The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-01-23
THE FATHERS OF THE REPUBLIC,
An Enlightened EnglIshman's Tribute to the
Men Of 1870.

An Enlightened Englishman's Tribute to the
Men Of 1870.
When, in the public place at Richmond
we see the statue of George Washington
surrounded by the group of the famous
Virginians Of his time, the eloquence of
Patrick Henry, the judicious sagacity of
Marshall, the eccentric energy of Jeffer.
son-when to these we add the stern
vigor of John Adams and Samuel, his
namesake, from Boston, and last, not
least, the homely and penetrating genius
of Benjamin Franklin, from Philadel.
phia, and the brilliant philosophic friend
and equal of Talleyrand, the gifted and
unfortunate Alexander Hamilton, we
feel that we are in the presence Of one
of those intellectual consultations which
mark only those great creative
epochs in the history of nations, such as
may indeed appear in their later history,
but usually belong to those moments
When the nation itself is struggling into
existence. In all the events of the strug-
gle there is dramatic movement which
belongs to those critical times when
mankind is going through one of its de-
Cisive trials. Old man Routh, of Oxford
who had lived through the French Rev
olution and the Napoleonic wars, when
asked in his extreme old age what event
of his time had produced in England the
deepest impression, answered. "The
separation of the American States )" and
when, in his Tooth year, he wandered in
his dying moments to the reColleCtions
of former years, his last words murmur-
ed something of the war with America.
Many are the scenes which impress on
the mind the momentous aspect of that
time. Let me select two. One shall be
that in which the first British blood was
shed, on the 10Th of April, 1775. 1t is
in The green meadows, close to the viii
lage of Concord. A gentle river divides
the swelling hills on either side; rustic
bridge crosses the stream. On one side
is simple pillar which marks the graves
where the first English soldiers that were
slain still lie buried; on the other side is
monument, erected in later times, rep.
resenting one of the simple American
peasants, with his musket by HE side,
and underneath are written the memor.
able words of one of the greatest living
poets, himself native Of Concord and
the grandson of the pastor of the village,
who was present at the time of the con.
flict.
By the rude bridge that arched the food,
Their Aag TO Aprils breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fred the shot heard round the world.
The other scene is Mount Vernon, the
unadorned yet spacious wooden mansion
where Washington spent his latest years
with his devoted wife and retinue of ser.
wants, with the gracious hospitality of an
almost royal msjesty; looking out from
the oaks which now overhung his grave
over the broad waters of the Potomac,
on whose bank was to rise the noble but
still unfinished capital which bears his
canonized name. No Englshman need
grudge the hours that he gives to the
biography which Washington Irving has
given to our great countryman (for such
he still was), the father of the American
Commonwealth. Dean SANKEY'S address.