Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-05


and Sumner, Stevens and Blaine, ConklIng
and Edmunds and many others; and it also
brought TO the forefront of the great con-
flct Grant and Sherman, Sheridan and
Thomas, who demonstrated 20 the entire
world the fact that the constltu-
fact make Us nation and that
we proposed to continue as such.
Our national history can be said to be
almost comprised by circle OF acentuary;
and yet IN that centuary what great names
in the field of craftsmanship and battle we
have not added to the catalogue OF the i'm
| mortalS. lime fOrbidS me TO enter into
details touching the special services OF
these great men. Their history is the his
tory Of the country. Washington stands
forth as our first gleat leader; Webster as
the Intellectual gladiator, who on the civil
field conquered one of the great enemies of
our union; Clay and Hamilton as the I'M
questioned friends of our industry; Lin
coin as the immortal emancipation: Thad-
deus Stevens SIS the great American COM
moner.
in the period Of two centuries we have
produced names IN the field of politics and
war equal in dignity and character TO any
produced by England in thousand years
Of storms and commissions And it has
been our pleasure to spend this day IN the
companionship of the immortals of all
countries and ages who have marched
ahead and abreast of the worlds history;
we review them from all ages and times,
as they have wiped out the pathways from
Judea and Rome, from Greece TO Italy,
from Gaul to France and England, and
| from the colonial times Of our own fair
land, they have stepped down into the lv-
ing present, and they muse with US today
They have never grown old. There Is
Moses, whose eye is not dim nor his natu-
raj force abated. Here is Constantine,
carrying in his face the glow of inspiration
caught from the cross he saw in the heav-
ems; Caesar, upon whom perfidy and in
gratitude have left no scars; and the Cor
sican and his marshals, who had SO much
of victory that St. Helena and victory have
! been put behind them. Here is Washing
ton and Lafayette, beautiful in their lives,
and death has not been their achieve
ments; here is Lincoln, the pressure of
| whose hand is warm yet, and death can
never take him away. The future will
| judge Lincoln when the hatreds which
passion have attached to him have passed
| into forgetfulness and his infirmities shall
have been turned into Oblivion. and when
| all his master achievements shall stand
! out as a monument in bold relief, made
! stainless by the generous offices OF time.
| His name will be linked with devotion
| wherever liberty has worshiper, and
and when the unborn generations shall
| have succeeded US no age in all the long
century of struggling freedom in the new
world will furnish to them higher stand
ard of herOiSm and craftsmanship than the
name of Lincoln.
The government of the people, for the
people and by the people, did not perish
from the face of the earth. That shot fred
at Fort Sumpter was the signal gun of a
new epoch for liberty which told the world,
more plainly than human speech can ever
express it. that the uneasy thrones of ty-
ranny and human slavery must crumble
haf boz nix
1t is a singular fact in history that those
who are entrenched in the armor of caste
and privilege always mock at the councils
OF men who could have saved them. 1t
was so in the revolutionary war, the cab
met of George III, did not heed the NUT
tering thunder. 1t was SO in France. They
rejected the advice of Turgot and fell into
the rhands of Robespierre, this class in
suited Washington and Lincoln, and their
privileges and caste distinctions were Tor
ever and eternally washed away.
The flag OF our nation stands today as
never before, the spotiess emblem of peace,
with its field of white pure and unsullied
as the snow that falls from heaven, no
shadow dims the glory of the memories
which it recalls; it reminds us that the
dark and angry waves OF cruel civil war
have subsidized, and that for twenty-four
years the morning fight of peace has
shown upon the land.
tons have moved steadily westward, as
De Tocqueville said: "As if driven by the
mighty hand of God" And following
their mlgratlons. the course OF empire has
westward taken its way. The worlds
scepter passed from Persia to Greece, from
Greece to Italy, from Italy to Great Britain
and from Great Britain the scepter IS to- !
day departed. 1t Is passing on to greater |
Britain, to our mighty west-here to re- |
main, for there Is no further west-the orr |
ent lies beyond. Like the guiding star Of !
the eastern heavens that led the three /
kings with their treasure westward, until |
at length it stood over the cradle of the /
young Christ. so the star of empire, rising |
in the east has ever beckoned the wealth |
and power of the nations on westward, |
until today it stauds over the cradle OF I
the young empire of the west, to /
which mankind is bringing his tribute. |
This is the historic fate of nations. Ma |
lions have decayed, but it has never been |
with the imbicility of age" Avarice, /
drunkenness and luxury have been the /
ruin of every great state. Spain with her |
American possessions was the most pow |
rful nation of Europe, but wealth begot !
luxury and idleness, then came poverty /
and degradation. Rome was never strong |
err, with all the conques of her Caesar than |
at the moment of her fall. She became |
rich and arrogant, her morals degenerated /
and rendered her effeminate and an easy |
prey to the robust barbarians Of the north. |
The regal splendor of Israel reached its |
climax IN the glory of Solomon's reign, /
but immediate ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF the /
kingdom followed. With all the grand /
eur and magnificence at which even the |
Oriental monarchs wondered. there was |
nurtured and sprang speedy revolt. /
Bancroft has wisely said. ''Sedition is bred /
in the lack OF luxury"
To the women of America, you enjoy 1
more rights freely conceded 10 you by 1
American manhood and chivalry, than all /
the women of christendom combined. .
There is more to be achieved By American
motherhood, in the safety and perpetuity /
of the republic, than by all the phantom /
achievements OF woman in the field OF I
political turmoil The contemplation Of /
the human mind stands elated when il be- /
holds the high pedestal upon which the 1
future Of our continent rests-American /
motherhood.
The avenues to wealth in this country, /
and the advantages that 1t yields, are /
choked by no laws Of primogeniture, no /
equally open TO every class OF society. /
Mammon must not become the God Of |
this country. Let his infectious worship
difuse itself among cur citizens and i'm /
part its faint to our national Character, /
let wealth be paid 3 profounder homage 1
than talent. intelligence aud honesty; let 4
ii be the grand lever TO lift stupidity and /
baseness into public confidence and trust;
let il be made the all-eDgrosslng object OF i
general esteem and pur~uit-then is the /
hour Of triumph for wealth and the ami
hilation OF our goveruTuent-then VIII the I
rich and the many coalese IN oppression Of 4
the laborer We boast that we wear no /
letters OF foreign despotism. but let us
remember that we may forge for ourselves