The Irish standard., 1900-03-03

SA~S
urn OF her Washington. Is this the
vision of romantic fancy? Is it even
improbable? Is it half so improbable
as the events which for the last twenty
years have rolled like successive .ides
over the surface OF the European world,
each erasing the impression that pre-
coded it? Thousands upon thousands,
sir, I know there are, who will con-
slider this supposition as wild and whim-
sical but they have dwclt with little
reflection upon the records OF the past.
They have but i'll observed the never
ceasing progress OF national rise and
national ruin. They form their judg-
ment on the deceitiul stability OF the
present hour, never considering the in
Vulnerable monarchics and republics in
former days, apparently as permanent,
their very existence become now the
subjects OF speculation, | had almost
said sliepticism. l appeal to History!
Tell me, thou reverend chronicler OF the
grave, can all the illusions OF ambition
realized. can all the wealth OF an uni
versal commerce. can all the achieve
ments oil successful heroisnl, or all the
establishments OF this worlds wisdom,
secure to empire the permanency OF its
possessions? Alas, Troy thought SO
once. yet the land OF Priam lives only
in song! Thcbes thought so once, yet
her hundred gates have crumbcd, and
her very tombs are but the dust they
vainly intended to commemorate! SO
thought Palmyra-where is she? SO
thought Pcrsepolis, and now
Ion waste, where roaming lions howl,
Yon aisle, where means the gray-eyed
owl,
Shows the Pcrsian's great abode,
Where sceptered once, an earthly god.
His powcr-clad arm controlled each
happier cline,
Where sports the warbling muse, and
fancy scars sublime.
So thought the countries oil Demos
themes and the Spartan, yet Leonidas is
trampled by the timid slave and Athens
nsulted by the servile, mindless. and
enervate Ottoman! In his hurried
march, Time has but looked at their
imagined Immortality, and all its vani-
ties, from the palace to the tomb, have,
with their ruins, erased the very i'm
preston OF his iootstcps The days OF
their glory are as ii they had never
been; and the island that was then Il
specll, rude and neglected in the barren
ocean, now rivals the ubiquity OF their
commerce, the glory OF their arms, the
fame OF their philosophy, the eoqucnce
OF their senate and the inspiration OF
their bards! Who shall say then, con-
templating the past, that England,
proud and potent as she appears, may
not one day be what Athens is, and the
young America yet soar to be what
Athens was! Who shall say, when the
European column have mouldcrcd and
the night OF barbarism obscurcd its very
ruins, that that mighty continent may
not emerge from the horizon. to rule
ior its time sovereign oil the ascendant!
Such sir, is the natural progress OF
human operations, and such the unsub
stantal mockcry OF human pride. But
I should, perhaps. apologize for this di
erosion. The tombs are at best sad
although an instructive subject. At all
events they are i'll suited to such an
hour as this. shall cndcavor to atone
for it, by turning to a theme which
tombs cannot lntrn or revolutions al
ter. 1t is the custom OF your board,
and noble one it is, to deck the cup
OF the gay with the garland OF the great :;
and surely, even in the eyes OF its deity,
his grape is not the less lovely when
glowing beneath the foliage OF the palm
tree and the myrtle Allow he to add
one flower to the chaplct, which though
it sprang in America, is no exotic. Nir-
tue planted it, and it is naturaizcd every
where. | see you anticipate mel sec
you concur WIFI INC. lllul IL lllllltl >
very little what immediate spot may be
the birthplace OF such a man as Wash
lngton. No people can claim, no coun-
try can appropriate him; the boon OF
Providence to the human race, his fame
is eternity, and his residence creation.
Though it was the defeat OF Our arms
and the disgrace of our policy, | almost
bless the convulsion in which he had
his origin. II the heavens Numbered
and the earth rocked, yet, when the
storm passed, how pure was the climate
that ii cleared; how bright in the brow
OF the armament was the planet which
it revealed to us! in the production oil
Washington, it does not really appear
as ii nature was cndcavOring to improve
upon herself, and that all the virtues oil
the ancient world were but so many
studies preparatory to the patriot OF the
new. Individual instances no doubt
P there we're; splendid excmplillcations OF
some single qualification: Caesar was
merciiul Scipio was continent, Hanni-
bal was patient; but it was reserved for
Washington to blend them all in one,
and like the lovely chef d'ocuvrc OF the
Grecian artist to exhibit in one glow OF