II
“Simon de Bolivar has been characterized as the Napoleon of the South American Revolution, ...” writes William Spence Robertson, who has been decorated with Bolivar’s Order of the Liberators. “‘Defeat left Bolivar undismayed,’ said O’Leary, who served for a time as an aide-de-camp of the Liberator. ‘Always great, he was greatest in adversity. His enemies had a saying that “when vanquished Bolivar is more terrible than when he conquers.”’”
“There is one point on which all are agreed,” writes F. Loraine Petre, “the generosity of Bolivar, his carelessness of money and his financial uprightness. Few men ever had greater opportunities of enriching themselves; still fewer more honestly refused to take advantage of their opportunities. He commenced life as a rich man, he died almost a pauper....
“The figure of the worn-out Liberator, suffering in mind and body, deserted by all but a few, reviled by the majority of those who owed everything to him, is one of the most pathetic in history.”
AUGUST 20
BERNARDO O’HIGGINS
FIRST SOLDIER, FIRST CITIZEN OF CHILE
Since my childhood I have loved Chile; and I have shed my blood on the battle-fields which secured her liberties. If it has not been my privilege to perfect her institutions, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am leaving her free and independent, respected abroad, and glorious in her victories.
I thank God for the favours He has granted my Government, and pray that He may protect and guide those who will follow me.
Bernardo O’Higgins, to the Chilean Assembly
O’HIGGINS
The name of O’Higgins ... has a double lustre; because it was borne by two generations with an almost equal brilliancy. It is seldom that a genius such as Ambrose O’Higgins the father, the greatest Viceroy of royalist Spanish America, bears a man such as Bernardo O’Higgins the son, first chief of the new Republic which sprang up from the ashes of his dead father’s Government.
W. H. KOEBEL
Bernardo O’Higgins alone was able to accomplish and establish the semblance of decent dignified government in his Country after the great upheaval, a fact mostly due to his own transparent honesty, utter unselfishness, and pure Patriotism, as much as to his political acumen, diplomacy, and powers of organization.
John J. Mehegan
Bernardo O’Higgins was born August 20, 1778 Became the Hero of Rancagua, 1814
He and San Martin won the Battle of Chacabuco, February 12, 1817
First Independence Day in Chile, February 12, 1818
O’Higgins went into exile, 1823
He died in Peru, October 24, 1842
THE SON OF THE BAREFOOT BOY
Ambrose O’Higgins was like the bright lad in the fairy tale, who started out to seek his fortune with a knapsack on his back. Ambrose was only a servant-boy in Ireland, barefoot some say, running errands for the Lady of Castle Dangan in County Meath. Then one day he set out to seek his fortune in Spain where he had an uncle.
He did not find it there. So he bought a stock of merchandise, and took ship for South America, the wonderful country, where, so people said, one could get treasure and emeralds a-plenty.
He landed at Buenos Aires, and sold some of his goods. Then he crossed the pampas, or prairie, and packed his goods by mule-train over the high Andes into Chile.
Still his treasure did not appear, and, being a venturesome lad, he made his way north to Lima in Peru. There he kept a small stall and peddled his wares under the shadow of Pizarro’s ancient Cathedral. As he looked up at its weather-beaten walls and down at his old clothes, little he dreamed that one day he should enter the door of that very Cathedral clad in a Vice-King’s garments and surrounded by a brilliant retinue of officers and retainers.
Not knowing that all this wonderful thing was to happen, he grew restless and set off on his travels through Venezuela and New Granada, and finally went back to Chile.
There his fortune was awaiting him. As the years passed, he studied and worked industriously, until he became a famous civil engineer and built roads and did great things for Chile. He devoted himself to Chile’s interest until the King of Spain, learning of his genius and of all the improvements he had brought about in the country, appointed him its Governor.
He served with such wisdom that, in time, he was made Viceroy, or Vice-King, of Peru, the highest and most coveted office in all Spanish America.
So with pomp and procession, in a Vice-King’s garments, he entered the Cathedral doors of the very city where once as a poor homeless boy he had peddled his wares.
He died at a great age, full of honours, and left his estate to Bernardo his son.
Now, Bernardo his son was anything but a Royalist. He was a Patriot. He felt no deep loyalty to the Crown of Spain. He had been sent to London to study while he was only a boy. There he had met Miranda the Flaming Son of Liberty. Miranda had become his friend. Bernardo had joined his secret society to which Bolivar and San Martin belonged. Thus the boy, Bernardo O’Higgins, had enthusiastically pledged himself to help Spanish America gain her Freedom.
When his father died, he returned to Chile. He lived for a while on his farm with his mother and sister Rosa. But he was not content to stay there long. So leaving the farm, he gave himself completely to the service of his Country.
And while San Martin, the Argentine General, was mobilizing his Army at Mendoza on the other side of the Andes, O’Higgins and many Chilean Patriots were endeavouring to drive the Spaniards out of their country northward and back to Lima.
THE SINGLE STAR FLAG
It was the Fourth of July. The United States Consulate in Chile was celebrating our Independence Day. Over the Consulate floated the Stars and Stripes, and with it was entwined, for the first time, a tri-coloured flag, red, white, and blue, with a single five-pointed silver star in its upper left hand corner.
It was the new Republican Flag of Chile.
Soon one saw the Patriots of Santiago on the streets, wearing red, white, and blue cockades.
And shortly after this the Single Star Flag was adopted as the Chilean national emblem.
THE HERO OF RANCAGUA
But Spain was not going to permit Chile to hoist a Flag of Independence. She despatched armed frigates and war vessels along the Pacific coast, for she was determined to crush the Patriot uprising once and for all.
From her stronghold, Lima, she sent out fresh troops seasoned in European wars. This strong Spanish force marched down through Chile upon helpless Santiago City. The Patriot Army, very small and badly equipped, took its stand bravely near the town of Rancagua hoping to keep the Spanish from passing.
Unfortunately, there were political quarrels among the Patriots. The Carreras—three brothers—were trying to gain control of the Government and Army. Their personal ambition was greater than their love of Country.
The Patriot forces at Rancagua were in part commanded by two of the Carreras, and in part by O’Higgins of whom they were jealous.
The Spanish attacked. A stiff battle took place. Neither Army would give quarter. Each side hoisted a black flag as a signal of war to the death.
