■0/ 
 
William McK^inley. 
 
 \ 
 
 Memorial JIddress Delivered by 
 
 JOHAl HAY, Secretary of State, 
 
 In the Hall of the House of l^epresentatives 
 February 27th, I902. 
 
 With the Editorial Comments of 
 W. C. P. BRECKINRIDGE. 
 
 Editor Morning Herald. 
 
 TRANSYLVANIA PrlESS. 
 
u 
 M4 
 
 J 
 
 WILLIAM Mckinley. 
 
EDITORIJiL COMMENTS. 
 
 Morning Herald, February 28, I902. 
 
 The oration of Secretary Hay on 
 William McKinley in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives before an audience com- 
 posed of the President and his Cabinet, 
 the Justices of the Supreme Court and 
 members of the bench of the District of 
 Columbia, the Senate and House of Rep- 
 resentatives, the chief officers of the 
 arm and navy and the representatives of 
 foreign governments at Washington is 
 worthy of the subject and the occasion. 
 It is an oration that will live. It is a 
 distinct and valuable contribution to 
 the oratorical literature of America, and 
 will take its place by the side of such 
 orations as those of Binney on Chief 
 Justice Marshall, Thomas F. Marshall 
 on Richard H. Menifee, William C. Pres- 
 ton on Hugh Legare, Blaine on Gar- 
 field; the oration delivered at the lay- 
 ing of the corner stone of the Clay 
 monument, and other of those orations 
 which have become classic in our lit- 
 erature. It may not rank with those 
 remarkable orations as Bossuet's ser- 
 mon on Prince Conde, or Hugo's address 
 on Voltaire. It does not belong to the 
 same class of orations as the unrivalled 
 oration of Pericles on the Athenian 
 soldiers slain in the Peloponesian war. 
 It is a scholarly production. There is 
 not a sentence or a line in it that of- 
 fends the most scrupulous taste, nor 
 one that would grate on the ear of the 
 severest critic. You know that it is pol- 
 ished with the finest skill of the lapi- 
 
 dary, but it does not show the evidence 
 of his work, except by the simplicity of 
 its style, the purity of the diction and 
 the elevation of the thought. There are 
 scattered through it some admirable 
 passages, in which rather unusual 
 thoughts are expressed in the most felic- 
 itous language. There is not a part of 
 the career of President McKinley that 
 is not depicted courageously, but yet 
 there is not a single discourteous, bit- 
 ter or unpleasant thought in the whole 
 oration. 
 
 He holds up to the country a fair por- 
 trait of the man, who was a Union sol- 
 dier during the war, a Republican warm 
 in his partisan associations, a protec- 
 tionist intense in his beliefs and earn- 
 est in his advocacy of its tenets; of a 
 man always identified with the stronger 
 element of his party, and expi-essing 
 the views of those with whom he agreed 
 in language. Nor do'^s he abate a jot 
 or tittle of the character and opinions of 
 McKinley during the troublesome di- 
 visive period from 1860 until his death. 
 And yet the most sensitive opponent 
 could listen to him without irritation, or 
 read the speech with sincere admira- 
 tion. Those who agreed with the Pres- 
 ident in his entire career will be satis- 
 fied with the statement of the issues it 
 which he took sides, of the contests in 
 which he bore his part, of the causes to 
 which he devoted his life; and yet those 
 who were opposed to him will readily 
 
admit that the line of good taste was 
 not overstepped a single inch. This is 
 a rare quality in a speaker. The ora- 
 ;ion is absolutely candid, and yet it is 
 equally courteous. 
 
 We have read it with great interest. 
 and we cordially commend it to our 
 readers. We suggest to the pro- 
 fessors in our two colleges and to the 
 teachers in our schools to submit it to 
 the young students and scholars as 
 worthy of careful analysis and of 
 thoughtful consideration. 
 
 We sometimes hear that oratory is a 
 lest art; that it belongs to yesterday, 
 and is not of avail or importance in the 
 practical business of the day. This ora- 
 tion is a complete refutation of this 
 silly utterance. 
 
 The noblest of all musical instruments 
 is the human voice. There is no instru- 
 ment -which has such power over the 
 human heart and such influence over hu- 
 man action as this wondrous power of 
 articulate speech. There is no human 
 power £0 influential as the human 
 brain. It is but little lower in its po- 
 tentiality than the divine power. There 
 is an occult, mysterious, but absolute 
 and certain sympathy between human 
 hearts; a heart stirred to its innermost 
 depths with which a great brain is in 
 hot sympathy, and the emotions of the 
 one and the meditation of the other 
 treated before a great audience in a 
 voice full of music and power, will al- 
 ways sway that audience. Oratory is in 
 part a gift, and it is also a noble art; 
 and. like all arts, it has ils various de- 
 partments and its diverse uses. He 
 would be a rash man who would under- 
 take to define what oratory is, any 
 more than one would undertake to de- 
 fine what the art of painting is or poet- 
 ry. Its uses are more varied and nu- 
 /nerous than those of iany other art— 
 to convince, to persuade, to entertain^ 
 
 to charm, in whatever department the 
 human soul is to operate and the human 
 intellect is to be employed human 
 speech is a most important and valuable 
 art. 
 
 The career of President McKinley in 
 one aspect of it is an extremely natural 
 career. There is nothing in it that 
 startles ont. His growth was as natu- 
 ral as that of a tree of the forest. His 
 career was as sim.ple an evolution as 
 that of any career in our history. The 
 events of each succeeding day, with its 
 added responsibilities and its greater 
 powers, grew naturally out of the pre- 
 ceding day. There was nothing in his 
 life or career that surprised the coun- 
 try , that startled the observer; and this 
 career is developed in this oration in 
 accordance with this somewhat re- 
 markable characteristic. Looking at it 
 from another standpoint it was a won- 
 derous career. That a boy born in an 
 obscure village, in a somewhat obscure 
 rural neighborhood, in the center of the 
 midland State of Ohio, of plain people, 
 in stranghtened circurastances, should 
 die the President of the United States 
 after having added to the Republic of 
 which he was the President the Phil- 
 ippine Archipelago in the Pacific ocean, 
 the Sandwich Islands and opened the 
 way to our acquisition of the islands of 
 the Carribean Sea. is a contrast that 
 when studied in this way is as startling 
 as any tale of Oriental life. We are in 
 the habit of considering such changes as 
 confined to the realm of fancy, the do- 
 main of imagination, or the nations of 
 the Orient; and yet our staid, prosaic 
 and practical annals are full of these 
 changes more remarkable than those 
 we read in works of fiction or in ihe an- 
 nals of Oriental nations; and among 
 these careers none are more suggestive 
 than that of President McKinley. But 
 his career and that of Americans who 
 
