Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-07-05

mate the Importance of that memorable
and momentous act II marks grand
epoch in the progress OF the Anglo-Saxon race
toward enlightened and conservative liberty. 1t
established and secured the foundations of the
parliamentary life and commercial prosperity of
England. Ii granted the trial by jury by the law
of the land, and conceded that secret principle
of political power, the right of selftaxation, for
which in later ages Hampden fought and died
Yet, this boosted "bulwark of English liberty "
is tacit admission of the divine right of kings,
and the enjoyment of the liberties written there
in was restricted to certain privileged ranks in
the State, expressly recognized II the grant. 1t
was a compact between King and Baron, by
which certain privileges and immunities were
secured to priests and mobiles and gentlemen,
and their descendants to the exclusion of the
mass of the people. For the great majority of
Englshmen who titled the earth, whose labor
was the foundation of the power and glory of
England, the great charter contained but a
single provision, which stipulated that =" no vii
lain, or rustic, should by any fine be bereayed of
his carts, his plows or his implements OF hus-
bandry.
II was the undying glory of our Revolutionary
sires to hurl in the face of another tyrannical
King in tones that have pierced the ears of the
human race, the declaration " that al men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights; that
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" This was not the deliverance of
enthusiasts, enamored with the forms of liberty
as they had been depicted by poets; it was not
the refined expression of theorists. content with
the cold distractions of speculative philosophy;
il was not the false pretext of turbulent men,
FESTIVE under the restraints of Just authority;
neither was ii the act alone of the fty-five pat
riots and statesmen whose imperishable names
are inscribed upon the parchment on which it
was written. 1t was the new gospel of liberty
and equality, and its adherents, its priests its
advocates and warriors, were the common peo-
pie. II was the freemans gage of battle thrown
to tyrants. It was the resolute act of
practical earnest men, stimulated by
a nf ffnrDlln pVilS inflicted
upon them by despOtic power; the intelligent
act of educated, thoughtful men, animated by
correct sense OF the true source OF all political
authority; the reverent act of reli lous, Christian
men moved by a profound conviction of thor
dependence upon, and accountability to, God
the fearless act OF heroes, avouched with their
lives, their futures, and their sacred honors.
II was the immortal deed of an inspired nation,
solemnized by its chosen representatives in the
full gaze of the world " in the name and by au
thority OF the people and with firm reliance
ON that Divine Providence which Is the ever
lasting spring and fountain of human liberty.
1t is the sublime moral courage and unmatched
political wisdom 1t eVinces: the character and
scope of the liberties it asserts; its reverent as
crption of those liberties to the God of nature as
their author: its awful pledges for the Yindica-
ton of those liberties; its solemn invocation OF
the popular will. as the warrant of its authority;
the Incompatible simplicity and dignity with
which ii is clothed these are the attributes when
contrast our great charter of American liberty
with all others, and impaired to that liberty its
original and exalted character A great Tree
empire, with suitable institutions, securely
seated ON this continent and tiourishing IN a
MONDAY blaze of glory, had long before been
heralded by the voice of prophecy, ana IN the
songs of poets. IN the more advanced ana cult
waited regions of the old world, new school OF
political philosophy had arisen, and sounder
principles and more enlightened views, re-
garding liberty and government than mad be-
fore obtained, were broadly disseminated. The
minds of men instinctiVely turned to the new
4 ~, tho oct aS a fhnntnr which those
principles would be widely dl1uSed, ana their
power displayed in free, permanent and beneh-
cent civil, social and religious institutions.
Locke, and Sidney, and Milton, had given TO the
world those immortal works, to which the lovers
of liberty will ever repair and
-" in their urns draw golden light"
David Hume had said OF America. The
seeds of many a noble state have been sown in
climates kept distant by the wild manners of
the Inhabitants, and an asylum is secured in
that solitary world for liberty and science. The
muse of Berkeley, kindling with spark from
-"rapt ISaiah's wild seraphic fire"
had sung in strain of high poetical inspira-
ton,
Westward the course of empire takes It's way;
The four first acts already past,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Times noblest offspring IS the last.
