The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-01
Patriotic Remarks Woven About the
Toast, s.HaiI Columbian

Gen. Benjamin Harrison was the last
Hail Columbia in a truly patriotic
speech, as follows:
General Harrison said: my toast has
great scope. / do not think OF anything
that may not, without glaring inappro-
priateneSS, be connected with it. A late
speaker should always choose such toast.
Where the antecedent orators arc addicted
to ranging, it is the only way to save an
untrodden fence corner with a few clumps
OF bunch grass-dry but nutritious. / do
not speak of flowers, for 1 foresaw that
there would not be enough left for me
to make boutonniere-after our senators
and Mr.. Griffiths had been heardi
Columbia should have been the name
half of the world-the hemisphere without
a King on the ground-the reserved world,
where God sent the trodden spirits OF men
10 De revived; to find, where all things were
primitive, mans primitive rights.
Royal prerogatives are plants that re-
qGlre walled garden and to be defended
from the wild, free growths that crowd
ana climb upon them. Pomp and laced
garments are homogeneous in the Drusn
Danger and hardship are commoners. The
man in front is the captain-the royal COM
mission to the contrary notwithstanding
The platoon and yolley firing by the word
would not do-the open order. one man
TO a tree, firing at his own will and al
q particular savage, was better. Out OF
this and like calls to do things upon ms
own initiative the free American was born
He thought he might get along with kings
and imperial parliaments If they Were
benevolent, and did and allowed what ne
own pleasure, as the way of absolutism
always is. And so he found ii necessary
first to demonstrate and then to resist
ALL ARGUMENT IMPLIED.
'Now remonstrance implies an argu-
ment. The acts complained of must be
shown to have infringed right. AT first
he talked of English rights. but it was not
long until he began to talk about human
rights. The British Parliament was, under
British law, supreme-could repeal the
Magma Charta. He turned to the colonial
charters, surely they were irrevocable
grants, but the crown courts held other
wise. What kings and parliaments had
given they could take away. And so our
fathers were driven to claim divine en-
dowment and to allow it TO all men, since
God had made all of one blood. To write
the argument otherwise was to divest 1t
of its major premise. The grand conclusion
no king or parliament can rightfully take
Gods gift of liberty from any man-was
thus rivited to the eternal throne itself.
We made for our convenience an exception
in the case of the black man; but God
erased it with sponge dipped In the white
mans blood.
This divine law of individual liberty al
lows the restraints that are necessary for
the general good, but 1t does not allow
either a man or civil community to ex-
other community.
1.-The so-called Anglo-Saxon-and especial
~ the American branch OF that great
family-should reverently and humbiy
thank God for the pre-eminent power and
influence he has given to it; for organized
freedom and for astounding wealth. verify
he hath not dealt SO with any other people.
The gifts of wealth and power. whether TO
man or nation, are, however, to be Soberly
taken and wisely used
Il estimate the gift of the governing fac
ulty to be Gods greatest gift to the Anglo
Saxon, and in the Constitution of the
United States, with its division OF powers,
its limitations upon the governing depart
ments and its sublime reservations in the
interests of individual liberty, l see the
highest achievement of that most rare fac
ulty.
II have no argument to make, here or
anywhere, against territorial expansion, but
/ do not, as some do, look to expansion
as the safest most attractive avenue of
national development. By the advantages
of abundant and cheap coal and iron, OF an
surplus sur OF 1000 II ana va
are now leading by a nose the original and
the greatest of the colonizing nations. Aus
tralia and New Zealand Loyalty send their
contingents to South Africa-but Great
Britain cannot hold the trade of her col
onies against American offerings OF a better
or cheaper product. The Central and South
American states, assured of our purpose
not only to respect, but to defend, their
autonomy, and finding the peace and social
order which closer and larger CONNER
cial intercourse with the world will bring.
offer to our commerce a field the full de-
velopment of which will realize the III
Dorado. Hail to Columbia, the home OF
the free, and from which only freedom can
go out!
UNPLEASANT ASSOCIATIONS.
1.-THE tune of Hail Columbia has for me
some unpleasant associations. Before we
started on the Atlanta campaign it was
proclaimed in orders from division head
quarters that the first strain of Hail
Columbia should be the call of the First
Brigade. And so 1T became associated
with falling tents and wet and weary
marches. When, after much marching and
some fighting, we had spread the scant
canvas allowed us; had rinsed our only,
or our extra shirt, and hung it out, with
our wet blankets, to dry; had found the
most adaptable concaves of a bed of
poles; had just received the infrequent
mail from the hands of our faithful chap
IAN, ana were ueep III VIC iohS ioeaiSS
newspaper account of what we had done
and were about to do-from some near
hilltop the first strain of Hail Columbia
rang out, and the temptation to substitute
another spelling of the first word. or at
least to shorten the sound of the "a, was
irresistible The general came next, and
after an interval, just long enough for the
resumption of the wet shirt and the roll
ing of the blankets, the assembly, and
quickly afterwards TO the colors. When
we were in line Hail Columbia had done
its dreadful work, demolished a camp and
scattered among it's unsightly debris the
fragments of a broken commandment Then
for the first time human control of this
diabolical enginery appeared in the shape
of an orderly with long white envelope
stuck in the belt that supported his blood
less saber. Now, | like TO know where
l am going before | pack my trunk. is
it strange that / still feel impulse to
reach for my overcoat when l hear Hail
Columbian
association of loyal, liberal-minded Repub-
licans-organized, not to control primaries
or to divide the spoils of office, but TO main
tain the ascendency of Republican princi-
pies and TO promote friendliness and good
will among its members / recall the occa-
sion and the circumstances of your organi-
cation. and the ardent readiness with which
you on every occasion rendered honor and
service to me the party's candidate,
and as your neighbor. These things abide
in my memory; they are stored where no
yicissitudes of life can disturb them. But
they are more than mere pleasant remin-
iscences. They are bonds of friendship and
inspirations TO duty.
OUR EX-PRESIDENTS.
1.-THE decapitation of the ex-President
when the oath of Office has been admins