The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-05-31


slasttc and almost unanimous response
10 the attack on Fort SUMTER The
enemies Of the Union had been pre-
pairing for months 10 make that as
sault on the flag II found the nation
utterly unprepared. Its navy was scat
tered in foreign ports, its army at
distant posts and it's arssnals were
empty Up to a few days before the
event broke the government had made
no preparations.
But the assault on Sumter fred
battery that extended from the Allan
tic TO the Pacific and a continent re-
sounded with the tramp Of armed men
Party ties were severed Republicans
and Democrats became fused with pa
triotic fire. Out OF the forests. out
OF the mines. from the farms and the
shops. millionaire and pauper. men
fiocked under the starry banner. Eyes
blazed with a new light Faces were
turned toward the southland. And
they marched away, not to return un-
I'll the banner of the Union should
float in security from the Potomac
to the Gulf The history of that army
was one of unexampled patriotism and
seif-sacrifcing devotion such as the
world had never known.
Colonel Fitch attributed the glorious
results achieved TO the fact that it
was war having moral ideas behind
1t. Every soldier was animated by
patriotic motives Ask the legions
Of Rome why they invaded Africa and
desolated Gaul, and they could only
reply that it was the command OF
Caesar. Probably the Germans in the
Franco-Prussian war could not tel
why they ATTACKED Sedan. In the
struggle to preserve the Union there
was a heart under every uniform and
a brain behind every bayonet. The
soldiers were inspired with the idea
OF unity and the purpose OF redeeming
the Nation from the stigma of slavery.
These were the impulses that moved
the armies of the Union from Sumter
to Appomattox. The Federal soldier
was imbued with the old Puritan doc
trines of freedom of speech. equality
of man and freedom of the press. The
Confederate idea was a nation COM
posed of parts and each part greater
than the whole. Each Union soldier
eomprehended in word that it was a
contest between the seventeenth and
the nineteenth centuries-between
growing civilization and waning bar
barism-between the school and the
slave corral There had never been a.
conflict with purer or more patriotic
purposes. The Union soldier fought
not for feudal ascendancy or for con-
quest. nor to decide whether priest
should be clothed in coat or sur
piice. He fought that liberty might
not perish from the earth. That equal
ity of any man with another man,
when he could attain that degree by
his own Gods given capacities, should
not be taken away.
What pictures did not that conflict
leave on the memory? A great naval
officer lashed in the rigging, his white
hairs streaming to the breeze. urging
his ships into torrent of fame.
dashing general of cavalry leading his
troops through fen and forest to re-
trieve disaster upon a distant field.
Another general disdaining most for
midable obstacles to cut swath
through the enemy's country from At
lanta to the sea- The silent general
whose first order on entering Rich
mond was to extinguish the flames
licking up the city, thus Transforming
the destroyers of property into the
preservers of property. Lincoln. TAX
ing advantage of the right hour to
abolish slavery. With such leaders
was history made never to fade or fall
while the earth goes round.
The orator referred eloquently to
the sustaining sympathy of those who
were left in the fields and by the
firesides. as well as in the counting
rooms where trembling fingers wrote
the checks that commerce gave to
the country. The Grand Army of the
Republic wrote its eternal title to hon.
or from the country it saved Colonel
Fitch bid his auGitors look abroad to-
day at the land these mems services
and yalor saved He described in glow
ing tropes the great prosperity of the
country, its expanding industry-its
advancement in science. art and liter
ature-its commerce multiplied by
mighty heartbeats The sapling from
the old world oak had grown into q
forest. A handful OF people from over
the sea had made century blaze with
the achievements of civilization. There
were no slaves now to dishonor labor.
Credit reigned at the head of National
finances. II was the greatest. freest,
most prosperous and most enlightened
country on the face of the earth.
IL those men of the G. a r. had
preferred their ease when the crisis
arrived. we might be living among the
broken and dishonored fragments of a
once glorious nation. This ground
once two thousand miles from our
western boundary is now near the
center OF the territory under the pro-
lection and shelter of the banner of
stars. Ships lose and gain day in
going to and fro between the shores
protected by the flag. Recent events
have introduced those people across
the Pacific to our political privileges.
Shall we use European methods in
dealing with them or the American
plan of education first and then assim-
ilation2 Shall we make this govern
ment a probate court to hold those
people in perpetnai guardianship. or
shall we Immediately teach them to
sing the songs and hold aloft the
emblem Of American liberty Give
| them the knowledge that they are
heirs with US in our great heritage AMI
invite them 10 share in its benefits
and its privileges.
Were a Hawaiian born, holding
/ in my body the blood Of kings. I would