Suddenly, without warning, the Carreras fell back and abandoned O’Higgins and his troop to their fate, leaving them trapped as it were. But O’Higgins and his men retreated into the town and defended themselves courageously. For hours, without cessation, the Spanish attacked. Finally, O’Higgins withdrew his men to the plaza, and fought from behind hastily thrown-up barricades built of carts, bricks, furniture, and parts of houses.
Then a Chilean magazine exploded. The Patriots’ ammunition began to give out. The buildings around them went up in flames. O’Higgins was shot in the leg. But he and all of his little band, of whom scarcely two hundred men were left, tortured by fatigue, thirst, and heat, still gallantly fought on.
Destruction seemed certain. But O’Higgins was not a man to yield to despair. He ordered his men to collect all the horses, mules, and cattle they could lay hands on. He placed himself at the head of his men, and driving the herd before him, plunged through the Spanish lines, cutting fiercely on every side as he went.
So he and his soldiers retreated in safety to Santiago.
But that city was doomed. The Spanish marched upon it and took it. All was terror. Many people fled from the city. Patriots who remained were seized by the Spanish, and imprisoned or murdered. A number of men, some quite old, were banished to the lonely island of Juan Fernandez—Robinson Crusoe’s desert island.
As for Bernardo O’Higgins, he barely escaped with his life. He led a party of miserable shivering refugees, men and women, across the Andes into Argentina. After terrible sufferings from cold in the high mountain passes, they reached Mendoza. There they were welcomed and sheltered by San Martin, the General whom God had called to carry Liberty into Chile.
COMPANIONS-IN-ARMS
Then Argentina and Chile joined forces against Spain. O’Higgins and San Martin became companions-in-arms.
About all that they accomplished, about the Hannibal of the Andes, Chacabuco, Maipu, and the strong fleet which O’Higgins assembled to carry San Martin and his Army to Peru, you may read in the story of San Martin on page [235]. There, also, it is told how O’Higgins became the Supreme Dictator of Chile, the land where his father the barefoot boy, had found a fortune.
THE PATRIOT RULER
So while San Martin with his army sailed away to liberate Peru, the unselfish Supreme Dictator stayed at home to care for his people.
Now that the Spanish were driven out, the Country was in a chaotic condition, its laws and Government in confusion. With wisdom, patience, and tact, O’Higgins began the work of reconstruction. And how well he succeeded Captain Basil Hall, an English naval officer, tells in his journal.
“We left Valparaiso harbour filled with shipping; its customhouse wharfs piled high with goods too numerous and bulky for the old warehouses. The road between the port and the capital was always crowded with convoys of mules loaded with every kind of foreign manufacture. While numerous ships were busy taking in cargoes of the wines, corn, and other articles, the growth of the country.
“And large sums of treasures were daily embarked for Europe, in return for goods already distributed over the interior.
“A spirit of inquiry and intelligence animated the whole society. Schools were multiplied in every town; libraries established; and every encouragement given to literature and the arts. And as travelling was free, passports were unnecessary.
“In the manners and even in the gait of every man, might be traced the air of conscious freedom and independence.”
And all this was largely due to the energetic and peaceful rule of Bernardo O’Higgins.
But political enemies soon began to press the Supreme Dictator hard. There were conspiracies of the Carrera party. Diplomatic misunderstandings arose between Chile and both the United States and England.
Meanwhile, a more serious situation was developing which was to bring misery to Chile. The aristocrats, who had been Royalists, began to work secretly against O’Higgins and the Republic. Government officials, who were jealous of O’Higgins’s power and success, plotted against him. These conspirators succeeded in getting control of the Assembly.
The Assembly demanded his resignation. O’Higgins knew that if he should refuse to resign, his act would plunge Chile into civil war. Rather than harm his Country, he laid down his power.
The People of Chile, who loved and revered him, wept with sorrow at his abdication. And his enemies would not have dared to attack him, had they not known that he would never shed one drop of Chilean blood in his own defense.
FIRST SOLDIER, FIRST CITIZEN
The rest is soon told.
Bernardo O’Higgins, with his mother and his sister Rosa, went into exile.
He sought refuge in Peru. He reached there after the Amazing Meeting. San Martin was gone. The Peruvians welcomed him with sincere hospitality. They gladly offered to shelter him in his exile. They gratefully acknowledged all that he had done to help equip the Liberating Army which had freed Peru. They gave him a fine sugar plantation, and honoured him in every way they could.
So he lived quietly among them for many years.
But things were not going well in the Republic of Chile. Her first place, which she had held among other southern Republics because of her well-organized Government and her fine civic reconstruction, the work of O’Higgins, this her first place, was lost. She stood no longer at the head of her sister Republics.
She was become a prey to political quarrels. The Holy Alliance in Europe was threatening her. It was then that Chile received gladly the Monroe Doctrine of the United States, which protected her against Spain.
Then Chile, in her trouble, recalled O’Higgins and voted to restore him to all his titles and honours.
Though he loved Chile, he knew it was not best to return, so he refused. Soon after which, he died in Peru.
He is, to-day, the beloved National Hero of the Chilean People.
CHILE AS SHE IS
Sunny, happy, smiling Chile, stretches like a broad ribbon unrolling itself along the Pacific coast of South America. To-day she is a Republic with a Constitution and a President.
Chile is a prosperous Republic; for after civil war and political struggles, she has found herself, and is even stronger and more vigorous than when under the rule of Bernardo O’Higgins.
High in her background loom the Andes, their jagged summits covered with eternal snows; while in their hearts are valleys, lakes, and rushing torrents, rich copper mines, and grazing grounds.
Chile’s immensely long and narrow land reaches from the hot and arid deserts of Peru, to the cold and rainy country of Cape Horn. But the beautiful, sunny, happy Chile lies between these two extremes. In that delightful part, grow barley, wheat, grapes; and herds of cattle and horses feed on the rich grass. Each year, Chile sends quantities of grain as well as of iodine, nitrates, and wool, to the markets of our United States, and to those of other countries as well.
In Chile, thousands of school children in the cities, towns, and villages are taught to honour the name of Bernardo O’Higgins, who founded their Government, Chile’s “first Soldier, first Citizen.”
The children of Chile keep their Independence Day on February 12, while our children in the United States are celebrating Lincoln’s Birthday.
ONE OF TWENTY
Chile is only one of twenty flourishing Latin American Republics. They are called Latin American, because they were settled by Latin Races, Spanish, French, or Portuguese.
There are eighteen Spanish-American ones; one French, Haiti; and one Portuguese, Brazil. In these twenty Republics there are more than 75,000,000 people.
