The Portland daily press., 1885-07-01
ELOQUENT WORDS.
National Progress Comes from the
Great Mass Of the Nation.
Congressman Reeds Grafton at
Colby University.

SoipJ OniteTSitya
| have seen it somewhere stated that wheI
O'Meara proposed to Napoleon in exile tt
read him history the great conqueror replied:
Don't read me that for ] know that to be
false" At another time, in much more force
full and epigrammatic way, he said; "Histo-
ry is the lies which have been agreed upon.
Inasmuch as he himself had furnished many
of the misstatements which are now current
as history his evidence has the vivid force
which belongs to the testimony of an eyeWit-
ness and actor. Because he found that his
acts and deeds had been misrepreSented, dis
torted and traduced it was easy for him to
see that the deeds and acts of other men who
had in like manner attracted the attention of
the world, would in like manner be misrep-
resented, distorted and traduced And he
was right. Life is battle, though we no
longer wear swords Living, struggling men
while the fight goes on get scant praise and
less appreciation. Eulogy we reserve
for the dead. When mems passion
are reused, especially in the fercer
epOchs, they say and believe what they wish
to say and believe, not what they ought.
What men will believe at any time depends
not half so much on the fact as on their state
of mind. We defy those who fight our
battles, and are sure of the wickedness of
those who fight against us. Since so great a
part of the material of history must be what
lhCll Sdy dDOuJ tdcl OJucT Wlen GOey are III
each others way, it is small wonder that the
faces which look out upon us from the pages
OF the past are never the faces which actu-
ally frowned and smiled upon the world.
Time onlylexaggerates our illusions. Many
harsh features have melted into beauty in the
sweet azure of the distance, and many noble
forms have been sadly distorted by the at
mosphere through which the light comes to
us from them. Under the ban of history
he many great hearts which have held the
world, while there bask in the smiles of the
just many whited sepulchre full of dead
mems bones. But all these mistakes and dis
tortions are of no consequence to the dead
and of but little to the living. For the dead
the grave makes all things equal Imperial
Caesar sleeps, If he were patriot, as sweetly
under undeseryed blame as Brutus. does, If
he were knave under undeserved praise.
1t matters nothing to Henry VIII. whether
Froude tells the very truth about him or
Goldwin Smith orneither. To the living these
errors are of little consequence and l should
be tempted to say of none if did not believe
all truth to be of consequence, and if / did
not know that In the strange makeup of hui
manlty all attempts to do justice to the dead
are incentive, support and consolation to those
still living and still militant.
The History which Napoleon thus stigma
tized was until this century almost the only
deeds and doings, the thoughts, plans
and emotions of kings and princes,
of courts and popular leaders. 1t was be-
cause these details were so often false that
the great man, defeated and heartbrOken,
complained so bitterly of history. Yet ali
these little falsehoods about men and mo-
tlves, and even about events, are trivial be-
yond Characterization compared with the
enormous falsehoOd which underlies this
whole method of writing history, the silent
assumption that these princes and potentates,
these leaders and statesmen, these warriors
nd NJ Al.. 4 ELL
nations, the birth and decay of religions, the
progress and degradation of the human race
that they made civilization and laws and
cOnquestS and changed the fate of empires
at their own sweet will. To history of that
KIND democracy was but of yesterday, and
In that history the people took no part ex-
cept as they were forced by the brave men
or caJoled by the knaves. To such history,
that interesting figure, that much married
much widowed and altogether bereaved man.
Henry the Will, was the founder of our holy
religion, and Elizabeth, its preserver and
savior, Napoleon was the conqueror of Eu-
rope and Alexander Of the world But de-
mocracy is not of yesterday. 1t has equal
date with the race of man. There has never
~ nap rent since time began in which
o',er,, UTer q ilion, did not count for what he
every human benls achieved by his
was worth in all that was '''f
nature and his race. oil
". IL Is true that when we look at an,, ON,
section oi humanity, such as we LnSo,,, oi., !
