Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1899-06-03
TARVIN BANQUET.
CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE.

CONTINUED FROM FIRST PAGE.
the great MISUNDERSTANDING, liberty-lov-
ing American people, by persistent but
pernicious activity, born of sordid pur-
pose and selfish designs, has brought the
great republic of the West, the Govern
ment of Washington and Jefferson, face
to face with the savage doctrine of impe-
rialism, and thereby with the greatest
danger that has ever fallen in our coun-
try's pathway. l say savage because i'm
perialism is founded on the doctrine of
the savage that brute force alone is to be
respected, that might makes right.
Imperialists, or expansionists as they
call themselves, tempt our republic as
Satan tempted the Savior of men. o
But he who came upon earth to establish
a reign of peace and good will among
men, to teach them that they are the chill
dren of common father, made answer
and said: "Begone Satan, the Lord thy
God shalt thou adore and only him shalt
thou serve, and it is written that Satan
fled from him and angels came and min
istered to him. So may it be with our
republic.
Sorely pressed and tempted as it has
been and is TO depart from the teachings
of its founders, to forsake the paths of
peace and security by which it has at
tanned to the proud place it holds among
the nations, for the pomp and glitter of
imperial sway over conquered provinces
in distant lands, may it triumph over its
tenpters and. renewing its faith i'll the
great truths which gave it birth, and up
on whose constant recognition far more
than upon armies or nsvies its very ex-
istence depends, may it give all mankind
new assurance that virtue has not de-
parted from the hearts of men, and that
government of the people, for the peo-
pie and by the people shall not perish
from the earth. And the temptations
overcome and the tempters relegated to
the darkness that must fall upon them,
instead of the signs of the wounded or
the the groans of the dying, or the plaud-
its of royal tyrants who would have us
follow in their pathway of blood and
crime, that now offend our ears, we shall
hear, as of old, the applause of the noble
and the true, of the lovers of liberty,
justice and humanity the world over.
One year, nay one day, of such happi-
ness, blessed by God and approved by
the enlightened judgment of the best
and noblest of mankind were worth inf
nitely more to our country than all the
wealth or plumber centurys domination
over half the world might bring to it.
"'Tis yours to Judge how wide the
limits stand
Between splendid and happy land"
"But why talk of wealth, or plumber
or domination" say our imperialists;
eve simply desire to accomplish the CIV
ilizatian of other lands, and any war we
would wage would have no other purpose
in view" Out upon such hypocrisy 1t
has been found upon the lips of every
tyrant and marauder that has decimated
and disgraced the human race from Nero
to Cecil Rhodes and my Loid Kitchner.
If there is one lesson which reason
teaches and which all history enforces
more clearly than any other it is that in
the great work of civilization brute
force has no part or place; that evolution
in its Christian sense and not revolution
is the law of progress. Silently, calmly
and imperceptibly as the dew falls from
the heavens above us on the parched
earth at our feet the great work of civil
ization moves forward and sheds its
blessings to brighten and cheer mankind.
factors. The Bible and not the sword,
the church and the schoolhouse, not the
barracks or the camp point the way.
Civilization is not the work of day
or of a year; like nearly all great and
permanent achievements it is of slow
and silent growth and admits of no forced
process. A war of aggression maintained
in the interest of civilization is as absurd
a proposition as civilization maintained
in the interest of war. They are diametri-
cally opposed to each other. War de-
stroys; civilization conserves, builds up,
develops.
The right of nation to fight in defense
of its right is no more questioned nor
questionable than the right of an individ-
ual to defend himself against an assault
made upon him, but its right to become
the aggressor or assailant is no greater.
This is the American doctrine, this is the
Christian doctrine. 1t is the doctrine,
am glad to know, of the great,and over
whelming majority of bimetallists who
upon this, as upon other great questions
affecting the interest of their country and
mankind generally, find themselves in
happy accord with the great principles of
natural justice which bind nations as
we'll as individuals. Bimetallists believe
that with the advance of civilization wars
should cease, and with with the best and
noblest of the human race who plead for
the reign of peace are prepared to sing a
requiem to the reign of savagery among