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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, America First, by Various, Edited by Jasper
+L. McBrien
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: America First
+ Patriotic Readings
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Jasper L. McBrien
+
+Release Date: March 10, 2008 [eBook #24798]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICA FIRST***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Brian Sogard, Greg Bergquist, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 24798-h.htm or 24798-h.zip:
+ (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/9/24798/24798-h/24798-h.htm)
+ or
+ (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/9/24798/24798-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+AMERICA FIRST
+
+Patriotic Readings
+
+by
+
+JASPER L. McBRIEN, A. M.
+
+Former State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Nebraska
+and Now School Extension Specialist for the United
+States Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: AMERICA FIRST]
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+American Book Company
+New York Cincinnati Chicago
+
+Copyright, 1916
+by Jasper L. McBrien
+All rights reserved
+
+AMERICA FIRST
+
+W. P. 7
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+America First was the central thought in President Wilson's address to
+the Daughters of the American Revolution on the twenty-fifth anniversary
+of their organization--their Silver Jubilee--in Washington, D. C.,
+October 11, 1915. The president declared in this address that all
+citizens should make it plain whether their sympathies for foreign
+countries come before their love of the United States, or whether they
+are for America first, last, and all the time. He asserted, also, that
+our people need all of their patriotism in this confusion of tongues in
+which we find ourselves over the European war.
+
+The press throughout the country has taken up the thought of the
+President and, seconded by the efforts of the Bureau of Education, has
+done loyal work in making "America First" our national slogan. This is
+all good so far as it goes--especially among the adult population, many
+of whom must be educated, if educated at all, on the run. But the rising
+generation, both native-born and foreign, to get the full meaning of
+this slogan in its far-reaching significance, must have time for study
+and reflection along patriotic lines. There must be the right material
+on which the American youth may settle their thoughts for a definite end
+in patriotism if our country is to have a new birth of freedom and if
+"this government of the people, by the people, and for the people is not
+to perish from the earth." The prime and vital service of amalgamating
+into one homogeneous body the children alike of those who are born here
+and of those who come here from so many different lands must be rendered
+this Republic by the school teachers of America.
+
+The purpose of this book is to furnish the teachers and pupils of our
+country, material with which the idea of true Americanism may be
+developed until "America First" shall become the slogan of every man,
+woman, and child in the United States.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
+
+ _Jasper L. McBrien_
+
+ INTRODUCTION 13
+
+ TABLEAU--THE SPIRIT OF SEVENTY-SIX 19
+
+ CAST OF CHARACTERS 20
+
+ THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS--A DRAMATIZATION 21
+
+
+ AMERICAN PATRIOTISM
+
+ WHAT IS PATRIOTISM _Jasper L. McBrien_ 71
+
+ AMERICA FOR ME _Henry van Dyke_ 73
+
+ AMERICA FIRST _Woodrow Wilson_ 75
+
+ THE MEANING OF THE FLAG _Woodrow Wilson_ 83
+
+ MAKERS OF THE FLAG _Franklin K. Lane_ 87
+
+ THE FLAG OF THE UNION FOREVER _Fitzhugh Lee_ 90
+
+ FAREWELL ADDRESS _George Washington_ 94
+
+ WASHINGTON _John W. Daniel_ 104
+
+ ABRAHAM LINCOLN _Henry Watterson_ 129
+
+ SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS _Abraham Lincoln_ 151
+
+ ROBERT E. LEE _E. Benjamin Andrews_ 154
+
+ OUR REUNITED COUNTRY _Clark Howell_ 163
+
+ THE BLUE AND THE GRAY _Henry Cabot Lodge_ 171
+
+ A REMINISCENCE OF GETTYSBURG _John B. Gordon_ 175
+
+ THE NEW SOUTH _Henry W. Grady_ 181
+
+ THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM _Archbishop Ireland_ 195
+
+ OUR COUNTRY _William McKinley_ 202
+
+ BEHOLD THE AMERICAN _T. DeWitt Talmage_ 206
+
+ THE HOLLANDER AS AN AMERICAN _Theodore Roosevelt_ 212
+
+ THE ADOPTED CITIZEN _Ulysses S. Grant_ 217
+
+ OUR NAVY _Hampton L. Carson_ 220
+
+ THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE _William J. Bryan_ 232
+
+ A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE _George W. Norris_ 238
+
+ GETTYSBURG ADDRESS _Abraham Lincoln_ 255
+
+ NEUTRALITY PROCLAMATION _Woodrow Wilson_ 256
+
+
+ POETRY OF PATRIOTISM
+
+ CONCORD HYMN _Ralph Waldo Emerson_ 261
+
+ WARREN'S ADDRESS _John Pierpont_ 262
+
+ PATRIOTISM _Sir Walter Scott_ 263
+
+ THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER _Francis Scott Key_ 263
+
+ MY COUNTRY _Samuel F. Smith_ 265
+
+ THE AMERICAN FLAG _Joseph Rodman Drake_ 266
+
+ SONG OF MARION'S MEN _William Cullen Bryant_ 267
+
+ THE OLD CONTINENTALS _Guy Humphreys McMaster_ 269
+
+ THE SWORD OF BUNKER HILL _Wm. Ross Wallace_ 271
+
+ LIBERTY TREE _Thomas Paine_ 272
+
+ THE RISING IN 1776 _Thomas Buchanan Read_ 274
+
+ AMERICA _Bayard Taylor_ 278
+
+ THE BLUE AND THE GRAY _Francis M. Finch_ 279
+
+ ABRAHAM LINCOLN _James Russell Lowell_ 281
+
+ THE FLAG GOES BY _Henry Holcomb Bennett_ 284
+
+ THE SHIP OF STATE _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_ 285
+
+ THE NAME OF OLD GLORY _James Whitcomb Riley_ 286
+
+
+
+
+ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
+
+
+Acknowledgments for permission to use copyrighted and other valuable
+material in this volume are hereby tendered to authors and publishers as
+follows:
+
+To President Woodrow Wilson for his three addresses "America First,"
+"The Meaning of the Flag," and "Neutrality Proclamation."
+
+To Secretary Franklin K. Lane for his speech on "The Makers of the
+Flag."
+
+To William Jennings Bryan and his publishers, Funk and Wagnalls Company,
+New York and London, for extracts from his address on "The Patriotism of
+Peace."
+
+To Archbishop Ireland for extracts from his address on "The Duty and
+Value of Patriotism."
+
+To George L. Schuman and Company, publishers of _Modern Eloquence_,
+Chicago, for the following extracts and addresses: "Our Country," by
+William McKinley; "Our Reunited Country," by Clark Howell; "The Blue and
+the Gray," by Henry Cabot Lodge; "A Reminiscence of Gettysburg," by John
+B. Gordon; "The New South," by Henry W. Grady; and "The Hollander as an
+American," by Theodore Roosevelt.
+
+To A. C. Butters for the address on "Washington," by John W. Daniel,
+from _Modern Eloquence_ published by George L. Schuman and Company.
+
+To Henry Watterson, Louisville, Kentucky, for the extracts from his
+lecture on Abraham Lincoln.
+
+To E. Benjamin Andrews and to his publishers, Fords, Howard and Hulbert,
+for the extracts from his lecture on Robert E. Lee.
+
+To J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, for the poem by Thomas
+Buchanan Read, "The Rising in 1776."
+
+To Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, for the poem by Henry van Dyke,
+"America for Me," and also for the extract from the poem "Wanted," by J.
+G. Holland.
+
+To The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, for the poem by James
+Whitcomb Riley, "The Name of Old Glory."
+
+To Henry Holcomb Bennett for his poem entitled, "The Flag Goes By."
+
+To Christopher Sower Company, Philadelphia, for the poem by Edward
+Brooks, entitled "Be a Woman."
+
+The selections from the poems of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth
+Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Bayard Taylor are used by
+permission of and special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, the
+authorized publishers of the works of those authors.
+
+The thanks of the author are also extended to Nelson Warner, Katherine
+M. Cook, Mrs. L. R. Caldwell, Belvia Cuzzort, W. R. Hood, and Dr.
+Stephen B. Weeks of the Bureau of Education, for valuable assistance in
+the compilation of this work.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
+
+A DRAMATIZATION
+
+[Illustration: SIGNING THE DECLARATION]
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+This dramatization of the Continental Congress portrays the spirit of
+the times during the period of the American Revolution. It deals
+principally with the debates for and against the Declaration of
+Independence; it is a summary of the grievances, struggles, sacrifices,
+and victories of the colonies from the enactment of the obnoxious Stamp
+Act by the British Parliament to the resignation of George Washington as
+commander-in-chief of the American army.
+
+In the construction of a drama covering such a heroic period and
+relating to events so momentous, all of which must pass in review before
+us within an hour and a half's time, it is necessary to exercise a
+certain dramatic license. The historical literalist, like the scriptural
+literalist, makes the letter kill the spirit of the truth. After all, it
+is not the dry facts, dates, and mechanics of history that are of
+greatest importance; it is the fundamental principles, causes, and
+effects underlying the events as well as the spirit of the times, that
+are of first consideration.
+
+Any modification of historical fact in this dramatization has been made
+only to give a fuller meaning to the great facts of history touched upon
+therein. It is the period of the American Revolution that is to be
+portrayed, as already stated--not alone those memorable days of June and
+July, 1776, during which the debates on the Declaration of Independence
+took place. For example, Patrick Henry was a member of the First and
+the Second Continental Congress, though not a member at the time the
+Declaration of Independence was debated, Washington was a member of the
+First Continental Congress, but Jefferson was not. Congress was a
+changing body in its membership then as is our Congress to-day.
+
+Jefferson declares that Patrick Henry was the man who put the ball of
+the American Revolution in motion. Not to give Henry a place in this
+dramatization would be like the play of "Hamlet" with Hamlet left out.
+
+It must be remembered that no record was made of the debates in the
+Continental Congress as is done verbatim by expert reporters in Congress
+to-day and published in the Congressional Record. Therefore, the
+speeches herein have been adapted from such sources as Paine's
+"Separation of Britain and America," Webster's "Supposed Speech of John
+Adams," "Wirt's Supposed Speech of Patrick Henry," Alexander H.
+Stephens's "Corner Stone Speech," Webster's "Supposed Speech of
+Opposition to Independence," and Sumner's "True Grandeur of Nations."
+The dialogue between Jefferson and Adams is taken from a letter of John
+Adams to Timothy Pickering, dated August 6, 1822. The speeches of
+Stephens and Sumner are paraphrased to suit the times to which they are
+here applied.
+
+Great care has been exercised to place each of the leading characters in
+these debates on the side in which he _at that time_ conscientiously
+believed. In the roll call in this drama on the vote for independence,
+the history of each colony has been thoroughly studied so as to bring
+out the changed attitude of the people of the various colonies toward
+independence, as well as of certain members of the Continental Congress
+on this question.
+
+The scenes of Washington and his army just before the battle of Long
+Island, the tableau of The Spirit of '76, and Washington's resignation
+as commander-in-chief of the army, are introduced not alone for their
+psychological effect on the dramatization proper, but for their own
+worth in teaching patriotism.
+
+With twenty-nine leading characters the dramatization can be well
+staged. But if fifty-five characters are available--the number who
+signed the Declaration, and if there is room for so many, so much the
+better, except as the number of performers is increased there will be an
+additional expense for costumes.[1] It may be given as a reading lesson
+without costumes; it may be given so as a drama; but it is a greater
+success given in costumes.
+
+Those who take part in this dramatization should be costumed as nearly
+like the characters they represent as possible. As a rule, wigs can be
+rented for this purpose at a reasonable cost, and it will not be
+difficult to dress in the style of the Revolutionary period--buckle
+shoes, silk stockings, knee pants, ruffled shirt, and the conventional
+coat of the time.
+
+The same freedom must be permitted and exercised in carrying out this
+dramatization, that marked the actors in the Continental Congress itself
+in its stormy debates and noisy sessions. Immediately following the
+close of each speech there should be a clamor for recognition on the
+part of the delegates, but the president will be careful to recognize
+the proper person so as to make the play move without any hitch. As each
+speaker proceeds there should be a reasonable number of interruptions by
+applause or dissenting voices so as to play both sides as strongly as
+possible.
+
+The parliamentary procedure must not be followed too strictly or it will
+kill the interest in the play on the part of the public. It must be
+given with dispatch and dramatic effect to make a happy hit.
+
+These debates may be considered as an oratorical contest with prizes
+awarded accordingly if so desired. It adds interest to the work.
+
+It is hard to tell in which years of school work it is best to give this
+dramatization--whether in the grammar grades, in the high school, or in
+the college, for it is within the understanding of grammar grade boys;
+it is not too elementary for young men in the high school; and it is
+profound enough for the best thought and the best efforts of college
+students. If given by grammar school boys and high school young men, it
+will have a wholesome influence in training for a better citizenship at
+an opportune time. If presented by college, university, and normal
+school students it will give those who are fitting themselves for
+teaching a valuable lesson in methods. If it were given by every grammar
+school, high school, college, university and normal school, on every
+Chautauqua platform, and by every patriotic society in the United States
+on Washington's Birthday and other patriotic occasions, and then
+repeated on the Fourth of July every year for the next decade it would
+do much towards combating that dangerous "aggressive hyphenated
+Americanism," that has sprung up in our country and whose baneful
+effects it will take much earnest teaching to obliterate. When all
+native-born children of foreign parentage, and when all citizens of
+foreign birth know the story of the struggle and sacrifice by which our
+country rose to her proud station it will make them feel "that they are
+Americans among Americans; that they are part of America and have a
+share and a duty toward American institutions." May it also cause those
+native-born Americans who have become luke-warm in their love of
+country, careless of its honor, and negligent in its defense to awake to
+their duty with a spirit to do their duty before it is too late. May it
+make of every one of us a truer American "by being wholly and without
+reserve, and without divided allegiance, and with emphatic repudiation
+of the entire principle of 'dual nationality,' an American citizen and
+nothing else."
+
+ _In their ragged regimentals
+ Stood the old Continentals,
+ Yielding not,
+ When the grenadiers were lunging.
+ And like hail fell the plunging
+ Cannon shot;
+ When the files
+ Of the isles,
+ From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner of the rampant_
+ _Unicorn;_
+ _And grummer, grummer, grummer, rolled the roll of the drummer_
+ _Through the morn!_
+
+[Illustration: TABLEAU--THE SPIRIT OF SEVENTY-SIX]
+
+CAST OF CHARACTERS
+
+SPEAKERS
+
+FOR THE DECLARATION
+
+John Hancock, _President_
+Richard Henry Lee
+John Adams
+Roger Sherman
+Benjamin Franklin
+Samuel Adams
+Joseph Hewes
+Patrick Henry
+Thomas Jefferson
+
+AGAINST THE DECLARATION
+
+Edward Rutledge
+John Dickinson
+George Walton
+Robert Morris
+
+Charles Thomson, _Secretary_
+
+OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS
+
+Josiah Bartlett
+Stephen Hopkins
+William Floyd
+Charles Carroll of Carrollton
+Samuel Chase
+Benjamin Harrison
+Lyman Hall
+Oliver Wolcott
+Elbridge Gerry
+William Hooper
+Benjamin Rush
+Richard Stockton
+Thomas McKean
+Caesar Rodney
+
+ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS
+
+General Washington and his Army
+
+Fifer }
+Drummer } Leading the Army
+Little Boy } in "The Spirit of '76"
+
+
+
+
+THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
+
+ACT I.
+
+
+SCENE I.--_Congress assembled; John Hancock in the chair as president;
+his keynote speech._
+
+JOHN HANCOCK.[2] Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--I thank you for
+the signal honor you have conferred on me in making me your presiding
+officer. I am glad to see so many Colonies represented in this Congress.
+Let us show the nations of the old world what the people of the new
+world will do when left to themselves, to their own unbiased good sense,
+and to their own true interests. On us depend the destinies of our
+country--the fate of three millions of people, and of the countless
+millions of our posterity. Matchless is our opportunity--matchless also
+is our responsibility! May the God of nations guide us in our
+deliberations and in our actions.
+
+Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of
+the slain, the weeping voice of Nature cries, "'Tis time to part." Even
+the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a
+strong and natural proof that the authority of the one over the other
+was never the design of Heaven. The time, likewise, at which the
+continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner
+in which it was peopled, increases the force of it. The Reformation was
+preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously
+meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home
+should afford neither friendship nor safety.
+
+The authority of Great Britain over this continent is a form of
+government which sooner or later must have an end: and a serious mind
+can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and
+positive conviction that what he calls "the present constitution" is
+merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this
+government is not sufficiently lasting to insure anything which we may
+bequeath to posterity; and by a plain method of argument, as we are
+running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it,
+otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the
+line of our duty rightly, we should take our children by the hand, and
+fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will
+present a prospect which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from
+our sight.
+
+Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, yet I am
+inclined to believe that all those who espouse the doctrine of
+reconciliation may be included within the following descriptions:
+Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see;
+prejudiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who
+think better of the European world than it deserves: and this last
+class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more
+calamities to this continent than all the other three.
+
+It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of sorrow;
+the evil is not sufficiently brought to their doors to make them feel
+the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. But
+let our imaginations transport us a few moments to Boston; that seat of
+wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us forever to renounce a
+power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate
+city, who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, have no other
+alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by
+the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and
+plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present situation
+they are prisoners without hope of redemption, and in a general attack
+for their relief they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.
+
+Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of
+Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "Come,
+come, we shall be friends again for all this." But examine the passions
+and feelings of mankind, bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the
+touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether you can hereafter love,
+honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword
+into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are you deceiving
+yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon your posterity. Your
+future connection with Britain, whom you can neither love nor honor,
+will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of
+present convenience, will in a little time fall into a relapse more
+wretched than the first. But if you say you can still pass the
+violations over, then I ask, hath your house been burnt? Hath your
+property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children
+destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a
+parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched
+survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those who have.
+But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then are
+you unworthy the name of husband, father, friend or lover, and, whatever
+may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward and
+the spirit of a sycophant.
+
+Gentlemen of the First American Congress, in the name of Equality,
+Fraternity and Liberty, I welcome you to this council. What is your
+pleasure, gentlemen?
+
+RICHARD HENRY LEE. Mr. President:--I wish to move the adoption of the
+following resolution: "Resolved, that these united colonies are, and of
+right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved
+from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political
+connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to
+be, totally dissolved."
+
+JOHN ADAMS. Mr. President:--I second the motion.
+
+JOHN HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress, you have heard the
+motion of Mr. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, for immediate and absolute
+independence. Are there any remarks?
+
+RICHARD HENRY LEE. Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--Why do we delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day
+give birth to an American republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and
+to conquer, but to reëstablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of
+Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom
+that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever
+increasing tyranny which devastates her polluted shores. She invites us
+to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace and the
+persecuted repose. She entreats us to cultivate a propitious soil where
+that generous plant of liberty, which first sprang and grew in England,
+but is now withered by the blasts of tyranny may revive and flourish,
+sheltering under its salubrious shade all the unfortunate of the human
+race. If we are not this day wanting in our duty to our country, the
+names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at
+the side of Theseus, of Lycurgus, of Romulus, of Numa, of the three
+Williams of Nassau and of all those whose memory has been and forever
+will be, dear to virtuous men and good citizens.[3]
+
+ (_At the close of Mr. Lee's brief speech there is a clamor for
+ recognition. John Adams is recognized._)
+
+JOHN ADAMS. Mr. President:--I move that a committee of five be selected
+by ballot to draft a Declaration representing the views of these united
+colonies.
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Mr. President:--I second the motion.
+
+JOHN HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--The motion has
+been made and seconded that a committee of five be selected by ballot to
+draft a proper Declaration representing the views of these united
+colonies. You have heard the motion, are there any remarks? (_Calls for
+the question._)
+
+As many as favor this motion make it known by saying "aye" (_ayes
+respond_); contrary, "no" (_noes respond_). The ayes seem to have it,
+the ayes have it, and the motion is carried.
+
+Gentlemen of the Continental Congress, I shall appoint Benjamin Rush of
+Pennsylvania, Samuel Chase of Maryland, and Edward Rutledge of South
+Carolina as tellers for this election and they will wait upon you for
+your ballots for the committee. Please write the names of the five men
+whom you wish to serve on this committee, on your ballot and deposit the
+same in the hat when passed.
+
+ (_Ballots are gathered by the tellers who report the result to the
+ president of the Congress._)
+
+Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--By your ballots you have
+selected the following persons as the committee of five to draft the
+Declaration as already ordered--Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams
+of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of
+Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York. Gentlemen, what is
+your further pleasure?
+
+SAMUEL ADAMS. Mr. President:--I move that the Congress do now take a
+recess until to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock to give the committee just
+appointed time in which to prepare the Declaration ordered.
+
+JOSEPH HEWES. Mr. President:--I second the motion which Mr. Adams has
+offered.
+
+JOHN HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Congress:--It has been moved and seconded
+that this Congress take a recess until to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock
+in order to give the committee just appointed time in which to prepare a
+proper Declaration. You have heard the motion, are there any remarks?
+(_Calls for question._)
+
+As many as favor the motion make it known by saying "aye" (_ayes
+respond_); contrary, "no" (_noes respond_). The ayes seem to have it,
+the ayes have it, and this Congress will take a recess until to-morrow
+morning at 10 o'clock.
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT II.
+
+
+SCENE I.--_Meeting of the Committee of Five. Livingston absent._
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Gentlemen of the Committee, I move that Thomas
+Jefferson and John Adams be appointed as a sub-committee of this
+Committee of Five to draft the Declaration ordered by the Continental
+Congress.
+
+ROGER SHERMAN. I second the motion.
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. As many as
+favor the same make it known by saying "aye."
+
+ (_Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams are silent while Mr. Sherman and Mr.
+ Franklin vote aye._)
+
+The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and Mr. Jefferson and Mr.
+Adams are elected.
+
+JOHN ADAMS. Gentlemen, it seems to me you have taken snap judgment on
+Mr. Jefferson and myself.
+
+THOMAS JEFFERSON. Yes, gentlemen, you have.
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. The committee has so ordered and as Congress itself
+gave Mr. Jefferson the highest number of votes and Mr. Adams the next
+highest number in the selection of this committee, I am sure that
+Congress will be highly pleased at our having selected you for this
+great work. We also feel that we should congratulate ourselves upon the
+choice we have made.
+
+JOHN ADAMS. Thank you, gentlemen, for the compliment.
+
+THOMAS JEFFERSON. I join Mr. Adams in thanking you, gentlemen, for the
+confidence you have in us.
+
+ROGER SHERMAN. Gentlemen of the committee, I move that we take a recess
+until to-night so as to give the sub-committee time to prepare the
+Declaration.
+
+MR. ADAMS. I second the motion.
+
+MR. FRANKLIN. As many as favor the motion make it known by saying "aye"
+(_ayes respond_). The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and the
+committee will take a recess until eight o'clock to-night.
+
+ (_Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sherman leave Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson to
+ themselves to deliberate over the Declaration._)
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Mr. Adams, I suggest that you make the draft of this
+Declaration.
+
+MR. ADAMS. I will not!
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. [4]You should do it.
+
+MR. ADAMS. Oh, no!
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Why will you not? You ought to do it.
+
+MR. ADAMS. I will not!
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Why?
+
+MR. ADAMS. Reasons enough.
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. What can be your reasons?
+
+MR. ADAMS. Reason first, you are a Virginian and a Virginian ought to
+appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious,
+suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you
+can write ten times better than I can.
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Well, if you are decided, I will do the best I can.
+
+MR. ADAMS. Very well, when you have drawn it up we will have a meeting.
+
+ (_Exeunt Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson._)
+
+
+SCENE II.--_Washington's Address to his Army. Washington and his army[5]
+in camp on Long Island._
+
+The time is now near at hand, which must probably determine whether
+Americans are to be freemen or slaves, whether their houses and farms
+are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves to be consigned to a
+state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them. The
+fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and
+the conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only
+the choice of a brave resistance or the most abject submission. We have,
+therefore, to resolve to conquer or to die.
+
+Our own, our country's honor, calls upon us for a vigorous and manly
+exertion. If we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the
+whole world. The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we
+shall have their blessings and praises if happily we are the instruments
+of saving them from the tyranny meditated against them. Let us,
+therefore, animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world
+that a freeman contending for liberty on his own ground is superior to
+any slavish mercenary on earth.
+
+Liberty, property, life, and honor are all at stake. Upon your courage
+and conduct rest the hopes of our bleeding and insulted country. Our
+wives, children, and parents expect safety from us only; and they have
+every reason to believe that Heaven will crown with success so just a
+cause.
+
+The enemy will endeavor to intimidate by show and appearance; but
+remember that they have been repulsed on various occasions by a few
+brave Americans. Their cause is bad--their men are conscious of it. If
+they are opposed with firmness and coolness on their first onset, with
+our advantage of works and knowledge of the ground, the victory is most
+assuredly ours.
+
+
+SCENE III.--TABLEAU--"_The Spirit of '76._"
+
+ As soon as the sound of battle has died away following the
+ departure of Washington and his army, put on the tableau of "The
+ Spirit of '76." The fifer, the drummer, and the little boy should
+ be good musicians playing patriotic music of the Revolution. Their
+ wounded and ragged comrades are seen in the background.
+
+
+SCENE IV.--_Mr. Jefferson seated at his desk and putting on the
+finishing touches to his original draft of the Declaration of
+Independence. Enter Mr. Adams._
+
+MR. ADAMS. Good evening, Mr. Jefferson.
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Good evening, Mr. Adams.
+
+MR. ADAMS. Well, have you the Declaration finished?
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Mr. Adams, I have done the best I could but I am not very
+well satisfied with what I have written. I wish you would look it over
+and make such corrections and criticisms as your judgment deems proper.
+
+MR. ADAMS (_studying the Declaration_). Mr. Jefferson, I am delighted
+with your production. Your statements relative to the inalienable rights
+of men are unanswerable and to secure these rights, governments _must_
+be instituted among men, _deriving_ their _just powers from_ the
+_consent_ of the _governed_. This paragraph concerning negro slavery
+meets with my approval but I fear it will not meet with the approval of
+some of the Southern delegates. I congratulate you, Mr. Jefferson, on
+what you have done. This document will make you immortal.
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Thank you, Mr. Adams, I fear you are too extravagant in
+your praise of my work.
+
+ (_Enter Mr. Franklin and Mr. Sherman._)
+
+MR. FRANKLIN. Well, gentlemen, have you completed the draft for the
+Declaration?
+
+MR. ADAMS. Mr. Jefferson has finished it. It is all his work. I have
+reviewed the paper very hurriedly but in my opinion it is one of the
+greatest documents ever written by man. Look it over, gentlemen, and let
+us hear your opinion of it.
+
+MR. FRANKLIN (_studying the Declaration_). Mr. Jefferson, I congratulate
+you, sir. Your declaration on the inalienable rights of men is well
+stated. I agree with you that governments _derive_ their _just powers
+from_ the _consent_ of the _governed_. I like that paragraph on slavery
+but I believe that some of the Southern delegates will oppose it. This
+is a paper of which you should be proud, Mr. Jefferson. I congratulate
+you, sir. Here, Mr. Sherman, let us have your views on this Declaration.
+
+MR. SHERMAN (_studying the Declaration_). You have covered all our
+grievances in the twenty-seven distinct charges you have made against
+the present king of Great Britain. We can well afford to submit these
+facts to a candid world. That paragraph on slavery, Mr. Jefferson, meets
+with my approval heartily, but I fear some of the Southern delegates
+will oppose it strongly. We can certainly appeal to the Supreme Judge of
+the world for the rectitude of our intentions. I believe with you that
+divine Providence will support us in making this Declaration good.
+Therefore, I am willing to stand with you in pledging our lives, our
+fortunes, and our sacred honor to this end. I do not see how I could
+make any suggestions that would improve it. Mr. Jefferson, I
+congratulate you on the great work you have done in this paper for our
+country and for humanity.
+
+MR. JEFFERSON. Gentlemen, I thank you all most heartily and sincerely
+for the compliments you have paid me on this paper, but I am no orator
+myself, especially for such an occasion as this; therefore, I should
+like to have Mr. Adams report this Declaration to the Continental
+Congress, move its adoption for me, and lead in the debates in favor of
+it.
+
+MR. FRANKLIN. Gentlemen:--I move that Mr. Adams be requested to report
+this Declaration to the Congress as desired by Mr. Jefferson.
+
+MR. SHERMAN. I second the motion.
+
+MR. FRANKLIN. Gentlemen, you have heard the motion. As many as favor the
+same make it known by saying "aye." (_Response of ayes; Mr. Adams is
+silent_.) The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it, and the motion is
+carried for Mr. Adams to so report this Declaration. The committee is
+adjourned.
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+
+
+ACT III.
+
+
+SCENE I.--_The Continental Congress again in session._
+
+MR. HANCOCK. (_Looking at his watch, as he calls the Congress to
+order._) Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--The time has come to
+which we adjourned yesterday in order to give the Committee of Five,
+appointed to draft the Declaration, due time to prepare the same. Are
+the gentlemen of the Committee present and ready to report?
+
+MR. ADAMS. Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--At
+the request of Mr. Jefferson and the other members of the Committee, I
+beg leave to submit the following Declaration for your consideration
+after it has been read by the secretary of this Congress. Permit me to
+say here, however, that the credit for the authorship of this paper
+belongs entirely to Mr. Jefferson. It is his work, which the other
+members of the Committee are unanimous in approving.
+
+ (_Charles Thomson, secretary of the Congress, reads the Declaration
+ of Independence. This part should be assigned to one who has a good
+ clear voice and is a good public reader. If it is thought best not
+ to read all of the Declaration, its most striking paragraphs should
+ be read. Do not forget to have the famous paragraph on slavery
+ read. If it were omitted the great speech of George Walton would be
+ out of place._)
+
+JOHN ADAMS.[6] Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand
+and my heart to this vote in favor of this Declaration of Independence.
+It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence.
+But there's a divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England
+has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest for our good,
+she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our
+grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why, then,
+should we defer the Declaration?
+
+Is any man so weak as now to hope for a reconciliation with England,
+which shall leave either safety to the country and its liberties, or
+safety to his own life and his own honor? Are not you,[7] sir, who sit
+in that chair, is not he,[8] our venerable colleague near you, are you
+not both already the proscribed and predestined objects of punishment
+and of vengeance? Cut off from all hope of royal clemency, what are you,
+what can you be, while the power of England remains, but outlaws? If we
+postpone independence do we mean to carry on, or to give up the war? Do
+we mean to submit to the measures of Parliament, Boston Port Bill and
+all? Do we mean to submit, and consent that we ourselves shall be ground
+to powder, and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust? I
+know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. Do we intend to
+violate that most solemn obligation ever entered into by men, that
+plighting, before God, of our sacred honor to Washington, when, putting
+him forth to incur the dangers of war, as well as the political hazards
+of the times, we promised to adhere to him, in every extremity, with our
+fortunes and our lives? I know there is not a man here who would not
+rather see a general conflagration sweep over the land, or an earthquake
+sink it, than one jot or tittle of that plighted faith fall to the
+ground. For myself, having twelve months ago, in this place, moved you,
+that George Washington be appointed commander of the forces raised, or
+to be raised, for defense of American liberty, may my right hand forget
+her cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate
+or waver in the support I give him.
+
+ (_At the close of Mr. Adams' speech there is loud clamor for
+ recognition. The president recognizes Edward Rutledge of South
+ Carolina, who speaks against the Declaration._)
+
+EDWARD RUTLEDGE. [9]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--Let us pause! This step, once taken, cannot be retraced. This
+resolution, once passed, will cut off all hope of reconciliation. If
+success attend the arms of England, we shall then be no longer colonies,
+with charters, and with privileges. These will all be forfeited by this
+act; and we shall be in the condition of other conquered people--at the
+mercy of the conquerors. For ourselves, we may be ready to run the
+hazard; but are we ready to carry the country to that length? Is success
+so probable as to justify it? Where is the military, where the naval
+power, by which we are to resist the whole strength of the arm of
+England? For she will exert that strength to the utmost. Can we rely on
+the constancy and perseverance of the people?--or will they not act as
+the people of other countries have acted, and, wearied with a long war,
+submit in the end, to a worse oppression? While we stand on our old
+ground, and insist on redress of grievances, we know we are right, and
+are not answerable for consequences. Nothing, then, can be imputable to
+us.
+
+ (_At the close of Mr. Rutledge's speech there is a clamor for
+ recognition. The president recognizes Roger Sherman of
+ Connecticut._)
+
+ROGER SHERMAN. [10]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--The war must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war
+must go on, why put off longer the Declaration of Independence? That
+measure will strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. The
+nations will then treat with us, which they never can do while we
+acknowledge ourselves subjects, in arms against our sovereign. Nay, I
+maintain that England herself will sooner treat for peace with us on
+the footing of independence, than consent, by repealing her acts, to
+acknowledge that her whole conduct toward us has been a course of
+injustice and oppression. Her pride will be less wounded by submitting
+to the course of things which now predestinates our independence, than
+by yielding the points in controversy to her rebellious subjects. The
+former she will regard as the result of fortune; the latter she would
+feel as her own deep disgrace. Why, then, why, then, sir, do we not as
+soon as possible change this from a civil to a national war? And since
+we must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all
+the benefits of victory, if we gain the victory?
+
+If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The cause
+will raise up armies; the cause will create navies. The people, the
+people, if we are true to them will carry us, and will carry themselves,
+gloriously through this struggle. I care not how fickle other people
+have been found. I know the people of these colonies, and I know that
+resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts,
+and cannot be eradicated. Every colony, indeed, has expressed its
+willingness to follow, if we but take the lead. Sir, the Declaration
+will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and
+bloody war for the restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances,
+for chartered immunities, held under a British king, set before them the
+glorious object of entire independence, and it will breathe into them
+anew the breath of life. Read this Declaration at the head of the army;
+every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered
+to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the
+pulpit, religion will approve it, and the love of religious liberty will
+cling around it, resolved to stand with it, or fall with it. Send it to
+the public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it who heard the
+first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it who saw their brothers
+and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill and in the streets of
+Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its support.
+
+ (_At the close of Mr. Sherman's speech there is a loud clamor for
+ recognition. The president recognizes John Dickinson of
+ Pennsylvania._)
+
+JOHN DICKINSON. [11]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--If we now change our object, carry our pretensions farther,
+and set up for absolute independence, we shall lose the sympathy of
+mankind. We shall no longer be defending what we possess, but struggling
+for something which we never did possess, and which we have solemnly and
+uniformly disclaimed all intention of pursuing, from the very outset of
+the troubles. Abandoning thus our old ground of resistance only to
+arbitrary acts of oppression, the nations will believe the whole to have
+been mere pretense, and they will look on us, not as injured, but as
+ambitious subjects. I shudder before this responsibility. It will be
+upon us, it will be upon us, if, relinquishing the ground we have stood
+upon so long, and stood so safely, we now proclaim independence, and
+carry on the war for that object, while these cities burn, these
+pleasant fields whiten and bleach with the bones of their owners, and
+these streams run blood. It will be upon us, it will be upon us, if
+failing to maintain this unseasonable and ill-judged Declaration, a
+sterner despotism, maintained by military power, shall be established
+over our posterity, when we ourselves, given up by an exhausted, a
+harassed, a misled people, shall have expiated our rashness and atoned
+for our presumption on the scaffold.
+
+[Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN]
+
+ (_At the close of Mr. Dickinson's speech there is a loud clamor for
+ recognition. The president recognizes Benjamin Franklin of
+ Pennsylvania._)
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. [12]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but I see, I see
+clearly, through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may rue it. We
+may not live to the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We
+may die; die colonists; die slaves; die, it may be ignominiously and on
+the scaffold. Be it so. Be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that
+my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall
+be ready, at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may.
+But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a
+country, and that a free country.
+
+But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured that this
+Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but
+it will stand, and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick
+gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future as the sun in
+heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in
+our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it with
+thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its
+annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of
+subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of
+gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour has come. My
+whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I
+hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off
+as Mr. Adams of Massachusetts began, that, sink or swim, live or die,
+survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment,
+and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, independence
+_now, and_ INDEPENDENCE FOREVER!
+
+ (_There is a loud clamor for recognition, and the president
+ recognizes George Walton of Georgia._)
+
+GEORGE WALTON. [13]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--I am for this Declaration if the paragraph on slavery is
+struck out. But I will oppose it to the end if that paragraph is
+permitted to remain a part of it. There is not one good reason for
+introducing the slavery question at this time. The relations between
+individual master and slave have no place here in the greater and graver
+matter of differences between the British Government and the American
+Colonies. But since the issue is thrust upon us, I propose to meet it
+squarely and fearlessly.
+
+Mr. President and gentlemen, you cannot make equal what God Almighty has
+made unequal. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his
+spots? The Bible commands in the most emphatic language that servants
+obey in all things their masters. Liberty loving Greece had her slaves.
+Shall liberty loving America have less? Strike out that obnoxious
+paragraph and every delegate from the Southern colonies will fall in
+line for the Declaration of Independence, but if you make that paragraph
+a part of the Declaration many delegates from the South will withdraw
+from this convention, and then you will fight your own battles.
