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THE  AMERICAN  SOUL 


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THE 

American   Soul 


AN    APPRECIATION    OF    THE    FOUR    GREATEST 

AMERICANS  AND  THEIR  LESSON  FOR 

PRESENT  AMERICANS 


BY 

Charles  Sherwood  Farriss 

Vice-Pres.  of  Jno.  B.  Stetson  University 


u 


Grant  this,  then  man  must  pass  from  old  to  new, 
From  vain  to  real,  from  mistake  to  fact, 
From  what  once  seemed  good,  to  what  now  proves 
first."  —  Robert   Browning. 


1920 

THE  STRATFORD  CO.,  Publishers 

Boston,   Massachusetts 


Copyright   1920 

The   STRATFORD   CO.,   Publishers 

Boston,   Mass. 


The  Alpine   Press,    Boston,    Mass.,    U.  S.  A. 


A  Prefatory  Warning 

Here  honest  words  of  great  men  gone  are  spoken,  true 
To  life;  but  all  that  might  be  said  is  left  the  nonce 

For  larger  space. 

No  hardness,  sourness,  envy,  hate- 
Is  here  allowed.    If  these  yon  seek,  close  tight  the  book. 


Invocation 

0,  God  of  Lincoln,  God  of  Lee, — oh,  lead  us,  Lord, 
Of  Washington,  and  Koosevelt,  rare, — oh,  guard  us 

Lord! 
The  work  which  Thou  hast  wrought  we  beg  that  Thou 

shalt  keep 
Against  an  evil  day  perchance  ourselves  may  bring. 
Keep    off  the   storms   which   counter   currents   often 

raise ; 
Fast  chain  our  foolish  passion's  passing  gales  within, 
Nor  let  them,  raging,  move  apart  the  stones  just  set, 
And   scatter  ruin   where   now   our  house   so   stately 

stands. 

Oh,  let  there  be  no  fool's  harsh  word  on  land  or  sea, 
Which  gathers  force  ofttimes  with  good  men  off  their 

guard, 
And  makes  them  act  more  foolishly  than  he  who  threw 
The  brand  which  fired  their  souls  with  false  and  base 

alarms. 
Oh,  let  there  be  no  Prejudice,  in  North  or  South, 
Vile  bird  that  casts  its  feathered  darts  from  off  its 

back, 
To  wound  with  brazen  claws  and  wings  and  hideous 

beak, 
And  feed  on  human  flesh  while  foreign  Harpies  breed. 


"All  America  is  thrown  into  one  mass.  Where  are 
your  landmarks  —  your  boundaries  of  colonies  ?  They 
are  all  thrown  down.  The  distinctions  between  Vir- 
ginians, Pennsylvanians,  New  Yorkers  and  New  Eng- 
landers,  are  no  more.  I  am  not  a  Virginian,  but  an 
American."  —  John  Adams'  Diary,  as  quoted  by  W. 
Irving,  giving  extract  from  speech  of  Patrick  Henry, 
in  the  first  American  Congress, 


Table  of  Contents 


PAGE 

OUR    FIEST    PRESIDENT        .         .         .         .5 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 27 

ROBERT    EDWARD    LEE         .         .         .         .     45 
THEODORE    ROOSEVELT       .         .         .         .69 


National  Freedom  —  Indissoluble  Union  —  Moral 
and  Military  Greatness  —  Virile  Americanism. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


WASHINGTON    AS    A    BRITISH    LIEUTENANT 
Copyrighted  by   Miley   &    Son,    Lexington,    Va. 


"The  man  who,  amid  the  decadence  of  modern 
ages  first  dared  believe  that  he  could  inspire  degener- 
ate nations  with  courage  to  rise  to  the  level  of 
republican  virtues,  lived  for  all  nations  and  for  all 
centuries." — Talleyrand,  French  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  under  Bonaparte. 


w 


'Happy  in  the  confirmation  of  our  independence 
and  sovereignty,  and  pleased  with  the  opportunity 
afforded  the  United  States  of  becoming  a  respectable 
nation,  I  resign  with  satisfaction  the  appointment  I 
accepted  with  diffidence;  a  diffidence  in  my  abilities 
to  accomplish  so  arduous  a  task,  which,  however,  was 
superseded  by  a  confidence  in  the  rectitude  of  our 
cause,  the  support  of  the  supreme  power  of  the 
Union,  and  the  patronage  of  heaven." — From 
Washington's  address  before  Congress  tendering  his 
resignation  as  Commanding  General. 

"Should  the  States  reject  this  excellent  Constitu- 
tion, the  probability  is  that  opportunity  will  never  be 
offered  to  cancel  another  in  peace;  the  next  will  be 
drawn  in  blood." — G.  W. 

(Traditionally  related  of  him  when  signing 
the  Constitution.) 


George  Washington 

TTfE   have   all  had,   from   our  childhood,   a  p"^"* 

VV  wonderful  report  of  George  Washing- 
ton; but  it  was  not  equal  to  the  reality.  The 
stories  told  of  his  boyhood  are  not  believed  to- 
day. Nevertheless,  his  life  reads  like  a  charming 
romance.  Augustine  Washington  was  thrown 
from  a  carriage  in  London.  On  arising,  he 
looked  for  the  first  time  into  the  lovely  eyes  of 
Mary  Ball,  who  afterwards  became  the  mother 
of  our  first  President.  Who  can  believe  in  ac- 
cidents !  The  young  George  was  himself  of  a 
decidedly  romantic  turn.  From  fourteen  to 
twenty-five  he  was  violently  in  love  many  times. 
In  fact,  Washington  was  never  unsuccessful  in 
anything  but  courtship.  Possibly  his  lack  of 
success  in  these  things  was  only  the  way  the 
fates  had  of  guiding  him  eventually  to  the  door- 
step of  Martha  Dandridge,  the  young,  intelligent 
and  charming  widow  of  Daniel  Parke  Custis.  At 
the  time  of  his  marriage  he  was  twenty-seven 
years  old.     He  had  already  gained  fame  in  the   Success 

in    Love 

French  and  Indian  wars.  The  young  Colonel 
retired  from  the  Army,  went  to  Mount  Vernon, 
which  had  fallen  into  his  possession  by  the  death 
of  Lawrence  Washington,  his  brother.  There  he 
spent  his  honeymoon.  With  Lord  Fairfax,  the 
friend  of  his  boyhood,  and  many  gentlemen  of 

[5] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

the  day,  he  hunted  foxes  and  discussed  the  glow- 
ing questions  of  the  day.  He  served  as  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  also  had  time  to 
become  a  diligent  and  most  successful  farmer 
besides.  Those  were  happy  days  at  Mount  Ver- 
non. But  clouds  were  gathering.  Events  soon 
took  an  ominous  turn. 

ciouds  Gather  rphe  stupidity  of  the  English  Ministry  and 
Parliament  of  that  period  is  quite  incredible  in 
these  later  times.  The  Virginia  Assembly  had 
protested  in  vain  against  what  is  known  as  the 
Stamp  Act.  This  Act  required  that  the  Colonists 
pay  a  revenue  tax  upon  "all  their  commercial 
paper,  legal  documents,  pamphlets  and  news- 
papers, '  and  affix  revenue  stamps  thereto.  In 
furtherance  of  the  Act  British  soldiers  took  up 
their  residence  at  different  places  at  the  expense 
of  the  Colonists.  In  this  manner  Grenville,  the 
British  Prime  Minister,  attempted  to  defray  "the 
expenses  of  defending,  protecting  and  securing 
the  colonies.7  "But,"  as  Mr.  Wilson  remarks, 
"he  came  near  losing  them  instead.  (The  Act 
was  passed  in  March ;  it  was  not  to  go  into  effect 
until  November;  but  the  Colonists  did  not  keep 
them  waiting  until  November  for  their  protests. ) 

a  storm  it   was   the   voice   of  a   veritable    tempest   that 

of  Protest 

presently  came  over  the  sea  to  the  ear  of  the 
startled  Minister."  The  year  before  (1764)  the 
Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  had  protested  in 
advance  against  such  taxation.  That  protest  had 
been   disregarded.      What   must   be   done?     To 

[6] 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 

speak  against  the  Act  now  that  it  has  passed 
Parliament,  would  be  nothing  short  of  treason. 
Was  it  possible  that  the  men  who  had  left  Eng- 
land for  their  freedom  would  submit  to  a  measure 
that  violated  their  liberties?  It  was  a  time  for 
courageous  deliberation,  for  wise  indignation,  for 
implied  dissent  of  a  menacing  nature ;  but  not 
of  intemperate  disobedience.  And  why  not  open 
opposition?  Was  there  not  really  a  determina- 
tion to  resist  the  injustice  that  had  been  per- 
petrated against  America?  Yes.  Then  why  not 
oppose  in  so  many  words  ?  That  was  the  position  Patrick 
of  Patrick  Henry,  the  new  member  from  Han-  Boldness 
over.  That  young  lawyer  and  country  store- 
keeper, offered  resolutions  and  made  a  speech 
which  startled  the  House  of  Burgesses  and 
thrilled  the  world.  The  impetuosity  and  charm 
of  his  eloquence  carried  the  majority  with  him. 
But  patriots  like  Peyton  Randolph,  Edmund 
Pendleton,  Robert  Carter  Nicholas,  George 
Wythe,  and  others  of  the  older  and  more  con- 
servative members,  were  alarmed.  They  feared 
that  all  the  fat  was  being  cast  into  the  fire.  Some 
of  them  even  cried  Treason !  Treason !  when 
Patrick  Henry  reached  the  climax  of  his  defiant 
address  and  recommended  that  the  English  King 
consider  well  the  fate  of  Caesar  and  Charles  the 
First.  "If  that  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it!" 
he  said. 

What    did    Washington    do?      Let    us    glance 
toward  his  seat  in  the  House  during  this  excite- 

[7] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 


More 
temperate 
than    Henry 


Stamp  Act 
Continued 
in    Principle 


ment  at  Henry's  address.  It  is  well  to  do  so. 
It  has  the  effect  of  calming  one's  nerves.  There 
he  sat  in  silence,  feeling  deeply,  but  with  the 
calm  of  the  brave  soldier,  the  vision  of  the  seer 
and  the  determination  of  the  patriot.  He  felt 
that  Henry  was  right.  But  no  one  was  ever 
further  from  intemperate  act  or  thought  than 
was  George  Washington.  So  he  was  opposed  to 
the  intemperate  part  of  the  Henry  resolutions 
which,  had  they  been  adopted,  would  have 
brought  a  British  Army  at  once  to  the  American 
shores.  Possibly  Jefferson  had  "Washington  in 
mind  when  he  looked  back  on  those  glowing  days 
and  said.  "  Although  we  often  wished  to  have 
gone  faster,  we  slackened  our  pace,  that  our  less 
ardent  colleagues  might  keep  up  with  us;  and 
they,  on  their  part,  differing  nothing  from  us  in 
principle,  quickened  their  gait  somewhat  beyond 
that  which  their  prudence  might  of  itself  have 
advised."  But  Washington,  while  not  radical  or 
precipitate,  was  convinced  that  the  Stamp  Act 
could  never  be  enforced,  and  so  wrote  to  Philip 
Dandridge,  in  London.  The  Stamp  Act  was  re- 
pealed but  its  principle  was  repeated.  It  was 
followed,  in  1767,  with  "taxes  on  glass,  paper, 
painters'  colors  and  tea  imported  in  the  Colonies 
with  a  purpose  to  pay  fixed  salaries  to  the 
Crown's  officers  in  the  Colonies  out  of  the  pro- 
ceeds; and  the  contested  ground  was  all  to  go 
over  again."  Even  Jefferson  would  not  accuse 
Washington  of  being  slow  of  step  in  the  face 


[8] 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 

of  a  letter  which  the  latter  wrote  at  this  time  to 
that  splendid  lawyer  and  statesman,  George 
Mason.  "At  a  time,'  said  Washington, 
"when  our  Lordly  Masters  in  Great  Britain 
will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  the 
deprivation  of  American  freedom,  it  seems 
highly  necessary  that  something  should  be  done 
to  avert  the  stroke,  and  maintain  the  liberty 
which  we  have  derived  from  our  ancestors. 
That  no  man  should  scruple  or  hesitate  for  a 
moment,  to  use  arms  in  defence  of  so  valuable 
a  blessing,  on  which  all  the  good  and  evil  of  life 
depends,  is  clearly  my  opinion.  Yet  arms,  I 
would  beg  leave  to  add,  should  be  the  last  re- 
source. " 

The  first  Continental  Congress  met  in  Phila-  First 
delphia  in  1774.  Peyton  Randolph,  of  Vir-  ongress 
ginia,  was  President.  Samuel  Adams,  rough 
of  speech,  adroit,  and  a  natural  born  rebel, 
controlled  the  Massachusetts  delegation.  They 
had  suffered  most,  with  British  troops 
quartered  upon  Boston  and  the  port  shut  up. 
The  so-called  Congress  was  hardly  more  than 
a  meeting  of  Committees.'  from  the  several 
Colonies.  Patrick  Henry,  one  of  the  represent- 
atives from  Virginia,  said  that  unquestionably 
Colonel  George  Washington  was  "the  greatest 
man  on  the  floor."  Yet  he  did  not  figure  as  a 
leader  there,  although  he  was  reported  as 
taking  advanced  ground  in  his  sentiments 
against  the  gross  treatment  of  Massachusetts' 

[9] 


THE    AMERICAN   SOUL 


His 
Earnestness 


Second 
Congress 


Washington 

elected 

Commander 


The  New 
General   a 
Noble   Figure 


Colony.  One  striking  utterance  was:  "I  will 
raise  one  thousand  men,  enlist  them  at  my  own 
expense,  and  march  myself  at  their  head  for  the 
relief  of  Boston!'  If  he  said  that,  he  was  de- 
cidedly side  by  side  with  Patrick  Henry. 

The  second  Continental  Congress  met  at 
Philadelphia  on  the  10th  of  May,  1775.  Omi- 
nous events  led  up  to  it,  There  was  a  great 
difference  between  it  and  the  first  Congress — 
that  only  protested — this  acted.  War  had 
actually  begun.  Ethan  Allen  was  at  that  in- 
stant taking  possession  of  Fort  Ticonderoga. 
16,000  Continentals  were  in  or  near  Boston. 
Washington  was  present,  an  out  and  out  rebel, 
in  his  Continental  uniform,  ready  to  assist  to 
the  extent  of  his  life  and  fortune.  He  was 
unanimously  elected  to  take  command  of  the 
new  army  which  was  waiting  for  a  leader.  He 
said  to  Congress,  in  accepting  the  commission : 
"I  beg  it  may  be  remembered  by  every  gentle- 
man in  this  room,  that  I  this  day  declare  with 
the  utmost  sincerity  I  do  not  think  myself  equal 
to  the  command  I  am  honored  with.'  Two 
days  later  he  was  on  his  way  to  take  command. 
John  Adams  said  of  him:  " There  is  something 
charming  to  me  in  the  conduct  of  Washing- 
ton.' Says  Woodrow  Wilson:  "It  was  an 
object  lesson  in  the  character  of  the  revolution 
to  see  Washington  ride  through  the  Colonies  to 
take  charge  of  an  insurgent  army.  That  noble 
figure  drew  all  eyes  to  it;  that  mien  as  if  the 


[10] 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 

man  were  a  prince ;  that  sincere  and  open  coun- 
tenance, which  every  man  could  see  was  lighted 
by  a  good  conscience ;  that  cordial  ease  in 
salute,  as  of  a  man  who  felt  himself  brother  to 
his  friends.  There  was  something  about  Wash- 
ington that  quickened  the  pulses  of  a  crowd  at 
the  same  time  that  it  awed  them,  that  drew 
cheers  which  were  a  sort  of  voice  of  worship. 
Children  desired  sight  of  him,  and  men  felt 
lifted  after  he  had  passed.  It  was  good  to  have 
such  a  man  ride  all  the  open  way  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Cambridge,  in  sight  of  the  people,  to 
assume  command  of  the  people's  army.  It 
gave  character  to  the  thoughts  of  all  who  saw 
him.'  Was  there  ever  a  finer  portraiture,  in- 
side and  outside,  than  that?  It  carries  us  pell- 
mell  into  those  exciting  days  and  places  us 
upon  the  side-lines  to  lift  our  hats  and,  not 
shout  but  pray,  for  the  man  who  must,  by  his 
wonderful  magnetism,  both  create  and  hold 
together,  for  eight  bitter  years,  the  army  which 
struck  the  blows  of  freedom  and  made  secure 
the  future  of  the  world 's  greatest  republic  —  a 
man  whose  doings  thereafter  were  the  history 
of  America.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  says  of  him : 
"The  people  looked  upon  him,  and  were  con- 
fident that  this  was  a  man  worthy  and  able  to 
dare  and  do  all  things.'  Every  step  of  the 
way  as  he  rode  to  Boston  was  a  part  of  a  great 
triumphal  entry  upon  his  duties.  Bunker  Hill 
had  been  fought  before  he  arrived  in  Boston. 

