Weekly Trinity journal., 1875-07-03
ANOTHER YEAR.

and we stand upon the threshold OF ah-
other year. Not year in the common
chronological order, but another year Of
national life-the last year Of centuryof
National existence. We have already
passed into the centennial of that period
when the clash Of arms was resounding .
through the land, and the sons Of the soil .
were gathering from the fields and the /
workshops to resist to the stern death the /
exactions of British oppression. Looking |
back through the century which has inter
vened, our thoughts are led to "A compar
i.on Of the time when our liberties were
first contended for, with the present hour.
4 The dawn of July 4th, l775, witnessed
the colonial forces in arms, but no thought
of independence peryaded the general
mind. There was higher reverence for
the "diyine right" Of kings, wide
spread and deep-seated acknowledg dgment
OF the almost unlimited power Of those in
authority than can be found in this Dem
ocratic-age. For in the wars Of the old
world, the records Of which mad come
down to our fathers, il WAS the same old
story told over and over agau-the right
fdl heir was urging war against the
usurper, or it was tyrant against tyrant
contending for the mastery. The colonies
separated from the mother country by the
stormy Atlantic, took but little part in the
contest of factions, which agitated her
island bounds, and were looked upon more
as a city Of refuge for the banned leaders
Of the conquered faction than aught else.
Here it was that the regicide, Golf, the
followers Of the " Pretender," and other
political criminals found an asylum, and
although each change in the English
Government had its friends and enemies
in the New World as in the Old, the civil
contests which had reddcned the soil of
England with her best blood had no place
in her colonies across the sea. They each
and all had their own share Of trouble IN
the constant system of border warfare
waged against them by their Indian
neighbo melted thereto by the urging
Of French emssaries and the recolections
a of the manifold wrongs experienced by
them at the hands Of the colonists. In
the constant watchfuness they found It
necessary to exercise, they had no time 10
spare for taking part in the struggles Of
the mother country. Only when France
and England met in battle, was the con-
test extended to their colonies beyond the
ocean. The war Of l75G G3, which wrest-
ed Canada from the grasp Of France, gave
the colonies a temporary peace, to be bro
ken only by the rebellion, which led to
. Independence.
. Intheir frequent battles with the French
- and Indians, the colonsts had learned
many lessons which proved OF great value
: to them in the long years which inter
yened between the field oil Lexington and
u independence, Patience and endurance
a knowledge Of the use Of arms, and a
certain degree OF discipline were among
these lessons. Nearly all the officers who
rose to cminence, and took leading parts
in the Revolutionary drama, obtained
=
, tending their homes against the invasion,
: o, the French and Indians. Washington
who led the armies Of the young republic
to the final surrender at Yorktown, frs
" entered the service Of his country in The
a disastrous Broddocl campaign.
We are now-as we have said -cele
=, brating the Ccntcnnials OF those events
. which led to the Declaration OF Indcpend
% ence. To-day, one hundred years ago
- George Washington assumed command
- of the Continental armies at Cambridge
!. Lexington and Bunker Hill have haC
their day, and with to morrow's sun We
will be marching on in the last year to
ward the grand Centennial or the Nation
Let us trust that in the year now duwnn2
" upon US the remembranccs of the past, o
its glorles and Of its sutl'erings; Of its tri
y umphs and its defeats Of its objects nm,
u its results, will go far toward removing
whatever OF bitterness dwells in the re
N collection Of our late national struggle
. For we are of one country and one bloo
and though pride Of section may interven
to keep up petty di-sensions, our peopl
are united in a desire for tie perpotuity o
!, the nation and its prosperity, both in tn,
- present and in the future The safeguarC
n Of our liberties lies in the patriotism o
: the people; failing in that, no party cal
: llindle a spirit that will prove equal to an.
insidious attack upon them. And, bear
. ing this in mind, we must reflect tina
while we may differ IA to means all ar
y seeking the same end, and that end
peace, prosperity, and good goyernmen
- for all.