+
+This paragraph on slavery is founded upon ideas fundamentally wrong.
+These ideas rest upon the assumption of the equality of the races. This
+is an error. It is a sandy foundation and a government founded upon it
+will fall when the storms come and the winds blow.
+
+Let us found our new government upon the great truth that the negro is
+not the equal of the white man, that slavery--subordination to the
+superior race--is his natural and normal condition. This truth has been
+slow in the process of its development, like all other great truths in
+the various departments of science.
+
+Many governments have been founded upon the principle of the
+subordination and serfdom of certain classes of the _same_ race; such
+were and are in violation of the laws of nature. With us, _all_ the
+_white_ race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of
+the law. Not so with the negro; subordination is his place. He, by
+nature or by the curse of Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he
+now occupies in our system. The architect, in the construction of a
+building, lays the foundation with proper material--the granite; then
+comes the brick or the marble. The substratum of our society is made of
+the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it
+is best not only for the superior race, but for the inferior race, that
+it should be so. It is, indeed, in conformity with the laws of the
+Creator. It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of His plans, or to
+question them. For His own good purposes He has made one race to differ
+from another, as He has made "one star to differ from another star in
+glory."
+
+Therefore, I declare again that you cannot make equal what God Almighty
+has made unequal. He has made the negro and the white man unequal. You
+cannot make them equal. And I move that the paragraph on slavery be
+struck out. I have measured my words, gentlemen. The responsibility is
+yours.
+
+ (_At the close of Mr. Walton's speech there is a loud clamor for
+ recognition, and the chair recognizes Samuel Adams._)
+
+SAMUEL ADAMS. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--While I have no personal
+objections against this paragraph on slavery--for personally I favor
+it--yet from the standpoint of the general welfare of the colonies, I
+deem it unwise at this time to take any action either for or against the
+question of slavery. Therefore I second the motion of Mr. Walton to
+strike out the paragraph on slavery.
+
+MR. HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--It has been duly
+moved and seconded that the paragraph in this Declaration on slavery be
+struck out. You have heard the motion, are there any remarks?
+
+WILLIAM HOOPER. Mr. President, before voting on this motion, I wish to
+have the paragraph on slavery read again.
+
+ (_This request is seconded by many of the delegates._)
+
+MR. HANCOCK. The secretary will read the paragraph on slavery again.
+
+ (_The secretary reads the paragraph on slavery as follows:_)
+
+He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most
+sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who
+never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in
+another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation
+thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is
+the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep
+open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted
+his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to
+restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors
+might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very
+people to rise in arms among us and to purchase that liberty of which he
+has deprived them by murdering the people upon whom he obtruded them:
+thus paying off, former crimes committed against the _liberties_ of one
+people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the _lives_ of
+another.
+
+ (_After the reading of this paragraph the delegates call for a vote
+ on Mr. Walton's motion._)
+
+MR. HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Congress, a vote is called for on Mr.
+Walton's motion to strike out the paragraph on slavery. As many as are
+in favor of this motion make it known by saying "aye" (_a strong aye
+vote_); as many as are opposed to the motion make it known by responding
+"no" (_a light vote of noes_). The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have
+it, and the paragraph on slavery is struck out. Gentlemen, what is your
+further pleasure?
+
+ (_A loud clamor for recognition, the chair recognizing Joseph Hewes
+ of North Carolina._)
+
+JOSEPH HEWES. [14]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as
+well as the abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have opposed
+this Declaration in these debates. But different men often see the same
+subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be
+thought disrespectful to those gentlemen, if, entertaining, as I do,
+opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my
+sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The
+question before the house is one of awful moment to this country. For my
+own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or
+slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be
+the freedom of debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive
+at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and
+our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear
+of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward
+my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven,
+which I revere above all earthly kings.
+
+Mr. President, it is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of
+hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to
+the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the
+part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty?
+Are we disposed to be of the number of those, who, having eyes, see
+not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their
+temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost,
+I am willing to know the truth; to know the worst, and to provide for
+it.
+
+I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of
+experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.
+And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the
+conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those
+hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and
+the house? Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been
+lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet.
+Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how
+this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike
+preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and
+armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown
+ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to
+win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the
+implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings
+resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its
+purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other
+possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of
+the world, that calls for all this accumulation of navies and armies?
+No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no
+other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains, which
+the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to
+oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for
+the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject?
+Nothing! We have held the subject up in every light of which it is
+capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and
+humble supplication? What terms shall we find, which have not been
+already exhausted? Let us not. I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves
+longer.
+
+ (_A loud clamor for recognition. The chair recognizes Robert Morris
+ of Pennsylvania._)
+
+ROBERT MORRIS. [15]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--I am opposed to war first, last, and all the time. It is a
+relic of barbarism. I believe in the gospel of peace on earth, good will
+toward men. It would be better to settle our differences with England
+even by flipping a coin than by fighting and killing one another. Let us
+hearken unto the voice of God as it comes ringing down the centuries
+from Mount Sinai, "Thou shalt not kill." Shall this new government start
+out as the Cain among the nations of earth with the blood of our
+brethren upon our hands? God forbid that we make ourselves so foolish
+and so reckless as this! The history of trial by battle is the history
+of folly and wickedness. As we revert to those early periods in the
+history of the human race in which it prevailed, our minds are shocked
+at the barbarism which we behold; we are horror stricken at the awful
+subjection of justice to brute force.
+
+Who told you, fond man! to regard that as glory when performed by a
+nation, which is condemned as a crime and a barbarism, when committed by
+an individual? In what vain conceit of wisdom and virtue do you find
+this degrading morality? Where is it declared that God, who is no
+respecter of persons, is a respecter of multitudes? Whence do you draw
+these partial laws of a powerful and impartial God? Man is immortal; but
+states are mortal. Man has a higher destiny than states. Shall states be
+less amenable to the great moral laws of God than man? Each individual
+is an atom of the mass. Must not the mass be like individuals of which
+it is composed? Shall the mass do what the individual may not do? No! A
+thousand times _NO_! The same laws which govern individuals govern
+masses, as the same laws in nature prevail over large and small things,
+controlling the fall of an apple and the orbits of the planets.
+
+And who is this god of battles that some of you men believe in with so
+much faith? It is Mars--man-slaying, blood-polluted, city-smiting, Mars!
+Him we cannot adore. It is not he who causes the sun to shine on the
+just and the unjust. It is not he who tempers the wind to the shorn
+lamb. It is not he who distills the oil of gladness in every upright
+heart. It is not he who fills the fountain of mercy and goodness. He is
+not the God of love and justice. The god of battles is not the God of
+Christians; to him can ascend no prayer of Christian thanksgiving; for
+him no words of worship in Christian temples, no swelling anthem to peal
+the note of praise.
+
+Let us cease, then, to look for a lamp to our feet in the feeble tapers
+that glimmer in the sepulchers of the past. Rather let us hail those
+ever-burning lights above in whose beams is the brightness of the
+noon-day. As the cedars of Lebanon are higher than the grass of the
+valley, as the heavens are higher than the earth, as man is higher than
+the beasts of the field, as the angels are higher than man, as he that
+ruleth his spirit is higher than he that taketh a city; so are the
+virtues and glories and victories of peace higher than the virtues and
+victories of war.
+
+To this great work of world-wide peace let me summon you. Believe that
+you can do it, and you can do it. Blessed are the peace-makers for they
+are the children of God.
+
+ (_Loud clamor for recognition, the chair recognizing Patrick Henry
+ of Virginia._)
+
+PATRICK HENRY. [16]Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Continental
+Congress:--We have done everything that could be done, to avert the
+storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated;
+we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne,
+and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of
+the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our
+remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our
+supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with
+contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may
+we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer
+any room for hope. If we wish to be free--if we mean to preserve
+inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long
+contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which
+we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never
+to abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be
+obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to
+arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us.
+
+They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable
+an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week,
+or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a
+British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather
+strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of
+effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the
+delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and
+foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make proper use of those means which
+the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people,
+armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which
+we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against
+us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just
+God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up
+friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the
+strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides,
+sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now
+too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat, but in
+submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be
+heard on the plains of Boston. The war is inevitable--and let it come! I
+repeat it, sir, let it come.
+
+It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace,
+peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale,
+that sweeps from the north, will bring to our ears the clash of
+resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we
+here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life
+so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains
+and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may
+take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
+
+ (_At the close of Mr. Henry's speech there are loud calls for a
+ vote upon the question. President Hancock orders the secretary to
+ call the roll of colonies in geographic order beginning with New
+ Hampshire._)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. New Hampshire!
+
+Josiah Bartlett. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--New Hampshire is
+represented in the Congress by three delegates. Her people have appealed
+to us and have instructed us to work for and vote for Independence. I
+believe everybody knows more than any body. I consider it a signal
+honor, sir, and it is the happiest hour of my life, to lead in this roll
+call in favor of this Declaration. New Hampshire votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for New Hampshire."_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Massachusetts!
+
+SAMUEL ADAMS. Mr. President:--The king of England has set a price upon
+your head and mine. If this Declaration is not made good by the people
+of these colonies you and I will be shot, hanged by the neck till dead,
+or burned at the stake as traitors. If we fail, my only regret will be
+that I have but one life to give for my country. But with faith in the
+people and in God to carry our cause through to a glorious victory, the
+delegates from Massachusetts stand as one man for Independence.
+Massachusetts, therefore, votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for Massachusetts, and long live Samuel
+ Adams and John Hancock. Down with the tyrant king of England!"_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Rhode Island!
+
+STEPHEN HOPKINS. Mr. President:--Rhode Island is a small colony. She is
+represented in this Congress by only two delegates. But all that we are
+and all we hope to be we are ready here and now to give for
+Independence. Rhode Island votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for brave Rhode Island, Stephen Hopkins,
+ and William Ellery."_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Connecticut!
+
+ROGER SHERMAN. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--I have already addressed
+you at some length in favor of this Declaration. It becomes my happy
+duty now to cast the unanimous vote of the four delegates from
+Connecticut for independence. Connecticut votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Long live Roger Sherman! Three cheers for
+ Connecticut."_)
+
+_Secretary Thomson._ New York!
+
+WILLIAM FLOYD. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--The instructions against
+independence for the delegates from New York have never been recalled.
+We, therefore, request the privilege to refrain from voting on this
+question. We regret the situation, gentlemen!
+
+PRESIDENT HANCOCK. New York is excused from voting on this question.
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. New Jersey!
+
+RICHARD STOCKTON. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--I am happy to say that
+New Jersey has given her five delegates in this Congress instructions to
+vote for independence. New Jersey, therefore, votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for New Jersey."_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Pennsylvania!
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--From the beginning of
+this Congress the delegates from Pennsylvania have labored under
+instructions against independence. But during the past three months the
+friends of independence in this commonwealth have worked in season and
+out of season to have these instructions canceled and permission given
+us to vote for independence. At a mass meeting in Philadelphia on June
+18, presided over by that distinguished and influential radical, Colonel
+Daniel Roberdeau, and attended by over 7,000 citizens from all sections
+of the state, a public sentiment was created and started that resulted
+in the overthrow of the old government of the aristocrats of the old
+Assembly and then established a new government of the people under the
+authority of the Conference of Committees which has given the delegates
+from Pennsylvania instructions to vote for independence. Two of our
+delegates, John Dickinson and Robert Morris, have retired from this
+Congress considering such instructions a recall of their membership in
+this body. Two other delegates from Pennsylvania, Charles Humphreys and
+William Williams, question the authority of the Conference of Committees
+and hold that the instructions of the old defunct Assembly are still
+binding upon them. They vote against independence. But James Wilson who
+has been opposed to Independence bows to the will of the people and
+joins John Morton and myself in voting for Independence. Under the rule
+of this Congress made in its beginning session that a majority of the
+delegates from each colony, present and voting determines its vote upon
+such a question as this, Pennsylvania casts two votes against
+independence and three votes for independence and therefore votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for Pennsylvania! Long live Benjamin
+ Franklin, John Morton, and James Wilson!"_)
+
+ (_Immediately following the applause for Franklin, Caesar Rodney, a
+ delegate from Delaware, makes his appearance just in time to vote.
+ He has come eighty miles on horseback and has not had time to
+ change his boots and spurs and still carries a riding whip. He is
+ given a great ovation._)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Delaware!
+
+THOMAS McKEAN. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--Until this moment the vote
+for Delaware has been in doubt. George Read, my colleague, will vote
+against independence. But thank God the timely arrival of Caesar Rodney
+who joins me in voting for independence, places Delaware on the right
+side of this question. To make sure of this I sent an express rider at
+my own expense to Dover, Delaware, for Mr. Rodney. He has come eighty
+miles on horseback at post-haste. He has not had time to change his
+riding attire, but he is here in time to join me in voting for
+independence. Posterity will erect a monument in his honor[17] as they
+will to that other famous revolutionary rider--Paul Revere. Mr.
+President, under the rule as stated by Mr. Franklin governing the votes
+of colonies in this Congress, Delaware votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Hurrah for Delaware! Long live Thomas McKean and
+ Caesar Rodney!"_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Maryland!
+
+SAMUEL CHASE. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--Maryland has passed through
+a similar struggle to that in Pennsylvania as described by Mr. Franklin.
+An appeal has been made to every county committee and one after another
+they have directed their representatives in the state convention to vote
+for new instructions to the delegates in this Congress. At last the old
+instructions against independence have been canceled and new
+instructions given us in an unanimous resolve to vote for independence.
+See the glorious effect of county instructions! Our people have fire if
+not smothered. And, therefore, Maryland votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for Maryland and Samuel Chase!"_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Virginia!
+
+BENJAMIN HARRISON. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--Virginia is here with a
+solid delegation for independence. Our battle cry has been so well
+stated by Mr. Henry that we need but to repeat it now--Liberty or Death!
+Virginia votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for Virginia! Long live Richard Henry
+ Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry!"_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. North Carolina!
+
+JOSEPH HEWES. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--We have had a hard struggle
+in North Carolina between aristocracy on one hand and democracy on the
+other. But at last the people have won and North Carolina votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for North Carolina!_")
+
+[Illustration: From the painting by Trumbull
+
+THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS]
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. South Carolina!
+
+EDWARD RUTLEDGE. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--When Richard Henry Lee's
+resolution declaring for independence was first introduced I was opposed
+to its adoption _at that time_. I feared that the people of my colony
+were not then ready for it. I thought also that for the general welfare
+of all the colonies it was then too early to declare for independence.
+The contest in South Carolina for independence has been as bitter among
+her own people as it has been in any of the other colonies. But opinions
+alter and conditions change with the passing of time. Therefore, South
+Carolina now has a solid delegation here ready to walk through the fiery
+furnace of war, though it be seventy times heated, to make this
+Declaration good. South Carolina votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for South Carolina and Edward
+ Rutledge!"_)
+
+SECRETARY THOMSON. Georgia!
+
+LYMAN HALL. Mr. President and Gentlemen:--Georgia is here with three
+delegates who stand as one man for independence. Though last on the roll
+of states on this question she will be among the first in her efforts
+for American independence. Georgia votes _aye_.
+
+ (_Shouts of "Three cheers for Georgia!"_)
+
+PRESIDENT HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--Twelve of the
+thirteen colonies having voted for the Declaration of Independence, and
+with no colony going on record against it, I consider our action
+unanimous for I am confident that the New York Assembly[18] will give
+her delegation instructions to sign this document in the near future.
+
+JOHN ADAMS. Mr. President, I move that this Congress do now adjourn.
+
+BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Mr. President, I second the motion.
+
+PRESIDENT HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress, it has been
+moved by Mr. Adams of Massachusetts and seconded by Mr. Franklin of
+Pennsylvania that we do now adjourn. As many as favor this motion make
+known by saying _aye_.
+
+ (_Unanimous response of ayes._)
+
+The motion to adjourn has been carried unanimously and this Congress is
+therefore adjourned.
+
+
+SCENE II.--_The Spirit of 76._
+
+Here repeat the Tableau of the Spirit of Seventy-six.
+
+
+
+
+ACT IV.
+
+
+SCENE I.--_Washington's Resignation. (A special session of the
+Continental Congress to receive the Resignation of Washington.)_
+
+PRESIDENT HANCOCK. Gentlemen of the Continental Congress:--Eight years
+ago we made General George Washington Commander-in-Chief of the armies
+raised and to be raised for American Independence. Through seven long
+years of war, against overwhelming odds, in which brave men did brave
+deeds, the rich man gave his wealth and the poor man gave his life,
+baptizing their country's soil with their own blood from Bunker Hill to
+Yorktown, the brave soldiers under General Washington fought on until an
+army of veteran soldiers surrendered to a band of insurgent husbandmen.
+The American nation has been born. Its independence has been recognized
+by Great Britain and the civilized world. Peace has come! And General
+Washington desires to surrender his commission to the Congress that
+elected him to this position. He is in waiting to do this. I therefore
+appoint John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania,
+Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Samuel Chase of Maryland, Patrick Henry of
+Virginia, Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, and Lyman Hall of Georgia,
+as an honorary committee to escort General Washington before this
+Congress, to receive his resignation.
+
+ (_General Washington is escorted before Congress and makes the
+ following address:_)
+
+_Mr. President:_--The great events on which my resignation depended,
+having at length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my
+sincere congratulations to Congress, and of presenting myself before
+them to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to
+claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country.
+
+Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and
+pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a
+respectable nation, I resign, with satisfaction, the appointment I
+accepted with diffidence; a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so
+arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the
+rectitude of our cause, the support of the Supreme Power of the Union,
+and the patronage of Heaven.
+
+The successful termination of the war has verified the most sanguine
+expectations; and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and
+the assistance I have received from my countrymen, increases with every
+review of the momentous contest.
+
+While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do
+injustice to my own feelings, not to acknowledge, in this place, the
+peculiar services and distinguished merits of the persons who have been
+attached to my person during the war. It was impossible the choice of
+confidential officers to compose my family could have been more
+fortunate. Permit me sir, to recommend in particular those who have
+continued in the service to the present moment as worthy of the
+favorable notice and patronage of Congress.
+
+I consider it as an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of
+my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to
+the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence
+of them to his holy keeping.
+
+Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great
+theater of action; and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this august
+body, under whose orders I have long acted, I here offer my commission,
+and take my leave of all the employments of public life.
+
+ (_The Continental Congress, standing and shouting in concert, "Long
+ live General George Washington! First in war! First in peace! And
+ First in the hearts of his countrymen!"_)
+
+CURTAIN
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] In small schools where there are not enough large boys to represent
+all the characters, those who represent members of the Continental
+Congress can become members of Washington's army, etc., for the other
+scenes.
+
+[2] This speech is adapted from Paine's "Separation of Britain and
+America."
+
+[3] Adapted from Wirt's supposed speech of Lee.
+
+[4] This dialogue between Adams and Jefferson is taken from Adams's
+letter to Timothy Pickering.
+
+[5] If this is properly staged it will be very effective. National Guard
+members will be glad to take part as members of Washington's army, with
+their tents and uniforms and arms, if there are no school cadets to play
+this part. The bugler sounds the call to arms. The soldiers fall into
+line ready for the fight. Just before marching orders are given,
+Washington delivers the following address, after which the curtain goes
+down on this scene and the sound of battle is heard in the distance.
+
+[6] This is a part of Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams."
+
+[7] John Hancock.
+
+[8] Samuel Adams.
+
+[9] From Webster's "Supposed Speech of Opposition to Independence."
+
+[10] From Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams."
+
+[11] From Webster's "Supposed Speech of Opposition to Independence."
+
+[12] From Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams."
+
+[13] Adapted from the "Corner Stone" speech of Alexander H. Stephens,
+and arranged by William R. Hood, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C.
+
+[14] From Wirt's "Supposed Speech of Patrick Henry."
+
+[15] Robert Morris later signed the Declaration of Independence and
+through his influence the American Revolution was financed. This speech
+is adapted from Sumner's "True Grandeur of Nations" and other sources.
+
+[16] From Wirt's "Supposed Speech of Patrick Henry."
+
+[17] A monument was recently erected at Dover in his honor.
+
+[18] On July 9, 1776, New York instructed her delegates to sign.
+
+
+
+
+AMERICAN PATRIOTISM
+
+[Illustration: GEORGE WASHINGTON]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT IS PATRIOTISM
+
+
+Johnson defines a patriot as one whose ruling passion is the love of his
+country, and patriotism as love and zeal for one's country. Curtis tells
+us that Lowell's pursuit was literature, but patriotism was his passion.
+"His love of country was that of a lover for his mistress. He resented
+the least imputation upon the ideal America, and nothing was finer than
+his instinctive scorn for the pinchbeck patriotism which brags and
+boasts and swaggers, insisting that bigness is greatness and vulgarity
+simplicity, and the will of a majority the moral law."
+
+While some of us cannot make Lowell's pursuit our pursuit, we all can
+and should make his passion our passion. Let us all, the native born as
+well as the naturalized, say, deep down in our hearts with a patriotism
+and a courage that will back it up and make it good, "Our Country--right
+or wrong; if she is wrong we will set her right; if she is right we will
+keep her right; and so let us trust in God and believe she is right."
+
+Times like these demand men. Let American boys be taught in the home and
+in the school and by the example of their fathers to be men among men.
+
+ "Men whom the lust of office will not kill,
+ Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy,
+ Men who possess opinions and a will,
+ Men who have honor and will not lie;
+ Men who can stand before the demagogue
+ And down his treacherous flattering without winking,
+ Tall men, sun crowned, who live above the fog
+ In public duty and in private thinking!"[1]
+
+Times like these demand women! Let American girls be taught in the home
+and in the school and by the example of their mothers to be women among
+women.
+
+ "Be women! on to duty!
+ Raise the world from all that's low;
+ Place high in the social heaven
+ Virtue's fair and radiant bow;
+ Lend thy influence to each effort
+ That shall raise our nature human;
+ Be not fashion's gilded ladies,--
+ Be brave, whole-souled, true women!"[2]
+
+To help to make such men and women of all American boys and
+girls--Americans in _deeds_ as well as in _words_--Americans, who
+knowing their rights, dare maintain them "_without compromise and at any
+cost_"--this is the purpose of the following selections.
+
+Jasper L. McBrien.
+
+
+
+
+AMERICA FOR ME[3]
+
+
+'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down
+Among the famous palaces and cities of renown,
+To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings--
+But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.
+
+ _So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
+ My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,
+ In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars,
+ Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars._
+
+Oh! London is a man's town, there's power in the air;
+And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;
+And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;
+But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.
+
+I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled;
+I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;
+But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day
+In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!
+
+I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack:
+The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
+But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free--
+We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.
+
+ _Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!
+ I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea,
+ To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
+ Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars._
+
+Henry van Dyke
+
+
+
+
+AMERICA FIRST
+
+ The following address was delivered by President Wilson at the
+ celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Daughters of the
+ American Revolution, Washington, D. C., October 11th, 1915. It is
+ given here by special permission of the president.
+
+
+MADAM PRESIDENT AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--Again it is my very great
+privilege to welcome you to the city of Washington and to the
+hospitalities of the Capital. May I admit a point of ignorance? I was
+surprised to learn that this association is so young, and that an
+association so young should devote itself wholly to memory I cannot
+believe. For to me the duties to which you are consecrated are more than
+the duties and the pride of memory.
+
+There is a very great thrill to be had from the memories of the American
+Revolution, but the American Revolution was a beginning, not a
+consummation, and the duty laid upon us by that beginning is the duty of
+bringing the things then begun to a noble triumph of completion. For it
+seems to me that the peculiarity of patriotism in America is that it is
+not a mere sentiment. It is an active principle of conduct. It is
+something that was born into the world, not to please it but to
+regenerate it. It is something that was born into the world to replace
+systems that had preceded it and to bring men out upon a new plane of
+privilege. The glory of the men whose memories you honor and perpetuate
+is that they saw this vision, and it was a vision of the future. It was
+a vision of great days to come when a little handful of three million
+people upon the borders of a single sea should have become a great
+multitude of free men and women spreading across a great continent,
+dominating the shores of two oceans, and sending West as well as East
+the influences of individual freedom. These things were consciously in
+their minds as they framed the great Government which was born out of
+the American Revolution; and every time we gather to perpetuate their
+memories it is incumbent upon us that we should be worthy of recalling
+them and that we should endeavor by every means in our power to emulate
+their example.
+
+The American Revolution was the birth of a nation; it was the creation
+of a great free republic based upon traditions of personal liberty which
+theretofore had been confined to a single little island, but which it
+was purposed should spread to all mankind. And the singular fascination
+of American history is that it has been a process of constant
+re-creation, of making over again in each generation the thing which was
+conceived at first. You know how peculiarly necessary that has been in
+our case, because America has not grown by the mere multiplication of
+the original stock. It is easy to preserve tradition with continuity of
+blood; it is easy in a single family to remember the origins of the race
+and the purposes of its organization; but it is not so easy when that
+race is constantly being renewed and augmented from other sources, from
+stocks that did not carry or originate the same principles.
+
+So from generation to generation strangers have had to be indoctrinated
+with the principles of the American family, and the wonder and the
+beauty of it all has been that the infection has been so generously
+easy. For the principles of liberty are united with the principles of
+hope. Every individual, as well as every nation, wishes to realize the
+best thing that is in him, the best thing that can be conceived out of
+the materials of which his spirit is constructed. It has happened in a
+way that fascinates the imagination that we have not only been augmented
+by additions from outside, but that we have been greatly stimulated by
+those additions. Living in the easy prosperity of a free people, knowing
+that the sun had always been free to shine upon us and prosper our
+undertakings, we did not realize how hard the task of liberty is and how
+rare the privilege of liberty is; but men were drawn out of every
+climate and out of every race because of an irresistible attraction of
+their spirits to the American ideal. They thought of America as lifting,
+like that great statue in the harbor of New York, a torch to light the
+pathway of men to the things that they desire, and men of all sorts and
+conditions struggled toward that light and came to our shores with an
+eager desire to realize it, and a hunger for it such as some of us no
+longer felt, for we were as if satiated and satisfied and were indulging
+ourselves after a fashion that did not belong to the ascetic devotion of
+the early devotees of those great principles. Strangers came to remind
+us of what we had promised ourselves and through ourselves had promised
+mankind. All men came to us and said, "Where is the bread of life with
+which you promised to feed us, and have you partaken of it yourselves?"
+For my part, I believe that the constant renewal of this people out of
+foreign stocks has been a constant source of reminder to this people of
+what the inducement was that was offered to men who would come and be of
+our number.
+
+Now we have come to a time of special stress and test. There never was
+time when we needed more clearly to conserve the principles of our own
+patriotism than this present time. The rest of the world from which our
+polities were drawn seems for the time in the crucible and no man can
+predict what will come out of that crucible. We stand apart,
+unembroiled, conscious of our own principles, conscious of what we hope
+and purpose, so far as our powers permit, for the world at large, and it
+is necessary that we should consolidate the American principle. Every
+political action, every social action, should have for its object in
+America at this time to challenge the spirit of America; to ask that
+every man and woman who thinks first of America should rally to the
+standards of our life. There have been some among us who have not
+thought first of America, who have thought to use the might of America
+in some matter not of America's origination. They have forgotten that
+the first duty of a nation is to express its own individual principles
+in the action of the family of nations and not to seek to aid and abet
+any rival or contrary ideal. Neutrality is a negative word. It is a word
+that does not express what America ought to feel. America has a heart
+and that heart throbs with all sorts of intense sympathies, but America
+has schooled its heart to love the things that America believes in and
+it ought to devote itself only to the things that America believes in;
+and, believing that America stands apart in its ideals, it ought not to
+allow itself to be drawn, so far as its heart is concerned, into
+anybody's quarrel. Not because it does not understand the quarrel, not
+because it does not in its head assess the merits of the controversy,
+but because America has promised the world to stand apart and maintain
+certain principles of action which are grounded in law and in justice.
+We are not trying to keep out of trouble; we are trying to preserve the
+foundations upon which peace can be rebuilt. Peace can be rebuilt only
+upon the ancient and accepted principles of international law, only upon
+those things which remind nations of their duties to each other, and,
+deeper than that, of their duties to mankind and to humanity.
+
+America has a great cause which is not confined to the American
+continent. It is the cause of humanity itself. I do not mean in anything
+that I say even to imply a judgment upon any nation or upon any policy,
+for my object here this afternoon is not to sit in judgment upon anybody
+but ourselves and to challenge you to assist all of us who are trying to
+make America more than ever conscious of her own principles and her own
+duty. I look forward to the necessity in every political agitation in
+the years which are immediately at hand of calling upon every man to
+declare himself, where he stands. Is it America first, or is it not?
+
+We ought to be very careful about some of the impressions that we are
+forming just now. There is too general an impression, I fear, that very
+large numbers of our fellow citizens born in other lands have not
+entertained with sufficient intensity and affection the American ideal.
+But the number of such is, I am sure, not large. Those who would seek to
+represent them are very vocal, but they are not very influential. Some
+of the best stuff of America has come out of foreign lands, and some of
+the best stuff in America is in the men who are naturalized citizens of
+the United States. I would not be afraid upon the test of "America
+first" to take a census of all the foreign-born citizens of the United
+States, for I know that the vast majority of them came here because they
+believed in America; and their belief in America has made them better
+citizens than some people who were born in America. They can say that
+they have bought this privilege with a great price. They have left their
+homes, they have left their kindred, they have broken all the nearest
+and dearest ties of human life in order to come to a new land, take a
+new rootage, begin a new life, and so by self-sacrifice express their
+confidence in a new principle; whereas, it cost us none of these things.
+We were born into this privilege; we were rocked and cradled in it; we
+did nothing to create it; and it is, therefore, the greater duty on our
+part to do a great deal to enhance it and preserve it. I am not deceived
+as to the balance of opinion among the foreign-born citizens of the
+United States, but I am in a hurry for an opportunity to have a line-up
+and let the men who are thinking first of other countries stand on one
+side and all those that are for America first, last, and all the time on
+the other side.
+
+Now, you can do a great deal in this direction. When I was a college
+officer. I used to be very much opposed to hazing; not because hazing is
+not wholesome, but because sophomores are poor judges. I remember a very
+dear friend of mine, a professor of ethics on the other side of the
+water, was asked if he thought it was ever justifiable to tell a lie. He
+said Yes, he thought it was sometimes justifiable to lie; "but," he
+said, "it is so difficult to judge of the justification that I usually
+tell the truth." I think that ought to be the motto of the sophomore.
+There are freshmen who need to be hazed, but the need is to be judged by
+such nice tests that a sophomore is hardly old enough to determine them.
+But the world can determine them. We are not freshmen at college, but we
+are constantly hazed. I would a great deal rather be obliged to draw
+pepper up my nose than to observe the hostile glances of my neighbors. I
+would a great deal rather be beaten than ostracized. I would a great
+deal rather endure any sort of physical hardship if I might have the
+affection of my fellow men. We constantly discipline our fellow citizens
+by having an opinion about them. That is the sort of discipline we ought
+now to administer to everybody who is not to the very core of his heart
+an American. Just have an opinion about him and let him experience the
+atmospheric effects of that opinion! And I know of no body of persons
+comparable to a body of ladies for creating an atmosphere of opinion! I
+have myself in part yielded to the influences of that atmosphere, though
+it took me a long time to determine how I was going to vote in New
+Jersey.
+
+So it has seemed to me that my privilege this afternoon was not merely
+a privilege of courtesy, but the real privilege of reminding you--for I
+am sure I am doing nothing more--of the great principles which we stand
+associated to promote. I for my part rejoice that we belong to a country
+in which the whole business of government is so difficult. We do not
+take orders from anybody; it is a universal communication of conviction,
+the most subtle, delicate, and difficult of processes. There is not a
+single individual's opinion that is not of some consequence in making up
+the grand total, and to be in this great coöperative effort is the most
+stimulating thing in the world. A man standing alone may well misdoubt
+his own judgment. He may mistrust his own intellectual processes; he may
+even wonder if his own heart leads him right in matters of public
+conduct; but if he finds his heart part of the great throb of a national
+life, there can be no doubt about it. If that is his happy circumstance,
+then he may know that he is part of one of the great forces of the
+world.
+
+I would not feel any exhilaration in belonging to America if I did not
+feel that she was something more than a rich and powerful nation. I
+should not feel proud to be in some respects and for a little while her
+spokesman if I did not believe that there was something else than
+physical force behind her. I believe that the glory of America is that
+she is a great spiritual conception and that in the spirit of her
+institutions dwells not only her distinction but her power. The one
+thing that the world can not permanently resist is the moral force of
+great and triumphant convictions.
+
+
+
+
+THE MEANING OF THE FLAG
+
+ The following address on the Flag was delivered by President
+ Woodrow Wilson from the south portico of the Treasury Building,
+ Washington, D.C., June 14, 1915.
+
+
+MR. SECRETARY, FRIENDS, AND FELLOW CITIZENS:--I know of nothing more
+difficult than to render an adequate tribute to the emblem of our
+nation. For those of us who have shared that nation's life and felt the
+beat of its pulse it must be considered a matter of impossibility to
+express the great things which that emblem embodies. I venture to say
+that a great many things are said about the flag which very few people
+stop to analyze. For me the flag does not express a mere body of vague
+sentiment. The flag of the United States has not been created by
+rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and in bills of
+rights. It has been created by the experience of a great people, and
+nothing is written upon it that has not been written by their life. It
+is the embodiment, not of a sentiment, but of a history, and no man can
+rightly serve under that flag who has not caught some of the meaning of
+that history.
+
+Experience, ladies and gentlemen, is made by men and women. National
+experience is the product of those who do the living under that flag. It
+is their living that has created its significance. You do not create the
+meaning of a national life by any literary exposition of it, but by the
+actual daily endeavors of a great people to do the tasks of the day and
+live up to the ideals of honesty and righteousness and just conduct. And
+as we think of these things, our tribute is to those men who have
+created this experience. Many of them are known by name to all the
+world--statesmen, soldiers, merchants, masters of industry, men of
+letters and of thought who have coined our hearts into action or into
+words. Of these men we feel that they have shown us the way. They have
+not been afraid to go before. They have known that they were speaking
+the thoughts of a great people when they led that great people along the
+paths of achievement. There was not a single swashbuckler among them.
+They were men of sober, quiet thought, the more effective because there
+was no bluster in it. They were men who thought along the lines of duty,
+not along the lines of self-aggrandizement. They were men, in short, who
+thought of the people whom they served and not of themselves.
+
+But while we think of these men and do honor to them as to those who
+have shown us the way, let us not forget that the real experience and
+life of a nation lies with the great multitude of unknown men. It lies
+with those men whose names are never in the headlines of newspapers,
+those men who know the heat and pain and desperate loss of hope that
+sometimes comes in the great struggle of daily life; not the men who
+stand on the side and comment, not the men who merely try to interpret
+the great struggle, but the men who are engaged in the struggle. They
+constitute the body of the nation. This flag is the essence of their
+daily endeavors. This flag does not express any more than what they are
+and what they desire to be.
+
+As I think of the life of this great nation it seems to me that we
+sometimes look to the wrong places for its sources. We look to the noisy
+places, where men are talking in the market place; we look to where men
+are expressing their individual opinions; we look to where partisans are
+expressing passions: instead of trying to attune our ears to that
+voiceless mass of men who merely go about their daily tasks, try to be
+honorable, try to serve the people they love, try to live worthy of the
+great communities to which they belong. These are the breath of the
+nation's nostrils; these are the sinews of its might.
+
+How can any man presume to interpret the emblem of the United States,
+the emblem of what we would fain be among the family of nations, and
+find it incumbent upon us to be in the daily round of routine duty? This
+is Flag Day, but that only means that it is a day when we are to recall
+the things which we should do every day of our lives. There are no days
+of special patriotism. There are no days when we should be more
+patriotic than on other days. We celebrate the Fourth of July merely
+because the great enterprise of liberty was started on the fourth of
+July in America, but the great enterprise of liberty was not begun in
+America. It is illustrated by the blood of thousands of martyrs who
+lived and died before the great experiment on this side of the water.
+The Fourth of July merely marks the day when we consecrated ourselves
+as a nation to this high thing which we pretend to serve. The benefit of
+a day like this is merely in turning away from the things that distract
+us, turning away from the things that touch us personally and absorb our
+interest in the hours of daily work. We remind ourselves of those things
+that are greater than we are, of those principles by which we believe
+our hearts to be elevated, of the more difficult things that we must
+undertake in these days of perplexity when a man's judgment is safest
+only when it follows the line of principle.
+
+I am solemnized in the presence of such a day. I would not undertake to
+speak your thoughts. You must interpret them for me. But I do feel that
+back, not only of every public official, but of every man and woman of
+the United States, there marches that great host which has brought us to
+the present day; the host that has never forgotten the vision which it
+saw at the birth of the nation; the host which always responds to the
+dictates of humanity and of liberty; the host that will always
+constitute the strength and the great body of friends of every man who
+does his duty to the United States.
