Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-01

One Of the Inscriptions which Mr..
Richard Watson Glider has written
for the Buffalo exposition Is particular
Nv illuminated in its present day les
sons by the events which Decoration
day seeks to keep in remembrance.
To love ones country above all others
is not to despise all Others" writes Mr..
Glider for the great pylons Of the Pan
American bridge And while perhaps
.'despise" Is too strong a term with
which to describe the characteristic
American feeling toward other nations
the exaggeration involved Is but slight.
The self-sufiiciency of typical Ameri-
can majorities is only exceeded by their
small opinion of the rest of the world.
The scheming Britisher. the bumptiOus
German, the decadent Frenchman. the
ungrateful Cuban. the shiftless Latin
American. the sluggish Russian. are all
Eeld in great disdain by the profession
ally patriotic statesman" Nothing
comes out more clearly than this in
stump speeches and congressional de-
bate, and even in the august senate,
when foreign relations are seriously
considered. The hotter" the patriot
the more he despises other countries;
to do so seems almost complement
to loving his own. This view finds ex-
preston on every hand: the ardently
patriotic newspapers of the Mississippi
valley are redolent with American
self sufiiciency; not only do we not
need to agree in any treaty with Great
Britain or the other powers regarding
an International waterway Of COM
merce. but we should go ahead and act
without even discussing the question
with them. Our two-thirds require
ment for the ratification of treaties is
hailed as an advantage in that it does
keep us from doing business with other
countries. why should we bother
with them" it is arrogantly asked.
why not go ahead and do whatever
we want to do ourselves"
No one can observe the signs Of the
times without recognizing this as far
to frequent attitude of American ma
jorities. 1t may be suggested, how
ever, that we are getting along we'll in
spite of it, and that perhaps. after all,
the despising of other peoples is the
best diplomacy. Many persons seem to
believe that this is so. but to argue the
point they should never select Decora-
ton day. Its recollections are all the
other way. Although the North and
the South are not and We're not two
nations. they had practically become
80 in their feelings toward each other
at the outbreak of the Civil War. Each
loved so we'll it's own institutions, free
on one side and slave on the other,
that it despised those of the opposite
section From this spirit came that
conflict, whose tremendous sacrifices
are at this time each year recounted.
1t is an old academic question whether
the Civil War could or should have been
avoided. with human nature as it
is" the answer is usually prefaced
''the war had to come" In other
words. each side had developed such a
low estimate of the other that it was
necessary to fight it out to see which
was right. Each was sure of victory
even feeling that the task before it
was almost to easy. Their differences
of opinion as to the others prowess
were not unlike those of the British
and the Beers. which have on a smaller
scale produced very costly results.
In the celebrated congressional de-
bate preceding the outbreak of hostili-
ties Louis Wigfall of Texas bumptious-
ly shouted: "The Star of the West has
staggered into Charleston harbor, re-
Ceived blow full in the face. and stag
gered out. Your flag has been insult
ed. redress it if your dare. You have
submitted to it two months and you
will submit to it forever. We have
dissolved the Union; mend it if you
can; cement it with blood: try the ex-
arfy
Southern boastfulness. Senator Chest
nut of South Carolina also spoke in
strain that must have greatly pleased
his constituency, when he said: For
myself l would unfurl the Palmetto
flag. fling it to the breeze and with tie
spirit Of brave men determined to live
and die as becomes our glorious an
cestOrs, ring the clarion note of de-
fiance in the ears Of an insolent foe
To Alexander II. Stevens one of the
most mild-mannered of Confederate
leaders. said in his celebrated Corner
stone speech" after he had been made
vice president Of the newly established
government: THE processes of disin-
tegration of the old Union may be ex-
pected to go on with almost absolute
certainty. We are now the nucleus of
a growing power which become
the controlling power of this CONT
nent" The South even doubted if the
North would dare to fight at all: it re-
garded the Northern people as effemi-
nate moneychangers and mechanics.
and incapable of standing up to the
rigOrs Of the battlefield. With their
boastful assurances of an early and
easy victory, the North is thoroughly
familiar.
One hardly needs to go to Southern his.
tories to find that the North quite as
much underestimated it's foes as thu
South. Secretary Seward is quoted b,
a New England banquet in New York
that the whole trouble would be over il
sixty days. Lincolns own call for sew.
enty-five thousand men for three months
service reveals the best official estimate
of the probable duration of the struggle
Greeley said this error resulted from
that obstinate infatuation which would
believe. in defiance of all history ant
probability. that a conspiracy of THIRTY
sixty or ninety days by some process.
equivalent to reading the riot act to al
excited mob and sending a squad of DO
lice to dispense it," Greeley italicised III,
would in the quotation But he wrot,
In 1864. when the hindsight had mad
some Roadway on the foresight of Amos
everybody. 1t is recalled that at frs
prisoners of war. taken by the Nortl
with arms in their hands. We're quit
commonly permitted to go at large OF
taking the oath of fealty to the constitu
tiOn-a process about as significant an,