The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-07-08
RAISES TIE FLAG
First Presbyterian filings
Old Glory to7the Breeze
Amid Cheers.
JUDGE BLAIR MAKES AN ADDRESS
Tells What the War Has
Already Accomplished
Flavel McGee's Speech.

Flavel McGee's Speech.
With impressive ceremonies and in the
presence of several hundred persons fhe
Stars and Stripes were unfurled on the
property of the First Presbyterian Church
last evening, just as the sun was disap-
pearing below the western horizon. As
the halyards were pulled which opened its
folds the bell in the church sound
ed the glad tidings pealing forth a sep-
arate stroke for each State in the Union.
The flag, which is ten by twenty feet, flies
from a pole fifty feet high, which stands
on the terrace east of the main entrance
to the church.
The services attending the raising of the
flag began at seven o'clock. BY that time
a large crowd had gathered. The street
in front of the ehurc and the parsonage
was crowded with spectators. Upon the
terrace near the flag staff was PLACED a
table for the speakers. 1t was draped
with a flag. The services opened with
prayer by the Rev. David Mitchell, after
which DR.. Herr spoke briefly on the rea-
sons why the flag was to be raised.
Among other reasons he gave was that
the Presbyterian Church had not lost It's
militant spirit. 1t was Graded IN con-
fiet. He then declared that the members
of the First Presbyterian Church had Il
personal reason for its deep interest in
the present conflict. Its sons were every
where where war was being waged. He
enumerated the young men from the First
Presbyterian Church who are in the
army or navy:-Walter G. Halsey with
the Astor light battery, EN- route for Man
liza; Edward II. Mclaughlin, Who saw ser
vice before Santiago aboard the Yankee:
George v. Van Zee in Company G of ire
22d New York Volunteers; Henry G. OPP
dyke, Lieutenant in the United States
Signal Corps, and John Arbuckle, private
in the Seventh Light Artillery.
At the conclusion of his address, Lizzie
Halsey and Harry Dusenberry, two of the
children Of the Sunday school, pulled the
flag into position while the crowd stood
with barred heads and the bell tolled the
news.
DR.. Herr then introduced Judge John
A. Blair, who, after paying a glowing
tribute to the Stars and Stripes, review
ing the struggles of the United States in
times past and sketching briefly the his
tory Of Cuba and the struggles it has
gone through to attain the liberty which
We enjoy, said Of the present war
THE position of this Government today
is, / believe. without a parallel in the
history of nations. There never was such
a war upon such a scale, i-aaugura-ed
upon so high a plane of morals. nor upon
considerations so purely human and dis
Interested. In such q war we must sue
coed. With a hundred times more reason
may we well repeat the words of Rich
mond on the field OF Bosworth: God and
our good cause fight on our side BY
success 1 mean hat the purpose for which
the war was i~naugurated, the expulsion
of the Spaniard from the land which he
has ~despoiled for centuries, will be accom-
plished and that the islanders Shall nave
at last an opportunity for self govern
ment, free from foreign dictation. What
that effort of self government may result
in the future alone must determine. | am
sufficiently optimistic to believe that out
side Of the inevitable loss of life there
suits of this war to this country will be
magnifcently advantageous. 1t will make
us a homogeneous people. The fictitious
and annoying divisions of North and
South win be forever wiped out. The
bloodshed in common on the crests of
Santiago will out the angry boundary
line between us, and hereafter as a people,
animated by one purpose, controlled by
one destiny, we win make common cause
in the supper of human liberty every
where.
.tThe wonderful voyage Of the Oregon
of Il, 600 miles round Cape Horn in com
ing from San Francisco to the Carribean
Sea will cause the building of the
Nieuraguan Canal by the United States
for our future interest in the Pacific may
| require the presence of the Oregon there
| again one of these days.
Another result will be that having
| gone out into the world and measured its
| strength with those who pretend to he
| somebody, the United States has discov-
| cred that it has come to be a full grown
| nation quite able to take care of itself;
| that it is old enough to have opinions Of
its own, and strong enough to enforce
| them. 1t has reached the point where
the narrow conditions of its growth no
| longer become it, it has outgrown the pre-
cautions of Washington's address, and
must assume the responsibilities of a Wild
| er policy and glories of a broader national
life. Upon that theory the Philippines
| Will ne OuFS anu 1OitO INlto dlSO-@ L lty
will be ours as the legitimate result of
this Involuntary contest, the price which
the palsied hand of Spain must pay for
its centuries of i~nhumanity."
Flavel MCGEE was next introduced. He
said in part:-.From a nation in its in
fancy America has become one of the
frst-class powers of the earth, and to-
day, with a population of seventy mil
lions, nearly all of whom can read and
write, n with the Christian idea upper
mostQin the minds Of nearly all, it had
reached a point where its benevolence
could not stop at home, but where it was
inevitable that it should revolt at OPP
preston and wrong doing anywhere with
in the reach of its necessary influence
and so it was that the war with Spain
is not an accident, but could no more be
avoided than could the war of the Revo-
luton, or the War of the Rebellion, ,ol
any other event which must of necessity
come about when the minds of men have
reached the point where a contrary
thought is inconceivable. And so, today
tas we look upon the flag proudly waving
over this, our church, we feel that tt is
not an emblem of war. but an emblem Of
peace. an emblem Of good viii toward;
men, an emblem of love to God and love
to man. an emblem of the latest and thu
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