Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1891-08-20
crittendon, Of Kentucky,

-
Governor C~rittendon, of Kentucky,
said he never listened to a speech so
Astounding in eloquence and pathos as
Corwin's last appeal on the floor of
Congress-a two days speech lin
which he t~earfully appealed TO Bis
c%ountryman to avoid the Scylla and
Charbdis of the war that YVES immi-
nent.n His speech against the Mexi-
can wal is immortal in the praise in
which Corwin advised the Mexicans to
welcome our soldiers with bloody
hands to an hospitable grave
Hon. Isaac f. Crazy, a Democratic
member from Michigan, undertook to
ridicule William Henry Harrison and
the battle of Tippecanoe, fought in
1911, and General Crary, rather
''pompiously,n as the negroes say, de-
scribed himself as "a militia general on
a peace establishment" This speech
of Crary's was delived in April, 1910,
and Corwin rose in reply. His speech
was entirely extemporaneous. He said /:
1--WE all in fancy now see the gem
tleman from Michigan in that most
dangerous and glorious event in the
life of a military general on the peace
establishment-a parade day, the day
for which all the other days of his life
seem to have been made. We can see
the troops in motion, umbrellas, hoes,
and axe handles, and other like deadly
implements of war, overshadowing all
the field, and 10! the leader of the most
approaches.
Far off his coming Shines
His plume white, after the fashion Of
the great Bombar, is of ample length,
and made its doleful history in the
bereaved neck and bosom of forty
neighboring hen roosts.
Like the great Suwarrow he seems
somewhat careless in forms and points
of dress; hence, his epaulettes may be
ON his shoulder, back or side, but still
cleaning, gl%oriously cleaning in the
sun. Mounted he is, too, let it not be
forgotten.
Need | describe to the colonies and
generals this honorable house the steed
which heroes bestride on such occa-
sions? No. I see the memory of other
days is with you, You see before you
the gentleman form Michigan mounted
on his c%rop-eared, bushy-tailed mare,
the singular obliquities of whose hin
der limbs is described by that most ex-
pressive phrase, sickle hams her
height just fourteen hands all told.
Yes, sir! Then you see his 'steed that
laughs at the shaking of the spear :
that is his war horse whose neck is
clothed with thunder
"Mr. Speaker, we have glowing de-
scriptions in history of Alexander the
Great and his war horse B~ucephalus at
the head of the invincible Macedonian
phalanx, but, sir, such are the inn
provements Of modern times that every
one must see that our militia general,
with his %crop-eared mare, with bushy
tail and sickle ham, would literally
brighten off the battlefield q hundred
Alexanders. But, sir, to the history Of
the parade day.
"The general, thus mounted and
equipped, is in the field and ready for
action. On the eve of some deperate
enterprise, such as giving the order to
shoulder arms it may be, there occurs
a crisis, one of the accidents of war
which no sagacity could foresee or pre-
vent. A cloud rises and passes over
the sun. Here an occasion occurs for
a display of that greatest Of all traits
in the character of o commander, that
tact which enables him to size up and
turn to good account events looked for
as they arise. Now for the caution
wherewith the Roman fabius folded
the skill and courage Of Hannibal.
"A retreat is ordered and troops and
general in a twinkling are found safely
bivouacked in a neighboring grocery.
But even here the general still has
room for the exhibition of heroic deeds.
Hot from the field and chafed with the
untoward events of the day your gem
eral unsheathes his trenchant blade,
eighteen inches in length, as you well
remember, and with an energy and
remorseless fury he slices the water
melons that lie in heaps around him,
and shares them with his surviving
friends. Other sinews of war are not
wanting here. Whisky, Mr.. Speaker,
that great leveler of modern times, is
here also, and the shells of the water.
melons are filled to the brim. Here
again, Mr.. Speaker, are shown how the
extremes of barbarism and civilization
meet. As the Scandinavian heroes of
old, after the fatigues Of battle, drink
wine from the skulls Of their slaugh-
tered enemies in Odins halls, so now
IL militia general and his forces from
the skulls of melons thus vanquished
in copious drafts of whisky assauge
the heroic fire of their souls after the
bloody scenes of a parade day.
"But alas for this short-lived race of
ours. All things will have an end, and
so ever it is with the glorious achieve
ment of our militia general. Time is
| on the wing. and will not stay his