The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1876-07-21
lished by the long line of their own able

Inc code OF CIVIL practlce and pr0cedur
designed to do away with the artifici
technicalities that encumbered the admin
istration of Justice, first enacted by til
State of New York more than thirty yeal
ago, and which is now substantially the la
in twenty States and all the Territories of th
Union, was adopted last year by an act &
the British Parliament, as the basis for th
reorganization Of the English Courts an
in order that a speedy, adequate and eco
nomical ADMINISTRATION of justice might b
afforded to those seeking to have thei
rights judicially declared. These are bu
| a few of the many instances that might b
cited. in which the science of jurisprlldenc
has been enriched by the contributions o
| America.
The fields of literature have also beef
richly fertilized with the product of Amer
ican genius. Bancroft, Hildreth, Prescott
and Motley have taught history a new vo
| cation, and illustrated afresh the truth O
the maxim that it is but "Philosoph,
| teaching by examples" Poetry has caugh
new inspiration from the songs of Bryant
Longfellow and Poe, while the rollicking in
| imitable quality of American humor would
If it could be concentrated in one supreme
effort, be safticiglnftf glnffs fer egfdes with laugh
10is L ASoIoA udS S@uAolCA AACSA CAhl AAAe
from the exaggerations of the mountains
jioice, as nature unfolds her secrets to a
Henry or Draper, while the telescope of
Mitchell sweeps the starry dome, and draws
draws down new worlds from out the il
limitable wastes.
Fulton first applied the power of the steam
engine to plow the rivers and the seas, and
eighty thousand miles of completed railway
attest the heartiness with which the loco
motive of Stephenson has been adopted.
The anesthetic agents of chloroform and
ether found here their first discovery and
application in alleviating the pangs of suf-
fering humanity and rendering painless the
inevitable passage to the tomb. Morse
gave to the world the electric telegraph
that annihilated space and harnessed to the
car of progress the thunderbolts of heaven.
But why pursue the theme? It would
consume the whole Of the coming century
to fitly detail the achievements of the one
just closed. The inherent right of religious
liberty. tie right of every man to worship
God according the dictates of his own con-
science, absolutely free from the dictation
of the State, or the domination of ecclesi-
astical authority, the right first preached
by Roger Williams and afterward REIN
forced by Calvert, has in the course of the
century SO fiercely assailed the strongholds
of religious bigotry, that their walls are
everywhere crumbling to the dust. The
American idea of free church IN free
State, echoed by Cavour, and finding par
tial exemplification in the overthrow of the
established church in ireland, is, by the
force of its inherent truthfulness, slowly
crowding its way against the ecclesiastical
interests and hide-bound prejudices of ages,
and will end, at last, as all truths inevitably
end, in absolute and assured triumph. In
England, in Germany, in France, the ad-
vanced thinkers, followed closely by a large
body of the people, are already clamoring
for the absolute divorce of church and
State, that unholy union which has filled
the world with blood and put back the dial
of time for thousand years. The new
century which begins to-day, ushered in
with golden promises on every hand, will
not close before the last vestige of this
curse of mankind shall have been swept
away. Press on, press on, ye angels and
ministers of light the body and the mind
at last are free. God speed the freedom of
the human soul.
Far back in the history of the nation, in
the deep and dark reeesses of the primeval
the Pilgrim Fathers hewed out
from the lusty trunks of the giants of the
forest the homely logs wherewith they
builded the first rude temple dedicated to
universal intelligence. There, chilled by
the blasts of an almost Arctic winter,
gnawed by the constant pangs of hunger,
ever threatened by the menacing hand of
massacre, they gathered the young pillars
hour-book of knowledge should Be the
golden sceptre of Republican power. At
tended by the wealthy and privileged few,
the sages of old had their schools Of philos-
ophy in which laureled teachers explained
the ancient myths of pagan tradition, or
of life and death and the immor-
tality of the soul. The middle ages, rich
in objects of historic interest," had their
cells made musical with the chimes
of convent bells, where hooded Friars cop
led their Illuminated manuscripts and sa-
cred missals, ,deenling them too precious for
vulgar use, and leaving the common herd of
ignorant kerns to feed on vapory supersti-
tions and gloat over their own intellectual
In the luxurious homes of
the rich, in the palaces of the great, the
scanty stores of knowledge gathered from
the past were boarded with the jealousy of
priceless treasures. Then, as now, KnowI-
edge was Power, and since power was DEEM
ed the heaven-given privilege of the an
nointed few, knowledge must therefore be
from the many, let them thirst as
they might to drink from its limpid spring.
To the first settlers, who were the original
of the Republic, is due the dis
covery that all temporal power is of right
the attribute of the people; from which
discovery the deduction swiftly grew
that knowledge, which is the
mother of power should be
made universal. The coming Republic was
to rest upon the ballot; therefore the ballot
must be educated, so that they who should
use it might use it wisely and veil. The
Territory of New England first, and after.
ward the whole Union, was divided into
in the centre of which was
placed the school-house, 50 as to be easily
accessible to all. For the first time in the
history of the world the theory obtained
that the universal intelligence of the people
was the only sure bulwark that could pro-
tect the State against the insidious wiles of
the demagogue and the encroachments of
arbitrary power. There were to be no en-
nobled orders, no special privilege, no unjust
The cotter's child of I'M
known lineage suddenly became as pre-
ciOuS to the State as one who could trace
back line of a thousand years. No mat
ter how poor, how obscure he might be, the
cup of knowledge was freely rendered him,
with the cordial invitation that he would
drain it to It's dregs
The rude school-house built upon the
roek-bound coast Of New England two
centuries and half ago, has long since
crpmbled into dust, but the thought which
it symbolizrd has grown strong and
stronger with the passing years.
From the forest glade where
rings the falling axe, blazing the way of
empire in its western course - from the
little hamlet nesting mid the hills, redolent
with the odors of new mown hay and mu-
sical with the laughter of little children
from huge cities hoarse with the roar of
multitudes and the din and elangor OF suc-
cessful trade, there ever swells the grand
choral symphony of thanksgiving and
praise to those who worshipped God in the
manner most acceptable te Him, iFs that
they remembered i4 love His helpless poor.
Everywhere the. diffusion of knowledge
has gone hand in hand with the
avfanSinn of r,oY,alar RIGHTS Evnrvsz hare