+
+I am sorry that you do not wear a little flag of the Union every day
+instead of some days. I can only ask you, if you lose the physical
+emblem, to be sure that you wear it in your heart, and the heart of
+America shall interpret the heart of the world.
+
+
+
+
+MAKERS OF THE FLAG
+
+ The following address was delivered by the Honorable Franklin K.
+ Lane, Secretary of the Interior, before the officers and employees
+ of this Department, about 5,000 in number, at the Inner Court,
+ Patent Office Building, June 14, 1914.
+
+
+This morning, as I passed into the Land Office, The Flag dropped me a
+most cordial salutation, and from its rippling folds I heard it say:
+"Good morning, Mr. Flag Maker."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Old Glory," I said, "aren't you mistaken? I am not
+the president of the United States, nor a member of Congress, nor even a
+general in the army. I am only a government clerk."
+
+"I greet you again, Mr. Flag Maker," replied the gay voice, "I know you
+well. You are the man who worked in the swelter of yesterday
+straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or
+perhaps you found the mistake in that Indian contract in Oklahoma, or
+helped to clear that patent for the hopeful inventor in New York, or
+pushed the opening of that new ditch in Colorado, or made that mine in
+Illinois more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyoming. No
+matter; whichever one of these beneficent individuals you may happen to
+be, I give you greeting, Mr. Flag Maker."
+
+I was about to pass on, when The Flag stopped me with these words:
+
+"Yesterday the president spoke a word that made happier the future of
+ten millions peons in Mexico; but that act looms no larger on the flag
+than the struggle which the boy in Georgia is making to win the Corn
+Club prize this summer.
+
+"Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will open the door of Alaska;
+but a mother in Michigan worked from sunrise until far into the night,
+to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the flag.
+
+"Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and yesterday,
+maybe, a school teacher in Ohio taught his first letters to a boy who
+will one day write a song that will give cheer to the millions of our
+race. We are all making the flag."
+
+"But," I said impatiently, "these people were only working."
+
+Then came a great shout from The Flag:
+
+"THE WORK that we do is the making of the flag.
+
+"I am not the flag; not at all. I am but its shadow.
+
+"I am whatever you make me, nothing more.
+
+"I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become.
+
+"I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, of heartbreaks
+and tired muscles.
+
+"Sometimes I am strong with pride, when men do an honest work, fitting
+the rails together truly.
+
+"Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically I
+play the coward.
+
+"Sometimes I am loud, garish and full of that ego that blasts judgment.
+
+"But always I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to try
+for.
+
+"I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope.
+
+"I am the day's work of the weakest man, and the largest dream of the
+most daring.
+
+"I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and the statute makers,
+soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep, cook, counselor, and
+clerk.
+
+"I am the battle of yesterday, and the mistake of to-morrow.
+
+"I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why.
+
+"I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution.
+
+"I am no more than what you believe me to be and I am all that you
+believe I can be.
+
+"I am what you make me, nothing more.
+
+"I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of
+yourself, the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this
+Nation. My stars and my stripes are your dream and your labors. They are
+bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with faith, because you
+have made them so out of your hearts. For you are the makers of the flag
+and it is well that you glory in the making."
+
+
+
+
+THE FLAG OF THE UNION FOREVER
+
+ Speech of General Fitzhugh Lee at a dinner given by the Friendly
+ Sons of St. Patrick and the Hibernian Society of Philadelphia, at
+ the city of Philadelphia, September 17, 1887. The occasion of the
+ dinner was the one hundredth anniversary of the adoption of the
+ Constitution of the United States. General Lee, then governor of
+ Virginia, was the guest of Governor Beaver at the dinner. The
+ Chairman, Hon. Andrew G. Curtin [Pennsylvania's war governor], in
+ introducing General Lee said: "We have here to-day a gentleman whom
+ I am glad to call my friend, though during the war he was in
+ dangerous and unpleasant proximity to me. He once threatened the
+ capital of this great state. I did not wish him to come in, and was
+ very glad when he went away. He was then my enemy and I was his.
+ But, thank God, that is past; and in the enjoyment of the rights
+ and interests common to all as American citizens, I am his friend
+ and he is my friend. I introduce to you, Governor Fitzhugh Lee."
+
+
+MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HIBERNIAN SOCIETY:--I am very glad,
+indeed, to have the honor of being present in this society once more; as
+it was my good fortune to enjoy a most pleasant visit here and an
+acquaintance with the members of your society last year. My engagements
+were such to-day that I could not get here earlier; and just as I was
+coming in Governor Beaver was making his excuses because, as he said, he
+had to go to pick up a visitor whom he was to escort to the
+entertainment to be given this evening at the Academy of Music. I am the
+visitor whom Governor Beaver is looking for. He could not capture me
+during the war, but he has captured me now. I am a Virginian and used to
+ride a pretty fast horse, and he could not get close enough to me.
+
+By the way, you have all heard of "George Washington and his little
+hatchet." The other day I heard a story that was a little variation upon
+the original, and I am going to take up your time for a minute by
+repeating it to you.
+
+It was to this effect: Old Mr. Washington and Mrs. Washington, the
+parents of George, found on one occasion that their supply of soap for
+the use of the family at Westmoreland had been exhausted, and so they
+decided to make some family soap. They made the necessary arrangements
+and gave the requisite instructions to the family servant. After an hour
+or so the servant returned and reported to them that he could not make
+that soap. "Why not," he was asked, "haven't you all the materials?"
+"Yes," he replied, "but there is something wrong." The old folks
+proceeded to investigate, and they found they had actually got the ashes
+of the little cherry tree that George had cut down with his hatchet, and
+there was no lye in it.
+
+Now, I assure you, there is no "lie" in what I say to you this
+afternoon, and that is, that I thank God for the sun of the Union which,
+once obscured, is now again in the full stage of its glory; and that its
+light is shining over Virginia as well as over the rest of this country.
+We have had our differences. I do not see, upon reading history, how
+they could well have been avoided, because they resulted from different
+constructions of the Constitution, which was the helm of the ship of the
+republic. Virginia construed it one way. Pennsylvania construed it in
+another, and they could not settle their differences; so they went to
+war, and Pennsylvania, I think, probably got a little the best of it.
+
+The sword, at any rate, settled the controversy. But that is behind us.
+We have now a great and glorious future in front of us, and it is
+Virginia's duty to do all that she can to promote the honor and glory of
+this country. We fought to the best of our ability for four years; and
+it would be a great mistake to assume that you could bring men from
+their cabins, from their plows, from their houses, and from their
+families to make them fight as they fought in that contest unless they
+were fighting for a belief. Those men believed that they had the right
+construction of the Constitution, and that a state that voluntarily
+entered the Union could voluntarily withdraw from it. They did not fight
+for Confederate money. It was not worth ten cents a yard. They did not
+fight for Confederate rations--you would have had to curtail the demands
+of your appetite to make it correspond with the size and quality of
+those rations. They fought for what they thought was a proper
+construction of the Constitution.
+
+They were defeated. They acknowledged their defeat. They came back to
+their father's house, and there they are going to stay. But if we are to
+continue prosperous, if this country, stretching from the gulf to the
+lakes and from ocean to ocean, is to be mindful of its own best
+interests, in the future, we will have to make concessions and
+compliances, we will have to bear with each other and to respect each
+other's opinions. Then we will find that that harmony will be secured
+which is as necessary for the welfare of states, as it is for the
+welfare of individuals.
+
+I have become acquainted with Governor Beaver--I met him in Richmond.
+You could not make me fight him now. If I had known him before the war,
+perhaps we would not have got at it. If all the Governors had known each
+other, and if all the people of different sections had been known to
+each other, or had been thrown together in business or social
+communication, the fact would have been recognized at the outset, as it
+is to-day, that there are just as good men in Maine as there are in
+Texas, and just as good men in Texas as there are in Maine. Human nature
+is everywhere the same; and when intestine strifes occur, we will
+doubtless always be able by a conservative, pacific course to pass
+smoothly over the rugged, rocky edges, and the old Ship of State will be
+brought into a safe, commodious, Constitutional harbor with the flag of
+the Union flying over her, and there it will remain.
+
+
+
+
+FROM WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS
+
+ The appeal for a perpetual union and obedience to established law,
+ the warning against the evils of partisan politics and against the
+ dangers of entangling foreign alliances made by Washington in this
+ immortal address were never more important than at the present
+ time. They will become more important for each succeeding
+ generation. Let those who would know America's mission make a
+ careful study of this the greatest of state papers.
+
+
+The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now
+dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of
+your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your
+peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty
+which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that from
+different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken,
+many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this
+truth, as this is the point in your political fortress against which the
+batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and
+actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of
+infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of
+your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that
+you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it;
+accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of
+your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with
+jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion
+that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon
+the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our
+country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link
+together the various parts.
+
+For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by
+birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to
+concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you
+in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of
+patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.
+With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners,
+habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and
+triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess are the
+work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings,
+and successes.
+
+But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to
+your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more
+immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds
+the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the
+union of the whole.
+
+The _North_, in an unrestrained intercourse with the _South_, protected
+by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of
+the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial
+enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The
+_South_, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the
+_North_, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning
+partly into its own channels the seamen of the _North_, it finds its
+particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes in different
+ways to nourish and increase the general mass of the national
+navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to
+which itself is unequally adapted. The _East_, in a like intercourse
+with the _West_, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of
+interior communications by land and water will more and more find, a
+valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or
+manufactures at home. The _West_ derives from the _East_ supplies
+requisite to its growth and comfort, and what is perhaps of still
+greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the _secure_ enjoyment of
+indispensable _outlets_ for its own productions to the weight,
+influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the
+Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as _one
+nation_. Any other tenure by which the _West_ can hold this essential
+advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or from an
+apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be
+intrinsically precarious.
+
+While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and
+particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find
+in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater
+resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less
+frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations, and what is of
+inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those
+broils and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict
+neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which
+their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which
+opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate
+and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those
+overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government,
+are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as
+particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that
+your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and
+that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the
+other.
+
+These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and
+virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary
+object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government
+can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to
+mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope
+that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of
+governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue
+to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With
+such powerful and obvious motives to union affecting all parts of our
+country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its
+impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism
+of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+To the efficacy and permanency of your union a government for the whole
+is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be
+an adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience the infractions
+and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced.
+Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first
+essay by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated
+than your former for an intimate union and for the efficacious
+management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of
+our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation
+and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the
+distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing
+within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to
+your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance
+with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the
+fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems
+is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of
+government. But the constitution which at any time exists till changed
+by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly
+obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the
+people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual
+to obey the established government.
+
+All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and
+associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design
+to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and
+action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this
+fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize
+faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the
+place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a
+small but artful and enterprising minority of the community, and,
+according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the
+public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
+projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome
+plans, digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.
+
+However combinations or associations of the above description may now
+and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and
+things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and
+unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and
+to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards
+the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and
+harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct. And can it
+be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a
+free, enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation to give to
+mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided
+by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that in the course
+of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any
+temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it?
+Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a
+nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by
+every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered
+impossible by its vices?
+
+In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than that
+permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and
+passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place
+of them just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The
+nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual
+fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to
+its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its
+duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes
+each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight
+causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or
+trifling occasions of dispute occur.
+
+Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests.
+The nation prompted by ill will and resentment sometimes impels to war
+the government contrary to the best calculations of policy. The
+government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts
+through passion what reason would reject. At other times it makes the
+animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated
+by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace
+often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim.
+
+So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces
+a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the
+illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common
+interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other,
+betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the
+latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to
+concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which
+is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions by
+unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by
+exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate in the
+parties from whom equal privileges are withheld; and it gives to
+ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the
+favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their
+own country without odium, sometimes even with popularity, gilding with
+the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable
+deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good the
+base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
+
+As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments
+are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent
+patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic
+factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion,
+to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a small
+or weak toward a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the
+satellite of the latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign
+influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of
+a free people ought to be _constantly_ awake, since history and
+experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes
+of republican government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be
+impartial, else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be
+avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one
+foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they
+actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even
+second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist
+the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious,
+while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the
+people to surrender their interests.
+
+The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in
+extending our commercial relations to have with them as little
+_political_ connection as possible. So far as we have already formed
+engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us
+stop.
+
+Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a very
+remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies,
+the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence,
+therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial
+ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary
+combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.
+
+Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a
+different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient
+government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury
+from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause
+the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously
+respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making
+acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation;
+when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice,
+shall counsel.
+
+Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own
+to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that
+of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of
+European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?
+
+
+
+
+WASHINGTON
+
+ Address by John W. Daniel, lawyer, statesman, United States senator
+ from Virginia, delivered in the hall of the House of
+ Representatives, Washington, D. C., at the dedication of the
+ Washington National Monument, February 21, 1885, Mr. Daniel being
+ then a member of the House from Virginia. He was introduced by
+ Senator George F. Edmunds, of Vermont, president pro tempore of the
+ Senate, who occupied the speaker's chair, and presided at the
+ dedicatory exercises.
+
+
+MR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVES, JUDGES,
+MR. CHAIRMAN, AND MY COUNTRYMEN:--Alone in its grandeur stands forth the
+character of Washington in history; alone like some peak that has no
+fellow in the mountain range of greatness.
+
+"Washington," says Guizot, "Washington did the two greatest things which
+in politics it is permitted to man to attempt. He maintained by peace
+the independence of his country, which he had conquered by war. He
+founded a free government in the name of principles of order and by
+re-establishing their sway."
+
+Washington did indeed do these things. But he did more. Out of
+disconnected fragments he molded a whole and made it a country. He
+achieved his country's independence by the sword. He maintained that
+independence by peace as by war. He finally established both his country
+and its freedom in an enduring frame of constitutional government,
+fashioned to make Liberty and Union one and inseparable. These four
+things together constitute the unexampled achievement of Washington.
+
+The world has ratified the profound remark of Fisher Ames, that "he
+changed mankind's ideas of political greatness." It has approved the
+opinion of Edward Everett, that he was "the greatest of good men and the
+best of great men." It has felt for him, with Erskine, "an awful
+reverence." It has attested the declaration of Brougham, that "he was
+the greatest man of his own or of any age." It is matter of fact to-day,
+as when General Hamilton, announcing his death to the army, said, "The
+voice of praise would in vain endeavor to exalt a name unrivaled in the
+lists of true glory." America still proclaims him, as did Colonel Henry
+Lee, on the floor of the House of Representatives, the man "first in
+war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." And
+from beyond the sea the voice of Alfieri, breathing the soul of all
+lands and peoples, still pronounces the blessing, "Happy are you who
+have for the sublime and permanent basis of your glory the love of
+country demonstrated by deeds."
+
+Ye who have unrolled the scrolls that tell the tale of the rise and fall
+of nations, before whose eyes has moved the panorama of man's struggles,
+achievements, and progression, find you anywhere the story of one whose
+life work is more than a fragment of that which in his life is set
+before you? Conquerors, who have stretched your scepters over boundless
+territories; founders of empire, who have held your dominions in reign
+of law; reformers, who have cried aloud in the wilderness of oppression;
+teachers, who have striven with reason to cast down false doctrine,
+heresy and schism; statesmen, whose brains have throbbed with mighty
+plans for the amelioration of human society; scar-crowned Vikings of the
+sea, illustrious heroes of the land, who have borne the standards of
+siege and battle--come forth in bright array from your glorious
+fanes--and would ye be measured by the measure of his stature? Behold
+you not in him a more illustrious and more venerable presence?
+
+Statesman, Soldier, Patriot, Sage, Reformer of Creeds, Teacher of Truth
+and Justice, Achiever and Preserver of Liberty--the First of
+Men--Founder and Savior of his Country, Father of his People--this is
+he, solitary and unapproachable in his grandeur. Oh! felicitous
+Providence that gave to America OUR WASHINGTON!
+
+High soars into the sky to-day--higher than the Pyramids or the dome of
+St. Paul's or St. Peter's--the loftiest and most imposing structure that
+man has ever reared--high soars into the sky to where
+
+ "Earth highest yearns to meet a star,"
+
+the monument which "We the people of the United States" have erected to
+his memory. It is a fitting monument, more fitting than any statue. For
+his image could only display him in some one phase of his varied
+character--as the Commander, the Statesman, the Planter of Mount Vernon,
+or the Chief Magistrate of his Country. So art has fitly typified his
+exalted life in yon plain lofty shaft. Such is his greatness, that only
+by a symbol could it be represented. As Justice must be blind in order
+to be whole in contemplation, so History must be silent, that by this
+mighty sign she may unfold the amplitude of her story.
+
+In 1657, while yet "a Cromwell filled the Stuarts' throne," there came
+to Virginia with a party of Carlists who had rebelled against him John
+Washington, of Yorkshire, England, who became a magistrate and member of
+the House of Burgesses, and distinguished himself in Indian warfare as
+the first colonel of his family on this side of the water. He was the
+nephew of that Sir Henry Washington who had led the forlorn hope of
+Prince Rupert at Bristol in 1643, and who, with a starving and mutinous
+garrison, had defended Worcester in 1649, answering all calls for
+surrender that he "awaited His Majesty's commands."
+
+And his progenitors had for centuries, running back to the conquest,
+been men of mark and fair renown. Pride and modesty of individuality
+alike forbid the seeking from any source of a borrowed lustre, and the
+Washingtons were never studious or pretentious of ancestral dignities.
+But "we are quotations from our ancestors," says the philosopher of
+Concord--and who will say that in the loyalty to conscience and to
+principle, and to the right of self-determination of what is principle,
+that the Washingtons have ever shown, whether as loyalist or rebel, was
+not the germ of that deathless devotion to liberty and country which
+soon discarded all ancient forms in the mighty stroke for independence?
+
+One hundred and fifty-three years ago, on the banks of the Potomac, in
+the county of Westmoreland, on a spot marked now only by a memorial
+stone, of the blood of the people whom I have faintly described, fourth
+in descent from the Colonel John Washington whom I have named, there
+was born a son to Augustine and Mary Washington. And not many miles
+above his birthplace is the dwelling where he lived, and near which he
+now lies buried.
+
+Borne upon the bosom of that river which here mirrors Capitol dome and
+monumental shaft in its seaward flow, the river itself seems to reverse
+its current and bear us silently into the past. Scarce has the vista of
+the city faded from our gaze when we behold on the woodland height that
+swells above the waters--amidst walks and groves and gardens--the white
+porch of that old colonial plantation home which has become the shrine
+of many a pilgrimage. Contrasting it as there it stands to-day with the
+marble halls which we have left behind us, we realize the truth of
+Emerson: "The atmosphere of moral sentiment is a region of grandeur
+which reduces all material magnificence to toys, yet opens to every
+wretch that has reason the doors of the Universe."
+
+The quaint old wooden mansion, with the stately but simple old-fashioned
+mahogany furniture, real and ungarnished; the swords and relics of
+campaigns and scenes familiar to every schoolboy now; the key of the
+Bastile hanging in the hall incased in glass, calling to mind Tom
+Paine's happy expression, "That the principles of the American
+Revolution opened the Bastile is not to be doubted, therefore the key
+comes to the right place;" the black velvet coat worn when the farewell
+address to the Army was made; the rooms all in nicety of preparation as
+if expectant of the coming host--we move among these memorials of days
+and men long vanished--we stand under the great trees and watch the
+solemn river, in its never-ceasing flow, we gaze upon the simple tomb
+whose silence is unbroken save by the low murmur of the waters or the
+wild bird's note, and we are enveloped in an atmosphere of moral
+grandeur which no pageantry of moving men nor splendid pile can
+generate. Nightly on the plain of Marathon--the Greeks have the
+tradition--there may yet be heard the neighing of chargers and the
+rushing shadows of spectral war. In the spell that broods over the
+sacred groves of Vernon, Patriotism, Honor, Courage, Justice, Virtue,
+Truth seem bodied forth, the only imperishable realities of man's being.
+
+There emerges from the shades the figure of a youth over whose cradle
+had hovered no star of destiny, nor dandled a royal crown--an ingenious
+youth, and one who in his early days gave auguries of great powers. The
+boy whose strong arm could fling a stone across the Rappahannock; whose
+strong will could tame the most fiery horse; whose just spirit made him
+the umpire of his fellows; whose obedient heart bowed to a mother's
+yearning for her son and laid down the midshipman's warrant in the
+British Navy which answered his first ambitious dream; the student
+transcribing mathematical problems, accounts, and business forms, or
+listening to the soldiers and seamen of vessels in the river as they
+tell of "hair-breadth 'scapes by flood and field;" the early moralist in
+his thirteenth year compiling matured "Rules for behavior and
+conversation;" the surveyor of sixteen, exploring the wilderness for
+Lord Fairfax, sleeping on the ground, climbing mountains, swimming
+rivers, killing and cooking his own game, noting in his diary soils,
+minerals, and locations, and making maps which are models of nice and
+accurate draughtsmanship; the incipient soldier, studying tactics under
+Adjutant Muse, and taking lessons in broadsword fence from the old
+soldier of fortune, Jacob Van Braam; the major and adjutant-general of
+the Virginia frontier forces at nineteen:--we seem to see him yet as
+here he stood, a model of manly beauty in his youthful prime, a man in
+all that makes a man ere manhood's years have been fulfilled, standing
+on the threshold of a grand career, "hearing his days before him and the
+trumpet of his life."
+
+The scene changes. Out into the world of stern adventure he passes,
+taking as naturally to the field and the frontier as the eagle to the
+air. At the age of twenty-one he is riding from Williamsburg to the
+French post at Venango, in Western Pennsylvania, on a mission for
+Governor Dinwiddie, which requires "courage to cope with savages and
+sagacity to negotiate with white men"--on that mission which Edward
+Everett recognizes as "the first movement of a military nature which
+resulted in the establishment of American Independence." At twenty-two
+he has fleshed his maiden sword, has heard the bullets whistle, and
+found "something charming in the sound;" and soon he is colonel of the
+Virginia regiment in the unfortunate affair at Fort Necessity, and is
+compelled to retreat after losing a sixth of his command. He quits the
+service on a point of military etiquette and honor, but at twenty-three
+he reappears as volunteer aide by the side of Braddock in the
+ill-starred expedition against Fort Duquesne, and is the only mounted
+officer unscathed in the disaster, escaping with four bullets through
+his garments, and after having two horses shot under him.
+
+The prophetic eye of Samuel Davies has now pointed him out as "that
+heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I can but hope Providence has
+hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to
+his country;" and soon the prophecy is fulfilled. The same year he is in
+command of the Virginia frontier forces. Arduous conflicts of varied
+fortunes are ere long ended, and on the 25th of November, 1759, he
+marches into the reduced fortress of Fort Duquesne--where Pittsburgh now
+stands, and the Titans of Industry wage the eternal war of Toil--marches
+in with the advanced guard of his troops, and plants the British flag
+over its smoking ruins.
+
+That self-same year Wolfe, another young and brilliant soldier of
+Britain, has scaled and triumphed on the Heights of Abraham--his flame
+of valor quenched as it lit the blaze of victory; Canada surrenders; the
+Seven Years' War is done; the French power in America is broken, and the
+vast region west of the Alleghenies, from the lakes to the Ohio,
+embracing its valley and tributary streams, is under the scepter of King
+George. America has been made whole to the English-speaking race, to
+become in time the greater Britain.
+
+Thus, building wiser than he knew, Washington had taken no small part in
+cherishing the seed of a nascent nation.
+
+[Illustration: WASHINGTON AT MOUNT VERNON]
+
+Mount Vernon welcomes back the soldier of twenty-seven, who has become a
+name. Domestic felicity spreads its charms around him with the
+"agreeable partner" whom he has taken to his bosom, and he dreams of
+"more happiness than he has experienced in the wide and bustling world."
+
+Already, ere his sword had found its scabbard, the people of Frederick
+county had made him their member of the House of Burgesses. And the
+quiet years roll by as the planter, merchant, and representative
+superintends his plantation, ships his crops, posts his books, keeps his
+diary, chases the fox for amusement, or rides over to Annapolis and
+leads the dance at the Maryland capital--alternating between these
+private pursuits and serving his people as member of the Legislature and
+justice of the county court.
+
+But ere long this happy life is broken. The air is electric with the
+currents of revolution. England has launched forth on the fatal policy
+of taxing her colonies without their consent. The spirit of liberty and
+resistance is aroused. He is loth to part with the Mother Land, which he
+still calls "home." But she turns a deaf ear to reason. The first
+Colonial Congress is called. He is a delegate, and rides to Philadelphia
+with Henry and Pendleton. The blow at Lexington is struck. The people
+rush to arms. The sons of the Cavaliers spring to the side of the sons
+of the Pilgrims. "Unhappy it is," he says, "that a brother's sword has
+been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once happy plains of
+America are to be either drenched in blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad
+alternative! But how can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?" He
+becomes Commander-in-Chief of the American forces. After seven years'
+war he is the deliverer of his country. The old Confederation passes
+away. The Constitution is established. He is twice chosen President, and
+will not consent longer to serve.
+
+Once again Mount Vernon's grateful shades receive him, and there--the
+world-crowned Hero now--he becomes again the simple citizen, wishing for
+his fellow men "to see the whole world in peace and its inhabitants one
+band of brothers, striving who could contribute most to the happiness of
+mankind"--without a wish for himself, but "to live and die an honest man
+on his farm." A speck of war spots the sky. John Adams, now president,
+calls him forth as lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief to lead
+America once more. But the cloud vanishes. Peace reigns. The lark sings
+at Heaven's gate in the fair morn of the new nation. Serene, contented,
+yet in the strength of manhood, though on the verge of threescore years
+and ten, he looks forth--the quiet farmer from his pleasant fields, the
+loving patriarch from the bowers of home--looks forth and sees the work
+of his hands established in a free and happy people. Suddenly comes the
+mortal stroke with severe cold. The agony is soon over. He feels his own
+dying pulse--the hand relaxes--he murmurs, "It is well;" and Washington
+is no more.
+
+Washington, the friend of Liberty, is no more!
+
+The solemn cry filled the universe. Amidst the tears of his people, the
+bowed heads of kings, and the lamentations of the nations, they laid him
+there to rest upon the banks of the river whose murmurs were his
+boyhood's music--that river which, rising in mountain fastnesses amongst
+the grandest works of nature and reflecting in its course the proudest
+works of man, is a symbol of his history, which in its ceaseless and
+ever-widening flow is a symbol of his eternal fame.
+
+No sum could now be made of Washington's character that did not exhaust
+language of its tributes and repeat virtues by all her names. No sum
+could be made of his achievements that did not unfold the history of his
+country and its institutions--the history of his age and its
+progress--the history of man and his destiny to be free. But whether
+character or achievement be regarded, the riches before us only expose
+the poverty of praise. So clear was he in his great office that no ideal
+of the Leader or the Ruler can be formed that does not shrink by the
+side of the reality. And so has he impressed himself upon the minds of
+men, that no man can justly aspire to be the chief of a great free
+people who does not adopt his principles and emulate his example. We
+look with amazement on such eccentric characters as Alexander, Cæsar,
+Cromwell, Frederick, and Napoleon; but when the serene face of
+Washington rises before us mankind instinctively exclaims, "This is the
+Man for the nations to trust and reverence and for heroes and rulers to
+copy."
+
+Disinterested patriot, he would receive no pay for his military
+services. Refusing gifts, he was glad to guide the benefaction of a
+grateful state to educate the children of his fallen braves in the
+institution at Lexington which yet bears his name. Without any of the
+blemishes that mark the tyrant, he appealed so loftily to the virtuous
+elements in man that he almost created the qualities of which his
+country needed the exercise; and yet he was so magnanimous and
+forbearing to the weaknesses of others, that he often obliterated the
+vices of which he feared the consequence. But his virtue was more than
+this. It was of that daring, intrepid kind that, seizing principle with
+a giant's grasp, assumes responsibility at any hazard, suffers sacrifice
+without pretense of martyrdom, bears calumny without reply, imposes
+superior will and understanding on all around it, capitulates to no
+unworthy triumph, but must carry all things at the point of clear and
+blameless conscience. Scorning all manner of meanness and cowardice, his
+bursts of wrath at their exhibition heighten our admiration for those
+noble passions which were kindled by the inspirations and exigencies of
+virtue.
+
+Great in action as by the council board, the finest horseman and
+knightliest figure of his time, he seemed designed by nature to lead in
+those bold strokes which needs must come when the battle lies with a
+single man--those critical moments of the campaign or the strife when,
+if the mind hesitates or a nerve flinches, all is lost. We can never
+forget the passage of the Delaware that black December night, amidst
+shrieking winds and great upheaving blocks of ice which would have
+petrified a leader of less hardy mold, and then the fell swoop at
+Trenton. We behold him as when at Monmouth he turns back the retreating
+lines, and galloping his white charger along the ranks until he falls,
+leaps on his Arabian bay, and shouts to his men: "Stand fast, my boys,
+the Southern troops are coming to support you!" And we hear Lafayette
+exclaim, "Never did I behold so superb a man!" We see him again at
+Princeton dashing through a storm of shot to rally the wavering troops;
+he reins his horse between the contending lines, and cries: "Will you
+leave your general to the foe?" then bolts into the thickest fray.
+Colonel Fitzgerald, his aid, drops his reins and pulls his hat down over
+his eyes that he may not see his chieftain fall, when, through the smoke
+he reappears waving his hat, cheering on his men, and shouting: "Away,
+dear Colonel, and bring up the troops; the day is ours." "Coeur de
+Lion" might have doffed his plume to such a chief, for a great knight
+was he, who met his foes full tilt in the shock of battle and hurled
+them down with an arm whose sword flamed with righteous indignation.
+
+As children pore over the pictures in their books where they can read
+the words annexed to them, so we linger with tingling blood by such
+inspiring scenes, while little do we reck of those dark hours when the
+aching head pondered the problems of a country's fate. And yet there is
+a greater theater in which Washington appears, although not so often has
+its curtain been uplifted.
+
+For it was as a statesman that Washington was greatest. Not in the sense
+that Hamilton and Jefferson, Adams and Madison were statesmen; but in a
+larger sense. Men may marshal armies who cannot drill divisions. Men may
+marshal nations in storm and travail who have not the accomplishments of
+their cabinet ministers. Not so versed as they was he in the details of
+political science. And yet as he studied tactics when he anticipated
+war, so he studied politics when he saw his civil role approaching,
+reading the history and examining the principles of ancient and modern
+confederacies, and making notes of their virtues, defects, and methods
+of operation.
+
+His pen did not possess the facile play and classic grace of their pens,
+but his vigorous eloquence had the clear ring of our mother tongue. I
+will not say that he was so astute, so quick, so inventive as the one or
+another of them--that his mind was characterized by the vivacity of wit,
+the rich colorings of fancy, or daring flights of imagination. But with
+him thought and action like well-trained coursers kept abreast in the
+chariot race, guided by an eye that never quailed, reined by a hand that
+never trembled. He had a more infallible discrimination of circumstances
+and men than any of his contemporaries. He weighed facts in a juster
+scale, with larger equity, and firmer equanimity. He best applied to
+them the lessons of experience. With greater ascendancy of character he
+held men to their appointed tasks; with more inspiring virtue he
+commanded more implicit confidence. He bore a truer divining-rod, and
+through a wilderness of contention he alone was the unerring Pathfinder
+of the People. There can, indeed, be no right conception of Washington
+that does not accord him a great and extraordinary genius. I will not
+say he could have produced a play of Shakespeare, or a poem of Milton,
+handled with Kant the tangled skein of metaphysics, probed the secrecies
+of mind and matter with Bacon, constructed a railroad or an engine like
+Stephenson, wooed the electric spark from heaven to earth with Franklin,
+or walked with Newton the pathways of the spheres. But if his genius
+were of a different order, it was of as rare and high an order. It dealt
+with man in the concrete, with his vast concerns of business stretching
+over a continent and projected into the ages, with his seething
+passions; with his marvelous exertions of mind, body, and spirit to be
+free. He knew the materials he dealt with by intuitive perception of the
+heart of man, by experience and observation of his aspirations and his
+powers, by reflection upon his complex relations, rights, and duties as
+a social being. He knew just where, between men and states, to erect the
+monumental mark to divide just reverence for authority from just
+resistance to its abuse. A poet of social facts, he interpreted by his
+deeds the harmonies of justice.
+
+First to perceive, and swift to point out, the defects in the Articles
+of Confederation, they became manifest to all long before victory
+crowned the warfare conducted under them. Charged by them with the
+public defense, Congress could not put a soldier in the field; and
+charged with defraying expenses, it could not levy a dollar of imposts
+or taxes. It could, indeed, borrow money with the assent of nine states
+of the thirteen, but what mockery of finance was that, when the borrower
+could not command any resource of payment.
+
+The states had indeed put but a scepter of straw in the legislative hand
+of the Confederation--what wonder that it soon wore a crown of thorns!
+The paper currency ere long dissolved to nothingness; for four days the
+army was without food, and whole regiments drifted from the ranks of our
+hard-pressed defenders. "I see," said Washington, "one head gradually
+changing into thirteen; I see one army gradually branching into
+thirteen, which, instead of looking up to Congress as the supreme
+controlling power, are considering themselves as dependent upon their
+respective states." While yet his sword could not slumber, his busy pen
+was warning the statesmen of the country that unless Congress were
+invested with adequate powers, or should assume them as matter of right,
+we should become but thirteen states, pursuing local interests, until
+annihilated in a general crash--the cause would be lost--and the fable
+of the bundle of sticks applied to us.
+
+In rapid succession his notes of alarm and invocations for aid to Union
+followed each other to the leading men of the states, North and South.
+Turning to his own state, and appealing to George Mason, "Where," he
+exclaimed, "where are our men of abilities? Why do they not come forth
+and save the country?" He compared the affairs of this great continent
+to the mechanism of a clock, of which each state was putting its own
+small part in order, but neglecting the great wheel, or spring, which
+was to put the whole in motion. He summoned Jefferson, Wythe, and
+Pendleton to his assistance, telling them that the present temper of
+the states was friendly to lasting union, that the moment should be
+improved and might never return, and that "after gloriously and
+successfully contending against the usurpation of Britain we may fall a
+prey to our own folly and disputes."
+
+How keen the prophet's ken, that through the smoke of war discerned the
+coming evil; how diligent the patriot's hand, that amidst awful
+responsibilities reached futureward to avert it! By almost a miracle the
+weak Confederation, "a barrel without a hoop," was held together
+perforce of outside pressure; and soon America was free.
+
+But not yet had beaten Britain concluded peace--not yet had dried the
+blood of Victory's field, ere "follies and disputes" confounded all
+things with their Babel tongues and intoxicated liberty gave loose to
+license. An unpaid army with unsheathed swords clamored around a
+poverty-stricken and helpless Congress. And grown at last impatient even
+with their chief, officers high in rank plotted insurrection and
+circulated an anonymous address, urging it "to appeal from the justice
+to the fears of government, and suspect the man who would advise to
+longer forbearance." Anarchy was about to erect the Arch of
+Triumph--poor, exhausted, bleeding, weeping America lay in agony upon
+her bed of laurels.
+
+Not a moment did Washington hesitate. He convened his officers, and
+going before them he read them an address, which, for homethrust
+argument, magnanimous temper, and the eloquence of persuasion which
+leaves nothing to be added, is not exceeded by the noblest utterances
+of Greek or Roman. A nobler than Coriolanus was before them, who needed
+no mother's or wife's reproachful tears to turn the threatening steel
+from the gates of Rome. Pausing, as he read his speech, he put on his
+spectacles and said: "I have grown gray in your service, and now find
+myself growing blind." This unaffected touch of nature completed the
+master's spell. The late fomenters of insurrection gathered to their
+chief with words of veneration--the storm went by--and, says Curtis in
+his History of the Constitution, "Had the Commander-in-Chief been other
+than Washington, the land would have been deluged with the blood of
+civil war."
+
+But not yet was Washington's work accomplished. Peace dawned upon the
+weary land, and parting with his soldiers, he pleaded with them for
+union. "Happy, thrice happy, shall they be pronounced," he said, "who
+have contributed anything in erecting this stupendous fabric of freedom
+and empire; who have assisted in protecting the rights of human nature,
+and establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and
+religions." But still the foundations of the stupendous fabric trembled,
+and no cement held its stones together. It was then, with that
+thickening peril, Washington rose to his highest stature. Without civil
+station to call forth his utterance, impelled by the intrepid impulse of
+a soul that could not see the hope of a nation perish without leaping
+into the stream to save it, he addressed the whole People of America in
+a circular to the governors of the states: "Convinced of the importance
+of the crisis, silence in me," he said, "would be a crime. I will,
+therefore, speak the language of freedom and sincerity." He set forth
+the need of union in a strain that touched the quick of sensibility; he
+held up the citizens of America as sole lords of a vast tract of
+continent; he portrayed the fair opportunity for political happiness
+with which Heaven had crowned them; he pointed out the blessings that
+would attend their collective wisdom; that mutual concessions and
+sacrifices must be made; and that supreme power must be lodged somewhere
+to regulate and govern the general concerns of the Confederate Republic,
+without which the Union would not be of long duration. And he urged that
+happiness would be ours if we seized the occasion and made it our own.
