The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-04
A DAY FOR THE NATION.

JnaI, aIJer the read1ng OF the journal, Uo-uayJ
the Senate shall listen to the reading of the
Declaration ofIndependence and Washington's
Farewell Address, may seem puerile to some
people, but it will strike many as being an
excellent and timely move. To-day is the
Fourth Of July, the hundred -and-eighth an
niversary of the nations birth. It is well to
annually take reckoning and see what course
we as people are taking get the correct
bearings from which to shape our future
course. Even a cursory perusal Of that great
instrument, declaring the intention of the
American people to take their place among the
that it was the well-understood purpose of the
founders of our government that it should be
Nation and not confederacy so loosely
connected as to fall asunder at the caprice of
any Of its members when, in the course of
human events'-the well-remembered words
with which Jefferson opens that i'm
mortal document-'it becomes neces
sary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the
powers of the earth the separate and equal
station to which the laws of nature and of ma
lures God entitle them 80 runs the declara-
| ton; zone people determined to arise t'among
the powers Of the earth to an equal
station with them. The man who penned
those words, and the patriots who, at the
peril of their lives, Endorsed them, knew their
full significance, and realized that the only
| hope of their cause was in national unity,
| crystallized out Of the several colonies and
! their varied interests Each in itself was an
infant in the clutch Of giant compared with
the powers of the earth, and all united were
barely strong enough to make respectable
showing and encourage the help of nations
pressor The people Of Virginia of Penn
sylvania, of New York and of Georgia knew
this so well that all sectional differences were
ignored, and a perfect fusion of interests was
had in the union of forces and of aims
So, too, should be read and rever-
eneed that other grand utterance-the
Farewell Address of Washington, in
which he SO strongly urges national unity
as ''the main pillar in the edi6ce of real indie
pendence." tit is Of infinite moment he
declares, THAT you should properly estimate
the immense value of your national union to
your collective and individual happiness; that
you should cherish cordial habitual, and
immovable attachment to it. The
name of American, which belongs to you in
your national capacity, must always exalt the
just pride of patriotism more than appella-
tons derived from local determinations" In
this spirit of loving loyalty to common
country, SO dearly bought, Washington takes
formal leave of the public duties so unani-
mously put upon him. And though resident
Virginia, his love for Virginia was swallowed
up in his patriotic devotion to the Nation, of
which Virginia was but member. The
idea of national unity, born of necessity,
and made the cornerstone Of the Dec
laration Of Independence, has never
died from the days Of Washington
and jefferson. But while it lived in the hearts
and love of patriotic citizens Of all parts Of
the Union since that day it has not been
without enemies So strong was the opposi-
ton to it on the part Of the defenders of hui
man slavery that a political party was organ
lied and maintained on that issue; and, in
1860, the Democratic party went into armed
rebellion against the Nation of Washington
and Jefferson, and for four years waged one
Of the most desperate wars in the worlds his
tory in the infamous attempt to destroy what
the fathers Of the Revolution had bequeathed
u.s.
The same fell spirit that precipitated the
shareholders rebellion of 1861 is alive to-day.
The Democratic party, forgetting nothing and
learning nothing, still believes that the
State is greater than the Nation, and
that the former has the right to
defy and destroy the latter. In its
convention at Chicago next week it will very
likely formulate resolution to that effect,
not without ambiguity, of course, for sincerity
Of utterance is not to be expected from that
party of treachery and deceit. II were well
if the Declaration and Washington's letter
were read in that convention. It is barely
possible that under momentary impulse, that
party might be brought to undertake some
patriotic measure and to turn for time from
its hostility to our common country. The
American citizen, in the name Of which
Washington took 50 much pride, cannot keep