Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-05-02

"'atffTfHEANA WIT "
HON. CHAUNCEY NJ. DEPEw.
tice of the distractions of philosophy. The
time, the country, the heredity and envir-
onment of the people, the folly of its enc
mics, and the noble courage of its friends,
gave to liberty after ages of defeat, OF
trial OF experiment. OF partial success and
substantial gains, this immortal victory.
Henceforth it had refuge and recruiting
station. The oppressed found free homes in
this favored land, and invisible armies
marched from it by mail and telegraph, by
speech and song, by precept and example,
to regenerate the world
Puritans in New England, Dutchmen in
New York, Catholics in Maryland, Hugue-
nots in South Carolina had felt the fires of
persecution and were welded to religious
liberty. They had been purified in the fur
mace and in high debate and on bloody bat
tle-fields had learned to sacrifice all ma
terfal interests and to peril their lives for
human rights. The principles of constitu-
t1onal government had been impressed
upon them 10y hundreds of years OF :dg-
gle, and for each principle they could point
TO the grave of an ancestor whose
death attested the ferocity of the fight
and the value of the concession
wrung from arbitrary power. They knew
the limit items of authority, they could
pledge their lives and fortunes to resist en-
croachments upon their rights but it re-
quired the lesson of Indian massacres, the
invasion of the armies Of France from
Canada, the tyranny of the British Crown
the seven years war of the Revolution, and
the five years of chaos OF the Confederation
to evolve the idea, upon which rest the
power and permanency of the Republic
that liberty and union are one and INSOFAR
able.
These men were not revolutionists. they
Izs,- Il.
priceless treasures of mankind The Brit
ish King and his Ministers were the revolu-
donists They were reactionaries, seeking
arbitrarily to turn back the hands upon the
dial of time. A year of doubt and debate,
the baptism of blood upon the battle-fields,
where soldiers from every colony fought,
under common standard and con-
Solidated the Continental Army gradually
lifted the soul and understanding of this inn
mortal Congress to the sublime declaration:
I'VE, therefore, the representatives of the
United States of America, in general Con-
gress assembled, appealing to the Supreme
Judge OF the world for the rectItude of our
Intentions do, in the name and by the au-
thorfty Of the good People of these colonies
publish and declare that these
united colonies are, and of right ought to
be, free aud Independent Sat 81
To this declaration John Hancock, pro-
scribed and threatened with death, anixed
like the pointers to the North Star in the
armament of freedom, and Charles Carroll
taunted that among many CAROLS, he, the
richest man in America, might escape
added description and identification with
''of Carrollton." Benjamin Harrison a dele
gate from Virginia the ancestor of the dis
dnguished statesman and soldier who to-
day SO worthily ills the chair of Washing
ton, voiced the unalterable determine
ton and defiance of the Congress.
He seized John Hancock, upon whose
head price was set, in his arms,
and placing him in the Presidential
chair, said: I'VE will show Mother Britain
how little we care for her by making our
President Massachusetts, man, whom she
has excluded from pardon by public proc
Iamation;" and when they We're signing the
Declaration. and the slender Elbridge Ger
" uttered the grim pleasantly, I'VE must
hang together or surely We will hang sep
arately," the portly Harrison responded
with the more daring humor, 1t will be all
over with me in a moment, but you will be
kicking in the air half an hour after l am
gone" Thus flashed athwart the great
charter, which was to be for its signers
death-warrant or diploma of Immortality,
as with firm hand, high purpose and un-
daunted resolution they subscribed their
names, this mockery of fear and the penal
ties of treason
More clearly than any statesman of the
period did Thomas Jefferson grasp and di
vine the possibilities of popular govern
ment He caught and crystallzed the spirit
of free institutions. His philosophical mind
was singularly free from the power of
precedents or the chains of prejudice He
had an unqueStioning and abiding faith in
the people, which was accepted by but few
OF his compatriots Upon his famous
axiom, OF the equality of all men before
the law, he constructed his system. 1t was
the trip-hammer essential for the emer-
gency TO break the links binding the colo
nies TO imperial authority, and to pulverize
the privileges of caste. It inspired him TO
write the Declaration of Independence. and
persuaded him TO doubt the wisdom OF the
powers concentrated in the constitution. In
his passionate love OF liberty he became in
tensely jealous of authority. He DESTROYED
the substance of royal prerogatiye but never
emerged from its shadow. He would have
the States as the guardians of popular
rights and the barriers against cen
tralization, and he saw in the grow
ing power of the Nation ever-increasing
encroachments upon the rights of the peo-
pie. For the success of the pure Democracy
which must precede Presidents and Cab
inets and Congresses it was perhaps proyi- |
Dental that its apostle never believed a
great people could grant and still retain,
could give and at will reclaim could dele
gate and yet firmly hold the authority
which ultimately created the power of their
hepuDnc ana enlarged The scope or their
own liberty
Where this master-Inind halSed all stood
still The necessity for a permanent Union
was apparent. but each State must have
hold upon the bowstring which encir-
cied its throat Il was admitted that union
gave the machinery required to success
fully tight the common enemy, but vet
there was fear that it might become q
and destroy its creators. Thus
patriotism and fear, difficulties of
between distant commu-
mites, and the intense growth of provincial
pride and interests, led this Congress to
frame the Articles of Confederation, hap
PLY termed the League of Friendship. The
result was not a government, but a ghost
By this scheme the American people were
ignored and the Declaration Of Independ-
ence reversed
But, while the perils of war had given
temporary strength to the Confederation, |
peace developed its fatal weakness
States passed exclusive and hostile laws
against each other, and not and disor- |
der threatened the disintegration of |
society. ''Our stock is stolen, our |
houses are plundered, our farms are |
raided, cried delegate in the Massachu- |
setts convention; Ndespotism is better than !