The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-27

ment of common territory, no common bond
3 between ad jacent States. Instead of these
there were discord, anarchy and subju-
I CATION.
Indeed, they were already at hand
/ While England refused to relinQush the
! Western forts, and contemptuOusly de-
manded of john Adams some security that
the separate States would not nulliiy the de-
crees of the confederation, while Europe
awaited disdainfully the dissolution of a
loose and jarring league, the States them
selves, pinohed with poverty, jealous of Con-
gress, withheld their contributions to the
common treasury, and encountered from
their own citizens armed defiance
! OF their own authority. The situation
was intolerable. Liberty and independence
masquerading as lawlessness and license
threatened the rustic republicans, as the leer-
ing satyr in the fable deiuded the simple
! shepherds of the plain. But the high destiny
OF the English-speaking race was not to be
/ thwarted. The ancient traditions of that
people, whose political genius is strong COM
mon sense, are not of liberty only, but of
constitutional liberty and of sagaety and
skill which secure and perpetuate that lib
erty in adequate and flexible institutions.
Devotion to liberty and loyalty to law, pro-
ceedng with equal step, have together led
the race of which Washington is the consnm-
mate flower, from the gloom of the ancient
German forest to the imperial splendor of
England and the republican glory of the
United States. But the children of liberty
are wise in their generation. There were
American States after the revolution, and
there were constitutions of States. But there
was no common constitution, no common
guarantee both of the rights of States and
the liberties of the citizen; and, in the midst
of States and constitutions, State authority
and individual liberty, and the general well
fare itself, were perishing.
Then, as in the passionate excitement bnt
uncertain movement-of the early revolution,
paper passed mysteriously from patriotic
hand to hand. firing every patriotic heart
with the magic motto. Join or die;' SO. in
the air, now electric with national feeling,
Join or die' became the burden of The
mighty chorus that rolled from out the heart
OF the people. 1t was resistless, like the de-
mand for independence ten years before.
The convention met Washington, the good
genius OF union, was its president. 1t framed
the constitution and submitted 1T to the
people. For ten months the land shook
with the great debate upon its ratification,
and the conclusive argument for the consi-
tuition was that Washington would be the
first President. In this very street Alex
ander Hamilton met John Lamb, the ardent
leader Of the Sons OF Liberty, who distrust-
ed the new scheme of government and ar
gued with him that fear was folly since
Washington would be the President Good
replied Lamb, for to no other mortal would
| intrust authority so enormous At
solemnly adopted the constitution. In
the jubilee of JOY that followed, as Of peo-
Pile breaking deadly spell, opposi ton was
silenced, and the man who, like Moses, had
| led his army through the Red Sea of armed
strife, was summoned by the Instructive love
and perfect confidence of the whole people.
to perform the miracle for which thev wait
ed. and like greater than Moses, to stretch
forth his hand and rase the dead frame of ma
tional union to life.
A MEMORABLE JOURNEY.
'With that manly humility and modest
simplicity that always invested his great
ness, like the rosy hue that suffuses the aw-
full summit of Mont Blanc, Washington
writes in his diary, on the 18th of April, 1899:
| About 10 o'clock babe adieu to Mount
Vernon, to private life, and to domestic fe-
LEFTY, and with mind oppressed with more
anxious and painful sensations than have
words to express, set out for New York, with
the best disposition to render service TO my
country in obedience to its call, but with less
hope of answering its expectation
From State to State, from town to
town, along that triumphal way from
Mount Vernon, the air murmered with bene
dctions az me passed. Under laureled arches
and walking upon flowers, amid the music
of bells, the thunder of cannon, the aeclama-
tons of the people, the singing of hymns,
and the eloquence Of votive addresses, Wash
ington came at last to New York, and landed
at the foot of this street, amid such joyous
EMULATION as New York had never known.
After week had passed. the great object of
his coming was to be accomplished, and on
the Both of April. 1889, the procession attend
ing the President moved from his house on
Franklin square, through Pearl street to
Broad and through Broad street to the spot
upon which we are now assembled.
g. mono the most i'm nOSinO aVantS in his
tory must always be accounted the simple
ceremony which was transacted here. The
human mind Graves lofty figures for memo
rable scene and loves to decorate with fit
ting circumstance the fulfillment OF great
| affairs. For this event all such conditions
were satisfied. The scene was set with every
ample preparation of historic significance
and patriotic association, with the most
eminent actors, with the most suspicious
anticipation. For the occasion itself
America offered no place more
becoming for no SPOT is more conspicuously.
more honorably or more closely identified
than this with the history of American lib
erty. The scene around us is marvelously
changed, indeed, from its aspect in the colo
NAL. the provincial. the revolutionary city.
How transformed this street from the resort
of fashion, the seat of the State government
the modest residence of merchants, diplo-
matists and statesmen, which was the Wall
street of century agoi Then the social and
political heart of a small and struggling
community, 1t is now the financial nerve
center of continent But if the vast COM
petitions and contentious of capital and en-
terprise which involve the prosperity of
States and nations, have overlaid the plain
scene of political strife with a field of cloth
of gold. yet still the halrowed soil is here.
The swarming street is but picture painted
over. Beneath the ever-shfting characters
of speculation and of eager trade necessarily
| frapad This -DaVpmapt of fba
city, lies the undimned and indellible patri-
otto record of old New York.
HISTORIC GROUND.
"The spot upon which we stand was the
site of the second city hall which, for more