This book is too short a one in which to tell about all the Liberators of these Republics.
There was Toussaint l’Ouverture, the extraordinary coloured man, an ex-slave, who liberated Haiti. Haiti was the first Latin American Republic to declare its Independence.
In Peru, there was Tupac Amaru, the brave young Indian Cacique, a descendant of the “Child of the Sun” whom Pizarro conquered. He tried to liberate his people from Spain, but was captured with all his family, and put to death.
In Paraguay there was the tyrant-liberator Francia, about whom that fascinating romance in English, El Supremo, tells. While La Banda Oriental, as Uruguay used to be called, had for a Liberator, the bold bandit-like Artigas. In Mexico, it was the priest Hidalgo who roused the Mexican People to revolt against Spain.
The Peoples of the eighteen Spanish-American Republics, are not one People like those of our United States, living at peace under one Government and governed by one Constitution.
They are not a Union. Instead, each is a separate Republic. Each may do as it pleases without consulting the welfare of the others. This at times, brings about bad feeling, and even war.
But to prevent war and bloodshed, some of these Republics have adopted a better way.
THE BETTER WAY
To-day, high on a ridge of the Andes Mountains, high, high above the level of the sea, stands a gigantic bronze monument. It is a figure raised on a pedestal. In one hand it holds a cross, while it extends the other hand in blessing.
The winter winds sweep against it with driving storms of snow. The summer winds whirl drifts of sand around its base. But with peaceful look, the figure gazes far beyond the black rocks, frozen peaks, and rushing torrents of the Andes, toward the busy world of men.
On its base is inscribed:—
Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust, than Chileans and Argentines shall break the peace to which they have pledged themselves at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.
It is the figure of El Cristo[7] of the Andes. It is a monument standing close to a lonely trail, once the highway from Argentina into Chile. It was erected a few years ago by the Republics of Chile and Argentina.
It happened this way:—
The two Republics had disputed for years over the boundary line which passed along the crest of the Andes. Each claimed a large share of valuable territory. Neither would allow the other to settle the boundary line.
Sometimes, the Argentine soldiers, patrolling the frontier, would find the Chilean patrol camping on the disputed ground. The two patrols would have angry words and nearly come to blows. So the bad feeling grew worse until both Republics were ready for war.
Then the Chileans and Argentines remembered that their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, under San Martin and O’Higgins, had fought side by side, and had shed their blood together in the cause of Independence. They could not bring themselves to slaughter each other, for they were brothers.
They agreed to arbitrate. They appealed to England to decide the boundary line for them. King Edward the Seventh sent a commission to the Andes, which surveyed the region to as far south as Cape Horn. The King gave his decision. Thus the boundary question was settled without bloodshed. Though Chile was not quite satisfied, she loyally stood by the King’s decision.
So the conflict was stopped, good feeling returned, and the Republics were saved from the horrors of war.
To commemorate this great event,—the better way of settling a Nation’s quarrel by Arbitration,—the Argentines and Chileans erected El Cristo.
The figure was cast from the metal of old cannon left by the Spanish soldiers when they were driven from the land by O’Higgins and San Martin. It is twenty-six feet high, and is mounted on a huge pedestal. Near it is set up a boundary-marker inscribed on one side Chile, and on the other, Argentina.
El Cristo of the Andes was dedicated. Several thousand people were present. The vast solitudes of the Andes were broken. Cannon roared and bands played. Then the Bishop of Ancud spoke:
“Not only to Argentina and Chile,” he said, “do we dedicate this monument, but to the World, that from this it may learn the lesson of Universal Peace.”
Years have gone by since then. To-day a railroad takes travellers over the mountains by another route. They no longer pass the bronze figure that pleads for Peace.
“The peon with a mail-bag strapped on his back has tramped his way for the last time down the rocky trail in the winter-snows,” writes Mr. Nevin O. Winter, who has seen El Cristo. “El Cristo stands among the lonely crags deserted, isolated, and storm-swept; but ever with a noble dignity befitting the character.”
But Chile and Argentina have not yet forgotten their pledge. They are still showing the World the Better Way—the way of Arbitration and Peace.
SEPTEMBER 6
THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE
THE FRIEND OF AMERICA
As soon as I heard of American Independence, my heart was enlisted!
Lafayette
LAFAYETTE SAID WHEN OFFERING HIS SERVICES TO CONGRESS
After the sacrifices I have made, I have the right to exact two favours. One is to serve at my own expense—the other is, to serve at first as volunteer.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, TO LAFAYETTE
On Bidding Him Farewell, in 1825
Our children, in life and after death, shall claim you for our own. You are ours by that more than patriotic devotion with which you flew to the aid of our Fathers at the crisis of their fate.... Ours by that tie of love, stronger than death, which has linked your name, for endless ages to come, with the name of Washington.
Lafayette was born in France, September 6, 1757
He came to the rescue of America, 1777
He made his triumphal tour, 1824-25
He died in France, May 20, 1834
His full name was Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier Marquis de Lafayette. He preferred to be called plain “Citizen Gilbert Motier.”
I WILL JOIN THE AMERICANS!
One night, in 1776, the old Marshal, Commander of the French forces at Strasburg, was giving a dinner party in honour of the Duke of Gloucester.
This light-hearted English Duke was in disgrace with his royal brother King George the Third of England; so he was taking a little trip abroad. At the Marshal’s dinner he was maliciously regaling the guests with a humorous account of how the Americans had flouted King George and had flung his chests of tea into Boston Harbour, and had declared their Independence.
The Duke’s sympathies were all with the Americans, and he dwelt on their need of volunteers. Amongst the guests—officers in blue and silver, Strasburg grandees in gold-lace and velvet, all exclaiming, laughing, and gesticulating—was one silent, solemn-faced young officer.
He was lean, red-haired, and hook-nosed, and very awkward. He kept his eager eyes fixed on the Duke’s face. Nobody noticed him.
After dinner, he strode across the room to the Duke, and opened his lips for the first time.
“I will join the Americans—I will help them fight for Freedom!” he cried; and as he spoke his face was illuminated. “Tell me how to set about it!”
The young man was the Marquis de Lafayette, nineteen years old, a rich French noble, the adoring husband of a sweet young wife, and the father of one little child.
Edith Sichel (Retold)
IN AMERICA
Accompanied by Baron de Kalb, Lafayette safely reached America, and presented his credentials to Congress.