have had substantially the same career, 
 of whom our history is full — Americans 
 like Jackson. Lincoln, Grant, Cleve- 
 land, Hayes; Americans like unto Clay, 
 Webster and others whose names our 
 readers will recall — is one open to every 
 American boy. Not merely his career in 
 the narrow sense of its being similar to 
 it; that is, that the boy may become 
 Representative in Congress, Governor of 
 his State and President; but upon a 
 broader view, a career substantially like 
 this, where a boy may become a leading 
 statesman, admiral of the navy, com- 
 manding genei'al of the army, a great 
 financier, a muti-millionaire. a noble 
 philanthropist, an artist of undying 
 fame; for it is not the precise career 
 which is given to one that is of import- 
 ance. It is success in the career which 
 one adopts that is of real import- 
 ance. Every career is open to every 
 American boy. There is no eminence 
 so great that every barefooted newsboy 
 may not look forward to the possibility 
 of attaining. There is no fame so 
 broad that any school boy on the 
 
 benches of the smallest and meanest 
 school house may not hope to attain. 
 There is no success so marvelous as to 
 be unattainable in this country of ours, 
 in this generation in which our youth 
 are called to act. This is the lesson oi 
 this oration. This is the inspiration 
 of the career which it holds up for con- 
 templation. This is the blessedness of 
 Ihe institutions under which we live; 
 and this is only the smallest part of it, 
 for eminence in any career is not given 
 to the many, and it would not be wise 
 if it were. Such success is not com- 
 mon, and ought not to be, and there- 
 fore, it is not and ought not to be a dis- 
 appointment if such fame is not at- 
 tained. The true lesson of our institu- 
 tions and of our age is that every man 
 is called to do his work, and can look 
 forward to doing it successfully. It is 
 not the eminence of the work but its 
 quality which gives unto the 'worker 
 his true position,. It is not the fame 
 which the work brings, but the perfec- 
 tion of the work which gives to him bis 
 true and highest reward. 
 
 WILLIAM Mc KIN LEY, 
 
 Memorial Jiddress Delivered Before Congress 
 By Mr. John Hay. 
 
 For the third time the Congress of 
 the United States are assembled to 
 commemorate the life and death of a 
 President slain by the hand of an as- 
 sassin. The attention of the future 
 his'i .rian will oe attracted to the feat- 
 ures which reappear with startling 
 sameness in all three of these awful 
 crimes: the uselessness, the utter 
 lack of consequence of the act; the ob- 
 scurity, the insignificance of ihe 
 criminal; the l)!amele3sness — so far 
 
 as in our spnere of existence the best 
 of men may be held blameless — of the 
 victim. Not one of our murdered 
 Presidents had Kn enemy in the 
 world; they were all of such pre-em- 
 inent purity of life that no pretext 
 could be given for the attack of pas- 
 sional crime; they were all men of 
 democratic instincts who could never 
 have offend^'i the most jealous advo- 
 vates of equalit-^; they were of kindly 
 and generous n-iiure, to whom wrong 
 
or injustice was imviossible; of mod- 
 erate fortune, whose ^.tender means 
 nob'vdy could envy. They wer^ men 
 of austere virtue, of tender heart, of 
 eminent aJailities, which they had de- 
 v^oted with smgle minds to the good 
 of the Republic. If ever me'- walked 
 before God and man without uiame, it 
 vas these three rulers of our people. 
 The only temptation to attaclc their 
 Uvv'.s offereu was their gentie ladi- 
 ance — to eyes hating +he light that 
 ^as offense enough. 
 
 The stupid uselessne? 5^ . f such in- 
 famy affronts the "'^mmon f.ense of 
 the world. One can co??'"?ive how the 
 death of a (iiotator may chfinge the 
 political condIt''7ns of an en:, 'ire; how 
 ;he extinction cr a narrowing line of 
 kings may jring in an c.':-en dynasty. 
 But in a well ordered itepublic like 
 ours, the ruler may iail, bu-; me S'.ate 
 feels no t;emo'' ^nr bt'-'tvea and re- 
 vered leader is gcr.e — ^"ut the natural 
 process cf our laws prrvldo.^ us a 
 successor, identical in pUi:jG;'! and 
 ideals, nourished by ^he same teach- 
 ings, inspired by the same principles, 
 pledged by tender affection a;^ v/ell as 
 by high loyalty to carry to completion 
 ths .mmense task committed u; his 
 hands, and to smite with iron severity 
 every manifestation of that hideous 
 crime which his mild predecessor, 
 with his dying breath, forga.ve. The 
 sayings of celestial wisdom have no 
 date; the words that r^ach us, over 
 two thousanu yearsr, out of the darK- 
 est hour of gloom the world has ever 
 known, are true to the life today: 
 "They know not what they do." The 
 blow struck at our dear friend and 
 ruler was as deadly as blind hate 
 could make it; but the blow struck at 
 anarchy was deadlier still. 
 
 What a world of intoluble problems 
 buch an event excites in the mind! 
 
 Not merely in its personal, but in its 
 public aspects, it presents a paiadox 
 aot to be comprehended. Undev a 
 ^jys.em of government so free and so 
 impartial that we recognize its •ys\fit- 
 en^i-e only uy its benefactions; under 
 a social cruar so purely democratic 
 that classes can not exist in it, afford- 
 ing opportunities so universal that 
 even conditions are as changing as the 
 winds, where the laborer of today is 
 the capitalist of tomorrow; undei 
 laws which are the result cf ages of 
 evolution, so uniform and so benefi- 
 cent that the President has just the 
 same rights ana privileges as the ar- 
 tisan; we see tue same hellish growth 
 of hatred and murder which dogs 
 equally the footsteps of benevolent 
 monarchs anu blood-stained despots. 
 How many countries can join with us 
 in the community of a kindred sor- 
 row! I will not speak of those distant 
 regions where assassination enters 
 into the daily life of government. But 
 among the nations bound to us by the 
 ties of familiar intercourse — who can 
 forget that wise and mild Autocrat 
 who had earned the proud title of the 
 Liberator, that enlightened and mag- 
 nanimous citizen whom France still 
 mourns? that brave and chivalrous 
 King of Italy who only lived for his 
 people? and, saddest of all, that love- 
 ly and sorrowing Empress, whose 
 harmless life could hardly have ex- 
 cited the animosity of a demon. 
 Against that devilish spirit nothing 
 avails — neither virtue, nor patriotism, 
 nor age nor youth, nor conscience nor 
 pity. We can not even say that edn- 
 ration is a sufficient safeguard against 
 this baleful evil — for most of the 
 wretches whose ciimes have so shock- 
 ed humanity in recent years are men 
 not unlettered, who have gone from 
 
the common schools, throuiz;h mur(l?r, 
 to I he scaffold. 
 
