No achievement in the history of this country so thrilled the people as the laying of the Atlantic cable. Baker delivered an address in commemoration of that event in San Francisco September 27, 1858. The concluding sentence of his address was:
Our pride is for humanity, our joy is for the world, and amid all the wonders of past achievements, and all the splendors of present success, we turn with swelling hearts to gaze into the boundless future with the earnest conviction that it will develop a universal brotherhood of man.
In the first days of the Civil War Baker addressed 20,000 people at a great mass meeting in Union Square, New York City, April 19, 1861 . It is said this speech brought more enlistments to the Union army than any other delivered at that time. In opening the address Baker said:
The majesty of the people is here today to sustain the majesty of the constitution, and I come a wanderer from the far Pacific to record my oath along with yours of the great Empire state. The hour of conciliation is past. The gathering for battle is at hand and the country requires that every man shall do his duty. The national banners leaning from ten thousand windows today proclaim your reverence and your affection for the Union.
He spoke for two hours, closing with these words:
And if from the far Pacific, a voice feebler than the feeblest murmur on its shore may be heard to give you hope and courage in the conflict, that voice is yours today.
And if a man whose hair is gray, who is well-nigh worn out in the battle and toil of life, may pledge himself on such an occasion and in such an audience, let me say as my last word that when, amid sheeted fire and flame I saw and led the hosts of New York as they charged in contest on a foreign soil for the honor of your flag, so again if Providence shall will it, this feeble hand shall draw a sword never yet dishonored,—not to fight for honor on a foreign field, but for country, for home, for law, for right, for justice, for humanity, and in the hope that the banner of my country may advance, and where-so-ever it waves, there glory may pursue, and freedom be established.
Now the curtain is run down, the scene is changed. The actor puts on a uniform of blue, takes a sword in hand, and plunges into the hell of battle. After a few brief engagements he falls while leading his men, and the flag is bathed in his manly blood.