Washington met him first at a dinner in Philadelphia. He was so pleased with Lafayette’s eager, brave spirit, and with his unselfish offer of sword and fortune for the American cause, that he invited him to become a member of his family, and to make Headquarters his home.
Lafayette was delighted, and immediately had his luggage taken to the camp. And from that time on, he was always a welcome guest both at camp and at Mount Vernon.
ON THE FIELD NEAR CAMDEN
What became of Lafayette’s companion, the Baron de Kalb?
He served his adopted country, the United States, until at the battle near Camden, he fell, still fighting though pierced by eleven wounds.
“The rebel General! the rebel General!” shouted the British soldiers who saw him fall. And they rushed forward to transfix him with their bayonets.
But his faithful adjutant tried to throw himself on the Baron’s body to shield it, crying out at the same time, “Spare the Baron de Kalb!”
The rough soldiers raised the wounded Baron to his feet, and, leaning him against a wagon, began to strip him.
Just then the British General, Lord Cornwallis, rode up. He saw his valiant enemy stripped to his shirt, the blood pouring from his eleven wounds. Immediately, he gave orders that the Baron should be treated with respect and care.
“I regret to see you so badly wounded,” he said, “but am glad to have defeated you.”
The Baron was carried to a bed. He was given every care. His devoted adjutant watched by his bedside, and the British officers came to express their sympathy and regret. But the brave Baron lingered three days only, then he died. Almost his last thoughts were with the men of his command. He charged his adjutant to thank them for their valour, and to bid them an affectionate farewell from him.
The people of Camden erected a monument in memory of the Baron de Kalb.
THE BANNER OF THE MORAVIAN NUNS
“Take thy Banner; and beneath
The war-cloud’s encircling wreath
Guard it—till our homes are free—
Guard it—God will prosper thee!
. . . . . . . . . .
“Take thy Banner; and if e’er
Thou shouldst press the soldier’s bier
And the muffled drum should beat
To the tread of mournful feet,
Then this Crimson Flag shall be
Martial cloak and shroud for thee!”
And the Warrior took that Banner proud,
And it was his martial cloak and shroud.
From The Hymn of the Moravian Nuns,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
It was the young and gallant Marquis de Lafayette, who during the terrible rout on the field of Brandywine, leaped from his horse, and sword in hand tried to rally the fleeing American soldiers. But a musket ball passing through his leg, he fell wounded to the ground.
His brave aide-de-camp placed Lafayette on his own horse, thus saving his life. Lafayette then tried to rejoin Washington, but his wound bled so badly that he had to stop and have his leg bandaged.
Meanwhile, it was growing dark. All was fear and confusion around him. The American soldiers were fleeing from every direction toward the village of Chester. They were rushing on in headlong flight, with cannon and baggage-wagons. The thunder of the enemy’s guns, the clouds of dust, the shouts and cries, the general panic, were terrific.
Lafayette was forced to retreat with the Army, but in spite of his wound, he retained presence of mind enough to station a guard at the bridge before Chester, with commands to keep all retreating soldiers from crossing it. So, when Washington and General Greene rode up, they were able to rally the soldiers and restore something like order.
As for Lafayette, he was soon after carried to the town of Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, and left with the Moravian Nuns.
These good women nursed him, and bestowed every kindly care upon him, until his wound was healed and he was able to rejoin the Army. He had been serving without a command, but after his gallant action at Brandywine, he was made head of a division.
It was while Lafayette was still at Bethlehem, that a brilliant officer from the American Army came to see him. He was the Lithuanian-Polish Patriot, Count Casimir Pulaski.
All the Nuns, and in fact every one in Bethlehem, knew Count Pulaski’s romantic history, how while in Poland he had fought for the Independence of his Country, and had been sent into exile. He was now fighting for America’s Liberty.
And when the Nuns learned that Count Pulaski was raising a corps in Baltimore, they were eager to honour him. With their own hands they made a banner of crimson silk, embroidering it beautifully. This they sent to him with their blessing.
He carried the crimson banner through battle and danger, until at last he fell so badly wounded that he died.
The crimson banner was rescued, and carried back to Baltimore.
LOYAL TO THE CHIEF
It was during that terrible Winter at Valley Forge, that Generals Gates and Conway “with malice and duplicity,” were plotting against Washington.
They wanted to win the young and influential Marquis de Lafayette to their conspiracy. They planned to do so by separating him from Washington. So they used their influence to have him appointed to an independent command, with Conway as his chief lieutenant. And this they did without consulting Washington.
But they reckoned without their host. The gallant young Frenchman was loyal. He was incapable of a dastardly act. Though scarcely twenty years old, he had a mind of his own. He refused to take command without Washington’s consent; and insisted on having Baron de Kalb, not Conway, for his lieutenant.
Then he set out for York, to get his papers.
He had left Washington with the soldiers, starving and shivering at Valley Forge; he found General Gates and his officers in York, comfortably seated at dinner, the table laden with food and drink. They were flushed and noisy with wine, and greeted Lafayette with shouts of welcome.
They fawned upon him; they complimented and toasted him. He listened to them quietly; and, as soon as he received his papers, rose as if to make a speech.
There was a breathless silence. All eyes were fixed upon him.
In politest tones, he reminded them there was one toast that they had forgotten, and which he now proposed:—
The health of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States.
There was silence. There was consternation and embarrassment. No one dared refuse to drink. Some merely touched the glasses to their lips, others set them down scarcely tasted.
Then, bowing with mock politeness and shrugging his shoulders, Lafayette left the dining-hall, and mounting his horse rode away.
John Fiske and Other Sources (Retold)
WE ARE GRATEFUL, LAFAYETTE!
During the War for Independence, Lafayette served without pay. He also cheerfully expended one hundred and forty thousand dollars out of his own fortune, purchasing a ship to bring him to America, and raising, equipping, arming, and clothing a regiment. And when he landed in America, he brought with him munitions of war, which he presented to our Army. He gave shoes, clothes, and food to our naked suffering American soldiers.
After the War was over, some small recognition was offered him by our Government. But while on his visit here in 1825, to show appreciation of his unselfish aid to us in time of need, and in compensation for his expenditures, Congress passed a bill presenting him with two hundred thousand dollars and a grant of land.
There were, however, a few members of Congress who violently opposed the bill, much to the shame of all grateful citizens. And one member of Congress, humiliated at this opposition, tried to apologize delicately to Lafayette.
