with eXutant pride in the courage. self-sacrl-
fee and the devotion alike of the men who
Wore the blue apd the men who wore the gray.
HISTORIC FIELD.
He is but poor American who looking at
this field. does not feel within himself a deeper
reverence for the nations past and higher
purpose 10 make the nations future rise level
TO her past. Here fought the chosen sons of
the North and the South, the East and the
West The armies which on this field Contended
for tho mastery were veteran armies. hardened
by long campaigning and desperate lighting into
such instruments of other nation
then possessed. The severity OF the lighting is
attested by the propOrtionate lOss-a loss
rivalled in any battle of similar size since the
close of the NapOeonic struggles; a loss which
in certain regiments from three -fOurths TO
four-ifJhs of the men engaged. Every spot on
this field has its own associations of soldierly
duty nobly done. of supreme self-sacriice freely
rendered. The names of the chiefs who served
in the two armies form long honor roll and
the enlisted men We're worthy. and even more
than worthy of those who led them Every
acre of this ground has its own associations.
We see where the fight thundered through and
r
artillery formed the ridges; where the
airy fought: where the hills were attacked and
defended. and where finally. the great charge
Surged up the slope, only to break on the sum
NIT in the bloody spray Of gallant failure.
WHAT THE FIGHTING WAS FOR.
But the soldiers who won at Gettysburg. the
soldiers who fought to a finish the Civil War
and thereby made their CountryInen forever
their debtors. have left far more even than
the memories of the war itself. They fought
for four years i'm order that this continent
those who came after them. their children and
their children's children. might enjoy lasting
peace. They took arms not TO destroy. but to
liberty; not to overthrow. but TO establish
the supremacy of the law. The crisis which
they faced was to determine whether or not this
people ht for self-government and there
fore fit for liberty Freedom is not gift which
can be enjoyed save by those who show them
selves worthy of it. In this world no privilege
can be permanently appropriated by men who
have not the power and the will successfully
to assume the responsibility of using it Alright
In his recent admirable little volume on free
dom and responsibility 10 democratic govern
ment, President Hadey of Yale has pointed out
that the freedom which is worth anything is
the freedom which means self government and
not anarchy. Freedom thus conceived is a con-
structive force, which enables intelligent and
good man to do better things than he could do
without it: which is In its essence the substitu-
ton of self-restraint for external restraint-the
substitution of a form of restraint which nro-
notes progress for the form which retards N
This Is the right view of freedom: but il can
only be taken if there is full recognition of
the close connection between liberty and respon-
sibility III every domain of human thought II
was essentially the view taken by Abraham
Lincoln, and by all those who. when the Civil
War broke out realized that in a self governing
democracy those who desire TO be considered
fit 10 enjoy liberty must show that they know
how TO II with moderation and Justice i'm
peace, and how to fight for II when it is ieop-
arded by malice domestic Or foreign levy
FEALTY TO y LOFTY IDEAL.
The lessons they taught lessons as ap-
plcable In our everyday lives as in the
rare times of great stress. The men who made
this field forever memorable did so because they
combined the power of fealty to Il lofty ideal