The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-05-30
AT GETTYSBURG.

as a message flVdllHS IN PATRIOTISM
and wisdom the farewell address OF
Gen. Washington. Scholars call it elo-
quent and equal to the great speeches
which adorn the most momentous oc-
casions in Anglo-Saxon history.
The incidents of it's delivery become
more interesting as time passes. The
opinions of the men who sat on the
Gettysburg platform when the speech
WAS delivered are now the evidences
of the short vision of man, and the
failure of Lincoln's able contempora-
ries to mark the value of his thought
on that occasion. The rising genera
ton should understand how fallible
human judgments are dealing with
current events.
Col. Lamon, the Marshal of the Dis
trict of Columbia, and Lincolns aide
and attendant says of the occasion and
the speech:
Mr.. Everett's address was worthy
of the solemn occasion and of his great
fame as an orator. He was tumuItu-
ously applauded. While the President
delivered his few hundred words the
multitude observed perfect silence
One might have been able to hear the
proverbial pin drop.
CAS- for me, l recognized the brief
address, Lincoln having read the first
draft to me few days previous. This
took place at my house in Washing
ton, whittier the President had come
to spend the evening On removing
his hat on that occasion folded sheet
of fOolscap paper dropped out.
L will read that to you, HILL he
had said. 1t is d memorandum of my
forthcoming address. But, let me tell
you it is not at all satisfactory TO me-
You know. / am driven to death now
adays; still, the public will expect a
supreme effort, nevertheless. ! am
afraid, though it will be disappointed
this time
What the Gettysburg audience
thought of the speech | do not pretend |
to know. At any rate, the people in
dulged in no demonstrations; but we, |
on the platform, | am ashamed to say, !
felt much depressed on account of it. |
Mr.. Everett, answering to a whispered |
question from Secretary Seward, blunt
ly said: I am disappointed. 1t was
not what l expected from Mr.. Lincoln
And what is your opinion, Mr..
Seward?' added Everett Mr.. Seward |
replied: He has made a botch of it,
and 1 am very sorry. That speech was
not worthy Of Lincoln
1.-THE Secretary of State then asked
my judgment l could only regretfully
indorse the criticisms already passed,
for / felt, with the rest of LincOln's
friends, that his speech was not up to
the mark g
When it was reported that the adj
dress was received with cheers and
sObs, Col. Lamon said:
81 am the only Lincoln biographer
who was on that platform at Gettys-
burg. The others got their material
second hand, and among these writer's
were many, who, during Lincoln's life
time, had run to their wits end to
the President. After his
death they fell in with the general
throng and lauded him to the sky
They positively invented s0-called
facts and incidents calculated to glo
rify Lincoln, and the apotheosis of the
speech was only one of
these IIaneuvers.
81 repeat. there were only perfuncto-
~ demonstrations of applause at the
conclusion of Lincoln's remarks. More
over, the President himself felt that he
had madeta failure. Lamon,' he said
shortly after it was finished, that
speech won't scour. It's a fiat failure,
and the people are disappointed.
Won't scour' was Lincolns favorite
for lack of merit
Later on, at Washington, the Pres
dent returned to the subject. Hill,
ne said, L tell you that speech fell on
he audience like a wet blanket. 1t
listresses me to think of it. l ought
o have prepared it with greater care.
Similar remarks l heard from his lips
ime and again in after years. K
The newspapers of the day were very K
severe in their criticisms of the speech. {
according TO Col. Lamon: {
If a single word of praise was I
printed about the Gettysburg speech in
1853 don't remember it. Most of the
papers jumped on the President for
Using the phrase, the government OF
he people, by the people, and for the
people, calling him a plagiarist. This
barge hurt Lincoln deeply. When he {
spoke those words he never suspected
hat they would be regarded as origi- {
hal. The thought, you know, is as old {
fhn c,f |