+In this, one of the very greatest acts of Washington, was revealed the
+heart of the man, the spirit of the hero, the wisdom of the sage--I
+might almost say the sacred inspiration of the prophet.
+
+But still the wing of the eagle drooped; the gathering storms baffled
+his sunward flight. Even with Washington in the van, the column wavered
+and halted--states straggling to the rear that had hitherto been
+foremost for permanent union, under an efficacious constitution. And
+while three years rolled by amidst the jargon of sectional and local
+contentions, "the half-starved government," as Washington depicted it,
+"limped along on crutches, tottering at every step." And while
+monarchical Europe with saturnine face declared that the American hope
+of union was the wild and visionary notion of romance, and predicted
+that we would be to the end of time a disunited people, suspicious and
+distrustful of each other, divided and subdivided into petty
+commonwealths and principalities, lo! the very earth yawned under the
+feet of America, and in that very region whence had come forth a
+glorious band of orators, statesmen and soldiers to plead the cause and
+fight the battles of Independence--lo! the volcanic fires of rebellion
+burst forth upon the heads of the faithful, and the militia were
+leveling the guns of the Revolution, against the breasts of their
+brethren. "What, gracious God! is man?" Washington exclaimed: "It was
+but the other day that we were shedding our blood to obtain the
+constitutions under which we live, and now we are unsheathing our swords
+to overturn them."
+
+But see! there is a ray of hope. Maryland and Virginia had already
+entered into a commercial treaty for regulating the navigation of the
+rivers and great bay in which they had common interests, and Washington
+had been one of the commissioners in its negotiation. And now, at the
+suggestion of Maryland, Virginia had called on all the states to meet in
+convention at Annapolis, to adopt commercial regulations for the whole
+country. Could this foundation be laid, the eyes of the nation-builders
+foresaw that the permanent structure would ere long rise upon it. But
+when the day of meeting came no state north of New York or south of
+Virginia was represented; and in their helplessness those assembled
+could only recommend a constitutional convention, to meet in
+Philadelphia in May, 1787, to provide for the exigencies of the
+situation.
+
+And still thick clouds and darkness rested on the land, and there
+lowered upon its hopes a night as black as that upon the freezing
+Delaware; but through the gloom the dauntless leader was still marching
+on to the consummation of his colossal work, with a hope that never
+died; with a courage that never faltered; with a wisdom that never
+yielded that "all is vanity."
+
+It was not permitted the Roman to despair of the republic, nor did
+he--our chieftain. "It will all come right at last," he said. It did.
+And now let the historian, Bancroft, speak: "From this state of despair
+the country was lifted by Madison and Virginia." Again he says: "We come
+now to a week more glorious for Virginia beyond any in her annals, or in
+the history of any republic that had ever before existed."
+
+It was that week in which Madison, "giving effect to his own
+long-cherished wishes, and still earlier wishes of Washington,"
+addressing, as it were, the whole country, and marshaling all the
+states, warned them "that the crisis had arrived at which the people of
+America are to decide the solemn question, whether they would, by wise
+and magnanimous efforts reap the fruits of independence and of union, or
+whether by giving way to unmanly jealousies and prejudices, or to
+impartial and transitory interests, they would renounce the blessings
+prepared for them by the Revolution," and conjuring them "to concur in
+such further concessions and provisions as may be necessary to secure
+the objects for which that government was instituted, and make the
+United States as happy in peace as they had been glorious in war."
+
+In such manner, my countrymen, Virginia, adopting the words of Madison,
+and moved by the constant spirit of Washington, joined in convoking that
+Constitutional Convention, in which he headed her delegation, and over
+which he presided, and whose deliberations resulted in the formation and
+adoption of that instrument which the premier of Great Britain
+pronounces "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by
+the brain and purpose of man."
+
+In such manner the state which gave birth to the Father of his Country,
+following his guiding genius to the Union, as it had followed his sword
+through the battles of Independence, placed herself at the head of the
+wavering column. In such manner America heard and hearkened to the voice
+of her chief; and now closing ranks, and moving with reanimated step,
+the thirteen commonwealths wheeled and faced to the front, on the line
+of the Union, under the sacred ensign of the Constitution.
+
+Thus at last was the crowning work of Washington accomplished. Out of
+the tempests of war, and the tumults of civil commotion, the ages bore
+their fruit, and the long yearning of humanity was answered. "Rome to
+America" is the eloquent inscription on one stone contributed to yon
+colossal shaft--taken from the ancient Temple of Peace that once stood
+hard by the palace of the Cæsars. Uprisen from the sea of revolution,
+fabricated from the ruins of the battered Bastiles, and dismantled
+palaces of unhallowed power, stood forth now the Republic of republics,
+the Nation of nations, the Constitution of constitutions, to which all
+lands and times and tongues had contributed of their wisdom. And the
+priestess of Liberty was in her holy temple.
+
+When Salamis had been fought and Greece again kept free, each of the
+victorious generals voted himself to be first in honor; but all agreed
+that Themistocles was second. When the most memorable struggle for the
+rights of human nature, of which time holds record, was thus happily
+concluded in the muniment of their preservation, whoever else was
+second, unanimous acclaim declared that Washington was first. Nor in
+that struggle alone does he stand foremost. In the name of the people of
+the United States, their president, their senators, their
+representatives, and their judges, do crown to-day with the grandest
+crown that veneration has ever lifted to the brow of glory, him, whom
+Virginia gave to America, whom America has given to the world and to the
+ages, and whom mankind with universal suffrage has proclaimed the
+foremost of the founders of empire in the first degree of greatness;
+whom Liberty herself has anointed as the first citizen in the great
+Republic of Humanity.
+
+Encompassed by the inviolate seas stands to-day the American Republic
+which he founded--a freer Greater Britain--uplifted above the powers and
+principalities of the earth, even as his monument is uplifted over roof
+and dome and spire of the multitudinous city.
+
+Long live the Republic of Washington! Respected by mankind, beloved of
+all its sons, long may it be the asylum of the poor and oppressed of all
+lands and religions--long may it be the citadel of that liberty which
+writes beneath the eagle's folded wings, "We will sell to no man, we
+will deny to no man, Right and Justice."
+
+Long live the United States of America! Filled with the free,
+magnanimous spirit, crowned by the wisdom, blessed by the moderation,
+hovered over by the guardian angel of Washington's example; may they be
+ever worthy in all things to be defended by the blood of the brave who
+know the rights of man and shrink not from their assertion--may they be
+each a column, and altogether, under the Constitution, a perpetual
+Temple of Peace, unshadowed by a Cæsar's palace, at whose altar may
+freely commune all who seek the union of Liberty and Brotherhood.
+
+Long live our Country! Oh, long through the undying ages may it stand,
+far removed in fact as in space from the Old World's feuds and follies,
+alone in its grandeur and its glory, itself the immortal monument of him
+whom Providence commissioned to teach man the power of Truth, and to
+prove to the nations that their Redeemer liveth.
+
+
+
+
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN
+
+ Lecture by Henry Watterson, journalist and orator, editor of the
+ Louisville, Ky., _Courier Journal_ since 1868. This lecture was
+ originally delivered before the Lincoln Club of Chicago, February
+ 12, 1895, and subsequently repeated on many platforms as a lecture.
+ It has been heard in all parts of the country, but nowhere, with
+ livelier demonstrations of approval than in the cities of the South
+ "from Richmond and Charleston to New Orleans and Galveston."
+
+
+The statesmen in knee breeches and powdered wigs who signed the
+Declaration of Independence and framed the Constitution--the soldiers in
+blue-and-buff, top-boots and epaulets who led the armies of the
+Revolution--were what we are wont to describe as gentlemen. They were
+English gentlemen. They were not all, nor even generally, scions of the
+British aristocracy; but they came, for the most part, of good
+Anglo-Saxon and Scotch-Irish stock.
+
+The shoe buckle and the ruffled shirt worked a spell peculiarly their
+own. They carried with them an air of polish and authority. Hamilton,
+though of obscure birth and small stature, is represented by those who
+knew him to have been dignity and grace personified; and old Ben
+Franklin, even in woolen hose, and none too courtier-like, was the
+delight of the great nobles and fine ladies, in whose company he made
+himself as much at home as though he had been born a marquis.
+
+The first half of the Republic's first half century of existence the
+public men of America, distinguished for many things, were chiefly and
+almost universally distinguished for repose of bearing and sobriety of
+behavior. It was not until the institution of African slavery had got
+into politics as a vital force that Congress became a bear-garden, and
+that our law-makers, laying aside their manners with their small
+clothes, fell into the loose-fitting habiliments of modern fashion and
+the slovenly jargon of partisan controversy. The gentlemen who signed
+the Declaration and framed the Constitution were succeeded by
+gentlemen--much like themselves--but these were succeeded by a race of
+party leaders much less decorous and much more self-confident; rugged,
+puissant; deeply moved in all that they said and did, and sometimes
+turbulent; so that finally, when the volcano burst forth flames that
+reached the heavens, great human bowlders appeared amid the glare on
+every side; none of them much to speak of according to rules regnant at
+St. James and Versailles; but vigorous, able men, full of their mission
+and of themselves, and pulling for dear life in opposite directions.
+
+There were Seward and Sumner and Chase, Corwin and Ben Wade, Trumbull
+and Fessenden, Hale and Collamer and Grimes, and Wendell Phillips, and
+Horace Greeley, our latter-day Franklin. There were Toombs and Hammond,
+and Slidell and Wigfall, and the two little giants, Douglas and
+Stephens, and Yancey and Mason, and Jefferson Davis. With them soft
+words buttered no parsnips, and they cared little how many pitchers
+might be broken by rude ones. The issue between them did not require a
+diagram to explain it. It was so simple a child might understand. It
+read, human slavery against human freedom, slave labor against free
+labor, and involved a conflict as inevitable as it was irrepressible.
+
+Greek was meeting Greek at last; and the field of politics became almost
+as sulphurous and murky as an actual field of battle. Amid the noise and
+confusion, the clashing of intellects like sabers bright, and the
+booming of the big oratorical guns of the North and the South, now
+definitely arrayed, there came one day into the Northern camp one of the
+oddest figures imaginable; the figure of a man who, in spite of an
+appearance somewhat at outs with Hogarth's line of beauty, wore a
+serious aspect, if not an air of command, and, pausing to utter a single
+sentence that might be heard above the din, passed on and for a moment
+disappeared.
+
+The sentence was pregnant with meaning. The man bore a commission from
+God on high! He said: "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I
+believe this Government cannot endure permanently half free and half
+slave. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the
+house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided." He was
+Abraham Lincoln.
+
+How shall I describe him to you? Shall I do so as he appeared to me,
+when I first saw him immediately on his arrival in the national capital,
+the chosen president of the United States, his appearance quite as
+strange as the story of his life, which was then but half known and half
+told, or shall I use the words of another and a more graphic
+wordpainter?
+
+In January, 1861, Colonel A. K. McClure, of Pennsylvania, journeyed to
+Springfield, Illinois, to meet and confer with the man he had done so
+much to elect, but whom he had never personally known. "I went directly
+from the depot to Lincoln's house," says Colonel McClure, "and rang the
+bell, which was answered by Lincoln, himself, opening the door. I doubt
+whether I wholly concealed my disappointment at meeting him. Tall,
+gaunt, ungainly, ill-clad, with a homeliness of manner that was unique
+in itself, I confess that my heart sank within me as I remembered that
+this was the man chosen by a great nation to become its ruler in the
+gravest period of its history. I remember his dress as if it were but
+yesterday--snuff-colored and slouchy pantaloons; open black vest, held
+by a few brass buttons; straight or evening dress coat, with tightly
+fitting sleeves to exaggerate his long, bony arms, all supplemented by
+an awkwardness that was uncommon among men of intelligence. Such was the
+picture I met in the person of Abraham Lincoln. We sat down in his
+plainly furnished parlor and were uninterrupted during the nearly four
+hours I remained with him, and little by little, as his earnestness,
+sincerity, and candor were developed in conversation, I forgot all the
+grotesque qualities which so confounded me when I first greeted him.
+Before half an hour had passed I learned not only to respect, but,
+indeed, to reverence the man."
+
+A graphic portrait, truly, and not unlike. I recall him, two months
+later, a little less uncouth, a little better dressed, but in
+singularity and in angularity much the same. All the world now takes an
+interest in every detail that concerned him, or that relates to the
+weird tragedy of his life and death.
+
+[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN 1861]
+
+And who was this peculiar being, destined in his mother's arms--for
+cradle he had none--so profoundly to affect the future of humankind? He
+has told us, himself, in words so simple and unaffected, so idiomatic
+and direct, that we can neither misread them, nor improve upon them.
+Writing, in 1859, to one who had asked him for some biographic
+particulars, Abraham Lincoln said:--
+
+ "I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My
+ parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished
+ families--second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who
+ died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks.... My
+ paternal grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham
+ County, Virginia, to Kentucky about 1781 or 1782, where, a year or
+ two later, he was killed by the Indians, not in battle, but by
+ stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest.
+
+ "My father (Thomas Lincoln) at the death of his father was but six
+ years of age. By the early death of his father, and the very narrow
+ circumstances of his mother, he was, even in childhood, a wandering
+ laboring boy, and grew up literally without education. He never did
+ more in the way of writing than bunglingly to write his own
+ name.... He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County,
+ Indiana, in my eighth year.... It was a wild region, with many
+ bears and other animals still in the woods.... There were some
+ schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required of a
+ teacher beyond 'readin', writin', and cipherin' to the rule of
+ three.' If a straggler supposed to understand Latin happened to
+ sojourn in the neighborhood he was looked upon as a wizard.... Of
+ course, when I came of age I did not know much. Still, somehow, I
+ could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three. But that was
+ all.... The little advance I now have upon this store of education
+ I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity.
+
+ "I was raised to farm work ... till I was twenty-two. At twenty-one
+ I came to Illinois--Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, ...
+ where I remained a year as a sort of clerk in a store. Then came
+ the Black Hawk war; and I was elected captain of a volunteer
+ company, a success that gave me more pleasure than any I have had
+ since. I went into the campaign--was elated--ran for the
+ legislature the same year (1832), and was beaten--the only time I
+ ever have been beaten by the people. The next, and three succeeding
+ biennial elections, I was elected to the Legislature. I was not a
+ candidate afterward. During the legislative period I had studied
+ law and removed to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was
+ elected to the lower house of Congress. Was not a candidate for
+ reëlection. From 1849 to 1854, inclusive, practiced law more
+ assiduously than ever before. Always a Whig in politics, and
+ generally on the Whig electoral tickets, making active canvasses. I
+ was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri
+ Compromise aroused me again.
+
+ "If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be
+ said that I am in height six feet four inches, nearly; lean in
+ flesh, weighing on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark
+ complexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or
+ brands recollected."
+
+There is the whole story, told by himself, and brought down to the point
+where he became a figure of national importance.
+
+His political philosophy was expounded in four elaborate speeches; one
+delivered at Peoria, Illinois, the 16th of October, 1854; one at
+Springfield, Illinois, the 16th of June, 1858; one at Columbus, Ohio,
+the 16th of September, 1859, and one the 27th of February, 1860, at
+Cooper Institute, in the city of New York. Of course Mr. Lincoln made
+many speeches and very good speeches. But these four, progressive in
+character, contain the sum total of his creed touching the organic
+character of the Government and at the same time his party view of
+contemporary issues. They show him to have been an old-line Whig of the
+school of Henry Clay, with strong emancipation leanings; a thorough
+anti-slavery man, but never an extremist or an abolitionist. To the last
+he hewed to the line thus laid down.
+
+Two or three years ago I referred to Abraham Lincoln--in a casual
+way--as one "inspired of God." I was taken to task for this and thrown
+upon my defense. Knowing less then than I know now of Mr. Lincoln, I
+confined myself to the superficial aspects of the case; to the career
+of a man who seemed to have lacked the opportunity to prepare himself
+for the great estate to which he had come, plucked as it were from
+obscurity by a caprice of fortune.
+
+Accepting the doctrine of inspiration as a law of the universe, I still
+stand to this belief; but I must qualify it as far as it conveys the
+idea that Mr. Lincoln was not as well equipped in actual knowledge of
+men and affairs as any of his contemporaries. Mr. Webster once said that
+he had been preparing to make his reply to Hayne for thirty years. Mr.
+Lincoln had been in unconscious training for the presidency for thirty
+years. His maiden address as a candidate for the Legislature, issued at
+the ripe old age of twenty-three, closes with these words: "But if the
+good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the background,
+I have been too familiar with disappointment to be very much chagrined."
+The man who wrote that sentence, thirty years later wrote this sentence:
+"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and
+patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad
+land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as
+surely they will be, by the angels of our better nature." Between those
+two sentences, joined by a kindred, somber thought, flowed a
+life-current--
+
+ "Strong, without rage, without o'erflowing, full,"
+
+pausing never for an instant; deepening whilst it ran, but nowise
+changing its course or its tones; always the same; calm; patient;
+affectionate; like one born to a destiny, and, as in a dream, feeling
+its resistless force.
+
+It is needful to a complete understanding of Mr. Lincoln's relation to
+the time and to his place in the political history of the country, that
+the student peruse closely the four speeches to which I have called
+attention; they underlie all that passed in the famous debate with
+Douglas; all that their author said and did after he succeeded to the
+presidency. They stand to-day as masterpieces of popular oratory. But
+for our present purpose the debate with Douglas will suffice--the most
+extraordinary intellectual spectacle the annals of our party warfare
+afford. Lincoln entered the canvass unknown outside the state of
+Illinois. He closed it renowned from one end of the land to the other.
+
+In that great debate it was Titan against Titan; and, perusing it after
+the lapse of forty years, the philosophic and impartial critic will
+conclude which got the better of it, Lincoln or Douglas, much according
+to his sympathy with the one or the other. Douglas, as I have said, had
+the disadvantage of riding an ebb tide. But Lincoln encountered a
+disadvantage in riding a flood tide, which was flowing too fast for a
+man so conservative and so honest as he was. Thus there was not a little
+equivocation on both sides foreign to the nature of the two. Both wanted
+to be frank. Both thought they were being frank. But each was a little
+afraid of his own logic; each was a little afraid of his own following;
+and hence there was considerable hair splitting, involving accusations
+that did not accuse and denials that did not deny. They were
+politicians, these two, as well as statesmen; they were politicians, and
+what they did not know about political campaigning was hardly worth
+knowing. Reverently, I take off my hat to both of them; and I turn down
+the page; I close the book and lay it on its shelf, with the inward
+ejaculation, "There were giants in those days."
+
+I am not undertaking to deliver an oral biography of Abraham Lincoln,
+and shall pass over the events which quickly led up to his nomination
+and election to the presidency in 1860.
+
+I met the newly elected president the afternoon of the day in the early
+morning of which he had arrived in Washington. It was a Saturday, I
+think. He came to the capitol under Mr. Seward's escort, and, among the
+rest, I was presented to him. His appearance did not impress me as
+fantastically as it had impressed Colonel McClure. I was more familiar
+with the Western type than Colonel McClure, and, whilst Mr. Lincoln was
+certainly not an Adonis, even after prairie ideals, there was about him
+a dignity that commanded respect.
+
+I met him again the forenoon of the 4th of March in his apartment at
+Willard's Hotel as he was preparing to start to his inauguration, and
+was touched by his unaffected kindness; for I came with a matter
+requiring his immediate attention. He was entirely self-possessed; no
+trace of nervousness; and very obliging. I accompanied the cortege that
+passed from the senate chamber to the east portico of the capitol, and,
+as Mr. Lincoln removed his hat to face the vast multitude in front and
+below, I extended my hand to receive it, but Judge Douglas, just beside
+me, reached over my outstretched arm and took the hat, holding it
+throughout the delivery of the inaugural address. I stood near enough to
+the speaker's elbow not to obstruct any gestures he might make, though
+he made but few; and then it was that I began to comprehend something of
+the power of the man.
+
+He delivered that inaugural address as if he had been delivering
+inaugural addresses all his life. Firm, resonant, earnest, it announced
+the coming of a man; of a leader of men; and in its ringing tones and
+elevated style, the gentlemen he had invited to become members of his
+political family--each of whom thought himself a bigger man than his
+master--might have heard the voice and seen the hand of a man born to
+command. Whether they did or not, they very soon ascertained the fact.
+From the hour Abraham Lincoln crossed the threshold of the White House
+to the hour he went thence to his death, there was not a moment when he
+did not dominate the political and military situation and all his
+official subordinates.
+
+Always courteous, always tolerant, always making allowance, yet always
+explicit, his was the master-spirit, his the guiding hand; committing to
+each of the members of his cabinet the details of the work of his own
+department; caring nothing for petty sovereignty; but reserving to
+himself all that related to great policies, the starting of moral forces
+and the moving of organized ideas.
+
+I want to say just here a few words about Mr. Lincoln's relation to the
+South and the people of the South.
+
+He was, himself, a Southern man. He and all his tribe were Southerners.
+Although he left Kentucky when but a child, he was an old child; he
+never was very young; and he grew to manhood in a Kentucky colony; for
+what was Illinois in those days but a Kentucky colony, grown since
+somewhat out of proportion? He was in no sense what we in the South used
+to call "a poor white." Awkward, perhaps; ungainly, perhaps, but
+aspiring; the spirit of a hero beneath that rugged exterior; the soul of
+a prose poet behind those heavy brows; the courage of a lion back of
+those patient, kindly aspects; and, long before he was of legal age, a
+leader. His first love was a Rutledge; his wife was a Todd. Let the
+romancist tell the story of his romance. I dare not. No sadder idyl can
+be found in all the short and simple annals of the poor.
+
+We know that he was a prose poet; for have we not that immortal prose
+poem recited at Gettysburg? We know that he was a statesman; for has not
+time vindicated his conclusions? But the South does not know, except as
+a kind of hearsay, that he was a friend; the one friend who had the
+power and the will to save it from itself. He was the one man in public
+life who could have come to the head of affairs in 1861 bringing with
+him none of the embittered resentments growing out of the anti-slavery
+battle. Whilst Seward, Chase, Sumner and the rest had been engaged in
+hand-to-hand combat with the Southern leaders at Washington, Lincoln, a
+philosopher and a statesman, had been observing the course of events
+from afar, and like a philosopher and a statesman. The direst blow that
+could have been laid upon the prostrate South was delivered by the
+assassin's bullet that struck him down.
+
+But I digress. Throughout the contention that preceded the war, amid the
+passions that attended the war itself, not one bitter, proscriptive word
+escaped the lips of Abraham Lincoln, whilst there was hardly a day that
+he was not projecting his great personality between some Southern man or
+woman and danger.
+
+Under the date of February 2, 1848, and from the hall of the House of
+Representatives at Washington, whilst he was serving as a member of
+Congress, I find this short note to his law partner at Springfield:--
+
+ "DEAR WILLIAM: I take up my pen to tell you that Mr. Stephens, of
+ Georgia, a little, slim, pale-faced, consumptive man, with a voice
+ like Logan's (that was Stephen T., not John A.), has just concluded
+ the very best speech of an hour's length I ever heard. My old,
+ withered, dry eyes (he was then not quite thirty-seven years of
+ age) are full of tears yet."
+
+From that time forward he never ceased to love Stephens, of Georgia.
+
+After that famous Hampton Roads conference, when the Confederate
+commissioners, Stephens, Campbell, and Hunter, had traversed the field
+of official routine with Mr. Lincoln, the president, and Mr. Seward, the
+secretary of state, Lincoln, the friend, still the old Whig colleague,
+though one was now president of the United States and the other
+vice-president of the Southern Confederacy, took the "slim, pale-faced,
+consumptive man" aside, and, pointing to a sheet of paper he held in his
+hand, said: "Stephens, let me write 'Union' at the top of that page, and
+you may write below it whatever else you please."
+
+In the preceding conversation Mr. Lincoln had intimated that payment for
+the slaves was not outside a possible agreement for reunion and peace.
+He based that statement upon a plan he already had in hand, to
+appropriate four hundred millions of dollars to this purpose.
+
+There are those who have put themselves to the pains of challenging this
+statement of mine. It admits of no possible equivocation. Mr. Lincoln
+carried with him to Fortress Monroe two documents that still stand in
+his own handwriting; one of them a joint resolution to be passed by the
+two houses of Congress appropriating the four hundred millions, the
+other a proclamation to be issued by himself, as president, when the
+joint resolution had been passed. These formed no part of the discussion
+at Hampton Roads, because Mr. Stephens told Mr. Lincoln they were
+limited to treating upon the basis of the recognition of the
+Confederacy, and to all intents and purposes the conference died before
+it was actually born. But Mr. Lincoln was so filled with the idea that
+next day, when he had returned to Washington, he submitted the two
+documents to the members of his cabinet. Excepting Mr. Seward, they were
+all against him. He said: "Why, gentlemen, how long is the war going to
+last? It is not going to end this side of a hundred days, is it? It is
+costing us four millions a day. There are the four hundred millions, not
+counting the loss of life and property in the meantime. But you are all
+against me, and I will not press the matter upon you." I have not cited
+this fact of history to attack, or even to criticize, the policy of the
+Confederate Government, but simply to illustrate the wise magnanimity
+and justice of the character of Abraham Lincoln. For my part I rejoice
+that the war did not end at Fortress Monroe--or any other
+conference--but that it was fought out to its bitter and logical
+conclusion at Appomattox.
+
+It was the will of God that there should be, as God's own prophet had
+promised, "a new birth of freedom," and this could only be reached by
+the obliteration of the very idea of slavery. God struck Lincoln down in
+the moment of his triumph, to attain it; He blighted the South to attain
+it. But He did attain it. And here we are this night to attest it. God's
+will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven. But let no Southern man
+point finger at me because I canonize Abraham Lincoln, for he was the
+one friend we had at court when friends were most in need; he was the
+one man in power who wanted to preserve us intact, to save us from the
+wolves of passion and plunder that stood at our door; and as that God,
+of whom it has been said that "whom He loveth He chasteneth," meant that
+the South should be chastened, Lincoln was put out of the way by the
+bullet of an assassin, having neither lot nor parcel, North or South,
+but a winged emissary of fate, flown from the shadows of the mystic
+world, which Æschylus and Shakespeare created and consecrated to
+tragedy!
+
+I sometimes wonder shall we ever attain a journalism sufficiently
+upright in its treatment of current events to publish fully and fairly
+the utterances of our public men, and, except in cases of provable
+dishonor, to leave their motives and their personalities alone?
+
+Reading just what Abraham Lincoln did say and did do, it is
+inconceivable how such a man could have aroused antagonism so bitter and
+abuse so savage, to fall at last by the hand of an assassin.
+
+We boast our superior civilization and our enlightened freedom of
+speech; and yet, how few of us--when a strange voice begins to utter
+unfamiliar or unpalatable things--how few of us stop and ask ourselves,
+may not this man be speaking the truth after all? It is so easy to call
+names. It is so easy to impugn motives. It is so easy to misrepresent
+opinions we cannot answer. From the least to the greatest what creatures
+we are of party spirit, and yet, for the most part, how small its aims,
+how imperfect its instruments, how disappointing its conclusions!
+
+One thinks now that the world in which Abraham Lincoln lived might have
+dealt more gently by such a man. He was himself so gentle--so upright in
+nature and so broad of mind--so sunny and so tolerant in temper--so
+simple and so unaffected in bearing--a rude exterior covering an
+undaunted spirit, proving by his every act and word that--
+
+ "The bravest are the tenderest,
+ The loving are the daring."
+
+Though he was a party leader, he was a typical and patriotic American,
+in whom even his enemies might have found something to respect and
+admire. But it could not be so. He committed one grievous offense; he
+dared to think and he was not afraid to speak; he was far in advance of
+his party and his time; and men are slow to forgive what they do not
+readily understand.
+
+Yet, all the while that the waves of passion were dashing over his
+sturdy figure, reared above the dead-level, as a lone oak upon a sandy
+beach, not one harsh word rankled in his heart to sour the milk of human
+kindness that, like a perennial spring from the gnarled roots of some
+majestic tree, flowed within him. He would smooth over a rough place in
+his official intercourse with a funny story fitting the case in point,
+and they called him a trifler. He would round off a logical argument
+with a familiar example, hitting the nail squarely on the head and
+driving it home, and they called him a buffoon. Big wigs and little wigs
+were agreed that he lowered the dignity of debate; as if debates were
+intended to mystify, and not to clarify truth. Yet he went on and on,
+and never backward, until his time was come, when his genius, fully
+developed, rose to the great exigencies intrusted to his hands. Where
+did he get his style? Ask Shakespeare and Burns where they got their
+style. Where did he get his grasp upon affairs and his knowledge of men?
+Ask the Lord God who created miracles in Luther and Bonaparte!
+
+What was the mysterious power of this mysterious man, and whence?
+
+His was the genius of common sense; of common sense in action; of common
+sense in thought; of common sense enriched by experience and unhindered
+by fear. "He was a common man," says his friend Joshua Speed, "expanded
+into giant proportions; well acquainted with the people, he placed his
+hand on the beating pulse of the nation, judged of its disease, and was
+ready with a remedy." Inspired he was truly, as Shakespeare was
+inspired; as Mozart was inspired; as Burns was inspired; each, like him,
+sprung directly from the people.
+
+I look into the crystal globe that, slowly turning, tells the story of
+his life, and I see a little heart broken boy, weeping by the
+outstretched form of a dead mother, then bravely, nobly trudging a
+hundred miles to obtain her Christian burial. I see this motherless lad
+growing to manhood amid the scenes that seem to lead to nothing but
+abasement; no teachers; no books; no chart, except his own untutored
+mind; no compass, except his own undisciplined will; no light, save
+light from Heaven; yet, like the caravel of Columbus, struggling on and
+on through the trough of the sea, always toward the destined land. I see
+the full-grown man, stalwart and brave, an athlete in activity of
+movement and strength of limb, yet vexed by weird dreams and visions; of
+life, of love, of religion, sometimes verging on despair. I see the
+mind, grown as robust as the body, throw off these phantoms of the
+imagination and give itself wholly to the work-a-day uses of the world;
+the rearing of children; the earning of bread; the multiplied duties of
+life. I see the party leader, self-confident in conscious rectitude;
+original, because it was not his nature to follow; potent, because he
+was fearless, pursuing his convictions with earnest zeal, and urging
+them upon his fellows with the resources of an oratory which was hardly
+more impressive than it was many-sided. I see him, the preferred among
+his fellows, ascend the eminence reserved for him, and him alone of all
+the statesmen of the time, amid the derision of opponents and the
+distrust of supporters, yet unawed and unmoved, because thoroughly
+equipped to meet the emergency. The same being, from first to last; the
+poor child weeping over a dead mother; the great chief sobbing amid the
+cruel horrors of war; flinching not from duty, nor changing his
+life-long ways of dealing with the stern realities which pressed upon
+him and hurried him onward. And, last scene of all, that ends this
+strange, eventful history, I see him lying dead there in the capitol of
+the nation, to which he had rendered "the last, full measure of his
+devotion," the flag of his country around him, the world in mourning,
+and, asking myself how could any man have hated that man, I ask you, how
+can any man refuse his homage to his memory? Surely, he was one of God's
+elect; not in any sense a creature of circumstance, or accident.
+Recurring to the doctrine of inspiration, I say again and again, he was
+inspired of God, and I cannot see how any one who believes in that
+doctrine can regard him as anything else.
+
+From Cæsar to Bismarck and Gladstone the world has had its statesmen and
+its soldiers--men who rose to eminence and power step by step, through a
+series of geometric progression as it were, each advancement following
+in regular order one after the other, the whole obedient to
+well-established and well-understood laws of cause and effect. They were
+not what we call "men of destiny." They were "men of the time." They
+were men whose careers had a beginning, a middle and an end, rounding
+off lives with histories, full it may be of interesting and exciting
+event, but comprehensive and comprehensible; simple, clear, complete.
+
+The inspired ones are fewer. Whence their emanation, where and how they
+got their power, by what rule they lived, moved and had their being, we
+know not. There is no explication to their lives. They rose from shadow
+and they went in mist. We see them, feel them, but we know them not.
+They came, God's word upon their lips; they did their office, God's
+mantle about them; and they vanished, God's holy light between the world
+and them, leaving behind a memory, half mortal and half myth. From first
+to last they were the creations of some special Providence, baffling the
+wit of man to fathom, defeating the machinations of the world, the flesh
+and the devil, until their work was done, then passing from the scene as
+mysteriously as they had come upon it.
+
+Tried by this standard, where shall we find an example so impressive as
+Abraham Lincoln, whose career might be chanted by a Greek chorus as at
+once the prelude and the epilogue of the most imperial theme of modern
+times?
+
+Born as lowly as the Son of God, in a hovel; reared in penury, squalor,
+with no gleam of light or fair surrounding; without graces, actual or
+acquired; without name or fame or official training; it was reserved
+for this strange being, late in life, to be snatched from obscurity,
+raised to supreme command at a supreme moment, and intrusted with the
+destiny of a nation.
+
+The great leaders of his party, the most experienced and accomplished
+public men of the day, were made to stand aside; were sent to the rear,
+whilst this fantastic figure was led by unseen hands to the front and
+given the reins of power. It is immaterial whether we were for him, or
+against him; wholly immaterial. That, during four years, carrying with
+them such a weight of responsibility as the world never witnessed
+before, he filled the vast space allotted him in the eyes and actions of
+mankind, is to say that he was inspired of God, for nowhere else could
+he have acquired the wisdom and the virtue.
+
+Where did Shakespeare get his genius? Where did Mozart get his music?
+Whose hand smote the lyre of the Scottish plowman, and stayed the life
+of the German priest? God, God, and God alone; and as surely as these
+were raised up by God, inspired by God, was Abraham Lincoln; and a
+thousand years hence, no drama, no tragedy, no epic poem will be filled
+with greater wonder, or be followed by mankind with deeper feeling than
+that which tells the story of his life and death.
+
+
+
+
+SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS
+
+ Delivered by Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865, on the occasion of his
+ second inauguration as president of the United States.
+
+
+FELLOW COUNTRYMEN:--At this second appearing to take the oath of the
+presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than
+there was at the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a
+course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration
+of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly
+called forth on every point and phase of the great contest, which still
+absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little
+that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all
+else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and
+it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With
+high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
+
+On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were
+anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it--all sought
+to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this
+place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent
+agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--seeking to
+dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties
+deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the
+nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it
+perish. And the war came.
+
+One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed
+generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it.
+These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that
+this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen,
+perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which insurgents
+would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right
+to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.
+
+Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which
+it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the
+conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should
+cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental
+and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and
+each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men
+should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from
+the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not
+judged. The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has
+been answered fully.
+
+The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of
+offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man
+by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery
+is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs
+come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now
+wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this
+terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we
+discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the
+believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we
+hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily
+pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled
+by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
+sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by
+another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so
+still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous
+altogether."
+
+With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
+right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
+work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who
+shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan--to do all
+which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves
+and with all nations.
+
+
+
+
+ROBERT E. LEE
+
+ The following extracts are taken from the great lecture[4] of E.
+ Benjamin Andrews on "Robert E. Lee." Dr. Andrews was president of
+ Brown University 1889-1898, superintendent of the Public Schools of
+ Chicago 1898-1900, chancellor of the University of Nebraska
+ 1900-1908, and since 1909 has been chancellor emeritus of that
+ institution. He served as a private, and later as second lieutenant
+ in the Union army during the Civil War. He was wounded at
+ Petersburg, losing an eye. Probably no better characterization or
+ higher tribute has ever been made of Robert E. Lee than that by Dr.
+ Andrews in this lecture which was as enthusiastically received by
+ the Union veterans of the North as by the Confederate veterans of
+ the South; for, as Dr. Andrews says in his tribute to Lee, "None
+ are prouder of his record than those who fought against him, who
+ while recognizing the purity of his motive, thought him in error in
+ going from under the stars and stripes."
+
+
+Robert Edward Lee had perhaps a more illustrious traceable lineage than
+any American not of his family. His ancestor, Lionel Lee, crossed the
+English Channel with William the Conqueror. Another scion of the clan
+fought beside Richard the Lion-hearted at Acre in the Third Crusade. To
+Richard Lee, the great land owner on Northern Neck, the Virginia Colony
+was much indebted for royal recognition. His grandson, Henry Lee, was
+the grandfather of "Light-horse Harry" Lee of Revolutionary fame, who
+was the father of Robert Edward Lee.
+
+Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807, in Westmoreland County, Va.,
+the same county that gave to the world George Washington and James
+Monroe. Though he was fatherless at eleven, the father's blood in him
+inclined him to the profession of arms, and when eighteen,--in 1825,--on
+an appointment obtained for him by General Andrew Jackson, he entered
+the Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1829, being second
+in rank in a class of forty-six. Among his classmates were two men whom
+one delights to name with him--Ormsby M. Mitchel, later a general in the
+Federal army, and Joseph E. Johnston, the famous Confederate. Lee was at
+once made Lieutenant of Engineers, but, till the Mexican War, attained
+only a captaincy. This was conferred on him in 1838.
