The record-union., 1899-10-08

NAOiSSOul0 laws, ny Tie SUUllG 5lOuCh
OF the magic wand Of confidence, which
in the final analysis is the source of all
progress, all success, and without which
there is stagnation and death. 1t came
contrary to many fervent and unwise
predictions. 1t came through the har
monious cooperation of the three agen-
cies-a protective tariff, the gold stan
dard, and a sound. patriotic admins
tration.
Were the present Administration
committed to a debased free silver cur
rency and to free trade, the splendid
transformation we have witnessed
would have been an utter and absolute
lmpossibility, and the calamities from
which we have successfully and happily
escaped would have been but multi
Piled
There were, indeed, domestic ques-
tlons numerous and grave enough to
absorb the attention of the Administra-
tion but it inherited an ample legacy
Of international problems of more than
usual gravity
The national conscience was stirred
by Spanish atrocities; the people could
endure them no longer The Cuban
! spectre would not down. All of the
powers of diplomacy were invoked to
! bring peace and order to the blood
stained island of Cuba. There was no
thought of war; no desire for war. No
one knew better than the President the
! dreadful consequence of an appeal to
the sword; no one knew better than he
that nothing so becomes power as it's
sparring use.
/ While the Administration was en-
ploying all possible agencies to secure
peace and honorably avert war, there
were many of our countrymen who
were impatient to recognize the bellig-
erency of the Cubans; the independence
OF the so-called Cuban Republic; and
were lnsistent that the conflict should
| begin. They challenged the patriotism
of the Administration, and questioned
It's courage, although the President
had gathered harvests of enduring fame
upon the battlefields of his country.
For humanity's sake, the Admin
istration had appealed to the Spanish
Cabinet in behalf of Cuba, but mediae-
val Government would not hearken to
the voice of nineteenth century civili-
zation. All efforts to mediate a peace
having failed the dread alternative of
war alone remained.
/ "A crisis was at hand as sharp and
severe as could possibly confront the
Government; crisis which comes but
! seldom in the life of nation, and yet
too oft. The Administration with one
+ hand delayed the oncoming storm.
while with the other, it pushed with all
! possible dispatch the coast defenses,
the purchase of munitions of war. and
+ 10 ont rNf
was to give such splendid report of it
| self. The crisis was supreme, and it
was superbly met When the order for
action came, the Congress of the United
States, interpreting the heart and con-
science, and the ineXorable determina-
t1on of the American people, declared
for war. Spain's fatal hour had come
/ The Administration was prepared to
execute the decree of Congress; it was
ready to strike. The thunderbolt of war
fell first in the obscure harbor of Ma
Mia, to-day the best known harbor on
the earth.
The supreme demand of the Ameri-
/ can people was voiced in the order of
| the Administration which flashed to
Hongkong: Find the Spanish fleet and
destroy it, How we'll this order was
/ interpreted and executed, the world
knows. The intrepid Dewey, in one
short hour, stood with the foremost
Admirals of all ages. All honor to
him; all honor to his brave men. A
nations gratitude to them, each and
/ ALL
An army of a quarter of million of
men was called from the myriad vo-
cations of peace; organized, equipped,
and put in the field with almost in
! credible dispatch. No better soldiers
ever answered the call to arms. They
were American soldiers, ready and
eager to serve at the post of duty,
counting no sacrifice too great in their
| country'S cause.
They came from the four quarters
! of the Republic. Federal and Confed-
crate and their descendants stood to-
gether in common cause, inspired by
| one hope, actuated by one high pur-
/ pose, and that was to preserve a COM
mon inheritance, the glory of a COM
mon flag. The Grants and the Lees.
! the Skaters and the Wheelers, the
Wilson's and the Buffers bore commits
sions from the same President. The
/ coined the disappearance of sectional
! differences. The Republic has expert
enced a new birth of patriotism. and
let us hope and pray, is reunited and
| unified forever.
But it has been said with some
JUNCTION that the Administration did
| not desire war. Be it So 1t is a grave
matter to start the mighty enginery
Of io,OOO,O00 of people, brave and
proud, though just they are. Finite
mind can compass the beginning. but
omniscience alone can set the bound
aries of its ending.
1T will indeed be a fatal hour for
the Republic when the President of
| the United States shall love peace less
than war.
The Administration sought no sordid
ends, no territorial aggrandizement. 1t
! sought no Napoleonic extension of en-
pire; it desired only peace, with her
boundless joys, her limitless possibili-
ties. Peace of which the country had
been so long enamored. 1t had added
Hawaii to our domain through the in
strumentality of diplomacy and from
the dictates of the highest statesman
ship in the national interest: but ii
coveted no other lands and no other
peoples Hawaii were indeed trophy
enough to signalize an Administration
The Congress with due deliberation
and with exceptional unanimity, de
clared war, and the Senate of the
United States after protracted debate
ratified the treaty of peace With the