Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-07-13
. RATIO n
RANDOLPH JONES
p. Lockout, St. Nays Co., Id.
July 4t1a, 1870.

July 4t1h, 1870.
BY the Niles mystic waters, there
stands stone, with signs of more mys-
tic lore. reared by the hand of man in
the dim twilight Of prehistoric age, to
mark the astronomical era, when the
seven stars paused in their orbit to throw
their gli.tering rays upon the cradle OF
civilization. And then the stars rolled
on in their track through dread immen-
sity Of space. but the stone stands there
still amid the shifting sands Of Egypt
ages-empires-creeds and races have
gone on by-but to die. That stone will
stand there still until those stars come
back again in their cycle of astronomi.
cal ages.
Those stars rolled on-one thousand
years for every astronomical angle.
They beamed on the blue waters Of the
Mediterranean while Egyptian. Assy.
rian. Grecian and Roman empires were
passing away like shadowy forms Of
morning mist. They lighted the dark
valleys of the Alps when the star of Is
lam arose from the willow banks Of the
Euphrates and set at the foot Of the Py-
renees.
The middle ages-that period Of great
political upheavals-were passing away
when they shonc on the path of Colum-
bus across the ocean. We. too, have
our Nile, over whose blue waters those
seven stars shone two centuries ago as
they flowed on to the ocean.
But not IS in old Egypt-on regal CO.
lossi sitting on the granite thrones Of
kings who ruled over men in the first
age after the deluge. Not by Pyra-
mids which have stood unchanged " lille
the planetary world above and the phys
ieal geography ofthe earth beneath hare
changed.
Not by towering obeli.kA covered with
undeeiphered records of lost science.
Not by temples whose architecture
and construction have bafiled succeed
ing ages. whose grandeur. gloom and
immensity prepare the soul Of the be-
holder for the contemplation OF eterni-
~. II is none Of these We find here.
When those seven stars, called BY as
tronomers the " Southern Cross" was
the zenith Of these lands. they shone
with the reflected but more glorious
light Of the star Of Bethlehem. They
taught, with one ray Of that light. what
Egypt had failed to teach and the world
had failed learn-that there is nothing
greater than the human soul but its Gre
ator. That all souls are equal in the
eyes Of their Creator and all men equal
before the law. With this grand and
infallible dogma Of universal law-she
only and the true foundation Of all polit-
ical science-began the colonial history
Of this Our Maryland.
A history grand. beautiful and unique
in the annals Of mankind, where civil
and religious liberty was the organic lac
Of the land, not an act Of grace wrung
from the reluctant hand Of power or the
temporary expedieney ofpoli.ica policy.
Turn back the pages Of history to that
hrst day Of May. l636-two hundred
and forty years ago-when Leonard
Calvert, the pioneer and first proprieta.
~ Governor Of Colonial Maryland. dated
his first Proconsular report on the affairs
Of the colony to the Lord Proprietor in
England. which says:
We have extinguished by just and
equitable compensation al Indian titles
to Ill lands in the province granted BY
the charter OF our Sovereign Lord,
Charles the King. We have named the
said province Terra Maria-Angliee-
Maryland-in honor Of our Sovereign
Lady, the Queen Consoft. our capital St.
Mares, and under the civil and reli-
gious liberty clause Of the said charter,
our eolonists worship God free and un-
tramneled according to the dictates Of
their eooseiences."
Whea these words were read before
che board Of Colonial Pl.atasioas, the
storm Of revolution and civil va. was
gathering against the those Of Eng
lsnd's king. and the civil md religious
liberty, clause Of that charter was one d
the steps Of his seaAold.
cress the channel. you end Louis XIII.
Of Fssnes sowing the seed 10 Be harves-
I'D century and . halt after in tears,
blood and ashes in the whirlwind Of the
French revolution. Descend the sunny
slopes Of the Pyresees you end Philip
Nv. of Spain signing the oct which IN