ver glorious, the sword he had surrendered at Appomattox,
that magnanimous deed said to the people of the South: "You are our
brothers." But when the present ruler of our grand republic on awakening
to the condition of war that confronted him, with his first commission
placed the leader's sword in the hands of those gallant confederate
commanders, Joe Wheeler and Fitzhugh Lee, he wrote between the lines in
living letters of everlasting light the words: "There is but one people
of this Union, one flag alone for all."
The South, Mr. Toastmaster, will feel that her sons have been well
given, that her blood has been well spilled, if that sentiment is to be
indeed the true inspiration of our nation's future. God grant it may be
as I believe it will.
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
Speech of Henry Cabot Lodge, delivered at a banquet complimentary
to the Robert E. Lee Camp of Confederate Veterans, of Richmond,
Va., given in Faneuil Hall, Boston, June 17, 1887. The Southerners
were visiting Boston as the special guests of the John A. Andrew
Post 15, Department of Massachusetts, Grand Army of the Republic.
MR. CHAIRMAN:--To such a toast, sir, it would seem perhaps most fitting
that one of those should respond who were a part of the great event
which it recalls. Yet, after all, on an occasion like this, it may not
be amiss to call upon one who belongs to a generation to whom the
Rebellion is little more than history, and who, however insufficiently,
represents the feelings of that and the succeeding generations as to our
great Civil War. I was a boy ten years old when the troops marched away
to defend Washington, and my personal knowledge of that time is confined
to a few broken but vivid memories. I saw the troops, month after month,
pour through the streets of Boston, I saw Shaw go forth at the head of
his black regiment, and Bartlett, shattered in body but dauntless in
soul, ride by to carry what was left of him once more to the
battlefields of the republic. I saw Andrew, standing bare headed on the
steps of the state house, bid the men God speed. I cannot remember the
words he said, but I can never forget the fervid eloquence which brought
tears to the eyes and fire to the hearts of all who listened. I
understood but dimly the awful meaning of these events. To my boyish
mind one thing alone was clear, that the soldiers as they marched past
were all, in that supreme hour, heroes and patriots. Amid
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