 Our minds can not aiscem the ori- 
 gin, nor conceive the extent of wick- 
 edness so perve;s9 and so cruel; but 
 this does not exempt us from the dutj' 
 of trying to control and counteract it. 
 We do not understand what electrici- 
 iy is ; whence it com?s cr what its 
 hidden properties may be. IJut we 
 know it as a mighty force for good or 
 evil — and so with the painful toil of 
 years, men of learning and skill have 
 labored to store and to subjugate it, 
 to neutralize and even ;o employ its 
 destructive energies. This problem of 
 anarchy is uariv and intricate, but it 
 ought to be within Ibe compass of 
 democratic government — slthough no 
 sane mind can fathom the mysteries 
 if '.hese untracked and oibitless na- 
 tures — to guard against their aberra- 
 tions, to take ai-vay from them the 
 hope of escape, t'e long luxury of 
 scandalous days* .n court, the un- 
 wholesome sympathy of hysterical de- 
 generates, and so by degree? to make 
 the crime not wor.h committing, even 
 to these abnoimal and distorted souls. 
 
 It would be presumptuous for me 
 5n this presence to suggest the de- 
 tails of remedial legislation for a mal- 
 ady so malignant. That task may 
 safely be left to the skill and patienco 
 &f the National Congress, which has 
 never been found unequal to any such 
 emergency. The country believes that 
 the memory uf three murdered com- 
 rades of yours — all of whose voices 
 still haunt these walls — will be a suf- 
 ficient inspiration to enable you to 
 solve even this abstruse nrd painful 
 problem, which has dimmed Ro many 
 pages of hislc r with blood and with 
 tears. 
 
 Before an audience less sympathet- 
 ic than this, I should not dare to 
 
 speak of ^hat great career which we 
 have met to commemorate. But we 
 are all his friends, and fiiends do not 
 criticise each other's words about ai. 
 open grave, i Ihank you for the hon- 
 or you have done me in Inviting me 
 here, and not less for the kind for- 
 bearance I know I shall have from 
 you in my most inadequate tffortd to 
 speak of him woithily. 
 
 The life of William McKinley was, 
 from his birth to his death, typically 
 American. There is no environment, 
 I should say, anywhere else in the 
 world which could produce just such 
 a character. He was born into that 
 way of life which e]=ewhere is called 
 the middle class, but which in this 
 country is so nearly universal as to 
 make of other classes an almost neg- 
 ligible quantity. Ke was neither rich 
 nor poor, neither proud nor numble; 
 he knew no hunger he was uot sure 
 of satisfying, no luxury which could 
 enervate mind or bodv. His parents 
 were sober, God-fearing people; intel- 
 ligent and upright; without pretension 
 and without humility. He grew up in 
 the company of boys like himself; 
 wholesome, honest, self-respecting. 
 They looked down on rnbody; they 
 never felt it possible tney could be 
 looked down upon. Their houses were 
 I 'e homes of probity, piety, patriot- 
 ism. They learned in the arlmivable 
 school readers of fifty years ago the 
 "essons of heroic and splendid life 
 >■■ hich have come down from the past. 
 They read in their weekly newspapers 
 the story of the world's progress. In 
 which they were eager to take part, 
 and of the sins and wrongs of civili- 
 zation wi h which they burned to do 
 battle. It was a serious and thought- 
 ful time. The boys of that day felt 
 dimly, but deeply, that days of sharp 
 struggle and high achievemen's were 
 
before them. They looked at iife 
 \Yith ;he wondering yet resolute eyes 
 of a young esquire in his vigil of 
 arms, luey telt a time was coming 
 when to them should be addressed the 
 stern admonition of the apostle, "Quit 
 you like men; be strong." 
 
 It is not easy to give to those of a 
 later genera, ion any clear idea of that 
 extraordinary spiritual awakening 
 which passeu over the country at the 
 first red signal fires of the war be- 
 tween the States. It was not our ear- 
 liest apocalypse; a hundred years be- 
 fore the naaon had been revealed \o 
 itself, when aicer long discussion and 
 much searching of heart (he people of 
 the colonies uad resolved that to live 
 without liberty was M^orse than to die, 
 and had thereiore wagered in the 
 solemn game of war "their lives, {heir 
 fortunes, and their sacred honor." In 
 a stress of heat and labcT unutterr.- 
 ble, the country had been lammered 
 and welded together; but ihereafter 
 for nearly a centuiy there had been 
 nothing in our life to touch the inner- 
 most fountain of feeling and devotion; 
 we had had rumors of wars — even 
 wars we haci had, not without sacri- 
 fices and glory — but nothing which 
 went to the vital self-consciousness 
 of the country, nothing which chal- 
 lenged the nation's right to live. But 
 in 1860 the nation was going down 
 into the valley of Decision. The 
 question which had been debated on 
 thousands of platforms, which had 
 been discussed in countle s publica- 
 tions, which, thundered f.om innu- 
 merable pulpits, had caused in their 
 congregations the bitter srife and 
 dissension to which only cases of con- 
 science can give rise, was everywhere 
 pressing for solution. And not mere- 
 ly in the various channels of publicity 
 was it alive and clamorous. About 
 
 eve.y fire utie in the land, in the con- 
 versation of fi-iends anu neighbors, 
 and, deepei still, in the secret of mil- 
 lions of human hearts, ihe battle of 
 opinion was waging and all men felt 
 and saw — witn more or less clearness 
 — that an answer to the importunate 
 qL'.r-stion, ^.^an the nation live? was 
 due, and not o be denied. And I do 
 not mean that in the Nor h alone there 
 was this austere wiestling with con- 
 science. In tne South as well, below 
 all the effervescence and excitement 
 of a people perhaps more given to elo- 
 quent speech than we weie, there was 
 the profound agony of question and 
 answer, the summons to decide wheth- 
 er honor and freedom did not call 
 them to revolution and war. It is easy 
 for partisanship to say that the one 
 side was rignt and the other was 
 wrong. It is siiU easier for an indo- 
 lent magnanimity to say that both 
 were right. Perhaps in the wide view 
 of e hies one is always right to follow 
 his conscience, though it lead him 
 to disaster and death. But histo.y is 
 inexorable. She takes no account of 
 sentiment and intention; and in her 
 cold and luminous eyes that side is 
 right which ughts in harmony with 
 the stars in their courses. The men 
 are rignt through whoce efforts and 
 struggles the world is helped onwa. d, 
 and humanity moves to a higher level 
 and a brighter day. 
 
 The men who are living t ;)day and 
 who were young in 1860 will never 
 forget the glory and glamour hat 
 filled tiie earth and the sky when the 
 long twilight of doubt and uncertain- 
 ty was ending and the time of action 
 had come. A speech by Abraham 
 Lincoln was an event not onlj of high 
 moral significance, but of far-reaching 
 importance; tne drilling of a militia 
 comiiany by Ellsworth attrncted na- 
 
tioiml rtUeii ion; Uie lluUcriUc' of the 
 fiag in the clear sky drew tears from 
 lue eyes of young men. Patriotism, 
 Y.'hich liau been a rhetorical expres- 
 sion, became a passionate emotion, in 
 which instinct, logic and feeling were 
 fv&od. The count: y was worth sav- 
 ing; it could be saved only by fire; 
 no sacrifice was too great; ;he young 
 men of the country were ready for 
 the sacrifice; come weal, come woe, 
 they were ready. 
 
