The Red Cloud chief., 1892-12-02
DEFENDS RUSSIA.
Dr.. Talmage Ayers That Country
Has Been Detained.
He says h Russians Have been Misrcp-
resented ny False Reports aud That
. Few Gases OF Cruelty Have
Been Enlarged Upon.

international Defamation" His text
was from ii. Peter Ii. 10: "Presump-
tuous are they, self-willed, they are not
afraid to speak evil of dignities." DIR.
Talmage said:
Amid n most reprehensible crew,
Peter here paints by one stroke the por-
trait Of those who delight to slash at
people in authority. Now, we all have
q right TO criticise evil behavior,
whether in high places or low, but the
fact that one is high up is no proof that
he ought to be brought down. There
never was a David on the throne that
there was not some Absalom who want
ed TO get it. There never was n Christ
but the world had saw and hammer
ready to fashion a cross on which to as
sassinate him. Out OF this evil spirit
grow not only individual but national
and international defamation. To no
country has more injustice been
done than to u own in days
that are past. Long before Mar.
tin Chuzzlewit was printed the
literature of the world scoffed ut every
thing American. Victor Hugo, as hon.
est rs he was unequaled in literary
power, was so misinformed concerning
America that he wrote: "The most
singular thing is the need Of whit
Ting, with ,7hich all Americans
are possessed. II is such that on
Sunday they give the sailors little
bits of wood because IL they did not
they would whittle the ship. In the
court, at the most critical moment, the
Judge, whiting, says: Prisoner. are
you guiltyp and the accused TRANQUILITY
responds, ~hittling: Il am not guilty."
Lord John Russell called us "a bubble
bursting nationality" But our country
has at last recovered from such carrica-
ture and there is not n street in any
city of Europe or Asia where the word
america" will not win Difference.
But, there is a sister nation on the
other side of the sea now going through,
the process of international defana-
ton. There Is no country on earth SO
misunderstood as Russia and no mon
arch more misrepresented than its en-
peror.
What are the motives Of misrepre-
sentation? Commercial interests and
international jealousy. Russia is as
large as all the rest of Europe put to-
gether. Remember that a nation is
only q man or a woman on q big scale.
said at st. Petersburg to the most
eminent lady of Russia outside Of the
imperial family: "Are those stories of
cruelty and outrage that / have heard
and read about true?" She replied: mo
doubt some of them are true, but do
you not in America ever have officers of
the law cruel and outrageous in their
treatment Of offenders? Do you not
Nave instances where the police have
Nslubbcd innocent personsP Have you
no instances where people in brief au-
thority act a~rrOgantly?" l replied:
eyes, we do" Then, she said: "Why
does the world hold our government
responsible for exceptional outrages?
As soon as an official is found to be cruel,
he Immediately loses his place" Then
bethought myself: Do the people in
America hold the government at WASH
ington responsible for the Homestead
riots at Pittsburgh, or for railroad in
%surrections, or for the torchof the villain
that consumes q block Of houses, or
for the rufiians who arrest a rail train,
making the passengers hold up their
arms until the pockets are picked?
1t is most important that this country
have right ideas concerning Russia, for,
among all the nations this side OF
Heaven, Russia is Americas best friend
There has not been an hour in the last
seventy-five years that the shipwreck
Of free institutions in America would
not have called forth from oil the des-
potisms of Europe and Asia a shout OF
gladness wide rs earth and deep as per-
dition. But whoever else failed us,
Russia never did, and whoever else was
doubtful, Russia never was. Russia,
then an old government, smiled on the
cradle of II government while yet In
its eayliest infancy. Empress Gather
inc, of Russia, in 1870 or whereabouts,
offered kindly interference that ou
thirteen colonies might not go dowr
under the cruelties of war. Again, In
1918, Russia stretched forth toward us
q mcrciful hand. When our dreadful
civil war was raging and the two thun'
der clouds of northern ana southern
valor clashcd, Russia practically sale
70 the nations of Europe: Keep youl
hands of and let the brave men OF the
north mud the south settle their owr
troubles"
stood on New York battery during
the war, as I suppose many OF you did
looking off through a magnifying glass
upon a fleet Of Russian ships. "Wha'
are they doing thereY ! asked, and 81
everyone asked: "What business have
the Russian warships in our New
York harborT Not until the wal
was over wal 1t found out thai
In ease Of foreign Intervention all thu
guns and the last Of these two feets In
New York aud San Francisco harbor'
were To open in full diapason upon any
foreign ship that should dare TO inter
fere with the right Of Americans, nortf
and south, to settle their own contro
versy. But for those fleets and theil
presence in American waters, there cal
be no doubt that two of the mighties
nations Of Europe would have mingle.
In our fight But for those two feet
the American government would hav'
49, L.. -. --.~ Il. LtAx~v