[ii] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

"Did  the  militia  fight?"  was  his  quiet  though 
pulsating  inquiry   of  the   messenger.     "Yes!' 
"Then  the  liberties  of  the  country  are  safe.' 
I   quote   from   Mr.   Lodge's  biography:   "Mrs. 
John   Adams,'     he    says,    "warm-hearted    and 
clever,  wrote  to  her  husband  after  the  general's 
arrival:   "Dignity,  ease  and  complacency,  the 
gentleman    and    the    soldier    look    agreeably 
blended   in   him.     Modesty   marks    every   line 
and  feature  of  his  face.     Those  lines  of  Dryden 
instantly  occurred  to  me, — 
"Mark  his  majestic  fabric!     He's  a  temple! 

Sacred  by  birth,  and  built  by  hands  divine ; 

His  soul's  the  deity  that  lodges  there; 

Nor  is  the  pile  unworthy  of  the  God.' 

Lady,  lawyer  and  surgeon,  patriot  and  tory, 

all   speak   alike,   and   as   they  wrote,   so   New 

New  England     England   felt.     A   slave   owner,   an   aristocrat, 

true   to  °  7 

Washington  an(j  a  churchman,  "Washington  came  to  Cam- 
bridge to  pass  over  the  heads  of  native  generals 
to  the  command  of  a  New  England  army, 
among  a  democratic  people,  hard  working  and 
simple  in  their  lives,  and  dissenters  to  the  back- 
bone, who  regarded  episcopacy  as  something 
little  short  of  papistry  and  quite  equivalent  to 
toryism.  Yet  the  shout  that  went  up  from 
soldiers  and  people  on  Cambridge  Common  on 
that  pleasant  July  morning  came  from  the 
heart  and  had  no  jarring  note.  On  the  field  of 
battle  and  throughout  eight  years  of  political 

[12] 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 

strife  the  men  of  New  England  stood  by  the 
great  Virginian. " 

This  dramatic  beginning,  had  a  great  mul- 
titude of  more  and  more  dramatic  sequences. 
Indeed  for  the  six  years  from  Bunker  Hill  to  His  life  from 

now   on   an 

Yorktown  Washington's  life  was  an  epic  made  Epic 
up  of  hundreds  of  startling  dramas.  I  have 
not  the  space  to  tell  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
baffled  the  English  Generals,  Howe,  Gage,  Clin- 
ton and  Cornwallis — of  his  occupation  of,  and 
retreat  from  New  York  City  through  New  Jer- 
sey— of  his  crossing  the  Delaware,  capturing 
Trenton,  punishing  the  British  at  Princeton — 
of  his  pledging  his  private  fortune  for  the  pay- 
ment of  his  troops — of  his  defeat  of  Howe  at 
Brandywine — of  his  heroic  struggles  at  Valley 
Forge — of  his  attack  on  Clinton  at  Monmouth 
Court  House — of  his  exasperation  at  Eichard 
Henry  Lee,  his  grief  at  Arnold's  treason,  and 
his  outwitting  and  capture  of  Cornwallis  at 
Yorktown.  These  events,  as  events,  have  been 
familiar  to  us  since  childhood ;  but  their  full 
significance,  as  they  were  experienced  by 
Washington,  we  have  never  felt  at  their  full 
value,  simply  from  the  fact  that  no  historian 
has  ever  sounded  the  depths  of  the  great  pro- 
tagonist who  occupied  the  centre  of  the  stage, 
during  the  whole  of  those  stirring  times.     He   Congress 

°  °  dilatory    m 

had  won  the  war  at  Yorktown;  but  two  full  making  peace 
years  passed  before  peace  was  finally  made  by 
the  dilatory  Congress.     In  the  meantime,   the 

[13] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

most  dramatic  event  of  the  entire  war  occurred. 
It  was  nothing  less  than  the  direct  offer  to 
Washington  of  a  Kingdom  by  the  army.  The 
incident  is  known  as  Colonel  Nicola's  proposal 
from  the  fact  that  he  was  the  writer  of  the 
letter  to  Washington.  The  main  cause  of  the 
proposal  was  the  unpopularity  of  the  civil  gov- 
iebukeT^ffer  ernment  with  the  soldiers.  They  desired  to 
?°o^a^eQh™   overthrow  it  and  place  Washington  at  the  head 

IlG3iQ    OI    a    U6W  x  f~} 

government  0f  a  stronger  form  of  government.  Today,  as 
we  read  of  the  ingratitude  of  Congress,  which 
refused  to  pay  the  soldiers,  and  yield  them  that 
consideration  which  they  deserved,  our  hearts 
grow  hot  with  wrath.  But  while  the  great 
chieftain  was  on  the  side  of  the  soldiers,  he  was 
deeply  hurt  at  their  offer.  Nothing  ever  so 
stung  him.  He  rebuked  them  severely  in  his 
reply,  and  hoped  that  the  country  might  never 
know  of  the  offer  which  had  been  made  to  him. 
He  was  not  tempted.  What  tempted  and  over- 
came Caesar,  Cromwell,  Napoleon,  only  gave 
pain  to  Washington.  It  is  true  that  the  coun- 
try was  full  of  anarchy ;  the  government  was 
reeling  like  a  drunken  man ;  a  pusillanimous, 
unpatriotic,  jealous  even  dishonorable  Con- 
gress was  playing  politics,  forcing  the  child  of 
his  labors,  sacrifices  and  prayers  every  day 
nearer  the  brink  of  the  precipice.  Nor  did  he 
shrink  from  the  glittering  offer  from  any 
thought  of  unsuccess.  By  no  means.  "The 
army,"  says  Mr.  Lodge,  "was  the  one  coherent, 

[14] 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 

active  and  thoroughly  organized  body  in  the 

country.     There  would  have  been  in  fact  no  ?^L^«d5?'s 

J  opinion   oi 

serious  opposition,  probably  because  there  §u^esse 
would  have  been  no  means  of  sustaining  it. 
The  absolute  feebleness  of  the  general  govern- 
ment was  shown  a  few  weeks  later,  when  a 
recently  recruited  regiment  of  Pennsylvania 
troops  mutinied,  and  obliged  Congress  to  leave 
Philadelphia. — This  mutiny  was  put  down  sud- 
denly and  effectively  by  Washington,  very  wroth 
at  the  insubordination  of  raw  troops  who  had 
neither  fought  nor  suffered. '  I  quote  again 
from  Mr.  Lodge:  "From  the  surrender  of 
Yorktown  to  the  day  of  his  retirement  from  the 
Presidency,  he  worked  unceasingly  to  estab- 
lish union  and  strong  government  in  the 
country  he  had  made  independent.  He  accom- 
plished this  great  labor  more  successfully  by 
honest  and  lawful  methods  than  if  he  had  taken 
the  path  of  the  strong-handed  savior  of  society, 
and  his  work  in  this  field  did  more  for  the  wel- 
fare of  his  country  than  all  his  battles. — To 
have  refused  supreme  rule,  and  then  to  have 
effected  in  the  spirit  and  under  the  forms  of 
free  government  all  and  more  than  the  most 
brilliant  of  military  chiefs  could  have  achieved 
by  absolute  power,  is  a  glory  which  belongs  to 
Washington  alone.'  All  will  agree  that  Mr. 
Lodge  makes  a  just  estimate  of  the  noble  act  of 
Washington  in  refusing  a  crown.     Every  one,  M^-  ,Carlyle's 

°  °  •/  >    opinion 

with  the  exception  of  Thomas  Carlyle,  would 

[15] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

endorse  it.  But  then  Mr.  Carlyle  did  not  love 
America — neither  does  America  love  Mr.  Car- 
lyle. For  it  is  wholly  capable  of  seeing;  that 
the  man  who  found  Emerson  barren,  could  un- 
derestimate the  man  who  whipped  the  English 
armies,  and  failed  to  grasp  the  supreme  power 
when  the  opportunity  presented  itself.  But 
Washington  was  a  man  of  faith  that  he  had 
been  directed  by  Jehovah.  "I  consider  it  my 
indispensable  duty/'  he  said  at  the  end  of  his 
resignation  as  General,  "to  close  this  last  sol- 
emn act  of  my  official  life  by  commending  the 
interests  of  our  dearest  country  to  the  protec- 
tion of  Almighty  God,  and  those  who  have  the 
superintendence  of  them  to  His  holy  keeping." 
"It  was,"  says  Woodrow  Wilson,  "as  if  spoken 
on  the  morrow  of  the  day  upon  which  he  ac- 
cepted his  commission :  the  same  diffidence,  the 
same  trust  in  a  power  greater  and  higher  than 
his  own." 
in  the  Washington    was     twice    elected    President 

President's 

Chair  without   opposition.     He   served  two   terms   of 

four  years  each.  He  refused  to  be  elected  for 
a  third  term.  When  he  was  elected  for  the 
first  time  he  accepted  the  office  only  after  Ham- 
ilton had  plead  with  him  that  it  was  his  duty. 
Governor  Johnson,  of  Maryland  had  written 
him  that  he  could  explain  to  any  one  else  except 
him  why  the  country  must  have  him.  "To 
make  any  one  else  President,"  says  Mr.  Wilson, 
"it  seemed  to  men  everywhere,  would  be  like 

[16] 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 

crowning'  a  subject  while  the  King  was  by.' 
Those  two  terms  of  his  Presidency  were  tumult- 
uous years.  They  included  the  time  of  the  for- 
mation of  political  parties;  they  embraced  the 
years  of  the  French  Revolution ;  it  was  then 
that  the  battle  of  the  giants  on  the  formation 
of  a  National  Bank  was  fought  in  Congress ;  it 
was  the  time  of  the  whiskey  rebellion;  it  was 
the  time  when  we  began  the  claiming  of  the 
empire  of  the  great  West.  Through  it  all  p^if^n8,8 
Washington  was  as  great  and  righteous  and  as  General 
efficient  as  he  was  when  General.  In  fact,  he 
reached  the  high-water-mark  of  his  career 
when  he  laid  his  stern  hand  upon  Jefferson's 
policy  to  embroil  and  embrangle  us  in  a  wild 
and  entangling  alliance  with  France  engaged 
in  a  revolution  which  had  no  resemblance  to 
ours.  But  for  the  wisdom  and  firmness  of 
Washington,  Jefferson  would  have  brought 
upon  us  the  vengeance  of  Europe.  The  last 
year  of  his  Presidency  was  quiet  and  prosper- 
ous. The  country  again  idolized  him.  Men 
who  had  abused  him  for  preventing  an  alliance 
with  France  and  for  signing  a  treaty  with 
England  grew  ashamed  of  themselves.  When 
the  day  came  to  yield  up  his  office  to  John 
Adams  "all  eyes  were  bent  upon  that  great 
figure  in  black  velvet.'  On  his  way  to  the 
Capitol  the  people  thronged  after  him.  It  was 
not  the  new  President,  but  their  beloved  Wash- 
ington they  desired  to  see.     The  scene  touched 

[17] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

him.  "No  man  ever  saw  him  so  moved.'  As 
the  tears  coursed  their  way  down  his  cheeks, 
the  hearts  of  the  people  were  bent  in  sorrow. 
He  went  back  to  Mount  Vernon  to  the  country- 
life  he  loved.  Unfortunately,  this  time  was 
brief.  On  the  12th  of  December,  1799,  on  going 
the  rounds  of  his  farms,  he  caught  a  violent 
cold  which  settled  in  his  throat.  By  evening  of 
the  next  day  the  end  had  come.  "He  was  calm 
the  day  through,"  says  Wilson,  "as  in  time  of 
battle ;  knowing  what  betided,  but  not  fearing 
it ;  steady,  noble,  a  warrior  figure  to  the  last ; 
and  he  died  as  those  who  loved  him  might  have 
The  worm  wished  to  see  him  die.'  When  the  news  sped 
his  death  over   the   nation   the   people   sobbed   with   the 

deepest  grief.  The  flags  and  standards  of 
France  were  hung  with  crepe  and  the  flags  of 
the  English  fleet  were  lowered  to  half-mast. 
The  report  of  Talleyrand,  the  French  Foreign 
Minister,  constitutes  one  of  the  finest  eulogies 
ever  made  to  mortal  man :  I  quote  its  closing 
paragraph:  "The  man  who,  amid  the  decad- 
ence of  modern  ages,  first  dared  believe  that 
he  could  inspire  degenerate  nations  with  cour- 
age to  rise  to  the  level  of  republican  virtues, 
lived  for  all  nations,  and  for  all  centuries ;  and 
this  nation  which  first  saw  in  the  life  and  suc- 
cess of  that  illustrious  man  a  foreboding  of  his 
destiny,  and  therein  recognized  a  future  to  be 
realized  and  duties  to  be  performed,  had  every 
right  to  class  him  as  a  fellow  citizen.     I  there- 

[18] 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

fore  submit  to  the  first  consul  the  following- 
decree  :  "Bonaparte,  First  Consul  of  the  Re- 
public decrees  as  follows :  Article  1.  A  statue 
is  to  be  erected  to  General  Washington. 
Article  2.  This  statue  is  to  be  placed  in  one  of 
the  squares  of  Paris,  to  be  chosen  by  the  Min- 
ister of  the  Interior,  and  it  shall  be  his  duty  to 
execute  the  present  decree. " 

As  we  turn  away  from  the  tomb  of  the  great 
we  become  reflective.  The  greatness  of  Wash- 
ington compels  us  to  this.  Even  in  his  youth 
he  was  a  man  of  high  spirit  and  just  percep- 
tions, of  great  moral  as  well  as  physical 
courage.  He  always  acted  in  accordance  with 
his  sense  of  justice.  A  case  in  point  was  when 
Governor  Dinwiddie  raised  ten  companies  with 
as  many  independent  captains,  and  ruled  that 
there  should  be  no  officer  above  the  rank  of 
Captain.  As  Washington  was  already  Colonel, 
the  act  was  considered  demeaning  by  him  and 
he  went  back  to  his  farm  at  Mount  Vernon. 
The  Governor  was  surprised,  (and  Thomas 
Penn  was  concerned  that  Colonel  Washington's 
conduct  was  so  imprudent.)  With  this  sort  of  £  ™an  °f.  . 
behavior  in  mind,  how  can  you  account  for  the 
fact  that  he  always  impressed  those  who  knew 
him  best  as  having  a  great  restraint  and  self- 
command?  His  intimate  friends  knew  him  as 
a  man  whom  they  had  never  seen  in  a  passion. 
Yet,  we  know  there  were  stories  of  outbursts 
against   cowardice   in   the   army,   disobedience 

[19] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

and  neglect  on  the  part  of  overseers,  and  theft 
from  trespassers.  We  have  all  heard  the  story 
of  the  poacher  who  was  shooting  wild-fowl  on 
Washington's  game  preserves.  The  villain,  as 
Washington  approached  him  to  scold  him, 
levelled  his  gun  upon  him.  The  act  aroused 
the  fighting  spirit  of  the  man  who  loved  the 
whistle  of  bullets.  He  plunged  his  horse  into 
the  water,  snatched  the  gun  from  the  hands  of 
the  rogue  and  thrashed  him.  This  was  the 
Washington  who  made  it  lively  for  the  cowardly 
The  old-time     soldier  or  even  the  disobedient  general.     That 

Gentleman  ° 

other  Washington,  the  silent,  wholesome,  open- 
minded,  red-blooded  product  of  the  polite 
training  of  Lord  Fairfax,  Greenway  Court  and 
Mount  Vernon — the  Washington  of  that  mar- 
velous self-poise  —  the  Washington  who,  when 
others  were  rending  their  garments  and  casting 
the  dust  into  the  air  stood  calm  amid  the  storm, 
self-reflective  and  far-visioned — the  Washing- 
ton who  could  pilot  a  revolution  when  the 
storms  of  passion  which  swept  across  his  soul 
pressed  down  upon  that  lake  of  fire  in  his  own 
breast  and  compelled  its  calm — the  Washington 
who  could  repress  his  feelings  when  an  incom- 
petent Congress  expected  everything  of  him 
and  his  ragged,  starving  army  and  yet  did 
nothing  for  them  in  the  way  of  sending  sup- 
plies— the  Washington  who  could  kneel  in  the 
snow  at  Valley  Forge,  amid  the  bloody  foot- 
prints  of  a   shoeless  soldiery   and   confidently 

[20] 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON 

expect  great  things  of  the  God  of  battles — the 
Washington  who  could  almost  bankrupt  his 
large  estate  that  he  might  serve  his  country — 
the  Washington  who  could  wait  for  time  and 
events  to  disprove  the  accusations  of  the 
Conway-Gates  Conspiracy  against  him — the 
Washington  who  could,  by  that  great,  quiet, 
presence  of  his,  allay  the  fiery  antagonisms  of 
rival    statesmen — the    Washington    who    could  steering  a 

°  Revolution 

successfully  steer  a  revolution,  shape  a  Consti- 
tution and  lay  down  his  task  at  the  close  with 
gratitude  to  God  and  as  much  revered  by  his 
fellow  citizens  as  was  Solon  by  the  Athenians — 
the  Washington  who  far  surpassed  in  his  states- 
manship any  of  his  critics  or  admirers — the 
Washington  whom  Napoleon  regarded  as  one 
of  the  greatest  generals  of  History — this  was 
the  Washington  (let  me  say  it  calmly)  the 
serene,  unruffled,  urbane,  quiet  spirit  whose 
presence  gave  him  precedence  over  all,  and 
whose  unsullied  character,  pre-eminent  abil- 
ities, modesty,  masterful  self-control,  and  yet 
withal,  Olympian  reserve  power,  were  simply 
overwhelming. 