+
+In 1831 Lee had been married to Miss Mary Randolph Custis, the grand
+daughter of Mrs. George Washington. By this marriage he became possessor
+of the beautiful estate at Arlington, opposite Washington, his home till
+the Civil War. The union, blessed by seven children, was in all respects
+most happy.
+
+In his prime Lee was spoken of as the handsomest man in the army. He was
+about six feet high, perfectly built, healthy, fond of outdoor life,
+enthusiastic in his profession, gentle, dignified, studious,
+broad-minded, and positively, though unobtrusively, religious. If he had
+faults, which those nearest him doubted, they were excess of modesty and
+excess of tenderness.
+
+During the Mexican War, Captain Lee directed all the most important
+engineering operations of the American army--a work vital to its
+wonderful success. Already at the siege of Vera Cruz, General Scott
+mentioned him as having "greatly distinguished himself." He was
+prominent in all the operations thence to Cerro Gordo, where, in April,
+1847, he was brevetted major. Both at Contreras and at Churubusco he was
+credited with gallant and meritorious services. At the charge up
+Chapultepec, in which Joseph E. Johnston, George B. McClellan, George E.
+Pickett, and Thomas J. Jackson participated, Lee bore Scott's orders to
+all points until from loss of blood by a wound, and from the loss of two
+nights' sleep at the batteries, he actually fainted away in the
+discharge of his duty. Such ability and devotion brought him home from
+Mexico bearing the brevet rank of colonel. General Scott had learned to
+think of him as "the greatest military genius in America."
+
+In 1852 Lee was made superintendent of the West Point Military Academy.
+In 1855 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of Col. Albert Sidney
+Johnston's new cavalry regiment, just raised to serve in Texas. March,
+1861, saw him colonel of the First United States Cavalry. With the
+possible exception of the two Johnstons, he was now the most promising
+candidate for General Scott's position whenever that venerable hero
+vacated it, as he was sure to do soon.
+
+Lee was a Virginian, and Virginia, about to secede and at length
+seceding, in most earnest tones besought her distinguished son to join
+her. It seemed to him the call of duty, and that call, as he understood
+it, was one which it was not in him to disobey. President Lincoln knew
+the value of the man, and sent Frank Blair to him to say that if he
+would abide by the Union he should soon command the whole active army.
+That would probably have meant his election, in due time, to the
+presidency of his country. "For God's sake don't resign, Lee!" General
+Scott--himself a Virginian--is said to have pleaded. He replied: "I am
+compelled to; I cannot consult my own feelings in the matter."
+Accordingly, three days after Virginia passed its ordinance of
+secession, Lee sent to Simon Cameron, Secretary of War, his resignation
+as an officer in the United States army.
+
+Few at the North were able to understand the secession movement, most
+denying that a man at once thoughtful and honorable could join in it. So
+centralized had the North by 1861 become in all social and economic
+particulars, that centrality in government was taken as a matter of
+course. Representing this, the nation was deemed paramount to any state.
+Governmental sovereignty, like travel and trade, had come to ignore
+state lines. The whole idea and feeling of state sovereignty, once as
+potent North as South, had vanished and been forgotten.
+
+Far otherwise at the South, where, owing to the great size of states and
+to the paucity of railways and telegraphs, interstate association was
+not yet a force. Each state, being in square miles ample enough for an
+empire, retained to a great extent the consciousness of an independent
+nation. The state was near and palpable; the central government seemed
+a vague and distant thing. Loyalty was conceived as binding one
+primarily to one's own state.
+
+It is a misconception to explain this feeling--for in most cases it was
+feeling rather than reasoned conviction--by Calhoun's teaching. It
+resulted from geography and history, and, these factors working as they
+did, would have been what it was had Calhoun never lived. These
+considerations explain how Colonel Lee, certainly one of the most
+conscientious men who ever lived, felt bound in duty and honor to side
+with seceding Virginia, though he doubted the wisdom of her course.
+
+Most striking among the characteristics of General Lee which made him so
+successful was his exalted and unmatched excellence as a man, his
+unselfishness, sweetness, gentleness, patience, love of justice, and
+general elevation of soul. Lee much loved to quote Sir William
+Hamilton's words: "On earth nothing great but man: in man nothing great
+but mind." He always added, however: "In mind nothing great save
+devotion to truth and duty." Though a soldier, and at last very eminent
+as a soldier, he retained from the beginning to the end of his career
+the entire temper and character of an ideal civilian. He did not sink
+the man in the military man. He had all a soldier's virtues, the
+"chevalier without fear and without reproach," but he was glorified by a
+whole galaxy of excellences which soldiers too often lack. He was pure
+of speech and of habit, never intemperate, never obscene, never profane,
+never irreverent. In domestic life he was an absolute model. Lofty
+command did not make him vain.
+
+[Illustration: ROBERT E. LEE]
+
+That Lee was brave need not be said. He was not as rash as Hood and
+Cleburne sometimes were. He knew the value of his life to the great
+cause, and, usually at least, did not expose himself needlessly.
+Prudence he had, but no fear. His resolution to lead the charge at the
+Bloody Angle--rashness at once--shows fearlessness. Tender-hearted as he
+was, Lee felt battle frenzy as hardly another great commander ever did.
+From him it spread like magnetism to his officers and men, thrilling all
+as if the chief himself were close by in the fray, shouting, "Now fight,
+my good fellows, fight!" Yet such was Lee's self-command that this ardor
+never carried him too far.
+
+But Lee possessed another order of courage infinitely higher and rarer
+than this--the sort so often lacking even in generals who have served
+with utmost distinction in high subordinate places, when they are called
+to the sole and decisive direction of armies: he had that royal mettle,
+that preternatural decision of character, ever tempered with caution and
+wisdom, which leads a great commander, when true occasion arises,
+resolutely to give general battle, or a swing out away from his base
+upon a precarious but promising campaign. Here you have moral heroism;
+ordinary valor is more impulsive. A weaker man, albeit total stranger to
+fear, ready to lead his division or his corps into the very mouth of
+hell, if commanded, being set himself to direct an army, will be either
+rash or else too timid, or fidget from one extreme to the other, losing
+all.
+
+It was in this supreme kind of boldness that Robert Lee preëminently
+excelled. Cautious always, he still took risks and responsibilities
+which common generals would not have dared to take, and when he had
+assumed these, his mighty will forbade him to sink under the load. The
+braying of bitter critics, the obloquy of men who should have supported
+him, the shots from behind, dismayed him no more than did Burnside's
+cannon at Fredericksburg. On he pressed, stout as a Titan, relentless as
+fate. What time bravest hearts failed at victory's delay, this
+Dreadnaught rose to his best, and furnished courage for the whole
+Confederacy.
+
+In a sense, of course, the cause for which Lee fought was "lost"; yet a
+very great part of what he and his _confreres_ sought, the war actually
+secured and assured. His cause was not "lost" as Hannibal's was, whose
+country, with its institutions, spite of his genius and devotion,
+utterly perished from the earth. Yet Hannibal is remembered more widely
+than Scipio. Were Lee in the same case with Hannibal, men would magnify
+his name as long as history is read. "Of illustrious men," says
+Thucydides, "the whole earth is the sepulcher. They are immortalized not
+alone by columns and inscriptions in their own lands; memorials to them
+rise in foreign countries as well--not of stone, it may be, but
+unwritten, in the thoughts of posterity."
+
+Lee's case resembles Cromwell's much more than Hannibal's. The _regime_
+against which Cromwell warred returned in spite of him; but it returned
+modified, involving all the reforms for which the chieftain had bled. So
+the best of what Lee drew sword for is here in our actual America, and,
+please God, shall remain here forever.
+
+Decisions of the United States Supreme Court since Secession gave a
+sweep and a certainty to the rights of states and limit the central
+power in this republic as had never been done before. The wild doctrines
+of Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens on these points are not our law. If the
+Union is perpetual, equally so is each state. The republic is "an
+indestructible Union of indestructible states." If this part of our law
+had in 1861 received its present definition and emphasis, and if the
+Southern States had then been sure, come what might, of the freedom they
+actually now enjoy each to govern itself in its own way, even South
+Carolina might never have voted secession. And inasmuch as the war,
+better than aught else could have done, forced this phase of the
+Constitution out into clear expression, General Lee did not fight in
+vain. The essential good he wished has come, while the republic with its
+priceless benedictions to us all remains intact. All Americans thus have
+part in Robert Lee, not only as a peerless man and soldier, but as the
+sturdy miner, sledge-hammering the rock of our liberties till it give
+forth its gold. None are prouder of his record than those who fought
+against him, who, while recognizing the purity of his motive, thought
+him in error in going from under the stars and stripes. It is likely
+that more American hearts day by day think lovingly of Lee than of any
+other Civil War celebrity save Lincoln alone. And his praise will
+increase.
+
+
+
+
+OUR REUNITED COUNTRY
+
+ Speech of Clark Howell at the Peace Jubilee Banquet in Chicago,
+ October 19, 1898, in response to the toast "Our Reunited Country:
+ North and South."
+
+
+MR. TOASTMASTER, AND MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN:--In the mountains of my
+state, in a county remote from the quickening touch of commerce, and
+railroads and telegraphs--so far removed that the sincerity of its
+rugged people flows unpolluted from the spring of nature--two
+vine-covered mounds, nestling in the solemn silence of a country
+churchyard, suggest the text of my response to the sentiment to which I
+am to speak to-night. A serious text, Mr. Toastmaster, for an occasion
+like this, and yet out of it there is life and peace and hope and
+prosperity, for in the solemn sacrifice of the voiceless grave can the
+chiefest lesson of the Republic be learned, and the destiny of its real
+mission be unfolded. So, bear with me while I lead you to the
+rust-stained slab, which for a third of a century--since
+Chickamauga--has been kissed by the sun as it peeped over the Blue
+Ridge, melting the tears with which the mourning night had bedewed the
+inscription:--
+
+ "Here lies a Confederate soldier.
+ He died for his country."
+
+The September day which brought the body of this mountain hero to that
+home among the hills which had smiled upon his infancy, been gladdened
+by his youth, and strengthened by his manhood, was an ever memorable
+one with the sorrowing concourse of friends and neighbors who followed
+his shot-riddled body to the grave. And of that number no man gainsaid
+the honor of his death, lacked full loyalty to the flag for which he
+fought, or doubted the justice of the cause for which he gave his life.
+
+Thirty-five years have passed; another war has called its roll of
+martyrs; again the old bell tolls from the crude latticed tower of the
+settlement church; another great pouring of sympathetic humanity, and
+this time the body of a son, wrapped in the stars and stripes, is
+lowered to its everlasting rest beside that of the father who sleeps in
+the stars and bars.
+
+There were those there who stood by the grave of the Confederate hero
+years before, and the children of those were there, and of those present
+no one gainsaid the honor of the death of this hero of El Caney, and
+none were there but loved, as patriots alone can love, the glorious flag
+that enshrines the people of a common country as it enshrouds the form
+that will sleep forever in its blessed folds. And on this tomb will be
+written:
+
+ "Here lies the son of a Confederate soldier,
+ He died for his country."
+
+And so it is that between the making of these two graves human hands and
+human hearts have reached a solution of the vexed problem that has
+baffled human will and human thought for three decades. Sturdy sons of
+the South have said to their brothers of the North that the people of
+the South had long since accepted the arbitrament of the sword to which
+they had appealed. And likewise the oft-repeated message has come back
+from the North that peace and good will reigned, and that the wounds of
+civil dissention were but as sacred memories. Good fellowship was wafted
+on the wings of commerce and development from those who had worn the
+blue to those who had worn the gray. Nor were these messages delivered
+in vain, for they served to pave the way for the complete and absolute
+elimination of the line of sectional differences by the only process by
+which such a result was possible. The sentiment of the great majority of
+the people of the South was rightly spoken in the message of the
+immortal Hill, and in the burning eloquence of Henry Grady--both
+Georgians--the record of whose blessed work for the restoration of peace
+between the sections becomes a national heritage, and whose names are
+stamped in enduring impress upon the affection of the people of the
+Republic.
+
+And yet there were still those among us who believed your course was
+polite, but insincere, and those among you who assumed that our
+professed attitude was sentimental and unreal. Bitterness had departed,
+and sectional hate was no more, but there were those who feared, even if
+they did not believe, that between the great sections of our greater
+government there was not the perfect faith and trust and love that both
+professed; that there was want of the faith that made the American
+Revolution a successful possibility; that that there was want of the
+trust that crystallized our States into the original Union; that there
+was lack of the love that bound in unassailable strength the united
+sisterhood of States that withstood the shock of Civil War. It is true
+this doubt existed to a greater degree abroad than at home. But to-day
+the mist of uncertainty has been swept away by the sunlight of events,
+and there, where doubt obscured before stands in bold relief, commanding
+the admiration of the whole world, the most glorious type of united
+strength and sentiment and loyalty known to the history of nations.
+
+Out of the chaos of that civil war had risen a new nation, mighty in the
+vastness of its limitless resources, the realities within its reach
+surpassing the dreams of fiction, and eclipsing the fancy of fable--a
+new nation, yet rosy in the flesh, with the bloom of youth upon its
+cheeks and the gleam of morning in its eyes. No one questioned that
+commercial and geographic union had been effected. So had Rome reunited
+its faltering provinces, maintaining the limit of its imperial
+jurisdiction by the power of commercial bonds and the majesty of the
+sword, until in its very vastness it collapsed. The heart of its people
+did not beat in unison. Nations may be made by the joining of hands, but
+the measure of their real strength and vitality, like that of the human
+body, is in the heart. Show me the country whose people are not at heart
+in sympathy with its institutions, and the fervor of whose patriotism is
+not bespoken in its flag, and I will show you a ship of state which is
+sailing in shallow waters, toward unseen eddies of uncertainty, if not
+to the open rocks of dismemberment.
+
+Whence was the proof to come, to ourselves as well as to the world, that
+we were being moved once again by a common impulse, and by the same
+heart that inspired and gave strength to the hands that smote the
+British in the days of the Revolution, and again at New Orleans; that
+made our ships the masters of the seas; that placed our flag on
+Chapultepec, and widened our domain from ocean to ocean? How was the
+world to know that the burning fires of patriotism, so essential to
+national glory and achievement, had not been quenched by the blood
+spilled by the heroes of both sides of the most desperate struggle known
+in the history of civil wars? How was the doubt that stood, all
+unwilling, between outstretched hands and sympathetic hearts, to be, in
+fact, dispelled?
+
+If from out the caldron of conflict there arose this doubt, only from
+the crucible of war could come the answer. And, thank God, that answer
+has been made in the record of the war, the peaceful termination of
+which we celebrate to-night. Read it in every page of its history; read
+it in the obliteration of party and sectional lines in the congressional
+action which called the nation to arms in the defense of prostrate
+liberty, and for the extension of the sphere of human freedom; read it
+in the conduct of the distinguished Federal soldier who, as the chief
+executive of this great republic,[5] honors this occasion by his
+presence to-night, and whose appointments in the first commissions
+issued after war had been declared made manifest the sincerity of his
+often repeated utterances of complete sectional reconciliation and the
+elimination of sectional lines in the affairs of government. Differing
+with him, as I do, on party issues, utterly at variance with the views
+of his party on economic problems, I sanction with all my heart the
+obligation that rests on every patriotic citizen to make party second to
+country, and in the measure that he has been actuated by this broad and
+patriotic policy he will receive the plaudits of the whole people: "Well
+done, good and faithful servant."
+
+Portentous indeed have been the developments of the past six months; the
+national domain has been extended far into the Caribbean Sea on the
+south, and to the west it is so near the mainland of Asia that we can
+hear grating of the process which is grinding the ancient celestial
+empire into pulp for the machinery of civilization and of progress.
+
+But speaking as a Southerner and an American, I say that this has been
+as naught compared to the greatest good this war has accomplished.
+Drawing alike from all sections of the Union for her heroes and her
+martyrs, depending alike upon North, South, East and West for her
+glorious victories, and weeping with sympathy with the widows and the
+stricken mothers wherever they may be, America, incarnated spirit of
+liberty, stands again to-day the holy emblem of a household in which the
+children abide in unity, equality, love and peace. The iron sledge of
+war that rent asunder the links of loyalty and love has welded them
+together again. Ears that were deaf to loving appeals for the burial of
+sectional strife have listened and believed when the muster guns have
+spoken. Hearts that were cold to calls for trust and sympathy have
+awakened to loving confidence in the baptism of their blood.
+
+Drawing inspiration from the flag of our country, the South has shared
+not only the dangers, but the glories of the war. In the death of brave
+young Bagley at Cardenas, North Carolina furnished the first blood in
+the tragedy. It was Victor Blue of South Carolina, who, like the Swamp
+Fox of the Revolution, crossed the fiery path of the enemy at his
+pleasure, and brought the first official tidings of the situation as it
+existed in Cuba. It was Brumby, a Georgia boy, the flag lieutenant of
+Dewey, who first raised the stars and stripes over Manila. It was
+Alabama that furnished Hobson who accomplished two things the Spanish
+navy never yet has done--sunk an American ship, and made a Spanish
+man-of-war securely float.
+
+The South answered the call to arms with its heart, and its heart goes
+out with that of the North in rejoicing at the result. The demonstration
+lacking to give the touch of life to the picture has been made. The open
+sesame that was needed to give insight into the true and loyal hearts
+both North and South has been spoken. Divided by war, we are united as
+never before by the same agency, and the union is of hearts as well as
+hands.
+
+The doubter may scoff, and the pessimist may croak, but even they must
+take hope at the picture presented in the simple and touching incident
+of eight Grand Army veterans, with their silvery heads bowed in
+sympathy, escorting the lifeless body of the Daughter of the Confederacy
+from Narragansett to its last, long rest at Richmond.
+
+When that great and generous soldier, U. S. Grant, gave back to Lee,
+crushed, but ever glorious, the sword he had surrendered at Appomattox,
+that magnanimous deed said to the people of the South: "You are our
+brothers." But when the present ruler of our grand republic on awakening
+to the condition of war that confronted him, with his first commission
+placed the leader's sword in the hands of those gallant confederate
+commanders, Joe Wheeler and Fitzhugh Lee, he wrote between the lines in
+living letters of everlasting light the words: "There is but one people
+of this Union, one flag alone for all."
+
+The South, Mr. Toastmaster, will feel that her sons have been well
+given, that her blood has been well spilled, if that sentiment is to be
+indeed the true inspiration of our nation's future. God grant it may be
+as I believe it will.
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+ Speech of Henry Cabot Lodge, delivered at a banquet complimentary
+ to the Robert E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, of Richmond,
+ Va., given in Faneuil Hall, Boston, June 17, 1887. The Southerners
+ were visiting Boston as the special guests of the John A. Andrew
+ Post 15, Department of Massachusetts, Grand Army of the Republic.
+
+
+MR. CHAIRMAN:--To such a toast, sir, it would seem perhaps most fitting
+that one of those should respond who were a part of the great event
+which it recalls. Yet, after all, on an occasion like this, it may not
+be amiss to call upon one who belongs to a generation to whom the
+Rebellion is little more than history, and who, however insufficiently,
+represents the feelings of that and the succeeding generations as to our
+great Civil War. I was a boy ten years old when the troops marched away
+to defend Washington, and my personal knowledge of that time is confined
+to a few broken but vivid memories. I saw the troops, month after month,
+pour through the streets of Boston, I saw Shaw go forth at the head of
+his black regiment, and Bartlett, shattered in body but dauntless in
+soul, ride by to carry what was left of him once more to the
+battlefields of the republic. I saw Andrew, standing bare headed on the
+steps of the state house, bid the men God speed. I cannot remember the
+words he said, but I can never forget the fervid eloquence which brought
+tears to the eyes and fire to the hearts of all who listened. I
+understood but dimly the awful meaning of these events. To my boyish
+mind one thing alone was clear, that the soldiers as they marched past
+were all, in that supreme hour, heroes and patriots. Amid many changes
+that simple belief of boyhood has never altered. The gratitude which I
+felt then I confess to-day more strongly than ever. But other feelings
+have in the progress of time altered much. I have learned, and others of
+my generation as they came to man's estate have learned, what the war
+really meant, and they have also learned to know and to do justice to
+the men who fought the war upon the other side.
+
+I do not stand up in this presence to indulge in any mock
+sentimentality. You brave men who wore the gray would be the first to
+hold me or any other son of the North in just contempt if I should say
+that, now it was all over, I thought the North was wrong and the result
+of the war a mistake, and that I was prepared to suppress my political
+opinions. I believe most profoundly that the war on our side was
+eternally right, that our victory was the salvation of the country, and
+that the results of the war were of infinite benefit to both North and
+South. But however we differed, or still differ, as to the causes for
+which we fought then, we accept them as settled, commit them to history,
+and fight over them no more. To the men who fought the battles of the
+Confederacy we hold out our hands freely, frankly, and gladly. To
+courage and faith wherever shown we bow in homage with uncovered heads.
+We respect and honor the gallantry and valor of the brave men who fought
+against us, and who gave their lives and shed their blood in defense of
+what they believed to be right. We rejoice that the famous general
+whose name is borne upon your banner was one of the greatest soldiers of
+modern times, because he, too, was an American. We have no bitter
+memories to revive, no reproaches to utter. Reconciliation is not to be
+sought, because it exists already. Differ in politics and in a thousand
+other ways we must and shall in all good nature, but let us never differ
+with each other on sectional or State lines, by race or creed.
+
+We welcome you, soldiers of Virginia, as others more eloquent than I
+have said, to New England. We welcome you to old Massachusetts. We
+welcome you to Boston and to Faneuil Hall. In your presence here, and at
+the sound of your voices beneath this historic roof, the years roll back
+and we see the figure and hear again the ringing tones of your great
+orator, Patrick Henry, declaring to the first Continental Congress, "The
+distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New
+Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American." A
+distinguished Frenchman, as he stood among the graves at Arlington, said
+"Only a great people is capable of a great civil war." Let us add with
+thankful hearts that only a great people is capable of a great
+reconciliation. Side by side, Virginia and Massachusetts led the
+colonies into the War for Independence. Side by side they founded the
+government of the United States. Morgan and Greene, Lee and Knox,
+Moultrie and Prescott, men of the South and men of the North, fought
+shoulder to shoulder, and wore the same uniform of buff and blue--the
+uniform of Washington.
+
+Your presence here brings back their noble memories, it breathes the
+spirit of concord, and united with so many other voices in the
+irrevocable message of union and good will. Mere sentiment all this,
+some may say. But it is sentiment, true sentiment, that has moved the
+world. Sentiment fought the war, and sentiment has reunited us. When the
+war closed, it was proposed in the newspapers and elsewhere to give
+Governor Andrew, who had sacrificed health and strength and property in
+his public duties, some immediately lucrative office, like the
+collectorship of the port of Boston. A friend asked him if he would take
+such a place. "No," said he; "I have stood as high priest between the
+horns of the altar, and I have poured out upon it the best blood of
+Massachusetts, and I cannot take money for that." Mere sentiment, truly,
+but the sentiment which ennobles and uplifts mankind. It is sentiment
+which so hallows a bit of torn, stained bunting, that men go gladly to
+their deaths to save it. So I say that the sentiment manifested by your
+presence here, brethren of Virginia, sitting side by side with those who
+wore the blue, has a far-reaching and gracious influence, of more value
+than many practical things. It tells us that these two grand old
+commonwealths, parted in the shock of the Civil War, are once more side
+by side as in the days of the Revolution, never to part again. It tells
+us that the sons of Virginia and Massachusetts, if war should break
+again upon the country, will, as in the olden days, stand once more
+shoulder to shoulder, with no distinction in the colors that they wear.
+It is fraught with tidings of peace on earth and you may read its
+meaning in the words on yonder picture, "Liberty and Union, now and
+forever, one and inseparable."
+
+
+
+
+A REMINISCENCE OF GETTYSBURG
+
+ The following extract is taken from General John B. Gordon's great
+ lecture, "The Last Days of the Confederacy," delivered with marked
+ effect throughout the country. This report of the lecture is as
+ given in Brooklyn, N. Y., February 7, 1901.
+
+
+But now to Gettysburg. That great battle could not be described in the
+space of a lecture. I shall select from the myriad of thrilling
+incidents which rush over my memory but two.[6] The first I relate
+because it seems due to one of the bravest and knightliest soldiers of
+the Union army. As my command came back from the Susquehanna River to
+Gettysburg, it was thrown squarely on the right flank of the Union army.
+The fact that that portion of the Union army melted was no disparagement
+either of its courage or its lofty American manhood, for any troops that
+had ever been marshaled, the Old Guard itself, would have been as surely
+and swiftly shattered. It was that movement that gave to the Confederate
+army the first day's victory at Gettysburg; and as I rode forward over
+that field of green clover, made red with the blood of both armies, I
+found a major-general among the dead and the dying. But a few moments
+before, I had seen the proud form of that magnificent Union officer reel
+in the saddle and then fall in the white smoke of the battle; and as I
+rode by, intensely looking into his pale face, which was turned to the
+broiling rays of that scorching July sun, I discovered that he was not
+dead. Dismounting from my horse, I lifted his head with one hand, gave
+him water from my canteen, inquired his name and if he was badly hurt.
+He was General Francis C. Barlow, of New York. He had been shot from his
+horse while grandly leading a charge. The ball had struck him in front,
+passed through the body and out near the spinal cord, completely
+paralyzing him in every limb; neither he nor I supposed he could live
+for one hour. I desired to remove him before death from that terrific
+sun. I had him lifted on a litter and borne to the shade in the rear. As
+he bade me good-bye, and upon my inquiry what I could do for him, he
+asked me to take from his pocket a bunch of letters. Those letters were
+from his wife, and as I opened one at his request, and as his eye
+caught, as he supposed for the last time, that wife's signature, the
+great tears came like a fountain and rolled down his pale face; and he
+said to me, "General Gordon, you are a Confederate; I am a Union
+soldier; but we are both Americans; if you should live through this
+dreadful war and ever see my wife, will you not do me the kindness to
+tell my wife for me that you saw me on this field? Tell her for me, that
+my last thought on earth was of her; tell her for me that you saw me
+fall in this battle, and that her husband fell, not in the rear, but at
+the head of his column; tell her for me, general, that I freely give my
+life to my country, but that my unutterable grief is that I must now go
+without the privilege of seeing her once more, and bidding her a long
+and loving farewell." I at once said: "Where is Mrs. Barlow, general?
+Where could I find her?" for I was determined that wife should receive
+that gallant husband's message. He replied: "She is very close to me;
+she is just back of the Union line of battle with the commander-in-chief
+at his headquarters." That announcement of Mrs. Barlow's presence with
+the Union army struck in this heart of mine another chord of deepest and
+tenderest sympathy; for my wife had followed me, sharing with me the
+privations of the camp, the fatigues of the march; again and again was
+she under fire, and always on the very verge of the battle was that
+devoted wife of mine, like an angel of protection and an inspiration to
+duty. I replied: "Of course, General Barlow, if I am alive, sir, when
+this day's battle, now in progress is ended--if I am not shot dead
+before the night comes--you may die satisfied that I will see to it that
+Mrs. Barlow has your message before to-morrow's dawn."
+
+And I did. The moment the guns had ceased their roar on the hills, I
+sent a flag of truce with a note to Mrs. Barlow. I did not tell her--I
+did not have the heart to tell her that her husband was dead, as I
+believed him to be; but I did tell her that he was desperately wounded,
+a prisoner in my hands; but that she should have safe escort through my
+lines to her husband's side. Late that night, as I lay in the open field
+upon my saddle, a picket from my front announced a lady on the line. She
+was Mrs. Barlow. She had received my note and was struggling, under the
+guidance of officers of the Union army, to penetrate my lines and reach
+her husband's side. She was guided to his side by my staff during the
+night. Early next morning the battle was renewed, and the following
+day, and then came the retreat of Lee's immortal army. I thought no more
+of that gallant son of the North, General Barlow, except to count him
+among the thousands of Americans who had gone down on both sides in the
+dreadful battle. Strangely enough, as the war progressed, Barlow
+concluded not to die; Providence decreed that he should live. He
+recovered and rejoined his command; and just one year after that, Barlow
+saw that I was killed in another battle. The explanation is perfectly
+simple. A cousin of mine, with the same initials, General J. B. Gordon,
+of North Carolina, was killed in a battle near Richmond. Barlow, who, as
+I say, had recovered and rejoined his command--although I knew he was
+dead, or thought I did--picked up a newspaper and read this item in it:
+"General J. B. Gordon of the Confederate army was killed to-day in
+battle." Calling his staff around him, Barlow read that item and said to
+them, "I am very sorry to see this; you will remember that General J. B.
+Gordon was the officer who picked me up on the battlefield at
+Gettysburg, and sent my wife through his lines to me at night. I am very
+sorry."
+
+Fifteen years passed. Now, I wish the audience to remember that during
+all those fifteen years which intervened, Barlow was dead to me, and for
+fourteen of them I was dead to Barlow. In the meantime, the partiality
+of the people of Georgia had placed me in the United States senate.
+Clarkson Potter was a member of Congress from New York. He invited me to
+dine with him to meet his friend, General Barlow. Now came my time to
+think. "Barlow," I said, "Barlow? That is the same name, but it can't be
+my Barlow, for I left him dead at Gettysburg." And I endeavored to
+understand what it meant, and thought I had made the discovery. I was
+told, as I made the inquiry, that there were two Barlows in the United
+States army. That satisfied me at once. I concluded, as a matter of
+course, that it was the other fellow I was going to meet; that Clarkson
+Potter had invited me to dine with the living Barlow and not with the
+dead one. Barlow had a similar reflection about the Gordon he was to
+dine with. He supposed that I was the other Gordon. We met at Clarkson
+Potter's table. I sat just opposite to Barlow; and in the lull of the
+conversation I asked him, "General, are you related to the Barlow who
+was killed at Gettysburg?" He replied: "I am the man, sir." "Are you
+related," he asked, "to the Gordon who killed me?" "Well," I said, "I am
+the man, sir." The scene which followed beggars all description. No
+language could describe that scene at Clarkson Potter's table in
+Washington, fifteen years after the war was over. Truth is indeed
+stranger than fiction. Think of it! What could be stranger? There we
+met, both dead, each of us presenting to the other the most absolute
+proof of the resurrection of the dead.
+
+But stranger still, perhaps, is the friendship true and lasting begun
+under such auspices. What could be further removed from the realms of
+probabilities than a confiding friendship between combatants, which is
+born on the field of blood, amidst the thunders of battle, and while the
+hostile legions rush upon each other with deadly fury and pour into
+each other's breasts their volleys of fire and of leaden hail. Such were
+the circumstances under which was born the friendship between Barlow and
+myself, and which I believe is more sincere because of its remarkable
+birth, and which has strengthened and deepened with the passing years.
+For the sake of our reunited and glorious Republic may we not hope that
+similar ties will bind together all the soldiers of the two
+armies--indeed all Americans in perpetual unity until the last bugle
+call shall have summoned us to the eternal camping grounds beyond the
+stars?
+
+
+
+
+THE NEW SOUTH
+
+ Address by Henry W. Grady, journalist [born in Athens, Ga., May 17,
+ 1851; died in Atlanta, Ga., December 23, 1889], delivered at the
+ eighty-first anniversary celebration of the New England Society in
+ the city of New York, December 22, 1886.
+
+
+MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:--"There was a South of slavery and
+secession--that South is dead. There is a South of union and
+freedom--that South, thank God, is living, breathing, growing every
+hour." These words, delivered from the immortal lips of Benjamin H.
+Hill, at Tammany Hall in 1866, true then, and truer now, I shall make my
+text to-night.
+
+Let me express to you my appreciation of the kindness by which I am
+permitted to address you. I make this abrupt acknowledgment advisedly,
+for I feel that if, when I raise my provincial voice in this ancient and
+august presence, I could find courage for no more than the opening
+sentence, it would be well if, in that sentence, I had met in a rough
+sense my obligation as a guest, and had perished, so to speak, with
+courtesy on my lips and grace in my heart. Permitted through your
+kindness to catch my second wind, let me say that I appreciate the
+significance of being the first Southerner to speak at this board, which
+bears the substance, if it surpasses the semblance, of original New
+England hospitality and honors a sentiment that in turn honors you, but
+in which my personality is lost, and the compliment to my people made
+plain.
+
+I bespeak the utmost stretch of your courtesy to-night. I am not
+troubled about those from whom I come. You remember the man whose wife
+sent him to a neighbor with a pitcher of milk, and who, tripping on the
+top step, fell, with such casual interruptions as the landing afforded,
+into the basement; and while picking himself up had the pleasure of
+hearing his wife call out: "John, did you break the pitcher?" "No, I
+didn't," said John, "but I be dinged if I don't!"
+
+So, while those who call to me from behind may inspire me with energy if
+not with courage, I ask an indulgent hearing from you. I beg that you
+will bring your full faith in American fairness and frankness to
+judgment upon what I shall say. There was an old preacher once who told
+some boys of the Bible lesson he was going to read in the morning. The
+boys finding the place, glued together the connecting pages. The next
+morning he read on the bottom of one page: "When Noah was one hundred
+and twenty years old he took unto himself a wife, who was"--then turning
+the page--"one hundred and forty cubits long, forty cubits wide, built
+of gopher wood, and covered with pitch inside and out." He was naturally
+puzzled at this. He read it again, verified it, and then said: "My
+friends, this is the first time I ever met this in the Bible, but I
+accept it as an evidence of the assertion that we are fearfully and
+wonderfully made." If I could get you to hold such faith to-night I
+could proceed cheerfully to the task I otherwise approach with a sense
+of consecration.
+
+Pardon me one word, Mr. President, spoken for the sole purpose of
+getting into the volumes that go out annually freighted with the rich
+eloquence of your speakers--the fact that the Cavalier as well as the
+Puritan was on the continent in its early days, and that he was "up and
+able to be about." I have read your books carefully and I find no
+mention of that fact, which seems to me an important one for preserving
+a sort of historical equilibrium if for nothing else. Let me remind you
+the Virginia Cavalier first challenged France on this continent--that
+Cavalier John Smith gave New England its very name, and was so pleased
+with the job that he has been handing his own name around ever
+since--and that while Miles Standish was cutting off men's ears for
+courting a girl without her parents' consent, and forbade men to kiss
+their wives on Sunday, the Cavalier was courting everything in sight,
+and that the Almighty had vouchsafed great increase to the Cavalier
+colonies, the huts in the wilderness being full as the nests in the
+woods.
+
+But having incorporated the Cavalier as a fact in your charming little
+books I shall let him work out his own salvation, as he has always done
+with engaging gallantry, and we will hold no controversy as to his
+merits. Why should we? Neither Puritan nor Cavalier long survived as
+such. The virtues and traditions of both happily still live for the
+inspiration of their sons and the saving of the old fashion. But both
+Puritan and Cavalier were lost in the storm of the first Revolution; and
+the American citizen, supplanting both and stronger than either, took
+possession of the Republic bought by their common blood and fashioned to
+wisdom, and charged himself with teaching men government and
+establishing the voice of the people as the voice of God.
+
+My friend, Dr. Talmage has told you that the typical American has yet to
+come. Let me tell you that he has already come. Great types like
+valuable plants are slow to flower and fruit. But from the union of
+these colonies Puritans and Cavaliers, from the straightening of their
+purposes and the crossing of their blood, slow perfecting through a
+century, came he who stands as the first typical American, the first who
+comprehended within himself all the strength and gentleness, all the
+majesty and grace of this Republic--Abraham Lincoln. He was the son of
+Puritan and Cavalier, for in his ardent nature were fused the virtues of
+both, and in the depths of his great soul the faults of both were lost.
+He was greater than Puritan, greater than Cavalier, in that he was
+American renewed, and that in his homely form were first gathered the
+vast and thrilling forces of his ideal government--charging it with such
+tremendous meaning and so elevating it above human suffering that
+martyrdom, though infamously aimed, came as a fitting crown to a life
+consecrated from the cradle to human liberty. Let us, each cherishing
+the traditions and honoring his fathers, build with reverent hands to
+the type of this simple but sublime life, in which all types are
+honored; and in our common glory as Americans there will be plenty and
+to spare for your forefathers and for mine.
+
+In speaking to the toast with which you have honored me. I accent the
+term, "The New South," as in no sense disparaging to the Old. Dear to
+me, sir, is the home of my childhood and the traditions of my people. I
+would not, if I could, dim the glory they won in peace and war, or by
+word or deed take aught from the splendor and grace of their
+civilization--never equaled and, perhaps, never to be equaled in its
+chivalric strength and grace. There is a New South, not through protest
+against the Old, but because of new conditions, new adjustments and, if
+you please, new ideas and aspirations. It is to this that I address
+myself, and to the consideration of which I hasten lest it become the
+Old South before I get to it. Age does not endow all things with
+strength and virtue, nor are all new things to be despised. The
+shoemaker who put over his door "John Smith's shop. Founded in 1760,"
+was more than matched by his young rival across the street who hung out
+this sign: "Bill Jones. Established 1886. No old stock kept in this
+shop."
