Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1902-02-27

presence of President Roosevelt, Primo
Henry Of Prussia, members of tn
cabinet, Justices Of the supreme court
officers Of the army and navy who ha
received the thanks of congress. am
bassadors and other diplomatic rep
resentatives of foreign countries, sen
ators representatives, and many dis
tinguished guests, Hon. John Hay
McKinley's premier, pronounced ell
logy upon his dead chief. BY strang,
coincidence, today was the goth ami
versary Of that on which Blaine, ii
the same hall, delivered a eulogy upor
the martyred Garfield, and stranger
still, the subject Of todays memoria
services, was chairman Of the COM
lnittee that had charge of the ar
rangements on that occasion.
The following is a synopsis of the
eloquent and scholarly address of Sec
retary Hay:
HAYS ADDRESS.
For the third time the congress of
the United States are assembled to
commemorate the life and the death of
a president slain by the hand of an
assassin. The attention of the future
historian will be attracted to the fea-
lures which reappear with startling
sameness in all three of these unlawful
crimes: the uselessness, the utter lack
of consequence of the act; the obscuri-
ty, the insignificance of the criminal:
the blamelessness-rso far as in our
sphere of existence the best of men
may be held blameless-of the victim
Not one of our murdered presidents
had an enemy In the world; they were
all of such pre-eminent purity of life
that no pretext could be given for the
attack Of passional crime; they We're all
men of democratic instincts, who could
never have offended the most jealous
advocates Of equality; they were of
kindly and generous nature, to whom
wrong or injustice was impossible; of
moderate fortunes, whose slender
means nobody could envy. They were
men Of austere virtue of tender hearts,
of eminent ability, which they had de-
voted with single minds to the good of
the republic. If ever men walked be-
fore God and man without blame, it
was these three rulers of our people.
The only temptation to attack their
lives offered was their gentle radiance
to eyes hating the light that was Of
Tense enough.
The stupid uselessness of such an in
fanny affronts the common sense of the
world. One can conceive how the death
of a dictator may change the political
conditions of an empire; how the ex-
tinction Of a narrowing line of kings
may bring in an alien dynasty But in
we'll ordered republic like ours, the
ruler may fall, but the state feels no
tremor. Our beloved and revered lead
er is gone-but the natural process Of
our laws provided us a successor, iden-
tical in purpose and ideals, nourished |
by the same teachings, inspired by the |
same principles, pledged by tender af-
fection as we'll as by high loyalty to |
carry to completion the immense task |
committed to his hands, and to smite |
with iron severity every manifestation |
of that hideous crime which his mild |
predecessor, with his dying breath, |
forgave. The sayings of celestial wis.,
dom have no date: the words that |
reach us, over two thousand years, out |
of the darkest hour of gloom the |
world has ever known, are true to the
life today: "They know not what they
do" The blow struck at our dear friend |
and ruler was as deadly as blind hate
could make it; but the blow struck at I
anarchy was deadlier still.
What world Of insoluble problems
such an event excites in the mind. Not
merely in it's personal, but in its pub
lie aspect 1t presents a paradox not to
be comprehended. Under system Of
government so free and SO impartial
that we recognize its existence only by
it's benefactions; under social order
SO purely democratic that classes can
not exist in it, affording opportunities
SO universal that even conditions are
as changing as the Winds where the
laborer Of today is the capitalist of to-
morrow; under laws which are the re-
suit Of ages Of evolution, SO uniform
and so benefcent that the president
has just the same rights and privileges
as the artisans; we see the same he'll
lish growth of hatred and murder
which dogged equally the footsteps Of
benevolent monarchs and bloodstained
despots. How many countries can join
with us in the community of kindred
sorrow. will not speak of those dis
tant regions where assassination enters
into the daily life Of government. But
among the nations bound to us by the
ties Of familiar intercourse-who can
forget that wise and mild autocrat
who had earned the proud title of the
Liberator? That enlightened and mag
unanimous citizen whom France still
mourns? That brave and chivalrous
king Of Italy who lived only for his
people? And. saddest of all, that
lovely and sorrowing empress, whose
harmless life could hardly have excit-
ed the animosity Of demon. Against
that devilish spirit nothing avails-l
neither virtue nor patriotism, nor age,
nor youth, nor conscience, nor pity.
We can not even say that education
Is sufficient safeguard against this
baleful evil--for most Of the wretches
whose crimes have SO shocked hunan-