The herald., 1893-07-11

toast of Our Country. He delivered an
eloquent address which teemed with
noble sentiments. He said that in re.
spending to the toast he be-
came aware of its mighty signiti-
canoe. There was no man, he said,
able to do it justice. To appreciate
the grandeur of this country it was
but necessary to turn to the history of
all of the states composing the coun-
try. One hundred and seventeen years
ago the signers of the Declaration of
Independence declared that this
new country should be an asylum for
day we have lesrned that this was
wrong, and it is now time that America
should be governed by Americans.
Lieutenant Mcmahon then responded
To the Army.
Mr.. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen
To respond to the toast of the Army
of the United States is for me very
embarrassing task-a task that finds its
only consolation in the thought that
misery loves company, seeing that L
cannot possibly suffer any more than
those who have to listen to ine. l say 1T
is an embarrassing task for two reasons.
In the frat place, it is not easy for
young officer to answer for the army In
the presence of the honored guest OF
this evening, who, when still younger
than l, was major-general commanding
an army corps of $4,000 men in the
bloodiest war that history has ever
known and secondly, because there is
no doubt that q standing has
always been, in the language
OF diplomacy, a persona non grata
to the Anglo-Saxon race. This feeling
is an old one, dating back to the times
when the Englieh kings, finding on
their hands an obstinate parliament and
something like the Sherman silver bill
to repeal, turned loose few hundred
stout dragons in the parliament cham.
ber; and it is said that the broadsword
invariably proved far more effective
"diecourager of hesitancy" than the
failure OF hundred banks. And
30 we find the constitution
provisions showing that the army was
regarded aH the greatest menace to popu-
| lar liberty. How idle were these appre-
tensions is proved by the fact that never
once since the establishment OF this ma
ton has the army drawn its sword save
in defense of the government, or Jailed
| W chOnthC ~ PicihPoAJ
when the danger was passed.
Our duties at the present day are not
onerous-an occasional chase after the
elusive Kid, or the task OF seeing that,
when some Indian reservation Is thrown
open to settlemen, the land-hungry
boomers all start at the scratch. And
sometimes, when the anarchist with the
unpronouncable name slips by quaran-
| r,n1nrrokau tn 1ntY0dnC0
amongst us, with the aid of dynamite, a
little more liberty than we think we
can use, the army is called upon
to show the gentleman that, while in
this country everybody may say what
he pleases. there are some things that
even a foreigner must not do. But II
must not be supposed that the army is
idle. 1t is today one vast school, where
the officers are being trained in all that
pertains to the art of war. The enlisted
men are soon to be armed with
new magazine rifle, mosl
deadly weapon; $50 high-power steel
rifles for coast defense are contracted FOL
and already the engineers are at work on
the Notifications of New York, Boston
and San Francisco. Our brothers OF the
navy will have their battle ships pro-
tected by armor plate made under the
new Harvey process, that is beyond the
shadow of doubt the beat in the world
and they have recently added to theil
force a vessel, in the armored cruiser
New York, that in speed, endurance ane
gun power is the most formidable shiT
ever fioated. And SO, when these piping
times of peace shall cease, and some
bankrupt people of Europe. covetlng
the riches of the great republic. shall
prepare to descend upon our coasts, thel
will find navy still filed with th'
spirit that sent the fagship Trenton
with band playing and sailors mannini
the yards, straight on lee shore in
fierce hurricane, and they will find the