We  have  had  no  man  in  American  history  by  Himself 
like  unto  him — no  man  comparable  to  him  in  all 
things,  though  others  equalled  him — even  ex- 
celled him — in  some  things.  At  this  late  day 
we  view  him  with  a  passionless  gaze,  and  weigh 
his  qualities  with  unfevered  mind.  Wisei 
writers   of  history   are   in  no   danger   of   con- 

[21] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

tributing  an  error  of  judgment  to  our  Annals 

by  failure  to  place  him  first  in  time  and  first  in 

Present  greatness    of    the    American    Presidents.     We 

vitality 

need  not  wonder  that  he  is  the  livest  man  in 
America  to-day  and  that  the  interpretation  of 
his  advice  against  entangling  alliances  with 
European  governments  has  been  the  storm- 
center  of  the  greatest  debate  in  the  session  of 
the  Congress  just  closed  and  re-convened. 


[22  J 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 
Copyrighted    by    Harris    &    Ewing,    Washington,    D,    C, 


((• 


'He  stood  a  heroic  figure,  in  the  centre  of  a  heroic 
epoch.  He  is  the  true  story  of  the  American  people 
in  his  time." — Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

"If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any 
slave,  I  would  do  it,  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing 
all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by 
freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also 
do  that." — Abraham  Lincoln,  in  a  letter  to  Horace 
Greeley  in  1862,  as  quoted  by  Congressman  Joseph  G. 
Cannon. 

"And  then,  from  fifty  fameless  years 
In   quiet   Illinois   was  sent 
A  word  that  still  the  Atlantic  hears, 
And  Lincoln  was  the  Lord  of  his  event." 

■ — Drinkwater's  Play. 


Abraham   Lincoln 


a 


N 


OW  he  is  with  the  ages,  said  Stanton  Lincoln"1 
in  the  gray  dawn  of  the  winter  day  as 
the  stertorous  breathing  ceased,  and  the  great 
heart  was  stilled,'  said  Henry  Watterson,  the 
greatest  of  editors  and  one  of  the  greatest  of 
statesmen,  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  The  Cos- 
mopolitan ten  years  ago.  "His  life"  continues 
Mr.  Watterson,  "had  been  an  epic  in  homespun, 
his  death,  like  that  of  Caesar,  beggars  the  arts 
and  resources  of  Melpomene  of  the  mimic 
scene." 

Why  does  the  great  Southerner  give  such  a  a  South- 
erner's 
tribute    to    the    leader    of    the    forces    against  Justice 

which  he  fought  in  the  Civil  War?  Mr.  Wat- 
terson answers  this  question  himself.  He  says : 
"With  respect  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  I,  as  a 
Southern  man  and  Confederate  soldier,  here 
render  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's, 
even  as  I  would  render  unto  God  the  things 
that  are  God's." 

Does  not  the  great  editor  tell  us  the  truth 
when  he  suggests  that  facts  of  history  are  all 
invalided  in  the  presence  of  that  terrible 
tragedy?  Must  we  not  indeed  have  to  go  to 
fiction  for  a  parallel  of  that  tragedy  of 
tragedies  for  the  people  of  America,  especially 

[27] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 


A    fateful 
Night 


What   the 
Crime    meant 
in   the   North 


of  that  part  of  America  South  of  the  Potomac 
and  Ohio  rivers?  Says  John  Hay,  in  speaking 
of  that  scene:  "Within  the  narrow  compass  of 
that  stage-box  that  night  were  five  human  be- 
ings :  the  most  illustrious  of  modern  heroes 
crowned  with  the  most  stupendous  victory  of 
modern  times;  his  beloved  wife,  proud  and 
happy;  two  betrothed  lovers  with  all  the 
promise  of  felicity  that  youth,  social  position, 
and  wealth  could  give  them,  and  a  young  actor, 
handsome  as  Endymion  upon  Latmus,  the  idol 
of  his  little  world.  The  glitter  of  fame,  happi- 
ness and  ease  was  upon  the  entire  group ;  but 
in  an  instant  everything  was  to  be  changed 
with  the  blinding  swiftness  of  enchantment. 
Quick  death  was  to  come  on  the  central  figure 
of  that  company.  Over  all  the  rest  the  black- 
est fates  hovered  menacingly :  fates  from 
which  a  mother  might  pray  that  kindly  death 
might  save  her  children  in  infancy.  One  was 
to  wander  with  the  stain  of  murder  on  his  soul, 
with  the  curses  of  a  world  upon  his  name,  with 
a  price  set  upon  his  head,  in  frightful  physical 
pain,  till  he  died  a  dog's  death  in  a  burning 
barn.  The  stricken  wife  was  to  pass  the  rest 
of  her  days  in  melancholy  and  madness ;  of 
those  two  young  lovers,  one  was  to  slay  the 
other,  and  then  end  his  life  a  raving  maniac." 
Those  are  dramatic  words  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
private  secretary.  What  did  this  assassination 
mean  for  the  victorious  North?     A  rekindling 


[28] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

of  passion  in  the  breasts  of  some  men  who  had 
quenched  those  fires  and  longed  for  a  reunion 
of  the  brothers ;  a  confirmation  of  the  hatreds 
of  the  shallow  whose  existence  depended  upon 
gorgets  of  vengeance  and  morsels  of  further 
human  suffering;  a  redoubling  of  energies  on 
the  part  of  the  great  and  the  wise  to  keep  alive 
the  great  spirit  of  the  martyr-President  now 
separated  from  its  human  temple.  That  is 
what  it  meant  in  the  North.  What  did  the 
whistle  of  that  criminal  bullet  mean  for  the 
South?  Project  yourself  into  that  desolate 
section,  in  those  exciting  times.  What  do  we 
see  there  ?     The  South  sits  at  her  window  in  the  Wha*  it 

meant   in   the 

elegant,  tattered  finery  of  pre-war  days,  South 
manually  helpless  from  never  having  had  to  do 
her  own  labor — her  hands  yet  white  and  deli- 
cate because  toilless.  As  she  gazes  from  her 
window,  now  unglazed  by  the  shock  of  war, 
she  is  widowed  and  childless ;  her  lands  are  un- 
planted ;  her  live-stock  have  been  slain  or 
confiscated ;  her  houses  and  factories  are 
ruined,  many  of  them  have  been  burned ;  her 
storehouses  have  been  ransacked  by  friend  and 
foe  alike ;  her  slaves  have  become  voters  and 
legislators  and  thousands  have  followed  in  the 
wake  of  the  invading  army.  Cropless,  labor- 
less,  moneyless,  comfortless,  wan  and  weak, 
tired    and    tearful,    haggard    and    heroic    she 

reaches  out  her  hand  for  help.     Only  one  man  Only  one 

i      ^t     •  •  -.  n  .  Marl 

in  the  Nation,  again  under  one  nag,  can  give  it 

[29] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

to  her.     That  man  had  said  to  her,  on  a  noted 
occasion,  that  she  "should  come  back  home  and 
behave"  herself.     He  was  a  man  of  great  heart 
and  great  common  sense.     He  was  a  man  "of 
admirable    intellectual    aplomb/      He    was    a 
man  who  had  the  warmth  of  the  Southern  sun 
in   his    blood.     "He    sprang   from    a    Virginia 
pedigree   and  was  born  in  Kentucky.'      This 
was    the    man    to    whom    the  South,    in    her 
widowed,    helpless    condition,    was    looking    for 
help.     This    was    the    man    who    said    to    the 
people:    "I    have    no    prejudice    against    the 
Southern    people.     They    are    just    what    we 
would   be   in  their   situation.'      That  was   the 
man    who    said    to     one    of    his    own    War- 
Congresses:  "The  people  of  the  South  are  not 
more  responsible  for  the  original  introduction 
of  this   property  than   are   the  people   of  the 
North,  and,  when  it  is  remembered  how  unhesi- 
tatingly we  all  use  cotton  and  sugar  and  share 
the  profits  of  dealing  in  them,  it  may  not  be 
quite  safe  to  say  that  the  South  has  been  more 
responsible    than    the    North    for    its    continu- 
ance.'     As  the  worn  and  still  bleeding  South 
tottered  to  her  feet   and  held  out  her  hands 
toward  this  her  former  lover,   there  was  sad 
appeal  in  her  eyes  and  hopefulness  in  her  heart. 
And  why?     She  knew  his  noble  nature  and  her 
intuitions  told  her  that  he  could  never,  would 
never,  forget  his  first  love.     But  alas !  alas !  in 

[30] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

a  moment  of  her  radiant  hope  came  the  news 
that  a  madman's  bullet  had  sung  the  requiem 
of  the  great  head  of  the  nation. 

It  is  true  that  some  diseases  are  most  danger- 
ous at  the  moment  of  convalescence — when  one 
thinks  himself  well  then  is  he  nearest  death. 
The  saying  of  Solon,  the  Athenian  sage,  so 
potent  in  the  life  of  the  rich  Croesus,  has  stood 
the  test  of  the  ages,  that  is,  that  no  man  can  be 
properly  estimated  during  his  life-time.  The 
world  lost  heavily  in  the  taking  away  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  The  chaplet  it  has  placed  on  his 
temples  is  a  noble  one.  The  North  thought 
when  he  fell,  that  the  grief  was  hers  and  only 
hers.  It  was  the  inspired  lute  of  her  own  Walt 
Whitman  which  sang  her  mournful  but  sweet 
lamentation : 

0  Captain!  my  Captain!  our  fearful  trip  is  My  captain 
done, 
The  ship  has  weather 'd  every  rack,  the  prize 
we  sought  is  won, 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people 
all  exulting 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  Keel,  the  vessel 
grim  and  daring ; 
But  0  heart !  heart !  heart ! 
0  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 
Where  on  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen,  cold  and  dead. 

[31] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

0  Captain!  my  Captain!  rise  up  and  hear  the 

bells 
Rise  up — for  you  the  flag  is  flung — for  you  the 

bugle  trills ; 
For  you  the  bouquets  and  ribboned  wreaths — 
for  you  the  shores  a-crowding, 
For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their 
eager  faces  turning ; 

Here  Captain  !  dear  father ! 
This  arm  beneath  your  head ! 

It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck, 
You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale 
and  still, 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no 
pulse  nor  will, 
The  ship  is  anchor 'd  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage 
closed  and  done. 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship   comes  in 
with  object  won. 
Exult  0  Shores,  and  ring  0  bells ! 
But  I  with  mournful  tread, 

"Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen  cold  and  dead. 


what  makes  This  poem  was  published  in  the  fiery,  excit- 

Great  ing  and  bitter  days  of  1865,  immediately  suc- 

ceeding the  murder.  Do  you  not  notice  its 
chief  glory?  Is  it  in  its  swinging  rythmic 
metre     and    beauteous     expression    that    real 

[32] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

Americans  have  cause  for  congratulation  and 
thankfulness?  Yes,  but  these  do  not  constitute 
its  highest  excellence.  What  does?  Is  it  in 
the  fact  that  it  is  one  of  the  purest  and  sweetest 
poems  Whitman  ever  wrote?  Yes,  this  criti- 
cism is  also  true ;  but  it  contains  far  more  than 
this  for  all  large-spirited  men  and  women  of 
our  great  country.  What  is  it,  indeed?  It  is 
that  though  sung  in  those  days  of  burning  an- 
ger and  misunderstanding,  there  is  not  a  single 
word   of  rancor  in  it.     It  is  not   a  Psalm   of  a  song  of 

Bethlehem 

David,  but  song  of  Bethlehem — a  message  of 
peace  and  not  of  war — the  voice  of  wisdom  and 
not  the  product  of  "the  narrow  forehead  of 
the  fool": — It  is  written  in  the  spirit  of  the 
great  Lincoln  himself ;  it  is  written  in  the  spirit 
in  which  Col.  Watterson  wrote  on  the  Lincoln 
Centenary  celebration:  "Only  a  little  while  and 
there  will  not  be  a  man  living  who  saw  service 
on  either  side  of  that  great  struggle.  Its  pas- 
sions long  ago  faded  from  manly  bosoms. 
Meanwhile  it  is  required  of  no  one,  whichever 
flag  he  served  under,  that  he  make  renuncia- 
tions dishonoring  himself.  Bach  may  leave  to 
posterity  the  casting  of  the  balance  between 
antagonistic  schools  of  thought  and  opposing 
camps  in  action,  where  in  both  the  essentials 
of  fidelity  and  courage  were  so  amply  met. 
Nor  is  it  the  part  of  wisdom  to  regret  a  tale 
that  is  told.  The  issues  that  evoked  the  strife 
of  sections  are  dead  issues.     The  conflict  which 

[33] 


THE   AMEEICAN   SOUL 


External 
Dangers    in 
Brothers' 
Quarrels 


No  Wisdom 
in  Sectional 
Prejudice 


was  thought  to  be  irreconcilable  and  was  cer- 
tainly inevitable,  ended  more  than  forty  years 
ago.  It  was  fought  to  its  conclusion  by  fear- 
less and  upright  men.  To  some  the  result  was 
logical ;  to  others  it  was  disappointing ;  to  all  it 
was  final.'  What  have  we  to  add  to  these 
manly  words  of  Henry  Watterson  ?  Just  this  : 
that  aliens  who  quarrel  should  be  reconciled, 
brothers  who  quarrel  must.  The  brother  who 
shuts  himself  in  his  room  and  makes  his  door 
the  dead-line  between  himself  and  his  brother 
not  merely  shuts  off  all  love  and  progress,  but 
exposes  his  premises  to  exploitation  and  attack. 
Americanization  has  lately4,  been  writ  large 
upon  our  American  skies.  Its  proper  interpre- 
tation and  the  solution  of  its  problems  are 
bound  up  in  one  word — a  George  Washington 
word,  an  Abraham  Lincoln  word — the  word 
union —  not  only  Constitutional  union  but  per- 
sonal union.  There  is  absolutely  no  justifica- 
tion for  sectional  prejudice.  Eventually  it 
must  lead,  if  not  to  presumption  and  insult, 
possibly  attack  from  outsiders,  at  least  to  a  re- 
newal of  civil  strife.  When  could  such  a  thing 
take  place?  Just  so  soon  as  the  issue  at  vari- 
ance becomes  large  enough.  Could  we  ever 
have  so  great  a  question  in  America?  When 
New  England  first  sold  her  slaves  to  Southern 
cotton  and  sugar  planters,  who  then  foresaw 
that  the  question  of  African  slavery  had  al- 
ready been  decided  against  by  the  fates?     But, 

