{"id":"01KG8AM4M5RTPT4F98TZS59Y99","cid":"bafkreic2wkq5ndqwtqlozvozvbr2vyzb5n47rbeh4zmkx2ljqcbads325i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":12116,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.988Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","start_line":12076,"text":"be considered _Americans_. It is we, their posterity, that are\r\nAmericans--we, the people, the sovereign American people, who from\r\nEnglish and European colonists have in process of time, and under the\r\nspecial guidance of God, developed into _Americans_. And in view of all\r\nthis, does not Major Gentian’s Society, the Society of the Cincinnati,\r\nlag among us as much out of place as would the old Spanish Order of the\r\nKnights of the Holy Ghost.\r\n\r\n‘I said just now that Major Gentian is vastly proud of his insignia, and\r\nI will do him the justice of admitting that this is not altogether\r\nbecause it is an aristocratic one, but in part because of its historic\r\nsignificance. But ours is a practical age. Not altogether sentimentally\r\ndo we determine the relative greatness of events present and past. Into\r\nsuch determinations, the elements of number, man, yea, and the no less\r\nweighty element of cost, enter in. Well, then, there is Bunker Hill. A\r\nfamous good fight. Yes, indeed. But how much of a muster-roll? How much\r\nof a pay-roll? Why, in Virginia we fought battles where a hundred\r\nthousand and more would be engaged. While east, west, and south, our\r\nfiles under arms fell not short of a million. And our war-debt, arising\r\nin no small part from generous bounties and the regular army pay-roll,\r\nsoared aloft into two or three thousand millions. Then there is the\r\npension-roll. That, too, is on a scale commensurate with the colossal\r\nmagnitude of the Great Republic. Why is the blue ribbon of Major\r\nGentian’s badge bordered with white? Major Gentian will reply, very\r\nlikely, “That is in compliment to our revolutionary ally.” Indeed? But\r\nis not white the heraldic colour of the Bourbons, one of whom still\r\npreposterously advances his claim to the throne of liberated France?\r\nWhat a fling, then, is this white border at the tricolour of our sister\r\nthe French Republic! Yes, and what a left-handed slur coming home to\r\nourselves. Men and brethren, for aught I know, an enlightened young\r\nEnglishman in superannuated old England may be at liberty to speak up\r\nfor democracy; but in energetic young America, much as we respect old\r\nage, shall a hoary-headed old American be tolerated as an advocate of\r\nmonarchy, or, what is equivalent to that, parading under the Stars and\r\nStripes the craven _white_ of the monarchical Bourbons, the beggars? And\r\nis such a man--I put it to your conscience--the sort of man to take\r\nplace with the law-makers of a people, the chosen people, the\r\nadvance-guard of progress, a friendly people, the Levite of the nations,\r\nto whose custody Jehovah has entrusted the sacred ark of human freedom?\r\n(Cries of “No, No,” and riotous applause.)\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJWBZRD2MPNQT3HJP2PQE","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1FFTGRE9J93Z3K29NGY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMA7M0JDWHS1Z59F6PVJP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4MBGW0YJGWHWP8NGY3Z","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.269Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:46.077Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}