“I, Sir, am one of the opposition!” exclaimed Lafayette. “The gift is so munificent, so far exceeding the services of the individual, that, had I been a member of Congress, I must have voted against it!”
And to Congress itself, Lafayette, deeply touched said:—
“The immense and unexpected gift which in addition to former and considerable bounties, it has pleased Congress to confer upon me, calls for the warmest acknowledgments of an old American soldier, an adopted son of the United States—two titles dearer to my heart than all the treasures in the world.”
SOME OF WASHINGTON’S HAIR
Cordial ties bound the land of Washington to the land of Bolivar one hundred years ago.
Then the South American Liberator was held in such high esteem here, that after the death of Washington his family sent Bolivar several relics of the national hero of the United States, including locks of Washington’s hair.
The gift was transmitted through Lafayette, who had it presented to Bolivar by a French officer. And the latter bore back to the noble French comrade of Washington, an eloquent letter of thanks from Bolivar.
The South American Liberator professed throughout his life ardent admiration for the United States, and once in conversation with an American officer in Peru, prophesied that within one hundred years, the land of Washington would stand first in the world.
T. R. Ybarra
WELCOME! FRIEND OF AMERICA!
1824-25
It was twenty-five years after the death of Washington. It was 1824. In New York City, joy bells were ringing, bands playing, cannon saluting, flags waving, and two hundred thousand people wildly cheering.
The Marquis de Lafayette was visiting America. He was landing at the Battery. He was no longer the slender, debonair, young French officer who, afire with ardent courage, had served under Washington, but a man of sixty-seven, large, massive, almost six feet tall, his rugged face expressing a strong noble character, his fine hazel eyes beaming with pleasure and affection. But his manner was the same courtly, gracious one of the young man of nineteen who so long ago had exclaimed, “I will join the Americans—I will help them fight for Freedom!”
Since the American War for Independence, Lafayette had been through the terrible French Revolution, and had spent five years in an Austrian prison. Now, as he landed once more on American soil, he was the honoured and idolized guest of millions of grateful citizens of the United States.
As he stepped from a gayly decorated boat, and stood among the throngs of cheering New York folk, his eyes filled with tears. He had expected only a little welcome; instead he found the whole Nation waiting expectant and eager to do him honour.
His tour of the country in a barouche drawn by four white horses, was one continuous procession. Enormous crowds gathered everywhere to greet him as he went from city to city, town to town, and village to village. He passed beneath arches of flowers and arbours of evergreens. Children and young girls welcomed him with songs, and officials with addresses. He was banqueted and fêted. “Lafayette! Lafayette!” was the roar that went up from millions of throats.
At Fort McHenry, he was conducted into the tent that had been Washington’s during the War for Independence. There, some of Lafayette’s old comrades-in-arms, veteran members of the Society of the Cincinnati, were awaiting him.
Lafayette embraced them with tears of joy. Then looking around the tent, and seeing some of Washington’s equipment, he exclaimed in a subdued voice:—
“I remember! I remember!”
Later in the day, a procession was formed, which as it passed through the streets of Baltimore, displayed in a place of honour the crimson silk banner of Count Pulaski, embroidered for him by the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
In Boston, Lafayette in a barouche drawn by four beautiful white horses, was escorted by a brilliant procession through the streets. At the Common, he passed between two lines of school-children, girls in white, and boys in blue and white; and a lovely little girl crowned him with a wreath of blossoms.
Across Washington Street, were thrown two arches decorated with flags, and inscribed with the words:—
WELCOME, LAFAYETTE!
The Fathers in glory shall sleep,
That gathered with thee to the fight,
But the Sons will eternally keep
The Tablet of Gratitude bright.
We bow not the neck, and we bend not the knee,
But our hearts, Lafayette, we surrender to thee.
And when he entered Lexington, he passed beneath an arch on which was written in flowers:
Welcome! Friend of America!
To the Birthplace of American Liberty.
SEPTEMBER 24
JOHN MARSHALL
THE EXPOUNDER OF THE CONSTITUTION
I had grown up at a time ... when the maxim, “United we stand, divided we fall,” was the maxim of every orthodox American; and I had imbibed these sentiments so thoroughly that they constituted a part of my being.
John Marshall.
He had a deep sense of moral and religious obligation, and a love of truth, constant, enduring, unflinching. It naturally gave rise to a sincerity of thought, purpose, expression and conduct, which, though never severe, was always open, manly, and straightforward.
Yet it was combined with such a gentle and bland demeanour, that it never gave offense. But it was, on the contrary, most persuasive in its appeals to the understanding.
Justice Joseph Story
John Marshall was born in Virginia, September 24, 1755
Became an officer in a Company of Minute Men, 1775
Was Envoy to France, 1797
Was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1801
He died, July 6, 1835
THE BOY OF THE FRONTIER
In a Log Cabin
Through the ancient and unbroken forests, toward the Monongahela River, Braddock made his slow and painful way. Weeks passed, then months. But the Colonists felt no impatience because everybody knew what would happen when his scarlet columns should finally meet and throw themselves upon the enemy.
Yet this meeting when it came, proved to be one of the lesser tragedies of history, and had a deep and fateful effect upon American public opinion, and upon the life and future of the American People.
Time has not dulled the vivid picture of that disaster. The golden sunshine of that July day; the pleasant murmur of the waters of the Monongahela; the silent and sombre forests; the steady tramp, tramp of the British to the inspiriting music of their regimental bands, playing the martial airs of England; the bright uniforms of the advancing columns giving to the background of stream and forest a touch of splendour;—and then the ambush and surprise; the war-whoops of savage foes that could not be seen; the hail of invisible death, no pellet of which went astray; the pathetic volleys which the doomed British troops fired at hidden antagonists; the panic; the rout; the pursuit; the slaughter; the crushing, humiliating defeat!
Most of the British officers were killed or wounded, as they vainly tried to halt the stampede. Braddock himself received a mortal hurt.
Furious at what he felt was the stupidity and cowardice of the British regulars, the youthful Washington rode among the fear-frenzied Englishmen striving to save the day. Two horses were shot under him. Four bullets rent his uniform. But crazed with fright, the Royal soldiers were beyond human control.
Only the Virginia Rangers kept their heads and their courage. Obeying the shouted orders of their young Commander, they threw themselves between the terror-stricken British and the savage victors, and, fighting behind trees and rocks, were an ever-moving rampart of fire that saved the flying remnants of the English troops.
But for Washington and his Rangers, Braddock’s whole force would have been annihilated.