[34] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

as  a  matter  of  fact,  great  issues  are  not  needed 
for  the  unleashing  of  the  dogs  of  war.  Small 
questions — worthless  questions — are  frequently 
the  occasions  (not  the  causes)  of  war.  Note 
the  Serajavo  incident — the  destruction  of  the 
Maine  —  the  firing  on  Sumter.  We  all  know 
that  the  murder  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Austria 
and  his  family,  in  Serbia,  was  only  the  occasion 
of  the  late  world  war;  the  blowing  up  of  the 
battleship,  Maine,  was  not  the  cause  of  our  war 
with  Cuba;  the  firing  on  Sumter  by  a  battery 
of  Confederates  in  Charleston  was  not  the 
cause  of  our  Civil  War.  Germany  \s  desire  to 
expand;  the  United  States'  desire  to  relieve  its 
neighbor  of  Spanish  tyranny  and  oppression ; 
the  abrogation  of  African  Slavery  were  the 
causes,  but  not  the  occasions  of  the  respect- 
ive wars  named.  Issues  become  greatly 
exaggerated  when  prejudices  run  high  or  com- 
mercial    necessities     require.     Whenever     the  when  ciyii 

x  War   would 

material  wealth  and  population  of  the  two  sec-  be  possible 

in    America 

tions  of  our  country  become  nearly  if  not  quite 
equally  balanced,  then  sectional  prejudices,  if 
prevalent,  shall  cause  the  hairy,  bloody  crest 
of  civil  war  to  again  become  erect.  How  is  this 
possible?  By  the  continued  development  of 
the  South  at  its  present  rate  of  material  prog- 
ress ;  by  the  turning  of  immigration  southward ; 
or  by  a  realignment  of  sectional  lines  by  means 
of  portions  of  the  great  West,  the  new  West, 
the  post  bellum  part  of  the  nation,  becoming 

[35] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

sympathetic  commercially,  with  the  new  South. 
Is  there  any  real  danger  of  this  to-day?  I  do 
not  so  believe.  We  may  thank  God  for  the 
growth  of  the  anti-sectional  spirit  in  our  coun- 
try. I  am  sure  there  is  no  real  manly  American 
in  the  South  who  would  advocate  war  against 
the  North  even  if  it  were  revealed  to  him  by 
the  fates,  or  otherwise,  that  the  South  would 
eventually  win?  And  why?  There  are  two 
reasons :  The  first  is,  that  the  spirit  of  Washing- 
ton and  Lincoln  is  too  strongly  vital  in  the 
Sectionalism     hearts  of  Southern  men  and  women.     The  sec- 

a    losing 

game  on(j  is  that  the  section  of  the  country  which 

would  seek  its  empire  would  seek  its  own  ruin 
eventually.  This  has  been  the  history  of  all 
States  seeking  monopoly  of  government. 
"Hardwick  declares,"  says  David  Starr  Jordan 
in  his  Human  Harvest,  "that  war  is  essential 
to  the  life  of  a  nation ;  war  strengthens  a  nation 
morally,  mentally  and  physically. '  Such 
statements  as  these  set  all  history  at  defiance. 
War  can  only  waste  and  corrupt.  "All  war  is 
bad,  some  only  worse  than  others.'  "War  has 
its  origin  in  the  evil  passions  of  men, ' '  and  even 
when  unavoidable  or  righteous  its  effects  are 
most  baleful.  The  final  effect  of  each  strife  for 
empire  has  been  the  degradation  or  extinction 
of  the  nation  which  led  in  the  struggle.'  Good 
and  true  words !  What  is  true  of  nations  is 
true  of  sections.  It  is  consequently  the  duty  of 
every  manly  American  to  fight  sectionalism  in 

[36] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

the  true  Lincolnian  spirit.  What  is  that  spirit  ? 
Let  me  put  it  in  this  way :  There  is  a  word 
which  binds  into  one  bundle — one  multiple — 
all  the  nature  and  life  and  work  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.     In  that  word  was  pictured,  as  the  sun  The  word 

.  .  -i'i  «t  li  pi  ''Union'' 

is  pictured  in  the  ram-drop,  the  glory  or  the 
American  government  and  people.  It  is  the 
word  Union.  Do  you  see  what  I  mean?  In 
union  there  is  strength ;  in  disunion  there  is 
weakness.  In  union  there  is  progress ;  in  dis- 
union there  is  retrogression.  In  union  there  is 
independence ;  in  disunion  there  is  dependence. 
In  union  there  is  self-respect ;  in  disunion  there 
is  humiliation  and  insult.  In  union  there  is 
freedom;  in  disunion  there  is  slavery.  The 
word  became  so  strong  a  force  in  his  life  that 
it  predominated  him.  "  Stevens/  said  he  to  ^n?™™t[c 
the  Vice-President  of  the  Southern  Confeder- 
acy, in  that  famous  meeting  to  settle  differences 
and  end  the  war,  "let  me  write  ' Union'  at  the 
top  of  the  page  and  you  may  write  under  it 
whatever  you  choose.'  In  the  presence  of 
those  noble  words,  has  the  fire-eater  and  dema- 
gogical politician,  North  or  South,  who  battens 
upon  sectional  prejudices,  any  real  place  on 
American  soil?  I  do  not  think  so.  Let  us  add 
these  words  from  his  second  inaugural.  They 
are  bright  from  the  furnace  and  will  never 
lose  their  lustre  so  long  as  the  facade  of  the 
temple  of  American  freedom — which  means  the 
union  of  its  re-united  people — looks  out  upon 

[37] 


Incident 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 


A    Coronet 
of  Freedom 


Prosperous 

Sisters 


the  rest  of  the  world  with  a  spotless  purity! 
"With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for 
all;  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us 
to  see  the  right  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the 
work  we  are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds, 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle, 
and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphan;  to  do  all 
which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  last- 
ing peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  na- 
tions/ What  jewel  is  the  most  valuable  and 
sparkling  by  far  of  the  jewels  which  make  up 
this  wonderful  passage — a  real  coronet  of 
American  freedom  and  safety  and  wisdom?  It 
is  this:  "to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cher- 
ish a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves." 
Let  us  for  a  moment  again  turn  our  eyes 
upon  the  South.  She  again  sits  at  her  window, 
but  no  longer  with  pensive,  wan  and  wasted 
weeping.  She  is  no  longer  in  tatters  and  want. 
She  looks  out  upon  a  landscape  of  snow, 
strangely  intermingled  with  silver  and  gold. 
The  snow  is  her  cotton — a  great  depth  of 
it ;  the  silver  and  gold  are  her  Indian  corn 
and  her  wheat — exhaustless  veins  of  them. 
In  the  near  background  may  be  seen, 
suspended  over  her  growing  cities  (black  when 
first  ejected  from  massive  stacks,  but  empur- 
pled by  contact  with  the  golden  Southern  sun) 
the  haze  of  smoke  indicative  of  a  phenomenal 
growth  of  her  manufactures  and  commerce. 
As  the  South  looks  upon  this  scene  she  smiles 


[38] 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

radiantly,  and  points  it  out  to  her  former  rival, 
but  now  warm  sympathizer — in  fact  they  are 
more  closely  united  than  ever  before.  Their 
children  have  intermarried ;  they  have  stood 
together  on  the  same  battlefields ;  the  sons  of 
the  South  have  gone  to  the  North;  the  sons  of 
the  North  have  come  to  the  South ;  homes  have 
become  interchanged ;  the  Northern  merchant 
or  manufacturer  has  become  the  Southern  land- 
owner; the  Southern  land-owner  has  become 
the  Northern  merchant  or  manufacturer ;  a  new 
generation  has  been  the  product  of  this  union — 
a  real  American  union — disrupted  on  the  ques- 
tion of  African  slavery  by  war  because  neither 
South  nor  North  would  listen,  at  the  moment  of 
crisis,  to  the  words  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The 
two  sisters  turn  and  grasp  each  other  by  both 
hands,  gaze  kindly  each  into  the  eyes  of  the 
other  while  the  spirit  of  the  martyred  President 
once  villified  by  both,  but  now  loved  by  both, 
looming  large  in  their  visualization  says,  "Love 
ye  each  other  and  all  shall  be  right  with  the 
world." 


[39] 


ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE 


ROBERT    E.    LEE 
Copyrighted   by   Miley   &   Son,    Lexington,    Va. 


"In  him  all  that  was  pure  and  lofty  in  mind  and 
purpose  found  lodgment.  He  came  nearer  the  ideal 
of  a  soldier  and  Christian  general  than  any  man  we 
can  think  of,  for  he  was  a  greater  soldier  than  Have- 
lock,  and  equally  as  devout  a  Christian." — Extract 
from  editorial  in  The  New  York  Herald. 

"I  have  met  with  many  of  the  great  men  of  my 
time,  but  Lee  alone  impressed  me  with  the  feeling 
that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  man  who  was  cast  in 
a  grander  mould  and  made  of  different  and  finer 
metal  than  all  other  men. 

— Lord    Wolseley,    British    General. 

"The  Commanding  General  earnestly  exhorts  the 
troops  to  abstain  with  most  scrupulous  care  from 
unnecessary  or  wanton  injury  to  private  property; 
and  he  enjoins  upon  all  officers  to  arrest  and  bring 
to  summary  punishment  all  who  shall  in  any  way 
offend  against  the  orders  on  this  subject." — General 
Orders  73,  Chamber sburg ,  Pa.,  June  27,  1863. 
Page  68 


I 


Robert  Edward  Lee 


N  one  of  the  many  rooms  of  "  Stratford, '    Robert 

....  E.   Lee 

the  famous  Lee  homestead,  in  Virginia,  on 


January  19th,  1807,  the  eyes  of  Robert  Edward 
Lee  first  opened  upon  the  world  to  which  he 
was  to  add  the  lustre  of  a  great  genius  and  the 
halo  of  an  almost  faultless  personal  life.  Had 
his  great  mother,  Anne  Hill  Carter  Lee,  as  she 
clasped  the  babe  to  her  bosom  on  that  winter's 
day,  visualized  his  great  and  fateful  career, 
her  heart  would  have  trembled  while  it  swelled 
with  a  pardonable  pride.  His  mother  con- 
tributed to  his  greatness  not  only  the  blood  of 
Robert  the  Bruce,  which  coursed  in  her  veins, 
but  the  rarest  and  finest  instruction.  His 
ideals  were  of  the  noblest.  Three  lives  envel- 
oped him  and  moulded  the  man  from  material 
without  dross:  Jesus  Christ,  his  mother  and 
George  Washington.  This  constituted  him  a 
man  without  offence,  of  great  personal  purity, 
and  of  a  noble  dignity.  He  was  so  regarded  as 
a  youth,  as  a  Cadet  at  West  Point  (from  which 
he  graduated  in  1829  with  high  honor),  in  the 
Mexican  War,  where  he  attained  distinction, 
and  throughout  the  Civil  War.  No  American 
was  so  like  Washington  as  was  Robert  E.  Lee. 
They  were  both  men  of  great  physical  comeli- 

[45] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

ness  and  masterful  presence.  Had  they  lived 
in  the  days  of  the  finest  sculptured  marbles, 
perpetuant  of  ideals  of  Olympian  Zeus, 
both  would  have  been  sought  out  by  Pheidias. 
They  were  both  men  of  the  greatest  military 
genius,  the  loftiest  honor,  the  most  distin- 
guished truthfulness,  the  noblest  courage  and 
the  most  marvellous  self-command  under  any 
circumstances  which  might  arise. 

There  is  no  need  of  going  back  of  June  1, 

1862,  to  estimate  the  active  career  of  General 

Lee.     Up  to  that  time  he  had  but  little  prestige. 

Great  The  greatest  soldier  of  the  war  had  his  hands 

Military  & 

Talents  tied  during  the  previous  year  and  two  months, 

Not    Known  °  r-  t  ** 

by  President  Davis.  The  judgment  of  the  lat- 
ter, in  keeping  the  peerless  fighter  in  a  merely 
advisory  and  general  service,  was  unfortunate 
for  the  South.  The  Federal  bullet  that  tem- 
porarily took  Joseph  E.  Johnston  from  the 
field,  took  away  a  brave  man ;  but  it  performed 
the  greatest  service  of  the  war  to  the  Confed- 
erates, by  leaving  Mr.  Davis  in  great  need  of 
a  commander-in-chief.  Lee  was  the  logical 
choice.  Indeed,  it  was  almost  a  Hobson's 
choice,  on  the  part  of  Jefferson  Davis,  who  was 
himself  sometimes  on  the  battlefield  (in  stove- 
pipe hat.) 
New  Activity  From  the  moment  Lee  had  taken  his  bear- 
ings, the  high-spirited  generals  under  him  felt 
the  reins  tighten.  It  was  the  driving  of  Apollo 
instead    of    Phaethon,    and    the    fierce-mettled 

[46] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

steeds  got  back  into  their  course.  The  officers 
of  the  line,  inclined  to  criticise  the  act  that 
placed  a  tame  staff  official  over  "soldiers",  soon 
had  the  ennui  driven  from  their  lives.  Ag- 
gression was  the  key-note  of  Lee.  Gaines'  Mill 
and  Malvern  Hill,  the  first  great  successes  of 
the  new  commander,  commensurate  with  his 
first  opportunity,  witnessed  a  brilliant  defeat 
of  a  brilliant  soldier,  George  B.  McClellan,  and 
relieved  Richmond,  for  three  years,  of  what  ?eHe™dnd 
appeared  certain  capitulation.  The  fact  that 
Lee  went  to  the  attack  in  the  face  of  the  advice 
of  his  generals  at  that  time,  showed  his  self- 
reliance,  and  the  victory  over  a  great  army, 
showed  the  wisdom  of  his  plans.  His  great 
losses,  in  those  seven  days'  fighting  around 
Richmond,  was  not  due  to  any  error  of  his. 
"However  it  was,"  says  Thomas  Nelson  Page, 
"Lee  relieved  Richmond,  and  the  war,  from 
being  based  on  a  single  campaign,  was  now  a 
matter  of  years  and  treasure,  and  the  years 
and  the  treasure  that  it  required  were  mainly 
due  to  Lee's  transcendant  genius.  It  is  prob- 
able that  but  for  Lee  the  war  would  not  have 
lasted  two  years." 

The  disastrous  defeat  of  Pope  at  the  second 
battle  of  Manassas,  within  six  weeks  further, 
established  Lee's  reputation  as  a  master  of 
strategy  and  attracted  general  attention  to  the 
wonderful  fighting  qualities  of  "Stonewall  stonewall 
Jackson".     E.  Benjamin  Andrews,  a  northern   rising  star 

[47] 


THE    AMERICAN   SOUL 


Suggests 
Proposition 
for 
Independence 


Fatality    of 
a  handful 
of  cigars 


critic,  says  of  Jackson  that  he  was  not  only  an 
intensely  religious  man  but  also  a  stern  dis- 
ciplinarian. "In  consequence,  when  the  day 
of  battle  came,  there  was  not  a  man  in  the  corps 
who  did  not  feel  sure  that  if  he  shirked  dutv 
Stonewall  Jackson  would  shoot  him  and  God 
Almighty  would  damn  him.  This  helped  to 
render  Jackson's  thirty  thousand  perhaps  the 
most  efficient  fighting  machine  which  had  ap- 
peared upon  the  battlefield  since  the  Ironsides 
of  Oliver  Cromwell.'  One  feels  this  last 
statement  to  be  true,  and,  it  being  true,  General 
Lee  was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  having  such  a 
lieutenant.  After  the  second  Manassas,  "Lee's 
boldest  and  possibly  the  most  masterly  piece  of 
strategy  in  the  whole  war,  and  one  of  the  most 
daring  movements  in  the  history  of  wars,"  Lee 
wrote  to  President  Davis  that  the  Confederate 
States  could  propose  with  propriety,  to  the 
United  States,  the  recognition  of  the  South 's 
independence.  It  was  partly  for  this  purpose 
he  entered  Maryland,  hoping  the  people  of  that 
State  would  declare  for  the  South  and  thus 
strengthen  the  chances  for  peace.  But  Mary- 
land remained  neutral.  Unfortunately  for  the 
cause  of  the  South,  also,  Lee's  plan  for  the  cap- 
ture of  McClellan's  army  and  the  eventual  cap- 
ture of  Washington  was  found  wrapped  around 
a  small  bundle  of  cigars  carelessly  lost  by  some 
Confederate  official,  on  the  site  of  D.  H.  Hill's 
encampment    at    Frederick.     Notwithstanding, 


[48] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

he  did  not  recross  the  Potomac  until  he  had 
captured  Harper's  Ferry  with  12,500  prisoners, 
and  had,  at  Antietam,  the  most  sanguinary  bat- 
tle of  the  war,  withstood  successfully  the 
splendid  fighting  troops  of  McClellan 's  large 
army.  His  challenge  for  a  fight  the  next  day 
after  the  battle,  not  being  accepted,  he  crossed 
to  the  Southern  side  of  the  Potomac.  It  was 
immediately  after  Antietam  that  Lee  sent 
Stuart  for  the  second  time,  entirely  around  the 
Army  of  McClellan — a  distance  of  126  miles, 
with  1800  men, — one  of  the  most  brilliant  cav- 
alry actions  in  history.     He  had  no  losses. 

