The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-05-04


| for his friend" The true patriot
| fights for liberty of others.
| "Where liberty is, there is NV home"
said the PRACTICAL Franklin: hut, with
| finer humanity, spoke Thomas Paine,
| Where liberty is not, there IS my hoE.c."
| Whether in the new world or the old,
| the American flag floats, not as IN en-
| E.en Of power, but as a sign that men
| may he free, if they will. 1t means lib
! ertv based upon law and order and not
| the desOlate and unrestainel freedom Os
| the wild ass of the desert. 1t seems
| hase4 upon individual character. The
| races that will not accept this liberty,
| that will not climb the heights of free
1 dom along the paths of morality, intelli-
| gence and justice, whether they be
! Filipino or Cuban, Indian, Chinaman or
| negro may not hope to inherit the earth.
| The world is too small to reserve for the
permanent occupancy of races with per-
| manently inferior standards of life. But
| we must not despair nor become impa-
| tient. Let us look rather to the distant
| goal than to the rough road Immediately
| before us. Mistakes will be made, blund-
| erS and even crimes committed before
| the end is reached. But the Mississippi,
| though it flows dark and turbid to the
| Gulf, mingleS at last clear and pure with
the waters of the mighty ocean, and
! rises again in mist and clouds to refresh
| the continent.
Young gentlemen, you become today not
, merely warriors, but warriors of the sea.
| Upon your field of battle every element
| of war is intensified and every result
| magnifed. Armies may make campaigns
and presidents, but navies create eras
and nations. Every great naval battle
in history has marked a crisis in human
destiny Since man began to record his
deeds, the chief power of the world has
| been the power of the sea. The Persian
was driven from the sea by the Greek,
the Carthaginian by the Roman, the
Roman by the Saxon. In our own his
tory fortune has come and gone with the
| sea. The English colonization of Ameri-
ca and the founding of an English nation
| in new world were achieved by English
supremacy on the sea. Had the wisdom
of English statesman equaled the power
! of English sailors, no other race would
| ever have obtained a permanent foot
hold in the Western Hemisphere but for
sea power furnished by France during
the Revolution, it may we'll be doubted
/ whether the American colonies would ever
have achieved independence of the Brit
/ ish. But for sea power blocking the
harbors and closing the rivers of the
| Confederacy, it may be well doubted
whether the Union would now be united.
A change in sea power is ever a change
| in world power. The fight between the
Monitor and the Merrimac marked the
beginning of a new struggle for posses
sion of the sea, a great drama whose
second act was Manila and Santiago,
whose final scene no one can foresee.
Young gentlemen, from the beginning
of American history until now the chief
glory of our country has been the Amed
can sailor Not a stain of dishonor, not
a breath of scandal, not a shadow of dis
| loyalty has dimmed the glory of our
navy. The American sailor is the young
est and the favorite child of the sea.
For more than half a century he has
held the cup. New lines of steamships
are added daily to our merchant navy.
| What England was in the 18th and 18th
| centuries, America is fast becoming in
the goth. This is a necessary prepara-
ton for the larger life upon which our
nation is entering. What England did
for America, we must help to accomplish
for the rest of the world. Our splendid
isolation has passed away. Whether we
will or not, we are standing in the
brotherhood OF nations one of the fore
most possibly the foremost, of the world
powers. All the tradition of our race,
all the glories of the past, all the hopes
of the future demand that we stand for
those ideals of liberty, justice and
! equality which have made us what we
are. Upon our own continent to the
n.tt1, arN1 twn in thO
old world are millions of people with
whom our nation in the years to come
will have to deal. This great task will
be accomplished through the American
| Navy. We have right to believe that
it will be thoroughly accomplished 1t
was our navy that rid the civilized world
of pirates; that opened the doors of
Japan and quickened the impulses of that
nation to nobler life. The guns of
Dewey, that quiet Sabbath morn, car
ried to Manila other messages besides
those of shot and she'll AS the battle
, began, the great Admiral, about to de-
! stroy ancient empire and to unite in
! common purpose the two great branches
| of the English race, looking beyond the
city to the hills, which stood around,
! sublimely unconscious of the tremendous
| trGgedy which he was enacting and re-
calling the scenes of happy childhood in
| his native land, exclaimed, Now like
| the hills of Vermont" In the coming
years, when those hills are crowned with
public schools, when pattering feet go
| day by day to learn the lessons of democ-
Tracy, when the peal of church bells
summon to free religion, when the repre-
sentatives of the people inspired by love
of liberty and love of law shall meet for
| popular government then will be real
| lied the prophetic vision Of our greatest
| admiral; and every American that visits
| the city will proudly exclaim, How like
| the hills of Vermont"
Young gentlemen, behind all the ma
| chinery of q modern battleship: ma
| chnery more extensive, more compli-
| Gated, more varied and more delicate
than that of our largest manufacturing
| establishments, machinery requiring for
| It's operation character, intelligence and
| skill; behind all this machinery is the
| man. No matter what changes may be
| made in instruments of war, let wood
| yield TO steel, and sails to steam and
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