So everywhere went up the cry, “The British are beaten!”
At first, rumour had it, that the whole force was destroyed, and that Washington had been killed in action. But soon another word followed hard upon this error—the word that the boyish Virginia Captain and his Rangers had fought with coolness, skill, and courage; that they alone had prevented the extinction of the British Regulars.
Thus it was that the American Colonists suddenly came to think, that they themselves must be their own defenders. It was a revelation, all the more impressive because it was so abrupt, unexpected, and dramatic, that the red-coated professional soldiers were not the unconquerable warriors, the Colonists had been told that they were. From colonial mansion to log cabin, from the provincial capitals to the mean and exposed frontier settlements, Braddock’s defeat sowed the seed of the idea that Americans must depend upon themselves.
Close upon the heels of this epoch-making event, John Marshall came into the world.
He was born in a little log cabin in what is now a part of Virginia, eleven weeks after Braddock’s defeat. The Marshall cabin stood about a mile and a half from a cluster of a dozen similar log structures, a little settlement practically on the frontier.
Off to the Blue Ridge
Some ten years after Braddock’s defeat, we can picture a strong rude wagon drawn by two horses, crawling along the stumpy, rock-roughened, and mud-mired road through the dense woods that led to a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In the wagon sat a young woman. By her side a sturdy red-cheeked boy looked out with alert but quiet interest showing from his brilliant black eyes. And three other children cried their delight or vexation as the hours wore on.
The red-cheeked boy was John Marshall.
In this wagon, too, were piled the little family’s household goods. By the side of the wagon, strode a young man dressed in the costume of the frontier. Tall, broad-shouldered, lithe-hipped, erect, he was a very oak of a man. His splendid head was carried with a peculiar dignity. And the grave but kindly command that shone from his face, together with the brooding thoughtfulness and fearless light of his striking eyes, would have singled him out in any assemblage, as a man to be respected and trusted.
A negro drove the team, and a negro girl walked behind. So went little John Marshall with his father and mother, from the log cabin to their new Blue Ridge home, which was not a log cabin, but a frame house built of whipsawed uprights and boards.
Making an American
John Marshall lived near the frontier, until he was nineteen, when as Lieutenant of the famous Culpeper Minute Men, he marched away to battle.
And during those nineteen years he had been growing up to be an American.
The earliest stories told little John Marshall must have been frontier ones of daring and sacrifice.
Almost from the home-made cradle, he was taught the idea of American solidarity. Braddock’s defeat was the theme of fireside talk of the Colonists, and from this grew in time the conviction that Americans, if united, could not only protect their homes from the savages and the French, but could defeat, if need be, the British themselves.
So thought John Marshall’s father and mother, and so they taught their children.
For the most part, the boy’s days were spent studying and reading, or rifle in hand, in the surrounding mountains and by the pleasant waters that flowed through the valley of his forest home. He helped his mother, of course, did the innumerable chores which the day’s work required, and looked after the younger children. He ate game from the forest and fish from the stream. Bear meat was plentiful.
Whether at home with his mother, or on surveying trips with his father, the boy continually was under the influence and direction of hardy, clear-minded unusual parents.
Their lofty and simple ideals, their rational thinking, their unbending uprightness, their religious convictions—these were the intellectual companions of John Marshall’s childhood and youth.
Give Me Liberty!
Thomas Marshall, John’s father, served in the Virginia House of Burgesses of which Patrick Henry was a member.
When Thomas Marshall returned to his Blue Ridge home, he described, of course, the scenes he had witnessed and taken part in. The heart of his son thrilled, we may be sure, as he listened to his father reciting Patrick Henry’s words of fire.
And again, when Patrick Henry became the voice of America, and offered the “Resolutions for Arming and Defense,” and carried them with that amazing speech ending with:—
Give me Liberty or give me Death!
Thomas Marshall sat beneath its spell.
And John Marshall, now nineteen years old, heard those words from his father’s lips, as the family clustered around the fireside of Oak Hill, their Blue Ridge home.
The effect on John Marshall’s mind and spirit was heroic and profound.
Albert J. Beveridge (Arranged)
THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT
When John Marshall was nineteen, he was about six feet high, straight, and rather slender, and of dark complexion. His eyes were dark to blackness, strong and penetrating, beaming with intelligence and good nature. His raven black hair was of unusual thickness.
He was Lieutenant of a Company, and wore a purple or pale blue hunting shirt, and trousers of the same material fringed with white. A round black hat, with a buck-tail for a cockade, crowned his figure.
The news of the Battle of Lexington reached him, and he was soon on the muster-field training his Company.
First, he made his men a speech, telling them that he had come to meet them as fellow soldiers, who were likely to be called on to defend their Country and their own rights and liberties—that there had been a battle at Lexington in which the Americans were victorious, but that more fighting was expected—that soldiers were called for—and that it was time to brighten their firearms, and learn to use them in the field—and that, if they would fall into a single line, he would show them the new manual exercise, for which purpose he had brought his own gun.
Then before he required the men to imitate him, he went through the manual exercise by word and motion, deliberately pronounced and performed. He then proceeded to exercise them with the most perfect temper. Never did man possess a temper more happy, or one more subdued or better disciplined.
After a few lessons, he dismissed the Company, saying that if they wished to hear more about the war, he would tell them what he understood about it. The men formed a circle about him, and he talked to them for about an hour.
After that he challenged an acquaintance to a game of quoits. And they closed the day with foot-races and other athletic exercises.
Horace Binney (Retold)
SERVING THE CAUSE
Young John Marshall became a Lieutenant in the first regiment of Minute Men raised in Virginia. These were the citizen soldiery of the Colonies, who “were raised in a minute; armed in a minute; marched in a minute; fought in a minute; and vanquished in a minute.”
His father Thomas Marshall was Major of this Virginia regiment of Minute Men. Their appearance was calculated to strike terror into the hearts of an enemy. They were dressed in green hunting-shirts, home-spun, home-woven, and home-made, with the words,
Liberty or Death!
in large white letters on their bosoms.
They wore in their hats, buck-tails, and in their belts, tomahawks and scalping knives. Their savage, warlike appearance excited the terror of the inhabitants as they marched through the country.
Lord Dunmore told his troops, before the action at the Great Bridge, that if they fell into the hands of the “shirt-men,” they would be scalped.
To the honour of the “shirt-men,” it should be observed, that they treated the British prisoners with great kindness—a kindness which was felt and gratefully acknowledged.