Although    the    accidental    finding    of    Lee's  Military 

°  °  Fame 

despatch  made  Lee's  invasion  of  Maryland  a  increased 
failure,  generally  speaking,  what  he  accom- 
plished there  with  only  35,000  badly  equipped 
troops  opposed  by  the  finely  furnished  87,000 
troops  of  McClellan,  added  greatly  to  his  mili- 
tary fame.  The  campaign  was  one  of  the  most 
daring  in  all  warfare.  The  world  suddenly,  by 
this  act,  and  the  seven  days  of  earlier  fighting 
about  Richmond,  awaked  to  the  fact  that  Lee, 
hitherto  known  as  a  brilliant  tactician  of  de- 
fense, was  as  aggressive  as  Hannibal  and  as 
daring  as  Alexander.  By  mid-December  Lee 
added  the  victory  of  Fredericksburg,  a  defen- 
sive battle,  to  his  military  glory.  General 
Burnside,  who  had  superseded  General  McClel- 
lan, sacrificed  on  that  terrible  altar,  12,653  as 
brave   men   as    ever   fought,    and   the    equally 

[49] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

brave  Confederate  army  lost  5,322.  The  world 
run  anew  with  praises  of  Lee.  Many  thought 
the  war  won.  But  Lee  was  sad.  He  greatly 
desired  peace,  and  hoped  that  the  North  would 
grant  both  that  and  independence  for  the 
Christmas  South.     Writing,  to  his  wife  on  Christmas,  im- 

Letter  °7 

mediately  succeeding  his  victory,  he  said:  "I 
will  commence  this  holy  day  by  writing  to  you. 
My  heart  is  filled  with  gratitude  to  God  for  the 
unspeakable  mercies  with  which  He  has  blessed 
us  in  this  day;  for  those  He  has  granted  us 
from  the  beginning  of  life,  and  particularly 
those  He  has  vouchsafed  us  during  the  past 
year.  What  should  become  of  us  without  His 
crowning  help  and  protection?  Oh!  if  our 
people  would  only  recognize  it  and  cease  from 
vain  self-boasting  and  adulation,  how  strong 
would  be  my  belief  in  final  success  and  happi- 
ness to  our  country  But  what  a  cruel  thing  is 
war  to  separate  and  destroy  families  and 
friends,  and  mar  the  purest  joys  and  happiness 
God  has  granted  us  in  this  world,  to  fill  our 
hearts  with  hatred  instead  of  love  for  our  neigh- 
bors, and  to  devastate  the  fair  face  of  this 
beautiful  world  ! ' ' 

I  think  we  may  all  say  with  Thomas  Nelson 
Page,  who  quotes  this  letter  in  his  Life  of  Lee : 
"Should  the  portrait  of  a  victorious  general  be 
drawn,  I  know  no  better  example  than  this 
simple  outline  of  a  Christian  soldier  drawn  out 
of  his  heart  that  Christmas  morning  in  his  tent, 

[50] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

while  the  world  rang  with  his  victory  two 
weeks  before.  It  is  a  portrait  of  which  the 
South  may  well  be  proud/  I  should  like  to 
amend  this  by  adding  that  it  is  a  protrait  of 
which  every  broad-spirited,  red-blooded  Amer- 
ican may  well  be  proud. 

Two    months    and    a    little    more    and    Lee   Chancei- 

lorsville 

had  added  the  most  brilliant  to  his  string  of 
victories — Chancellorsville.  The  plan  of  bat- 
tle, on  the  part  of  Lee,  was  audacity  itself. 
Ten  thousand  troops  he  kept  himself  to  watch 
the  "fighting  Joe".  Twenty-five  thousand  he 
sent  with  Jackson  in  command,  to  encircle 
Hooker's  far  flung  right  and  destroy  it.  This 
was  done  most  effectually,  and  General 
Hooker's  noble  army  escaped  entire  destruc- 
tion, as  most  military  critics  say,  by  the  acci- 
dental, mortal  wounding  of  Stonewall  Jackson 
by  his  own  troops.  It  was  a  battle  in  which 
the  bravest  troops  on  both  sides  fought  for 
every  inch  of  ground ;  it  was  the  successful  is- 
sue of  an  audacious  attempt  of  Lee  against 
an  army  of  fine  fighters,  outnumbering  his 
own  army  two  to  one ;  it  was  a  victory  which 
placed  Lee  among  the  world's  great  military 
tacticians  and  daring  commanders  and  which 
set  the  tongues  of  people  wagging  in  every 
capital  in  Europe.     But  withal,  it  was  almost  A  Pyrrhic 

.  .  '  Victory 

a  Pyrrhic  victory,  for  in  Jackson's  fall  that 
was  lost  which  could  not  be  replaced.  The  eyes 
which  "burnt  with  a  brilliant  glow"  in  battle, 

[51] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 


Distress 
over 

Jackson's 
Loss 


Greatness    of 
one    man   not 
wholly 
dependent 
upon   another 


were  forever  closed,  and  Lee  regarded  it  as  one 
of  the  blackest  and  most  unfortunate  days  of 
his  life.  With  the  tenderness  of  a  woman  he 
was  caring  for  the  wounded  of  both  armies  in 
Chancellorsville,  when  he  received  the  news  of 
Jackson's  mishap.  "I  should  have  chosen/ 
wrote  Lee  to  his  wounded  General, .  "for  the 
good  of  the  country,  to  be  disabled  in  your 
stead.'  Lee,  in  announcing  the  death  of  Jack- 
son to  the  army,  May  11,  1863,  said:  "While 
we  mourn  his  death  we  feel  that  his  spirit  still 
lives,  and  will  inspire  the  whole  army  with  his 
indomitable  courage,  and  unshaken  confidence 
in  God  as  our  hope  and  strength." 

To  his  wife  and  son  he  poured  out  his  heart : 
"It  is  a  terrible  loss"  said  he  to  his  son.  "I  do 
not  know  how  to  replace  him.  Any  victory 
would  be  dear  at  such  a  cost.  But  God's  will 
be  done.'  To  General  J.  B.  Hood,  a  week  or 
more  afterward  he  wrote:  "I  grieve  much  over 
the  death  of  General  Jackson.  For  our  sakes, 
not  for  his.  He  is  happy  and  at  peace.  But 
his  spirit  lives  with  us.  I  hope  it  will  raise  up 
many  Jacksons  in  our  ranks.' 

It  is  a  mistake  to  make  the  greatness  of  a 
really  great  man  rest  essentially  upon  another. 
Those  historians  err  who  declare  that  without 
McClellan,  Grant  would  have  been  impossible 
as  do  those  who  think  that  Lee  lost  all  when  he 
lost  Stonewall  Jackson.  What  McClellan  did 
by  way  of  organizing  and  equipping  a  great 


[52] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

army  can  not  be  left  out  of  consideration  when 
we  estimate  the  success  of  Grant,  nevertheless, 
the  latter  possessed  intrinsically  those  qualities 
of  stubbornness  and  indomitable  perseverance 
which  made  him  a  great  general.  Precisely 
the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  Lee  and  Jackson. 
There  is  no  doubting  the  wonderful  executive 
talent  of  the  Achillean,  swift-moving  Jackson, 
in  what  he  did  for  Lee,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  Lee  would  have  accomplished  a  more  posi- 
tive success  if  Jackson  had  not  been  killed,  yet 
the  great  military  genius  of  Lee  emits  its  own 
deathless  flames. 

From  Culpeper,  the  day  of  a  successful  bat- 
tle, on  June  9th,  in  which  Stuart's  cavalry 
defeated  rather  disastrously  that  under  Stone- 
man,  Lee  wrote  to  his  wife:  "The  country  here 
looks  very  green  and  pretty,  notwithstanding 
the  ravages  of  war.  What  a  beautiful  world 
God  in  His  loving  kindness  to  His  creatures  has 
given  us !  What  a  shame  that  men  endowed 
with  reason  and  knowledge  of  right  should 
mar  His  gifts  ! ' ' 

Lee  now  hoped  that  by  crossing  the  Potomac  Why  Lee 
he  might  get  provisions  and  shoes  for  his  army  Pennsylvania 
and,  if  he  could  defeat  the  Federal  army  (now 
commanded  by  General  Geo.  G.  Meade,  an  ac- 
complished and  gallant  officer),  the  North 
might  be  persuaded  to  grant  peace  and  inde- 
pendence to  the  Confederate  States.  This  is 
evidenced  by  a  long  letter  written  by  him  to 

[53] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 


What 

Gettysburg 
meant  to 
Him 


Takes    the 
Blame   upon 
Himself 


President  Davis  at  the  time.  Thus  began  the 
memorable  campaign  culminating  in  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg  (July  1-3,  1863).  What  Water- 
loo was  to  Napoleon,  Gettysburg  was  to  Lee. 
Victor  Hugo  declared  that  Napoleon  lost 
Waterloo  because  the  rains  of  the  previous 
night  made  it  impossible  to  carry  out  his  orders 
in  reference  to  his  artillery.  Many  historians 
say  that  Longstreet's  failure  to  obey  Lee's  or- 
ders at  Gettysburg  kept  Lee's  army  from  a 
great  victory.  President  E.  Benjamin  An- 
drews, a  Union  soldier,  declares  that  "had 
Stonewall  Jackson  been  still  alive  and  in  the 
place  of  either'1  Ewell  or  Longstreet,  "the 
issue  of  the  battle  would  almost  to  a  certainty 
have  been  very  different  from  what  it  was.' 
Let  it  be  known  however,  that  Lee  took  upon 
himself  the  whole  blame  with  his  usual  noble 
generosity. 

A  noticeable  thing  about  Lee  was  that  he  had 
sense  enough  to  keep  silent  when  he  was  mis- 
judged and  criticised.  Another  was  that  he 
had  heart  enough  to  take  all  possible  blame 
upon  himself  when  it  might  have  been  placed 
upon  weaker  men  who  failed  him  at  critical 
moments.  And  his  quality  of  modesty  was 
clear,  pure  and  without  cant  or  false  light. 
His  manliness  was  so  great,  so  vicarious,  so 
militant  that  he  bore,  without  complaint,  the 
sins  of  others.  "So  far  as  has  ever  been  made 
apparent,  every  plan  which  Lee  formed  for  the 


[54] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

battle  of  Gettysburg,  every  order  which  he 
gave,  was  wise  and  right,"  says  President  An 
drews.  The  latter  continues:  "In  Prussia's 
war  with  Austria  in  1866,  Von  Moltke's  plan  at 
the  battle  of  Sadowa,  where  he  splendidly 
triumphed,  was  in  the  same  respect  a  close 
imitation    of   Lee's    at    Gettysburg.'      Thomas  Judgment 

*  of    the 

Nelson  Page,  in  his  Life  of  Lee,  thinks  that  Future 
"the  judgment  of  the  future  is  likely  to  be, 
that  while  on  the  Northern  side  the  corps  com- 
manders made  amends  for  lack  of  plan  and 
saved  the  day  by  their  admirable  co-operation, 
on  the  Southern  side  the  plan  of  the  command- 
ing general  was  defeated  by  the  failure  of  the 
corps  commanders  to  act  promptly  and  in  con- 
cert.' There  was  stinging  criticism  of  Lee  in 
the  South  for  not  winning  the  battle,  as  there 
was  of  Meade  in  the  North  for  his  not  winning 
it  and  destroying  the  army  of  Lee.  Meade  was 
eventually  superseded  by  Grant.  Lee  stopped 
the  mouths  of  his  critics  by  taking  the  whole 
blame  and  offering  to  resign. 

Military  critics  will  continue  to  talk  of  the  Great 
battle  of  Gettysburg  as  long  as  the  printer's  art  on  both  sides 
lasts.  Some  will  say  it  was  a  drawn  battle,  as 
Lee  lay  for  ten  days  in  the  face  of  Meade's  army 
and  then  leisurely  crossed  the  Potomac  with 
4000  prisoners.  Whatever  the  verdict  in  this 
respect,  all  agree  that  never  in  the  world's  his- 
tory was  more  valorous  fighting  done  on  both 
sides.     General  Meade  showed  himself  a  noble 

[55,] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 


Grant's 
Avalanche 


Terrible 
Condition    of 
Lee's   Army 


soldier,  and  if  Lee  was  defeated  at  Gettysburg, 
Meade  enjoys  a  distinction  that  is  his  alone. 
If  Lee  was  defeated  it  was  in  the  particular 
that  he  had  to  recross  the  Potomac  without  the 
supplies  for  which  he  had  primarily  gone  into 
Pennsylvania.  He  went  back  to  Virginia  al- 
ready exhausted  of  men  and  resources.  The 
blockade  tightened.  To  feed  and  clothe  his 
men  was  a  greater  problem  than  to  win  battles. 
In  the  meantime  Grant's  ever-increasing 
avalanche  swept  down  against  those  ragged 
gray  lines  threatening  to  overwhelm  them,  but 
without  success.  President  Davis  said  to  Lee, 
who,  after  Gettysburg,  asked  for  a  man  of 
greater  ability  to  be  put  in  his  place:  "To  ask 
me  to  substitute  for  you  some  one,  in  my  judg- 
ment, more  fit  to  command  or  who  would  pos- 
sess more  of  the  confidence  of  the  army,  or  of 
the  reflecting  men  of  the  country,  is  to  demand 
an  impossibility.7  The  days  following,  up  to 
the  close  of  the  war,  two  years  thereafter, 
showed  this  to  be  eminently  true.  The  army 
of  Northern  Virginia  kept  its  confidence  in 
their  leader  to  the  bitter  end.  Had  Hannibal's 
troops,  somewhat  under  the  same  sort  of  condi- 
tions, been  so  attached  to  their  commander, 
Rome  would  have  fallen.  In  the  cold  winter  of 
1864  thousands  of  Lee's  troops  were  without 
blankets,  socks  or  shoes,  and  often  without 
food.  But  the  army  kept  its  spirit  of  cheerful- 
ness  and   devotion   to   its  leader.     Again   and 


[56] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

again  the  great  Grant,  with  his  brave  army, 
plunged  against  that  pitifully  few  and 
meagrely  clothed  force;  but  without  exception 
experienced  a  thud  instead  of  a  yielding. 
Again  and  again  President  Lincoln  insisted 
that  not  Richmond,  the  capital  of  the  Confeder- 
acy, but  Lee's  army,  its  defender,  be  made  the 
objective  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac.  But  in 
vain.  The  fires  which  surrounded  that  Brun- 
hilde  on  the  banks  of  the  James  could  not  be 
penetrated;  for  the  central  "feed'  of  those 
fires  was  the  heart  and  talents  of  Lee.     North   Grant 

admired   in 

and  South,  the  Americans  who  love  Lee  never  the  south 
fail  to  exalt  his  opponent,  General  Grant. 
They  do  this  because  of  the  great  qualities  of 
Grant,  for  Lee's  front  was  the  school  master 
that  led  him  to  greatness.  Had  he  not  pos- 
sessed great  qualities  as  a  commander  his  large 
army  could  not  have  withstood  the  patched 
and  mended  gray  columns  of  that  wonderful, 
aggressive  tactician.  This  was  seen  at  the 
Wilderness,  at  Spottsylvania  and  at  Cold  Har- 
bor. At  the  former,  Lee  justified  the  criticism 
of  Henderson  who  said  that  he  was  "a  pro- 
found thinker  following  the  highest  principles 
of  the  military  art.'  There  Grant  showed  the 
stuff  of  which  he  was  made.  For,  as  Rodes 
sa}xs,  "measured  by  casualties  the  advantage 
was  with  the  Confederates'  (Grant  losing  17,- 
666  men,  the  Confederates  half  that  number), 
Grant  reported  that  he  would  fight  again.     To 

[57] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

quote  Thomas  Nelson  Page :  i  '  He  had  supreme 
self-confidence  based  on  rare  courage  and  rare 
ability  to  command  and  to  fight,  and  he  knew 
that  he  outnumbered  Lee  more  than  two  to  one, 
and  that  in  his  army  were  the  flower  of  the 
North,  men  as  valorous  as  ever  drew  breath.' 
Grant  also  possessed  great  shrewdness,  for  in- 
stead of  either  retreating  or  fighting  he  rushed 
forward  his  men  to  Spottsylvania,  a  position, 
which  if  attained,  would  make  Richmond  a 
sure  prey.  But  Lee  divined  his  purpose  and 
outstripped  him.  At  Spottsylvania,  Lee's  line 
was  partially  broken,  and  he  determined  to  re- 
store it,  as  it  had  never  been  broken  before. 
Heart-sick  At  that  time  having  had  the  indescribable  mis- 
of eGenerai0S£  fortune  of  losing  his  great  cavalry  leader,  J.  E. 
B.  Stuart,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
charging  columns.  But  his  men  refused  to 
move  forward  with  their  idolized  commander 
in  such  hazard.  He  retired  to  his  point  of 
observation  in  the  rear  and  the  charge  that 
restored  the  line  was  led  by  General  John  B. 
Gordon.  The  loss  of  General  Stuart  cut  Lee  to 
the  heart,  and  was  almost  as  great  a  loss  as  the 
death  of  Stonewall  Jackson.  He  had  been  at 
West  Point  with  Custis  Lee,  had  been  much  in 
the  Lee  household,  and  General  Lee  loved  him 
as  he  did  his  own  son,  Custis.  He  had  declared 
on  the  death  of  Jackson,  that  he  had  lost  his 
right  hand ;  he  lost  his  left  hand  when  Stuart 
was    shot    from    his    horse    at    Spottsylvania. 

