{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-12:lotos-club-admiral-schley",
  "slug": "lotos-club-admiral-schley",
  "title": "Lotos Club Dinner in Honor of Rear Admiral Schley",
  "subtitle": "After-dinner tribute to the hero of Santiago.",
  "excerpt": "Lotos Club tribute to Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, fresh from his victory over the Spanish fleet at Santiago de Cuba.",
  "year": 1898,
  "volume": 12,
  "category": "After-Dinner",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/lotos-club-admiral-schley/",
  "wordCount": 2441,
  "body": "Lotos Club Dinner in Honor of Rear Admiral Schley\n\nNew York, November 26, 1898.\n  • The Lotos Club did honor to Rear Admiral Winfield Scott\n    Schley, and incidentally, to the United States, at its\n    clubhouse in Fifth Avenue last night. All day long the\n    square, blue pennant, blazoned with the two stars of a Rear\n    Admiral, snapped in the wind, signifying to all who saw it\n    that the Lotos Clubhouse was for the time being the flagship\n    of the erstwhile Flying Squadron.\n    Within the home of the club were gathered men who like the\n    guest of the evening were prominent in the war with Spain,\n    The navy was represented by Capt. Charles D. Sigs-Dee, Capt.\n    A. T. Mahan and Captain Goodrich. From the army there was\n    Brig. Gen. W F. Randolph, and from civil life many men\n    prominent in the business, professional and social life of\n    the city. The one impulse that led these men to brave the\n    storm was their desire to pay their respects to one of the\n    men who had done so much to win laurels for the American\n    arms.\n    The parlors and dining rooms of the clubhouse wore thrown\n    into one in order to accommodate the three hundred men\n    present fit the dinner. Smilax covered the walls, save hero\n    and there where the American flag was draped in graceful\n    folds. From the archway under which the table of honor was\n    spread, hung a large National ensign and a Rear Admiral's\n    pennant.\n    The menu was unique. Etched on a cream-tinted paper appeared\n    an open nook, and on the tops of the pages was inscribed,\n    \"Logge of the Goode Ship Lotos.\" \"Dinner to Rear Admiral\n    Winfield Scott Schley, given in the cabin of ye Shippe, Nov.\n    26, l898, Lat. 40 degrees 42 minutes 43 seconds north;\n    longitude, 74 degrees 3 seconds west.\"\n    On each side of the menu was stretched a string of signal\n    flags, giving the orders made famous by Admiral Schley in\n    the naval engagement of July 3, 1898. On the second page of\n    the menu was a fine etching of the Brooklyn, Admiral\n    Schley's flagship. The souvenir menu was inclosed in blue\n    paper, upon which were two white stars, the whole\n    representing Rear Admiral Schley's pennant.\n\nMR.PRESIDENT, Gentlemen of the Club—Boys: I congratulate all of you and\nI congratulate myself, and I will tell you why. In the first place, we\nwere well born, and we were all born rich, all of us. We belong to a\ngreat race. That is something; that is having a start, to feel that in\nyour veins flows heroic blood, blood that has accomplished great things\nand has planted the flag of victory on the field of war. It is a great\nthing to belong to a great race.\n\nI congratulate you and myself on another thing; we were born in a great\nnation, and you can't be much of a man without having a nation behind\nyou, with you; Just think about it! What would Shakespeare have been, if\nhe had been born in Labrador? I used to know an old lawyer in southern\nIllinois, a smart old chap, who mourned his unfortunate surroundings.\nHe lived in Pinkneyville, and occasionally drank a little too freely of\nIllinois wine; and when in his cups he sometimes grew philosophic and\negotistic. He said one day, \"Boys, I have got more brains than you have,\nI have, but I have never had a chance. I want you just to think of\nit. What would Daniel Webster have been, by God, if he had settled in\nPinkneyville?\"\n\nSo I congratulate you all that you were born in a great nation,\nborn rich; and why do I say rich? Because you fell heir to a great,\nexpressive, flexible language; that is one thing. What could a man do\nwho speaks a poor language, a language of a few words that you could\nalmost count on your fingers? What could he do? You were born heirs to\na great literature, the greatest in the world—in all the world. All the\nliterature of Greece and Rome would not make one act of \"Hamlet.\" All\nthe literature of the ancient world added to all of the modern world,\nexcept England, would not equal the literature that we have. We were\nborn to it, heirs to that vast intellectual possession.