 At 17 years of age William McKinley 
 heard this summons of his country. 
 He was the sort of youth to whom a 
 militaiy life in ordinary times w^ould 
 posse3S no attractions. His na ure 
 was far different from that of the ord- 
 inary soldier. He had other dreams 
 nf life, its prizes and pleasures, than 
 that of marches and battles. But lo 
 his mind there was no choice or ques- 
 tion. The banner floaang in the morn- 
 ing breeze was the beckoning gesture 
 of his country. The thrilling notes of 
 "■he trumpet called him — him and none 
 Jther — into the ranks. His portra in 
 L-s first uniform is familiar to you all 
 — the short, stocky figure; the quiet, 
 thoughtful face; the deep, dark eyes. 
 It is the face of a lad who could not 
 stay at home when he thought he was 
 needed in the field. He was of the 
 stuff of whicu good soldiers are made. 
 Had he been ten years older he would 
 have entereu a^ the head of d, compa- 
 ny and come out at the he;^J of a di- 
 division. But he did what he could. 
 He enlisted as a private; he learned 
 to obey. His serious, sensible ways, 
 his prompt, aleit efficiency soon at- 
 tracted the atten.ion of his superiors. 
 He was so faithful in little things 
 they gave him more and more to do. 
 He was untiring in camp and on the 
 march; swift, cool and fearless in 
 fight. He left the army with fie'.d rank 
 
 when til ■ war ended, l)reve ted by 
 President Lincoln for gallantly in bat- 
 tle. 
 
 In coming years whei. men seek to 
 draw the moral of our greai civil war 
 nothing will seem to them so admira- 
 ble in all the history of our two mag- 
 nificent armies as the way in which 
 the war came to a close. When the 
 Confederate army saw the time had 
 come, they acknowledged the pitiless 
 logic of facts, and ceased fighting. 
 When the a: my of the Union saw it 
 was no longer needed, without a mur- 
 mur or question, making no terms, 
 asking no return, in the fiush of vic- 
 ory and fullness of might, it laid down 
 its arms and melted back into the 
 mass of peaceful citizens. There is 
 no event, since the nation was born, 
 which has so proved its solid capacity 
 for self-government. Both sections 
 share equally in that ciown of g^ory. 
 They had held a debate of incompara- 
 ble importance and ha£ "ought it out 
 wi.h equal enei'gy. A c elusion had 
 been reacheu — and it is to the ever- 
 lasting honor of both sides that they 
 each knew when the war w^as over, 
 and the hour ot a lasting peace had 
 struck. We may admire the desper- 
 ate daring of others who prefer anni- 
 hilation to compromise, but the palm 
 of common sense, and I will say of en- 
 lightened patriotism, belongs to the 
 men like Grant and Lee, who knew 
 when they had fought enough, for 
 honor and for country. 
 
 William McKiniey, one of that sen- 
 sible million of men, gladly laid down 
 his sword and betook himself to his 
 books. He quickly made up the time 
 lost in soldiering. He attacked his 
 Blackstone as he would have done a 
 hostile entrenchment; finding the 
 range of a country law libraiy too 
 narrow, he went to the Albany Law 
 
Schc^j; where he worked energetic- 
 ally with brilliant success — was ad- 
 mitted to the bar and settled down to 
 practice — a orevetted veteran of 24 — ■ 
 in the quiet town of Canton, now and 
 henceforward forever famous as the 
 scene of his life and his pl&ce of sep- 
 ulture. Here many blessings awaited 
 him; high repute, professional suc- 
 cess, and a domestic affection so pure, 
 so devoted and stainless that future 
 poets, seekirg ac ideal of Christian 
 marriage, wli. find in it a theme 
 worthy of their songs. This is a sub- 
 ject 10 which the lightest allusion 
 seems profanation; but it is impossi- 
 ble to speak of William McKinley 
 without remembeiing that no truer, 
 tenderer knighi to his chosen lady 
 ever lived among mortal men. If to 
 the spirits of the just made pe?fect 
 is pormitted the consciousness of 
 early things, we may be sure that his 
 faithful soul "c new watching over 
 that gentle sufferer who counts the 
 long hours in their shattered home in 
 the deoolate splendor of his fame. 
 
 A man possessing the qualities with 
 which nature had endowed McKinley 
 seeks political activity as naturally as 
 a grc^-'ig plant seeks light and air. 
 A wholesome ambition; a rare power 
 >■[ making friends and keeping them; 
 a faith, whicn may be called right- 
 eous, in his country and its institu- 
 dons; and, flowing from this, a belief 
 rhat a man could do no nobler work 
 than to serve such a country — these 
 were the elements in his character 
 that drew nim irresistibly into public 
 life. He had from the beginning a 
 remarkable equipment; a manner of 
 singular grace and charm; a voice of 
 ringing quality and great carrying 
 power — vast as were the crowds that 
 gathered aoout him, he reached their 
 utmost fringe without apparent effort. 
 
 He had an extraordinary power of 
 marshaling and presenting significant 
 facts, so as to bring conviction to the 
 average mind. His range of reading 
 was not wide; he read only what he 
 might some day find useful, and what 
 he read his memory held like brass. 
 Those who knew him well in those 
 early days can never forget the con- 
 summate skill and power with which 
 he would select a few pointed facts, 
 and, blow upon blow, would hammer 
 them into the attention of great as- 
 semblages in Ohio, as Jael drove the 
 nail into the head of the Canaanite 
 captain. He was not often impas- 
 sioned; he rarely resorted to the aid 
 of wit or humor; yet I never saw his 
 equal in controlling and convincing a 
 popular audience by sheer appeal to 
 their reason and intelligence. He did 
 not flatter or cajole them, but there 
 was an implie^ compliment in the se- 
 rious and soDer tone in which he ad- 
 dressed them. He seemed one of 
 them ; in heart and feeling he was 
 one of tham. Each artisan in a great 
 crowd might say: That is the sort of 
 man I would like to be, and under 
 more favoring circumstances might 
 have been. He had the divine gift of 
 sympathy, which, though given only 
 to the elect, makes all men their 
 friends. 
 
 So it came naturally about that in 
 1876 — the beginning of the second 
 century of the Republic — ha began, 
 by an election to Congress, his polit- 
 ical career. Thereafter for fourteen 
 years this chamber was his home. I 
 use the word aavisedly. Nowhere in 
 the world was he so in harmony with 
 his environments as here; nowhere 
 else did his mind work with such full 
 consciousness of its powers. The air 
 of debate ^^-is native to him; here he 
 drank del.ght of battle with his peers. 
 