[58] 


Stuart 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 


General 

Butler 

bottled 


General    Sedgwick,    the    notable    Union    com-   Sedgewick's 

opinion    of 

mander  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  of  Grant's  army,  Stuart 
said  of  General  Stuart:  "He  was  the  best  cav- 
alry officer  ever  foaled  in  America.'  Lee,  in 
announcing  Stuart's  death  to  his  army  said: 
"To  military  capacity  of  a  high  order  and  to 
the  nobler  virtues  of  the  soldier  he  added  the 
brighter  graces  of  a  pure  life,  guided  and  sus- 
tained by  the  Christian's  faith  and  hope.'  It 
is  noticeable  that  Lee,  in  estimating  men,  places 
the  highest  value  upon  their  personal  Christian 
lives. 

After  Spottsylvania  came  Cold  Harbor.  The 
task  of  keeping  from  Richmond,  Grant's  army, 
which  by  this  time  nearly  trebled  his  own,  was 
a  terrible  responsibility  for  Lee.  An  added 
seriousness  of  the  situation  was  relieved  when 
General  Butler,  with  35,000  new  troops,  was, 
as  General  Grant  himself  said,  "soon  in  a  bottle 
which  Beauregard  had  corked,  and  with  a  small 
force  could  hold  the  cork  in  place.'  Neverthe- 
less, 12,000  of  those  troops  escaped  and  were 
added  to  Grant's  legions  when  he  and  Lee 
faced  each  other  on  that  terrible  field  of  Cold 
Harbor — McClellan's  former  position.  Again 
and  again  Lee's  line  proved  unassailable. 

Again  and  again  Grant's  inflexible  resolution 
pushed  his  brave  men  into  that  terrible  mael- 
strom of  death,  until  finally  they  refused  to  move. 
It  was  another  Balaclava  on  a  greater  scale. 
"Cold  Harbor,'    said  General  Grant  after  the 


Terrible 
Battle    of 
Cold   Harbor 


[59  J 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

war, ' li is  the  only  battle  I  ever  fought  that  I 
would  not  fight  over  again  under  the  circum- 
stances.' Was  there  ever  a  greater  fighter  than 
the  American  soldier?  Certainly  the  courage 
shown  by  officers  and  men  of  both  sides  during 
that  Virginia  campaign,  has  not  been  surpassed 
by  any  soldiers  in  any  age.  The  losses  of 
Grant,  in  thirty  days  in  that  campaign  were 
enormous  in  killed  and  wounded.  Lee,  while 
losing  only  about  one-third  as  many  could  less 
afford  the  loss  than  Grant.  I  quote  again  from 
President  E.  Benjamin  Andrews.  "Gettysburg 
convinced  Lee  that  he  could  toy  with  the 
Potomac  army  no  longer,  and  this  was  more 
than  ever  impossible  after  Grant  took  com- 
mand. This  struggle  [the  Wilderness,  Spott- 
sylvania,  and  Cold  Harbor]  tested  both  com- 
manders' mettle  to  the  utmost.  At  the  end  of 
the  hammering  campaign,  after  losing  men 
enough  to  form  an  army  as  large  as  Lee's, 
Grant's  van  was  full  twice  as  far  from  Rich- 
mond as  McClellan's  had  been  two  years  be- 
fore." 
Lee's  last  But    slowly    and    surely    were    the    intrepid 

soldiers  of  Lee  marching  toward  their  last 
trenches.  As  another  has  said,  "bravery  in 
camp  and  field  and  deathless  endurance  at 
home  could  not  take  the  place  of  bread.' 
Although  Petersburg,  the  key  to  Richmond, 
withstood  a  siege  of  ten  months,  and  the  iron- 
willed,  indomitable  Grant  had  lost  before  those 

[60] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

fiery    gates    60,000   more   men,    other    agencies  Their  terrible 

J      &  defence 

contributed  irresistibly  to  the  close  of  the  war. 
With  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  everything  to  the 
West  of  the  Mississippi  was  lost.  And  so  with 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri  and  Louisiana. 
Mississippi,  Alabama  and  Georgia  having  been 
cut  off  by  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea,  the  veins 
of  the  Confederacy  were  opened  unto  the  death. 
Add  to  this  the  fact  that  Lee's  starving  few 
were  finally  outnumbered  five  to  one  and  yet  he 
kept  that  line  unbroken,  until  he  laid  down  his 
arms  at  Appomattox,  April  9,  1865.  All  this 
was  done  in  the  face  of  an  alert,  relentless,  well- 
fed,  well-clothed  and  brave  army  led  by  one  of 
the  world's  great  commanders  whose  greatness 
bespeaks  to  friend  and  foe  the  greatness  of  Lee. 
"Let  us  ask  critics  versed  in  the  history  of 
war'  sayg  President  Andrews,  a  brave  Union 
soldier,  "if  books!  tell  of  generalship  more 
complete  than  this!" 

When  the  two  great  commanders  met  in  the  Two  Great 

Men  meet 

McLean  parlor,  at  Appomattox,  Va.,  April  9, 
1865,  there  were  polite  greetings  between  the 
two.  Lee  wore  his  sword.  Grant  apologized 
for  not  wearing  his,  saying  it  had  gone  off  in 
the  baggage.  Terms  were  soon  arranged. 
There  was  no  tender  of  sword  on  the  part  of 
Lee,  nor  did  Grant  require  it.  By  the  terms 
all  men  were  paroled  and  officers  were  allowed 
to  retain  their  horses,  their  baggage  and  their 
side-arms.      General   Lee   was   courteous,    digni- 

[61] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

fied  and  sad;  Grant  was  considerate,  magnan- 
imous and  calm.  When  the  two  men,  the 
greatest  Generals  of  the  two  armies,  left  that 
parlor,  the  war  was  at  an  end,  so  far  as  they 
were  concerned.  Both  were  great  masters  of 
military  science.  But  both  were  men  of  peace. 
It  remained  for  smaller  men — men  neither 
great  in  war  nor  in  peace  —  to  continue  the 
prejudices  of  the  war.  President  Andrew 
Johnson,  a  Southern  man,  took  measures  to 
have  Lee  indicted  for  treason.  All  real  Ameri- 
cans, North  and  South,  regret  this.  But  too 
much  must  not  be  made  of  it.  A  well  known 
fact  in  human  history,  that  prejudices  some- 
times control  large  intellects,  had  its  applica- 
Grant  tion  in  the  case  of  President  Johnson.     General 

protests  .  . 

Grant  protested  against  such  a  violation  of  the 
terms  of  his  surrender.  The  matter  was  drop- 
ped as  wholly  untenable  in  accordance  with  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  It  was  a 
mistake  of  the  times,  when  men's  blood  boiled 
anew  at  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln, 
a  deed  denounced  by  Lee  in  the  strongest 
terms.  Another  mistake  of  the  times  was  to 
permit  this  great  and  fine  spirit  to  go  to  his 
grave  without  amnesty  on  the  part  of  the 
country  he  always  loved  and  on  the  history  of 
which  he  cast  a  brilliance,  in  the  estimation  of 
the  world,  which  will  illumine  the  pages  of  all 
America's  future  historians. 

[62] 


ROBERT    E.  LEE 

For  there  is  justice  in  history.  Prejudice 
which  hides  truth  in  one  age  ceases  to  exist  in 
succeeding  ages,  so  that  whatever  it  hid  is  dis- 
closed to  the  view.  Just  as  rains  and  frosts 
corrode  and  wash  away  and  break  away  the 
laminae  of  earth  and  gravel  and  rock  until  the 
veins  of  rich  gold  appear  upon  the  surface,  thus 
our  prejudices  clear  away  before  breadth  of 
spirit  and  justice  until  the  truth  is  revealed. 
Has  not  that  day  come  to  the  American  people  ? 
Their  enemies  should  not  be  those  of  their  own 
household.  General  Lee  led  the  age  in  his  lack 
of  prejudice.  "I  have  fought  against  the  peo- 
ple of  the  North"  he  said  to  Dr.  Pendleton,  a 
clergyman  who  was  resenting  the  desire  of 
Johnson  to  indict  him,  "because  I  believed  they 
were  seeking  to  wrest  from  the  South  its  dear- 
est rights.  But  I  have  never  cherished  toward 
them  bitter  or  vindictive  feelings,  and  have 
never  seen  the  day  I  did  not  pray  for  them.'? 
That  was  the  spirit  of  Lee,  not  only  in  defeat   The  Spirit 

.  of   the 

but  also  when  flushed  with  victory.     It  calls,   great  leaders 

a  •    •  c*      /-N  against 

as  does  the  Appomattox  spirit  of  General  Sectionalism 
Ulysses  S.  Grant,  for  every  American  to  belittle 
sectionalism.  In  any  part  of  our  great  country 
where  it  may  show  its  head  it  should  be  smit- 
ten. For  why  should  brothers  continue  their 
quarrels  while  the  alien  usurps  and  destroys 
the  home  ? 

It  belittles  the  great  to  apply  to  them  epithets 
of  extravagant  admiration.     No  one  would  feel 

[63] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

more  hurt  by  them  than  would  General  Lee. 
But  it  is  difficult  indeed  to  discover  what  may 
be  termed  extravagances  in  reference  to  him, 
although  the  finest  things  have  been  said  of 
him.  At  his  death  the  greatest  editors,  states- 
men and  soldiers  of  the  world  sought  to  do 
honor  to  his  greatness.  The  New  York  Herald 
said:  "In  him  the  military  genius  of  America 
was  developed  to   a   greater  extent  than  ever 

The  Christian    before. He  was  a  greater  soldier  than  Have- 

the  world's  lock,  and  equally  as  devout  as  a  Christian."  I 
close  with  the  concluding  sentence  of  the  com- 
mendation by  the  famous  soldier,  Lord  Wolseley, 
of  the  lamented  Lee :  "I  believe  he  will  not  only 
be  regarded  as  the  most  prominent  figure  of  the 
Confederacy,  but  as  the  greatest  American  of 
the  19th  century,  whose  statue  is  well  worthy 
to  stand  on  an  equal  pedestal  with  that  of 
Washington  and  whose  memor}^  is  equally 
worthy  to  be  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  all  his 
countrymen. 


?  ? 


[64] 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

Political  Reformer 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 
Copyrighted    by    Harris    &    Ewing,    Washington,    D.    C. 


"Of  illustrious  men  the  whole  earth  is  the  sepulchre. 
They  are  immortalized  not  alone  by  columns  and 
inscriptions  in  their  own  lands;  memorials  to  them 
arise  in  foreign  countries  as  well — not  of  stone,  it 
may  be,  but  unwritten,  in  the  thoughts  of  posterity." 

— Thucydides. 

"In  my  judgment,  no  man  is  a  good  American  who 
is  not,  of  course,  an  American  first — an  American 
before  he  is  a  member  of  any  section  of  the  American 
people  such  as  a  party  or  a  class." — Theodore  Roose- 
velt, in  the  New  Nationalism. 

"Take  what  I  mean  when  I  speak  of  the  square 
deal.  I  mean  not  only  that  each  man  should  act 
fairly  and  honestly  under  the  rules  of  the  game  as  it 
is  now  played,  but  I  mean  also  that  if  the  rules  give 
improper  advantage  to  some  set  of  people,  then  let 
us  change  the  rules  of  the  game." 

— Theodore  Roosevelt. 


Theodore  Roosevelt 

1  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT  was  the  twenty-  Theodore 
17       Roosevelt 
fifth  President  of  the  United  States.  He  was 

the  first  city-born  man  to  reach  that  great  place. 
Presidential  timber  usually  grows  in  the  coun- 
try and  not  along  the  curbs  and  in  the  parks  of 
our  cities.  Nevertheless  his  was  as  sturdy  a 
growth  as  those  which  withstood  the  cold  blasts 
of  the  mountain  forests  or  the  sultry  heat  of 
the  plantations.  Despite  the  fact  that  he  was 
born  with  a  silver  spoon  in  his  mouth,  he  was  as 
democratic  as  Abraham  Lincoln  who  was  born 
in  a  log-cabin,  or  Andrew  Johnson,  the  tailor, 
or  James  A.  Garfield,  the  canal-boy,  each  of  the 
cradles  of  whom  was  almost  as  lowly  as  th&t 
of  the  Manger  itself.  He  was  as  much  a  self- 
made  man  as  any  one  of  those.  Why  do  I  say  v 
this?  From  the  fact  that  it  is  as  difficult  for  a 
rich  young  man  to  overcome  temptation  to  a 
life  of  idleness  and  ease  and  train  for  the  hard- 
ships that  meet  the  ordinary  man  in  life  as  it 
is  for  a  poor  young  man  to  overcome  obstacles 
which  beset  his  way.  How  do  we  know  this? 
The  history  of  the  Presidency  is  convincing 
inductive  proof  of  the  fact.  Nearly  every  o#e 
of  the  men  who  has  filled  that  lofty  chair  has 
come  from  an  humble  family.     Can  you  think 

[69] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

that  such  a  remarkable  fact  is  an  accident?  I 
do  not  think  so.  Neither  can  you  suppose 
that  no  great  intellects  are  born  among  the  rich. 
It  is  much  more  logical  to  say  that  men  who  are 
born  rich  and  who  grow  up  in  wealthy  circum- 
stances, frequently  succumb  to  lives  of  ease. 

Pain  is  the  most  dreaded  of  all  disciplin- 
arians. But  ifhas  been  the  agent  of  glory  not 
only  for  the  saint  but  also  for  the  statesman. 
What  do  I  mean  by  this?  I  mean  that  as  sick- 
ness has  often  wrenched  religious  character 
into  shape  for  its  heavenly  place,  so  has  the 
strength  acquired  in  overcoming  it  by  many 
statesmen  been  the  stepping  stone  to  patriotic 
preeminence  and  popularity.  "With  them  it  has 
been  a  third  step  to  heaven  (Pelion  #  *  *  *  ter- 
sickiiest  tius      caelo      gradus).     Theodore      Roosevelt, 

of   Babies  .,,.„.- 

strongest  of  men,  was  sickliest  of  babies.  For 
years  he  gasped  for  breath  upon  the  large, 
warm  heart  and  in  the  strong,  incubatorial 
arms  of  his  father.  These  literally  insulated 
the  infant  from  death,  carrying  the  tiny  tot 
through  many  long,  lonely  nights  and  over 
many  miles  in  quest  of  fresh  air.  The  father 
who  holds  his  hardy  boy  to  his  heart  enfolds  a 
precious,  but  not  always  a  prize,  package.  But 
who  of  us  may  properly  estimate  the  value  to 
America  of  that  little  bundle  held  in  the  arms 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt  the  elder? 
Two  Sources  Two  streams  coursed  broadly  through  the 
veins  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.     One  was  made 

[70] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

up  of  fighting  blood,  rapid,  impulsive,  tumbling 
on  its  way  over  all  obstacles ;  the  other  was  con- 
stituted   of    human    sympathies    and    justice, 
serenely  flowing  onward  vitalizing  and  fructi- 
fying everything  it  touched.     What  were  the 
sources  of  these  streams?     The  fighting  blood 
came  from  the  mother,   the  beautiful  Martha 
Bulloch,     great-grand-daughter     of     Governor 
Archibald  Bulloch  (Georgia's  first  chief  Execu- 
tive during  the  Revolution),  and  sister  of  two 
Confederate  Naval  officers — Admiral  J.  D.  Bul- 
loch and  midshipman  Irvine  S.  Bulloch.     The 
philanthropic     blood     came     from     Theodore 
Roosevelt    Sr.,    father    of    the    President,    who 
spent   most    of   his   life    in   deeds   of  personal 
philanthropy,  having  retired  from  business  for 
that  purpose.     Do  any  of  you  believe  in  hered- 
ity?    Do    any    of   you    beileve    in   the    saying, 
"Blood  will  tell"?     If  you  do,  what  do  you 
think  of  this  lineage  of  this  great  man?     Do 
you  not  think  that  the  lineage  justifies  the  man 
and  that   the   man   justifies   the   lineage?     Do 
you  not  believe  that  this  is  true,  whether  you 
believe  in  heredity  or  not? 

