The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-07-05

soon followed. JUST as lilS doctrine
was getting established, Influences from
the South came, tending to encourage
tyranny These Englishmen and their
near neighbors, Of the same race, be-
came rulers of conquered peoples. Slav-
ery nearly always affects the master
uniavorably as well as the slave. This
was not an exceptional case: Then
came the mighty influence OF the Church
teaching. "Submit to the powers that
be; for the powers that be are ordained
of God Whosoever resisteth the power
resisteth the ordinance of God" The
teachers of Christianity thus lent their
influence to tyranny, by applying the
words of holy writ to the cases of those
of whom it was not spoken. Yet all of
these powers combined failed to crush
out the spirit of freedom among the Eng
lish people.
One of the colonists facetiously claim
ed that there was a constitutional way to
deal with tyrants. Considering the fact
that the English Constitution is only a
series of precedents, it is difficult to
prove his position false. King John met
British arms at Runnymede, and yielded
an unwilling recognition of the peoples
rights, because he could do no other.
The Plantagenets felt the peoples might
rights. During the hundred and sixty
years which preceded the union of the
Roses" history tells us, "nine kings
reigned in England. Six of the nine
were deposed. Five lost their lives as
we'll as their crowns" Charles L.
learned to his cost how Englishmen deal
with tyrants James IL. furnished an
other example Will Englishmen glory
in Magma Charta and the Bill of Rights,
and turn their backs upon the Declare
ton of Independence, that grand state
ment of the principles which lie at the
foundation OF English polity? No, the
Fourth OF July is a day to be celebrated
throughout the world, wherever freedom
is known.
Would the American cOlonists act
upon precedents or would they be the
first Englishmen for centuries to ac-
knowledge themselves the chattels OF
king, cabinet or parliament, by tamely
submitting TO tax to which they had
never in any way given their consent?
They were the sciOns OF a hardy stock.
Many of their ancestors had fed from
tyranny to establish their race in the
wilderness, choosing a clear conscience
to ease, and to liberty wealth. Their sons
learned liberty and learned to love it
from mountain, forest, and the great free
country around them. They learned it
from generations of free men born and
reared out of the way OF tyrants. They
learned it from the history of the mother
country. They learned self-reliance
from their isolation from the rest of the
world. They learned self-cOntrol in the
church and in the school. They learned
self-gOvernment in the tOwn-meeting,
while their insigniticance was their pro-
lection, as we'll as in the church. Was
wanting to fit them to be the
worlds champions of liberty7 If they
failed where were the dOwn-trOdden of
the earth to look for examples? Not to
England; for were not these Englishmen
with the best possible preparation for
the championship? Not to France; for
had not the collapse of feudalism
left the masses of Frenchmen a
prey to nobility and ROYALTY alike,
while liberty was only to be learned
by its absence, while self-reliance,
and self-government were
not developed by experience, and while
aspirations were not encouraged by his
tory? No; the world was looking to
America for an example and for champ
ions. The English people were looking
ON with sympathy. Parliament by no
means represented the people. Franklin
felt very strongly that it was not the
choice of the people of the mother coun-
try to Cypress the people of America.
When General Gage was sent to Boston
with an army, the Duke Of Richmond |
said in parliament that he hoped the |
Americans would resist and be victorious. !
When the representations OF the first |
Continental Congress were laid before |
the Earl Of Chatham de-
a. Il, = e
England were in sympathy with the col |
)nists. And when motion was made |
n the House of Lords, the Kings own !
brother voted to withdraw the army
rom Boston. Even Lord North, whose
sense of duty only required him to carry
,ut the wishes of his Sovereign, had to
De gOaded on by the King with threats
1t various times that he would abdicate
md return to Hanover if his measures
we're not carried out, and again that he
would resort to the sword if parliament
would not carry out his will, and still
Lgain that he would veto an obnoxious
measure if parliament insisted upon pas
ing it. What would Englishmen have
lone if he had carried out his dire
hreat to abdicate and abandon them?
Hheir condition would have been as sad
IS that of sheep deserted by the wolf!
LIS Unreal 10 RESORT 10 In0 SWORD recalls
story of Geo. Stevenson. Once when
re was talking about the possibilities OF
he railway and intimating that trains
would yet run at speed of twelve miles
N hour, some one interrupted him by
skiing, :" What if bull were to plant
himself upon the track and resist the
passage OF the train, wouldn't that be
'ad?' g Yes" replied Stevenson, :" it
would be bad-for the bull'' So, if
ling George had taken up arms against
he English people it would have been
bad-for the Elector of Han
ver. So much for digres ion. But
IL this is to call to mind that Americas
quarrel was not with the people of Eng
and. In fact their sympathy was with
he colonists. And the coIonists, in
urn, felt this sympathy and regarded
themselves as the champions of the lib