Henry Flanders (Arranged)
AT VALLEY FORGE
Through the battles of Iron Hill, of Brandywine, of Germantown, and of Monmouth, John Marshall bore himself bravely. And through the dreary privations, the hunger, and the nakedness of that ghastly Winter at Valley Forge, his patient endurance and his cheeriness bespoke the very sweetest temper that ever man was blessed with.
So long as any lived to speak, men would tell how he was loved by the soldiers and by his brother officers; how he was the arbiter of their differences and the composer of their disputes. And when called to act, as he often was, as Judge Advocate, he exercised that peculiar and delicate judgment required of him, who is not only the prosecutor but the protector of the accused.
It was in the duties of this office that he first met and came to know well the two men, whom of all others on earth he most admired and loved, and whose impress he bore through his life—Washington and Hamilton.
William Henry Rawle (Arranged)
SILVER HEELS
Young John Marshall surpassed in athletics, any man in the Army. When the soldiers were idle at their quarters, it was usual for the officers to engage in a game of quoits or in jumping and racing. Then he would throw a quoit farther, and beat at a race any other. He was the only man, who with a running jump, could clear a stick laid on the heads of two men as tall as himself.
On one occasion, he ran a race in his stocking feet with a comrade. His mother, in knitting his stockings, had knit the legs of blue yarn and the heels of white. Because of this and because he always won the races, the soldiers called him:—
“Silver Heels.”
J. B. Thayer (Arranged)
WITHOUT BREAD
Told by John Marshall’s Sister
He was then an officer in the American Army, and he came home for a visit, accompanied by some of his brother officers, some young French gentlemen.
When supper time arrived, Mother had the meal prepared for them, and had made into bread a little flour, the last she had, which had been saved for such an occasion.
The little ones cried for some, and Brother John inquired into matters. He would eat no more of the bread, which could not be shared with us.
He was greatly distressed at the straits to which the fortunes of war had reduced us. And Mother had not intended him to know our condition.
From the Green Bag
HIS MOTHER
John Marshall’s mother, Mary Isham Keith, was a woman of great force of character and strong religious faith. She was pleasing in mind, person, and manners. And her son loved her with that chivalrous tender devotion, which made him gentle with all women throughout his life.
A few weeks before his death, John Marshall told his friend, Judge Story, that he had never failed to repeat each night, through his long life, the little prayer which begins:—
Now I lay me down to sleep,
that he had learned, when a baby, at his mother’s knee.
Sallie E. Marshall Hardy (Arranged)
HIS FATHER
His father, Thomas Marshall, served with great distinction during the War for Independence. He was a man of uncommon capacity and vigour of intellect.
John Marshall, after he became Chief Justice, used often to speak of him in terms of the deepest affection and reverence. Indeed, he never named his father, without dwelling on his character with a fond and winning enthusiasm.
“My father,” he would say with kindled feelings and emphasis, “my father was a far abler man than any of his sons. To him I owe the solid foundation of all my own success in life.”
Justice Joseph Story (Condensed)
THREE STORIES
What was in the Saddlebags
One Autumn, John Marshall was invited to visit Mount Vernon, in company with Washington’s nephew.
On their way to Mount Vernon, the two travellers met with a misadventure, which gave great amusement to Washington, and of which he enjoyed telling his friends.
They came on horseback, and carried but one pair of saddlebags, each using one side. Arriving thoroughly drenched by rain, they were shown to a chamber to change their garments.
One opened his side of the bags, and drew forth a black bottle of whiskey. He insisted that he had opened his companion’s repository.
Unlocking the other side, they found a big twist of tobacco, some corn bread, and the equipment of a pack-saddle.
They had exchanged saddlebags with some traveller, and now had to appear in a ludicrous misfit of borrowed clothes!
Eating Cherries
After the war, John Marshall studied law, and began practice in Virginia courts. He served in many important offices both of his State and of the Nation.
Here is a little story told of him when he first began his practice. At that time, he was very simple though neat, in his dress.
He was one morning strolling, we are told, through the streets of Richmond, attired in a plain linen roundabout and shorts, with his hat under his arm, from which he was eating cherries, when he stopped in the porch of the Eagle Hotel, indulged in a little pleasantry with the landlord, and then passed on.
A gentleman from the country was present, who had a case coming on before the Court of Appeals, and was referred by the landlord to Marshall as the best lawyer to employ. But “the careless languid air” of Marshall, had so prejudiced the man that he refused to employ him.
The clerk, when this client entered the courtroom, also recommended Marshall, but the other would have none of him.
A venerable-looking lawyer, with powdered wig and in black cloth, soon entered, and the gentleman engaged him.
In the first case that came up, this man and Marshall spoke on opposite sides. The gentleman listened, saw his mistake, and secured Marshall at once, frankly telling him the whole story, and adding, that while he had come with one hundred dollars to pay his lawyer, he had but five dollars left.
Marshall good-naturedly took this, and helped in the case.
Learned in the Law of Nations
In time, John Marshall became a great lawyer. He declined the office of District Attorney of the United States at Richmond, that of Attorney General of the United States, and that of Minister to France, all offered him by Washington.
When President Adams persuaded him to go as envoy to France, he wrote to another envoy of “General Marshall,” as he was then called, from his rank of Brigadier-General in the Virginia Militia:—
“He is a plain man, very sensible, cautious, guarded, and learned in the Law of Nations.”
James B. Thayer (Arranged)
THE CONSTITUTION
As the British Constitution is the most subtile organism, which has proceeded from progressive history; so the American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time, by the brain and purpose of man.
William Ewart Gladstone
“A Constitution,” says the dictionary, is “the fundamental organic law or principles of Government of a Nation, State, Society, or other organized body of men.
“Also a written instrument embodying such law.”
This is not so hard to understand:—
The first statement may be applied to the English Constitution, which is not a written Document like ours. It is, instead, a vast body of laws and judicial decisions, which, accumulating through the centuries, and beginning long before the time of the Magna Carta, have been handed down from one generation to another.
On the other hand, the second statement in the dictionary, may be applied to the Constitution of the United States, which is a Document, a written instrument, framed and adopted for our protection by those able and noble Patriots who met in the Federal Convention, over which George Washington himself presided. They were wise men, learned in the Law, and far-sighted. They planned a Government for the great future of a very great Free People.
Since its adoption, other Republics of the world have used our Constitution as a model for their own.
