The Russellville Democrat., 1890-07-10
RUssELLvIILE, POPE co. ARK. THURSDAY JULY 10. s9O
THE LOYAL LEGION.
ton Fly Hon. George K. Peck, of Kansas Tribute to the Declaration of Inde- pendence.


 The Annual Session at Indianapolis --ora-
 ton Fly Hon. George K. Peck, of Kansas
 A Tribute to the Declaration of Inde-
 pendence.
 INDIANAPOLIS Ind, July 5. = The Loyal Legion of Indiana met here yes- terday in annual session. Prominent members of the order were present from all points of the Union The oration of the day was deliretaea. by Hon. George E ecg,, of Kansas. Following is an extract from the speech:
 Companio Ladies and Gentlemen From the distant West, the historic. fruitful and now peaceful fields of our first civic strife, bring you salutation and greeting, The day and The occasion are happily mated, From immemorial times, men who have borne arms nsee enjoyed certain distinc- tton, the tribute that human nature yields to those who have played the big stakes oi life and death. Responsive to, or, perhaps, created by this scntement is the tendency oi those who have been in the stress and rigor of the game to look back with a feeling which is partly love and partly pride on the old days and the old cause.
 It matters little that many seasons have passed since arms were stacked; nor that we, who where young and gay. have felt the frost in our joints and on youthful forms the rust of the implacable years. The soldier must not question fate. This much is ours to know that if eyes beam somewhat less brightly and heads reveal the gray autumnal touch, the things that once were dear are precious yet and the faith of other days has not departed.
 The Loyal Legion signifies, to us at least, that loyalty is virtue which should never go out of fashion. Love of country is not, and should not be, a sentiment that responds only to the bugle and the drum. It s indeed true that the finest impulses lie dormant, waiting the call that shall transmute them into vital convictions But yet it is also true that nation is best endowed when it has the common every day affection of It's people, in peace as well as in war.
 The people of the United States call them- selves Americans, claiming the name of the continent to mark their aspirations and their destiny. But what is that ideal feeliog we sometimes call "the American spirit?p surely It is not a selfish lust of possession; the vulgar satisfaction of knowing that we inhabit an imperial do- main, and that no one must tscspass on what we call our own. some better re son must be in our hearts, some truer feeling mustnspire our lives, before we can know what patriotism is Even the brute loves his own jungle. The tiger will fight to the death for the greensward on which 1t has played, or the spr ng at which it has quenehed it's th rst only men fight for a sentiment; only men give up their lives for the things they have not seen. Fields Of cotton and fields of corn wsll grow under any sun that yields its compelling rays. he harvest cares not what sickle snail reap it. Nature Is calmly lnliff rent, deal n out the rude justice of the seas )ns, and needing not the losses nor the gains. But men think they alone have "that largo dlscours, look ing before and after'' which is the real basis of moral fesponsiDilitS. The true American loves not simply the United States, but tn 1t for which the United states stands. The American flag is something more than a harmonious blending of colors Who has not felt the awe and mystery that dwrli in holy em 9lems? What faith has not been quickened by signs and symbols that represent those invisible and eternal things of which human lips can never rightly speak? The United States is greater in what 1t means than in what 1t Is
 The Decaration of Independence is incom- parably the greatest, wfsest and clearest statement cf human rights ever put upon paper And it is a curious fact that neither the men who framed it nor their ccntempo- raries were always successful when they put their hands to the pen. The articles of confederation were, from the first, hope less failure. Ten amendments to the Consti- tuition were made almost immediately after it's adoption, two shortly afterwnrd, and finally, ,as you know too well three more were written in blood. Even now there are many respects in which it doubtless could be i'm proved. But the Declaration of Independ- encc remains forever fone entire and per feet chrysoilte," and is confessedly the tue gospel of our free lon, the true standard of American rights. In that great statement of the equality of men 2 found the best medl- cine for National disease, the best balm for the hurts and bruises of tho body polite It means equality of opportunity; a just ( ak. in the race of life under laws that all have helped to make. The right to these things is inalienable. They can neither be talk tn away nor can they voluntarily be given mp. for the Declaration of Independ- ence means that you can not rightfully make your brother a slave even by his own consent In short, this great charter, in the lines and between the lnes. declares that the golden rule Of legislation and govern ment, like the golden rule of human con- duet, is the unssliish recognition of the rights of others It is high ideal; too high perhaps for the eighteenth or nineteenth century, but not too high for the age that is coming, when the ashes Of the dead shall blossom in hopes made real and the blood of martyrs shall crimson the flower that truth sets in the wreath of the immortals.
 Something might say, if it were right to say any thing. of a somewhat effusive joy that marked arecent tributeito n great sol dier, who gave his name and his sword to a cause we believe to be unspcakably wrong 1t Is not for us to decide how far m iiitary ssill or personal character can lessen the guilt of treason But Of this, oh, loyal hearts, be sure, neither bronze nor marble can endure long enough to cnange wrong into right. nor to cure the broken oath of Robert l.. Lee. Some day, perhaps. another colossal fotm will stand by the side of hIs, grand, massive and heroic. the statue of one who simply thought that soldiers plighted word meant what 1t said; man who spoke little of his honor, but kept t stainless as the snow; soldier of the an tique type. the greatest son Virginia gave to the war-George II. Thomas, the Rock of Cliol t,,auua