The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-07-07

"--@- ~ --@-g ~ 1880 @@--@
when the hour had come, they reused from their
lethargy, like giants refreshed with new wine,
aud knew neither rest nor sleep until the
glorious end had come, and liberty was theirs,
not only IN name, bat in fact.
In times of great prosperity We are apt to for
get the price paid for our ransom, and when the
kindly years have closed the wounds made By
the bloody hand OF war, we sometimes fail TO
remembe the anguish and suffering OF those
who fought to save US. Therefore l should like
TO refresh your memories by q recital Of some of
the principal acts OF the revolution, and by word
portraits of the grand men who bore on their
shoulders the brunt Of foreign attack and home
dissensiop.
But time will permit only q cursory glance at
the e~ventful panorama. Suffice 1t to say that
from the hour when the Boston boys threw the
tea into the harbor until the day when Cornwall
lis gave up mis- sword TO Washington, the fight
went on. 1t was like the irresistible tide; 1t
ebbed and flowed. Now IL the far north, where
Arnold Clet US give the traitor what need of
praise we CAM, nearly drove the British from
Canada: now in New York where the Continen-
tails, opposed by Howe, We're forced Oh the Del
aware, and, finally, after their rout at
Brandywine, to their cheerless and ice
bound camp at Valley Forge; now surrounding
Burgoyne on the heights of Saratoga, and gath
ering aid and comfort by the surrender Of his
forces - an event, which l may say IN passing.
called forth from the eloquent Chatham his ceie-
brated tribute to America: - You cannot conquer
America. If were an American as I am AN
Euglishman, while a foreign troop was landed in
my country, 1 would never lay down my arms.
Never ueverM ueveril" Now fighting against
Corvallis ia the south; now weakened
by bankruptcy and disheartened by the
lack of expected aid from France: now
cheered bv the detection OF Sir Henry
Clinton, the arrival Of the French heet with
men, and arms, and money, and finally achlrS-
ing success by coping up CORVALLIS at York
town, and forcing him to surrender his whole
army to.the victorious Washington.
This last stroke was the finishing blow, for
the news OF that victory reached England at the
same time the couTiers arrived with the iutelli-
geuce of the revolt in Ireland. The double
blow was too much. Lord North resigned, aud
as the historian Greene remarks, sin the face
of such a rising at home, it became plain to the
most logged of Tories that it was impossible to
continue q strife across three thousand miles of
sea-"
And thus it was that England became recon
ciled to the fact that the American Colonies
''were, and of right ought to be, free and indie
pendent States.'
Far ADLER tongues than mine have spoken the
praises of the great central figures OF the revolu-
ton, bat one tribute has lately been paid to
Washington, and, that too, by an Englishman
which is so complete, so touching and SO true that
l cannot forbear giving it to You. 1t is by the
historian John Richard Greene, Al man whose
death not only the English nation, but the whole
world of literature has lately had reason to de-
Plore. He says in his history of the English
people, speaking of Washington: No nobler
figure ever stood in the forefront of a nations
life. Washington was grave and courteous in
address; his manners were simple and unpre-
tending; his silence and the serene calmness of
his temper spoke of a perfect self-Inastery;
but there was little i'll his outer bearing, to re-
veal the grandeur of soul which lifts his figure
with all the simple majesty OF an ancient statue
out of the smaller passions. the meaner i'm
pulses of the world around him."
1t was only rs the weary fight went on that
the Colonists discovered, however, slowly and
imperfectly, the greatness of their leader, his
clear Judgment, his heroic endurance, his
silence under difficulties, his calmuess in the
hour of danger, or defeat the patience with
which he waited, the quickness and hardness
with which he struck, the lofty and serene sense
of duty that never swerved from its task through
resentment or jealousy, that never, through war
or peace, felt the touch of u meaner ambition,
that knew of no aim except that Of guarding
the freedom OF his fellow-countrymen, and no
personal longing except that of returning to his
own Preside when their freedom was secured.
1t was almost unconsciously that men learned
10 cling to Washington, with u trust and faith
such as few other men have Won, and to regard
him with a reverence which still bushes Us in
presence OF his memory. But even Americans
hardly recognized his true greatness while he
lived. 1t was only when death set his seal on
him that the voice Of those whom he had served
so long, proclaimed him - The man first in war,
first IN peace, and first in the hearts of his
countrymen.p But let us turn from the Amer
lean Revolution to the America of to-day. We
started with everything before U bankrupt alike
Ill money and friends, with nothing to help US
but our own hands, our own brains, and u sub
lime faith ia the Tectitude of our intentions to-
ward each other and toward the general world.
Have We fulfilled the hopes OF our forefathers,
or have We, in our later years, fallen with the de-
crepitude and languor of old age? Have the
caustlc prophecies Of Mac4uley, who predicted
that We would fall to pieces broken by our own
weight, or the cynical criticisms of Dickens,
who, when be visited US, could find nothing
good, but everything bad, or the clever sarcasms
of Thackeray, who, with all his wonderful genius,
seemed always to gloat over the ~frailties of our
national nature, or the bitter, almost malignant
slurs of Carlyle been deserved? Let us look
around us aud see. On July 4th, 1875, We were
a handful of people, so poor in numbers as to be
counted for nothing in the grand aggregate OF
the worlds population. What are we now? The
last census ticks US off at 50, OG0, 900, aud by
this time We have added 3, 900, 900 more, making
US in round numbers 30, 900, 900 of people. 1t is
difficult to realize what this means. We can
only do it by comparison. 1t means a population
greater than that of any nation on
the earth, except China and Russia.
Ten millions more than England, the
mother country, 10, 600. 900 more than France.