While the great masses of the English people were in sympathy with the
Union cause, the moneyed men and commerce sided with the Confederacy:
"Cotton was King." They had been struck in a tender place--their
pockets and bank accounts. But suppose England had owned Oregon and
its great interests, who don't see that all the danger would have been
multiplied, and our interests endangered? There is in this no
extravagant claim made that all this was done by Marcus Whitman. The
Ruler of the Universe uses men, not a man, for its direction and
government.
Going back upon the pages of history, the student sees Whittier in his
study, and listens to his singing; he sees Mrs. Stowe educating with
Uncle Tom in his cabin; he notes Garrison forging thunderbolts in his
Liberator; he sees old Gamaliel Bailey with his National Era; he sees
Sumner fall by a bludgeon in the Senate; he hears the eloquent
thunderings of Hale and bluff old Ben Wade and Giddings and Julian and
Chase; he sees Lovejoy fall by the hands of his assassin; he hears the
guns of the old "fanatic" John Brown, as he began "marching on;" he
sees a great army marshaled for the contest which led up to the
election of the "Martyr President," and the crowning victories which
redeemed the grandest nation upon which the sun shines from the curse
of human slavery. Giving due credit to all, detracting no single honor
from any one in all the distinguished galaxy of honored names, and yet
the thoughtful student can reach but one conclusion, and that is, that
in the timeliness of his acts, in the heroism with which they were
carried out, in the unselfishness which marked every step of the way,
and in the wide-reaching effects of his work, Dr. Marcus Whitman, as a
man and patriot and national benefactor, was excelled by none.
Such unselfish devotion, such obedience to the call of duty, such love
of "the flag that makes you free," such heroism, which never even once
had an outcropping of personal benefit, will forever stand, when fully
understood, as among the brightest and most inspiring pages of
American history.
The young American loves to read of Paul Revere. He dwells with
thrilling interest upon the ride of the boy Archie Gillespie, who saw
the great dam breaking, and at the risk of his life rode down the
valley of the Conemaugh to Johnstown, shouting, "Flee for your lives,
the flood, the flood!" The people fled and two minutes behind the boy
rolled the mighty flood of annihilation. How painter, and poet, and
patriot, lingers over the ride of the gallant Sheridan "from
Winchester, twenty miles away." All the honor is deserved; he saved an
army and turned a defeat into victory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account