Accordingly  there  were  two  men  under  the  £w0 

0  Roosevelts 

physical  aspect  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.  One 
was  the  genial  companion  and  democratic  spirit 
which  drew  men  to  him  everywhere ;  this  was 
the  "pard'  of  the  rough  and  ready  cow-boy 
who  liked  him  because  he  always  did  his  part 
of  the  work  and  held  up  his  end  of  the  log; 

[71] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

this  was  the  sympathetic  Colonel  who  shared 
the  discomforts  and  dangers  of  his  men  and 
won  their  love ;  this  was  the  man  who  gave  up 
his  position  as  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
to  enter  the  war  for  the  relief  of  Cuba ;  this  was 
the  man  who  declared,  with  great  meaning,  "I 
would  work  as  quick  beside  Pat  Dugan  as  with 
the  last  descendants  of  the  Patroon;"  this  was 
the  Lieutenant-Colonel  who  on  the  four  hot, 
dusty  days"  from  Texas  to  Tampa  gave  up  his 
sleeping  car  berth,  which  had  been  provided 
for  him  as  an  officer,  to  a  sick  soldier  (it  is  in- 
deed refreshing  to  know  of  such  a  thing  as 
that  in  the  light  of  many  late  happenings  among 
soldiers)  ;  this  is  the  officer  who  bunked  with 
his  men  in  Tampa  instead  of  taking  up  com- 
The  intensely    fortable  quarters  in  the  hotel  (There  is  reallv 

Human  " 

Roosevelt  something     of     Achillean     and     Alexanderian 

hardiwood,  sympathy  and  sapiency  in  such  an 
act)  ;  this  was  the  soldier  who  showed  his  great 
courage  and  presence  of  mind  on  the  fields  of 
Las  Guasimas  and  San  Juan,  leading  his  troops 
and  those  of  others  in  several  famous  charges 
in  which  ten  per  cent  of  his  Rough  Riders  were 
killed  or  wounded;  this  is  the  Colonel  who 
went  among  the  wounded  after  Las  Guasimas 
and  said :  "Boys,  if  there  is  a  man  at  home  who 
wouldn't  be  proud  to  change  places  with  you, 
he  isn't  worth  his  salt,  and  he  is  not  a  true 
American;"  this  is  the  Colonel  who  went 
among    those    wounded    boys,    carrying    them 

[72] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

dainties  and  sympathy,  with  such  words  as 
these,  " Don't  get  up  boys,  lie  still.  Ah,  Jim, 
how's  your  leg  feeling  to-day?  Getting  bet- 
ter? That's  good.  You'll  soon  be  all  right 
now.  Billy,  I  hope  your  back  doesn't  trouble 
you  so  much  to-day.'  (Vide  Morgan) — this  was 
the  Roosevelt  of  whom  Joseph  Bucklin  Bishop, 
editor  of  Theodore  Roosevelt 's  Letters  to  his  chil- 
dren, says  :  ' '  Deep  and  abiding  love  of  children, 
of  family  and  home,  that  was  the  dominating 
passion  of  his  life.  With  that  went  love  for 
friends  and  fellow-men,  and  for  all  things, 
birds,  animals,  trees,  flowers,  and  nature  in  all 
its  moods  and  aspects.'  What  more  can  or 
need  be  said?  Do  not  these  great  qualities  of 
unselfishness,  courage,  sympathy,  thoughtful- 
ness,  gentleness,  simplicity,  love  of  children 
and  love  of  home  place  him  among  the  great 
and  in  the  presence  and  companionship  of 
Jesus  Christ? 

It  is  never  safe  to  use  absolute  statements 
about  any  person  or  event  It  is  considered  a 
trait  of  intellectual  weakness  to  do  this.  For 
instance,  there  are  those  who  say  that  Theodore 
Roosevelt  was  the  greatest  American.  There 
is  not  yet  any  necessity  nor  wise  desire  to  go 
into  a  question  of  that  kind.  We  may,  how- 
ever, all  say  that  he  is  one  of  the  greatest  of 
Americans.  I  say  that  not  as  a  republican,  but 
as  a  democrat  and  a  Southern-born  man.  It 
has  never  been  difficult  to  see  and  feel  his  great- 

[73] 


THE    AMERICAN   SOUL 


Loved 
America    most 


Great   in  the 
Home-life 


ness.  We  do  not  have  to  hunt  for  it  through 
a  mass  of  sectionalism.  He  loved  the  South, 
for  it  was  the  home  of  his  mother.  He  loved 
the  North,  for  it  was  the  home  of  his  father. 
But  he  loved  America  more  than  he  did  any 
part  of  it. 

Home  is  the  revealer  of  the  man.  Would 
you  know  about  Theodore  Roosevelt's  home- 
life?  There  you  shall  find  the  golden  key 
which  unlocks  the  dearest  secrets  of  the  soul  of 
this  man  who  was  such  a  strenuous  fighter  for 
civic  righteousness.  In  his  home  "the  eternal 
child's  heart  in  the  man  cries  out.'1  The  great 
man  there  placed  himself  absolutely  on  an 
equality  with  wife  and  children.  There  he 
was  a  flood  of  sunshine  and  a  jolly  companion, 
engaging  in  romps  and  rides  and  games  and 
pillow-fights,  longed  for  before  he  came  and 
missed  when  he  was  gone.  These  things  are 
richly  disclosed  in  his  Letters  to  His  Children. 
This  volume,  by  Joseph  Bucklin  Bishop,  I  re- 
gard as  one  of  the  richest  legacies  left  to  the 
home  life  in  a  hundred  generations.  Shall  I 
select  one  of  the  letters,  chosen  for  its  brevity? 
It  is  to  little  Quentin,  and  dated  Del  Monte, 
Calif.,  May  10,  1903:  Dearest  Quenty-Quee :  I 
loved  your  letter.  I  am  very  homesick  for 
mother  and  you  children;  but  I  have  enjoyed 
this  week's  travel.  I  have  been  among  the 
orange  groves,  where  the  trees  have  oranges 
growing  thick  upon  them,  and  there  are  more 


[74] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

flowers  than  you  have  ever  seen.  I  have  a  gold 
top  which  I  shall  give  you  if  Mother  thinks  you 
can  take  care  of  it.  Perhaps  I  shall  give  you  a 
silver  bell  instead.  Whenever  I  see  a  little 
boy  being  brought  up  by  his  father  or  mother 
to  look  at  the  procession  as  we  pass  by,  I  think 
of  you  and  Archie  and  feel  very  homesick. 
Sometimes  little  boys  ride  in  the  procession  on 
their  ponies,  just  like  Archie  on  Algonquin." 
Here  is  a  short  extract  from  quite  a  long  letter  Extract  froi 
to  his  son  Kermit,  who  was  in  school.  It  was  Kermitr 
written  from  the  White  House  in  June,  1905, 
and  goes  into  detail  about  a  family  picnic  at 
Pine  Knot:  "As  we  found  that  cleaning  dishes 
took  up  an  awful  time,  we  only  took  two  meals 
a  day,  which  was  all  we  wanted.  On  Saturday 
evening  I  fried  two  chickens  for  dinner,  while 
Mother  boiled  the  tea  [probably  meaning 
boiled  the  water  for  the  tea],  and  we  had  cher- 
ries and  wild  strawberries,  as  well  as  biscuits 
and  cornbread.  To  my  pleasure  Mother  great- 
ly enjoyed  the  fried  chicken  and  admitted  that 
what  you  children  had  said  of  the  way  I  fried 
chicken  was  all  true.  In  the  evening  we  sat 
out  a  long  time  on  the  piazza,  and  then  read  in- 
doors, and  then  went  to  bed.'  These  extracts 
tell  the  spirit  of  all  the  letters.  There  are 
many  of  them.  There  is  no  preaching  or  cross- 
ness in  any  of  them. 

So  much  for  what  would  be  called  the  heart- 
side    of    this    picturesque    personality.     What 

[75] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

may  be  said  about  that  other  side  of  him — his 
The  intellectual  side  ?     Did  he  have  as  great  a  mind 

intellectual 

side  of  as  heart?     Of  course  his  blind  worshipers,  of 

Roosevelt 

whom  he  had  thousands,  think  so.  But  do 
serious  minded,  thoughtful  men  and  women  of 
America  accord  him  this  judgment?  So  far  as 
I  have  been  able  to  determine,  they  do.  Of 
course  there  are  people  of  violent  prejudices 
who  think  it  would  show  weakness  in  them  to 
admit  the  real  greatness  of  Mr.  Roosevelt.  But 
these  people  are  unfortunate  in  their  limita- 
tions. While  they  would  have  with  them  some 
of  respectable  lives  and  good  intellects,  none  of 
them  might  lay  claim  to  broad-mindedness  and 
fairness.  But  would  that  be  all?  By  no 
means.  They  would  find  among  their  associ- 
ates many  who  hate  the  former  President  on 
account  of  their  own  unrighteousness,  or  un- 
reasonableness. 
a  fight  for  Prom  the  first  day  on  which  Mr.  Roosevelt 

Righteousness 

from  the  first  stepped  into  the  political  arena  he  was  opposed 
by  the  unrighteous  element  of  his  own  party. 
This  included  the  bosses,  little  and  big.  (He  was 
never  favored  by  political  bosses,  except  when 
they  were  compelled  to  do  so  by  his  popular- 
ity.) In  the  beginning  of  his  career  they 
whipped  him  often ;  but  sometimes  he  whipped 
them.  They  whipped  him  once  too  often. 
That  was  when  Mr.  Piatt,  the  New  York  Repub- 
lican boss,  nominated  him  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency in  order  to  spoil  his  chances  of  the  Presi- 

[76] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

dency.  As  it  eventually  turned  out,  it  was  a 
door  to  the  Presidency,  flung  open  by  the  death 
of  President  McKinley.  But  did  Mr.  Roose- 
velt think  the  bosses  wholly  bad?  Not  by  any 
means.  He  liked  Mr.  Piatt,  Mr.  Hanna  and 
Mr.  Quay,  as  men.  Why  did  he  not  join  them? 
He  thought  the  boss-system  encouraged  graft 
and  immorality.  Did  he  not  believe  that  there 
should  be  political  leaders  and  party  organi- 
zation? He  did;  but  was  careful  to  distinguish 
between  the  leader  and  what  was  known  as  the 
boss.     Hear  him  on  this  question:  "A  leader  is   Distinguishing 

between    a 

necessary;  but  his  opponents  always  call  him  a  Leader  and 
boss.  An  organization  is  always  necessary  but 
the  men  in  opposition  always  call  it  a  machine. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  a  real  and  deep  distinc- 
tion between  the  leader  and  the  boss,  between 
organizations  and  machines.  A  political  leader 
who  fights  openly  for  principles  and  who  keeps 
his  position  of  leadership  by  stirring  the  con- 
sciences and  convincing  the  intellects  of  his  fol- 
lowers, so  that  they  have  confidence  in  him  and 
will  follow  him  because  they  can  achieve 
greater  results  under  him  than  under  any  one 
else,  is  doing  work  which  is  indispensable  in  a 
democracy.  The  boss,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a 
man  who  does  not  gain  his  power  by  open 
means,  but  by  secret  means  and  usually  by  cor- 
rupt means.  A  boss  of  this  kind  can  pull  wires 
in  conventions,  can  manipulate  members  of  the 
Legislature,  can  control  the  giving  or  withhold- 

[  77  ] 


THE   AMEEICAN   SOUL 

ing  of  office,  and  serves  as  intermediary  for 
bringing  together  the  powers  of  corrupt  politics 
and  corrupt  business.  The  machine  is  simply 
another  name  for  the  kind  of  organization 
which  is  certain  to  grow  up  in  a  party  or  a 
section  of  a  party  controlled  by  such  bosses  as 
these  and  their  henchmen,  whereas,  of  course, 
an  effective  organization  of  decent  men  is  essen- 
tial in  order  to  secure  decent  politics.' 
when  the  When    did     opposition    begin    against    Mr. 

Bosses  began  x  x  ° 

to  fight  him  Roosevelt?  The  opposition  began  by  the  bosses 
when,  aged  23,  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature, 
Mr.  Roosevelt  carried  a  motion  to  impeach  a 
corrupt  judge.  As  first  he  stood  alone.  What 
was  the  result?  The  bosses  suppressed  the  bill, 
and  decided  that  he  was  "no  good.'  Did  they 
succeed  in  defeating  him  the  next  year?  No, 
for  that  was  the  year  Grover  Cleveland  swept 
the  state,  as  a  civil  service  reformer  by  200,000 
majority.  So  strong  was  Rooesvelt's  feeling 
for  reform  that  he  showed  his  willingness  to 
support  Governor  Cleveland  in  certain  reforms. 
It  was  in  the  Legislature  that  Mr.  Roosevelt 
was  first  found  "impossible'  by  the  machine. 
It  was  in  the  Legislature  that  a  politician,  in 
trying  to  remove  Mr.  Roosevelt's  objections  to 
a  bill,  urged  him  not  to  "let  the  Constitution 
come  between  friends.'  There  he  learned  his 
"first  real  lesson  in  politics,"  to  stand  alone  for 
a  clear  principle,  but  to  work  with  men  as  they 

First  Lesson      are  until  such  an  emergency  comes.'      There  he 

[78] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

told  the  people  of  the  "bitter  cry  of  the 
crowded  sweat  shops  of  the  city  tenements' 
and  had  a  bill  passed  for  their  relief.  It  was 
there,  as  chairman  of  a  Committee  he  investi- 
gated New  York  City  official  life,  exposed  a 
great  deal  of  graft,  and  gave  the  people  of 
New  York  the  chance  to  secure  good  govern- 
ment. 

But  has  it  ever  been  possible  for  a  really 
romantic  nature  to  satisfy  his  soul  with  the 
hubbub  of  politics?  Such  at  least  was  not  the 
case  with  Mr.  Roosevelt,  one  of  the  most  ro- 
mantic  of   men.     Between   legislative    sessions  Answers  the 

&        m  Call  of  the 

he  answered  the  call  of  the  wilderness  and  wild 
sought  the  vast,  mysterious  silences  and  hard- 
ships of  the  golden  West.  His  open  nature, 
kindliness,  democratic  spirit,  and  readiness  to 
do  his  part,  won  him  the  love  of  the  plainsmen. 
The  exposure  to  the  snows  and  the  hard,  open- 
air  tasks  gave  him  a  body  of  the  strength  of 
steel.  When  the  young  legislator  left  the  train 
at  the  shanty-town  of  Medora,  in  North  Dakota, 
the  act  rendered  that  spot  forever  historic. 

In  1886,  he  was  recalled  to  the  East  to  be  Recalled  to 

New    York 

defeated  for  mayor  of  New  York  by  Abram  S. 
Hewitt ;  in  1889,  he  was  appointed  on  the 
National  Civil  Service  Commission.  While  in 
this  position  he  made  an  address  to  the  corre- 
spondents of  the  Southern  press  in  which  he 
said:  "This  is  an  institution  not  for  Republi- 
cans and  not  for  Democrats,  but  for  the  whole 

[79] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

American  people/'     In  1895-97,  he  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  Police  Commission.     At 
that  time  the  New  York  police  were  the  most 
services  as       corrupt  body  of  officials  in  the  world.     "A  man 

Police  . 