In after clays, when he drove by this 
 stately pile, or when on rare occa- 
 sions his du'.y called him here, he 
 greeted his old haunts with the af- 
 fectionate zest of a child of the 
 house; during all the la£?t ten years 
 of his life, filled as they were with 
 activity and glory, he never ceased to 
 be home sick for this hall. When he 
 came to the Presidency, there was not 
 a day when his Congresional service 
 was not of use to him. Probably no 
 other President has been in such full 
 and cordial communion with Con- 
 giess, if we may except Lincoln alone. 
 McKinley knew the legislative body 
 thoroughly, its composition, its meth- 
 ods, its nabits of thought. He had 
 the profoundest respect for its au- 
 thority and an inflexible belief in the 
 ultimate rectitude of its purposes. Our 
 history shows how surely an Execu- 
 tive courts disaster and ruin by as- 
 suming an attxcude of hostility or dis- 
 trust ',o the Legislature; and, on the 
 other hand, iv±cKinley's frank and sin- 
 cere trust anu confidenc*-^ in Congress 
 were repaid by prompt ■i'^A loyal sup- 
 port and co-operation. Daring his en- 
 tire term of offce this mutual trust 
 and regard— so essential to the public 
 welfare — was never shadowed by a 
 single cloud. 
 
 He was a Republican. He could 
 not be anything else. A Union soldier 
 grafted upon a Clay Whig, he neces- 
 sarily believed in the "American sys- 
 tem" — in protection to home indus- 
 tries; in a strong, aggressive nation- 
 ality; in a liberal construction of the 
 Constitution. What any self-reliant 
 nation might rightly do, he felt this 
 nation had power to do, if required by 
 the common welfare and not prohibit- 
 ed by our writter charter. 
 
 Following the natural bent of his 
 mind, he devoted himself to ques- 
 
 tions of finance and revenue, to the 
 essentiai,- c^ ihe national housekeep- 
 ing. He took : \gh rank in the Hou.se 
 from the beginning. His readiness in 
 debate, his mastery o every subject 
 he handled, the l)right and amiable 
 light he shed about him, and above 
 all the unfailing couitesy and good 
 will with which he treated friend and 
 foe alike — one of the surest signa- 
 tures of a na.ure born to great desti- 
 nies—made his service in the House 
 a pathway of unbroken success and 
 brought him at last to the all-import- 
 ant post of Chairman of Ways and 
 Means and leader of the majority. Of 
 the famous revenue act which, in that 
 capacity, he framed and carried 
 through Congress, it is not my pur- 
 pose here and now to speak. The em- 
 bers of the controversy in the midst 
 of which that law had its troubled be- 
 ing are yet too warm to be handled on 
 a day like this. I may only say that 
 it w^as never sufficiently tes';ed to 
 prove the praises of its friends or the 
 ciiticism of its opponents. After a 
 brief existence it passed away, for a 
 time, in the storm that t:wept the Re- 
 publicans out of power. McKinley 
 also passed through a brief zone of 
 shadow; his congressional district 
 having been rearranged for that pur- 
 pose by a hostile legislature. 
 
 Some one has said it is easy to love 
 our enemies; they help us so much 
 more than our friends. The people 
 whose malevolent skill had turned 
 McKinley out of Congress deserved 
 well of him and of the Republic. Nev- 
 er was Neme.=is more swift and ener- 
 getic. The Republicans of Ohio were 
 saved the trouble of choosing a Gov- 
 ernor — the other side had chosen one 
 for them. A year after McKinley left 
 Congress ne was made Governor of 
 Ohio, and two years later he was re- 
 
elected, each time by majorities un- 
 hoped for and overwhelming. He 
 came to fill a space In the public eye 
 which obscured a great portion of the 
 field of vision. In two National Con- 
 ventions the Presidency seemed with- 
 in his reach. But he had gone there 
 in the interest ot others, and his honor 
 forbade any dalliance with tempta- 
 tion, .^o his nay was nay — delivered 
 Avith a tone and gesture there was no 
 denying. His hour was not yet come. 
 
 There was, however, no long delay. 
 He became, from year to year, the 
 most prcninrTit poli.ician and orator 
 in the count; y. Passionf.tely devoted 
 to the principles of his party, he was 
 alwaj'^s ready to do anything, to go 
 anywhere, to proclaim its ideas and to 
 support its candidates. His face and 
 his voic3 became familiar .0 millions 
 of our people; and wherever they were 
 seen and heard, men became his par- 
 tisans. His face was cast in a classic 
 mold; j'ou see faces like it in antique 
 marble in the galleries of the Vatican 
 and in the port; aits of the great car- 
 dinal-statesmen of Italy; his voice 
 was the voice of the perfect orator — 
 ringing, vibrating, tireless, persuading 
 by its very sound, by its accent of sin- 
 cere conviction. So prudent and so 
 guarded were all his utterances, so 
 lofty his courtesy, that he never em- 
 barrassed his friends, and never of- 
 fended his opponents. For several 
 months before the Republican Nation- 
 al Convention met in 1S96 it was evi- 
 dent to all who had eyes to see that 
 Mr. McKinley was the only probable 
 candidate of his party. Other names 
 were mentioned, of the highest rank 
 in ability, character and popularity; 
 they were supported by powerful com- 
 binations; but the nomination of Mc- 
 Kinley as against the field v»as inevi 
 table. 
 
 The campaign he made will be al- 
 ways memorable in our political an- 
 nals. He and his friends had thought 
 that the issue for the year was the 
 distinctive and historic difference be- 
 tween the two parties on the subject 
 of the tariff. To this wager of battle 
 th3 discussions of the previous four 
 years distinctly pointed. But no corni- 
 er had the two parties made iheir 
 nominations than it became evident 
 that the opposing candidate declined 
 to accept the field of discussion chos- 
 en by the Republicans, and proposed 
 to put forward as il e main issue the 
 free coinage of sitver. McKinley at 
 once accepted this challenge and, 
 taking the battle for protection as al- 
 ready won, went with energy into the 
 discu:sion of the theories presented 
 by his opponents. He had wisely con- 
 cluded not to leave his home during 
 the canvass, thus avoiding a proceed- 
 ing which has always been of sinister 
 augury in our politics; but from the 
 front porcn 01 his modest house In 
 ■-^unton he daily addressed the delega- 
 tions which came from every pn t of 
 the country to greet him in a series of 
 speecnes so strong, so varied, so per- 
 tinent, so full of facts briefly set forth, 
 of theories embodied In a single 
 phrase, that they formed the hourly 
 tf;xt for the other speakers of his par- 
 ty, and give probably the most con- 
 vincing proof we have of his surpris- 
 ing fertility of resource and flexibility 
 of mind. All this was done wi hout 
 anxiety or strain. ,1 remem()er a day 
 I spent wlti. him during that busy 
 summer. Ae had made nineteen 
 speeches the day before; that day he 
 made many. But in the intervals of 
 these addresses he sa': in his study 
 and talked, with nerves as quiet and 
 a mind as free from care as if we hiid 
 
been spending a holiday at '.lie seaside 
 or among the hills. 
 
