New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-01-14
WASHINGTON IN WARTIMES
LECTURE BY JOHN HAY.
SCENES IN THE GREAT WAR DRAMA-sKETt

OF HISTORIC PERsoNAGEs.
| large and unusually cultivated audience
gathered In seinway Hail. last evening, TO listen TO
lecture by Mr. John Hay what he styles The Heroic
| Age in Washington" The platform was occupied by
some 200 OF the notable and OF the city. Tho
audience listened with the closest attention throughout
only broken by frequent and hearty applause. The lee
ure was one OF high dramatic interest aud full OF tho
touches OF a mastery hand. few OF the striking pas
| sages will be found below
THE LECTURE.
do not 10 rake up the ashes OF old annosities-
The strfes which preceded the colossal contest OF 1850
| are dead They now seem petty little quar-
rels of to-day viii appear hereafter But in that contest
there was quality which raised It above ordinary cleo
tons There was a sudden pause for consderation-a
casting up of the balance OF the national life. Men
asked themselves seriously whether there were any
thing worth fighting for in political principles The
answer was in that vast majority OF Lineons The brst
words ever heard from him In that momentous sum
mer which preceded the struggle were sngularly sig
piAcant of this tendency our politics at that mo
ment began irresistibly to take.
He came into the law office where l WIS reading.
which adoined his own. with copy OF Jumpers mag"
zine In his hand containing Senator Dongiass a"ouS
article on Popular sovereignty. Lincoln seemed greatly
reused by what had read. Entering the once WIN
out salutation he said: "This viii never do He puts
rhe moral element out Of this question. IL won't stay
out" This was gathering and growing conviction OF
the whole country All measures had been adopted 70
evade the frghtful responsibility OF decision But /"
was coming and everybody knew it. Even those who
obstinatey looked and talked the other way felt an
uncomfortable that they weredrItln& sterh-
foremost to the solution Of the matter
After a pungent reference 10 the wemeant but inef-
ecye abors OF the Peace Congress- now utterly Tor
gotten the lecturer sketched the journey OF Lincoln
from Springfield to the national capital lie gave too
strong picture of the Washington manners. morals.
ubi md
when as Harry Wise said you had TO wear great over
shoes into the best society" The lecturer thus do
pieted one period OF the heroic which soon began
A NATION IN ARMS.
is not often given the life Of nation to see mo-
ment OF moral exaation like this The world may walt
long before it will again gathering like that OF the
manhood the nation which swept down almost with
the swiftness OF thought Washington and the border
You know whom the quota Of the States were full how
those who were left out camored TO get ln3how tney
overlooked the limits OF their own states, anu gave IN
finite trouble to the mastering officers by their change OIL
! venue. -.
to be shot And among those who came IN those hrss
Great western civilization What recruits they werei
One Rhode Island company had half dozen m,iilohares
there parsons and scholars ana poets men OF VII
OF genius, willing to waste the spoil OF the ages
they had accumulated In study, as mere protest Oh
| civilization against Darbarsm: ,,,., n,,
opinion of the better classes IN England called norae
of hirengs enlisted to butcher the gentlemen Oh inc
|
stood and remembered IT, But let US not De UNJUST 70
MOtherand. The whole world repeated the auhI IN
FOR the same reason They did know enough about
| to make mistake. But the diplomatic D0uy,
truth about sent nothing over tue ocean OUT Gal
umnes and Misrepresentation ,,-,,..
What a all was The diplomats OF Washington
burrowing like moes away from the light OF dawn
ing epoch, stutng their ears with cotton tnat tney
might deny OF the storm OF lightning and
thunder which was clearing the foul ar OF IT'S long
gathered poisons The ancient philosophers ssu that
he
hear it, The blaze OF that boreal lgh was 50 Drgns
could Yet every street and avenue swarmed with
heroes.
Here, paying fan eloquent tribute to the memory OF
Baker Ellsworth, the speaker passed on TO speak OF
the herosm of the time IN which women as wei as men
not kindness the 10000 ofceseekers which infested
Washington, and the speaker adverted to the consod
ton opinion which at last assured tue victory ana
prepared the reconstruction. He said
FAITH IN ULTIMATE TRIUMPH
The conviction OF ultimate triumph never deserted the
best men headquarters. You remember how Gen.
Sherman spoke OF Grants OF victory-which
rcsembed sherman says, "a CHRISTIANS faith in his
Savior" 1t was the same with Lincoln. Even tho
morning after Bull Run, when thought seriously
of the end. he said. with mpatienc, There Is
nothing in this except the lives lost and the livea
was probably no one who regretted 6oodshed and
disaster than he and no one who estimated tho
consequence Of defeat lightly He often for
moment impatient at loss OF tme and yet he was not
always that this not part OF the necessary
scheme. There those who think his tranquility In
those terrible scenes was shaowness or unthinkinR
evy. There could be greater error. The solemnity
which the Gettysburg address ana the second
inaugural is but shadow OF the momentous spiritual
width he fought out with his own questioning
soul.
forth I'm the form OF religious meditation his beliefs
and Guesonngs OF the purposes OF Providence This Is
paper which has been made public, aud the audi
ence evidently profoundly impressed by IT, The
great struggle as it neared its close, graphicy
described. and few solemn periods htly told OF the
triumphal procession which bore home to the sunset
prairies the dead Lincoln The lecturer concluded with
| these words
the flourish the rumpets and the entry OF the forces,
40 after Lincoln had from Washington in the
| victorious soldiers. 1t seems to me no such
| not regiment with half its complement o;
| men, There was scarcely q soldier officer
| with a whole uniform. There scarcely ban
| ner but what was backened with smoke and rdded
reviewing generals past Grant and sherman aud stan
ton and representatives OF the Old World all in gala
Dress one doubted any more that this
was the greatest army that went to war.
| In that colossal and inspiring picture OF
Kanbaoh which shows the legendary fight OF Attla.
then fields and two contests the one between tho
shadowY battle set in the upper air among the
ghosts OF the heroes slain below, 30 all hearts that day
were divided in and gratitude between our
| two armies, the its way hOmeward crowned
and its return the peacef interests OF
the country had saved and the OF the other in
gained their promotion the battlefield gher and
wider sphere OF duty, fulfilling the scheme Of the
| Lord OF Hosts some activity above the clouds.
Thus passed the vct0rS and the martyrs out
of the army into peace, OF into holy
memories. And with the sweet and thrilling sounds OF
the buges and the rising dust OF the columns smitten
Into golden glory by the sun setting over Georgetown
Highes passed away the Heroic Age from Washington