+
+Dr. Talmage has drawn for you, with a master's hand, the picture of your
+returning armies. He has told you how, in the pomp and circumstance of
+war, they came back to you, marching with proud and victorious tread,
+reading their glory in a nation's eyes! Will you bear with me while I
+tell you of another army that sought its home at the close of the late
+war--an army that marched home in defeat and not in victory--in pathos
+and not in splendor, but in glory that equalled yours, and to hearts as
+loving as ever welcomed heroes home. Let me picture to you the footsore
+Confederate soldier, as, buttoning up in his faded gray jacket the
+parole which was to bear testimony to his children of his fidelity and
+faith, he turned his face southward from Appomattox in April, 1865.
+Think of him as ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, enfeebled by want
+and wounds; having fought to exhaustion, he surrenders his gun, wrings
+the hands of his comrades in silence, and lifting his tear-stained and
+pallid face for the last time to the graves that dot the old Virginia
+hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow and begins the slow and painful
+journey. What does he find--let me ask you, who went to your homes eager
+to find in the welcome you had justly earned, full payment for four
+years' sacrifice--what does he find when, having followed the
+battle-stained cross against overwhelming odds, dreading death not half
+so much as surrender, he reaches the home he left so prosperous and
+beautiful? He finds his house in ruins, his farm devastated, his slaves
+free, his stock killed, his barns empty, his trade destroyed, his money
+worthless; his social system, feudal in its magnificence, swept away;
+his people without law or legal status, his comrades slain, and the
+burdens of others heavy on his shoulders. Crushed by defeat, his very
+traditions are gone; without money, credit, employment, material or
+training; and besides all this, confronted with the gravest problem that
+ever met human intelligence--the establishing of a status for the vast
+body of his liberated slaves.
+
+What does he do--this hero in gray with a heart of gold? Does he sit
+down in sullenness and despair? Not for a day. Surely God, who had
+stripped him of his prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. As ruin
+was never before so overwhelming, never was restoration swifter. The
+soldier stepped from the trenches into the furrow; horses that had
+charged Federal guns marched before the plow, and fields that ran red
+with human blood in April were green with the harvest in June; women
+reared in luxury cut up their dresses and made breeches for their
+husbands, and, with a patience and heroism that fit women always as a
+garment, gave their hands to work. There was little bitterness in all
+this. Cheerfulness and frankness prevailed. "Bill Arp" struck the
+keynote when he said: "Well, I killed as many of them as they did of me,
+and now I am going to work." Or the soldier returning home after defeat
+and roasting some corn on the roadside, who made the remark to his
+comrades: "You may leave the South if you want to, but I am going to
+Sandersville, kiss my wife and raise a crop, and if the Yankees fool
+with me any more I will whip 'em again." I want to say to General
+Sherman--who is considered an able man in our part, though some people
+think he is a kind of careless man about fire--that from the ashes he
+left us in 1864 we have raised a brave and beautiful city; that somehow
+or other we have caught the sunshine in the bricks and mortar of our
+homes, and have builded therein not one ignoble prejudice or memory.
+
+But in all this what have we accomplished? What is the sum of our work?
+We have found out that in the general summary the free negro counts more
+than he did as a slave. We have planted the schoolhouse on the hilltop
+and made it free to white and black. We have sowed towns and cities in
+the place of theories and put business above politics. We have
+challenged your spinners in Massachusetts and your iron-makers in
+Pennsylvania. We have learned that the $400,000,000 annually received
+from our cotton crop will make us rich, when the supplies that make it
+are homeraised. We have reduced the commercial rate of interest from
+twenty-four to six per cent., and are floating four per cent. bonds. We
+have learned that one Northern immigrant is worth fifty foreigners, and
+have smoothed the path to southward, wiped out the place where Mason and
+Dixon's line used to be, and hung our latch-string out, to you and
+yours. We have reached the point that marks perfect harmony in every
+household, when the husband confesses that the pies which his wife cooks
+are as good as those his mother used to bake; and we admit that the sun
+shines as brightly and the moon as softly as it did "before the war." We
+have established thrift in city and country. We have fallen in love with
+work. We have restored comfort to homes from which culture and elegance
+never departed. We have let economy take root and spread among us as
+rank as the crabgrass which sprung from Sherman's cavalry camps, until
+we are ready to lay odds on the Georgia Yankee, as he manufactures
+relics of the battlefield in a one-story shanty and squeezes pure olive
+oil out of his cotton seed, against any down-easter that ever swapped
+wooden nutmegs for flannel sausages in the valleys of Vermont. Above
+all, we know that we have achieved in these "piping times of peace" a
+fuller independence for the South than that which our fathers sought to
+win in the forum by their eloquence or compel on the field by their
+swords.
+
+It is a rare privilege, sir, to have had part, however humble, in this
+work. Never was nobler duty confided to human hands than the uplifting
+and upbuilding of the prostrate and bleeding South, misguided, perhaps,
+but beautiful in her suffering, and honest, brave and generous always.
+In the record of her social, industrial, and political institutions we
+await with confidence the verdict of the world.
+
+But what of the negro? Have we solved the problem he presents or
+progressed in honor and equity towards the solution? Let the record
+speak to the point. No section shows a more prosperous laboring
+population than the negroes of the South; none in fuller sympathy with
+the employing and landowning class. He shares our school fund, has the
+fullest protection of our laws and the friendship of our people.
+Self-interest, as well as honor, demand that he should have this. Our
+future, our very existence depend upon our working out this problem in
+full and exact justice. We understand that when Lincoln signed the
+Emancipation Proclamation, your victory was assured; for he then
+committed you to the cause of human liberty, against which the arms of
+man cannot prevail; while those of our statesmen who trusted to make
+slavery the cornerstone of the Confederacy doomed us to defeat as far as
+they could, committing us to a cause that reason could not defend or the
+sword maintain in the sight of advancing civilization. Had Mr. Toombs
+said, which he did not say, that he would call the roll of his slaves at
+the foot of Bunker Hill, he would have been foolish, for he might have
+known that whenever slavery became entangled in war it must perish, and
+that the chattel in human flesh ended forever in New England when your
+fathers--not to be blamed for parting with what didn't pay--sold their
+slaves to our fathers--not to be praised for knowing a paying thing when
+they saw it.
+
+The relations of the Southern people with the negro are close and
+cordial. We remember with what fidelity for four years he guarded our
+defenseless women and children, whose husbands and fathers were fighting
+against his freedom. To his eternal credit be it said that whenever he
+struck a blow for his own liberty he fought in open battle, and when at
+last he raised his black and humble hands that the shackles might be
+struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong against his helpless
+charges, and worthy to be taken in loving grasp by every man who honors
+loyalty and devotion. Ruffians have maltreated him, rascals have misled
+him, philanthropists established a bank for him, but the South, with the
+North, protests against injustice to this simple and sincere people. To
+liberty and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the negro. The
+rest must be left to conscience and common sense. It should be left to
+those among whom his lot is cast, with whom he is indissolubly connected
+and whose prosperity depends upon their possessing his intelligent
+sympathy and confidence. Faith has been kept with him in spite of
+calumnious assertions to the contrary by those who assume to speak for
+us or by frank opponents. Faith will be kept with him in the future, if
+the South holds her reason and integrity.
+
+But have we kept faith with you? In the fullest sense, yes. When Lee
+surrendered--I don't say when Johnston surrendered, because I understand
+he still alludes to the time when he met General Sherman last as the
+time when he "determined to abandon any further prosecution of the
+struggle"--when Lee surrendered, I say, and Johnston quit, the South
+became, and has since been, loyal to this Union. We fought hard enough
+to know that we were whipped, and in perfect frankness accepted as final
+the arbitrament of the sword to which we had appealed. The South found
+her jewel in the toad's head of defeat. The shackles that had held her
+in narrow limitations fell forever when the shackles of the negro slave
+were broken. Under the old _regime_ the negroes were slaves to the
+South, the South was a slave to the system. The old plantation, with its
+simple police regulation and its feudal habit, was the only type
+possible under slavery. Thus we gathered in the hands of a splendid and
+chivalric oligarchy the substance that should have been diffused among
+the people, as the rich blood, under certain artificial conditions, is
+gathered at the heart, filling with affluent rapture, but leaving the
+body chill and colorless.
+
+The Old South rested everything on slavery and agriculture, unconscious
+that these could neither give nor maintain healthy growth. The New South
+presents a perfect democracy, the oligarchs leading in the popular
+movement--a social system compact and closely knitted, less splendid on
+the surface but stronger at the core--a hundred farms for every
+plantation, fifty homes for every palace, and diversified industry that
+meets the complex needs of this complex age.
+
+The New South is enamored of her new work. Her soul is stirred with the
+breath of a new life. The light of a grander day is falling fair on her
+face. She is thrilling with the consciousness of growing power and
+prosperity. As she stands upright, full-statured and equal among the
+people of the earth, breathing the keen air and looking out upon the
+expanding horizon, she understands that her emancipation came because in
+the inscrutable wisdom of God her honest purpose was crossed and her
+brave armies were beaten.
+
+This is said in no spirit of time-serving or apology. The South has
+nothing for which to apologize. She believes that the late struggle
+between the states was war and not rebellion, revolution and not
+conspiracy, and that her convictions were as honest as yours. I should
+be unjust to the dauntless spirit of the South and to my own convictions
+if I did not make this plain in this presence. The South has nothing to
+take back. In my native town of Athens is a monument that crowns its
+central hills--a plain, white shaft. Deep cut into its shining side is a
+name dear to me above the names of men, that of a brave and simple man
+who died in brave and simple faith. Not for all the glories of New
+England--from Plymouth Rock all the way--would I exchange the heritage
+he left me in his soldier's death. To the foot of that shaft I shall
+send my children's children to reverence him who ennobled their name
+with his heroic blood. But, sir, speaking from the shadow of that
+memory, which I honor as I do nothing else on earth, I say that the
+cause in which he suffered and for which he gave his life was adjudged
+by higher and fuller wisdom than his or mine, and I am glad that the
+omniscient God held the balance of battle in His Almighty hand, and that
+human slavery was swept forever from American soil--the American Union
+saved from the wreck of war.
+
+This message, Mr. President, comes to you from consecrated ground. Every
+foot of the soil about the city in which I live is sacred as a
+battleground of the Republic. Every hill that invests it is hallowed to
+you by the blood of your brothers, who died for your victory, and doubly
+hallowed to us by the blood of those who died hopeless, but undaunted,
+in defeat--sacred soil to all of us, rich with memories that make us
+purer and stronger and better, silent but stanch witnesses in its red
+desolation of the matchless valor of American hearts and the deathless
+glory of American arms--speaking in eloquent witness in its white peace
+and prosperity to the indissoluble union of American states and the
+imperishable brotherhood of the American people.
+
+Now, what answer has New England to this message? Will she permit the
+prejudices of war to remain in the hearts of the conquerors, when it has
+died in the hearts of the conquered? ("No! No!") Will she transmit this
+prejudice to the next generation, that in their hearts, which never felt
+the generous ardor of conflict, it may perpetuate itself? ("No! No!")
+Will she withhold, save in strained courtesy, the hand which straight
+from his soldier's heart Grant offered to Lee at Appomattox? Will she
+make the vision of a restored and happy people, which gathered above the
+couch of your dying captain, filling his heart with grace, touching his
+lips with praise and glorifying his path to the grave; will she make
+this vision on which the last sigh of his expiring soul breathed a
+benediction, a cheat and a delusion? If she does, the South, never
+abject in asking for comradeship, must accept with dignity its refusal;
+but if she does not; if she accepts in frankness and sincerity this
+message of goodwill and friendship, then will the prophecy of Webster,
+delivered in this very Society forty years ago amid tremendous applause,
+be verified in its fullest and final sense, when he said: "Standing hand
+to hand and clasping hands, we should remain united as we have been for
+sixty years, citizens of the same country, members of the same
+government, united, all united now and united forever. There have been
+difficulties, contentions, and controversies, but I tell you that in my
+judgment
+
+ "'Those opposed eyes,
+ Which like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
+ All of one nature, of one substance bred,
+ Did lately meet in th' intestine shock,
+ Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,
+ March all one way.'"
+
+
+
+
+THE DUTY AND VALUE OF PATRIOTISM
+
+ John Ireland, Archbishop of Saint Paul, was born at Burnchurch,
+ County Kilkenny, Ireland, September 11, 1838. As a boy he came to
+ Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1849, and there obtained his secular
+ education at the Cathedral School. He studied theology in France,
+ in the seminaries of Meximieux and Hyeres. During the Civil War he
+ was chaplain of the Fifth Minnesota Regiment. In 1875 he was
+ consecrated bishop of Saint Paul. In 1869 he founded the first
+ total-abstinence society in Minnesota and has lectured much on
+ temperance in the United States and Great Britain. The following
+ extracts, used by special permission, are from his lecture
+ delivered before the New York Commandery of the Loyal Legion, New
+ York, April 4, 1894.
+
+
+Patriotism is love of country, and loyalty to its life and weal--love
+tender and strong, tender as the love of son for mother, strong as the
+pillars of death; loyalty generous and disinterested, shrinking from no
+sacrifice, seeking no reward save country's honor and country's triumph.
+
+Patriotism! There is magic in the word. It is bliss to repeat it.
+Through ages the human race burnt the incense of admiration and
+reverence at the shrines of patriotism. The most beautiful pages of
+history are those which recount its deeds. Fireside tales, the
+outpourings of the memories of peoples, borrow from it their warmest
+glow. Poets are sweetest when they reecho its whisperings; orators are
+most potent when they thrill its chords to music.
+
+Pagan nations were wrong when they made gods of their noblest patriots.
+But the error was the excess of a great truth, that heaven unites with
+earth in approving and blessing patriotism; that patriotism is one of
+earth's highest virtues, worthy to have come down from the atmosphere of
+the skies.
+
+The exalted patriotism of the exiled Hebrew exhaled itself in a canticle
+of religion which Jehovah inspired, and which has been transmitted, as
+the inheritance of God's people to the Christian Church:
+
+ "Upon the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept, when we
+ remembered Sion.--If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand
+ be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember
+ thee, if I do not make Jerusalem the beginning of my joy."
+
+The human race pays homage to patriotism because of its supreme value.
+The value of patriotism to a people is above gold and precious stones,
+above commerce and industry, above citadels and warships. Patriotism is
+the vital spark of national honor; it is the fount of the nation's
+prosperity, the shield of the nation's safety. Take patriotism away, the
+nation's soul has fled, bloom and beauty have vanished from the nation's
+countenance.
+
+The human race pays homage to patriotism because of its supreme
+loveliness. Patriotism goes out to what is among earth's possessions the
+most precious, the first and best and dearest--country--and its effusion
+is the fragrant flowering of the purest and noblest sentiments of the
+heart.
+
+Patriotism is innate in all men; the absence of it betokens a perversion
+of human nature; but it grows its full growth only where thoughts are
+elevated and heart-beatings are generous.
+
+Next to God is country, and next to religion is patriotism. No praise
+goes beyond its deserts. It is sublime in its heroic oblation upon the
+field of battle. "Oh glorious is he," exclaims in Homer the Trojan
+warrior, "who for his country falls!" It is sublime in the oft-repeated
+toil of dutiful citizenship. "Of all human doings," writes Cicero, "none
+is more honorable and more estimable than to merit well of the
+commonwealth."
+
+Countries are of divine appointment. The Most High "divided the nations,
+separated the sons of Adam, and appointed the bounds of peoples." The
+physical and moral necessities of God's creatures are revelations of his
+will and laws. Man is born a social being. A condition of his existence
+and of his growth of mature age is the family. Nor does the family
+suffice to itself. A larger social organism is needed, into which
+families gather, so as to obtain from one another security to life and
+property and aid in the development of the faculties and powers with
+which nature has endowed the children of men.
+
+The whole human race is too extensive and too diversified in interests
+to serve those ends: hence its subdivisions into countries or peoples.
+Countries have their providential limits--the waters of a sea, a
+mountain range, the lines of similarity of requirements or of methods of
+living. The limits widen in space according to the measure of the
+destinies which the great Ruler allots to peoples, and the importance of
+their parts in the mighty work of the cycles of years, the
+ever-advancing tide of humanity's evolution.
+
+The Lord is the God of nations because he is the God of men. No nation
+is born into life or vanishes back into nothingness without his bidding.
+I believe in the providence of God over countries as I believe in his
+wisdom and his love, and my patriotism to my country rises within my
+soul invested with the halo of my religion to my God.
+
+More than a century ago a trans-Atlantic poet and philosopher, reading
+well the signs, wrote:
+
+ "Westward the course of empire takes its way.
+ The first four acts already past,
+ A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
+ Time's noblest offspring is the last."
+
+Berkeley's prophetic eye had descried America. What shall I say, in a
+brief discourse of my country's value and beauty, of her claims to my
+love and loyalty? I will pass by in silence her fields and forests, her
+rivers and seas, the boundless riches hidden beneath her soil and amid
+the rocks of her mountains, her pure and health-giving air, her
+transcendent wealth of nature's fairest and most precious gifts. I will
+not speak of the noble qualities and robust deeds of her sons, skilled
+in commerce and industry, valorous in war, prosperous in peace. In all
+these things America is opulent and great: but beyond them and above
+them in her singular grandeur, to which her material splendor is only
+the fitting circumstance.
+
+America born into the family of nations in these latter times is the
+highest billow in humanity's evolution, the crowning effort of ages in
+the aggrandizement of man. Unless we take her in this altitude, we do
+not comprehend her; we belittle her towering stature and conceal the
+singular design of Providence in her creation.
+
+America is the country of human dignity and human liberty.
+
+When the fathers of the republic declared "that all men are created
+equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
+rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
+happiness," a cardinal principle was enunciated which in its truth was
+as old as the race, but in practical realization almost unknown.
+
+Slowly, amid sufferings and revolutions, humanity had been reaching out
+toward a reign of the rights of man. Ante-Christian paganism had utterly
+denied such rights. It allowed nothing to man as man; he was what
+wealth, place, or power made him. Even the wise Aristotle taught that
+some men were intended by nature to be slaves and chattels. The sweet
+religion of Christ proclaimed aloud the doctrine of the common
+fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of men.
+
+Eighteen hundred years, however, went by, and the civilized world had
+not yet put its civil and political institutions in accord with its
+spiritual faith. The Christian Church was all this time leavening human
+society and patiently awaiting the promised fermentation. This came at
+last, and it came in America. It came in a first manifestation through
+the Declaration of Independence; it came in a second and final
+manifestation through President Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation.
+
+In America all men are civilly and politically equal; all have the same
+rights; all wield the same arm of defense and of conquest, the suffrage;
+and the sole condition of rights and of power is simple manhood.
+
+Liberty is the exemption from all restraint save that of the laws of
+justice and order; the exemption from submission to other men, except as
+they represent and enforce those laws. The divine gift of liberty to man
+is God's recognition of his greatness and his dignity. The sweetness of
+man's life and the power of growth lie in liberty. The loss of liberty
+is the loss of light and sunshine, the loss of life's best portion.
+Humanity, under the spell of heavenly memories, never ceased to dream of
+liberty and to aspire to its possession. Now and then, here and there,
+its refreshing breezes caressed humanity's brow. But not until the
+republic of the West was born, not until the Star-Spangled Banner rose
+toward the skies, was liberty caught up in humanity's embrace and
+embodied in a great and abiding nation.
+
+In America the government takes from the liberty of the citizen only so
+much as is necessary for the weal of the nation, which the citizen by
+his own act freely concedes. In America there are no masters, who govern
+in their own rights, for their own interests, or at their own will. We
+have over us no Louis XIV, saying: "L'etat, c'est moi;" no Hohenzollern,
+announcing that in his acts as sovereign he is responsible only to his
+conscience and to God.
+
+Ours is the government of the people, by the people, for the people. The
+government is our organized will. There is no state above or apart from
+the people. Rights begin with and go upward from the people. In other
+countries, even those apparently the most free, rights begin with and
+come downward from the state; the rights of citizens, the rights of the
+people, are concessions which have been painfully wrenched from the
+governing powers.
+
+With Americans, whenever the organized government does not prove its
+grant, the liberty of the individual citizen is sacred and inviolable.
+Elsewhere there are governments called republics; universal suffrage
+constitutes the state; but, once constituted, the state is tyrannous and
+arbitrary, invades at will private rights, and curtails at will
+individual liberty. One republic is liberty's native home--America.
+
+
+
+
+OUR COUNTRY
+
+ From the speech of President McKinley, in response to the toast
+ "Our Country," at the Peace Jubilee banquet in Chicago, October 19,
+ 1898.
+
+
+MR. TOASTMASTER AND GENTLEMEN:--It affords me gratification to meet the
+people of the city of Chicago and to participate with them in this
+patriotic celebration. Upon the suspension of hostilities of a foreign
+war, the first in our history for over half a century, we have met in a
+spirit of peace, profoundly grateful for the glorious advancement
+already made, and earnestly wishing in the final termination to realize
+an equally glorious fulfillment. With no feeling of exultation, but with
+profound thankfulness, we contemplate the events of the past five
+months. They have been too serious to admit of boasting or
+vain-glorification. They have been so full of responsibilities,
+immediate and prospective, as to admonish the soberest judgment and
+counsel the most conservative action.
+
+This is not the time to fire the imagination, but rather to discover, in
+calm reason, the way to truth, and justice, and right, and when
+discovered to follow it with fidelity and courage, without fear,
+hesitation, or weakness.
+
+The war has put upon the nation grave responsibilities. Their extent was
+not anticipated and could not have been well foreseen. We cannot escape
+the obligations of victory. We cannot avoid the serious questions which
+have been brought home to us by the achievements of our arms on land and
+sea. We are bound in conscience to keep and perform the covenants which
+the war has sacredly sealed with mankind. Accepting war for humanity's
+sake, we must accept all obligations which the war in duty and honor
+imposed upon us. The splendid victories we have achieved would be our
+eternal shame and not our everlasting glory if they led to the weakening
+of our original lofty purpose or to the desertion of the immortal
+principles on which the national government was founded, and in
+accordance with whose ennobling spirit it has ever since been faithfully
+administered.
+
+The war with Spain was undertaken not that the United States should
+increase its territory, but that oppression at our very doors should be
+stopped. This noble sentiment must continue to animate us, and we must
+give to the world the full demonstration of the sincerity of our
+purpose. Duty determines destiny. Destiny which results from duty
+performed may bring anxiety and perils, but never failure and dishonor.
+Pursuing duty may not always lead by smooth paths. Another course may
+look easier and more attractive, but pursuing duty for duty's sake is
+always sure and safe and honorable. It is not within the power of man to
+foretell the future and to solve unerringly its mighty problems.
+Almighty God has His plans and methods for human progress, and not
+infrequently they are shrouded for the time being in impenetrable
+mystery. Looking backward we can see how the hand of destiny builded for
+us and assigned us tasks whose full meaning was not apprehended even by
+the wisest statesmen of their times.
+
+Our colonial ancestors did not enter upon their war originally for
+independence. Abraham Lincoln did not start out to free the slaves, but
+to save the Union. The war with Spain was not of our seeking, and some
+of its consequences may not be to our liking. Our vision is often
+defective. Short-sightedness is a common malady, but the closer we get
+to things or they get to us the clearer our view and the less obscure
+our duty. Patriotism must be faithful as well as fervent; statesmanship
+must be wise as well as fearless--not the statesmanship which will
+command the applause of the hour, but the approving judgment of
+posterity.
+
+The progress of a nation can alone prevent degeneration. There must be
+new life and purpose, or there will be weakness and decay. There must be
+broadening of thought as well as broadening of trade. Territorial
+expansion is not alone and always necessary to national advancement.
+There must be a constant movement toward a higher and nobler
+civilization, a civilization that shall make its conquests without
+resort to war and achieve its greatest victories pursuing the arts of
+peace.
+
+In our present situation duty--and duty alone--should prescribe the
+boundary of our responsibilities and the scope of our undertakings. The
+final determination of our purposes awaits the action of the eminent men
+who are charged by the executive with the making of the treaty of peace,
+and that of the senate of the United States, which, by our constitution,
+must ratify and confirm it. We all hope and pray that the confirmation
+of peace will be as just and humane as the conduct and consummation of
+the war. When the work of the treaty-makers is done the work of the
+law-makers will begin. The one will settle the extent of our
+responsibilities; the other must provide the legislation to meet them.
+The army and navy have nobly and heroically performed their part. May
+God give the executive and congress wisdom to perform theirs.
+
+
+
+
+BEHOLD THE AMERICAN
+
+ From the speech of Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage at the eighty-first
+ annual dinner of the New England Society in New York, December 22,
+ 1886.
+
+
+MR. PRESIDENT, AND ALL YOU GOOD NEW ENGLANDERS:--If we leave to the
+evolutionists to guess where we came from and to the theologians to
+prophesy where are we going to, we still have left for consideration the
+fact that we are here; and we are here at an interesting time. Of all
+the centuries this is the best century, and of all the decades of the
+century this is the best decade, and of all the years of the decade this
+is the best year, and of all the months of the year this is the best
+month, and of all the nights of the month this is the best night. Many
+of these advantages we trace straight back to Forefathers' Day, about
+which I am to speak.
+
+Well, what about this Forefathers' Day? In Brooklyn they say the Landing
+of the Pilgrims was December the 21st; in New York you say it was
+December the 22d. You are both right. Not through the specious and
+artful reasoning you have sometimes indulged in, but by a little
+historical incident that seems to have escaped your attention. You see,
+the Forefathers landed in the morning of December the 21st, but about
+noon that day a pack of hungry wolves swept down the bleak American
+beach looking for a New England dinner, and a band of savages out for a
+tomahawk picnic hove in sight, and the Pilgrim Fathers thought it best
+for safety and warmth to go on board the Mayflower and pass the night.
+And during the night there came up a strong wind blowing off shore that
+swept the Mayflower from its moorings clear out to sea, and there was a
+prospect that our Forefathers, having escaped oppression in foreign
+lands, would yet go down under an oceanic tempest. But the next day they
+fortunately got control of their ship and steered her in, and the second
+time the Forefathers stepped ashore.
+
+Brooklyn celebrated the first landing; New York the second landing. So I
+say Hail! Hail! to both celebrations, for one day, anyhow, could not do
+justice to such a subject; and I only wish I could have kissed the
+Blarney stone of America, which is Plymouth Rock, so that I might have
+done justice to this subject. Ah, gentlemen, that Mayflower was the ark
+that floated the deluge of oppression, and Plymouth Rock was the Ararat
+on which it landed.
+
+But all these things aside, no one sitting at these tables has higher
+admiration for the Pilgrim Fathers than I have--the men who believed in
+two great doctrines, which are the foundation of every religion that is
+worth anything: namely, the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of
+Man--these men of backbone and endowed with that great and magnificent
+attribute of stick-to-it-iveness. Macaulay said that no one ever sneered
+at the Puritans who had met them in halls of debate or crossed swords
+with them on the field of battle. They are sometimes defamed for their
+rigorous Sabbaths, but our danger is in the opposite direction of no
+Sabbaths at all. It is said that they destroyed witches. I wish that
+they had cleared them all out, for all the world is full of witches yet,
+and if at all these tables there is a man who has not sometimes been
+bewitched, let him hold up his glass of ice-water. It is said that these
+Forefathers carried religion into everything, and before a man kissed
+his wife he asked a blessing, and afterward said: "Having received
+another favor from the Lord, let us return thanks." But our great need
+now is more religion in every-day life.
+
+Still, take it all in all, I think the descendants of the Pilgrim
+Fathers are as good as their ancestors, and in many ways better.
+Children are apt to be an echo of their ancestors. We are apt to put a
+halo around the Forefathers, but I suspect that at our age they were
+very much like ourselves. People are not wise when they long for the
+good old days.
+
+But though your Forefathers may not have been much, if any, better than
+yourselves, let us extol them for the fact that they started this
+country in the right direction. They laid the foundation for American
+manhood. The foundation must be more solid and firm and unyielding than
+any other part of the structure. On that Puritanic foundation we can
+safely build all nationalities. Let us remember that the coming American
+is to be an admixture of all foreign bloods. In about twenty-five or
+fifty years the model American will step forth. He will have the strong
+brain of the German, the polished manners of the French, the artistic
+taste of the Italian, the stanch heart of the English, the steadfast
+piety of the Scotch, the lightning wit of the Irish, and when he steps
+forth, bone, muscle, nerve, brain entwined with the fibers of all
+nationalities, the nations will break out in the cry: "Behold the
+American!"
+
+I never realized what this country was and is as on the day when I first
+saw some of these gentlemen of the Army and Navy. It was when at the
+close of the War our armies came back and marched in review before the
+president's stand at Washington. I do not care whether a man was a
+Republican or a Democrat, a Northern man or a Southern man, if he had
+any emotion of nature, he could not look upon it without weeping. God
+knew that the day was stupendous, and He cleared the heaven of cloud and
+mist and chill, and sprung the blue sky as the triumphal arch for the
+returning warriors to pass under. From Arlington Heights the spring
+foliage shook out its welcome, as the hosts came over the hills, and the
+sparkling waters of the Potomac tossed their gold to the feet of the
+battalions as they came to the Long Bridge and in almost interminable
+line passed over. The capitol never seemed so majestic as that morning:
+snowy white, looking down upon the tides of men that came surging down,
+billow after billow. Passing in silence, yet I heard in every step the
+thunder of conflicts through which they had waded, and seemed to see
+dripping from their smoke-blackened flags the blood of our country's
+martyrs. For the best part of two days we stood and watched the filing
+on of what seemed endless battalions, brigade after brigade, division
+after division, host after host, rank beyond rank; ever moving, ever
+passing; marching, marching; tramp, tramp, tramp--thousands after
+thousands, battery front, arms shouldered, columns solid, shoulder to
+shoulder, wheel to wheel, charger to charger, nostril to nostril.
+
+Commanders on horses with their manes entwined with roses, and necks
+enchained with garlands, fractious at the shouts that ran along the
+line, increasing from the clapping of children clothed in white,
+standing on the steps of the capitol, to the tumultuous vociferation of
+hundreds of thousands of enraptured multitudes, crying "Huzza! Huzza!"
+Gleaming muskets, thundering parks of artillery, rumbling pontoon
+wagons, ambulances from whose wheels seemed to sound out the groans of
+the crushed and the dying that they had carried. These men came from
+balmy Minnesota, those from Illinois prairies. These were often hummed
+to sleep by the pines of Oregon, those were New England lumbermen. Those
+came out of the coal-shafts of Pennsylvania. Side by side in one great
+cause, consecrated through fire and storm and darkness, brothers in
+peril, on their way home from Chancellorsville and Kenesaw Mountain and
+Fredericksburg, in lines that seemed infinite they passed on.
+
+We gazed and wept and wondered, lifting up our heads to see if the end
+had come, but no! Looking from one end of that long avenue to the other,
+we saw them yet in solid column, battery front, host beyond host, wheel
+to wheel, charger to charger, nostril to nostril, coming as it were from
+under the capitol. Forward! Forward! Their bayonets, caught in the sun,
+glimmered and flashed and blazed, till they seemed like one long river
+of silver, ever and anon changed into a river of fire. No end to the
+procession, no rest for the eyes. We turned our heads from the scene,
+unable longer to look. We felt disposed to stop our ears, but still we
+heard it, marching, marching; tramp, tramp, tramp. But hush--uncover
+every head! Here they pass, the remnant of ten men of a full regiment.
+Silence! Widowhood and orphanage look on and wring their hands. But
+wheel into line, all ye people! North, South, East, West--all decades,
+all centuries, all millenniums! Forward, the whole line! Huzza! Huzza!
+
+
+
+
+THE HOLLANDER AS AN AMERICAN
+
+ Speech of Theodore Roosevelt at the eleventh annual dinner of the
+ Holland Society of New York, January 15, 1896.
+
+
+MR. PRESIDENT, GENTLEMEN, AND BRETHREN OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY:--I am
+more than touched, if you will permit me to begin rather seriously, by
+the way you have greeted me to-night. When I was in Washington, there
+was a story in reference to a certain president, who was not popular
+with some of his own people in a particular western state. One of its
+senators went to the White House and said he wanted a friend of his
+appointed postmaster of Topeka. The president's private secretary said,
+"I am very sorry, indeed, sir, but the president wants to appoint a
+personal friend." Thereupon the senator said: "Well, for God's sake, if
+he has one friend in Kansas, let him appoint him!"
+
+There have been periods during which the dissembled eulogies of the able
+press and my relations with about every politician of every party and
+every faction have made me feel I would like to know whether I had one
+friend in New York, and here I feel I have many. And more than that,
+gentlemen, I should think ill of myself and think that I was a discredit
+to the stock from which I sprang if I feared to go on along the path
+that I deemed right, whether I had few friends or many.
+
+I am glad to answer to the toast, "The Hollander as an American." The
+Hollander was a good American, because the Hollander was fitted to be a
+good citizen. There are two branches of government which must be kept on
+a high plane, if any nation is to be great. A nation must have laws that
+are honestly and fearlessly administered, and it must be ready, in time
+of need, to fight; and we men of Dutch descent have here to-night these
+gentlemen of the same blood as ourselves who represent New York so
+worthily on the bench, and a major-general of the army of the United
+States.
+
+It seems to me, at times, that the Dutch in America have one or two
+lessons to teach. We want to teach the very refined and very cultivated
+men who believe it impossible that the United States can ever be right
+in a quarrel with another nation--a little of the elementary virtue of
+patriotism. And we also wish to teach our fellow citizens that laws are
+put on the statute books to be enforced and that if it is not intended
+they shall be enforced it is a mistake to put a Dutchman in office to
+enforce them.
+
+The lines put on the program underneath my toast begin: "America! half
+brother of the world!" America, half brother of the world--and all
+Americans full brothers one to the other. That is the way that line
+should be concluded. The prime virtue of the Hollander here in America
+and the way in which he has most done credit to his stock as a
+Hollander, is that he has ceased to be a Hollander and has become an
+American, absolutely. We are not Dutch-Americans. We are not "Americans"
+with a hyphen before it. We are Americans pure and simple, and we have a
+right to demand that the other people whose stocks go to compose our
+great nation, like ourselves, shall cease to be aught else and shall
+become Americans.
+
+And further than that, we have another thing to demand, and that is that
+if they do honestly and in good faith become Americans, those shall be
+regarded as infamous who dare to discriminate against them because of
+creed or because of birthplace. When New Amsterdam had but a few hundred
+souls, among those few hundred souls no less than eighteen different
+race stocks were represented, and almost as many creeds as there were
+race stocks, and the great contribution that the Hollander gave to the
+American people was the inestimable lesson of complete civil and
+religious liberty. It would be honor enough for this stock to have been
+the first to put on American soil the public school, the great engine
+for grinding out American citizens, the one institution for which
+Americans should stand more stiffly than for aught other.
+
+Whenever America has demanded of her sons that they should come to her
+aid, whether in time of peace or in time of war, the Americans of Dutch
+stock have been among the first to spring to the aid of the country. We
+earnestly hope that there will not in the future be any war with any
+power, but assuredly if there should be such a war one thing may be
+taken for certain, and that is that every American of Dutch descent will
+be found on the side of the United States. We give the amplest credit,
+that some people now, to their shame, grudge to the profession of arms,
+which we have here to-night represented by a man, who, when he has the
+title of a major general of the army of the United States, has a title
+as honorable as any that there is on the wide earth. We also need to
+teach the lesson, that the Hollander taught, of not refusing to do the
+small things because the day of large things had not yet come or was in
+the past; of not waiting until the chance may come to distinguish
+ourselves in arms, and meanwhile neglecting the plain, prosaic duties of
+citizenship which call upon us every hour, every day of our lives.
+
+The Dutch kept their freedom in the great contest with Spain, not merely
+because they warred valiantly, but because they did their duty as
+burghers in their cities, because they strove according to the light
+that was in them to be good citizens and to act as such. And we all here
+to-night should strive so to live that we Americans of Dutch descent
+shall not seem to have shrunk in this respect, compared to our fathers
+who spoke another tongue and lived under other laws beyond the ocean; so
+that it shall be acknowledged in the end to be what it is, a discredit
+to a man if he does not in times of peace do all that in him lies to
+make the government of the city, the government of the country, better
+and cleaner by his efforts.
+
+I spoke of the militant spirit as if it may only be shown in time of
+war. I think that if any of you gentlemen, no matter how peaceful you
+may naturally be, and I am very peaceful naturally, if you would
+undertake the administration of the Police Department you would have
+plenty of fighting on hand before you would get through; and if you are
+true to your blood you will try to do the best you can, fighting or not
+fighting. You will make up your mind that you will make mistakes,
+because you won't make anything if you don't make some mistakes, and you
+will go forward according to your lights, utterly heedless of what
+either politicians or newspapers may say, knowing that if you act as you
+feel bound according to your conscience to act, you will then at least
+have the right when you go out of office, however soon, to feel that you
+go out without any regret, and to feel that you have according to your
+capacity, warred valiantly for what you deemed to be the right.