\n\nSo I say you were all born rich, all. And then you were very fortunate\nin being born in this country, where people have some rights, not as\nmany as they should have, not as many as they would have if it were not\nfor the preachers, may be, but where we have some; and no man yet was\never great unless a great drama was being played on some great stage and\nhe got a part. Nature deals you a hand, and all she asks is for you to\nhave the sense to play it. If no hand is dealt to you, you win no money.\nYou must have the opportunity, must be on the stage, and some great\ndrama must be there. Take it in our own country. The Revolutionary\nwar was a drama, and a few great actors appeared; the War of 1812 was\nanother, and a few appeared; the Civil war another. Where would have\nbeen the heroes whose brows we have crowned with laurel had there been\nno Civil war? What would have become of Lincoln, a lawyer in a country\ntown? What would have become of Grant? He would have been covered with\nthe mantle of absolute obscurity, tucked in at all the edges, his name\nnever heard of by any human being not related to him.\n\nNow, you have got to have the chance, and you cannot create it. I heard\na gentleman say here a few minutes ago that this war could have been\naverted. That is not true. I am not doubting his veracity, but rather\nhis philosophy. Nothing ever happened beneath the dome of heaven that\ncould have been avoided. Everything that is possible happens. That may\nnot suit all the creeds, but it is true. And everything that is possible\nwill continue to happen. The war could not have been averted, and the\nthing that makes me glad and proud is that it was not averted. I will\ntell you why.\n\nIt was the first war in the history of this world that was waged\nunselfishly for the good of others; the first war. Almost anybody will\nfight for himself; a great many people will fight for their country,\ntheir fellow-men, their fellow-citizens; but it requires something\nbesides courage to fight for the rights of aliens; it requires not only\ncourage, but principle and the highest morality. This war was waged to\ncompel Spain to take her bloody hands from the throat of Cuba. That\nis exactly what it was waged for. Another great drama was put upon\nthe boards, another play was advertised, and the actors had their\nopportunity. Had there been no such war, many of the actors would never\nhave been heard of.\n\nBut the thing is to take advantage of the occasion when it arrives. In\nthis war we added to the greatness and the glory of our history. That is\nanother thing that we all fell heirs to—the history of our people, the\nhistory of our Nation. We fell heirs to all the great and grand things\nthat had been accomplished, to all the great deeds, to the splendid\nachievements either in the realm of mind or on the field of battle.\n\nThen there was another great drama. The first thing we knew, a man in\nthe far Pacific, a gentleman from Vermont, sailed one May morning into\nthe bay of Manila, and the next news was that the Spanish fleet had been\nbeached, burned, destroyed, and nothing had happened to him. I have read\na little history, not much, and a good deal that I have read was not\ntrue. I have read something about our own navy, not much. I recollect\nwhen I was a boy my hero was John Paul Jones; he covered the ocean; and\nafterward I knew of Hull and Perry and Decatur and Bainbridge and a good\nmany others that I don't remember now. And then came the Civil war, and\nI remember a little about Farragut, a great Admiral, as great as ever\ntrod a deck, in my judgment. And I have also read about other admirals\nand sailors of the world. I knew something of Drake and I have read the\n\"Life of Nelson\" and several other sea dogs; but when I got the news\nfrom Manila I said, \"There is the most wonderful victory ever won upon\nthe sea;\" and I did not think it would ever be paralleled. I thought\nsuch things come one in a box. But a little while afterward another of\nSpain's fleets was heard from. Oh, those Spaniards! They have got the\ncourage of passion, but that is not the highest courage. They have got\nplenty of that; but it is necessary to be coolly courageous, and to have\nthe brain working with the accuracy of an engine—courageous, I don't\ncare how mad you get, but there must not be a cloud in the heaven of\nyour judgment. That is Anglo-Saxon courage, and there is no higher type.\nThe Spaniards sprinkled the holy water on their guns, then banged away\nand left it to the Holy Ghost to direct the rest.