The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-11-28

erment of the Confederate n, a mum
my clad In robes of state, with0u
power and without consideration
was scorned abroad and condemned
at home.
The times that tried mems soul
In this country were rather in 17S'
than in 1910. for the colonial abi'it,
to win Independence involved
neither the righteousness of tn
cause nor the character of the poo
pie. The revolution had proved thei
valur, the new situation tested thei
wisdom; and without wisdom thi
revolution had been In vain. By tn
common exertion. sacrifice and sui
fering, independence had beer
achieved. the enemy had been ex
PEELED, and the younger England o
the West had humhled the crowned
and unnatural mother England up0r
the sea-giIt throne. In this crucia
moment, neglect o ignorance Of the
obvious and indispensable mean o.
securing the common safety, strength
and welfare, the apparent rev. lati0r
Of American incapacity to build {
national American commonwealth
MASut justly AAA OvSAy SOoCAouo oAu
patriotic heart with dismay. Yet i
any American despaired during thu
gloomy years from 1888 to 1887, and
doubted whether the men were equal
to the task, 80 had John Adams
doubted and despahed on the very
eve If the assembly of the Continen-
tai Congress. I'VE have not men fiji
for the times" he exclaimed;
1--WE are deficient in gen.
ius, in education, in travel, in
fortune, in everything" But scarcely
had ne written the words than he
fastened to take his part In that I'M
mortal Assembly, and to do the very
thing that he feared no man was
strong enough tn do. Well did JET
fers0n call him the Colossus, for upon
his mighty and indomitable will he
lifted the country to the Declaration
of Independence. Why then doubt,
sin . Independence had been
achieved, that national union was
possible? The leaders of the revo-
luton, the chiefs of the Continental
Congress, still lived. Age had not
| dimmed. their eyes nor chilled. their
| hearts, nor withered their faculties.
The work. they had begun surely
they were ready to complete, aud the
meh who had made the English
Colonies American States we're wise
enough and strong enough to bind
the American States into q nation. !,
Nay, even doubt was treachery.
For still he lived.-in the prime of
glorious manhood he still lived,
whose faith, and character, and cour-
age, when patriotism despaired and
hope expired. had moved before his
struggling country a pillar of cloud by
day, of fire by night. To think of
the revolution Is to see him. The
whole scene is radiant with his pres
ence and his power. He was, indeed,
but one patriot among patriots, and
an ardent and general patriotism it
was that m%arshaled Minute Men and
enrolled Sons of Liberty. 1t was a
sublime popular daring that defed
the British Empire and made good
its defiance. Doubtless the American
revolution was the work of the peO-.
pie, but it seems the work Of q man
How can we conceive its heroic pros
ecution, its triumphant issue, with.
out its leader? Had he fallen at
Trenton, had he been captured by
Clinton, had intrigues of selfish am
bition prevailed against him, had he
not nerved-he alone-the hesitating
army at Newburgh, who dare doubt
that the vision of the lone far off
divine event. that drew the country
through the war, would still have
been fulfilled? But what American
does not know, and proudly own,
that the perpetual and inspiring as
surance of that event, the cheer of
the weary march, the Joy of the vic
tory. the confidence Of Congress, the
pride and hope of America, was the
character Of Washington.
No voice tor powerful Union was
caller or stronger or more constant
than his. The fervOr of his convic.
ton kindled the faith of the country.
Samuel Adams might hesitate. and
Patrick Henry doubt, but Washing
ton was sure. Union alone had won
independence, union alone could Sc
cure it. Without union there was no
common revenue, no common regu-
lation of commere. no settlement of
common territory, no common bond
between adjacent states. Instead of
these, there were discOrd. anarchy,
and subjugation.
Indeed, they were already at hand.
While England refused to relinquish
the western forts, and contemptuous.
~ demanded of John Adams some
security that the separate States
would not nullify the DEGREES of the
confederation, while Europe awaited
disdainfully the dissolution of a
loose and Earring league, the States
pinched with poverty, |
of Congress, withheld their |
contributions to the common treasury
and encountered from their own citi-
zens armed defiance of their own au-
The situation was intolera-
BILE. Liberty and independence, |
masquerading as lawlessness and IL
cense, threatened the rustic republi-
cans, as the leering satyr in the fable
deluded the simple shepherds of the
But the high destiny of the
English speaking race was not to be
The ancient traditions of
people, whose political genius is
common sense, are not of lib
VAly : III VI COuSIAIuClOudI 1AOcI |
", and of a sagacity and skill which
secure and perpetuate that liberty in
adequate and flexible institutions.
to liberty and loyalty to
aw, proceeding with equal step, have
,ogether led the race of which Wash
is the consummate flower,
rom the gloom Of the ancient Ger
nan forest to the imperial splendor
If England aud the republican glory
If the United States. But the chill
lren of liberty are wise in their gen.
There were American States
lfter the revolution, and there were
constitutions of States. But there
vas no common constitution, no COM
non guarantee both Of the rights
If states and the liberties of the citi-
zen; and, in the midst of states and
constitutions, state authority and in
liberty, and the general well
are itself, were %perishing.
Then, as in the passionate excite
nent but uncertain movement of the
,arly revolution, a paper passed mys-
eriously from patriotic hand to hand,
iring every patriotic heart with the
he magic motto, "Join or DE-" SO,
the air, now electric with national