St. Mary's beacon., 1858-05-06
LEONARD TOWN. Md THURSDAY MORNING, MAY G. 1855

Copley. They came dark, grim and scowling,
with their hands upon their swords 10 fight
and to die for their Fights-social political an,s
ecclesiastical. Their fathers had sought home
In the western world under the guarantee that
there should be no legislation in matters ecce
siastical beyond n rccVgnitinn of those great
Christian principles upon which all forms of
religion are based They were prepared 10
meet the questions involving their birthright,
either in tie battlefield or legislative hail. as
one or the other should be the theatre Of op-
eratious
IT, front Of the state-hoVse nlay-pole, tow
ering to the heights And f;fey feet.
festooned with a serpefitine wreath of ever
green's and flowers, hal been raised. Under it
was erected a stage for the dignitaricS Of tie
celebration, and upon the stage throne for
the young May-day queen. Around this point
"G concentration clustered the converging
groups, but upon entering the square, or more
automatically speaking, the parallelograrn
which formed right angle with the avenIIc,
q new wonder, not unTnixcl with awe, met the
ewes rf the crowd Pasted upon the walls Of
the state-house and record office was the first
isSpe Of the Gazette announcing the foreign
and domestic news oc the day and the pro-
grAulmc of the May-day festival. The ':biack
letter" art, as printing was then called, con-
veyci to the minds Of the un!etterel masses
mysterious association with the devil. 1t was
popular belief that Satan lal revealed the AIT
Of Printing to Faust on condition that the Press
should lie employed in lis service. Two CELL
turies afterwards the French Institute en-
lorscd this popular superstition by debating
! and leaving undecided the question, whether
! printing ha:i done Elore god Or evl. 10 man
| kind. BE that as it may. i has been admitted
! hy AL men at all times that the Devil made u
/ very sircwd bargain with Faust. We have
| seen picture somewhere representing Faust
looking over the proof-shectS Of his first work,
! tke Bible, with the sci!-sati,fcd air Of a man
| who thinks that lie las outw;tted the arch en-
! cmv Of mankind willie tie Devil is standing
! behind him looking over lis sh"ul!cr with 4
! h-nad grin upon his cnuntenance. merry twin
ic in his eye and twir!ing his iingers at the
| end of his nose.
! Many Of TIE co.onists had never seen ga
zctte or broadSide, as the newspapers were then
| called. With super si;tious awe they scanned
| the heavy loaded columns wh n announced
tiat the first parliament uf William and Mary
hal been dissolved anI a new one elected the
| opening Of the campaign in Ireland; the devas-
! tniiOn OF the palatnate Gv t!:c armies of Louis
l4th the settlement q: the ecclesiastical ques
tions in England and Sc1tiand the marine
and shipping Intelligence and cotcmporane"us
! colonial items One column was devoted to
! Saint Mary's city items, among them that the
Right Hon Sir Lyoncl CDp!ey would hold a
! privv council that day; the fair Blanche Verhay-
! len would bc crowned Queen Of May; Laura
Blackstone would read the installation ode: the
Queen would read an address, and Miss Del
! uIar the concluding ode, and finally, under the
| mead ot "iIcclesia>tcs," it notified the public
! that on the following Sunday the Rev. Thomas
Bray would preach a sermon against the schis-
MATES of the province, in the state-houSe. -
The last column contained a "lcadcr' from the
pen Of Chancellor Blackstone The Chanccl-
| lor took high church ground, and went on to
show in a Logical, concise, argunentative ana
lvsis familiar to those vino have made the spirit
az laws long and laboriolis study-how in
separately connected the glory of England was
with her established church-that it was tie
bounden duty OF all nations - establish such Il
uniform system OF ecclesiastical law rs would
accord with their social and political charac-
te-s:ics; that those who diSSented from the
church established hv the will Of the majority
Of the people could with the same propriety
diSolcy the civil law established by the same
I, mower that tie Canons Of the church cStab-
lished by the counScs Of the same had the same
! binding effect upon lavmen rs the decisions ot
the Supreme Courts of law had upon the sub
ject. Beginning az the prcmordial fact-the
rot of thIncs--the writer argued that the
Church of Englana was the true apostolic
church; that the King's supremacy was only
the protection of law the arm ri a champion.
the 6ial duty Of son, the visible temporal
(, heal from Constantine the Great to William
the Sd, King of England, a power or duty al
WAYS claimed and exercised by the kings and
cinpcrors Of those countries in communion with
the See Of Rome. As condensed as was the
matter in these columns, it opened in the minds
of those who read them the fountain of thought.
New ideas were eliminated, new questions un-
debated aIr,i undebatable. were evolved; the
, mental horizon began To lift the mlsts of the
! Atlantic began To evapuratn; the reports OF
/ traders and sea captains iet no permanent or
tangible impression, but here il was fixed and
/ tangible here was u book that instructed them
in the events present and passing around them.
S,ch as the Press. The enlightened and po-
lished people of France have given a sign;f-
cant recognition of the supremacy of the Press
! bydemanding that the Premier Of France should
! be taken from the ranks Of the Journalists
May we not hope to see Lay like that i'll our
! own land?
| AL IU OCIcCk, tEe ONNlln0 Oh inc Cdtl!lon
from the Fort announced that the hour bad
arrived when procession column composed of
all the fair young girls that could be collected
| from various parts Of the province, should be-
| gin its march from the castle. On they came.
that solid column of youth aud beauty, wear
ing garlandS of flowers, clad in tie flowing white
,irapery which adds so much grace and dignity
to the statuesque forms of heathen divinites,
and singing the choral hymn of Flora, trans
lated from the Latin, with such notifications
as TO accord with Christian grace and female
nlodesty. The column dctileI into the square.
TIE May Queen and her cprtege of maids Of
honor were received on the stage by the Gov
ernor with his civil and military staff, and
conducted to their seats, and then the exercises
were opened by prayer fr'm the Rev. Com
missary in tnll canonicals, which we will give
as accurately as our Evolutionary reporter"
viii enable Us to DO:
let US pray. Lift up thine eyes. 0 daugh-
Ter OF JerusaleEn. and LET thile everlasting hills