Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-05-30
Memorial Address of Rev. Newland

ought to reopen the pages of history
and inger long on the story of those
other days. Theirs was the greatest
war that ever shook the earth. Two
million men On both sides, were
drawn in battle array a thousand
miles in length. Two thousand, two
hundred and sixty-one battles were
fought, if We meation conflicts in
which there were more than five hun
Gred engaged on each side. When
the war was over armies upon armies
of cripples came home to suffer and
eventually die. A million widows and
over three million orphaned children
The shots which destroyed the slave
ships on the high seas also destroyed
those on the Mediterranean. A race OF
slaves in chains was set free. And
the argument of Daniel Webster. that
the union is one and inseparable re
ceived it's endorsement at the swords
point and in letters of blood.
There is something in all of US that
/ responds to the magic of military
prowess. That wise observer DR.
Johnson once said: Every mar
thinks meanly of himself for not hav
ing been a soldier or been at sea"
and when Boswell said, Lord Mans
| field would not be ashamed of it,, he
replied Sir. if Lord Mansfield were
| in the presence of generals and ad
mirals who had seen service, he woul(
| wish to creep under the table If Soc
rates and Charles XII of Sweden were
! in company and Socrates SHOULD
! say Follow me and help TO dethron,
the car man would be ASHAMED
to follow Socrates"
Military glory Is So Dazzling tina
1t blinds wholly most men and a littJ,
all men. An Alexander conquerinl
worlds until there are no more to con
quer; a Hannibal crossing the Alp
! and blowing trumpets outside the yer,
gates of Rome; Caeser and Napoleon
oversweeping Europe with their vic
| torious eagles, are so splendid that IN,
radiance of their achievements maxe
US forget the men they were.
THE BATTLE OF IDEAS.
1T is the reproach of historian
that they have often turned histor,
into a mere record of the butchery o
men by their fellow men. But wa
plays a small part in the real story.
I This is the estimate of Green, the his
torian, as he looked over the pages O
English history. In searching for tn
genesis OF the Civil war one must be
gin long before 1860. At the very be
ginning of our national life, the faith
ers were under the delusion that !
was possible to unite in one land tw,
antagonistic rinciples-liberty an
slavery. BY remarkable COINCIDENCE
the year that brought a save ship 1
jamestown, Virginia, also brought tn
| Mayfiower and the Pilgrim fathers L
Plymouth Rock 1t was the meetin
OF two civilizations. and was the be
ginning of the conflict of the ciyilf7
alton CT caste and aristocracy founde
en- wrong and on human slavery. an
the civilization of manhood and FREE
dom founded upon liberty and eGua
| 4ASHNS AOi al H4Sn. ClTICIIE SDe2k1n
however, the Civil war began with III
debate between Daniel Webster an
Calhoun in 1880 These inteIectua
giants set the battle lines in array i
the halls Of the senate.
Calhoun's ascendancy over III
southern mind was a basal histori
element in our national life. Its stud
includes the political history of IN
south from 1880 to 1850 and Tn
springs CT southern action thencefo
ward until the sword pu- an enc /
the debate. He was the amaluensi
OF his state when It desired a polio
ana in the serate he was the prophe
whose prcnouncenents were as a go
pc. 70 the south, which moulded itse
70 his Tiews. From 1883 he urged a
Interpretation Of the constitute