 When he came to the PresidiOfey &c 
 contronted a situation ^fi tcu ^i*~iiosi 
 difficu'.ty, which might well have ap- 
 palled a "Tian of less serene and tran- 
 quil self confidence. There had been 
 a state of profound commercial and 
 industrial depression, f:om which his 
 friends had said his elec ion would 
 relieve the country. Our relations 
 with the outsidr^ world left much to 
 be desired. Ihe feeling between the 
 Northern and Southern sections of the 
 Union was lacking in the cordiality 
 which was necessary to the welfare of 
 bolh. Hawaii had asked for annexa- 
 tion and had been rejected by the pre- 
 ceding administration. There was a 
 state of things in the Caribbean which 
 could not permanently endure. Cur 
 neighbor's nouse was on fire, and 
 there were grave doubts as to our 
 rights and duties in the piemises. A 
 man either weak or rash, ei her irres- 
 olute or headstrong, might have 
 brought ruin upon himself and incal- 
 culable harm to the country. 
 
 Again I crave the pardon of those 
 who differ with me, if, against all my 
 intentions, I happen to say a word 
 which may seem to them unbefit ing 
 the place and hour. But I am here to 
 give the opinion which his friends en- 
 tertained of President McKinley, of 
 course claiming no immunity from 
 criticism in what I shall say. I be- 
 lieve, then, that the verdict of his'.ory 
 will be that he met all these grave 
 questions with perfect valor and in- 
 comparable ability; that in giappling 
 with them he rose to ;h3 full height 
 of a great occasion, in a manner 
 which redounded to the lasting bene- 
 fit of the coimtry and to his own im- 
 mortal glory. I 
 
 The least desirable form of glory to 
 
 a man of hi^^ habitual mood and tem- 
 1)31' — that of succes.ful war — was nev- 
 er. heless confer, ed upon him by un- 
 controllable events. He felt it must 
 come; he deplored its necessity; he 
 strained almost to breaking his rela- 
 tions with his friends, in ordsr, first, 
 to prevent and then to postpone it o 
 the latest possible moment. But when 
 the die was cast, he labored with the 
 utmost energy and ardor, and v/ith an 
 Intelligence in military matte s which 
 showed how much of the soldier still 
 survived in the mature statesman to 
 push forward the war to a decisive 
 close. War was an anguishto him; 
 he wanted it short and conclusive. 
 His merciful zeal communicated itself 
 to his subordina es, and the war, so 
 long dreaded, whose consequences 
 \ve:e :o momentous, ended in a hun- 
 dred days. 
 
 Mr. Stedman, the dean of our poets, 
 has called him "Augm_ente;^-ef— tire 
 St ate." J t is a proud title; if .lustly 
 conferred, it ranks him among the few 
 whose names may be placed definite- 
 ly and forever in charge of the his- 
 toric Muse. Under his rule Hawaii 
 has come to us, and Tutuila; Po to 
 Rico and the vast archipelago of the 
 East. Cuba is free. Our position in 
 the Caribbean is assured beyond the 
 possibility of future question. The 
 doctrine called by the name of Mon- 
 roe, so long derided and denied by 
 alien publicists, evokes now no chal- 
 lenge or contradiction when uttered 
 to the world. It has become an inter- 
 r.ational truism. Our sister republics 
 to the south of us are convinced that 
 we desire only their peace and pros- 
 perity. Europe knows that we cher- 
 ish no dreams but those of a v.-orld- 
 wide commerce, the benefit of which 
 shall be to all na ions. The State is 
 augmented, tiut it threatens no nation 
 
 J 
 
under heaven. As to those regions By patience, by firmness, by sheer 
 
 which have come under the shadow of reasonableness, he improved our un- 
 
 ou; flag, the possibility of their being derstanding wi.h all the great powers 
 
 damaged oy such a change of circum- of the world, P,nd rightly gained the 
 
 stances was in the view of McKinley blessing whijii belongs to the peace- 
 
 a thing unthinkable. To believe that maKers. 
 
 we could not administer them to their But the achievements of the nation 
 
 advantage, was to turn infidel to our in war and diplomacy are thiown in 
 
 American faita of more th«J7" a hun- the shade by the vast economical de- 
 
 dred years. velopments which took place during 
 
 In dealing with foreign powers, he Mr. McKinley's administra ion. Up to 
 
 will take rank with the grea.est of the time of his first election, the 
 
 our diplomats. It was a wo: Id of country was suffering from a long pe- 
 
 which he had little special knowledge riod of depression, the reasons of 
 
 before coming to the Presidency. But which I will not try to seek. But fiom 
 
 his marvelous adaptability was in the moment the ballots were counted 
 
 nothing more remarkable tlian in the Hiat betokened his advent to power a 
 
 firm grasp he immediately displayed great and momentous movement in 
 
 in international relations. In prepar- advance declared itself along all the 
 
 ing for war and in the restoration of lines of industry and commerce. In 
 
 peace he was alike adroit, courteous the very month of his inauguration 
 
 and far-sighted. When a sudden steel rails began to be sold at $18 a 
 
 emergency declared itself, as in Chi- ton — one of the most significant facts 
 
 na, in a state of things of which our of modern times. It meant that 
 
 country furnished no precedent and American industries had adjusted 
 
 International law no safe and certain themselves to the long depression — 
 
 precept, he hesitated not a moment to that through the power of the race to 
 
 take the course marked out for him organize and combine, stimulated by 
 
 by considerations of humanity and the the conditions then prevailing, and 
 
 national interests. Even while the perhaps by (he prospect of legislation 
 
 legations were fighting for their lives favorable to industry, America had be- 
 
 against bands of infuriated fanatics, gun to undersell the rest of the woild. 
 
 he decided that w^e were at peace with The movement w^ent on without ceas- 
 
 China; and while that conclusion did ing. The President and his party 
 
 not hinder him from taking the most kept the pledges of their platform and 
 
 energetic measures to rescue our im- their canvass. The Dingley bill was 
 
 peiiled citizens, it enabled him to speedily framed and set in opera' ion. 
 
 maintain close and friendly relations All industries responded to the new 
 
 \;Uh the wise and heroic viceroys of stimulus and American trade set out 
 
 t-;e south, whose resolute stand saved on its new crusade, not to conquer 
 
 that ancient empire from anarchy and the world, but to trade with it on 
 
 snoliation. He disposed of every terms advantageous to all concerned, 
 
 cnestion as it arose with a promp*- I will not weary you with statistics; 
 
 neas and clariuy of vision that aston- but one or two wo ds seem necessary 
 
 ished his advisers, and he never had to show how the acts of McKinley as 
 
 O'-^-aslon to review a judgment or re- President kept pace with his profes- 
 
 verse a decision. sions as candidate. His four years of 
 
adc-inistration we:e costly; we car- 
 ried on a war which, though brief, was 
 expensive. Although we borrowed 
 two hundred millions and paid our 
 own expenses, without asking for in- 
 demnity, the effective reduction of the 
 debt now exceeds the total of the war 
 bonds. We pay six millions less in in- 
 terest than we did before the war and 
 no bond of ;he United States yields 
 •.he holder 2 per cent on its market 
 value. So much for the Government 
 credit; and we have five hundred and 
 forty-six millions of gross gold in the 
 Treasury. 
 
