The Portland daily press., 1890-05-31
IN MEMORY OF GREAT AMERICANS.
Corner stone of the Washington
Arch Laid In New York.
Minute Guns Boom on the Hudson
In Honor Of Grant.
The Garfield Memorial Dedicated
with Impressive Ceremonies.

NEW YORK, May 3O.-The services at
General Grants tomb at Riverside Park,
under the auspices of U. S. Grant Post, were
attended Sby Gov. Hill, Gen. Alger, chief
commander. and prominent department
commanders of the G. A. R. The United
Steamers Pensacola. Essex and Yantic were
anchored in the Hudson opposite and fred
minute guns during the exercises. The
floral tributes were extremely handsome.
The grafton was delivered by General Alger.
At the close of the services. the war ships
on the Hudson fired national salute of 21
guns.
Among those present at the laying of
the corner stone of the memorial arch today
were ex-President and Mrs. Grover Cleve-
land, ex-Secretary and Mrs. Fairchild and
ex-Mayor Cooper Sp1s sehes were made by
Henry G. Marquand. George VIM. Curtis,
D. M. Rosch's choir of 200 voices furnished
the music. The following is an extract
from Mr.. Curtis's oration:
"This is day of proud and tender mem
ories. With malice toward none, with char
ity for all, it commentaries the triumph of
rity of the American Union. Its associ-
ations blend naturally with those of the
revolution and of the Inauguration of the
national government. The garlanded
graves of the boys in blue recall the memory
of the old Continentals. When soldier Of
New England in the war for the Union was
marching through New York to the front
and was asked from what place he came,
still keeping step to the drum beat, he
answered, from Bunker Hill, from Bunker
HILL" When Theodore Winthrop fell, we
said, Joseph Warren dies again for his
country. The march of Sherman to the sea
echoes the tread of Ethan Allen marching to
Ticonderoga and demanding Its surrender,
as Sherman would have demanded it, in the
name of the Great Jehovah and the Con-
tinental Congress. To hear Paul Jones on
his shattered ship answering the British
captains summons to yield by shouting that
he had not yet begun to fight, Is to see our
Farragut, in the fiery storm of battle, lashed
to the rigging of the Hartford.
'The Soaking of the sovereign West
Who made his mast throne"
We cannot speak of Grant at ppomattox,
but we remember the cTownlng mercy at
Yorktown. We cannot mention Abraham
Lincoln, but we think of George Washing
ton.
"What day in the year could be more fit
ting than the day consecrated by such men,
ories on which to lay the corner stone of a
monument which shall recall alike the be-
ginning of the Union and the glory of its
greatest citizens? Never before could this
duty have been performed with greater joy
and gratitude, because now the national
Union, the great result of the Revolution
and of the devotion of Washington, has been
tried by fire, and its dross is burned away
Whether the flowers fall today upon the
graves of the blue or the gray, they fall on
the dust of Americans. As nothing but
American valOr could have hoped success
fully to assail the Union, so nothing but
American valor could have successfully
maintained it. Thank God! whatever cClors
we may have worn in the past, today the sun
shines upon nation which Is all true blue.
SIN beginning this memorial work if New
York is justly proud she does not forget that
all the American cities of the Revolution
have their distinctive patriotic renOwn. In
Boston was rocked the cradle of Liberty.
In Philadelphia Independer ] vas declared
and the Constitution ador- q Baltimore
sat the Continental Cons when it was
driven from Philadelphia, and in Charles
town harbor the great ct OF oir Peter
SSeeyWE York was the Scene OF me last act of
the Revolution, and of the opening drama of
Constitutional Union, In New York the
flag of England was lowered. From these
shores the proud sovereignty of Great
Britain sailed away. Here the first Congress
of the United States assembled. Here the
first President was inaugurated, aud here
national government of the Union began.
From the day two hundred and eighty-one
years ago, when Henirick Hudson first saw
the island on which the city stands. to the
present hour, these closely related events
are by far the greatest and most m0ment0us
in the annals of New York. Until now the
part taken in them by the City has wanted
monument. Henceforth the monument that
we raise will tell the glorious story.
''We always gladly coucede that Washing
ton was good, but we are not always so sure
that he was great If without ambition and
without crime, righteously to lead a people
to dependence through a righteous war; /;
then, without precedent amid vast and meal
culable hostile forces to organize their gov
ernment, and establish in every department
the fundamental principles of the policy
which has resulted in marvellous national
power and prosperity, ard untold service to
liberty throughout the world, and to do all
this without suspicion or reproach,. with
perfect dignity and sublime repose,-if this
be greatness. do you find it more in Alexan-
der, Pericles, Caesar or Alfred, in Charlie
magne or NAPOLEON Bonaparte, or in George
Washington? As this majestic arch will
stand here through the long succession of
years in the all-revealing light of day, visi-
BILE at every point and at every point ex-
quisilely rounded and complete, SO in the
searching light of history stands Washing
ton, trong, simple, symmetrical, supreme,
beloved by a filial nation, revered by
grateful world.