The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-07-07

b taips to no individual arguments I
, appeals. 1t "was the genuine eff
i. sion of the soul of the country ;
n that time, the revelation of i
i mind. When in its youth, its eI
thusiasm, its sublime confronting {
= danger it arose to the highest CT
= alive powers of which man is ca;
: able" But while it was the E
: preston of the sentiment of th
y people of these colonies, brough
;, about by a public exigency in the
i own affairs, it was more, it was th
: clear comprehension and fearles
u enuneiation of that universal an
6 pervading principle of liberty whic
: for the first time finds expression il
+ those impressive words: "We hol
D these truths to be self-evident; Tha
: all men are created equal; that the,
8 are endowed by their Creator witt
certain unalienable rights, tina
: among these are life, liberty and tn
pursuit of happiness.
There lies imbedded in tina
brief sentence more O
living and pervading force thar
could have ever been applied to Sc
cure permanence to all the vas
monuments of Egypt or the world
That which the ancient peoples anC
republics perceived but dimly anC
in crude and imperfect form, which
came to be more distinctly felt and
comprehended by our English ances
try through a growth of a thousand
years; finding partial expression
in their Magma Charta, wrung by
the Barons from King John on the
plain of Runnymede, in 1915; and
400 years later in their petition OF
right whereby parliament sought to
protect the people of England from
the tyranny of Charles the First:was
attained and completely realized in
the Declaration of Independence.
The slow tendencies of 20 centuries
came suddenly to consummation in
that immortal scroll. The heart OF
Jefferson in writing it, and of Con-
gress in adopting it, beat for all hui
manity; the assertion of right was
made for the entire world, and all
coming generations without any ex-
ception whatever; for the PROPOSE
ton which admits of exceptions can
never be self evident. The charac-
ter Of the conduct of reagents who
performed this act is to be determin-
ed by a consideration of the difficult
ties and impediments that surround
ed them and the subject, and by the
abundant evidence that they COM
pretended its gravity and import
.ance.
On the morning of the first day
of July, the day which had been
previously set apart Cor considering
the resolution of independence,
John Adams opened the proceedings
with prayer, and with a sublime
faith, and confident of the result as
if the vote had been already taken,
he invoked the blessing of heaven
to make the newborn republic more
glorious than any which had gone
before. With a.courage as heroic as
that of the most renowned, of that
ancient commonwealth, he called
to mind the fixed rule of the Ro-
mans, never to send or receive am
bassadors to treat of peace with
their enemies while their affairs
were in a disastrous situation; and
he was cheered by the belief that
his countrymen were of the same
temper and principle. And at the end
of the great day upon which the de-
claratiOn was adopted he wrote THE
greatest question was decided which
ever was debated in America, and a
greater, perhaps, never was nor never
will be decided among men," That,
that day would be the most memor-
able epoch in the history of America:
that it would be celebrated by sue
ceeding generations as the great
anniversary festival, commem-
grated as a day of deliverance by
solemn acts of devotion to God AL
mighty from one end of the CONT
nent to the other, from that time
forward forevermore; that he was
aware of the toll and blood and
treasure that it would cost to main
tain the declaration and defend
these States; yet through all the
gloom, that he could see the rays of
light and glory; that the end was
worth all the means; that posterity
would triumph in that days transac-
ton even though they should rue
thus with this grand pro-
phetic realization of the future, these
men, by a voluntary and responsible
choice willed and performed the
deed. Estimated in this light, the
illustrious act covers all who partici-
pated in it with the glory of its own
renown, and makes them forever
famous among men. On that day
our fathers enacted q scene infinite
~ exceeding in real i'm ortance that
by the great poet for which
he invoked
ga muse fire,
a kingdom for stage, princes to act,
land monarchs to behold the swelling
scene"
Yet with that wise discretion that
belongs to real greatness and is a |
part of it, the colonies, while they
emancipated themselves from the
tyranny to which they had been
did not with mis-
taken zeal attempt the overthrow of
all traditional inequalities; they were
not rebels against the past, nor did |
they exhibit any eagerness to blot
out the memorials of their former
state. They sent forth no Hugh |
Peters to recommend to the mother
country the abolition of monarchy,
nor to counsel the English people to
revolution at home be-
cause revolution existed in America.
They recognized in their own people
the elements essential to free gov
eminent, but being impressed with
the reality only, and not the mere
form, they did not become the pro-
pagandists of their own system
where the conditions of success were
wanting. In the formation OF, tIh3ejr
that political theory which POUNDS
the commonwealth on the immut-
able principles of morals.
They considered kings and aristo-
cracy but useless forms, and that
the idea that religion required the
physical power of the State to en-
force its tenets, and Acts of Conform
ity and for the punishment Of Recus-
ancy to maintain and support it,
was a condemnation of religion
itself. They sought in vain for any
title of authority of man over his
iellowman, except that of superior
and higher morality. They
recognized the people as the struc-
5ure, which the great Artificer and
Architect all the while cared for and