 But, coming to the development of 
 our trade in tne four McKinley years, 
 ws seem lo be entering the realm of 
 fable. In iie last fiscal year our ex- 
 cess of exports over imports was $664,- 
 592,826. In the last four years it was 
 $2,3.04,442,213. These figures are so 
 stupendous that they mean little to a 
 careless reader — but consider! The 
 excess of exports over imports for the 
 whole preceding period from 1790 to 
 1897 — from Washington !o McKinley 
 —was only $356,808, 822. 
 
 The most extravagant promises 
 made by the sanguine McKinley ad- 
 vocates five years ago are left out of 
 sight by these sober facts. The 
 "debtor nation" has become the chief 
 creditor nation. The financial center 
 of the world, which required thou- 
 sands of years to journey from the 
 Euphrates to the Thames and the 
 Seine, seems passing to the Hudson 
 between daybreak and dark. 
 
 I will not waste your time by ex- 
 plaining that I do not invoke for any 
 man the creait of this vast result. The 
 captain can not claim that it is he 
 who diives the mighty steamship over 
 the tumbling billows of the trackless 
 deep; but praise is justly due him if 
 he has made the best of her tremen- 
 
 dous powers, if he has read aright the 
 currents of the sea and the lessons of 
 the stars. And we should be ungrate- 
 ful if, in this hour of prodigious pro.'* 
 peiity, we snould fail to remember 
 that William McKinley with sublime 
 faith foresaw it, wi h indomitable 
 courage labored for it, put his whole 
 heart and mind into the work of bring- 
 ing it about; that it was his voice 
 which, in dark hours, rang out, her- 
 alding the coming light, as over the 
 twilight waters of the Nile the mystic 
 cry of Memnon announced the dawn 
 to Egypt, waking fiom sleep. 
 
 Among the most agreeabls Incidents 
 of the President's term of office were 
 the two journeys he made to the 
 South. The moral reunion of the sec- 
 tions—so long and so ardently desired 
 by him — had been ini iated by the 
 Spanish war, when the veterans of 
 both sides, and their sons, had march- 
 ed shoulder to shoulder together under 
 the same banner. The President in 
 these journeys sought, with more than 
 usual eloquence and pathos, to create 
 a sentiment which should end forever 
 the ancient feud. He was too good a 
 politician to expect any results in the 
 way of votes in his favor, and he ac- 
 complished none. But for all that the 
 good seed did not fall on barren 
 ground. In the waim and chivalrous 
 hearts of that generous people, the 
 echo of his cordial and brotherly 
 words will linger long, and his name 
 will be cherished in many a household 
 where even yet the Lost Cause is wor- 
 shipped. 
 
 Mr. McKinley was re-elected by an 
 overwhelming majority. There had 
 been little doubt of the result among 
 well informed people; but when it was 
 known, a profound feeling of reliet 
 and renewal of trust were evident 
 among the leaders of capital and of in- 
 
 J 
 
dustry, not only in this country, but 
 everywlie.e. Ttiey felt that the im- 
 mediate future was secure, and that 
 trade and commerce might safely 
 push forward in every field of effort 
 and enierprise. He inspired universal 
 confidence, which is the lifeblood of 
 the commercial system of the world. 
 It began frequently to be said that 
 such a state of things ought to con- 
 tinue; one after another, men of prom- 
 inence, said that the President was 
 his own best successor. He paid lit- 
 tle attention to these suggestions un- 
 til they were repeated by some of his 
 nearest friends. Then he saw that 
 one of the most cherished traditions 
 of our public life was in dange;-. The 
 generation which has seen the proph- 
 ecy of the Papal throne — Non videbis 
 annos Petri — twice contradicted by 
 the longevity of holy men was in per- 
 il of forgetting the unwritten law of 
 our Republic: Thou shalt no; exceea 
 the years of Washington. The Presi- 
 dent saw it was time to speak, and In 
 his characteristic manner he spoke 
 briefly, but enough. Where the light- 
 ning strikes there is no need of itera- 
 tion. From that hour, no one dreamed 
 of douDting his purpose of retiring at 
 the end of his second term, and it 
 will be long befo.e another such les- 
 son s required. 
 
 Hfe felt thai the harvest time was 
 come, to garner in the fruits of so 
 much planting and culture, and he was 
 determined that nothing he might do 
 or say should be liable to the reproach 
 of a personal interest. Let us say 
 frankly he was a party man; he be- 
 lieved the policies advocated by him 
 and his friends counted for much in 
 the country's progress and prosperity. 
 He hoped in his second term to ac- 
 complish substantial resul'.s in the de- 
 velopment and affirmation of those 
 
 polices. I spen. a day with him short- 
 ly before he started on his fateful jour- 
 ney to Buffalo. Never had I seen him 
 higher in hope and patriotic confi- 
 dence. He was as sure of the future 
 of his country as the Psalmist who 
 c.ied, "Glorious things are spoken of 
 thee, thou City of God." He was grat- 
 ified to the iieart that we had arranged 
 a treaty which gave us a free hand in 
 the Isthmus. In fancy he saw the 
 canal built and the argosies of the 
 world passing through it in peace and 
 ami y. He saw in the immense evolu- 
 tion of American trade the fulfillment 
 of all his ureams, the reward of all 
 his labors, xie was — I need not say — 
 an aident protectionist, never more 
 sincere and devoted than during those 
 lait days of his life. He regarded rec- 
 iprocity as tue bulwark of protection 
 — not a breach, but a fulfillment of tae 
 law. The treaties which for four years 
 had been preparing under his per- 
 sonal supervision he regarded as an- 
 cillary to the general scheme. He 
 was opposed to any revolutionary 
 plan of change in the existing legis- 
 lation; he was careful to point out 
 that everything he had done was in 
 faithful compliance with the law itself. 
 In that moo a of high hope, of gen- 
 erous expectation, he went to iBuffalo, 
 and there, on the threshold of eterni- 
 ty, he delivered that memorable 
 speech, worthy for its loftiness of 
 tone, its blameless niorfiJity, its 
 breadth of view, to be regarded as his 
 testament to the nation. Through all 
 his pride of country and his joy of its 
 success, runs the note of solemn warn- 
 ing, as in Kipling's noble hymn, "Lest 
 we forget. 
 
 "Our capacity to produce has devel- 
 oped so enormously and our products 
 have so multiplied that the problem 
 of more markets requires our urgent 
 
and immediate attention. Only a 
 bioad and enlightened policy will 
 keep what we have. No other i)olicy 
 will get more. In these times of mar- 
 velous business energy and gain we 
 ought to be looking to the future, 
 s rengthenlng the weak places in 
 ou;' industrial and commercial sys- 
 tems, that we may be ready lor any 
 storm or strain. 
 