fSn AN watch we see such individuality "f ",l an
nmlsniI rIo, d,lcr Selshness Of purpose. each one
Pui.S9uIIlS ms own good, real or fancied aons
{estlhS tLe other and all at cross nnrnoSesi eaSn
u uoes indeed seem almost the 70, poSes s
eLtl5slast TO insist that all this sST3,,lil " az
cloMu ol creatures has a unity from ,,h;nS
aiH ai;t Vii9 S.lI ellanclpate himself, an indvjdn
selilshness of each, happiness fo oot ~ VI tlie
q 81; shali communism ever dreamed (1,t ~
Iilis complex individuality has come oII i'G VI
nall progress. Out of the oraat ,'ali o. nel Z
Ti r Il nt nt9il III mas come all national progress
make y natio5 All leaaers and foremost men Which
ahe 4l latlon; 1t is the nation wbieb aIt m,ton
th the Ieaaers The old story which adnrnS ll,aHeS
.la .e uleeh reader of my day. or soma a,idII
rE;t6 Ii 'glnme, about the army of StsGs
With With ston sta 2r leader and the army of Io5S
storv aftegs af NJ leader was but a silly old
would have ienadI aoI N the first case the lion
wouId bove rped forward and the stagS
W. MuSiia ase +. away which would have heeg,s
the lions wonlge non and in the other case
off the sta1 M aye t1 made light breakfast
act. M '"' "'"s7' ." then acted the way lions
of lcsdersbipp N,e IS mad been more matter |
Onr 0reat nation 'ould be in Utopia TODAY
over fhe mighfv u you'd not be conyuIsed |
of government cleY1 Y1tlon OF the appointment
have been watchin' nor would all EuroDe |
Ameer of Afghanist only month ago the
unprononnce3hIe ~ and spelling out the
land. War woi1d h. ses of that unknown
perhaps government ceased long ago, and
have become automati n 1 people would |
The pathway Of finn finn all its branches.
failures of leaders. vi, SsiLeWn with the
dler, great general, hei,vf. ta' SKliiul sol
died an exile in foreigal,, = S"U ~, comments,
oil the greatest orator of u; 4; l ne eloquence
in vain against the marciaf phie, S,lie numbered
Wentworth, ''the onesl,,lp. Illp. Ihomas
man the Einu bodv d;ocupT6melV a able |
Kosciusko would not - ~ tne scaffold.
exile If his country hadsoe aled In
Demosthenes would have s5 sSen with WIN hlm.
Greece been willing to be 81 1reece S had
OF otraltord eXtorting, even IL It. faiI ne Earl
admiration of his foes, Woults FAILURE, the
great figure. of English stor}Ve been the
Deen gong his way. But Enadd England
ing another way, and the Eafu was go
supreme ability and all, went oIraHord,
bulfnsh before the rising Nile. yn like the
Some OF the best proofs of wha
about leaders and people might uaVe SAID /
the history Of our own land. BlIound In /
venture to cite them. A great mare not I
say our institutions are what max would Y
PIE governors. AS if the Institute peo- |
the people and not the people til made I
tlons as If the created could be astltu-
creator. | should like to tell he the 1
times in the last hundred wears. naypany /
last Twenty-Five years, the people. the Il
United States have risen above their the s
hons and above their leaders, and hoytu- e
tlmeS they have fallen below them. ny q
could not do it without offense: for c
history is always politics. and in the,t #
ence OF such an audience as this / am hi [;
over to keep the peace. c.
But English history is neutral gro Il
wnefe | may safely venture, and the EngN e;
nation Is one of the most striking of s.
many examples of the steady progress ofty
great race towards civilization and powef
What broad empirel Beneath the burrf
ing sun OF India alone two hundred and forl
ty millions are under her control. twice the
multitude which owned the sway of Rome
In ner imperial prime. On this very conti-
nent her dominion covers vaster area than
our own, an area greater than Alexander had
conquered when he wept for other worlds
. queen Victoria has three hundred mil.
nom mons OF subjects, Elizabeth had but five
Wnere Is the unbroken line of great leader,
under which this marvellous growth has
Hourlshed? You will search for them in
YAM You cannot find them among the
kings from Elizabeth to Victoria only one
name name SHINES out, and how much the name 81
Wllllam OF Orange owes to the genius of Ma,
catiay our generation, yet under the spell ot
tnat brilliant writer, will never Know. YoI
VIII not ind the great leaders among the
cnle1 advisers of the Crown. We do NOT star
az the recognition of hero in Sir Robert
WaipOle, bribe in hand, or in the Pelham,
or tne Earl of Butte or in George GrenyiIle
OF the respectable Marquis of Rockingham
or even IN the great William Pitt who dice
near neart broken because all his plans seemed tC
fali. All that made him great was his stead
Iast Ia u representation of the indomitable spirit