The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-03-28
THE CREW OF THE MAINE,
Speech of Robert q. Cousins, OF Iowa, on
lE ,I@E NU.l the Relief tJlll. lf.f3 X s5is

Speech OF Robert q. Couiius, Of Town, on
i the Relief iii.
Congressional Record, March 81: Mr..
Speaker, whether this measure shall
prevail. either in the form in which It
has come from tho committee or in tho
form as proposed In the amendment, It
Is both appropriate and Just; but hardly
Is It mcntionable in contemplation OF the
great calamity to which It appertains.
It will be an Incidental legislative foot
note to n page OF history that shall be
open to the eyes OF this republic and of
the world for all time to come. No hu-
man speech can add anything TO the
silent gratitude, tho speechless rcvcr-
cnce already given by great and CRATE
full nation TO its dead defenders and to
their living kin. No act of congress
providing for their needs can make q
restitution for their sacrifice. Human
nature does. In human ways, its best,
and still feels deep In debt.
Expressions OF coincidence have conc
from every! country and from every
cline. and every nerve OF steel and
ocean cable has carried on electric
breath the sweetest, tcndcrest words OF
sympathy for that gallant crew who
manned the Maine. But no human rec
ompensc can reach them.il Humanity
and time remain their everlasting debt
ors. It was a brave and strong and
splendid crew. They were part OF the
blood and hone and sinew OF our land.
Two of them were from my native state
OF Iowa. -
Some were only recently at the United
States Naval Academy, where they had
so often heard the morning and the
evening salutation TO the fIag-that flag
which had been interviewer with the
dearest memories of their lives, that had
colored all their friendships with the
lasting blue OF true fidelity. But whether
they came from naval school or civil
life. from one state or another, they,
called each other comrade-that gem of
human language which sometimes
means but little less than love and n
little more, than. friendship. that gentle
salutatlon Of the human heart which
lives in all the languages OF man. that
winds and turns and runs through all
the joys and sorrows OF the human race,
through deed and thought and dream,
through song and toll and, battlefield.
No foe had ever challenged them. The
world can never know how brave they
were. They never knew defeat; they
never shall. While at the posts OF
duty sleep lured them into the abyss;
then death unlocked their slumbering
eyes but for an instant 10 behold its
dreadful carnival, most OF them Just
when life was full of hope and all its
tides were ut their highest, grandest
flow; just when the early sunbeams
were falling on the sleeps Of fame and
flooding all life's landscape far out into
the dreamy, distant horizon; jus. at
that age when all the nymphs were
making dladems and garlands, waving
laurel wreaths before the eyes Of young
and eager nature-just then, when
death seemed most unnatural.
lowering above the dark waters Of
that mysterious harbor of Havana, the
-black-winged. vulturc watches for the
belatcd dead, while over it and over all
there Is the, eagles piercing eye stcrnly
watching for the truth. (Applausc.)
Whether. the appropriation carried by
this resolution shall be ultimately
charged to fate or to some foe shall soon
appear. Meanwhile patient and a pa
triotic people. enlightened by the les
sons OF our history, remembering the
woes Of war, both TO the .vanquished
and victorious, are ready for the truth
and ready for their duty.
The tumult and the shouting dies
The captains and the kings depart
still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God OF Hosts. be with us yet,
Lest We forget-lcst we forget.
cloud and continued applause.)