Trumbull White

“ CHINESE PROTECTED CRUISER CHIH-YUEN.
Sunk at the Battle of the Yalu.
Corea has for centuries successfully carried out the policy of isolation. Instead of a peninsula, her rulers strove to make her an accessible island, and insulate her from the shock of change. She has built, not a great wall of masonry, but a barrier of sea and river-flood, of mountain and devastated land, of palisade and cordon of armed sentinels. Frost and snow, storm and winter, she hailed as her allies. Not content with the sea border, she desolated her shores lest they should tempt the foreigner to land. ”

“ During the long debates which preceded the declaration of war, eloquent men on both sides of the chambers of Congress pictured the strength of American arms, the shrillness of the scream of the eagle, and the sharpness of his talons, and applauding galleries saw in the coming combat little but the calling out of the vast body of the reserve strength of the American people, its marching upon the enemy, and return, bearing captured standards and leading prisoners in chains, to the music of the applauding nations, and the thanksgiving of a people made free by their struggles. ”

“ The history of any man who had been able to distinguish himself by acquiring in his lifetime the greatest amount of wealth ever accumulated by one man, would necessarily be of interest, even if his success had been won by the most ordinary of methods or the most marvelous succession of good fortune. But when that man is one whose career was full of the most dramatic incidents; when he won his wealth by feats of financial daring which astounded the world; when, in short, that man is Jay Gould, “The Wizard of Wall Street,” then, indeed, the interest is most absorbing. ”

“ Japan was ready for the introduction of any religion as attractive as Buddhism, for prior to that time nothing existed except Shinto, of which there was little but the dogma of the divinity of the mikado, the duty of all Japanese to obey him implicitly, and some Confucian morals.
Buddhism came to touch the heart, to fire the imagination, to feed the intellect, to offer a code of lofty morals, to point out a pure life through self-denial, to awe the ignorant, and to terrify the doubting. ”

“ It is a proud banner, which stands the whole world over for freedom and right, with few stains of defeat or injustice upon its folds. The great heart of the nation swelled with pride at the righteousness of the cause, with an assurance that eternal history would praise America for the unselfish work. On land and sea the boys in blue gave new fame to the flag, and their proud record in the past was more than justified by the honors that they won. ”

“ A crowd of haggard, pallid faces are pressed against the bars; and as you steam slowly by, so close that you might speak to the wretched prisoners, it seems as if a shadow had suddenly fallen upon the bright sunshine, and a chill, like that of coming death, oppresses the heart. Since time out of mind, the Moro of Santiago has furnished dungeons for those who have incurred the displeasure of the government infinitely more to be dreaded than its namesake in Havana. ”

“ Gould ever sought any physical relaxation in the way of sport or pastime. His whole mind, heart and soul lay between Wall street and his uptown home. Finally, however, money-making became an old story. Time and again he had milked Wall street dry, and his fortune had rolled up into the tens of millions. Then, observing an occasional smile on the faces of other millionaires, and hearing the laughter of light hearts all about him, he began to wonder if there were not other pleasures in the world outside of cent per cent. and the dull, eternal rows of figures that stood for stocks and bonds. ”

“ She has never infringed the ethics of international law, nor the comity of nations. It was China that provoked the eastern war, now raging in the Orient, but not Japan; the true idea of Japan, in the war, is, by conquest, to put the blame on China for refusing to adhere faithfully to the spirit of her treaties and for trying to keep Corea in barbarism, and for endeavoring to stop the progress of civilization in Eastern Asia. Her mission in the east is to crush the insolent and ignorant self-conceit of the Peking government and to reform the barbarous abuses of the Corean administration. ”

“ When the books arrived in Roxbury and the young historian discovered the blunder he shipped them all back to the manufacturer and would have nothing more to do with them.
Gould’s taste of money and profits had acted upon him almost as does the taste of blood to a lion. By this time he was making enough money to furnish himself a realization of what money could do and to make him want it with an insatiable desire. His child life had been a short one, and he was a man in business and responsibility at an age when most persons of no greater age are considered to be but the merest children. ”

“ Weyler is lean, diminutive, shriveled, ambitious for immortality, irrespective of its odor, a master of diplomacy, the slave of Spain, for the glory of sitting at the right of her throne, unlovable, unloving, exalted, and doubtless justly, in self-esteem, because he is unmistaken in his estimation of his value to his Queen. His passion is success, per se, foul or fair consequences or the conventional ideas of humanity notwithstanding. ”

“ I desire to thank the great American people and their government for the resolution they have made to free us from the tyrannical rule of Spain. The people of Cuba believe in the good faith of the people of America. They believe in their honesty of purpose to free Cuba and are confident of their ability to do so; but it must be borne in mind that the loadstar of the Cuban is not merely freedom from the dominion of Spain, but independence from outside control, however beneficent that control might be, and absolute non-interference by others in the management of our own affairs. ”

“ The whole nation of Japan now roused with sword in hand and marched against its formidable foe. Re-enforcements poured in from all quarters to swell the host of defenders. The fierce Mongolian force could not effect their landing, but were driven into the sea as soon as they reached the shore. Aided by a mighty typhoon, before which the Chinese armada was utterly helpless, the Japanese fiercely attacked the invaders and after a bloody struggle, they succeeded in destroying the enemy’s war ships, and killing all or driving them into the sea to be drowned. ”

“ In the prosecution of the war against the kingdom of Spain by the people of the United States, in the cause of liberty, justice and humanity, its military forces have come to occupy the island of Puerto Rico. They come bearing the banners of freedom, inspired by a noble purpose, to seek the enemies of our government and of yours and to destroy or capture all in armed resistance. They bring you the fostering arms of a free people, whose greatest power is justice and humanity to all living within their fold. ”

“ While thus she was enjoying tranquility and cultivating the arts and learning in a secluded corner of the earth, in the western nations, endless struggles and everlasting contests completely revolutionized the old phases of the earth. The peace and culture of two centuries and a half, which Japan has enjoyed, exalted her to the certain state of civilization. But her isolated condition and tranquility lacked the systematic development of army and navy and the arts of international negotiation, which are the weapons vitally important in order to stand on the field of struggle for existence. ”

“ Gould has been prominently before the public in financial operations, and his history is the history of Wall street. Opinions of Mr. Gould have been just as varied as his own pursuits. There are those who laud him to the skies for the success he had in creating his enormous fortune, and who think him the sum of all good things. There are many others who think of him as being simply a close-fisted, unscrupulous, selfish business man of undoubted ability, but with no thought except to add to his wealth by whatever means might be necessary at the expense of others. ”

“ Once more on the land the Japanese army stormed Port Arthur, the strongest naval fort, known as the Gibraltar of China.
All these facts are viewed with amazement by the eyes of the world. For all that the people know about Japan and the Japanese is that the people of Japan are very artistic, as the producers of beautiful porcelain, embroidery, lacquer work and all sorts of artistic fancy goods, and they wonder how it is possible that such an artistic people as the Japanese could fight against sober, calm Chinamen. ”

“ The signal fact that will present itself to the student of Spanish history is that from the earliest times the country has been in a continual state of conflict, internal, with its colonies, and with other nations; and seldom has it been a war of defense. In almost every instance Spain has been the aggressor. The Spaniard has ever been perfidious, avaricious, ferocious. In his veins still flows the blood of Ferdinand, of Torquemada, and of Philip II. Weyler is a prototype of Alva, and in Blanco we find another Antonio de Mendoza. Spain is the China of modern Europe. ”