On one of these anniversaries, and standing
on the spot where ninety-One years ago wash
ington stood when he laid the cornerstone ofthe
National Capitol. an orator lifted up on wings of
genius and aglow with the spirit OF this remark
able poem, said: This extraordinary prophecy
may be considered only as the result OF long
foresight and Sagacity, stimulated nevertheless,
by excited feelings and high enthusiasm. So
clear a vision of what America would be
come was not founded on square miles, or on ex-
listing numbers, or any common law OF Statistics
II Was.en intuitive glance into futurlty; Ii was
grand conception, strong, ardent. glowing en-
braCing all time since the creation of the world,
and all regions of which that world was com
posed, and judging of the future by just analogy
i,,iv 10Th Ia inns q
beauty with which the thought was expressed,
Joined to the conception ITSELF render it one of
the most striking passages in our language
@ On the day of the declaration of independ-
ence our illustrious fathers performed the first
scene in the last great act Of this drema-one in
real importance, infinitely exceeding that for
which the great English poet inyokes
ga muse of FIRE,
A kingdom for stage princes to act,
And monarChs TO behold the swelling scene
1.-THE muse inspiring our fathers was the
Genius of Liberty, all on fire with sense OF OPP
preston, and resolution to throw it of; the
whole world was the stage, and higher charac-
tiers than princes trOd it and, instead of mon
archs, countries and nations and the age be
held the swelling scene How well the char
acters were cast and how well each acted his
part and what emotions the whole performance
excited, let history, now ana hereafter tel.
The spectacle on which this anniversary lifts
the curtain brings before us in vivid. brilliant
reality the prediction OF the philosophic hstorl-
an and the dream of the poet. We behold that
" solitary world - transformed 70 n scene OF I'M
exampled human activity, the wild manners OF
its inhabitants supplanted by the refinementS OF
an unmatched civilization; its solitudes studded
with noble monuments of liberty ana science,
and covered with bowers Of human happiness.
II has been satirically said, that 10 an AmeTl-
can this is a day OF acute self-consclousness. we
answer with Il challege to point TO any other
pOlity, past or present, under which human nap
piness and prosperity have been SO largely and
equally diffused as under the Government of
America. We challenge the nations of the earth
for an exhibition of Splendor and strength on a
scale so grand as that which III single century
America has achieved under the creative, order
ing and fashioning power Gifts free institutions.
We challenge history for more shining examples
Of heroic devotion and selfsacriHce, than Anerl-
cans have displayed III the defense Of those ID
stitu.iOns.
It has been consciously said, by rs eminent
critic as De TOcqueTille, that the Americans are
q practical people, bent on the pursuits OF gain
If to have accumulated wealth upon larger
scale than any other nation, ancient OF modern
If TO have projected, encouraged ana exalted
labor, to a degree elsewhere unknown; II 70
have been devoted mainly to those works OF
utility which are 50 natural so appropriate and
important in the earlier stages OF national life
if not to have filed the land with monumental
piles and the splendoTs OF architecture IL not
yet to have attained the highest distinction In
poetry and painting and sculpture If these are
the facts upon which the imputatiou is based,
Il has solid foundation. The youth of this great
llLlDl iDt Act past HAS bSts44 ~ id olItib IL
building and Cementing States, and in the prose
cution of great wars for their defense; i'll es-
tablishing great and populous settlements, and
consolidating them By means Of free churches
and free schools; in the construction OF raIl-
ways, in the opening of canals, in the invention
and application of the telegraph and the tele-
phone, thereby bringing the distant communi-
ties of a continent into ucarness and cohesion
in building up and consolidating great and di-
ycrsifed Industries in the pursuit of those
true objects of national ambition, the en-
lightment and comfort of the population at
large, for whom and by whom. the country has
been conquered, planted, civilized and ruled.
If we have not yet produced q Bacon, Newton
or a Iaplace, we have written upon the rolls of
fame the names of multitude OF great men,
who have translated and applied their reason
ingS and poured the blessings of science upon
commerce, and agriculture, and manufactures,
and all the practical affairs of life. II we have
not yet discovered a poet like Shakespeare, a
painter like Raphael, or a sculptor like Angelo,
we have nodded and coined the epochs and
and eTas, and accumulated in abundance the
materials which always precede the development
Of genius in its highest forms. War, said Hera-
clitus, the philosopher of Ephesus is the father
of ali things meaning, that all things are
evolved by the conflict Of antagOnistic
forces The catastrophe of Troy was long be-