LXXXVI
Clara Barton—one of God’s noblest. Augusta (Ga.)Journal.
One of the world’s greatest.
Sacramento (Cal.)Record-Union.
Sacramento (Cal.)Record-Union.
Sacramento (Cal.)Record-Union.
Sacramento (Cal.)Record-Union.
Honored in three continents. St. Paul (Minn.)Dispatch.
Her movement spanned the globe.
Springfield (Mo.)Republican.
Springfield (Mo.)Republican.
Springfield (Mo.)Republican.
Springfield (Mo.)Republican.
The preferring of charges against Clara Barton, and her subsequent investigation, is one of the rankest instances of injustice in the history of this country. Unfounded charges, political spite and the hope of remuneration,—the charges were refuted and the schemers were discredited, but politics had triumphed and Miss Barton was cast aside. Los Angeles (Cal.)Examiner.
It was demanded of Clara Barton that she give an accounting of goods and food distributed to dying and wounded on the battlefield. The unspeakable Turk never did anything as bad as this.—But that investigation was only an exigency, an excrescence, a malformation, a wart on the nose.The Fra, East Aurora, N. Y.
Squint-eyed slander.Beaumont and Fletcher.
Slanderous as Satan.Shakespeare.
Slander expires at a good woman’s door.Ewald.
’Twas slander filled her mouth with lying words,Slander, the foulest whelp of sin.Pollock—Course of Time.
’Twas slander filled her mouth with lying words,Slander, the foulest whelp of sin.Pollock—Course of Time.
’Twas slander filled her mouth with lying words,Slander, the foulest whelp of sin.Pollock—Course of Time.
’Twas slander filled her mouth with lying words,
Slander, the foulest whelp of sin.
Pollock—Course of Time.
Slander, meanest spawn of Hell—And woman’s slander is the worst.Tennyson—The Letters.
Slander, meanest spawn of Hell—And woman’s slander is the worst.Tennyson—The Letters.
Slander, meanest spawn of Hell—And woman’s slander is the worst.Tennyson—The Letters.
Slander, meanest spawn of Hell—
And woman’s slander is the worst.
Tennyson—The Letters.
’Tis slander “whose breathRides on posting winds and doth belieAll corners of the world.”Cymbeline.
’Tis slander “whose breathRides on posting winds and doth belieAll corners of the world.”Cymbeline.
’Tis slander “whose breathRides on posting winds and doth belieAll corners of the world.”Cymbeline.
’Tis slander “whose breath
Rides on posting winds and doth belie
All corners of the world.”Cymbeline.
If the end brings me out all right what is said against me won’t amount to anything.Abraham Lincoln.
Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.
Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln.
Speak not evil of the dead.Chilo.
They that slander the dead are like envious dogs that bark, and bite, at bones.Zeno.
A poor lone woman.Shakespeare.
Done to death by slanderous tongues.Shakespeare.
Speak me fair in death.Shakespeare.
And thereby hangs a tale.Shakespeare.
The greater the truth the greater the libel.Lord Mansfield.
The greatest friend of truth is Time.Colton-Lacon.
Truth is the daughter of Time.Mazzini.
Truth is Truth.Tennyson.
There is nothing so powerful as truth.Daniel Webster.
Truth pierces the clouds; it shines like the sun and, like it, is imperishable.Napoleon.
The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.
George Eliot.
George Eliot.
George Eliot.
George Eliot.
All error, false hate, malice, evil company and their kindred, are sure to find their true value, and though apparently successful are doomed to die at last.Clara Barton.
The Almighty has his own purposes.Abraham Lincoln.
We never know the uses the Master will put us to. His designs are known only to himself.Clara Barton.
When you come to the certain conclusion that only truth and justice are eternal, you will find it easy to wait and let the Heavens rule.Clara Barton.
Nothing but truth lives.Clara Barton.
My Lord will help me.Joan of Arc.
God shows me the way I shall go.Joan of Arc.
We are all lost! We have burned a saint.
Tressart, Secretary to Henry VI.
Tressart, Secretary to Henry VI.
Tressart, Secretary to Henry VI.
Tressart, Secretary to Henry VI.
Would that my soul were where I believe the soul of that woman is.
John Alespie,Peter Maurice.(Two of the judges that condemned Joan of Arc.)
John Alespie,Peter Maurice.(Two of the judges that condemned Joan of Arc.)
John Alespie,Peter Maurice.(Two of the judges that condemned Joan of Arc.)
John Alespie,
Peter Maurice.
(Two of the judges that condemned Joan of Arc.)
First in the list of American great women is Clara Barton; first in her ideals; first in her achievements. In America, she ranks with Jeanne d’Arc, of France, to whom the English are now (1818) placing a monument in Manchester.
Corra Bacon-Foster, Author,Clara Barton, Humanitarian.
