Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-07-13

4 common Impulse. hlngs ieaVe
their thrones, noblos their castles,
knights mount their chargers-the
sert, the slave leaves his rude impIe-
ments and is hurried away in a vor,
tex that threatened to depopulate
Europe. In that great cavaloade
that moves toward the Holy Land
there are no kings, no subjects, no
MOBILES, no serf, no master, no slave.
The white heat of religious fanati-
cism melted into cinders the adaman
tine partition between noble and
plebian blood. They march, lodge,
fight and die, and we may hope go
to heaven together. Thousands per-
| ish and thousands return. The for
mer seri, comes back ennobled aud
knighted, and inspires bis fellows
with ambition, emulation and hope.
After the nations of Europe had
swung round such an immense cir
Gle you could no more confine them
within the narrow limits of feudal
existence than you could again con-
fine .thc risen Lord in that vacant
tomb. We have civil wars in EGG
land now, not as before, the raid of
one feudal chef against another to
burn his castle or plumber his cattle
or his slaves, but the contest now is
for privileges and rights. Mobiles
wage war against the king, the
weaker party calls on the stalwart
serf for aid. The deed OF manumis-
sion is written on his shield and de.
Tended by his sword. 1t was in such
contest about the year 1918 that
the mobiles of King John ut Runny-
medic compelled him at the point Of
| tho sword to sign the instr lment
known as tho Magma Charta, some of
whose provisions are found the
| federal constitution and in those Of
several stgtos.
But the Magma Charta is moro re-
marksble for what it omits than for
| what it declares it's limitations
than for it's liberality. The privi>
legos it accords are not only restrict
ed to Englshmen. but to class of
Englishmen who least needed them.
To our fathers Providence assigned
the honor of proclaiming to the world
the enlarged Magma Charta of human
lty. | have not time to notice the
immonse, grand stride of the human
mind since the days of old King John.
Enthusiastic devotees of science had
climbed high up the tree OF knowl-
edge of good and evil, and they
found concealed in its foliage the
fruit intended for tho healing of tho
nations. Tho manufacture of gum
powder, tho art of printing, tho mar
iner's compass, America itself, were
specimens of that fruit. 10 educate
generation to declare, and tho
word to receive and understand such
a revelation as the Declaration of In
dependence was the work Of contu-
rios. But tho hour fixed by tho pat.
riots of all ages by the down-trodden
and oppressed, by prophets, by mar
tyrs, was now at hand. 1t was in
tho darkest period of tho revelation
airy struggle, when the colonial fore
es had been boaton st oil points and
| Washington and his foot-sore and
| half clad command was retreating
through the Jerseys that the leading
mon of the Continental Congress saw
that they could no longer carry on
the contest for the futile purpose Of
compelling repeal of an act OF Par
Lament that might be restored at
any time. They determined at once
on rational independence and total
separation from the British Crown.
They weighed the peril. "If we sue
ceed, the coming generations will
hallow this day and our name and
memory shall live in the hearts of a
grateful people. If we die as rebels
on the scaffold, and that may be our
doom should we yield now, we be-
queath to freedom all we have, our
lives, our devotion, and our exam
ple." The members of that Congress
rose to the summit of the dangerous
crisis. They appeal to the Supreme
Judge to witness the sincerity of
their intentions and to propitiate his
blessing they identify their cause
with the rights of universal man. AS
the inspired spokesman of the whole
human family, as the interpreter OF
Natures law, they spake aloud.
They spake from a platform so for.
tunately situated that all nations
could see them, in tones that startled
the ear of tyranny and caused the
heart of the oppressed to leap for joy.
Above tho roar. of battle, of the clash
of arms, and under its salphurous
canopy, they proclaimed the gospel
of universal liberty, the political and
natural equality OF man, q new and
enlarged edition of that odo sung by
the angel choir 1900 years ago,
"Peacc on earth, and good will
toward men,
Patriots OF '76, ye cannot die. Ye
were consciously present with the
loyal mon and women of the present
generation in their bloody conflict
with tho armed and desperate MIN
ions of the slave power. When they
rent assunder the flag you entrusted
to posterity, the symbol of liberty
and union-when they essayed to
establish an empire on whose corner
stone should be sculptured the traf-
ticker in human flesh, the blood
hound, the thumb screw and the me-
gro slave. 1t was then that the
patriotic living and dead Of this gem
Grafton remembered the vow that
you made TO tho judge of oil the
Garth in the hour of your peril.
They have fulfilled that vow. They
salute you to-day. They throw the
letters they have stricken from the
limbs of three millions of human be-
ings at your feet. This is their work
done in obedience to your last will
and testament. They exulting point
you to the amended constitution OF
the United States and tell you the
self-evident truths you published q
hundred years ago are now inter-
II. 49,