+
+These, then, are the qualities that I should claim for the Hollander as
+an American: In the first place, that he has cast himself without
+reservation into the current of American life; that he is an American,
+pure and simple, and nothing else. In the next place, that he works hand
+in hand and shoulder to shoulder with his fellow Americans, without any
+regard to differences of creed or to differences of race and religion,
+if only they are good Americans. In the third place, that he is willing,
+when the need shall arise, to fight for his country; and in the fourth
+place, and finally, that he recognizes that this is a country of laws
+and not men, that it is his duty as an honest citizen to uphold the
+laws, to strive for honesty, to strive for a decent administration, and
+to do all that in him lies, by incessant, patient work in our
+government, municipal or national, to bring about the day when it shall
+be taken as a matter of course that every public official is to execute
+a law honestly, and that no capacity in a public officer shall atone if
+he is personally dishonest.
+
+
+
+
+THE ADOPTED CITIZEN
+
+ Speech of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at the 115th annual banquet of the
+ Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, May 8, 1883.
+
+
+MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND GUESTS:--I am
+very much obliged to your president for calling upon me first, because
+the agony will soon be over and I shall enjoy the misery of the rest of
+you.
+
+The first part of this toast--The United States--would be a voluminous
+one to respond to on a single occasion. Bancroft commenced to publish
+his notes on the History of the United States, starting even before
+President Lane established this Chamber, which I think was something
+over one hundred years ago. Bancroft, I say, commenced earlier, and I am
+not prepared to dispute his word if he should say that he had kept an
+accurate journal from the time he commenced to write about the country
+to the present, because there has been no period of time when I have
+been alive that I have not heard of Bancroft, and I should be equally
+credulous if President Lane should tell me that he was here at the
+founding of this Institution. But instead of bringing those volumes of
+Bancroft's here, and reading them to you on this occasion, I will let
+the reporters publish them as the prelude to what I am going to say.
+
+I think Bancroft has finished up to a little after the time that
+President Lane established this Chamber of Commerce, and I will let you
+take the records of what he (Lane) has written and what he has said in
+their monthly meetings and publish them as the second chapter of my
+speech. And, gentlemen, those two chapters you will find the longest;
+they will not amount to much more than what I have to say taking up the
+subject at the present time.
+
+But in speaking of the United States, we who are native-born have a
+country of which we may well be proud. Those of us who have been abroad
+are better able, perhaps, to make the comparison of our enjoyments and
+our comforts than those who have always stayed at home. It has been the
+fortune, I presume, of the majority here to compare the life and the
+circumstances of the average people abroad with ours here. We have here
+a country that affords room for all and room for every enterprise. We
+have institutions which encourage every man who has industry and ability
+to rise from the position in which he may find himself to any position
+in the land. It is hardly worth my while to dwell upon the subject, but
+there is one point which I notice in the toast, that I would like to say
+a word about--"_May those who seek the blessings of its free
+institutions and the protection of its flag remember the obligations
+they impose._" I think there is a text that my friend Mr. Beecher,[7] on
+the left, or my friend Dr. Newman,[8] on the right, might well preach a
+long sermon upon. I shall say only a few words.
+
+We offer an asylum to every man of foreign birth who chooses to come
+here and settle upon our soil; we make of him, after a few years'
+residence only, a citizen endowed with all the rights that any of us
+have, except perhaps the single one of being elected to the presidency
+of the United States. There is no other privilege that a native, no
+matter what he has done for the country, has that the adopted citizen of
+five years' standing has not got. I contend that that places upon him an
+obligation which, I am sorry to say, many of them do not seem to feel.
+
+We have witnessed on many occasions here the foreign, the adopted,
+citizen claiming many rights and privileges because he was an adopted
+citizen. That is all wrong. Let him come here and enjoy all the
+privileges that we enjoy, but let him fulfill all the obligations that
+we are expected to fulfill. After he has adopted it, let this be his
+country--a country that he will fight for, and die for, if necessary. I
+am glad to say that the great majority of them do it, but some of them
+who mingle in politics seem to bank largely on the fact that they are
+adopted citizens; and that class I am opposed to as much as I am opposed
+to many other things that I see are popular now.
+
+I know that other speakers will come forward, and when Mr. Beecher and
+Dr. Newman speak, I hope they will say a few words on the text which I
+read.
+
+[Illustration: "OLD IRONSIDES"--THE FRIGATE _CONSTITUTION_--1812]
+
+
+
+
+OUR NAVY
+
+ Speech of Hampton L. Carson, delivered at the dinner of the Union
+ League, Philadelphia, April 5, 1899, in honor of Captain Charles E.
+ Clark, U. S. N., late Commander of the battleship "Oregon."
+
+
+MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE UNION LEAGUE:--It was my good
+fortune, some eighteen months ago, to be in the city of Seattle, when
+the "Monterey" was lying in the harbor under the command of Captain
+Clark. At the time of my visit clear skies, placid waters and silent
+guns gave little indication of the awful responsibility that was soon to
+be imposed upon the gallant commander. My boys, having met him, were,
+like myself, intensely interested in the outcome of his voyage; and I
+can say to him that the pulsations of the engines which drove the
+_Oregon_ through fourteen thousand miles of tropic seas were accompanied
+by the sympathetic beatings of hearts which had learned to love and
+respect this great captain as he richly deserved.
+
+The American Navy! The most concise tribute that I ever heard paid to
+the sailors of the United States was contained in the answer of a man
+from Indiana, who was an applicant for office under General Grant, just
+after the Civil Service rules had gone into operation. The applicant was
+apprehensive as to his ability to respond to the questions, but one of
+his answers captured the board of examiners as well as the president,
+and he secured the place. The question was, "How many sailors did Great
+Britain send here, during the war of the Revolution, for the purpose of
+subduing us?" and the answer was, "More by a----sight than ever got
+back."
+
+When Louis XIV, in order to check what he perceived to be the growing
+supremacy of England upon the seas, determined to establish a navy, he
+sent for his minister Colbert, and said to him, "I wish a navy--how can
+I create it!" Colbert replied, "Make as many galley slaves as you can."
+Thereupon every Huguenot who refused to doff his bonnet on the street as
+the king passed by, every boy of seventeen who could give no account of
+himself, every vagrant without an occupation, was seized, convicted, and
+sent to the galleys. Could a navy of heroes be made of galley slaves!
+The history of the Anglo-Saxon race says "No."
+
+On the twenty-second day of December, 1775, the navy of the United
+States was born on the waters of our Delaware. On that day Esek Hopkins,
+of Rhode Island, was placed in command of a little fleet of eight
+vessels--two of them ships, two of them brigs, the others very much
+smaller. The English officers sneered in derision at "the fleet of
+whaleboats." The rattlesnake flag--a yellow flag with a pine tree in the
+centre and a rattlesnake coiled beneath its branches, with the words
+"Don't tread on me"--was run to the masthead of the _Providence_, being
+hauled there by the hands of the first lieutenant, John Paul Jones. That
+little fleet of eight vessels, mounting only 114 guns, was sent forth to
+confront a naval power of 112 battleships with 3,714 guns--not a single
+gun of ours throwing a ball heavier than nine pounds, while five hundred
+of the English guns threw a weight of metal of double that amount.
+Wasn't it an audacious thing? Why, it seems to me one of the marvels of
+human history when I reflect upon what was attempted by the Americans of
+1776.
+
+Look at the situation. Thirteen different colonies strung along a narrow
+strip of coast; three thousand miles of rolling ocean on the one side
+and three thousand miles of impenetrable wilderness on the other;
+colonies with infinite diversity of interests--diverse in blood, diverse
+in conditions of society, diverse in ambition, diverse in pursuits--the
+English Puritan on the rock of Plymouth, the Knickerbocker Dutch on the
+shores of the Hudson, the Jersey Quaker on the other side of the
+Delaware, the Swede extending from here to Wilmington, Maryland
+bisected by our great bay of the Chesapeake, Virginia cut in half by the
+same water way, North Carolina and South Carolina lying south of
+impenetrable swamps as inaccessible to communication as a range of
+mountains, and farther south the sparsely-settled colony of Georgia.
+Huguenot, Cavalier, Catholic, Quaker, Dutchman, Puritan, Mennonite,
+Moravian, and Church of England men; and yet, under the hammer stroke of
+British oppression, thirteen colonies were welded into one thunderbolt,
+which was launched at the throne of George III.
+
+That little navy under Hopkins--where were those sailors bred? Read
+Burke's speech on the conciliation of America. They sprang from the
+loins of hardy fishermen amidst tumbling fields of ice on the banks of
+Newfoundland, from those who had speared whales in the tepid waters of
+Brazil, or who had pursued their gigantic game into the Arctic zone or
+beneath the light of the Southern Cross. That fleet of eight ships
+sailed from the Delaware on the twenty-second of December, 1775, and
+proceeded to the island of New Providence, among the Bahamas. Our
+colonies and our armies were without arms, without powder, without
+munitions of war. The very first exploit of the fleet was the capture,
+on the nineteenth of March, 1776, of 150 cannon, 130 barrels of powder
+and eight warships, which were carried in triumph into Long Island
+Sound. But what of American heroism when the soldiers of Howe, of
+Clinton, of Carleton, and of Gage came here to fight the farmers of
+Pennsylvania, of Connecticut and Virginia, and the gay cavaliers who
+loved adventure? The British soldiers had conquered India under Sir
+Robert Clive and Sir Eyre Coote; they had been the heroes of Plassey and
+Pondicherry; men who had subjected to British dominion a country almost
+as extensive as our own fair republic and containing one hundred and
+ninety millions of souls. Here they found themselves faced by men of
+their own blood, men in whose breasts burned the spirit and the love of
+that liberty which was to encircle the heavens. On the glory-crowned
+heights of Bunker Hill the patriots gazed at the rafters of their own
+burning dwellings in the town of Charlestown, and heard the cannon shots
+hurled from British ships against the base of the hill. Three times did
+scarlet regiments ascend that hill only to be driven back; the voice of
+that idiot boy, Job Pray, ringing out above the din of battle, "Let them
+come on to Breed's--the people will teach them the law."
+
+When the evacuation by the British of the metropolis of New England was
+effected by the troops under the command of a Virginia soldier, General
+Washington, then for the first time did sectionalism and partisanship
+and divisions on narrow lines vanish; the patriots who had fought at
+Bunker Hill were now no longer to be known as the troops of
+Massachusetts, of Connecticut, or of Rhode Island, but henceforth it was
+the Continental Army. On the very day when the British were driven out
+of Boston, John Paul Jones, with that historic rattlesnake flag, and,
+floating above it, not the Stars and Stripes, but the Stripes with the
+Union Jack, entered the waters of Great Britain; and then it was seen
+that an American captain with an American ship and American sailors had
+the pluck to push out into foreign seas and to beard the British lion in
+his den. The same channel which had witnessed the victories of De Ruyter
+and Von Tromp, which was the scene of Blake's victory over the Dutch,
+and where the father of our great William Penn won his laurels as an
+admiral, was now the scene of the exploits of an American captain
+fighting beneath an American flag for American rights inherited from old
+mother England, who, in a moment of forgetfulness, had sought to deprive
+her offspring of liberty. I know of no more thrilling incident in
+revolutionary naval annals than the fight between the _Serapis_ and the
+_Bon Homme Richard_, when Paul Jones, on the burning deck of a sinking
+ship, lashed his yard arms to those of the enemy and fought hand to
+hand, man to man, until the British colors struck, and then, under the
+very cliffs of Old England, were run up for the first time the Stars and
+Stripes--with a field of blue into which the skillful fingers of Betsy
+Ross, of Philadelphia, had woven inextinguishable stars; the red stripes
+typifying the glory, the valor, and the self-sacrifice of the men who
+died that liberty might live; and the white, emblematic of purity, fitly
+representing those principles to preserve which these men had sanctified
+themselves by an immortal self-dedication. And there, too, in the
+Continental Navy was Richard Dale, the young "Middy," who fought beside
+Paul Jones; and Joshua Barney; and John Barry; and Nicholas Biddle of
+Philadelphia, who later, in the gallant little _Randolph_, in order to
+help a convoyed fleet of American merchantmen to escape, boldly
+attacked the battleship _Yarmouth_; and when it was found that he was
+doomed to defeat, blew up his vessel, perishing with all his crew,
+rather than strike the colors of the newly-born republic.
+
+All honor to the navy of the United States! I never can read of its
+exploits--peaceful citizen as I am--without my blood bubbling with a
+joyous sense of exultation at the thought that the flag which has swept
+the seas, carrying liberty behind it, is the flag which is destined to
+sweep the seas again and carry liberty, civilization, and all the
+blessings of free government into benighted islands far, far from hence.
+
+Why, gentlemen, the story of the exploits of our little fleets reads
+like a romance. At the end of the Revolutionary War eight hundred
+British ships, fifteen of them battleships, had surrendered to the
+prowess of the American navy, together with twelve thousand five hundred
+prisoners captured by less than three thousand men; and in that war our
+country had produced the boldest admirals that, up to that time,
+civilization had known, and the greatest fighting naval heroes that the
+world had seen.
+
+Then came the War of 1812, to establish sailors' rights upon the high
+seas, when the American navy again proved victor despite overwhelming
+odds. I have in my possession a list of the British and American vessels
+at the outbreak of that war; and if I were to represent them by
+something tangible in order to indicate the proportions of each, I would
+say, taking this box lid for example (illustrating with the stem of a
+rose upon the cover of a discarded flower box), that if you were to draw
+a line across here, near the top, you would have sufficient space in the
+narrow strip above the dividing line to write the names of all the
+American ships, while the entire remaining space would not be more than
+sufficient for the English fleet, which was more than thirty times the
+size of its antagonist. The ships which under Nelson had fought at the
+Nile and had won imperishable glory at Trafalgar, coming into our
+waters, struck their flags time and again. The glorious old "Ironsides"
+(the _Constitution_) captured the _Guerriere_, the _Java_, the _Cyane_,
+and _Levant_. The _United States_ took the _Macedonian_; the _Wasp_
+destroyed the _Frolic_, while on the lakes we point with pride to the
+victories of Perry and MacDonough. When battle after battle had been
+fought it was found that, of eighteen fixed engagements, seventeen were
+victories for the Stars and Stripes. And this over the greatest maritime
+war power of the world!
+
+Philadelphia is honorably associated with the glories of our navy. Our
+early battleships, though not all built here, were planned and
+constructed by Joshua Humphreys, a Philadelphian, the predecessor of our
+great shipbuilder of to-day, Charles H. Cramp.
+
+Need I speak of the navy from 1861 to 1865, or tell of the exploits of
+those gallant fleets which clove a pathway down the valley of the Ohio,
+of the Tennessee, and of the Mississippi, in order that liberty might
+ride unvexed from the lakes to the gulf? Need I dwell upon the part
+taken by the guest of this evening, who was an officer who fought under
+Farragut?
+
+In our recent war with Spain there were some who, in doubting moments,
+yielded to that atrabilious disposition which has been so well described
+by Mr. Tomkins; who thought that our ships were not strong enough to
+hazard an encounter with the fleets of Spain. But meanwhile there was
+doubling "around the Horn" a battleship, with a captain and a crew whose
+marvelous voyage was attracting the eyes of the world. Night after night
+we took up the map, traced his course from port to port, and our hearts
+beat high, our lips were firmly compressed, the color faded from our
+cheeks with excitement, but our eyes blazed with exultant anticipation
+as nearer and nearer to Pernambuco did he come. We all now feel, judging
+of the possibilities by actual achievement, that had Captain Clark
+encountered the enemy's ships, he could and would have successfully
+fought and defeated the entire Spanish fleet. He carried his ship ready
+for instant actions, every man at his post. God bless that crew! God
+bless those stokers, far down below those decks, confident that the
+captain who commanded them was on the bridge, and that he would never
+flinch nor fail in the hour of trial! I have often tried to draw a
+mental picture of what the scene must have been when the _Oregon_
+steamed in to join the fleet before Santiago; when the white jackets on
+the yard-arms tossed their caps in the air, and southern tars gave back
+to Yankee cheers a lusty welcome to the man who for so long, against all
+odds, with no encouraging advices, with unknown terrors all about him,
+had never flinched from duty, and who, when the last summons came,
+responded in the words of Colonel Newcomb, _Adsum_--"I am here."
+
+On the morning of the third of July, 1898, there stood the frowning
+Morro Castle, the prison of the glorious Hobson; on the other side the
+fortress of Estrella; the narrow channel blocked by the wreck of the
+_Merrimac_; the _Brooklyn_, the _Oregon_, the _Texas_, the _Indiana_,
+the _Iowa_ and the _Massachusetts_ all watching that orifice. Then black
+smoke rolled from the tunnels of the enemy's ships, indicating that the
+tiger had roused him from his lair and was making a rush for the open
+sea. Up went the signal on the flagstaff of the _Brooklyn_,
+"Forward--the enemy is approaching." Then engines moved; then guns
+thundered their volleys; then sky and sea became black with the smoke of
+battle; and swiftly steamed the _Oregon_ in pursuit of the _Cristobal
+Colon_. Beneath well-directed shots the monster reeled, like a wounded
+athlete, to the beach; and then from the flagstaff of the _New York_
+were displayed those signals now on these walls before your
+eyes--"1-7-3; cornet; 2m-9m-7m"--which, translated, meant--and we of the
+League to-night repeat the words--"Well done, _Oregon_."
+
+Captain Clark, the city of Philadelphia has always contributed her share
+to the building of the navy and to a fitting recognition of the heroes
+who have commanded our battleships. In the old churchyard of St. Mary's,
+on Fourth Street, sleep the bones of John Barry; and in the older
+churchyard of St. Peter's stands the monument to Decatur. We have with
+us also the ashes of Stewart, who commanded "Old Ironsides" when she
+captured the _Cyane_ and the _Levant_; and we have those of Bainbridge,
+who captured the _Java_.
+
+In reading of the exploits of the master spirits of the past, I have
+sometimes wondered whether we had men of to-day who were their equals.
+My answer is this: I say to soldiers and sailors, whether of our Civil
+War or of the late war with Spain, you are worthy of your sires, you
+have caught the inspiration of their glowing deeds, you have taken up
+the burden which they threw upon your shoulders, and though in time to
+come you may sleep in unmarked graves, the memory of your deeds will
+live; and, like your sires, you have become immortal.
+
+To fight for liberty is indeed a privilege. "Disguise thyself as thou
+wilt, still, Slavery, thou art a bitter draught; and, though thousands
+in all ages have been made to drink thee, thou art no less bitter on
+that account. 'Tis thou, O Liberty! thrice sweet and gracious goddess,
+whose taste is grateful, and ever will be so till nature herself shall
+change. No tint of words can spot thy snowy mantle, nor chemic power
+turn thy scepter into iron. With thee to smile upon him, as he eats his
+crust, the swain is happier than the monarch from whose courts thou art
+exiled." So wrote Laurence Sterne.
+
+And then Rufus Choate: "To form and uphold a state, it is not enough
+that our judgments should believe it to be useful; the better part of
+our affections should feel it to be lovely. It is not enough that our
+arithmetic should compute its value and find it high; our hearts should
+hold it priceless--above all things rich and rare--dearer than health
+and beauty, brighter than all the order of the stars." In contemplating
+those mysterious dispensations of Providence by which the light which
+broke upon this continent two hundred years ago is now penetrating and
+illuminating the darkest corners of the earth, it will be a supreme
+satisfaction for us to know that our children and our children's
+children will have set for their imitation and encouragement the example
+of the heroism, the manliness, the courage, the patriotism and the
+modesty of the captains of to-day.
+
+[Illustration: LATEST TYPE OF DREADNAUGHT]
+
+
+
+
+THE PATRIOTISM OF PEACE
+
+ Address by William Jennings Bryan delivered in London, in the Royal
+ Gallery of the House of Lords, on July 26, 1906, at the session of
+ the Interparliamentary Union or Peace Congress. It is given here by
+ special permission of Mr. Bryan and his publishers--Funk and
+ Wagnalls Company, New York and London.
+
+
+I regret that I cannot speak to you in the language which is usually
+employed in this body, but I know only one language, the language of my
+own country, and you will pardon me if I use that. I desire in the first
+place to express my appreciation of the courtesy shown me by Lord
+Weardale, our president, and by Baron von Plener, the chairman of the
+committee which framed the model treaty. The latter has framed this
+substitute embodying both of the ideas (investigation and meditation)
+which were presented yesterday. I recognize the superior wisdom and the
+greater experience of this learned committee which has united the two
+propositions, and I thank this body also for the opportunity to say just
+a word in defense of my part of the resolution. I cannot say that it is
+a new idea, for since it was presented yesterday I have learned that the
+same idea in substance was presented last year at Brussels by Mr.
+Bartholdt, of my own country, who has been so conspicuous in his efforts
+to promote peace, and I am very glad that I can follow in his footsteps
+in the urging of this amendment. I may add also that it is in line with
+the suggestion made by the honorable prime minister of Great Britain,
+Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, in that memorable and epoch-making speech
+of yesterday, in that speech which contained several sentences any one
+of which would have justified the assembling of this Interparliamentary
+Union--any one of which would have compensated us all for coming here.
+In that splendid speech he expressed the hope that the scope of
+arbitration treaties might be enlarged. He said:
+
+ "GENTLEMEN, I fervently trust that before long the principles of
+ arbitration may win such confidence as to justify its extension to
+ a wider field of international differences. We have already seen
+ how questions arousing passion and excitement have attained a
+ solution, not necessarily by means of arbitration in the strict
+ sense of the word, by referring them to such a tribunal as that
+ which reported on the North Sea incident; and I would ask you
+ whether, it may not be worth while carefully to consider, before
+ the next Congress meets at The Hague, the various forms in which
+ differences might be submitted, with a view to opening the door as
+ wide as possible to every means which might in any degree
+ contribute to moderate or compose such differences."
+
+This amendment is in harmony with this suggestion. The resolution is in
+the form of a postscript to the treaty, but like the postscripts to some
+letters it contains a very vital subject--in fact, I am not sure but the
+postscript in this case is as important as the letter itself, for it
+deals with those questions which have defied arbitration. Certain
+questions affecting the honor or integrity of a nation are generally
+thought to be outside of the jurisdiction of a court of arbitration, and
+these are the questions which have given trouble. Passion is not often
+aroused by questions that do not affect a nation's integrity or honor,
+but for fear these questions may arise arbitration is not always
+employed where it might be. The first advantage, then, of this
+resolution is that it secures an investigation of the facts, and if you
+can but separate these facts from the question of honor, the chances are
+100-to-1 that you can settle both the fact and the question of honor
+without war. There is, therefore, a great advantage in an investigation
+that brings out the facts, for disputed facts between nations, as
+between friends, are the cause of most disagreements.
+
+The second advantage of this investigation is that it gives time for
+calm consideration. That has already been well presented by the
+gentlemen who has preceded me, Baron von Plener. I need not say to you
+that man excited is a very different animal from man calm, and that
+questions ought to be settled, not by passion, but by deliberation. If
+this resolution would do nothing else but give time for reflection and
+deliberation, there would be sufficient reason for its adoption. If we
+can but stay the hand of war until conscience can assert itself, war
+will be made more remote. When men are mad they swagger around and tell
+what they can do; when they are calm they consider what they ought to
+do.
+
+The third advantage of this investigation is that it gives opportunity
+to mobilize public opinion of the compelling of a peaceful settlement
+and that is an advantage not to be overlooked. Public opinion is coming
+to be more and more a power in the world. One of the greatest statesmen
+of my country--Thomas Jefferson, and if it would not offend I would say
+I believe him to be the greatest statesman the world has produced--said
+that if he had to choose between a government without newspapers and
+newspapers without a government, he would rather risk the newspapers
+without a government. You may call it an extravagant statement, and yet
+it presents an idea, and that idea is that public opinion is a
+controlling force. I am glad that the time is coming when public opinion
+is to be more and more powerful; glad that the time is coming when the
+moral sentiment of one nation will influence the action of other
+nations; glad that the time is coming when the world will realize that a
+war between the two nations affects others than the nations involved;
+glad that the time is coming when the world will insist that nations
+settle their differences by some peaceful means. If time is given for
+the marshaling of the force of public opinion peace will be promoted.
+This resolution is presented, therefore, for the reasons that it gives
+an opportunity to investigate the facts, and to separate them from the
+question of honor, that it gives time for the calming of passion, and
+that it gives time for the formation of a controlling public sentiment.
+
+I will not disguise the fact that I consider this resolution a long
+step in the direction of peace, nor will I disguise the fact that I am
+here because I want this Interparliamentary Union to take just as long a
+step as possible in the direction of universal peace. We meet in a
+famous hall, and looking down upon us from these walls are pictures that
+illustrate not only the glory that is to be won in war, but the horrors
+that follow war. There is a picture of one of the great figures in
+English history (pointing to the fresco by Maclise of the death of
+Nelson). Lord Nelson is represented as dying, and around him are the
+mangled forms of others. I understand that war brings out certain
+virtues. I am aware that it gives opportunity for the display of great
+patriotism; I am aware that the example of men who give their lives for
+their country is inspiring; but I venture to say there is as much
+inspiration in a noble life as there is in a heroic death, and I trust
+that one of the results of this Interparliamentary Union will be to
+emphasize the doctrine that a life devoted to the public, and ever
+flowing, like a spring, with good, exerts an influence upon the human
+race and upon the destiny of the world as great as any death in war. And
+if you will permit me to mention one whose career I watched with
+interest and whose name I revere, I will say that, in my humble
+judgment, the sixty-four years of spotless public service of William
+Ewart Gladstone will, in years to come, be regarded as rich an ornament
+to the history of this nation as the life of any man who poured out his
+blood upon a battlefield.
+
+All movements in the interest of peace have back of them the idea of
+brotherhood. If peace is to come in this world, it will come because
+people more and more clearly recognize the indissoluble tie that binds
+each human being to every other. If we are to build permanent peace it
+must be on the foundation of the brotherhood of men. A poet has
+described how in the Civil War that divided our country into two hostile
+camps a generation ago--in one battle a soldier in one line thrust his
+bayonet through a soldier in the opposing line, and how, when he stooped
+to draw it out, he recognized in the face of the fallen one the face of
+his own brother. And then the poet describes the feeling of horror that
+overwhelmed the survivor when he realized that he had taken the life of
+one who was the child of the same parents and the companion of his
+boyhood. It was a pathetic story, but is it too much to hope that as
+years go by we will begin to understand that the whole human race is but
+a larger family?
+
+It is not too much to hope that as years go by human sympathy will
+expand until this feeling of unity will not be confined to the members
+of a family or to the members of a clan or of a community or state, but
+shall be world-wide. It is not too much to hope that we, in this
+assembly, possibly by this resolution, may hasten the day when we shall
+feel so appalled at the thought of the taking of any human life that we
+shall strive to raise all questions to a level where the settlement will
+be by reason and not by force.
+
+
+
+
+A PLEA FOR UNIVERSAL PEACE
+
+ The following extracts are from an address delivered by George W.
+ Norris, United States senator from Nebraska, at Chautauquas and on
+ lecture courses throughout the country for several years. It is one
+ of the most logical and practical plans for universal peace ever
+ proposed. It was prepared when the civilized world was at peace
+ immediately following the peace treaty between Russia and Japan.
+ David Starr Jordan declares that "military efficiency" is the
+ principal cause of the present European war. A serious and honest
+ study of how to preserve peace and how to avoid war cannot help but
+ bring good results. This is the purpose of Senator Norris's
+ lecture. For a further study of this most important subject, the
+ reader is referred to Sumner's great oration on "The True Grandeur
+ of Nations," to various speeches and monographs by Andrew Carnegie,
+ and to numerous other publications, recently issued, regarding the
+ patriotism of peace.
+
+
+The greatest disgrace of the present century is that war between
+civilized nations is still a possibility. That such a barbarous
+condition should exist in the civilized world is painful to every lover
+of humanity and to every believer in the great brotherhood of man.
+
+Every civilized country of the world requires its subjects to submit
+their differences and disputes to tribunals and courts that have been
+organized under the forms of law for their settlement and yet these same
+nations violate the principle of law which they compel their subjects to
+obey. The citizen must maintain his rights and settle his grievances
+before tribunals organized according to law, upon principles of justice
+and of right. Kings and rulers settle their disputes upon the field of
+battle without regard to right, without regard to justice, and upon the
+erroneous and barbarous theory that might makes right. It is to be
+regretted that the great advance that has been made from barbarism by
+the different nations of the world by which the disputes and
+controversies arising within each nation are settled according to forms
+of law upon the principles of justice and equality, has not extended to
+the settlement of disputes between the nations themselves. Why is it
+that rulers, who are able to settle all controversies within the
+countries they control are not able to settle controversies between
+those countries?
+
+Humanity is broader than nationality and embraces within its scope the
+entire world. The measure of human happiness will not be full, the
+heights of national glory will not be reached until we can look over the
+world and in the words of the scripture, truthfully say of every citizen
+of every civilized nation--"Is he not after all, my brother?"
+
+Why then should there be war? I know that it can truthfully be claimed
+that this cruel and heartless demon has settled many questions of
+world-wide importance, but it never settled one on any principle of
+equity, morality, or justice. In modern times its decree has been more
+often right than wrong, because the great spirit of public sentiment
+when once aroused has not only furnished money and men for the right,
+but it has thoroughly imbued the hearts of its soldiers with a
+determination and a bravery that have done much to place the victory
+where it properly belonged. But what a sacrifice of human life and
+treasure. I do not want to be understood as claiming that all the wars
+of history were wrong or could have been avoided. Some of them were
+carried on for liberty, some were waged for mercy and some were fought
+for humanity. The soldier, not only of our own land, but of other
+countries as well, is entitled to all the consideration and all the
+honor and glory that humanity can give or bestow. I am however
+proclaiming against the conditions existing in modern civilized times
+that make war not only sometimes necessary, but at any time possible.
+
+But the question recurs again--what is a practical way to solve the
+difficulty? Who shall take the first step? Who can take the first step
+with the assurance that beneficial results will follow? What nation
+to-day occupies such a unique position in civilization that it can step
+out into the open and say to all the civilized world--"We are willing to
+submit to peaceful arbitration every international dispute, every
+international controversy not only of the present but of the future as
+well." What nation in assuming this position can command not only the
+respect and belief of other nations in the integrity and the honesty of
+its purpose, but can also receive the respect and approval of humanity's
+peace loving sentiment, that will go far towards impelling the balance
+of the civilized world to accept the proffered hand of universal
+brotherhood!
+
+If we study the history of European nations, we will find a trace at
+least of jealousy between them that has come down from the days of
+barbarism. In ancient times the king, who was then supposed to possess,
+and is still suspicioned to have, some attributes of Divinity, ruled
+only over such territory as he was able to hold in subjection. He broke
+no law of nations if, without notice, cause or provocation, he made war
+upon his neighbor in an attempt to conquer and subdue additional
+territory. He violated no principle of government if in carrying out his
+purpose he resorted to trickery, chicanery, and dishonesty. The result
+was that every ruler was suspicious of every other ruler.
+
+This suspiciousness and lack of confidence anciently existing between
+kings, and permeating the framework of every European nation, has, in a
+lessening and decreasing degree, come down to the present day. It exists
+now--unconsciously perhaps--but exists nevertheless, and must be taken
+into consideration whenever any European nation makes a proposition to
+other European nations for the settlement of any great international
+question. This condition was well paraphrased by a great European
+statesman in comparing European conditions with those of America, when
+he referred to it as American boldness and European suspiciousness.
+
+In the new world where our government's leadership and controlling
+influence are recognized and acknowledged by all the world, these
+conditions do not obtain. Here the divine right of kings has never been
+recognized. We have not only disclaimed the right of conquest ourselves,
+but we have refused to recognize it in others. We have not only refused
+to recognize this right in the strong nation, but we have protected the
+weak nation against it. Moreover we have shown to the world our
+unselfish devotion to that principle to the extent of sacrificing life
+and treasure in the defense of the weak against the strong--the
+protection of the down-trodden and oppressed against oppression. Our
+entire national life has been emblematic of an unselfish respect for the
+rights of other nations, and is not tainted with that suspiciousness
+which has come down to others from ancient times. Our position among the
+nations of the world was well illustrated by what happened in the war
+between Russia and Japan.
+
+When these two great nations had gotten each other by the throat and
+were struggling in mortal combat, the entire world was aroused to
+admiration by the action of America's great president. Neither one of
+the warring nations had expressed any desire for peace. Neither one had
+shown any disposition to cease the conflict. Neither one had asked for
+any intercession, and yet in the midst of the bloody conflict, when
+America's voice was heard, they both halted, they both ceased, and they
+both obeyed.
+
+It was because they knew--all the world knew--that in the voice which
+called them from the battlefield to reason's court there was no taint of
+selfishness; that in that call there was no suspicion of an ulterior or
+dishonorable motive, but that in the heart of the great statesman, whose
+voice they heeded, there was only the purity of a humane effort to bring
+about the welfare of all. From the very nature of the development of
+other nations from the barbarism of ancient times it is quite apparent
+that no other ruler of the civilized world could have made that
+proposition with the same successful results. In response to the
+friendly intervention of the American Government, Russia and Japan
+appointed commissioners to agree upon terms of peace.
+
+While these commissioners were in session on American soil, a notable
+assemblage for the advancement of international arbitration was in
+session at Brussels, the capital of Belgium. At this meeting of the
+Interparliamentary Union there were representatives from practically
+every civilized country in the world except Russia and Japan. We watched
+with hopeful anxiety the reports which the cable brought us of the
+progress that was being made by these peace commissioners at Portsmouth.
+In that assemblage, composed of representatives from two continents,
+there was a unanimous wish, a united hope, a fervent prayer that
+America's intervention would prove successful.
+
+As a fitting close of that great international conference the
+representatives of Belgium invited all the delegates to a reception held
+in that historic building where the cohorts of Napoleon were assembled
+in revelry on the eve of Waterloo. The rooms were decorated with the
+colors of all nations. The finest band of Belgium was playing her
+national air. In the midst of it the music suddenly ceased. All eyes
+were turned to the rostrum. We saw the leader of the band seize from the
+decorations of the hall the American flag, and using it as a baton, he
+waved it over the heads of the musicians, and in answer to his action
+there burst forth the rapturous strains of "The Star Spangled Banner."
+
+For a moment, and a moment only, there was silence, and then there burst
+forth a roar of applause which clearly indicated that everyone there
+understood, that beneath the fathomless deep the electric spark had
+brought the welcome news that on the shores of America an agreement for
+peace had been signed. On the occasion of nearly one hundred years
+before the revelry was interrupted by the booming of cannon, but on this
+occasion it was the joyous message that under the leadership of America
+the peace of the world had been established. That was an occasion, my
+countrymen, when it was greater to be an American citizen than to wear a
+crown.
+
+Heretofore one of the greatest obstacles to the peaceful settlement of
+international difficulties, and to the submission of such controversies
+to arbitration, has been that the offense has been committed, or the
+controversy has arisen before any rule for its settlement has been
+provided, or any tribunal for its determination has been selected. This
+ex post facto machinery for the settlement of differences is not only
+unreasonable and illogical, but it has been guarded against by all the
+civilized nations of the earth in the regulation and management of their
+own internal affairs. When disagreeing nations are aroused to anger by
+the excitement and the prejudice of the people on account of real or
+imaginary wrong, it is a poor time indeed to attempt to agree upon a
+fair method of settlement, or to exercise that calm deliberation which
+should be invoked in the selection of the arbitrators.
+
+The treaty of arbitration should be general and apply to all disputes.
+It should be negotiated in time of profound peace, and not with
+reference to any particular controversy. Its judges should be selected
+in time of peace and their terms of office should be permanent. In order
+that they might be removed from, and uninfluenced by, any bias or
+prejudice they should be appointed for life, and while holding this
+great international commission they should be prohibited from accepting
+or holding any other office or emolument from any government.
+
+The treaty, however, should specifically provide that these
+international judges could be appointed and selected as members of any
+other international arbitration tribunal, and in accordance with this
+provision each government would undoubtedly select the same men as
+judges for each arbitration treaty into which it entered.
+
+To illustrate--if our government entered into such a treaty with the
+German Empire, and afterwards into a similar treaty with France, we
+would select the same arbitrators under the treaty with France that we
+had named in carrying out the provisions of the treaty with Germany, and
+in any subsequent arbitration treaty with any other nation, the same men
+would again be named as our arbitrators. There is little doubt but what
+all other nations would pursue a similar course.
+
+This would give us an international court that would command the
+absolute respect of all mankind and the confidence of all civilization.
+Its judges would be free from any bias, prejudice or excitement that
+might exist in either one or both of the contending nations. Instead of
+representing one government as against the other they would in fact,
+without partiality and with equal justice, represent both of the
+contending parties. Their life work would be the study of international
+questions. They would become learned--yea, experts--in international law
+and the administration of international justice. If each nation selected
+the same judges in each of its arbitration treaties, the world would
+have a list--a school--of international jurists devoting their time,
+their energies and their lives to the study of international questions
+and the settlement of international disputes. In the hands of these men
+the peace of the civilized world would be safe and secure.
