Evening star., 1909-06-01
Mr. Dickinson at Gettysburg.

The address of Secretary Dickinson at
Gettysburg yesterday was in an ad-
mirahle KEY and most appropriate to
the occasion Lees repulse by Meade
marked the turning point in the great
struggle between north and south, and
although the war continued for nearly
two years the fortunes of the confed-
eracy gradually dwndIed from the time
of that great engagement
Taking the ground that the Confed-
eracy was foredoomed to- failure, Mr..
Dickinson said:
Its very corner stone was of lamnae
preordained to disintegration. CONNER
cial and other conditions would. as sure
as fate. have brought about dissolv-
ing of the Confederacy. What would
have come from this. we can only con-
lecture, hut it is we'll within the bounds
of reason to assert that the good would
have been dWarfed in comparison with
the evil.
There would have been hate and
rivalry between the north and south as
intense as that between France and
Germany, with a border line far more
extended. people less amenable to con-
troll. and causes for friction more nu-
merous. A Gordon of forts would have
stretched from the Atlantic to the west
ern border of Texas. Army and naval
establishments would have devoured the
substance of the people. and militarism
would have dominated civil govern
ment. The civilization of all the states
would have developed on different and
more critical lines.
Ands even that Gordon of forts would
have availed nothing for the south as
respected the institution of slavery. In
the snte-bellum days the fugitive slave
law ran. The negro escaping from
bondage must reach Canada in order to
be safe: and that was a long journey
from any portion of the slave territory.
II caught in any northern state he was
returnable to his owner. This made
freedom impossible to all but the most
daring of the slaves: and they were few
But suppose the mere crossing of
river or a geographical land line had in
sured liberty to the slave. as would have
been the case had the Union been dissolv-
ed-one side of the line being slave and
the other side free territory. What an
exodus of blacks from their bondage
would have followed. How impossible it
would have been for the new government
in the south to maintain it's dominant in
stitution-the foundation of it's being,
And failing to make it's labor secure. the
south would have failed as great agri-
cultural section dependent upon unskilled
labor for its prosperity.
Speaking of the result of the war Mr..
Dickinson, native Of the south and a
descendant of men who cast their for
tunes with the Confederacy, said:
AT this day there are but few, if any,
dispassionate thinkers in the north who
question the patriotism of those of the
south, who on this stricken field gave
an example Of American valor that will
forever thrill the minds and hearts of
mankind in all countries and all ages.
And at this day there are in the south
but few. if any, who would not turn
swiftly with sentiments of adherence
from any suggestion that it would have
been better for the south If it had sue
ceeded in establishing independent
government"
This is the security of the reunited
country. All are agreed now that the
dissolution of the Union would have been
an appalling calamity for both sections
government founded upon human slav-
cry could not have been maintained in
close proximity to one founded upon free
dom, and in the dissolution of the former
a new peril to the whole North American
continent would have resulted.