Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-02-19
AT CHARLESTON LAST NIGHT.
SECRETARY HERBERT RESPONDS TO
"OUR COUNTRY's NAVY
Pays General Tribute to the Men and
Women of His Native State-The
Changes That Have Come
Since the Grent Re-
be1lfOn.


served their annual banquet, with Sec
retary Herbert as the guest of honor. The
secretary, with Admiral Bruce and his
staff, the captains and executive officers
of the warships and the governor of South
Carolina were the invited guests. The ban
quet room was beautifully decorated, and
covers were laid for 200 guests. A leligh-
full collation. was served. After the last
course President McGahan, of the cham
ber of commerce. made a short address
of welcome and concluded by introducing
Mayor Smythe. who responded 10 the
toasts "Charleston's Greeting to Her Hon
ored Guests" The toast, Our Country"
was drunk standing. "Our Country's
Navy" was responded to by Secretary Her
bert He was given the closest attention
and was frequently interrupted with en-
thusiastic applause.
After thanking the chamber of commerce
for it's welcome to his native state Sec
retary Herbert said:
South Carolina Is not great in the eX-
tent of her territory or in the number OF
her people. or in the development of her
natural resources, nor. is she yet leader
among her sister states in manufacturing,
though in this regard she is fast forging
to the front, but her pride is, has always
been, and, 1 trust, will ever be, her men
and her women. Here was the home OF
the soldiers who fought at The Cowpens.
at Molino del Ray and Chapultepec, OF
those who carried the palmetto emblem in
SO many battlefields for the COnfedsricy,
and of those who held this city of Char
lesion and Fort Sumter against soldiers
and sailors as brave as ever shed blood
my fellow citizens, of South Carolina. to
call to mind that l am by birth Carolin>
ian; but / am more gratified still to be
reminded by the toast which you have
NV avnI No ,frh md nf fI1n
broader fact that you and l are Ameri-
cans, fellow countrymen of all those who
live under the flag that is carried by our
country's navy
1T is but a generation ago when a fleet
floating the stars and stripes lay off
Charleston harbor. You greeted that fleet
with shot and shell and torpedoes. To-
night another fleet bearing that same flag
lies off your harbor and you welcome its
gallant officers to this magnificent BAN
quet, and not all the searchlights in that
single enemy to the union of the states.
"All Of us here this evening, wherever
we may have stood during the civil war.
love to recall the deeds done around
Charleston in the brave days from 1861 to
1865. whether by Federals or Confederatss.
Victor Hugo extols as beyond compari-
son the contemptuous answer given by the
French officer to the English general. Pic
ton, when he rode up and asked the sur
render Of a hollow square of the old guard
that was melting away under deadly fire
telling us of the discipline and devotion of
the Roman soldier. as illustrated by the
remains of a centurion dug out from the
erect rect at It his post. he had been overwhelmed
by the lava; but beyond and above these,
1t seems to me, StaI.d the herosm of Lieu
tenant Dixon and Captain Carlton and the
five men who, with a little torpedo boat.
sank the Housatonic in these waters.
Five times this boat had sunk before she
could be brought to bear upon the enc
ooh frrn lV hnr ont Of
one time, and three at another, had per-
ished beneath the water but there were
always volunteers to man the little craft.
The sixth crew was successful They sank
the Housatonic, but for the sixth time the
torpedo boat went down with her crew.
WI When: after after the the war @ the wrecks were be,
on the bottom, about 100 yards from the
Housatonic. Every man was at his post.
How happens it that the fleet that
blockades Charleston harbor in 1897 is sent
here by secretary who Is an ex-Confed-
crate soldier. and how does it happen that
the people of the North and South are bet
ter friends, and that the prospects of
union are more assured to-day
than at any time from the foundation of
has grown out of the nature and character
of the issues that were at stake in the civil
war, and out of the ad-mindedness of
the American people. With secession and
nothing left to divide the North from the
South but passion and prejudice. Mutual
the hatred and ignorance that had inspired
the combat.
THE people of the North came to see
that the government of the fathers could
not endure with some of the states in SUBJ
lection to others. and they saw also that
the men who were capable of such heroic
sacrifices as the Confederates had displayed
would be honest and true when they re-
newed their allegiance to the Union.
Our country'S new navy. which typifleS
the might and majesty of the union of the
states, was built up by the joint efforts of
those who had supported the Confederacy
and those who had helped to maintain the
Union. Its ships. its guns. its torpedoes
are equal to any in the world. Its officers
every congressional district in the
land: they represent the bravery and devo-
ion that made such resplendent records for
the armies and navies of the Union and of
the Confederacy.'
THE North Atlantic Squadron was re-
sponded to by Admiral Bruce. The final
Toast, Our State" Governor Ellerbee was
expected to respond to. but, being i'll, Lieu
tenant Governor McSweeney replied.