+
+The treaty of arbitration would undoubtedly provide for an equal number
+of arbitrators from each of the contracting parties. It likewise would,
+and undoubtedly should, provide for the selection of additional members
+of the court in cases where the judges were equally divided on any
+question submitted to them. A wise provision would be to let the
+permanent judges themselves select the additional arbitrators, and with
+this list of great international jurists from which to make a choice,
+how small the possibility of error, and how great would be the
+probability of a wise selection. As a matter of fact it would seldom be
+necessary for this provision of the treaty to be acted on. Not once in a
+lifetime would the members of such a court be divided along the lines of
+nationality. The judges of this court, occupying this dignified,
+exalted and unparalleled position before the world, would be farther
+removed from bias and prejudice than any court that has ever been
+instituted in the history of mankind. Its decisions would become
+precedents for future action. It would not be long until we would have a
+line of decisions, that would eliminate the uncertainty of international
+law which has existed in the past. A question once determined by this
+great court would be accepted by the world as the law for the future,
+and the result would be that we would not only have an international
+tribunal for the peaceful settlement and determination of all
+international questions, but their decisions would become the beacon
+lights of peace for future generations, whose rays of wisdom and of
+reason would light up the dark waters of international jurisprudence,
+mark out the course of safety for every ship of state, and warn her
+mariners of the shoals of disaster.
+
+There is no ground whatever for the belief which prevails somewhat that
+the members of such a court would always follow the contention of their
+own country. Even under the present cumbersome and illogical method of
+selecting arbitrators we have a recent illustration that men great
+enough to fill positions of this kind, realizing the dignity and
+responsibility of the position, will rise above the clamor of their own
+countrymen and decide the question at issue upon its merits. I refer to
+the Alaskan boundary dispute between the United States and Great
+Britain. We have also an illustration of this point in our own country.
+
+Our national government is composed of sovereign states. State pride is
+an attribute of practically all our citizens. Its influence has
+compelled men to honestly do all kinds of unreasonable things. For it
+men have given up their property and sacrificed their lives. Yet this
+prejudice has never reached our judiciary. Every United States judge is
+a citizen of some state. They try cases between different states, pass
+on disputes existing between a sovereign state and the citizens of
+another state, and settle controversies arising between the citizens of
+one state and the citizens of another state. Our judges have been
+criticized on nearly all possible grounds, often no doubt without
+reason, sometimes perhaps with good cause, but in the entire history of
+our country, there has never yet been made the charge that any one of
+these judges has been influenced in his official conduct by pride of his
+native or adopted state. Man is often unconsciously influenced and
+controlled by his associations, his habits and the environments of
+earlier life. Their influence has become a part of the man. But the
+history of jurisprudence will show that judges have seldom, if ever,
+been moved or influenced in official action by the excitement, the
+clamor or the prejudice of the citizenship if it was beyond the power of
+that citizenship to reward or punish.
+
+It is unnecessary to provide any method for the enforcement of the
+decrees of an international court. It is safe to trust to the honor of
+the governments interested, and to the enlightened public sentiment of
+the civilized world for the honest enforcement in good faith of every
+such judgment and decree. This has been frequently demonstrated in the
+past. In all the history of the world there has never been an instance
+where an offending nation has failed to carry out in good faith the
+judgment of an international court.
+
+In America the friends of international arbitration are not united as
+they should be. The division comes about principally on account of a
+disagreement as to what should be the size of our navy. There are some
+who believe that we should make but a small annual increase in our navy,
+and some of these are inclined to criticize those who advocate a large
+navy and to claim that such conduct is inconsistent with international
+arbitration. While I have been one of those who usually have favored a
+small yearly increase in our naval vessels, yet I am frank to admit that
+under present conditions, there is much sound logic in the argument that
+the greatest and best assurance of international peace, is to be always
+prepared for war. It is well too, to remember that an unbiased and
+unprejudiced tribunal in a foreign land has recently given an
+international trophy--the world's prize--to the greatest American
+exponent of a large navy, for having during the year for which the prize
+was given, accomplished more for international peace, than any other
+living man. It is not my intention to discuss this subject. It is not
+necessary to decide it for the purposes of the present discussion. It is
+of importance when considering the subject of national defense and
+national finances, but it has no decisive influence upon the question of
+international arbitration. The man who favors a small navy, and the man
+who favors a large one can consistently work side by side for the
+advancement of international peace. The size of the navy that we should
+maintain is a question upon which the minds of wise and patriotic men
+may honestly differ. Everybody admits that we should keep and maintain
+an ample and sufficient navy, and that annual additions thereto are
+necessary to maintain its efficiency. But, the terms "adequate navy,"
+"sufficient navy" and "large navy" are very indefinite, and convey
+entirely different ideas to different people. What one man might regard
+as a small navy, another one equally as wise would regard as entirely
+too large. What one person would consider a small and inadequate annual
+addition to our navy, others, equally as patriotic, would regard as
+unreasonable and extravagant. A man's ideas on this disputed and
+unsettled question can not consistently be urged against the sincerity
+of his purpose when he advocates international arbitration.
+
+But while the friends of international arbitration may honestly disagree
+as to the strength of the army and the size of the navy that should be
+maintained in times of peace, there is no disagreement in the
+condemnation of the conditions which make it necessary to maintain a
+large army and navy. These conditions are relics of barbarism. They are
+not founded upon any wisdom, reason, or justice. They exist only because
+the great men of to-day, who hold the destinies of nations in their
+hands have not met upon the broad plane of equality and agreed upon
+their abolishment.
+
+Heretofore the cry of international arbitration has come mainly from
+those who were moved by the idea of philanthropy, of mercy and of
+humanity. It will not be long until these influences will be joined by
+all the commercial interests of civilization and all the tax-payers of
+the world. For the fiscal year (1907) in our own country there was
+appropriated from the national treasury nearly four hundred millions of
+dollars on account of war. Over sixty-five per cent. of the revenues of
+our national government are spent on account of our wars of the past, or
+in preparation for war in the future. Every time our government raises a
+dollar by taxation more than sixty-five cents of it is demanded as a
+tribute by this blood thirsty demon.
+
+Our situation is only a fair illustration of what exists everywhere in
+the world. In round numbers about one-half of the money raised by
+taxation in the leading civilized nations of the world is spent, either
+in the payment of obligations of past wars, or in the preparation for
+war in the future. The expense of this preparation is increasing at a
+wonderful rate. Our government expends about the same amount of money as
+the other leading nations of the world in the preparation for war in the
+future, but for the expenses of wars that are past it expends more than
+all the other nations combined. The expenses of our past wars,
+consisting chiefly and mainly of pensions, are just, and no one would
+cut them down, excepting as they will be curtailed by the hand of Time
+as he gathers into his fold our heroes of the past. We will therefore
+eliminate the past from the financial consideration of the question.
+During a single year of peace, Great Britain, Germany, France, and the
+United States spent nearly one billion of dollars in making preparation
+for war. All the money in the United States would only pay this enormous
+expense for a little more than two years. The people of these highly
+civilized countries, while in profound peace, were taxing themselves to
+death, in order that the survivors might kill each other according to
+the most modern methods of modern warfare with the most modern weapons
+of human destruction.
+
+As startling and astounding as these figures are, they do not tell one
+half of the story. Human life cannot be measured in dollars and cents;
+broken hearts cannot be healed by the appropriation of money; human
+suffering and misery cannot be alleviated by financial consideration,
+and humanity stands helpless in the face of death and destruction. At
+the fireside of practically every home in Christendom, there is a vacant
+chair, made so by war. For every vacant chair there was a ruined
+hearthstone; for every hearthstone there was a sorrowing widow; and for
+every widow there is a fatherless child. For every penny spent for war
+there is a sigh of grief; for every shilling there is a tear of sorrow;
+and for every dollar there is a broken heart. The amount expended on
+this account in the civilized world, in one year would give shelter to
+every pauper, a home to every unfortunate, and an education to every
+child. At the present rate of increasing expense it will not be long
+until this great chain will break of its own weight; until every nation
+will become bankrupt and every tax-payer will become a pauper. As this
+time approaches, the forces of international peace will become more
+numerous and more powerful. Humanity will shake off the shackles of
+barbarism and defy the God of War upon his throne. In this battle of
+reason, that tyrant of oppression, that ruler of ignorance, that demon
+of superstition, in whose decree there is no mercy, in whose judgment
+there is no justice, will be driven from his throne, and relegated
+beyond the portals of a universal peace, to be remembered only as a
+horrible nightmare of an unholy and an unrighteous past.
+
+[Illustration: THE ADDRESS AT GETTYSBURG]
+
+
+
+
+LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
+
+
+Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this
+continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
+proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a
+great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived
+and so dedicated, can long endure.
+
+We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate
+a portion of that field as the final resting-place for those who here
+gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting
+and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot
+dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave
+men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above
+our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long
+remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here.
+
+It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished
+work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is
+rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before
+us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that
+cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion; that
+we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that
+this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
+government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not
+perish from the earth.
+
+
+
+
+PRESIDENT WILSON'S NEUTRALITY PROCLAMATION
+
+ This proclamation is in strict keeping with Washington's counsel.
+ It is one of the greatest of President Wilson's state papers and
+ probably did more than any one act of his administration in keeping
+ the United States from becoming involved in the European war.
+
+
+MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN:--I suppose that every thoughtful man in America
+has asked himself, during these last troubled weeks, what influence the
+European war may exert upon the United States, and I take the liberty of
+addressing a few words to you in order to point out that it is entirely
+within our own choice what its effects upon us will be and to urge very
+earnestly upon you the sort of speech and conduct which will best
+safeguard the Nation against distress and disaster.
+
+The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what
+American citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will
+act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of
+impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit
+of the Nation in this critical matter will be determined largely by what
+individuals and society and those gathered in public meetings do and
+say, upon what newspapers and magazines contain, upon what ministers
+utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions on the
+street.
+
+The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly
+from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that there
+should be the utmost variety of sympathy and desire among them with
+regard to the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish
+one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle. It
+will be easy to excite passion and difficult to allay it. Those
+responsible for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility,
+responsibility for no less a thing than that the people of the United
+States, whose love of their country and whose loyalty to its government
+should unite them as Americans all, bound in honor and affection to
+think first of her and her interests, may be divided in camps of hostile
+opinion, hot against each other, involved in the war itself in impulse
+and opinion if not in action.
+
+Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might
+seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the
+one great nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a
+part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and
+accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a friend.
+
+I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, to speak a solemn word of
+warning to you against that deepest, most subtle, most essential breach
+of neutrality which may spring out of partisanship, out of passionately
+taking sides. The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in
+name during these days that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial
+in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as
+well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference
+of one party to the struggle before another.
+
+My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, the earnest wish
+and purpose of every thoughtful American that this great country of
+ours, which is, of course, the first in our thoughts and in our hearts,
+should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a Nation fit beyond
+others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of
+self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action; a Nation that
+neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her own
+counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and
+disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world.
+
+Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves the restraints which will
+bring to our people the happiness and the great and lasting influence
+for peace we covet for them?
+
+August 18, 1914.
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] From the poem entitled "Wanted," by J. G. Holland.
+
+[2] Edward Brooks.
+
+[3] From "White Bees and Other Poems," by Henry van Dyke, copyright,
+1909, by Charles Scribner's Sons. By permission of Charles Scribner's
+Sons, publishers.
+
+[4] This lecture is found in full in Vol. XII (1915 Edition) of "Beacon
+Lights of History," copyright 1902 by the publishers, Fords, Howard &
+Hulbert, and is here used by special permission of Dr. Andrews and his
+publishers.
+
+[5] William McKinley.
+
+[6] But one of these incidents is given in this extract.
+
+[7] Henry Ward Beecher.
+
+[8] John P. Newman.
+
+
+
+
+POETRY OF PATRIOTISM
+
+[Illustration: THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
+
+New York Harbor]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CONCORD HYMN[1]
+
+
+ By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
+ Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
+ Here once the embattled farmers stood,
+ And fired the shot heard round the world.
+
+ The foe long since in silence slept;
+ Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
+ And Time the ruined bridge has swept
+ Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
+
+ On this green bank, by this soft stream,
+ We set to-day a votive stone;
+ That memory may their dead redeem,
+ When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
+
+ Spirit, that made those heroes dare
+ To die, and leave their children free,
+ Bid Time and Nature gently spare
+ The shaft we raise to them and thee.
+
+
+
+
+WARREN'S ADDRESS
+
+
+ Stand! the ground's your own, my braves!
+ Will ye give it up to slaves?
+ Will ye look for greener graves?
+ Hope ye mercy still?
+ What's the mercy despots feel?
+ Hear it in that battle peal!
+ Read it on yon bristling steel!
+ Ask it--ye who will.
+
+ Fear ye foes who kill for hire?
+ Will ye to your homes retire?
+ Look behind you!--they're afire!
+ And, before you, see
+ Who have done it! From the vale
+ On they come!--and will ye quail?
+ Leaden rain and iron hail
+ Let their welcome be!
+
+ In the God of battles trust!
+ Die we may--and die we must;
+ But, oh, where can dust to dust
+ Be consigned so well,
+ As where heaven its dews shall shed
+ On the martyred patriot's bed,
+ And the rocks shall raise their head,
+ Of his deeds to tell?
+
+ John Pierpont
+
+
+
+
+PATRIOTISM
+
+
+ Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
+ Who never to himself hath said,
+ This is my own, my native land!
+ Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,
+ As home his footsteps he hath turned
+ From wandering on a foreign strand!
+ If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
+ For him no minstrel raptures swell;
+ High though his titles, proud his name,
+ Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
+ Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
+ The wretch, concentered all in self,
+ Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
+ And, doubly dying, shall go down
+ To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
+ Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.
+
+ Sir Walter Scott
+
+
+
+
+THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
+
+
+ Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
+ What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
+ Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
+ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
+ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
+ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
+ Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
+ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
+
+ On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
+ Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
+ What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
+ As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses!
+ Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
+ In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
+ 'Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, Oh, long may it wave
+ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
+
+ And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
+ That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
+ A home and a country should leave us no more!
+ Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution;
+ No refuge should save the hireling and slave
+ From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
+ And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave
+ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
+
+ Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
+ Between their loved homes and war's desolation.
+ Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven-rescued land
+ Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
+ Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
+ And this be our motto, "In God is our trust":
+ And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
+ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
+
+ Francis Scott Key
+
+
+
+
+MY COUNTRY
+
+
+ My country, 'tis of thee,
+ Sweet land of liberty,
+ Of thee I sing.
+ Land where my fathers died,
+ Land of the pilgrims' pride,
+ From every mountain side
+ Let freedom ring!
+
+ My native country! Thee--
+ Land of the noble free,--
+ Thy name I love;
+ I love thy rocks and rills,
+ Thy woods and templed hills;
+ My heart with rapture thrills
+ Like that above.
+
+ Let music swell the breeze,
+ And ring from all the trees
+ Sweet freedom's song.
+ Let mortal tongues awake;
+ Let all that breathe partake;
+ Let rocks their silence break,--
+ The sound prolong.
+
+ Our fathers' God, to Thee,
+ Author of liberty,
+ To Thee we sing;
+ Long may our land be bright
+ With freedom's holy light;
+ Protect us by Thy might,
+ Great God, our King!
+
+ Samuel F. Smith
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICAN FLAG
+
+
+ When Freedom, from her mountain height,
+ Unfurled her standard to the air,
+ She tore the azure robe of night,
+ And set the stars of glory there.
+ She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
+ The milky baldric of the skies,
+ And striped its pure celestial white
+ With streakings of the morning light.
+
+ Then, from his mansion in the sun,
+ She called her eagle bearer down,
+ And gave into his mighty hand
+ The symbol of her chosen land.
+ Flag of the free heart's hope and home,
+ By angel hands to valor given!
+ Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
+ And all thy hues were born in heaven.
+
+ Forever float that standard sheet!
+ Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
+ With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,
+ And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us!
+
+ Joseph Rodman Drake
+
+
+
+
+SONG OF MARION'S MEN
+
+
+ Our band is few but true and tried,
+ Our leader frank and bold;
+ The British soldier trembles
+ When Marion's name is told.
+ Our fortress is the good greenwood,
+ Our tent the cypress tree;
+ We know the forest round us,
+ As seamen know the sea.
+ We know its walls of thorny vines,
+ Its glades of reedy grass,
+ Its safe and silent islands
+ Within the dark morass.
+
+ Woe to the English soldiery
+ That little dread us near!
+ On them shall light at midnight
+ A strange and sudden fear
+ When, waking to their tents on fire,
+ They grasp their arms in vain,
+ And they who stand to face us
+ Are beat to earth again;
+ And they who fly in terror deem
+ A mighty host behind,
+ And hear the tramp of thousands
+ Upon the hollow wind.
+
+ Then sweet the hour that brings release
+ From danger and from toil:
+ We talk the battle over,
+ And share the battle's spoil.
+ The woodland rings with laugh and shout,
+ As if a hunt were up,
+ And woodland flowers are gathered
+ To crown the soldier's cup.
+ With merry songs we mock the wind
+ That in the pine-top grieves,
+ And slumber long and sweetly
+ On beds of oaken leaves.
+
+ Well knows the fair and friendly moon
+ The band that Marion leads--
+ The glitter of their rifles,
+ The scampering of their steeds.
+ 'Tis life to guide the fiery barb
+ Across the moonlight plain;
+ 'Tis life to feel the night wind
+ That lifts his tossing mane.
+ A moment in the British camp--
+ A moment--and away,
+ Back to the pathless forest,
+ Before the peep of day.
+
+ Grave men there are by broad Santee,
+ Grave men with hoary hairs;
+ Their hearts are all with Marion,
+ For Marion are their prayers.
+ And lovely ladies greet our band,
+ With kindliest welcoming,
+ With smiles like those of summer,
+ And tears like those of spring.
+ For them we wear these trusty arms,
+ And lay them down no more
+ Till we have driven the Briton,
+ Forever from our shore.
+
+ William Cullen Bryant
+
+
+
+
+THE OLD CONTINENTALS
+
+
+ In their ragged regimentals
+ Stood the old Continentals,
+ Yielding not,
+ When the grenadiers were lunging,
+ And like hail fell the plunging
+ Cannon shot;
+ When the files
+ Of the isles,
+ From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner of the rampant
+ Unicorn;
+ And grummer, grummer, grummer, rolled the roll of the drummer
+ Through the morn!
+
+ Then with eyes to the front all,
+ And with guns horizontal,
+ Stood our sires;
+ And the balls whistled deadly,
+ And in streams flashing redly,
+ Blazed the fires:
+ As the roar
+ On the shore
+ Swept the strong battle breakers o'er the green-sodded acres
+ Of the plain;
+ And louder, louder, louder, cracked the black gunpowder,
+ Cracking amain!
+
+ Now like smiths at their forges
+ Worked the red St. George's
+ Cannoneers,
+ And the villainous saltpetre
+ Rung a fierce, discordant meter
+ Round their ears;
+ As the swift
+ Storm drift,
+ With hot sweeping anger, came the horseguards' clangor
+ On our flanks;
+ Then higher, higher, higher, burned the old-fashioned fire
+ Through the ranks!
+
+ Then the bareheaded colonel
+ Galloped through the white infernal
+ Powder cloud;
+ And his broadsword was swinging,
+ And his brazen throat was ringing
+ Trumpet-loud;
+ Then the blue
+ Bullets flew,
+ And the trooper jackets redden at the touch of the leaden
+ Rifle breath;
+ And rounder, rounder, rounder, roared the iron six-pounder,
+ Hurling death!
+
+ Guy Humphreys McMaster
+
+
+
+
+THE SWORD OF BUNKER HILL
+
+
+ He lay upon his dying bed;
+ His eye was growing dim,
+ When with a feeble voice he called
+ His weeping son to him:
+ "Weep not, my boy!" the vet'ran said,
+ "I bow to Heaven's high will--
+ But quickly from yon antlers bring
+ The sword of Bunker Hill."
+
+ The sword was brought, the soldier's eye
+ Lit with a sudden flame;
+ And as he grasped the ancient blade,
+ He murmured Warren's name;
+ Then said, "My boy, I leave you gold--
+ But what is richer still,
+ I leave you, mark me, mark me now--
+ The sword of Bunker Hill.
+
+ "'Twas on that dread, immortal day,
+ I dared the Briton's band,
+ A captain raised this blade on me--
+ I tore it from his hand:
+ And while the glorious battle raged,
+ It lightened freedom's will--
+ For, boy, the God of freedom blessed
+ The sword of Bunker Hill.
+
+ "Oh, keep the sword!"--his accents broke--
+ A smile--and he was dead--
+ But his wrinkled hand still grasped the blade
+ Upon that dying bed.
+ The son remains; the sword remains--
+ Its glory growing still--
+ And twenty millions bless the sire,
+ And sword of Bunker Hill.
+
+ William Ross Wallace
+
+
+
+
+LIBERTY TREE[2]
+
+
+ In a chariot of light from the regions of day,
+ The Goddess of Liberty came;
+ Ten thousand celestials directed the way,
+ And hither conducted the dame.
+ A fair budding branch from the gardens above,
+ Where millions with millions agree,
+ She brought in her hand as a pledge of her love,
+ And the plant she named _Liberty Tree_.
+
+ The celestial exotic struck deep in the ground,
+ Like a native it flourished and bore;
+ The fame of its fruit drew the nation's around,
+ To seek out this peaceable shore.
+ Unmindful of names or distinctions they came,
+ For freemen like brothers agree;
+ With one spirit endued, they one friendship pursued,
+ And their temple was _Liberty Tree_.
+
+ Beneath this fair tree, like the patriarchs of old,
+ Their bread in contentment they ate
+ Unvexed with the troubles of silver and gold,
+ The cares of the grand and the great.
+ With timber and tar they Old England supplied,
+ And supported her power on the sea;
+ Her battles they fought, without getting a groat,
+ For the honor of _Liberty Tree_.
+
+ But hear, O ye swains, 'tis a tale most profane,
+ How all the tyrannical powers,
+ Kings, Commons and Lords, are uniting amain,
+ To cut down this guardian of ours;
+ From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms,
+ Through the land let the sound of it flee,
+ Let the far and the near, all unite with a cheer,
+ In defense of our _Liberty Tree_.
+
+ Thomas Paine
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE RISING IN 1776.[3]
+
+
+ Out of the North the wild news came,
+ Far flashing on its wings of flame,
+ Swift as the boreal light which flies
+ At midnight through the startled skies.
+ And there was tumult in the air,
+ The fife's shrill note, the drum's loud beat,
+ And through the wide land everywhere
+ The answering tread of hurrying feet;
+ While the first oath of Freedom's gun,
+ Came on the blast from Lexington;
+ And Concord, roused, no longer tame,
+ Forgot her old baptismal name,
+ Made bare her patriot arm of power,
+ And swelled the discord of the hour.
+
+ Within its shade of elm and oak
+ The church of Berkeley Manor stood;
+ There Sunday found the rural folk,
+ And some esteemed of gentle blood.
+ In vain their feet with loitering tread
+ Passed 'mid the graves where rank is naught;
+ All could not read the lesson taught
+ In that republic of the dead.
+
+ How sweet the hour of Sabbath talk,
+ The vale with peace and sunshine full
+ Where all the happy people walk,
+ Decked in their homespun flax and wool!
+ Where youth's gay hats with blossoms bloom;
+ And every maid with simple art,
+ Wears on her breast, like her own heart,
+ A bud whose depths are all perfume;
+ While every garment's gentle stir
+ Is breathing rose and lavender.
+
+ The pastor came; his snowy locks
+ Hallowed his brow of thought and care;
+ And calmly, as shepherds lead their flocks,
+ He led into the house of prayer.
+ The pastor rose; the prayer was strong;
+ The psalm was warrior David's song;
+ The text, a few short words of might--
+ "The Lord of hosts shall arm the right!"
+
+ He spoke of wrongs too long endured,
+ Of sacred rights to be secured;
+ Then from his patriot tongue of flame
+ The startling words for Freedom came.
+ The stirring sentences he spake
+ Compelled the heart to glow or quake,
+ And, rising on his theme's broad wing,
+ And grasping in his nervous hand
+ The imaginary battle brand,
+ In face of death he dared to fling
+ Defiance to a tyrant king.
+
+ Even as he spoke, his frame, renewed
+ In eloquence of attitude,
+ Rose, as it seemed, a shoulder higher;
+ Then swept his kindling glance of fire
+ From startled pew to breathless choir;
+ When suddenly his mantle wide
+ His hands impatient flung aside,
+ And, lo! he met their wondering eyes
+ Complete in all a warrior's guise.
+
+ A moment there was awful pause--
+ When Berkeley cried, "Cease, traitor! cease!
+ God's temple is the house of peace!"
+ The other shouted, "Nay, not so,
+ When God is with our righteous cause;
+ His holiest places then are ours,
+ His temples are our forts and towers.
+ That frown upon the tyrant foe;
+ In this, the dawn of Freedom's day,
+ There is a time to fight and pray!"
+
+ And now before the open door--
+ The warrior priest had ordered so--
+ The enlisting trumpet's sudden roar
+ Rang through the chapel, o'er and o'er,
+ Its long reverberating blow,
+ So loud and clear, it seemed the ear
+ Of dusty death must wake and hear.
+ And there the startling drum and fife
+ Fired the living with fiercer life;
+ While overhead, with wild increase,
+ Forgetting its ancient toll of peace,
+ The great bell swung as ne'er before;
+ It seemed as it would never cease;
+ And every word its ardor flung
+ From off its jubilant iron tongue
+ Was, "War! War! War!"
+
+ "Who dares?"--this was the patriot's cry,
+ As striding from the desk he came--
+ "Come out with me, in Freedom's name,
+ For her to live, for her to die?"
+ A hundred hands flung up reply,
+ A hundred voices answered, "I!"
+
+ Thomas Buchanan Read
+
+
+
+
+AMERICA[4]
+
+
+ Foreseen in the vision of sages,
+ Foretold when martyrs bled,
+ She was born of the longing of ages,
+ By the truth of the noble dead
+ And the faith of the living fed!
+ No blood in her lightest veins
+ Frets at remembered chains,
+ Nor shame of bondage has bowed her head.
+ In her form and features still
+ The unblenching Puritan will,
+ Cavalier honor, Huguenot grace,
+ The Quaker truth and sweetness,
+ And the strength of the danger-girdled race
+ Of Holland, blend in a proud completeness.
+
+ From the homes of all, where her being began,
+ She took what she gave to Man;
+ Justice, that knew no station,
+ Belief, as soul decreed,
+ Free air for aspiration,
+ Free force for independent deed!
+ She takes, but to give again,
+ As the sea returns the rivers in rain;
+ And gathers the chosen of her seed
+ From the hunted of every crown and creed.
+
+ Her Germany dwells by a gentler Rhine;
+ Her Ireland sees the old sunburst shine;
+ Her France pursues some dream divine;
+ Her Norway keeps his mountain pine;
+ Her Italy waits by the western brine;
+ And, broad-based under all,
+ Is planted England's oaken-hearted mood,
+ As rich in fortitude
+ As e'er went worldward from the island-wall!
+ Fused in her candid light,
+ To one strong race all races here unite;
+ Tongues melt in hers, hereditary foemen
+ Forget their sword and slogan, kith and clan.
+ 'Twas glory, once to be a Roman:
+ She makes it glory, now, to be a man!
+
+ Bayard Taylor
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+
+ By the flow of the inland river,
+ Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
+ Where the blades of the grave grass quiver,
+ Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
+ Under the sod and the dew,
+ Waiting the judgment day;
+ Under the one, the Blue,
+ Under the other, the Gray.
+
+ These in the robings of glory,
+ Those in the gloom of defeat,
+ All with the battle blood gory,
+ In the dusk of eternity meet:
+ Under the sod and the dew,
+ Waiting the judgment day;
+ Under the laurel, the Blue,
+ Under the willow, the Gray.
+
+ From the silence of sorrowful hours
+ The desolate mourners go,
+ Lovingly laden with flowers
+ Alike for the friend and the foe:
+ Under the sod and the dew,
+ Waiting the judgment day;
+ Under the roses, the Blue,
+ Under the lilies, the Gray.
+
+ So with an equal splendor
+ The morning sun rays fall,
+ With a touch impartially tender,
+ On the blossoms blooming for all:
+ Under the sod and the dew,
+ Waiting the judgment day;
+ Broidered with gold, the Blue,
+ Mellowed with gold, the Gray.
+
+ So, when the summer calleth,
+ On forest and field of grain,
+ With an equal murmur falleth
+ The cooling drip of the rain:
+ Under the sod and the dew,
+ Waiting the judgment day;
+ Wet with the rain, the Blue,
+ Wet with the rain, the Gray.
+
+ Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
+ The generous deed was done,
+ In the storm of the years that are fading,
+ No braver battle was won
+ Under the sod and the dew,
+ Waiting the judgment day;
+ Under the blossoms, the Blue,
+ Under the garlands, the Gray.
+
+ No more shall the war cry sever,
+ Or the winding rivers be red;
+ They banish our anger forever
+ When they laurel the graves of our dead!
+ Under the sod and the dew,
+ Waiting the judgment day;
+ Love and tears for the Blue,
+ Tears and love for the Gray.
+
+ Francis Miles Finch
+
+
+
+
+ABRAHAM LINCOLN[5]
+
+
+ Life may be given in many ways,
+ And loyalty to Truth be sealed
+ As bravely in the closet as the field,
+ So bountiful is Fate;
+ But then to stand beside her,
+ When craven churls deride her,
+ To front a lie in arms and not to yield,
+ This shows, methinks, God's plan
+ And measure of a stalwart man,
+ Limbed like the old heroic breeds,
+ Who stand self-poised on manhood's solid earth,
+ Not forced to frame excuses for his birth,
+ Fed from within with all the strength he needs.
+ Such was he, our martyr chief,
+ Whom late the Nation he had led,
+ With ashes on her head,
+ Wept with the passion of an angry grief:
+ Forgive me, if from present things I turn
+ To speak what in my heart will beat and burn,
+ And hang my wreath on his world-honored urn.
+ Nature, they say, doth dote,
+ And cannot make a man
+ Save on some worn-out plan,
+ Repeating us by rote:
+ For him her Old-World molds aside she threw,
+ And, choosing sweet clay from the breast
+ Of the unexhausted West,
+ With stuff untainted shaped a hero new,
+ Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true.
+ How beautiful to see
+ Once more a shepherd of mankind indeed,
+ Who loved his charge, but never loved to lead;
+ One whose meek flock the people joyed to be,
+ Not lured by any cheat of birth,
+ But by his clear-grained human worth,
+ And brave old wisdom of sincerity!
+ They knew that outward grace is dust;
+ They could not choose but trust
+ In that sure-footed mind's unfaltering skill,
+ And supple-tempered will
+ That bent like perfect steel to spring again and thrust.
+ His was no lonely mountain peak of mind,
+ Thrusting to thin air o'er our cloudy bars,
+ A sea mark now, now lost in vapor's blind;
+ Broad prairie rather, genial, level-lined,
+ Fruitful and friendly for all human kind,
+ Yet also nigh to Heaven and loved of loftiest stars.
+ Nothing of Europe here,
+ Or, then, of Europe fronting mornward still,
+ Ere any names of serf and peer
+ Could Nature's equal scheme deface
+ And thwart her genial will;
+ Here was a type of the true elder race,
+ And one of Plutarch's men talked with us face to face.
+ I praise him not; it were too late;
+ And some innative weakness there must be
+ In him who condescends to victory
+ Such as the Present gives, and cannot wait,
+ Safe in himself as in a fate.
+ So always firmly he:
+ He knew to bide his time,
+ And can his fame abide,
+ Still patient in his simple faith sublime,
+ Till the wise years decide.
+ Great captains, with their guns and drums,
+ Disturb our judgment for the hour,
+ But at last silence comes!
+ These all are gone, and standing like a tower,
+ Our children shall behold his fame,
+ The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man,
+ Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame,
+ New birth of our new soil, the first American.
+
+ James Russell Lowell
+
+
+
+
+THE FLAG GOES BY
+
+
+ Hats off!
+ Along the street there comes
+ A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
+ A flash of color beneath the sky:
+ Hats off!
+ The flag is passing by!
+
+ Blue and crimson and white it shines,
+ Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines,
+ Hats off!
+ The colors before us fly;
+ But more than the flag is passing by.
+
+ Sea fights and land fights, grim and great,
+ Fought to make and save the State:
+ Weary marches and sinking ships;
+ Cheers of victory on dying lips;
+
+ Days of plenty and years of peace;
+ March of a strong land's swift increase;
+ Equal justice, right, and law,
+ Stately honor and reverend awe;
+
+ Sign of a nation, great and strong
+ To ward her people from foreign wrong:
+ Pride and glory and honor--all
+ Live in the colors to stand or fall.
+ Hats off!
+ Along the street there comes
+ A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
+ And loyal hearts are beating high:
+ Hats off!
+ The flag is passing by!
+
+ Henry Holcomb Bennett
+
+
+
+
+THE SHIP OF STATE
+
+
+ Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
+ Sail on, O UNION, strong and great!
+ Humanity with all its fears,
+ With all the hopes of future years,
+ Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
+ We know what Master laid thy keel,
+ What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
+ Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
+ What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
+ In what a forge and what a heat
+ Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
+ Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
+ 'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
+ 'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
+ And not a rent made by the gale!
+ In spite of rock and tempest's roar
+ In spite of false lights on the shore,
+ Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
+ Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,
+ Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
+ Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
+ Are all with thee--are all with thee!
+
+ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
+
+
+
+
+THE NAME OF OLD GLORY[6]
+
+
+ Old Glory! say who,
+ By the ships and the crew,
+ And the long, blended ranks of the grey and the blue--
+ Who gave you, Old Glory, the name that you bear
+ With such pride everywhere
+ As you cast yourself free to the rapturous air
+ And leap out full length as we're wanting you to?
+ Who gave you that name, with the ring of the same,
+ And the honor and fame so becoming to you?--
+ Your stripes streaked in ripples of white and of red,
+ With your stars at their glittering best overhead--
+ By day or by night,
+ Their delightfulest light
+ Laughing down from their little square heaven of blue!
+ Who gave you the name of Old Glory?--say who--
+ Who gave you the name of Old Glory?
+
+ The old banner lifted, and faltering then,
+ In vague lisps and whispers fell silent again.
+
+ Old Glory,--speak out!--we are asking about
+ How you happened to "favor" a name, so to say,
+ That sounds so familiar and careless and gay
+ As we cheer it and shout in our wild, breezy way--
+ We--the _crowd_, every man of us, calling you that--
+ We--Tom, Dick and Harry--each swinging his hat--
+ And hurrahing "Old Glory," like you were our kind,
+ When--Lord--we all know we're as common as sin!
+
+ And yet it just seems like you _humor_ us all
+ And waft us your thanks as we hail you and fall
+ Into line, with you over us, waving us on
+ Where our glorified, sanctified betters have gone--
+ And this is the reason we're wanting to know--
+ (And we're wanting it so!
+ Where our own fathers went, we are willing to go)
+ Who gave you the name of Old Glory--Oho!
+ Who gave you the name of Old Glory?
+
+ The old flag unfurled in a billowy thrill
+ For an instant, then wistfully sighed and was still.
+
+ Old Glory--the story we're wanting to hear
+ Is what the plain facts of your christening were--
+ For your name--just to hear it,
+ Repeat it, and cheer it, 's a tang to the spirit
+ As salt as a tear;--
+ And seeing you fly, and the boys marching by,
+ There's a shout in the throat and a blur in the eye
+ And an aching to live for you always--or die,
+ If, dying, we still keep you waving on high.
+ And so, by our love
+ For you, floating above,
+ And the scars of all wars and the sorrows thereof,
+ Who gave you the name of Old Glory, and why
+ Are we thrilled at the name of Old Glory?
+ Then the old banner leaped, like a sail in the blast,
+ And fluttered an audible answer at last.
+
+ And it spake, with a shake of the voice, and it said:--
+ By the driven snow-white and the living blood-red
+ Of my bars, and their heaven of stars overhead--
+ By the symbol conjoined of them all, skyward cast,
+ As I float from the steeple, or flap at the mast,
+ Or droop o'er the sod where the long grasses nod,--
+ My name is as old as the glory of God,
+ ... So I came by the name of Old Glory.
+
+ James Whitcomb Riley
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] By Ralph Waldo Emerson, at the dedication, April 19, 1836, of the
+monument erected at Concord in honor of the patriots who fell in the
+battle of Lexington sixty-one years before.
+
+[2] Published in the Pennsylvania Magazine, 1775.
+
+[3] Used with the courteous permission of the publishers, The J. B.
+Lippincott Co., Philadelphia.
+
+[4] From the National Ode, July 4, 1876.
+
+[5] From the Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration, July 21, 1865.
+
+[6] From the Biographical Edition of the Complete Works of James
+Whitcomb Riley. Copyright 1913. Used by special permission of the
+publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Company.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICA FIRST***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 24798-8.txt or 24798-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/9/24798
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
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