THE REV J. R. WARD'S LECTURE.

Evening Star, Issue 11700, 4 October 1902, Page 6

THE REV J. R. WARD'S LECTURE.

I Jfe^* 0 *. J - *• Ward ?»»» «*»f f ?; T &f*& to, allow Wto see him" <Ol and fiifce hua np hj wfll, We, think, "be itie Mne« &*«*» ™»rk must bTjndgS itodf m BCTBtta-plawsto critaeigßO <WeV, rot nropose to take advantage'of-this arul handle our fnendjn a hostile manner, but one or two weaJrfetmeVm theTocttoe may ie referred to Buffering explanation of the tanbr lack of enthusiasm .amongst hit title of the lecture was mfelidtorai. Whatmeanings may to the word martyr,* wage and tradition indicate a voluntary sacrifice to death for the truth— sacrifice made willingly and when the victim has the option--of fife"*** the price of recantation. It is only bya forced amplication of the term that Lincoln, Garfield, and M*Kinley con be called martyrs. If they were martyrs, what other word shall we employ to distinguish,Ridley and Latimer? Constructively, too, the lecture had its defects. It was a mistake to represent) each of tho three Presidents as the type of the; perfect man. One seemed to get in the other's way.'--The' exaggerated adoration, of the lecturer ;nright have 'been excusable if he had been dealing with one flawless individual; but.he had three of them.in a rbV. and the listeners would'have' if the descriptions had'revealed » tiny Bptsk on one or tjhe other just toshow the mark of the human •as distinguished, from the demigod type. The miifonn<glorificataon was likewise an offence against art canons. The three radiant masses made too even a balance. True, the lecturer graded his snbjectsjbefore he finished, but as he went « the impression produced, was that, each represented the finest specimen of mankind ever,seen. Again, Mr Ward pave us a description of two great political rallies, and spoke of each as tie greatest ever seen in America. Moreover,, the description of Garfield'B famous ride to carry a message "from General Rosencranz to General Thomas, whilst a very'fair sample of word painting, was hardly the sort'of thing to do Garfield juntice. It rather showed that the Confederate soldiers ; were: ', execrable marksmen, since 1,000,0f them, firing thrice at a man within the range of 400 yards, failed to hit.him, and if;the facts are.all right we may herein discover Ithe cause of the Federal Armyfs ultimate .success. "But notwithstanding these and:other defects,' the lecture was highly interesting. If the Rer. Mr Ward had delivered no other, .ive should account him a good lecturer, and We only mention these matters by way of reasons for the opinion above: expressed—namely, that, good as it was,, the preceding lectnres were preferable. Dealing preliminarily with a reference to the greatness of America, its singular position as the home of freedom, the lecturer said that substantially there was as much freedom in Great Britain and her colonies as in any place on the earth, but America was the land of freedom in a unique sense, having been for two centuries the home of the oppressed and downtrodden who had there found a measure of liberty denied to them elsewhere. It was in this cucumstance that one found the cause of the States being the lair of the Anarchist and the assassin. Wide-open doors were a coarse sieve through which anything could pass. America had been for long the dumping ground of the world's outcasts, and some of these, as vipers| had stung the hand that fed them. Of nothing was America prouder than of her Presidents. Frcm Washington downwards, they had been of singular greatness and originality of character, princes in the true meaning of the word. Coming to the core of the address, the Rev. Mr Ward spoke of M"Kiuley as a man of rare character, whose outstanding virtues were integrity and amiability, and his great work was the uniting of the North and the South and the obliterating of trouble caused by the Civil War. The sketch of James Garfield commended itself very strongly to those of the audience who remember 'From Log Cabin to White House.' One of his characteristics, was his hisatiable thirst for knowledge, but yet more wonderful was his superb moral character, and his masterful superiority .as.a teacher, as a politician, and as a warrior made him one of the world's great men. Evidently the lecturer has a strong personal love of Garfield's character. As to Lincoln, the audience were treated to a marvellously interesting account not only of the. President but of the man personally, his bodily peculiarities, his original tayings, and so 101 th being most happily and faithfully depicted, and these views were Bide by side with glimpses of the times in which Lincoln flourished pnd some reference to his contemporaries. The Lincoln section of the lecture was indeed a great treat, and if the lecture is revised we tope this portion will not be meddled with. It. does justice to the world's ideas about tho celebrated tailspUtter. ~ln a remarkably fine peroration the Rev. Mr Ward called attention to tho sources of the greatness of the men he had been talking about. They, attained eminence mainly through perseverence and unshakeablo irtegrity, and it was a great fatisfaction to know that thoy were eminently Godfearing men. A very hearty round of applause rewarded the lecturer as he sat down, and those present cordially endorsed the remarks of the Mayor (Mr Park) in proposing a vote of thanks to the speaker. We may add that the* Committee's arrangements ensured the comfort of all present, once in, though tho pas?«ge from the back entrance to the reserved seats was rather tedious.