Corra Bacon-Foster, Author,Clara Barton, Humanitarian.
Corra Bacon-Foster, Author,Clara Barton, Humanitarian.
Corra Bacon-Foster, Author,Clara Barton, Humanitarian.
Joan of Arc was rather tall, well shaped, dark, with a look of composure, animation and gentleness.Guizot.
It is not true, I think, that Miss Barton has ever done anything to disentitle her to a conspicuous recognition in the Red Cross Building.Ex-Secretary of State Richard Olney(in 1917). (The eminent American selected by the “Remonstrants” in 1903, and unanimously approved by the Red Cross, to name the members of the Red Cross Proctor Committee—to investigate the “charges.”)
GROVER CLEVELANDThe President, March 4, 1885–March 4, 1889; March 4, 1893–March 4, 1897Miss Barton, I want you to represent the United States at the International Red Cross Conference at Carlsruhe, Germany.Frederick T. Frelinghuysen(in 1887),Secretary of State, under Grover Cleveland.I thank you, Mr. Secretary, but I cannot do so; I am ill.—Clara Barton.Miss Barton, all the country knows what you have done, and are more than satisfied. Regarding your illness, you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, I recommend salt.—Frederick T. Frelinghuysen.
GROVER CLEVELANDThe President, March 4, 1885–March 4, 1889; March 4, 1893–March 4, 1897Miss Barton, I want you to represent the United States at the International Red Cross Conference at Carlsruhe, Germany.Frederick T. Frelinghuysen(in 1887),Secretary of State, under Grover Cleveland.I thank you, Mr. Secretary, but I cannot do so; I am ill.—Clara Barton.Miss Barton, all the country knows what you have done, and are more than satisfied. Regarding your illness, you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, I recommend salt.—Frederick T. Frelinghuysen.
GROVER CLEVELANDThe President, March 4, 1885–March 4, 1889; March 4, 1893–March 4, 1897Miss Barton, I want you to represent the United States at the International Red Cross Conference at Carlsruhe, Germany.Frederick T. Frelinghuysen(in 1887),Secretary of State, under Grover Cleveland.I thank you, Mr. Secretary, but I cannot do so; I am ill.—Clara Barton.Miss Barton, all the country knows what you have done, and are more than satisfied. Regarding your illness, you have had too much fresh water, Miss Barton, I recommend salt.—Frederick T. Frelinghuysen.
There is, and can be, no foundation for such a charge.... During all the twenty-five years that Miss Barton has devoted herself to the Red Cross work she has been in receipt of an individual income which it has been her pleasure to use in defraying her own expenses and for such helpers as the extensive correspondence compelled.
(Signed Red Cross CommitteeByWalter P. PhillipsChairman,Samuel M. Jarvis,J. B. Hubbell.)
(Signed Red Cross CommitteeByWalter P. PhillipsChairman,Samuel M. Jarvis,J. B. Hubbell.)
(Signed Red Cross CommitteeByWalter P. PhillipsChairman,Samuel M. Jarvis,J. B. Hubbell.)
(Signed Red Cross Committee
ByWalter P. PhillipsChairman,
Samuel M. Jarvis,
J. B. Hubbell.)
(In a Memorial to Congress, March 3, 1903—from House Document No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Cong.)
Wherein ... was removed from his position, under Miss Barton, he said: “I can stand a great deal of cuffing, but then my time will come, so help me God I will not humbly submit to all I am having to bear.” ... was brought to Washington from a distant State ... principal witness for the “Remonstrants.” Mr. Stebbins and I were convinced that ...’s object was blackmail.
W. H. Sears, Attorney for Red Cross.
W. H. Sears, Attorney for Red Cross.
W. H. Sears, Attorney for Red Cross.
W. H. Sears, Attorney for Red Cross.
... conspired to supplant Miss Barton by destroying her name and fame. Miss Barton resigned in my favor. Hoping to secure justice for Miss Barton I accepted the Presidency, but finding that I would be unable to assume the onerous duties as her successor, with Miss ...’s insatiable desire to be at the head of the Red Cross, I resigned in favor of a party Miss ... dared not oppose. Affidavit byMrs. John A. Logan. (From a book of 177 pages by General W. H. Sears, in a report to the Library Committee of Congress, in 1916.)
... not one of whom (“remonstrants”) ever went to a field nor gave a dollar, above fees; and half of whom were never known as members until now they appear in protest against the management.Clara Barton(1903).
As to the threat of an investigation, if there be any, Miss Barton cannot assent that it be suppressed by any act of hers. Red Cross Committee, 1903. From House Document No. 552, Vol. 49th, 58th Congress.
