has become so precious that men will not willingly give it up. at their country's call. But history repeats itself in almost every successive age. The history of our own land for the last quarter of a century shows that patriotism is not the special product of any age or clime.

Twenty-five years ago we all thought that ours was a great, prosperous and free country. The evil that existed was chargeable in a great measure to its prosperities. Too busy with our stocks and ledgers, we paid too little attention to false theories of government. The North and the South had grown up together side by side. The one claimed that freedom was national and that slavery was sectional; the other held the contrary, and claimed the right to take its slaves into territories not yet organized as States. These rival claims, carried to their ultimate conclusions, made it impossible for the two sections to exist together. Hence it was seen that sooner or later the country must become either all free or all slave territory. The irrepressible conflict was inevitable. The history of our legislation proves it.

In the last analysis, the strength of our government must depend upon the loyal hearts and the strong right arms of its citizens. In that great contest into which we as a nation entered in 1861 every able bodied man between the ages of 18 and 40 was needed, and at times sorely needed. To the Union soldiers who yet survive there is the proud consciousness of duty performed. A record of such services, comrades, is worth more to you than anything else the world has to give.

On the 24th day of May, 1865, was witnessed a scene in our national history never to be forgotten. It was the final day of the grand review at Washington, in which the three main Union armies, joining their forces in one grand army of the Republic, made their last march through Pennsylvania Avenue. The The army of the Potomac with General Meade at its head led the triumphal march. Sheridan's cavalry formed the head of the column, with the Vermont cavalry well toward the front.

The orator then gave a graphic description of the grand review, in the words of a contemporary writer.

Have we not in this grand scene which marks the close of the war a reflection of the struggle as a whole? What was

the great end sought for on the part of the national government through the whole course of the war-was it not the peace of the whole country? We sometimes speak of war as the sheer contrary of peace; but the fact is that war is sometimes the only possible road to peace. What is it that we mean by a righteous war but just a war that has for its great end and aim the promotion of peace? Nowhere in all the range of human history was this idea so fully realized as in our late struggle for the overthrow of rebellion and slavery. No less than the people, the army has longed to fulfill its mission with complete and glorious triumph, and these citizen soldiers desire to campaign no longer, except by tranquil firesides in pleasant rehearsals of dangers long past.

How this great characteristic of the war stands out at every point of it! It appears in the very terms in which the soldiers were enlisted. At first it was for three months only that they were called upon to volunteer. At most it was for three years that they entered the service, with the hope held out that the war would end before that time. This same expectation breaks forth in the songs of the war. Above the roar of the hottest battle you catch the refrain, "When this cruel war is over." It was the inspiration of this hope that enabled men in the prison pens of Andersonville and Libby to hear the "Tramp, tramp, tramp" of the boys who were marching to give liberty and peace to the nation. It was the love of peace inborn in the hearts of the nation that gave the impulse of success to every great movement of the Union army. It was on board the Monitor in Hampton Roads; it was with Farragut lashed to the maintop of the Hartford; it crushed the power of Southern chivalry at Gettysburg; it was with Sherman in his march to the sea; it was, finally, with the whole Union army, as under their great leaders they entered with radiant banners into Donelson and Vicksburg, climbed the bristling heights of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, threaded the devious. paths from Chatanooga to Atlanta, marched from the mountains to the sea, and finally ordained an enduring peace at Appomattox [long applause].

After songs by the Glee club and selections by the band, the society marched to the Van Ness House for the annual banquet.

THE BANQUET

Was held in the large dining room of the Van Ness House, which was handsomely decorated. The plates numbered 182.

In rapping the table to order President Holbrook said that although he was a strict humanitarian he should insist upon the restriction imposed by the committee of arrangements, that all speeches should be limited to ten minutes, though the heavens fall.

The toastmaster of the evening, Lieut. G. G. Benedict, then gave as the first sentiment, "Our Green Mountain Statea small but good one." Gov. Pingree responded in a graceful speech. The Green Mountain soldiers, he said, took the part they did in the war because they were of the stock of the Puritans who came to this country in the interests of peace, and that their religion might be peaceful. We are so peaceable that blood has been shed but once in our history. We have shown that peace has her victories no less renowned than war, and our greatest glory is not our triumphs in the South, but in returning to our homes and making ourselves good citizens.

The second sentiment was "The President of the United States," and Lieut.-Gov. Ormsbee responded. He said: This is a large subject, comrades—a very large subject officially, and in that way I am asked to express my sentiments. It is of the president of the first nation on the globe I am asked to speak. I shall not tire you by taking you along the line of illustrious men who have been our presidents from Washington till to-day. Comparisons are odious, and would indeed be so in this instance. I am pleased to look along the line and call them all good. But for the part that you took in the affairs of

the nation 20 or 25 years ago there would be no occasion for a president of the United States to-day.

The third toast was "The War Governors of Vermont. They did their duty faithfully in war and they shall have lasting honor in peace." Response by ex-Gov. John Gregory Smith. "Mr. President and Soldiers: May I not call you comrades though I was not permitted to serve with you in the field? It would take long to tell all that could be said of the war governors of Vermont. My own story I could tell in a short time. My predecessors were the embodiment of all that was loyal and patriotic, and although called to service in a new sphere none could be found who did more for the cause than they. So far as I am concerned I did the best I could."

President Buckham responded to the toast, “Our State University, a Nursery of Patriotism as well as Sound Learning." He said: "It is perhaps in my military capacity as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the University, that I have been introduced upon this occasion. The navy of the University is much like the navy of the United States—powerful if there were more of it. The army of the University is also like the army of the United States, small, well-disciplined and wellofficered. But I know that you had another purpose in calling upon me and that was, to pay respect to the University of our State. For this I thank you. I like to have the University recognized as a part of every good thing pertaining to the community or the State. I am particularly grateful that the University should have been recognized in connection with the events which we commemorate on this occasion. In those try

ing times the good mother had more of her sons in the field than at home. Some who went did not come back, and some of you have uncovered your heads to-day in the presence of the tablet in the College Chapel that commemorates their names.

You have made it probable that what we call the late war may prove the last great war in which this nation shall engage."

Gen. Burdette of Washington, D. C., grand commander of the national organization of the G. A. R., responded to the toast "The Grand Army of the Republic, the Organization which embodies the creed that Patriotism is a priceless inheritance and Charity a National virtue.”

He said that though he had travelled on all the continents and sailed all the seas of the world, this was the first time it had been his good fortune to see the Green Mountain State. I perhaps ought to have seen it in its verdure and not with its mantle of white, but I am absolutely sure that I could not have come here at any time and seen more nobility than is represented in this city to-night. He could claim with perfect safety that there was not a community where veterans dwelled which was not better for their presence. The war was not to decide how many States there should be in the Union but the question of liberty. If the conflict had failed there is not another spot on the face of the earth where liberty could have flourished.

To the sentiment, "The Private Soldier, the man whose fighting and marching gave the generals their stars," Gov. Selden Connor of Maine responded. He said that it was a matter of pride to him that he entered the war as a private, and that in a Vermont regiment. He then detailed some of the experiences of himself and Col. Seaver, who studied in the same office. He was proud of having begun with a Vermont brigade. The old Vermont brigade had a reputation second to none, and all the world knows how Gen. Stannard took the Second brigade and threw them against the enemy at Gettysburg.