The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1876-07-21


In every age, in every cline, the grea
epochs in the history of the people have
been deemed worthy of commemoration
A nations fame is recorded in the biogra
phies Of it's great names. The noble ambi
ton which, despite the Establishments
of ease, the stains of obloquy or the mena.
ces of power, still drives the chosen few on
their appointed course, lifts the body ot
the people as we'll to the level of the same
elevated plane and surrounds them with a
halo of beauty. The gross misrepresenta-
tions, the bitter calumnies, the vile suspi-
cions, which, like black-robed ministers of
evil, ever attend the life progress of the
honored great, die in the obscure deaths OF
those who gave them birth and leave the
great central figures of their time, elevated
upon the pedestal of their achievements,
the cynosure of all eyes-objects of heart
felt gratitude, bright and shining exam
pies for patriotic imitation. No good deed
was ever done in vain. No word fifty spoken
was ever lost. The heart of the gray
haired sire may fail, as he sees his wise
counsels spurned by headstrong and heed
less youth, yet he sagely knows that those
counsels have entered into the sum total of
youths experience, sooner or later to bear
abundant fruit. The young mother who
COOS her warm love into the ear of her
smiling babe, knows with the provision
that would shame tho schoolmen, that in
allthe temptations that will afterward beset,
her tender accents will rise and fall upon
his memory, like the soft, sweet strains Of
an Kolian harp. The voices which have,
from age to age, sounded the trumpet-call
of Freedom, may have wakened no respon-
sive echo in inert souls, and may have ap-
parently died away upon the wanton air
but the blast has somewhere made the
pulses thrill and kindled some heart with a
God-like zeal. To the superficial eye the
world is full of failures yet He who made
the world permits naugllt to fail. For good
or for evil, all things are a success. The
multitude of apparently unsuccessful eff
forts, in the line of human freedom, which
preceded our own, were not wasted. Each
one served to dissipate some error, or make
some truth more clearly visible. The in
stinct of liberty which in its earlier mani
festafinsls ran Riat an lssalsidaad liaasaaa l.a
to be taught a stern obedience to law. The
great lesson had to be learned that Justice
and Mercy to others as well as to ourselves
are the divinely appointed burdens which
Freedom has to bear.
And SO the accumulating patriotism of
the world rolled on from century to centu-
ry, gathering wisdom from defeat, and
fresh impulse from disaster, until at last.
sad-eyed and a-weary, it found a home and
a resting-place with us. A virgin conti-
nent was reserved for the PRONUNCIATION of
the great primary political and moral truth
1ry
ated equal" Nearly two thousand
wears before He "who spake as
never man spake' had formulated this
truth in that summary of His divine mis-
sion, "Whatsoever We would that men
should do to you do ye even so to them"
With this command given with equal arl-
thority as those that were issued amid the
thunderings of Sinai, the fiat went forth
which, itself striving without force or vio-
lence, was destined to work like a leaven
amid the lusts Of power, and selfish greeds
of men until. illuminating first the human
conscience in it's personal relations, it was,
by slow and imperceptible degrees, to wi
den out until it finally embraced within it's
comprehensive scope the recognition of the
rightful political relations between the gov
erning and the governed.
The declaration of Jefferson that !" all
men are by nature created equal is but a
human paraphrase upon the Golden Rule
that was spoken by our God. "To do
unto others as we would have others do unto
u.s." is to recognize and put into practical
operation in our dealings with our fellows
the maxim "that all men are by nature
created equal" equally entitled to justice
and to mercy in the eye of the law.
In the highest and noblest sense, the Re-
public was not founded by the fathers, but
sprang a fresh creation from the hands of the
great II am" The positive affirmation by
jefferson of the equality of human rights
was (unconsciously, it may be, but the sug-
eested counterpart of the divine affirma.
t;on of the equality of human duties. The
two ideas of right and duty blend together
in uerfect harmony. To recognize that we
owe duties to our neighbor, is to discover
that our neighbor also owes duties to us.
This idea of the reciprocity in duty. newt
ably suggests the idea of the natural equal
itv of rights. If all are bound to respect
the rights of others then each must have
rights equally with all others.
Throughout the civilized world, tradition
has suggested, the historian has recorded,
the philosopher has reasoned OF, and the poet
has chanted I" the divine rights of Kings.
Thrones established by the power of the
sword, reared by the enforced labor of un-
willing hands, and whose foundation
are washed by seas of human blood-these
monstrons creations of human wrong have,
by the adulations of the syeophant and the
cowardice of all, been endowed with the
quality of Divine establishment. Know
We. citizens of the Republic that there il
Int one government that is giivinely estabs
lislled, and that because it II founded upon
Divine law.
What! shall we then belittle the heroic
sacrifices made i'm the cause OF
freedom py our Revolutionary sires Shall
we rob them of their just need Of praise
praise which our hearts ache to pay, ana
which being paid leaves them still TO ache
with hopeless sense of gratitude unfnl-
| filled? Nay. | tf0w not. Divinely-ap-
| pointed results are wrought out through
| human instrumentalisies. To oNr Fatsiers
| IL belongs that their vision jast pierced she
obscuring haze that had settled like q vel
! over the hearts and minds Of men.
Promptitllde In action followed swiftly
upon their clear perception Of rlgh'
and duty, They were no vision
arv recimses, dreaming IN retirement
and casting forth vague distractions ~ fLo9i
like aimless shadows Ger the world. The
truths they uttered Were terrible realities
Everv word OF the Great Declaration brls.
/ tled with defiance. and challenged to NOR.