The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-05


gard government as synonymous with
crime, should have failed to learn the
4 lesson, even in our free schools and free
streets, that here government and hui
man liberty and human welfare are in
separable, when there comes from the
college hall. from the scholars desk,
and sometimes from press and pulpit,
the constant preaching that the repub-
lie is base, and that the rulers of the
republic are corrupt and wicked. Good
men, and patriotic men are not, all of
them, free from censure in this matter.
IF this country, which we fondly be-
lieve the hope of humanity, the refuge
of the oppressed and down trodden, the
fairest child of the ages, be indeed base
and mean; if this government be but
the instrument of oppression and wick
edness and corruption; if characters
like those of Lincoln and Grant and
Mckinley be not q little lower than the
angels, hut a great deal lower than
the demon, then indeed is the universe
itself failure and mankind as Lord
Bacon said, but kind of vermin.
But yet, fellow citizens, is there not
a lesson of comfort and good cheer and
good hope for humanity even in this
hour Of our national sorrow?
I'VE have just listened to the voice
of the civilized world, speaking nearly
in one accord as it has almost never
spoken before. Modern science has
called into life these mighty servants,
the press and the telegraph, who have
created a nerve which joins together
all human hearts, and which pulses
simultaneously over the globe.
WAS the nobleness of humanity as
God created 1t ever more indicated
than by what has happened now? What
emotion has stirred it? A poor fiend
shoots off his little bolt A single hu-
man life is stricken down, and a throb
of love thrills a planet. Could any
base or ignoble passion have so moved
mankind? The apostle of hatred
touched a chord from which there
comes no response, save that in a few
cellars or garrets, where the enemies
of the human race hide themselves as
they take counsel together. The vic
tim of the crime utters only an express
sion of pity and care for the safety Of
] his enemy, and there is a thrill of SYM
pathy in the bosom of all mankind
IT grow hopeful as 1 grow old. Why
should not men grow hopeful as they
grow old? l have seen in a life, long
as compared with other human lives,
4 but yet which compared with the great
life of the republic is but as yesterday
when it is finished, and as a watch in
Z the night the marvels which God hath
& wrought for freedom and humanity.
when first came to manhood and
began to take part in public affairs
that greatest of crimes, human slavery
was entrenched everywhere in power
in this republic. Congress and Supreme
Il Court, commerce and trade and social
Z life alike submitted to it's imperious
q and arrogant sway Mr.. Webster de.
81 clared that there was no North, an(
y that the South went clear up to the
q Canada line. The hope of many wist
a and Conservative, and, as 1 now be
!. lieVe, patriotic men, of saving thi
a country from being rent into fragments
" was in leaving to slavery forever tn
8 great space between the Mississippi ant
n the Pacific, in the Fugitive Slave law
I'd a measure under which freemen wer
q taken from the soil of Massachusetts
a to be delivered into perpetual bondage
& and in the judgment of the Suprem
n Court which declared it as the lessor
81 of our history that the negro had n,
81 right that a white man was bound t.
"a respect. Last week, at Dartmouth, a
"a the great celebration in honor of Dan
= iel Webster, that famous college CAV
4 the highest honor within its power t,
n a negro, amid the applause of the bril-
= liant assembly. And there was no ap
plause more earnest or hearty thai
- that of the successor of fancy, tn,
Democratic chief justice of the United
u States
"a II know that the people of that rae,
D. are still the victim of outrages which
lie all good men deplore, but / also believ,
le that the rising sense of justice and Of
q manhood in the South is already find
u ing expression in indignant remon
STRANGE from the lips of governors ant
y of preachers and that the justice anC
manhood of the South will surely make
{ their way.
{ "Ah, fellow citizens, amid the sorrow
= and the mourning and the tears amid
: the horror and the disappointment, and
u the baff1ed hope, there comes to us from
n the open grave of William Mckinley a
y voice of good omen! What pride and
love must we feel for the republic that
T, calls such men to- her high places!
Il What hope and Confidence in the fu-
ture Of a people, where all men and
/, women of all parties and sections, of
[ all faiths and creeds, of all classes and
1 conditions, are ready to respond as ours
have responded to this emotion of a
mighty love.
You and I are Republicans. You
: and l are men of the North Most of
us are Protestants in religion. We are
men of native birth. Yet if every Re
2 publican were, today, to fall in his
e place, as William Mckinley has fallen,
l believe our countrymen of the other
T party, in spite of what we deem their
! errors, would take the republic and
4 bear on the flag to liberty and glory.
p: | believe if every Protestant We're to
S be stricken down by lightning stroke,
, that our brethren of the Catholic faith
r would still carry on the republic in the
= spirit Of a true and liberal freedom
I l believe if every man Of native birth
2 within our borders were to die this
: Cay, the men Of foreign birth. who have
f come here to seek homes and liberty
under the shadow of the republic,
2 would carry on the republic in Gods
2 appointed way. / believe if every man
e of the North were to die, the new and
:, chastened South. with the virtues it
r has cherished from the beginning. of
&, love of home and love Of state, and
= love of freedom, with its courage and
l its constancy, would take the country
l.. and bear it on to the achievement Of
: it's lofty destiny The anarchist must
2 slay rs, O0O,OOO Americans before he can
t STAY the republic.
"Of course there would be mistakes
: OF course there would be disappoint-
d ments and grievous errors. OF course
} there would be many things for which
t the lovers of liberty would mourn. But
[ America would survive them all, and
2 the nation our fathers planted would
abide in perennial life.
william Mckinley has fallen in his
{ high place. The spirit of anarchy, al
WAYS the servant of the spirit of des-
! potism. aimed its shaft at him, and his
f life for this world is over. But there