Our Constitution guarantees self-government, and regulates just government. It is the foundation of our national life. Without it, we should be threatened with anarchy. Anarchy means universal confusion, terror, bloodshed, lawlessness of every description, and the destruction of religion, education, business, and of everything which makes life and home beautiful and safe.
After we had declared our Independence and won our Liberty, this Country was threatened with anarchy because we had as yet no Constitution to regulate Government, and each State did much as it pleased.
But after the Constitution was adopted, and the States were united and had became One People under One Government, order, peace, and prosperity resulted.
Thus the amazingly rapid growth of “Our Beloved Country,” as Washington called it, is due to the safeguards of that most precious Document, the Constitution of the United States. For which reason every boy and girl should read it carefully, should regard it with reverence, and should surround it with every protection, as being, with the blessing of God, the source of the life and welfare of our Nation.
As for John Marshall, he did not help to frame the Constitution; but it was largely through his efforts and those of James Madison, that the Virginia State Legislature ratified it. In another way, also, he had a great part in its making.
After the Constitution was adopted, being a new Document there existed no body of judicial decisions interpreting its meanings, like the decisions of England which guided English judges. A body of American decisions had to be made to interpret our Constitution in order to guide American judges. This was John Marshall’s great work.
In 1801, President John Adams called the profound lawyer, John Marshall, to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
It was a most wise appointment, as we shall now see.
EXPOUNDING THE CONSTITUTION
Chief Justice Marshall took his place at the head of the National Judiciary. The Government under the Constitution, was only organized twelve years before, and in the interval eleven amendments of the Constitution had been regularly proposed and adopted.
Comparatively nothing had been done judicially to define the powers or develop the resources of the Constitution. In short, the Nation, the Constitution, and the Laws were in their infancy.
Under these circumstances, it was most fortunate for the Country, that the great Chief Justice retained his high position for thirty-four years, and that during all that time, with scarcely any interruption, he kept on with the work he showed himself so competent to perform.
As year after year went by and new occasion required, with his irresistible logic, enforced by his cogent English, he developed the hidden treasures of the Constitution, demonstrated its capacities, and showed beyond all possibility of doubt, that a Government rightfully administered under its authority, could protect itself against itself and against the world.
Hardly a day now passes in the Court he so dignified and adorned, without reference to some decision of his time, as establishing a principle which, from that day to this, has been accepted as undoubted law.
In all the various questions of constitutional, international, and general law, the Chief Justice was at home; and when, at the end of his long and eminent career, he laid down his life, he and those who had so ably assisted him in his great work, had the right to say, that the judicial power of the United States had been carefully preserved and wisely administered.
The Nation can never honour him or them, too much for the work they accomplished.
Chief Justice Waite (Arranged)
THE GREAT CHIEF JUSTICE
I have always thought from my earliest youth till now, that the greatest scourge an angry Heaven ever inflicted upon an ungrateful and a sinning People, was an ignorant, a corrupt, or a dependent Judiciary.
John Marshall
Respected by All
When the venerable life of the Chief Justice was near its close, he was called to give his parting counsel to his native State, in the revision of her Constitution.
A spectacle of greater dignity than the Convention of Virginia in the year 1829, has been rarely exhibited. At its head was James Monroe, conducted to the chair by James Madison and John Marshall, and surrounded by the strength of Virginia, including many of the greatest names of the Union.
The reverence manifested for Chief Justice Marshall, was one of the most beautiful features of the scene. The gentleness of his temper, the purity of his motives, the sincerity of his convictions and his wisdom, were confessed by all.
He stood in the centre of his native State, in his very home of fifty years, surrounded by men who had known him as long as they had known anything, and there was no one to rise up even to question his opinions, without a tribute to his personal excellence.
The True Man
This admirable man, extraordinary in the powers of his mind, illustrious by his services, exalted by his public station, was one of the most warm-hearted, unassuming, and excellent of men.
His life from youth to old age was one unbroken harmony of mind, affections, principles, and manners.
His kinsman says of him, “He had no frays in boyhood. He had no quarrels or outbreakings in manhood. He was the composer of strifes. He spoke ill of no man. He meddled not with their affairs. He viewed their worst deeds through the medium of charity.”
Another of his intimate personal friends has said of him, “In private life he was upright and scrupulously just in all his transactions. His friendships were ardent, sincere, and constant, his charity and benevolence unbounded. Magnanimous and forgiving, he never bore malice. Religious from sentiment and reflection, he was a Christian, believed in the Gospel, and practiced its tenets.”
Horace Binney (Condensed)
WHAT OF THE CONSTITUTION?
The Unity of Government, which constitutes you One People, is also now dear to you.
It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real Independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize. ...
To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a Government for the whole is indispensable.
Washington, from his Farewell Address
To me it is a marvel that the Constitution of the United States has operated so successfully.... But the United States is a singular example of political virtue and moral rectitude.
That Nation has been cradled in Liberty, has been nurtured in Liberty, and has been maintained by pure Liberty. I will add that the People of the United States are unique in the history of the human race.
Simon Bolivar, the Liberator
Let us make our generation one of the strongest and brightest links in that golden chain which is destined, I fondly believe, to grapple the People of all the States to this Constitution for Ages to come.
We have a great, popular constitutional Government ... defended by the affections of the whole People. No monarchical throne presses these States together. No iron chain of military power encircles them. They live and stand under a Government popular in its form, representative in its character, founded upon principles of equality, and so constructed, we hope, as to last for ever.... Its daily respiration is Liberty and Patriotism. Its yet youthful veins are full of enterprise, courage, and honourable love of glory and renown.
Daniel Webster
May our children and our children’s children for a thousand generations continue to enjoy the benefits conferred upon us by a United Country, and have cause yet to rejoice under those glorious institutions bequeathed us by Washington and his compeers! Now, my friends—soldiers and citizens—I can only say once more, Farewell.
Abraham Lincoln
ENVOY
God of our Fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty, all the starry band
Of shining worlds, in splendour thro’ the skies,
Our grateful songs, before Thy throne arise.
Thy love divine, hath led us in the past;
In this Free Land, by Thee our lot is cast;
Be Thou our ruler, guardian, guide, and stay,
Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.
From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defence;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in Peace.
Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way;
Lead us from night to never-ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine;
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine!
D. C. Roberts (1876)
APPENDIX
FOR TEACHERS AND STORY-TELLERS
I
PROGRAMME OF STORIES FROM THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
II
STORY PROGRAMME OF SOUTH AMERICA’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE