The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-04-29
THE REUNITED SECTIONS.

uuCpu Is III eA-1VHltuNA"AS
In RESPONSE to the toast, The Re.
united Sections" AIR. Watterson said:
ar the illustrious soldier, whose mem
DRY we celebrate were with us here to-
night. his heart would glow with salts
ficd nride in the answer which time has
made to his prayer for peace between
the once warning sections OF the Union
and in the spectacle which the present
unfolds OF II whole people rallying as Il
single man beneath the star-fowcred flag
of the Republic.
II cannot help thinking that, when
the history Of our generation comes
finally to be made up. il will be related
that two mistakes of the first order We're
perpetrated by the people of the United
States the latter half Of the Nineteenth
century. 1t was Il mistake of the South,
for any cause whatever to precipitate
a war of sections. and it was a mistake
of the North after the overthrow of the
Confederacy. to undertake reconstruc-
ton of the Union by force of arms. That
the country has survived errors of such
magnitude is proof Of amazing vitality;
of a vitality that draws its sustenance
from the adaptability and the fieXibility
Of free institutions and from Il popular
character equal to all emergencies. mill
tary and civil. Man proposes and God
disposes, and often we build wiser than
we know. Perhaps the very mischances
of these forty years of domestic contro-
vcrySy were necdful to make us the
nation we are today.
ut was General Grant. himself who
issued the order finally Withdrawing the
troops from the Southern States, and,
when we remember that it was none
other than Grant who stood between the
Confederate soldier and a surrender that
might have been dishonoring to Ameri-
can manhood, the debt we owe our great
captain becomes incalcuable.
There is just now, i regret to OBJ
serve, a disposition manifested in Ger
tain quarters to magnify the arts of
peace and TO belittle the arts of war
Most of US know something about both;
and, whilst | do confess that even this
frugal reDast and these homely pro-
visions-done in Grants honor and in
our honor--are preferable to a banquet
of hard tack and blazing brush-heap
upon Il Georgia hillside, | shall not be
the man to say that any of us is the
worse for knowing from personal cX-
perience the actual difference. / have
respect for the principle of international
adjustment through moral suasion and
mutual concession. / have respect for
the principle of approved capability and
fitness i'll the matter of appointments TO
office. But when n gentlueman in gold
trimmed specs and swallow-tailed coat.
standing with one foot on Arbitration
and the other upon Civil Service Reform,
solemnly assures me that he has dis
covered perfcctibility in government, |
take leave to have my doubts about ii.
am grown so pessimistic. indeed. MS To
think that the one thing that we do not
want. the one Ting which would certain
~ disappoint us in case we got it, is the
drcamer's idea Of the ideal Ideals,
which exist for Reformers, lovers and
poets. exist not for men and women
Those whose business it is to deal with
life as it is. and who can afford to waste
no time on self-deceptions, address them
selves to the real, not to the ideal. and
feel that they are fortunate if they come
off with whole bones. The rich red
blood of nature, which makes men to
act, and to act promptly. in times OF
danger. is good enough for me: and
know nothing in the episode of old Peter
Muhlenbergh, flinging aside his surplicc
and appearing in q full Continental uni
form, eXclaiming there is time for all
things-a time to preach and n time toI
pray-but there is also time to fight.
and that time has come"
IF there was any doubt anywhere
about the restoration Of the Union. NOT
merely in fact and in name. but in the
spirit to which il owes its birth. the
manifestations Of the last few weeks can
not have failed to dissipate it, That
Spanish gentleman who proposed to sup
plement the forces of his country in Gu
ba by melting the South TO another re-
bellion must surely have been the
Knight of La Mancha come to life again,
but quite as bereft of reason as he was
III the days Of Sancho panza and the
lady of Toboso; though, in truth, most
of those supporting Spain in her i'll
starred contention seem 10 be lineaI de-
seendants of the lannon's Don't Sir. the
reunited sections of the Union stand
a wall of iron between the Nations hon
or and, If need be, all the world stand
a wall OF fire between the stricken Gu
bans and any further hurt from Spain.
We want no other warrant for our act
OF war than the cruel. the heartless
story of the Spaniard in America. From
the coming Of Cortez and Pizarro, to the
going of Weyler- three centuries of bru-
tally, irradiated only by the pirates
lust for plumber and the tigers thirst
for blood-each succeeding captain gen
cral has seemed to emulate Alva as a
rival of Spain by seeking second iln-
mortality of damnation. Before such an
array. historical and contemporary, the
true American neither consults his gcog-
raphy. nor counts the cost. His pulse
beats are the same i'll Massachusetts and
in Mississippi, and whether the band
plays yankee Doodle or Dixie is all
one TO him. Assuming that in ordinary
times it takes but a few months and
change of raiment to convert q typical
Vermonter into a typical Texan. il has
taken but Il few weeks to Impress upon
the reunited sections Of the Union the
truth that we are the most homogeneous
people on the face Of the globe; that such
differences as exist among us are local
and external. and not skin deep, and
along with this lesson, to reawaken in
all hearts Decatur's ringing words
Cur country-may she be ever in the
right-but, right or wrong, our coun-