Democratic messenger., 1892-11-26

Now Nou must remember that AlcXan-
der the Third reigns over wider doinin-
ion than all those empires put together.
As nation is only man or Il woman
on big scale. let me ask. Would you
individually prefer to be judged by y"ur
faults or your virtues: All people. cx-
cept ourselves, have faults
The pessimist attempting to wrie
your biography would take you in y,'u.
weaker moods. AMI the picture of ynu
on the first page of your biography
would be as you looked after some
meanmess had been practicc,l on you and
you We're tearing mad. Now, as ana an
OptimiSt. give YOU fair warming that ii
ever write Your biography | will take
you as You looked the day y0ur divi-
dends came i'll twenty per cent larger
than you everapiicipated. or the morning
on Your way to business after Your first
child was born, or the morning after
Your conversion when heaven had
rolled in ON vour soul. The most ac-
cursed homuncuh Of all the earth are
the pessimists, who. whether they judge
individual or national character aul
whether they WELD tongue or pen. are
filed with anaihematizaiion. and who
have more To say abont the freckleS on
the cheek of beauty than of the sunrises
and sunsets that flush il.
1t is most important that this country
have right ideas concerning Russia. for
among all the nations TINS side Of
heaven Russia is Americas best friend
There has not been an hour i'll the last
seventy-tive years that the shipwreck OF
free institutions in America would not
have called forth from al the despojismS
of Europe and Asia shout of gladness
wide as earth and deep as perdition
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 our
government while yet i'll its earliest in
fancy. Empress Catherine of Russia iii
l1s6 or thereabouts offered kindly inter
ference that our thirteen colonies might
not 20 down under the cruelties Of war
Again. in 1913. Russia stretched forth
toward us n merciful hand. When our
dreadful civil war was raging. and the
two thunder clouds of northern and
southern valor clashed, Russia practi-
callv said To the nations of Europe.
Keep Your hands of and let the brave
men of the north and the south settle
their own troubles" Prince Gortscha-
koff. the Russian statesman. diplomatist
and prime minister. during that war
looked earnestly into the face of Bayard
Taylor. our minister plenipotentiary to
Russia. and said: Russia alone has
stood by you from the first. and we will
continue 10 stand by you. You know
the sentiment of Russia. We desire,
above all things, the maintenance of the
I American Union as one indivisiblc
/ Union. We cannot take any part more
I than we have done. We have no hos
tility to the southern people. Russia has
declared her position and will maintain
it. There will he proposals for inter-
vention. We believe that intervention
could do no good mt present. Proposals
will be made 10 Russia - join i'll some
! plan of interference. She will refuse
any invitation of the kind. Russia will
occupy the same ground as at the begin
ming of the struggle. You may rely
upon II. she VIII not change.
rehearsed some Of those scenes 10 the
emperor last July. saying. You were
probably too young to remember the po-
sition yOur father took at that time. but
| with radiant smile he responded, '-Oh.
yes; | remember. | remember" and
/ there was an accentuation Of the words
which demonstrated 10 me that these
4 6 -,
the imperial household
stood on New York Battery during
/ the war rs | suppose many of You did,
/ looking off through Il magnifying glass
upon fleet of Russian ships. What
are they doing there:" | asked. and so
i every one asked. What business have
/ the Russian warships in our New York
! harbor:' Word came that another fleet
/ of Russian warships was in San Fran.
/ cisco harbor. "What does this mean"
our rulers asked. but did not get ilnme-
4 diate answer. In these two American
/ harbors the Russian fleets seemed sound
asleep. Their great mouths Of iron
4 spoke not word, and the Russian flag
1 whether floating in the air or dropping
/ by the flagstaff. made 10 answer TO our
/ inquisitiyeness. William II. Seward,
/ secretary of state. asked the Russian
minister at Washington the meaning of
those Russian ships in American waters
and got no satisfactory response. Ad-
miral Farragut said To Russian officer
/ after dining in the home of the eminent
politician. Thurlow Weed, thar maker
and unmaker of presidents. What are
you doing here with those Russian YES
sells of war
Not until the war was over was it
found ont that in case of foreign inter
vention all the guns and the last gun Of
these two fleets in New York and San
Francisco harbors We're TO open III full
diapason upon any foreign ship that
should dare to interfere with the right
| of Americans, north and south, TO sell
yle their own controversy. But for those
fleets and their presence in American
waters. there can he no doubt that two
Of the mightiest nations of Europe
would have mingled in our fight. Bul
for those two fleets the American gov
ernment would have been today only Il
name in history. declare before God
and the nation that | believe Russia
saved the United States of America.
Last July stood before great ;hrong
of Russians III the embarrassing position
of speaking 10 an audience thrccfourihS
Of which could not understand my Ian
guage any more than conld understand
theirs. But there were two names that
they thoroughly understood as well as
you understand them. and the utterance
of those two names brought forth an II"
clamation that made the city hall Of St.
Petersburg quake from foundation stone
to tower. and those two names were
George Washington AMI Abraham
Lincoln.
Now Is it not important that we should
feel right toward that mighty that God
given friend of more than one hundred
years? Yea. because 1t is a nation of