 "By sensible trade arrangements 
 which will not interrupt our home 
 production we shall extend the outlets 
 for our increasing suiplus. A system 
 which proviues a mutual exchange of 
 commodities is manifestly essential 
 to the continued and healthful growth 
 of our export trade. We must not re- 
 pose in fancied security that we can 
 forever sell everything and buy little 
 or nothing. If such a thing were pos- 
 sible, it would not be best for us or 
 for those with whom v, e deal. * * * 
 Reciprocity is the natural outgrowth 
 of our w^ondertul industrial develop- 
 ment under (he domestic policy now 
 firmly established. * * * The period of 
 exclusiveness is pa'st. The expansion 
 of our trade and commerce is the 
 pressing problem. Commeicial wars 
 are unprofitable. A policy of good 
 will and friendly trade relations will 
 prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties 
 are in harmony with the spirit of the 
 times; measuies of retaliation are 
 not." 
 
 I wish I had time to read the whole 
 of this wise and weighty speech; noth- 
 ing I might say could give such a 
 picture of the President's mind and 
 character. His years of apprentice- 
 ship had been served. He stood that 
 day past master of the art of states- 
 manship. He had nothing more to 
 ask of the people. He owed them 
 nothing but truth and faithful service. 
 His mind and heart were purged of 
 
 the leniptations which beset all men 
 ensa^cd in he struggle to survive. 
 In view of tiie revelation of his nature 
 vouchsafed to us that day. and the 
 fate which impended over him, we 
 can only say in deep affection and sol- 
 emn awe, "Blessed are the pure in 
 heart, for they shall see God.' Even 
 for that vision he was not unworthy. 
 
 He had not long to wait. The tiext 
 day sped the l)olt of doom, avid for a 
 week after — in an agony of dread 
 broken by illusive glimpses of hope 
 that our prayers might be answered — 
 the nation waited for the end. Noth- 
 ing in the glorious life that we saw 
 gradually waning was more admira- 
 ble and exemplary than its close. - ^e 
 genJe humanity of his words, when 
 he saw his a:sailant in danger of sum- 
 mary vengeance, "Don't let them huit 
 him;" his chivalrous care that the 
 news should be broken gently to his 
 wife; the fine courtesy with which he 
 apologized for the damage which his 
 death would bring to the great Exhi- 
 bition; and the heroic resignation of 
 his final words, "It is God's way. His 
 will, not oury, be done," were all the 
 instinctive expressions of a nature so 
 lofty and so pu. e that pride in its no- 
 bility at once softened and enhanced 
 the nation's sense of loss. The Re- 
 public grieved over such a son — but 
 is proud forever of having produced 
 him. After all, in spite of i s tragic 
 ending, his ilfe was extraordinarily 
 happy. He had, all his days, troops 
 of friends, the cheer of fame and 
 fruitful labo: ; and he became at last 
 "On fortune's crowning slope. 
 The pillar of a people's hope. 
 The center of a world's desire." 
 He was fortunate even in his un- 
 timely death, for an event so tragical 
 called the world imperatively to the 
 immediate stuuy of his life and char- 
 
 A 
 
acter, and tnus anticipated the sure 
 p.aises of posterity. 
 
 Every young and growing people 
 has to meet, at moments, the prob- 
 lems of its destiny. Whe her the 
 question comes, as in Egypt, trom a 
 sphinx, symbol of the hostile forces of 
 omnipotent nature, who punishes with 
 instant death our failure to under- 
 stand her meaning; or whether it 
 comes, as in Jerusalem, from the 
 Loud of Hosts, who commands the 
 building of His temple, it comes al- 
 ways with the warning that the past 
 is past, and experience vain. "Your 
 fathers, where are they? and the 
 prophets, do they live forever?" The 
 fathers are dead; the prophets are si- 
 lent; the questions are new, and have 
 no answer but in lime. 
 
 When the ho. ny outside case which 
 protects the infancy of a chrysalis na- 
 tion suddenly bursts, and, in a single 
 abrupt shock, it finds itself floating 
 on wings which had not existed be- 
 fore, whose strength it has never 
 tested, among dangers it can not fore- 
 see and is without experience to 
 measure, 'every motion is a problem, 
 and every hesitation may be an er:or. 
 The past gives no clue to the fiiture. 
 The fathers where are they? And the 
 prophets, do they live forever? We 
 are ourselves the fathers! we are our- 
 selves (he prophets! The questions 
 that aie put to us we must answer 
 without delay, without help — for the 
 sphinx allows no one to pass. 
 
 At such moments, which have al- 
 ready occurred at least twice in the 
 brief history of our own lives, we may 
 be humbly grateful to have had lead- 
 ers simple in mind, clear in vision — 
 as far as human vision can safely ex- 
 tend — penetrating in knowledge of 
 men, supple and flexible under the 
 strains and pressures of society, in- 
 
 stinct with the energy of new life and 
 untried strength, cautious, calm, and, 
 above all, gitted in a supreme degree 
 with the most surely vic.orious of all 
 political virtues — the genius of infi- 
 nite patience. 
 
 The obvious elements which enter 
 into the fame of a public man are few 
 and by no means recondite. The man 
 who fills a great station in a period of 
 change, who leads his countiy suc- 
 cessfully through a time of crisis; 
 who, by his power of persuading and 
 controlling others, has been able to 
 command the best thought of his age, 
 so as to leave his country in a moral 
 or material condition in advance of 
 where he lound it — such a man's posi- 
 tion in history is secure. If, in addi- 
 tion to this, his written o:- spoken 
 words possess the subtle quality 
 which carry them far and lodge them 
 in men's hearts; and, more than all, 
 if his utterances and actions, while 
 informed with a lofty morality, are yet 
 tinged with the glow of human sympa- 
 thy, the fame of such a man wul 
 shine like a beacon through the mists 
 of ages — an object of reverence, of 
 imitation, and of love. It should be to 
 us an occasion of solemn p;ide that in 
 the three great crises of our history 
 such a man was not denied us. The 
 moral value to a nation of a renown 
 such as Washington's and Lincoln's 
 and McKinley's is beyond all compu- 
 tation. No loftier ideal can be held 
 up to the emulation of ingenuous 
 youth. With such examples we can 
 not be wholly ignoble. Grateful as 
 we may be for what they did, let us 
 bo still more grateful for what they 
 were. While our daily being, our 
 public policies, still feel the influence 
 of their work, let us pray that in our 
 sjiirits their lives may be voluble, 
 calling us upward and onward. 
 
There is not one of us but feels renewed and kindled when he remem- 
 
 prouder of his native land because the bars how McxJnley loved, revered and 
 
 august figure of Washington presided served it, showed in his life how a 
 
 over its beginnings; no one but vows ci.izen should live, and in his last 
 
 it a tendered love because Lincoln hour taught us how a gentleman could 
 
 poured his blood out for it; no one but die. 
 must feel his devotion for his country 
 
 f 
 
 JOHN HAY, SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 J 
 
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