Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1913-07-18

SPEECH BY
C.. CLARK

peace and ransom was the speech
of Speaker Champ Clark at the
Gettysburg celebration. Returning
Congressman and others who heard
the speech are praising it highly,
and 1t is 20 be printed for distribu-
ton as a public document. For
the benefit of veterans who we're
unable to attend the Gettysburg
reunion and for others who might
like tn read an inspired ~utterance
which is an example Of the best or
atory of our times, the following
Is the speech in full. The Speaker
might have named il.
PATRIOTISM
Il was only eleven years old
when Fort Sumpter was fired on
and now my head is hlossoming
like an almond tree. | will tell
you how | regard that awful con-
test and how 5ta generation to
which | belong looks upon it-as
one Of the most heroic chapters in
the ANIMALS Of mankind.
g! read English history as the
prologue to American history.
When | reflect upon the Civil
Wars in England, my judgment is
with the stern, unfaItering, pious
Roundhcads, who at Worchester,
MaTston Moor, and Dunbar follow
ed Oliver into battle shouting God
with us!' hut our soul is fired with
the recollection of the chivalric
deeds Of those gallant knights and
gentlemen vino charged under the
silken banner of Prince Rupert i
the cause Of the Stuart King.
Cold must be the heart of the
American who is not proud to
claim as countrymen, the flower of
the southern youth who charged up
the slippery slopes of Gettysburg
with peerless Picket Of those I'M
coEquerable men in blue. who
through three long, dreadful days
held those beetling heights in the
fierce assault.
at vas not Southern valur-,it
was, thank God, American valor-
that yalor which caused our Revol-
utionay fathers to throw their gage
Of battle in the face of the son of
Il HUNDRED kings-that valor which
animated Washington at Princeton,
Brandywine, Monmouth and York
tOwn-that valor which upheld his
famished lei and the unspeakable
horrors of Valley Forge-lhat valor
which sustained the soldiers who
followed Arnold on that cruel win
ter's march through the woods of
canada and in :he Christmas storm
ing Of Quebec, w0ere Montgomery
fell ImmOrtal-that valOr which
nCrvGd Andrew Jackson and his
raw militia on the ever glorious
Sth of January when they humbled
TO the very dust the towering pride
of the mighty monarchy upon
whose dOminions the sun never sets,
and utterly routed the veterans of
the Peninsula. who had snatched
from Napolcon's brow the iron
crown Of CharlemaEne-that vaIor
which at Buena Vista. Cherebusco
and .Chapultcpcc filled the world
with its renown-that valor which
wrote Davy Crocket's name above
LGOndias and made the Almo an
. other shrine for freCdom-tliat
valor which bcRirts this land as
with a wall of fire, Eorbidding all
the nations Of the earth to touch
the ark OF American liberty lest
they die. Gallons indeed must be
the man who cannot find something
20 admire in the colossal. benignant
character Of Abraham Lincoln or
in the splendid career of Robert
r.. Lee.
The soldiers of the North and
South were American freemen all
fighting like heroes for what they
considered right; as such | honor
them. To both alike they are appli.
cable the words Of Kentucky sold
Ter poet:
ION flames eternal camping
rgound
The silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards with solemn
round
The biyouac of the dead.
90. my countrymen, it is an
excellent thing to be an American
~ "