Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-01-14
The veterans Of tho Blne.
BANQUET OF THE WAsHIGToH CoNHASDEKY
OF TIE LOYAL LEGION.

OF 1HB AOrAL LEVINE.
Our exchanges mention the reunion and
banquet of the District of Columbia Com
mandery of the Loyal Legion of the United
States, at the Arlington Hotel in Washing
ton, Wednesday evening, January 6th.a as one
of the largest and most brilliant gatherings of
army aud navy veterans that has been held
tor q long time. General Hawley presided ~
Commander, and At the tables we're seated
between two and three hundred members, la
GLIDING many of the most distinguished ON
Gers of the regular and volunteer service,
some of them now Senators and others
Representatives in Congress.
Congressman BouteIle vas called on to re-
spond TO the toast to '.The Navy" and in
the course of bis of-hand remark, which
were received with enthusiasm, the speaker
being warmly congratulated in person by
nearly every member of the brilliant compa-
ny, he said: As a member of the opposition
in the House of Representatives, he was
pleased to note the confidence of the public
that the minority would not be found ob.truct-
ing but earnest in promoting all wise and
liberal measures for the building up Of the
navy, and he jocularly rallied some Of the
democratic members present upon the fact
that the Congressional opposition had not
branch of the service. He believed that
foreign nations had not made great Roadway
in the experiments of naval establishment
since the revolution in naval architecture
caused by the prowess Of the Monitor. as q
large proportion Of the experiments had been
failures and We have the advantage Of all
their costly experience.
Naval construction and armament are still
in the experimental stage and he urged that
we should deal fairly with every honest eff
fort at Improvement. He was confident that
the new steel cruisers now building would
prove admirable vessels of their class, and
these tentative efforts of American skill in q
new field OF naval construction should be en-
couraged and sustained on their actual merits.
His suggestion that even the little Dolphin"
was entitled to fair play, elected hearty ap-
prevail, and great amusement was afforded
by bis humorous reference to the current re-
ports that the gallant little craft had been
driven at twelve knots an hour through a
heavy head sea in such furious gale in the
North Atlantic in January that she had to
put in 10 the Chesapeake to enable the officers
and crew to recover from sea sickness, and
that after this experience it was rumOred that
the grave and reverend seigneurs at the depart
ment proposed ordering her To sea again to hunt
up storm. He paid glowing tribute to the
accomplishment and professional devotion of
the personnel Of every branch of the naval
| service, saying that we had in our own coun-
try the ability to design, the materials and
skill to construct the bulls, engines and arm
ament, of as perfect war ships as can be put
afioat in any part of the globe. and that now
and in future as in the past, the gallant officers
and sailors of the United States Navy will be
ready to uphold the honor of their flag if
| need be against the world.
| la conclusion he deprecated the morbid
sentiment that has rendered it fashionable to
urge forgetfulness of the sacrifices and glor-
les of the great war for the Union. He
declared that no healthier lessons for the ris-
| ing generation can be found than the records
and example of the devotion of the loyal
| soldiers and sailors who won the greatest
triumph for the cause of humanity in uphold
ing the nationality of government by the peo-
pie Referring in terms of earnest pro-
test to the mistaken policy of
obliterating from the regimental flags
and from the Army Register the hon
orable inscriptions of the battles fought for
the country from the Heights OF Queenstown
in 1912, through the Florida war of 1886 8,
the glorious fields of Cerro Gordo, Chapulte-
pee, Churubusco and the City Of the Monte
zumas, down to Williamsburg, Antietam,
Fredericksburg. Getty sburg. The Wilderness
Cedar Creek, and Appomattox, he said the
respect of the men who chivalrOusv though
mistakenly fought for secession and slavery.
could not be secured bv such a weak surren
der Of honors noblv won in noble cause.
| In that respect the North would do well 20
| initiate the devotion with which the men Of
| the late Confederacy cherish every asso1ia-
tion of heir struggle and invoke the aid of
the sculptor, the painter, the orator and the
poet to perpetuate the memory Of their
| achievements on the battleields of rebellion
! He asked whether it was y symptom of this
morbid depreciation of LOYALTY that the projec-
tors of an expensive historical exhibition in
this city had concluded that larger audiences
could he drawn at the present time at the
National Capital t. see portrayal of the de-
feat of the Union armies at Bull Run, than
would be likely to paironizc representation
of any one eft the great national victories
over the hosts of rebellion. He c'osed with
an invocation to the survivors of the grand
est war ever waged for human liberty to
keep the fres of patriotism burning brightly
upon every altar and to keep alive, as a sacred
duty to departed comrades, and as the surest
hostage of national greatness and prosperity
a remembrance of the heroism, the chivalry,
the self-sacrifce, the patriotic devotion of the
loyal soldiers and sailors of the Republic
remembrance of the great price at which OuI
national deliverance was bought.