| Show ON TRIAL tho the navy of 0 the to has been tried and this the world has baa looked on in rapt 41 over its achievements the army ot of the th republic has haa been tried in ono one desperate battle and whatever else has been majd the representatives of ct foreign powers who stood oa as spectators while the mighty tragedy was in progress agree on art one point that the valor of 0 the soldiers was above all praise well lvell that Is not III all the republic itself Is on trial before the bar ot of the nations and the question which Is being considered Is 13 Y whether hether as a people our countrymen are great enough to rise to tile the occa coca stan blon and to use their gifts and their opportunities and to 0 o meet tire the manifest responsibilities that are arc upon them as becomes the freest and most moat powerful nation that ever yet had a place upon tire the earth this war on oui our part it nag as not sought wo we tried to put it aside even as the government has put a ride aride were wars in tile the past that ought to have been fought for war Is one of the agen agencies cles which justice sometimes invokes to carry out I 1 righteous I 1 decrees when the vir elnous was waa captured and those tho on board were murdered gen grant who nho was vas then president ident wanted t to 0 call upon the veterans of 0 tho the C civil war to go and avenge the ho mighty barbarity and wrong but ho he was against his better judgment persuaded a not to ina mako ke t the he call it was urged that the men nho v ho had been in rebellion would seize the occasion to renew the old conflict mens eyes were darkened for it Is clear now that the call had it been made would have at once consolidated soli dated tho the country and mado made impossible the years or of contention that succeeded when the maine and her unsuspecting crew were destroyed tho the long delayed settlement could not longer be postponed the tha war has haa about run its course and however it may now seem to us to those who ho fron from father to son had felt the chains and the whips lips of spain the declaration of war seemed like a long halted for an answer to prayers in it they heard the promise of at a respite from intolerable a ble oppressions oppress ions we have been greatly favored our ships have stink two leeta fleets with hardly any loss our armies have been favored and where there has haa been unusual sull buffering ering that has been duo due to incompetency or treachery in high places our enemy Is pi piao ac prostrate in the dust at our feet the tha question yet remaining Is aro are we great enough as aa it a people to po go on and carry through the promises made when the war opened great enough to perform the duties which the war or and its victories ila have ve imposed upon us ila with arm broken axe are we true enough to the trust which hap has been I 1 put upon ps us to give to the people whose faem wo we have struck off a free and firm government opening at the same time to them all the I 1 opportunities which their respective countries afford surely we have no right to break the oppressions oppress ions of spain and then the countries upon which the oppressions oppress ions were practiced over to rapine and anarchy what our neels fleets hale hae done will be remembered what our armies have dono done and are doing will be remembered but atler after all the chief interest will center upon the disposition which our nation will make of its victory for this the world Is walling waiting and the whisper that Is being passed along the ranks of the watching nations Is has the great republic the sagacity as it has the power to use tile the victory which Is hers hero with mith the wisdom the justice and the mercy which tilt occasion delin demands ands |
