his eternal adieu. I take up the President’s glove, on the
contrary, as a proof of his much higher worth, and of my real
interest in the cause in which it was thrown down, and I now
profess my readiness to do even injustice to the duty which he has
assigned me.
Gentlemen, a very remarkable and affecting volume was published in
the United States within a short time before my last visit to that
hospitable land, containing ninety-five biographies of young men,
for the most part well-born and well nurtured, and trained in
various peaceful pursuits of life, who, when the flag of their
country waved them from those quiet paths in which they were
seeking distinction of various kinds, took arms in the dread civil
war which elicited so much bravery on both sides, and died in the
defence of their country. These great spirits displayed
extraordinary aptitude in the acquisition, even in the invention,
of military tactics, in the combining and commanding of great
masses of men, in surprising readiness of self-resource for the
general good, in humanely treating the sick and the wounded, and in
winning to themselves a very rare amount of personal confidence and
trust. They had all risen to be distinguished soldiers; they had
all done deeds of great heroism; they had all combined with their
valour and self-devotion a serene cheerfulness, a quiet modesty,
and a truly Christian spirit; and they had all been educated in one
school – Harvard University.
Gentlemen, nothing was more remarkable in these fine descendants of
our forefathers than the invincible determination with which they
fought against odds, and the undauntable spirit with which they
resisted defeat. I ask you, who will say after last Friday that
Harvard University is less true to herself in peace than she was in
war? I ask you, who will not recognise in her boat’s crew the
leaven of her soldiers, and who does not feel that she has now a
greater right than ever to be proud of her sons, and take these
sons to her breast when they return with resounding acclamations?
It is related of the Duke of Wellington that he once told a lady
who foolishly protested that she would like to see a great victory
that there was only one thing worse than a great victory, and that
was a great defeat.
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Dickens, Charles – Speeches, Literary & Social
But, gentlemen, there is another sense in which to use the term a
great defeat. Such is the defeat of a handful of daring fellows
who make a preliminary dash of three or four thousand stormy miles
to meet great conquerors on their own domain – who do not want the
stimulus of friends and home, but who sufficiently hear and feel
their own dear land in the shouts and cheers of another – and who
strive to the last with a desperate tenacity that makes the beating
of them a new feather in the proudest cap. Gentlemen, you agree
with me that such a defeat is a great, noble part of a manly,
wholesome action; and I say that it is in the essence and lifeblood
of such a defeat to become at last sure victory.
Now, gentlemen, you know perfectly well the toast I am going to
propose, and you know equally well that in thus glancing first
towards our friends of the white stripes, I merely anticipate and
respond to the instinctive courtesy of Oxford towards our brothers
from a distance – a courtesy extending, I hope, and I do not doubt,
to any imaginable limits except allowing them to take the first
place in last Friday’s match, if they could by any human and
honourable means be kept in the second. I will not avail myself of
the opportunity provided for me by the absence of the greater part
of the Oxford crew – indeed, of all but one, and that, its most
modest and devoted member – I will not avail myself of the golden
opportunity considerately provided for me to say a great deal in
honour of the Oxford crew. I know that the gentleman who attends
here attends under unusual anxieties and difficulties, and that if