Delaware gazette and state journal., 1899-11-02
with the same enormous possibilities

luCtlOD bI1hb We UNll dtLtULlOu III VIC
way in which they have risen to the
high occasion offered them. There is
growing up about the present subject
of contention mass of literature which
is conceived in accordance with the
noblest traditions OF American thought.
Even in mere bulk it Is alieady almost
comparable with the literature inspired
by opposition to tho institution of
slavery, and in quality it is no whit
inferior, either in its impassioned
| earnestness or in Its deep resolve to
maintain to the death those standards
of justice and human right that so
many seem now to be weakly forsaking.
The thought which infuses all this
writing is indeed that which
Babe our fathers souls 10 live,
And bids the dying century bloom anew.
| 1t is the thought of men too sturdy
in their Americanism to be swept away
| from their inoorings by the gusts Of
| partisan folly, and too sure that they
are right to be influenced by any array
of hostile numbers Tho defenders Of
our latter day Imperialism have not
yet come to understand the temper of
this opposition to their reckless course.
They treat 1T as difference of opinion,
| but it is nothing of the sort. Men may
have opinions about such matters rs
the tariff and the currency, but the
proposition 10 cast aside the doctrines
of the Constitution and the Decara-
| tion, the counsels of Washington and
Lincoln, the sanctions of free govern
ment that have been inculoated upon
Americans from their earliest child
| hood--this proposition runs counter to
the most sacred convictions of all men
ts,x la,.t.. A
empty name.
Let us enumerate few-a very few
of the writings that have responded d
to this wild onslaught upon the prin-
ciples that make the American name
dear to u.s. There are the lectures and
addresses contained in President Jor-
dams Imperial Democracy, volume
which is II complete arsenal Of fact and
argument There are such papers as
1 1.-The Present Crisis" by Edwin ID.
Mead; "Our Nations Feril, by DIR.
Lewis G. James; Imperialism, and
the Tracks of Our Forefathers, by
Mr.. Charles Francis Adams; England
in l7T6: America in 1899,n by Mr..
William NJ. Sater; and "The Conquest
of the United States by Spain,' by
Prof. William g. Sumner. There are
such speeches as that of Senator Hoar
in Congress, of Mr.. Carl Schurz before
the University of Chicago, of Prof.
Charles Eliot Norton at the Ashiield
Dinner. There are such fugitive
writings as the 'Opon Letter. from OK.
Senator Henderson, and 1.-THE Philip
pine Piracy" by Prof. William James.
There are innumerable other contribu
tions to this literature of protest and
warming, offered by such men as Presi-
dent Eliot, Prof. Won Hoist, Bishop
Henry G. Potter, Bishop John L.
Spaulding, Prof Felix Adler, and the
Rev. Henry Van Dyke. Now, of all tins
literature it is not enough to say that
it cannot DO ignored. Much Of it is SO
admirable in form, besides being suf-
fused with the lasting qualities of fine
intelligence and exalted emotion. that
it is sure OF preservation among the
most noteworthy examples of American
patriotic eloqueuce Tho future student
and compiler Of such literature will be
justified in placing Senator Hoar s
speech of last February beside Web
ster's reply to Hayne, and Prof. Sum
ner's Phi Beta Kappa address beside
the finest efforts OF his great namesake.
One reads these mastery productions
with the same glow of feeling that is
inspired by tho traditional models OF
our eloquence, and the youth of the
future will take from them the same
contaeion of enthusiasm which our
generation has caught from their old
time prototypes. Their present value
is that they strengthen our faith in the
potency of our cherished ideals, and
bid us take heart for our country how
ever dark the present outlook. What
to the faint hearted may seem one
sweeping degringolade of principles and
institutions cannot, after all, be q
reality as long as such voices as these
are raised to recall us to the old paths
Of national virtue and sobriety. "This
spasm of folly and delusion also, in my
judgment, win surely pass by" arc
among the closing words of Senator
Hoar's memorable speech. And what
true American should not be proud tC
! echo the words that follow. "Whethgr
ii passes by or not, thank God | nave
done by duty, and that [ have adhered
to the great doctrines Of righteousness
and freedom, which | learned from my
fathers, and in whose service my lift
has been spent.
Such literature as this makes us
almost glad that the occasion fer it ha:
arisen. Tho awakening from oul
fancied security has been rude, anC
the porils to which we are exposed have
become imminent; but We now know
at least, that the voices that were
. raised in past crises OF our national lift
have found worthy successors, and tha
the torch has been handed on still
aflame. The poets, indeed, we sadl,
: miss, for We know with what prophetic
fife our Whittier, were he now alive
: would arouse our sluggish conscience
! and our Lowell scourgo with The scor
pion whip of his indignation th
traducers of our national character
!. But the words of the poets have thi.
! advantage over all common words, ths
: they apply TO other times and place,
than those by which they arc immo
diately occasioned, and neither "Icha
hod' nor the ''Bielow Papers" coult
2 in reality be bettered for our presen
! needs. What, in fact, could Lowell
now say that would be more exactly Il
2 the point than these familiar stanzas
! and the note by which they are supple
mented:
We were gittin' on nicely up here to our vii
lage,
With good old idees O. wut's right an wu
a aint,
We kind O. thought Christ went agin wa
! an pillage
7 An thei eppyletts wornt the best mark 0
saint;
S But John p.
t Robinson he
: Sez this kind o thing Is an exploded idee.
7 The side of our country must oilers be took
Q An President Polk, you know, he is ou
8 An the angel that writes all our sins in
II book