The Red Cross up to this time, 1898, had kept clear of political rings, and uncontaminated. Miss Barton was the acknowledged chief in authority. The Society had begun to win the most enviable reputation; it was growing to be a power; and politicians who had hogged everything else, from a cross-roads postoffice to a foreign minister, had begun to lay plans for displacing Miss Barton with a wife, niece, or daughter of a Washington politician. Miss Barton was probably not aware of this unholy scheme at this time. Perhaps, even if she had been, it would not have disturbed the serenity of her countenance for she was working for God and humanity.Under the Red Cross; or the Spanish-American War(Page No. 154, book published 1898; Author, Doctor Henry M. Lathrop; Editor, John R. Musick.)
Joan of Arc was born in 1410; Clara Barton in 1821—411 years later. The former became the leader of the armies of France; the latter, the leader of humanitarianism in America. Each was a patriot—self-sacrificing—serving not for self-glory, but for a great cause. The little clique of politicians and military aristocracy plied Joan of Arc for five months with “catch questions” on “trumped-up” charges, then condemned her to be burned at the stake. The little clique of politicians and social aristocracy plied Clara Barton with “catch questions” on “trumped-up” charges, then tried to condemn her to eternal ignominy. General Leonard Wood, humanity’s friend and chivalric, with whom Clara Barton served in the camp, the hospital, and on the battlefield, says: “There is a call for women actuated by the same spirit of service as a Deborah, a Joan of Arc, a Molly Pitcher—women who will carryforward the work begun by Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale.”
Let the ends thou aimest at be thy country’sThy God’s and Truth.
Let the ends thou aimest at be thy country’sThy God’s and Truth.
Let the ends thou aimest at be thy country’sThy God’s and Truth.
Let the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s
Thy God’s and Truth.
Clara Barton met her fate in the Nation’s Capital. SaysThe Fra: “The clique went before Congress and secured an amended charter to the Red Cross, which included none of Miss Barton’s friends. Because the name of Clara Barton headed the list, the bill was passed; the members of Congress supposed it was a bill that Miss Barton wanted. This was done without Miss Barton’s knowledge or consent. However, Miss Barton was ignored by the new organization. Her name has never been mentioned in their reports or publications; she has never been invited to attend any meeting of the Society which she had created, and established in this country.”
The Red Cross then was non politics, non society, non salary, non graft. President Clara Barton was obdurate, non pliable. She could notbe used. Her virtues became her undoing. She was retired. From Europe, for inspiration in America, was brought the English heroine;—suppressed or belittled, the American Red Cross Mother in semi-official literature, “At Home and Abroad.” Thecoupwon—the conspiracy completely triumphed. And how the official records disclose.
Washington is the rendezvous of “in full dress” criminals—character-assassins,—“that strange bedlam composed largely of social climbers and official poseurs.” They carry a stiletto, half truth, but in desperate cases make use of slander, of forty-five calibre.Their prospective victims range from rich Uncle Sam down to a poor lone woman, of charity. They ply their vocations sometimes, through envy, for self-glorification; sometimes, through ambition, for self-exaltation. While Washington was having thehonorof dishonoring the great American philanthropist, a western town was offering as a present to her a fifty thousand dollar home, just to have the honor of her presence there. Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Miss Barton’s three cospirits and co-workers for humanity, met their fate while guarded by detectives; under certain customs prevailing in the West and South, as there is no protection from slander against a woman, “Chivalry” would have come to the rescue of defenseless Clara Barton.
There is an official Red Cross report to Congress, made in 1903, said report on file in House Document No. 552, Vol. 49, 58th Congress, statements of historic interest relating to the status of Red Cross affairs about that time.In rethe proposed annuity of $2,500 and the Honorary Presidency for Life, should Clara Barton consent to permit the minority membershipthereafter to control the Red Cross, and other matters relating thereto, appear the following in that report:
Since the filing of their (the remonstrants) Memorial in Congress, at least two thousand newspapers, in the country and out of it, have openly published these damaging statements, without the slightest knowledge of the facts.
The memorial includes an ex parte statement.—It is greatly to be regretted that such action should have been taken—without giving a hearing to the majority of the organization, or to Miss Barton herself.
From a photograph taken at St. Petersburg, Russia, July, 1902, at the time the Decoration of the Red Cross was conferred on Clara Barton by the Czar and Empress Dowager.
From a photograph taken at St. Petersburg, Russia, July, 1902, at the time the Decoration of the Red Cross was conferred on Clara Barton by the Czar and Empress Dowager.
From a photograph taken at St. Petersburg, Russia, July, 1902, at the time the Decoration of the Red Cross was conferred on Clara Barton by the Czar and Empress Dowager.
From a photograph taken in 1904, at the time when occurred the so-called “investigation” of Clara Barton, at Washington, D. C.
From a photograph taken in 1904, at the time when occurred the so-called “investigation” of Clara Barton, at Washington, D. C.
From a photograph taken in 1904, at the time when occurred the so-called “investigation” of Clara Barton, at Washington, D. C.