The gold leaf., 1905-11-16

The Great Editors BenedictlOn Upon
the Presidents Visit to the South
An Echo of Abraham Lincoln's
Speech at Gettysburg.

1t has been left to Col. Henry Wat
terson, OF the Louisville Courier
Journal, to pronounce the benedlc-
ton upon the President s visit South.
He it is who touched the thing OFF as
none other has. or could perhaps.
At any rate, by reason OF his produc-
ton on this subject he is lett by all
odds the ''master OF ceremonies" as
to this occasion, and has closely
identified his effort with that of the
Presidents 5 able and statesmanllke
speech ut Richmond, which the Colo
mel prOnOunces an echo to President
Lincoln's notable speech at Gettys-
burg
In the editorial referred to special
stress is laid on that portion OF Pres
ident Roosevelt's speech in which he
says:
'Coming today by the statue OF
StOnewall jackson, III the city OF Lee,
felt what a privilege it is that !, as
an American, possess i'll claiming,
that YOU yourselves possess no
greater right Of kinship i'll Lee and
Jackson than have. can claim to
be middling good American, be-
cause my ancestry is half Southern
and half Northern: ] was born in the
East and have lived in the West-so
long, in fact, that | do not admit
that any:man can be a better West
erner than | am. There was an uncle
OF mine, now dead, my mother 5
brother, who has always been among
all the men | have ever known the
man who it seemed to me came near
est to typifying in the flesh that most
beautiful OF all characters in fictlon-
Thackary sCol. NewcOmbe-my uncle
James DunwOody BullCch, an Ad-
miral in the Confederate navy. In
short, gentlemen, | claim to be
neither NOrtherner nor SOutherner,
nor Easterner nor Westerner, moth
ing but II good American, pure and
simple. Next to mans having
worn the blue comes the fact OF the
mans having worn the gray, as en-
titling him to honor in my sight.
Commenting on the above Col.
WattersOn says:
'Iu breadth OF patriotic spirit and
i'll far-reaching gstatesmanlike sugges-
ton, nothing finer than this was said
by Abraham Lincoln 1t deserves,
indeed to be recorded in letters of
gold alongside the Gettysburg speech.
being at once in echo and cOnfirma-
tion of that immortal utterance.
Breathing such sentiments. bearing
such Il message. Theodore Roosevelt
becomes one OF us. which is only to
say that we are all Americans, equal
" prOund OF common country,
equal heirs of its sublime traditions,
ror less loyal to the Flag OF the
Union because we followed the Flag
of the Confederacy.
The South has wandered forty
years through Il wilderness OF sec
tiOnalism for this vision of the prom
ised land of perfect nationality. it
has lOnged for some Messiah OF pa
triotism and brotherhood to rise in
the North and to reach out to it the
hands of equality, having Il heart in
it. To Theodore Roosevelt this hap
py lot has fallen; and, having fought
him like II man, the South sends the
memory of all frictiOns to the rear.
and greets and acclaims him as kins-
man.
"ThOuoh we differ tomorrow, never
again shall there be from us acerbity
OF thought or speech. Today, at
least, shall be given to the love of
God, to the fellowship of manhood,
and to the unity and glory of our
country. Let mean and paltry big
OTIS, let gium-faced partvism, for a
moment stand aside. Room, room
alone, whilst the President passes
through ''the States lately in rebel
lion,' for the Grandeur of the Nation
and the Majesty of the People.'
This is fine enough to be preserved.
May it be accepted as the proclama-
ton of the final breaking away of
the war clouds and of a united cOun-
try IN spirit rs we'll as in name