The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-02-23
ELOQUENT WORDS OF
BOURKE COCHRAN
Orator Of the Day at Union League
Clubs Banquet.
He WAS HEARTILY CHEEREO
Paid a Beautiful Tribute to the Father
Of Our Country.
He WAS HEARTILY CHtERED
AN INSPIRATION FOR ALL TIME
George Washington's Contribution to
This Country Was Immeasurable,
But His Contribution to Human
Civilization Was Still Grearer.

| Chicago, February pa throng which
filed the Auditorium to the doors this ev-
| ening attended the Union League Clubs
Washingtons birthday observance. The
| Hon. w. Bourke Cochran, OF New York,
the orator of the day, was cheered fire.
quently and heartily throughout his elo-
| qnent address. He said:
| 'I know no more inspiring spectacle than
| a great people assembling in orderly meet
ings to celebrate the great events of their
| history, that, from the light of the height
| of their achievements, they may survey the
| obstacles in their path andl earn to sur
mount them.
| ''Of all the days in our calendar devoted
to national celebrations I regard this as
/ the one most fruitful with pride over the
/ past and of confidence in the future. We
| celebrate. it is true, but one event. Yet
/ this celebration embraces all the great
/ features of our history for it celebrates the
| virtues which are the fountain of our na-
tional greatness. We celebrate today the
spirit which inspired the declaration of
| Independence, the wisdom which framed our
| constitutional system, the principles which
guided the union in difficulty and saved 1t
| In anger. This celebration warns US of the
periis which are ever present in the life Of
| q republic. 1t involves the spirit of JUS
| tice and Of patriotism against the prompt
| ings OF ambition, of greed or of violence.
Like rainbow Of immeasurable promise
| in the sky 1t stands the period between this
generation of marvellous prosperity and the
| colonial period of difficulty, the doubt and
| OF danger, encouraging US to view the fu-
| ture with confidence, because 1t bids us
| hope that the virtues which animated
| Washingtons life still grow in the breasts
| Of Washingtons countrymen.
new isirJh OF Mankind
We celebrate an event of individual in
| terest, the birthday Of citizen, but we
| celebrate far more than this, we celebrate
| the new birth of the human race, the
| awakening OF mankind from the material
hardships of political severity. of moral de-
grauaIion, and to new conception of hu-
man rights which has already changed the
| whole aspect of the world and which fore
| shadows an improvement in human con-
/ ditons, SO vast that the mind of man can
| not conceive it, and no tongue can hope
| to describe 1t.
.Washington's contribution to this coun-
/ try was immeasurable. But his contribu-
| ton to human civilization was still greater.
/ while universally successful was always
right. No life has harvested such enduring
| faith as his has achieved for the benefit of
is fellow men. He was not a great captain,
as was Napoleon, or Caesar or Alexander,
/ but the relciblic founded upon the success
OF his armies was more enduring, more
| powerful, more worthy than any empire
ever constructed by human genius as the
triumph of human ambition He was not
| a law-giyer who derived the power to i'm
L tint fttfa follows
authority resting in law, but the right of
his moral axcellence he led the people fresh
| from tyranny to freedom, which they had
| won In battle.
Service to Humanity
L His great service to humanity was the
| demonstration which he made that-to use
his own language-in all the relations of
i ife public or private, between states or be-
tween individuals, honesty Is the best poll
cy, the highest form of wisdom
| Empires have been established and have
crumbled to dust statutes have been writ
ten and have perished from human civiliza-
| tion. but the principles of justice estab-
| lished by Washington and vindicated by
| him will abide to the end of time. marking
1 a now pathway for men to succeed, to glory
i and to enduring prosperity When We look
l at what he has accomplished we are struck
/ more by his methods, more by the lofty
purpose which animated him even than by
| the results, marvellous as those have been.
/ Before Washington's life time 1t had be-
| come to be accepted almost as an axiomtic
rropositioan that failure and morality were
| necessarily blended, and that success could
| hardly be achieved with virtue that pros
perity, public or private. individual or ma
| tfonal raised a presumption of evil, indeed,
| Ii 1t was not very close to 1t.
| The achievements of this republic, the re-
4 public founded by Washington, are not de-
| Tended by any ornaments. They are de-
| Tended by the conscience of the world. They
! rest today secure upon their foundations,
not through the valor of soldiers enlisted to
| defend them, but through the enlightened
| opinion of the civilized world which ap-
| proves them.
His Farewell Address
OF all the contributions to the welfare of
/ his fellow citizens and to the enlighten-
/ ment of the world, Washington's farewell
address rs not the least. 1t has been the
| chart by which the ship of state has been
safely and successfully navigated for over
| 100 wears. 1t remains for us to perpetuate
| the good and sift out the bad. 1t must
| grow with the lapse of years, for Ameri-
/ oanism is but the spirit of justice and the
/ kingdom of justice, thank God, is extend
| ing its boundaries throughout the world
| every day.
i "Wben this government was launched,
/ the principles which underlie 1t were look
i ed upon as the dreams OF Otopian philoso-
| phersi 1t was established upon the prin-
| ciple that the true basis of government was
| not inherited authority, was not In the as
sumption of divine Intervention, but was
| in the consent of the governed, that the
| right of the children of the individual. to
| enjoy unchallenged the full results of his
| toll subject only to a reasonable contribu-
/ tion toward the maintenance OF govern
| ment: and when a government was based
upon a different modus operandi its ruin
l. hxx 20 nd