\n\nAnother fleet, at Santiago, ventured out one day, and another great\nvictory was won by the American Navy. I don't know which victory was\nthe more wonderful, that at Manila Bay or that at Santiago. The Spanish\nships were, some of them, of the best class and type, and had fine guns,\nyet in a few moments they were wrecks on the shore of defeat, gone,\nlost.\n\nNow, when I used to read about these things in the olden times, what\nideas I had of the hero! I never expected to see one; and yet to-night I\nhave the happiness of dining with one, with one whose name is associated\nwith as great a victory, in my judgment, as was ever won; a victory that\nrequired courage, intelligence, that power of will that holds itself\nfirm until the thing sought has been accomplished; and that has my\ngreatest admiration. I thank Admiral Schley for having enriched my\ncountry, for having added a little to my own height, to my own pride, so\nthat I utter the word America with a little more unction than I ever\ndid before, and the old flag looks a little brighter, better, and has\nan added glory. When I see it now, it looks as if the air had burst into\nblossom, and it stands for all that he has accomplished.\n\nAdmiral Schley has added not only to our wealth, but to the wealth of\nthe children yet unborn that are going to come into the great heritage\nnot only of wealth, but of the highest possible riches, glory, honor,\nachievement. That is the reason I congratulate you to-night. And I\ncongratulate you on another thing, that this country has entered upon\nthe great highway, I believe, of progress. I believe that the great\nnation has the sentiment, the feeling of growth. The successful farmer\nwants to buy the land adjoining him; the great nation loves to see its\nterritory increase. And what has been our history? Why, when we bought\nLouisiana from Napoleon, in 1803, thousands of people were opposed to\n\"imperialism,\" to expansion; the poor old moss-backs were opposed to it.\nWhen we bought Florida, it was the same. When we took the vast West from\nMexico in 1848 it was the same. When we took Alaska it was the same.\nNow, is anybody in favor of modifying that sentiment?\n\nWe have annexed Hawaii, and we have got the biggest volcano in the\nbusiness. A man I know visited that volcano some years ago and came back\nand told me about his visit. He said that at the little hotel they had\na guest-book in which the people wrote their feelings on seeing the\nvolcano in action. \"Now,\" he said, \"I will tell you this so that you\nmay know how you are spreading out yourself. One man had written in\nthat book, 'if Bob Ingersoll were here, I think he would change his mind\nabout hell.'\"\n\nI want that volcano. I want the Philippines. It would be simply infamous\nto hand those people back to the brutality of Spain. Spain has been\nChristianizing them for about four hundred years. The first thing the\npoor devils did was to sign a petition asking for the expulsion of the\npriests. That was their idea of the commencement of liberty. They are\nnot quite so savage as some people imagine. I want those islands; I want\nall of them, and I don't know that I disagree with the Rev. Mr. Slicer\nas to the use we can put them to. I don't know that they will be of any\nuse, but I want them; they might come handy. And I wanted to pick up\nthe small change, the Ladrones and the Carolines. I am glad we have got\nPorto Rico. I don't know as it will be of any use, but there's no harm\nin having the title. I want Cuba whenever Cuba wants us, and I favor\nthe idea of getting her in the notion of wanting us. I want it in the\ninterest, as I believe, of humanity, of progress; in other words, of\nhuman liberty. That is what the war was waged for, and the fact that it\nwas waged for that, gives an additional glory to these naval officers\nand to the officers in the army. They fought in the first righteous war;\nI mean righteous in the sense that we fought for the liberty of others.\n\nNow, gentlemen, I feel that we have all honored ourselves to-night by\nhonoring Rear Admiral Schley. I want you to know that long after we\nare dead and long after the Admiral has ceased to sail, he will be\nremembered, and in the constellation of glory one of the brightest stars\nwill stand for the name of Winfield Scott Schley, as brave an officer as\never sailed a ship. I am glad I am here to-night, and again, gentlemen,\nI congratulate you all upon being here. I congratulate you that you\nbelong to this race, to this nation, and that you are equal heirs in the\nglory of the great Republic.\n"
}