Commissioner  could  not  be  appointed  a  policeman  until  he  had 
paid  from  $200  to  $300  and  to  be  promoted  to 
a  captaincy  cost  as  high  as  $12,000  to  $15,000. 
To  get  their  money  back  they  had  to  blackmail 
the  lawless  elements  of  the  population.'  Did 
Mr.  Roosevelt  stand  such  corruption?  It  goes 
without  saying  that  he  did  not.  The  boldness 
and  success  of  his  reforms  astonished  the  coun- 
try and  dumbfounded  the  bosses.  Not  only  did 
he  stop  the  system  of  paying  for  promotions, 
but  required,  in  new  appointments,  a  "good 
primary  common  school  educational  test,  after 
the  moral  and  physical  examination  was 
passed.  Some  of  the  answers  returned  were  in- 
dicative of  several  things.  "For  instance,' 
says  Mr.  Roosevelt,  "one  of  our  questions  in  a 
given  examination  was  to  name  five  of  the  New 
England  States.  One  competitor,  obviously 
of  foreign  birth,  answered:  "England,  Ireland, 
Scotland,  Whales  and  Cork."  Many  of  the  ap- 
plicants thought  Abraham  Lincoln  a  general  in 
the  civil  war  •  several  that  he  was  President  of 
the  Confederate  States ;  three  that  he  had  been 
assassinated  by  Jefferson  Davis,  "one  by 
Thomas  Jefferson,  one  by  Garfield,  several  by 
Guiteau,  and  one  by  Ballington  Booth;"  some 
applicants  thought  Chicago  to  be  on  the  Pacific 

[80] 


THEODORE    EOOSEVELT 

Ocean,  while  others  answered  that  the  head  of 
the  United  States  Government  was  the  New 
York  Fire  Department. 

What   was   the   ultimate    outcome?     Did   he  what  he  did 

as     Commis- 

succeed  in  overcoming  the  thousand  difficul-  sioner 
ties  of  this  office?  He  abolished  blackmail; 
he  created  efficiency  where  there  had  been  in- 
efficiency ;  he  convinced  the  men  of  the  force 
that  he  believed  in  a  square  deal;  he  enforced 
the  Sunday  Closing  law  against  all  saloons;  he 
enforced  the  neglected  tenement-house  law, 
and  "promptly  seized  fully  one  hundred 
wretched  and  crowded  hives  of  the  helpless 
poor,'  diminishing  in  one  locality  the  death- 
rate  to  less  than  one-half.  A  characteristic 
scene  occurred  during  a  procession  of  the  Ger- 
man element  to  protest  against  the  Sunday 
Closing  of  the  saloons.  Roosevelt  was  on  the 
reviewing  stand  with  other  city  officials.  A 
Franco-German  veteran  in  the  procession,  un- 
aware of  the  Commissioner's  proximity, 
shouted  out  as  he  was  passing,  "Wo  ist  der 
Roosevelt?  (Where  is  Roosevelt?)'  Imagine 
his  surprise  when  he  saw  just  above  him  those 
large  two  eye-glasses  and  gleaming  white 
teeth  as  he  heard  the  answer,  "Hier  bin  ich. 
Was  willst  du,  Kamrad?'  (Here  I  am.  What 
do  you  wish  comrade).  "Hoch!  Hoch !  Roose- 
velt," shouted  the  old  fellow  as  he  hurried 
along  much  chagrined.1 

1  Morgan. 

[81] 


THE    AMERICAN   SOUL 

what  was  the       But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  policy  of  the 

"Big   Stick"?  .  J  .     . 

Big  Stick?  Where  did  the  term  originate?  It 
came  from  an  expression  of  his  attitude  in 
reference  to  America  defending  the  Monroe 
Doctrine.  This  expression  is,  "  There  is  an  old 
adage  which  runs,  '  Speak  softly  and  carry  a 
big  stick ;  you  will  go  far. '  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  adopted  the  first 
rather  than  the  latter  part  of  the  saying  in  all 
his  policies.  He  was  in  no  sense  a  bully,  al- 
though the  fierce,  powerful  interests  opposed 
accomplished  D^  nni1  tried  to  make  it  appear  so.  As 
a  biographer  says:  "the  weapon  in  his  hand 
takes  the  form  of  a  righteous  cause,  charged 
with  the  irresistible  force  of  public  opinion.' 
His  so-called  big  stick  was  not  in  any  sense  a 
policy  of  the  "shirt  sleeve'  variety  of  brag, 
and  bluster  and  discourtesy,  but  the  opposite. 
It  enabled  him  to  secure  from  the  Pope  the  re- 
call of  the  Spanish  Friars  from  the  Philippines; 
it  enabled  him  to  check  the  bombardment  of 
the  Venezuelan  port  by  British  and  German 
war  vessels  in  1903 ;  it  enabled  him  in  the  same 
year  to  deliver  the  petition  of  protest  to  Rus- 
sia against  outrages  on  the  Jews ;  it  enabled 
him  to  end  the  Russian-Japanese  War,  June  12, 
1905.  (Mr.  Root  said  of  this  last  that  Mr. 
Roosevelt  held  the  most  important  portfolio  in 
the  Cabinet — that  of  "Secretary  of  Peace.' 
Mr.  Root's  opinion  was  justified;  for  that 
service  to  mankind,  Mr.  Roosevelt  received  the 

[82] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

Nobel  Peace  Prize).  It  enabled  him  to  send 
our  fleet  around  the  world,  thus  redoubling  the 
respect  of  the  world  for  the  military  possibil- 
ities of  America;  it  enabled  him  to  build  the 
Panama  Canal. 

But  from  what  quarter  did  the  burly  and 
criminal-looking  cartoons  come?  There  is  no 
doubt  that  they  were  a  part  of  a  systematized 
propaganda  to  destroy  his  influence  in  his  own 
party.  And  what  was  more  natural?  As 
President,  Mr.  Roosevelt  took  up  the  fight 
against  industrial  monopolies.  What  was  the 
consequence?  He  stired  up  a  hornet's  nest. 
Both  enemies  and  friends,  democrats  and  re- 
publicans, admit  his  masterful  fight.  "  There 
have  been  aristocracies,"  he  says  in  his  Auto- 
biography, "  which  have  played  a  great  and 
beneficient  part  at  stages  in  the  growth  of  man- 
kind; but  we  had  come  to  the  stage  where  for 
our  people  what  was  needed  was  a  real  democ- 
racy ;   and   of  all  forms   of  tyranny  the  least  £he  worst 

«/   7  «/  t/  Tyranny 

attractive  and  the  most  vulgar  is  the  tyranny 
of  mere  wealth,  the  tyranny  of  a  plutocracy." 
But  was  Mr.  Roosevelt  the  original  mover 
against  monopoly  in  our  industries?  Was  not 
the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law  a  United  States 
Law,  the  purpose  of  which  was  "to  destroy 
monopoly  and  curb  industrial  combinations"? 
And  further,  had  not  the  Government,  under 
President  Cleveland,  brought  suit  to  prevent 
the    Sugar    Trust    from    obtaining    control    of 

[83] 


letter 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

three  additional  companies  in  Philadelphia? 
Is  it  not  true  that  one  of  the  purposes  of  that 
suit,  known  as  the  Knight  case,  was  to  prevent 
the  Sugar  Trust  from  controlling  98%  of  all 
our  sugar  production?  Those  things  are  all 
true.  But  it  is  also  true  that  the  case  had  gone 
against  the  Government.  The  Supreme  Court 
had  held,  with  only  one  dissenting  vote,  that 
the  Sugar  Trust  had  the  right  to  acquire  those 
three  companies  by  an  exchange  of  its  stock 
what  made       for  theirs.     Such  a  decision  made  the  Sherman 

the    Sherman 

Law  a  dead  Anti-Trust  law  a  dead  letter.  Both  the  Presi- 
dent and  Congress  were  powerless  to  interfere. 
Big  trusts  rapidly  multiplied,  free  from  all 
harm  under  the  protection  of  that  decision. 
What  was  Mr.  Roosevelt,  the  President,  to  do? 
Many  smaller  corporations  and  industries  went 
to  the  wall  and  others  were  suffering.  A 
clamor  came  up  from  the  people.  In  the  mean- 
time, under  the  name  of  the  Northern  Securities 
Company,  a  gigantic  attempt  was  made,  under 
this  Knight  case  decision,  to  put  into  one  hold- 
ing company  the  vast  Northwestern  railway 
systems.  Mr.  Roosevelt  leaped  into  the  arena 
almost  immediately  after  he  became  President. 
He  was  at  that  time  even  a  more  picturesque 
figure  than  usual.  The  "big  stick "  put  in 
some  of  its  heaviest  blows.  He  was  caricatured 
and  abused  by  papers  friendly  to  the  ^inter- 
ests" from  Maine  to  California;  but  he  was 
making  history  and  winning  popularity  among 

[84] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

the  people.  He  ordered  his  Attorney-General, 
Mr.  Knox,  to  institute  proceedings  for  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Securities  Company — the  rail- 
way trust  in  question.  It  was  done.  The 
Government  lost,  because  of  the  Knight  case 
decision.  The  big  trusts  laughed  at  his  dis- 
comfiture. But  it  was  dangerous  to  laugh  in  ^  K^ghT* 
front  of  those  drooping,  honest  eyes  of  Roose-  Case  Decisl0n 
velt.  He  never  faced  big  game  with  only  one 
load  in  his  gun.  The  next  time  he  invaded  the 
Supreme  Court  itself  and  asked  a  reversal  of 
the  Knight  case,  "in  the  interest  of  the  people 
against  monopoly  and  privilege.'  I  remember 
that  at  the  time  he  was  regarded  as  rather 
irreverent  toward  that  august  body;  but  he 
had  the  sympathy  of  the  majority  of  the  just 
and  cool-headed  men  in  America  of  both  politi- 
cal parties.     He  won  by  a  vote  of  5  to  4.     But  *ie  wins 

x  ^  5    to    4 

had  he  really  accomplished  his  purpose?  He 
had  "established  the  power  of  the  Government 
to  deal  with  all  great  corporations."  But 
would  this  be  an  efficient  enough  instrument  to 
break  up  monopoly  of  industries?  He  did  not 
think  so.  What  did  he  do?  He  sought  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  Federal  Commission  which 
"  should  put  a  stop  to  abuse  of  big  corporations 
and  small  corporations  alike.'  Such  a  Com- 
mission "would  destroy  monopoly,  and  make 
the  biggest  business  man  in  the  country  con- 
form squarely  to  the  principles  laid  down  by 
the  American  people,  while  at  the  same  time 

[85] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 


What 
Roosevelt 
regarded    as 
His    Greatest 
Services 


giving  fair  play  to  the  little  man  and  certainty 
of  knowledge  as  to  what  was  wrong  and  what 
was  right  both  to  big  and  little  man."  He 
never  succeeded  in  having  such  a  Commission 
created ;  but  his  efforts  led  to  the  establishment 
of  a  "Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and 
with  it  the  erection  of  the  Bureau  of 
Corporations." 

Roosevelt  left  the  Presidency  in  March,  1909, 
of  all  preceding  Presidents  the  most  popular 
with  the  people.  For  seven  and  a  half  years  he 
had  stood  for  civic  righteousness.  He  re- 
garded as  his  most  important  accomplishments 
the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal;  his  in- 
tervention for  peace  between  Russia  and 
Japan;  and  his  sending  the  fleet  around  the 
world.  Mr.  LaFollette,  a  political  enemy,  said 
that  none  of  these  compared  with  other  achieve- 
ments of  the  retiring  President.  Among  these 
were :  the  making  of  reform  respectable ;  the 
doctrine  of  the  square  deal;  and  the  conserva- 
tion of  our  national  resources.  I  quote  from 
LaFollette 's  Magazine:  "Nothing  can  be 
greater  or  finer  than  this.  It  is  so  great  and  so 
fine  that  when  the  historian  of  the  future  shall 
speak  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  he  is  likely,  to  say 
that  he  did  many  notable  things — but  that  his 
greatest  work  was  inspiring  and  actually  be- 
ginning a  world-movement  for  staying  ter-* 
restrial  waste  and  saving  for  the  human  race 
the  things  upon  which,  and  upon  which  alone, 


[86] 


THEODORE    ROOSEVELT 

a  great  and  peaceful  and  progressive  and 
happy  race-life  can  be  founded." 

May  we  say  with  Mr.  Hermann  Hagedorn,  As  a 

Statesman 

Jr.:  "As  a  statesman  his  place  is  among  the 
greatest  America  has  produced ;  but  as  a  man, 
he  stands  with  the  noblest,  most  valiant  and 
most  appealing  in  history.  It  is  not  his  deeds 
but  his  qualities  of  character  which  constitute 
the  splendor  of  the  heritage  he  has  left  us"? 
Here  is  the  message  written  by  Mr.  Roosevelt 
for  the  New  York  Bible  Society  and  placed  in 
Testaments  given  to  our  soldiers : 

"The  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  are 
foreshadowed  in  Micah's  verse:  'What  more 
doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee  than  to  do  jus- 
tice, and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God.' 

Do  justice ;  and  therefore  fight  valiantly 
against  the  armies  of  Germany  and  Turkey,  for 
these  nations  in  this  crisis  stand  for  the  reign 
of  Moloch  and  Beelzebub  in  this  earth. 

Love  mercy ;  treat  prisoners  well ;  succor  the 
wounded;  treat  every  woman  as  if  she  were 
your  sister;  care  for  the  little  children,  and  be 
tender  with  the  old  and  helpless. 

Walk  humbly ;  you  will  do  so  if  you  study  the 
life  and  teachings  of  the  Saviour. 

May  the  God  of  justice  and  mercy  have  you 
in  His  keeping." 

What  would  an  honest  critic  regard  as  the  gis  mo^ 

Outstanding 

most  outstanding  trait  of  Theodore  Roosevelt?  Trait 

[87] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

Would  lie  say  it  was  energy?  Truly  he  was  a 
man  of  tremendous  energy;  but  that  was  not 
his  strongest  characteristic.  "Was  it  honesty 
of  purpose,  kindliness,  love  of  home,  love  of 
nature,  love  of  country,  manliness,  hatred  of 
evil,  love  of  justice?  No.  What  then  was  it? 
As  I  see  it,  it  was  an  almost  abnormal  devel- 
opment of  a  great  consciousness.  So  wonder- 
fully developed  was  his  consciousness  that  his 
constant  habit  was  to  regard  himself  and  his 
conduct  in  a  wholly  impersonal  way.  We  find 
him  again  and  again  comparing  himself  with 
others  whether  with  a  cowboy  of  the  plains,  or 
Andrew  Jackson,  a  President.  He  always 
gave  us  an  honest  judgment  of  the  result, 
whether  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  himself. 
Shallow  people  sometimes  thought  this  to  be 
egotism.  But  that  idea  is  absolutely  precluded 
by  the  fact  that  his  comparisons  were  most  fre- 
quently unfavorable  to  himself.  What  advan- 
tage was  this  highly  developed  consciousness? 
It  was  advantageous  in  this  particular,  when- 
ever he  measured  up  short  he  immediately  de- 
voted his  energies  to  make  himself  more  fit  and 
thus  shorten  the  distance  between  himself  and 
the  object  of  his  comparison.  This  trait  man- 
ifested itself  from  childhood,  through  youth  and 
middle  age.  It  enabled  him  to  overcome  colos- 
sal difficulties  and  gain  a  permanent  place 
among  the  great. 

[88] 


THE   AMERICAN   SOUL 

If  it  were  left  to  my  choice  to  call  upon  our  Most 

appreciative 

Eternal   Father   to   send,   in  His  mercy,  from  of  best 

,    .  Americanism 

among  the  great  spirits  of  our  departed  states- 
men, a  bright  evangel  to  go  abroad  throughout 
the  earth  to  herald  the  advantages  to  man  of 
the  freedom  of  worship,  freedom  of  opportun- 
ity, and  freedom  of  citizenship,  as  we  have 
them  here  in  our  beloved  America,  I  would  not 
ask  that  Washington  or  Jackson  or  Lincoln  be 
sent,  as  truly  great  and  as  truly  American  as 
were  those  great  spirits;  but  I  should  humbly 
plead  that  He  send  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who 
would  have  a  better  acquaintance  with  modern 
American  conditions  and  at  the  same  time 
would  share  equally  the  great  traits  of  the  im- 
mortal trio  which  I  have  named. 


[89] 


No.   "•    -•■      Sect.„_- Shelf 

CONTENTS 


Lincoln  National  Life  Foundation 
Collateral  Lincoln  Library 


1  \.Zool.48*{.£>$c7  \\