New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-04-27


y was certainly not easier. AS q matter OF fact
the hrst work OF the pioneers in taking possess
sion or lonely wilderness is so rough, so hard.
SO dangerous. that all but the strongest spirits
fau- The early iron days of such a conquest
search out alike the weak IN body and the weak
IA soul. In the warfare against the rugged
sternness OF primeval nature. only those can
conquer who themselves unconQuerable. 1t
is not until the first bitter years have passed
that the life becomes easy enough TO invite q
mass OF newcomers. and so great are the FISK
hardship and toll of the early years that there
always exists threat Of apsing back from CIV
ilization.
OVERCOMING THEIR FOES.
The history of the pioneers of jamestown, of
the founders OF Virginia illustrates the truth OF
all this. Famine and peslilence and war men,
aeed the little band Of daring men VINO hao
painted themselves alone on the edge OF froWh-
ing continent. Moreover men ever hhu'
whether in the tiniest frontier community or IN
the Vastest and most highly organized and COM
pick civilized society their worst foes were IN
their own bosOms. Dissension distrust. the IN
aDlllty OF some TO work and the unwillingness OF
others, Jealousy, arrogance and envy, folly ana
laziness-in short all the shortcomings with
Whlch we have TO gTapple nowhere raced by
those pioneers, and at moments threatened their
whole enterprise with absolute ruin. 1t was
some time before the ground which they
had landed supported them. in spite Of its poten-
lal fertility, and they looked across the sea FOR
supplies AT one moment so hopeless did they
become that the whole colony embarked. and
was only saved from abandoning the country
py the opportune arrival Of help from abroad
AT last they took root in the land, and were
already prospecting when the Pilgrims landed al
Plymouth. In a few years a great inflow OF
settlers began Four az the nresent states Of
New England founded Virginia waXed
apace. The carolinas grew up TO the south of
IL ana Maryland to the north of II. The Dutch
colonies between, which had already absorbed
the Swedish. were in their turn absorbed by the
English. Pennsylvania was founded, and. later
still, Georgia There many wars with the
Indians and with the dauntless captains whose
banners bore the lilies of France. At last the
British flag few without rival in all Eastern
North America Then came the successful
struggle for national independence
For half a century after We became a sep
arate nation there was comparatively little i'm
migration TO this country. Then the tide once
again set hither. and has flowed in ever increas-
ing size until I'm each OF the last three years
greater number of people came to these shores
than had landed them during the entire
Colonial period. Generation by generation these
people have been absorbed into the national life.
Generally their CONS almost always their grand
sons are indistinguishable from one another and
from their fellow-Americans descended from
the Colonial stock For all alike the problems
OF our existence are fundamentally the same,
and for all alike these problems change from
generation TO generation.
THE WESTWARD EXPANSION.
In the Colonial period. and for at least cen
fury AFTER its close the conquest OF the continent
Alleghentes. then to the Mississippi then to the
Pacific, was always OF the most important
tasks, and sometimes the most important, in
our national life. Behind the first settlers the
conditions grew easier, and in the older settled
regions Of all the colonies life speedily assumed
much OF comfort and something of luxury. and
though generally II a much more demo-
cratic basis than life IN the Old World II
by no means democratic when Judged by our
modern standards, and here and there. as in the
tdewater regions of Virginia, a genuine aris-
tocracy grew and fourished. But the men who
broke ground in the virgin wilderness. whether
on the Atlantic Coast or in the interior, fought
hard for mere life. In the early stages the
frontiersman had &c do battle with the savage.
and when the savage was vanquished there re-
NAMED the harder strain Of war with the hostile
forces OF soil and climate with food, fever and
famine. There were sickness and bitter weather;
there were no roads, there was complete lack
OF all but the very toughest and most absolute
necessaries. Under such circumstances the men
and women who made ready the continent for
civilization were able themselves to spend but
little time in doing aught but the rough work
which was 10 make smooth the ways OF their
successors. In consequence, observers whose
insight spoiled by lack OF sympathy always
found both the settlers and their lives unat-
tractive and repellent. In Martin ChuZzlewit"
the description OF America. eliminating in the
description OF the frontier town OF Eden, was
true and Nfelike from the standpoint of one
content 20 look merely at the outer she'll and Yet
IL community like Eden that gave birth
20 Abraham Lncolni II men such
therein described from whose loins Andrew
Jackson sprang.
Hitherto each generation among us had its al
lotted task now heavier. now lighter. In the
Revolutionary War the business was to achieve
independence. Immediately afterward there was
an even more momentOuS task: that to achieve
the national unity and the capacity for orderly
development, without which our liberty our in
dependence, would have been curse and not
blessing. In each OF these two contests. while
there were many great leaders from many diff
ferent states II Is but fair TO say that the fore
most place was taken by the soldiers and the
statesmen of Virginia; and 20 Virginia
served the honor Of producing the hero of both
movements. the hero Of the war and OF the
peace that made good the results of the war
George Washington; while the two great po-
litical tendencies OF the time be symbolized
by the names Of two other great Virginians-
Jefferson and Marshall-from one Of whom
inherit the abiding trust in the people which Is
the foundation stone Of democracy and from
the other the power 20 develop on behalf Of the
people a coherent and powerful government, a
genuine and representative nationality
CRISIS OF CIVIL WAR
Two generations passed before the second
great crisis Of our history had TO be faced Then
came the Civil War, terrible and bitter in itself
and in fits aftermath. but a struggle from which
the nation finally emerged united in fact as well
as in name. united forever. oh, my hearers, my
fellow cOuntFymen. great indeed has been our
good fortune; for time clears away the mists
that once shrouded brother from brother and
made each look 'as through a glass darby at
the other we all feel the same pride in the
valor the devotion and the fealty toward the
right IL was given 10 each to see the right,
shown alike by the men who wore the blue and
by the men who wore the gray. Rich and pros
porous though we are as a people. the proudest
heritage that each of us has. no matter where
he may dwell, North South. East West, is
the immaterial heritage of feeling, the right to
claim as hts own all the valor and all the stead
fast devotion TO duty shown by the men Of both
the great armies of the soldiers whose leader
was Grant and the soldiers whose leader
was Lee. The and the women Of the Civil
War did their duty bravely and we'll in the days
that were dark and terrible and splendid. We.
their descendants who pay proud homage to
their memories and glory in the feats of might
Of one side no less than OF the other, need to
keep steadily in mind that the homage which
counts Is the homage OF heart and OF hand.
and not Of the lips. the homage of deeds and not
OF words only. We too in our turn, must prove