He carried your flag to victory in Mexico and hobbled home on crutches.
He was one of your greatest Secretaries of War. He sent George B.
McClellan and Robert E. Lee to the Crimea to master European warfare,
organized and developed your army, changed the model of your arms,
introduced the rifled musket and the minie ball. He explored your
Western Empire and surveyed the lines of the great continental railways
you are going to build to the Pacific Ocean. He planned and built your
system of waterworks in the city of Washington and superintends now the
extension of the Capitol building which will make it the most imposing
public structure in the world. He has never stooped to play the part of
a demagogue. He has never sought an office higher than the role of
Senator which fits his character and temperament. His mind has always
been busy dreaming of the imperial future of your widening Republic. His
eye has seen the vision of its extension to the Arctic on the north and
the jungles of Panama on the south. Why should such a man deliberately
come into this chamber to-day before this assembled crowd and commit
hari-kari?"
"He's a true son of the South!" Jennie Barton proudly answered.
"Even so, how can he do the astounding thing he proposes to carry out
to-day? His record shows that passionate devotion to the Union has been
the very breath of his life.
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