Speech At The Unveiling Of Farragut's Statue, New York

'We come together to-day to recall Uie memory und to crown the statuc of one of the dearest of the Idoia of mankind - of one whose name will ever slir Hke a trumpet the hearts of bis grateful countryinen. To trace the career of Earragut is to go back to tlie vciy infancy oL the uation. Ilis father a brave soldier of the Revolution, was not of the Anglo-Saxon stock for which we are wont to assert a monopoly of the manly virtues, but of that Spanish taoe which in all times has produced good iighters on sea and land. llismother must have been a woman fit to beat and Buckle héroes, forhisearliestrecollectlon of her was upon the occasion when. axe in hand, in the absence of her husband, she defended her cottage and her lielpless brood of httle ones againsl on atlauk of maraudiug Indians, who were seeking their scalps, ïhe father of tho renowned Commodore David Porter happened to fall ill and die under the roof of Harragut's father, and his illustriqus son-, whose heart overfiowed with gratitude for the htspitable kindness, which had welconied his dying father, announced his intention to adopt a child of thot liouse, and to train him np in his own profession." Af ter speaking of Farragut's charaeter up to the time of the outbreak of the civil war. Mr. Choatecontinued: "Mm-h as the country owes to Farragut tor the matchless services wliich his brains and courage rendered in the day of her peril, slie is still more in debt to him for the unconditional loyalty of his large and generous heart. Bom, bred and married in the South, with no friends and hardly an acquaintance except in the South, his sympatliy, while there was yet time or room for sympatliy, mnst all have been with her; 'God forbid,' he said, 'tliat I should ever have to raise my hand against the South.' Could there have been a peaceful separation. could those erring sisters hare been permitted, as at least one gieat Northern patriot then ixisisted they should be permitted to depart in peace, lie would doubtless have gone with his state, but with a heart broken by the repute of his country. JJutwhen the manifest destiny of America forbade that folly, there was but one course for Farragut, and there is no evidence that his loyalty ever for a moment l'altered." In COhdusioB, Mr. Choate said; "The golden days of peace have come at last, as we hope, for many generations. The great annies of the republic have been long siiice disbanded - our peerless navy, which, at the close of the war, miglit have challenged the combined snnadrons of the world to combat. has alinost cwised to exist - but still we ure safe agalnst attaok trom within and from witliout. The metnoryof our héroes is 'tlio ehièf defence of our nation; the muse of manly sentiment and of heroic enteiprise' forever. Our frigates may rot 'm the harbor - our ironclads inay rust at the doek, but if everaün the llag is in peril invincible armies v i 1 1 swann upoii tbe laml and stuelclad sqiuulrons leap forth upon the sea to maintain it. If we only teach our children patriotisin as the flrst duty and ioyalty as the first virtue, America will be as safe in the future as uhe has heen in the past. Bot we shall always have a Grant to lead the one and a Farragut to inspire the other? Will our Tut ure Boldiera and sailors abare, as thiirs almost to the last man shared, thelr (levotion, their courage and their faith? Yes, on this one condition.that evcrv Ainciican child learns from his eradle, as Farragut learned from his, that his fint and last duty is to his country, that to live for her is honor, and to die for her is glory."