Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-07-06

t following the first assault upon kingly au
c thority in America. | have often though
. we were fast arriving at that state of minC
e when those events seemed as foreign to US
Y and to possess for us as little interest as The
e escape ofthe ten thousand under Xenophon
e or the wars of the Crusades. To those o
} us whose ancestors or kinsman Tough
or died in battles or camps, the cause
for which they suffered is not indifferent
Nor ought it to be Indifferent to those who
| enjoy the advantages of our institutions
2 equally with ourselves
THE WAR FOR LIBERTY.
On the day following the immortal ride
of the midnight horseman from Boston 10
Concord, to the end of the struggle was
manifested on the part of the Americans d
courage, patience and endurance, almost
unparalleled The first blood shed at Lex
ington, the bloody retribution exacted dur
ing the march to and from Concord, put an
inSurmountabie barrier against all accom-
mediation. From thence through Bunker
Hill to Yorktown it was uncompromising
war. In the North, Bunker Hill, Dorches-
ter flights, Triconderoga, Hubbardton,
Bennington, and Saratoga, told some
times Of defeat; but always of that
uncomfortable courage, which, deserv-
ing success, reached it at last at
Saratoga. The South likewise had its ter
T1ble experiences, but it never faltered.
Sumter and Marion. called the Swamp
Fox, were among the ablest of their time.
Nc opportunity for harassing the enemy
was lost. No unguarded or exposed post
hut was attacked. The falling upon the
enemy from amDuscade, the night attack,
the mastery retreat before superior force,
leaving all of injury they could intiict, be-
came to the British not merely annoyance,
but such loss as detimated and disheart-
ened Their force
This desuitory fightingat last eliminated
in the glorious battle of Kings Mountain.
Washington acting in the center of what
may now call the nation. was its central
figure. OF all examples of singleness of
purpose-his country's gooa-fQr ability,
courage Fabian wisdom and prudence he
stood unrivaled. He knew to meet the
superior British forces with raw levies, half
armed, was TO invite destruction. He knew
that strong party of men in England be-
lieved the war was unjust; he knew that
England was bending under an immense
debt the result of the war with France, and
the people of England were impatient un-
der taxation. Inhicting all the injury he
could never neglectips to combat where it
was necessary Or would do any good, he
waited until the tide should turn.
That great and gallant nation, the French,
advancing US nearly six millions of dollars.
at length assumed q beliGerent position to-
ward Great Britain and became our ally.
and the seige of Yorktown and the sur
render of CORVALLIS placed us, by the
recognition OF all great powers. in the cate
l CORY of an independent nation. Are not
all these things, and more, written in the
books of the chronicles that they may be
read and remembered of all?
4 great American said: . If the stars
were to come out but once in a thousand
years, how would men believe and adore,
and tell to future generations the glory of
the city of God which they had seem"
So if Washington and the great men Of
the revolution would revisit US but day in
a hundred years. how would We believe and
adore and how would they wonder at
what they saw.
THE CHANGED CONDITION,
The three have become fifty millions.
How would these warriors smile at the
thought of few hundred men marching
from Boston to Concord on an evil GRAND,
or Burgoyne attempting march even as
far South as Saratoga! All would won
der al the magnificence of our indus
tries and of our strength. The soldier
would see an instrument Of war--the
powder, constituting one charge of which,
in the hands of the Americans, would have
changed the issue of the battle at Bunker
Hill Franklin, with the aid of that invis-
ible agent which he brought down from
heaven, would in an hour receive the
plaudits of the whole world. How should
we in grateful stiffness bow down before
that awful presence and tell to future gen
erations Resemblance ofthat glorious scene,
and impress upon those generations the
lesson which taught us the reverence and
gratitude we owe Our dead horoes And
yet, though they are not here in personal
presence the works of their lives, the SYM
bols of their spiritual power are here
They are here in the peace and prosperity
of man in this lofty temple Of representa-
tive government, in the administration of
equal laws, and of the practical application
of the fundamental doctrine, the equality
of man."
THE DUTIES OF THE HOUR.
Young men, you do not know in what
awful hour you may be called upon to main
tain the integrity of your country. On this
day you are called upon not only to rejoice,
but to prepare yourselves for all your duties
and possible trials, by study of the char
acters of the founders of your nation, their
courage, their wisdom and their self-sacri-
and by copying their virtues.
A representative government is not with
out its dangers. Ours is not without its
difficulties, arising, not so much from de-
feet IN the provisions of its written laws, as
from the intirmities of those who interpret
and control them. Great Britain had no
written Constitution. The powers of the
King and of Parliament rested in the inter
probation of traditions and usage. With so
uncertain rule, Americans were not salts
fed, and they erected their government
upon written Constitution.
This instrument was not only a code of
rules for the purpose of controlling official
life, but was largely intended to limit the
power Of the people itself. The wise men
of the time knew that heated and mistaken
zeal of the people, if suffered to have i'm
mediate effect upon the law in all cases,
would be quite rs dangerous as the notion
or caprice of a single man. They, there
fore, provided such limitations and checks
to the popular action as would secure that
sober second thought most likely to be
right.
And yet the struggle is q constant and
severe one. resisting the attempt to substi-
tute the whim of the hour for the plainest
constitutional provisions. The Constitution
provided by the people as the supreme ex-
ponent of its will, has created a judiciary
especially charged with the duties of its ex-
position and maintenance. The right to
move for, and if thought desirable, TO oh
tain changes in the fundamental law, is
unquestioned. No danger can possibly arise
from such attempts.
DANGERS OF THE PRESENT.
But what shall we say Of those continued
attempts of the demagogucs of the hour, OF
"a very large portion of the public press
that by the widest and most absurd ex-
!, preston deliberately endeavor to induce
the people 10 trample upon the Constitu-
ton as ii is. and to bring into contempt the
: nagistracy that is called upon to admins.
ter it.
Washington, in his farewell address
especially warned us against these very at
tacks, and urged us to respect the funda
| mental law, and to discountenance attack
and insult upon the Judge who interprets
it