The times., 1899-05-26

HILLARY A. HERBERT,
Former Secretary of the Navy.
When the Southern States seeded the
movement in each was orderly and ac
eording 10 the theory of State rights and
/ the forms of law. The States did not
consider it revolution or rebellion. Each
! passed its ordinance of secession basing
its act on Jeiferson's idea that each party
to the constitutional compact had right
to judge for itself as we'll Of an infrac-
tion of the compact as to the mode and
manner of redress. They set up over
! themselves the old Constitution OF the
/ United States, amended only so as 10
read plainly and exactly as they believed
| it to have been understood and admins
! tered by Jefferson, the author of the
/ Declaration of Independence, and by
! Madison, the father of the Constitution.
I Tire Northern States. adhering 10 the
! Constitution as understood by Washing
| ton. as expounded by Hamilton and Web
ster and Seward and Lincoln denied the
right of the States to secede, and so the
/ issue was Joined. War war. that has die
/ tated every treaty of peace since civiliza-
tion began; war that has settled the
! boundaries of every country in Europe
war, that made free and independent
| States out of the colonies that once owed
| the question of secession. a question that
could not be settled by the fathers. be-
! cause any attempt to write down plainly
/ in the Constitution that the Federal Gov
ernment was to judge of its own powers
/ would have defeated the formation of
I the Union. At is was, by refusing 10
adopt the Constitution, North Carolina
! staid outside of the Union for twelve
I months and Rhode Island for eighteen
/ months. The question of secession is set
( tied now and it is idle for original Union
men or Confederates TO waste time in re-
peating the arguments of jefferson and
Hamilton, of Webster and Calhoun. Col
lege professors who have nothing better
TO do may, if they wish, veX the ears of
students with such archaeological dis
sertations, but it would be far better and
more patriotic to call attention away
from the dead issues of the past by point
ing. as President Mckinley did at Omaha
to the colossal figures of Grant and
Sherman and Sheridan and Lee and Stone
wall Jackson-there they stand. American
heroes all; and here we are today, all will
ing citizens of one united and glorious
Republic
Fortunately, slavery, too. an institu-
ton that had been inherited from the
/ colonies, and that for economic reasons
had drifted into one section Of the Union,
was forever abolished as a result of the
civil War
Honey of Reunion.
How, it may be asked. could there come
out of the dead carcass of so much slaugh-
ter the sweet honey of reunion? The an
swer is not far TO seek. True courage,
Willingness to die for ones convictions, the
noblest of human virtues, is akin the world
over, and, as every true soldier saw at
once it could not be that all the hero:sm
and manhood displayed on the one side
were the promptings Of a wicked desire to
destroy free institutions. or, on the other,
of lust Of power Freemen had been sac
riicing life and fortune. not for the sake OF
any newly sprung IDEAS of liberty, but all
for the institutions of the fathers.
Grant, the great soldier of the Union,
had begun to appoint former Confederates
tc office; Hayes took a Confederate into
his Cabinet; Arthur was the first President
TO treat the war ended by making no
allusion in his message TO the late Confed-
eracy; Cleveland, who succeeded him, drew
no distinctions; he appointed Federal sol
/ dieTs and forme" COnfederates alike as
Cabinet officers. as judges, foreign min
isters. The delusion that former Confed
crates could not be trusted was dispslled,
and the demagogue who lived by appeals
TO the passions and preiudices of the war
/ began TO disappear from public life. When
Mr.. Cleveland sent in his celebrated Vene
Zuelan message, in which it was believed
the honor of the country was concerned,
every vote in the House and Senate sus-
tanned him When more recently Presi
dent Mckinley called for an appropriation
to prepare, if need be- for war with Spain,
the vote in both branches Of Congress was
unanimous When war was declared
against Spain the vote was unanimous.
Never in the history of our country was
| there such unanmity of sentiment among
Z oil, - 10 al
questions affecting the honor and glory of
our Government.
Confronting Questions.
When questions confront us affecting
our honor there are no parties-Demo-
Gratis and Republicans all are for the
country We are all for our country be-
cause a vigorous, healthfuI Americanism
has come to peryade our whole land. Our
minds naturally revert today TO him who
was the first and greatest American to
him who piloted our ship of state in the
beginning of its voyage through the
rocks and shoals that lay in the untried
waters before il. The new Government
was beset by dangerous foreign Compli-
cations, il was still weakling among ma
tions, and was seriously threatened by in
ternal dissensions, when Washington
passed away one hundred years ago, leav-
irg to us his example, his teachings and
his benediction. | do not mean to indulge
any spirit OF boasting, even on this Jubi-
lee occasion, but l am sure the representa-
tives Of the great powers of the earth
who are seated on this platform, viii CON
cur with me when l say that We have
taken our place side by side with them in
the front rank OF nations.
III there was anywhere in all our land
any feeling inspired by the deeds of these
heroes less broad than the land itself it
was a noble envy of those who were near
est and dearest to the heroes themselves
But though 1t is true that there is TO
State in the Union that does not envy
Vermont. no hamlet in all our domain
that does not covet the honor of bsing the
birthplace of Dewey, yet there is not one
OF these that does not eXult in the thought
that the greatest sea captain of his age is
an American.
Thank God that the time has come
when an ex-Confederate can stand in this
nations Capital and utter these words
that the time has come when no man is
bound TO speak with bated breath his
opinions upon questions of the present on
account of his status in the past; the time
when every man is equal in privileges,
equal in opportunity. and right to speak
the truth. and all the truth, and to serve
his country with all his powers in peace
or in war
No longer do we say. the Union este
perpetua.' Now we say. the Union este
perpetua, ct crit 4"