The Irish standard., 1897-07-31

Was dom.
lie is PAST all nat,ery. Shall We call
him brave Others have worn that
crimson stripc Great mon become
type Tho people single them on, with
The ready common sense which belongs
10 no man. bu, to all men. Logan is
our great volunteer So they have
named him, ard so will he be known
when We are forgotten.
The profession OF arms is AN inspiring
one, There is lustcr upon il which
in every age has attracted chivalric
spirits and made them happy TO be
It's ornaments and It's cNemplars. The
scholar-whclhcr in business. in poll
tics or in war-is almost ALWAYS super-
Tor to his unframed rival. Grant and
Sherman and Sheridan illustrate the
advantage which a country processes
that has in its service men instructed
in military knowledge. But n puissant
nation. such as came into the medita-
tions of John Milton, when II rouses
Itself from sleep vaults over scholastic
rules and puts men in its ranks little
regarding the methods which are
taught In schools. Science has always
found Its way into moving columns.
Caesar and Marlborough and Frederick
were great commanders, but those who
read with seeing eyes perceive that
generals only lead men, and that bat
ties, however planned, are usually de-
termined by TIE plain courage of the
rank and file.
In calling him the great volunteer
we have, unwittingly, done injustice to
Logan. He was not a mere fighter.
He had rare genius OF leadership
ASK those who served with him, and
they will answer: Men whom Logan
led never turned back" Only a com
prehensive mind can take events as
they come and mold them ito it's will.
as If they had been ordered in advance.
Regiment, brigade, division, corps, army
these are the steps he took, and never
tripped or faltered.
Let us see Logan under the light that
reveals motives and deeds. The sum-
mons that came, in the spring of 1861,
found us, as such summons always
does, unprepared. Peace is never quite
ready for war. 1t was the month of
flowers
When proud-pied April, dressed in all
his trim,
Hath put spirit of youth in every
thing.
John A. Logan, only 35 years of age.
was already a striking figure In our
national politics. He sat in the house
of representatives-that body which
touches the people at every point-and
In 1t he was a tribune. Himself tri-
umphantly reelected the preceding
autumn, he has seen his party beaten.
his adored leader-Douglas-d
and, what to him was infinitely worse
his country hopelessly drifting into
civil war; In those sad days every
heart had its own sorrow. No one can
doubt that he remembered, as true
men do, his party ties the friends who
had been so staunch; his boyhood SER
vices in the war with Mexico, and those
nameless, tender affections which link
strong natures. to the scenes of child
hood. Mayhap, too, he thought OF a
future, overcast and clouded, of shat
tered hopes and plans that never could
be realized Then came the test. Out
of the crucible the metal flowed, melted,
indeed, but melted into fineness John
A. Logan was, in the heart of him.
gold. He was not the man to COVER
before any responsibility, for in his
veins was that rich Celtic blood which
makes the resolute, onward character
OF such men Tennyson was thinking
when he sung:
He suffers, but he will not suffer long:
He suffers, but he cannot suffer wrong
Logan cut the knot, as brave men do.
lie went into the war before he had a
legal right, and fought at Bull Run
under no appointment but that of his
own undaunted heart On that ILL.,
starred day grave statesmen were pom
dering at the capitol as they had never
pondered before. Doubtless the record
OF congress shows that Logan was alb
sent without leave. But out beyond
the Potomac he was fighting, musket
In hand, in the ranks of the fated army
of the union. He had deserted the
house to be volunteer for the war
They tell of him yet, as he pressed
forward through the smoke in the silk
hat he had forgotten to change, but
which never became him so much as
when it lowered that day over his
swarthy face and those eyes which
were indeed the windows of his soul.
After Bull Run he went back to his
home in southern Illinois, facing friend
and foe alike with defiant note which
told them-what they already knew
that, come what might, he was for the
union and war. That day he conquered
Egypt. Everywhere he sowed the
words that Douglas had uttered:
There can be but two parties-patri-
OTIS and traitors"
Then came the regiment he raised.
and aftor that In hrnyo p,.l.rI,, ran