New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-02-28
M'KTNLEY TYPICAL AMERICAN
sSEcRE7ARY HAYS EULOGY AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICES
HELD BY CONGRESS-
THE MURDERED PRESIDENTS CAREER REVIEWED.
HELD BY CONGRESS.
PRESIDENTS CAREER
REVIEWED.

civilization with which they burned to do battle.
1t was a serious and thoughtful time. The boys
Of that day felt dimly. but deeply. that days Oh
sharp struggle and high achievement were De
fore them. They looked at life with the wonder
ing yet resolute eyes OF young esquire In MS
vigil of arms They felt time was coming
when TO them should be addressed the stern ad-
monition OF the Apostle. Quit you ike men, De
strong"
1t is not easy to give to those of q later gem
Grafton any clear idea of that extraordinary
spiritual awakening which passed over the
country at the first red signal fires OF the war
between the States. II was not our earnest
apocalypse hundred years before the nation
had been revealed to itself when after long
discussion and much searching of heart the
people of the Colonies had resolved that to live
without liberty worse than TO die, and had
therefore wagered in the solemn game OF war
their lives, their fortunes and their sacred
honor" In a stress of heat and labor unut-
terabe the country had been hammered and
welded together; but thereafter for nearly a
century there had been nothing in our life to
touch the innermost fountain of feeling ana
devotion; we had had rumors of wars-even
wars we had had, not without sacrifices and
glory-but nothing which went to the vital self
consciousness OF the country, nothing whcn
challenged the nations right to live. But in
1860 the nation was going down into the Vaiey
of Decision. The question which had beens de-
bated thousands Of platforms which hao
been discussed in countless publications. which.
thundered from innumerab bic pulpits. had caused
in their congregations the bitter strife ana dis
sension to which only cases of conscience can
And not merely in the various channels or pub
licity was it alive and clamorous. About every
ireside in the land. in the conversation or
friends and neighbors, and deeper still, IN tne
secret of millions of human hearts, the battle
OF opinion waging; and all men felt ana
saw-with more or less clearness-that an an
swer to the importunate question, Shall the ma
ton liver due. and not to be denied AND
1 do not mean that in the North alone there was
this austere wrestling with conscience. In the
South as well below all the effervescence and
excitement of people perhaps more given TO
eloquent speech than we We're. there was the
profound agony Of question and answer, the
summons to decide whether honor and freedom
did not call them to revolution and war. 1t Is
easy for partisanship to say that the one sloe
was right and that the other was wrong. 1t is
still easier for indolent magnanimity to say
that both were right. Perhaps in the wide view
of ethics one is always right to follow his con-
science, though it lead him to disaster and death
But history is memorable. She takes no account
of sentiment and intention; and in her cold ana
luminous eyes that side is right which ngnts IN
harmony with the stars in their courses. The
men right through whose efforts and strug-
giles the world is helped onward and humanity
moves TO a higher level and brighter day.
The men who are living to-day and who were
young in 1860 will never forget the glory and
glamour that filled the earth and the SKY wnen
the long twilight Of doubt and uncertainty was
ending and the time of action had come. A
speech by Abraham Lincoln was event not
only OF high moral significance, but of far reach
ing importance; the drilling of a militia COM
pany by Ellsworth attracted national attention;
the hutterng of the flag in the clear sky drew
which had been a rhetorical expression, became
a passionate emotion, in which instinct, logic
and feeling were fused The country was worth
saving; 1t could be saved only by IRE; no sacr1-
fee too great; the young men of the coun-
try were ready for the sacrifice; veal
come woe, they were ready.
MKINLEY IN THE CIVIL WAR.
At seventeen years of age William Mckinley
heard this summons of his country He was the
sort Of youth to whom a military life in ordinary
times would possess attractions. His nature
. was far different from that of the ordinary SOL
der. He had other dreams of life its prizes and
pleasures. than that Of marches and battles
But to his mind there was choice or question.
The banner floating in the morning breeze was
the reckoning gesture of his country. The thrill
ing notes of the trumpet called hin-him and
none other-into the ranks His portrait in his
first uniform is familiar to you all-the short
stocky figure; the quiet, thoughtful face; the
deep, dark eyes. It is the face of lad who
could not stay at home when he thought he was
needed IN the field. He was OF the stuff of which
good soldiers are made. Had he been ten years
older he would have entered at the head of a.
company and come out at the head Of a division.
But he did what he could. He enlisted as a pri-
vate; he learned to obey. His serious sensible
ways, his prompt, alert efficiency, soon at
tracted the attention of his superiors. He was
so faithful In little things that they gave him
more and more to do. He was untirng in camp
and on the march; swift, cool, and fearless in
fight He left the army with field rank when
the war ended, brevetted by President Lincoln
for gallantry in battle.
In coming years when men seek to draw the
moral of our great civil war nothing will seem
to them so admirable in all the history of our
TWO magnificent armies the way in which the
war came to a close. When the Confederate
army saw the time had come, they acknowI-
edged the pitiless logic of facts and ceased
fighting. When the army of the Union saw it
was no longer needed, without a murmur or
question, making no terms, asking return, in
the flush Of victory and fulness of might it laid
down it's arms and melted back into the mass of
peaceful citizens. There is no event, since the
nation was born, which has so proved its solid
capacity for self-government. Both sections
share equally in that crown Of glory. They had
held debate OF Incompatible Importance and
had fought II out with equal energy. A conclu-
sion had been reached, and it is to the ever
lasting honor Of both sides that they each knew
when the war was over, and the hour of a last
desperate daring of others who prefer annihila-
ton TO compromise but the palm of common
sense, and will say, of enlightened patriotism
belongs 10 the men like Grant and Lee who
knew when they had fought enough for honor
and for country.
ADMITTED TO THE BAR
William Mckinley one of that sensible million
of men. gladly laid down his sword and betook
himself TO his books. He quickly made I'D the
time lost in soldering. He attacked his Black
stone he would have done a hostile inrrench-
ment; finding the range of a country law library
too narrow, ne went TO the Albany Law School.
where he worked theoretically with brilliant
success admitted to the bar and settled
down 10 practice brevetted veteran of twenty
fourth the quiet town of Canton, now and
henceforth forever famous the scene Of his
life and his place of sepulture. Here many
blessings awaited him; high repute professional
success and domestic affection so pure SO de-
voted and stainless that future poets, seeking
an ideal Of Christian marriage, will find in it
a theme worthy of their songs. This is a. subject
TO which the Hghtest alluson seems proclamation,
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