The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-07-08
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
GRAFTON,
Delivered 10y DR.. l.. III. GuIick. July 4. 1865.

Fspolc Citizens Of the United States Of america:
American Independence was not an accident
not q mere bauble on the course OF time. 1t was
an event which many centuries had been maturing.
and which will affect all the coming ages.
One nation after another had dominated in his
tory. each contributing its share to the experience,
wealth and power of the race. One was the espe-
cial exponent of religion. another of art, another
of power. II was however reserved for what we
term the Anglo-Saxon blood. to develop the true
idea Of Constitutional Freedom IN Government.
Favored in locality, and by q providential balanc-
ing of prosperity and adversely, Freedom took root
in Great Britain more healthlly and firmly than IN
any other portion of the European world.
Arbitrary power was checked. The individuals
political rights We're protected from undue inter
ference. whether from individuals, from masses, or
from government. The Bible OF the English Con-
stitution, as Lord Chatham called il, consisted OF:
The Great Charter, the Petition of Right. and the
Bill of Rights. The usage of the common law, in
harmony with the principles Of the above statutes,
still further protected the weak, while 1t rendered
the government powerful.
English Liberty grew more and more definite,
till il secured q high degree of personal liberty,
and the right of trial by jury q representative
form of government. by which the people We're
represented in q House distinctly their own. the
Commons also a division of the Government into
three distinct functions. the judicial. legislative and
administrative, the clear independence of which.
each from the other, is an inseparable condition of
civil liberty. English Liberty also secured the
supremacy of the law the publicity OF public bust
ness. whether of legislatures or OF courts the right
of petition liberty of worship. with many other
IhlN u - AON III lANSN IVA lin " NNANACN
But the New World was discovered. Our rest
less ancestors gradually occupied its shores from
the st. Lawrence TO the gulf. The fresh breezes OF
the Atlantic voyage tended to emancipate from
thraldOm To the conservatism of the Old World;
while the rough life of the cOlonist. far distant from
the influence of court and power. still further as
sisted. The idea of Constitutional Liberty devel-
oped on the shores of America as 1t could never
have done in glorious old Albion.
American Liberty was the daughter of English
Liberty. Cared for by the stern minds and enthu-
siastic hearts of those who periled their all i'll her
behalf. she grew in keeping with the grandeur of
her new continental home. Nature herself became
her Foster-Mother New England's frigid SHOWS
gave her hardihOod the gently flowing Hudson
poured upon her the beauties mirrored upon its
| own placid bosom the Delaware. Susquehanna. and
Potomac. with wild devotion embraced her in their
graceful arms the Alleghanies opened their rocky
passes that she might roam the Western forest and
prairie: the Father of Waters welcomed young
Liberty, the beautiful pet of old Time himself, and
bestowed upon her his own untold wealth while
old Erie and his compeer lakes. bore her over their
depths with swelling pride as she lett upon them
the shadow of her more than earthly glory.
American Liberty was all that English Liberty
ever was and more. She discarded not one of all
the lessons learned in the earlier conflicts with ig-
nOrance and power. The E~nglishman Consutu-
tional Bible was hers well conned and thoroughly
believed. 1t was however as the Old Testament Is
to the Christian rich and true but with a glorious
promise Of something more, something richer and
more deeply true. Let the Old Testament never
be dishonored. discarded, or neglected.; but let the
New Testament revelation of grace and glory al
ways supplement the Old. So while the American
studies and believes in English Liberty, as the
foundation of all the liberty be himself enjoys he
also feels that American Liberty is not antagonis-
tic, but is a glorious advance upon any thing That
England has yet attained. American Liberty is
the New Political Dispensation of Peace and Good
will, to no elect AnglO-SaXOn tribes alone, but to
all the races of earth.
The peculiar points of American Liberty have
been well summed up by DR.. Lieber as "Repub-
the church, greater equality and acknowledgment
Of abstract rights in the citizen, and a more popu-
lar and democratic cast of the whole polity."
These ideas had been maturing for nearly two
centuries. till finally they took shape during the
struggle with Great Britain, which was commenced
for the simple purpose of making sure that measure
of liberty permitted by British Law. English tyr
amy resisted sufficiently to render the first object
of the till then loyal Americans, hopeless; and
then the American Colonies declared themselves
independent on the 4th of July, 1875.
More was involved in that act than simple indie
~pendence from British power. 1t was the inaugur-
alton of a new scheme of liberty, whose key note
is that all men are born free and equal.
That enunciation of the doctrine OF political
freedom and equality, eighty-nine years ago. we
to-day celebrate with the roar of cannon, and the
shout of Joy. With solemn Jubilee, we to-day re-
assert :. that all men are created equal that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalien
able rights that among these are life. liberty, anc
the pursuit of happiness
We attempt no exhaustive anal ysis, no vindica
ton of this doctrine to-day. L am addressing
Americans. 1t is not for me after nearly a century
of light to demonstrate that the sun shines. If
man has eyes. let him see; if a soul. let him com
prehend. These are not glittering generalities. OF
foolish absurditics. They are the chosen watch
words of the cohorts of Freedom. Since first an
nOunced by the joyous bell of independence Hall
they have been, are. and ever will be. an inspira
ton to the noblest minds. To denOunce the formul;
Is but to pronounce against ones own power o
comprehending the most glorious Of political truths
So broad is its significance. that though III the full
est sense applicable to the Democratic form of Con
! stitutional Government. ii may in good faith b.
adopted by a liberal form of Constitutional Mon
archv. with but a slight modification of sense, ant
with much less of limitation in favor of u monarch
and a truly noble aristocracy, than IN America
where millions were left without its pale. Capabl
if distortion it undoubtedly is, just as are tn
I words of Scripture in the hands OF the perversel
adroit. But the true American will no more deser
them than he will his American citizenship.
This truth was not indeed Immediately on It's an
nouncement. carried TO all its legitimate results
To this day. not all within the bounds of the Unite
States are born with political freedom and equality
But the truth then took form, the connections c
truth were then completed, and the electric batter
of thought began to precipitate JOY and freedOT
for all. The process has been affecting the nation
Even yet. the end is not fully attained, but we loo
confidently for the day-not when all shall be Dor
equal in wealth and position. in intellectual powe
and advantage, but when equal political right
] shall be extended to every human being and "
l rejoice to-day. because that M Is on
Fourth of July nearer.
Again. we do not assert that this extension {
, political rights. was Immediately demonstrated |
Y be founded in natural law. and that there was n
question of its feasibility as a practical form {
government. We freely cknowledge that 1t wa
at first an experiment; a glorious experiment II
deed, a heroic one, one that savOred so OF To
divine. that from the first those who embraced l
felt il must be successful but feeling Is one thlnG
and fact another.
For more than three quarters Of q century. tn
stock material of Fourth of July orations has bee
this feeling. But as the years advanced, and tn