The Portland daily press., 1889-05-01

of the loan it could secure from
the money-lenders of Europe. Even Wash
ington exclaimed in despair: ~ see one head
gradually changing into thirteen; 1 see one
army gradually branching int thirteen which,
instead Of looking up to Congress as the
supreme controlling power, are considering
themselves as depending on their respective
States" And later, when Independence had
been won, the impotency of the government
wrung from him the exclamation: "After
gloriously and successfully contending against
the usurpation of Great Britain, we may fall
prey to our own folly and disputes"
But even through this Cimmerian darkness
shot fame which illumined the coming
century, and kept bright the beacon fires Of
liberty. The architects of constitutional freedom
formed their institutions with wisdom which
forcasted the future. They may not have
understood at first the whole truth, but, for
that which they knew, they had the martyrs
spirit and the crusaders enthusiasm. Though
the confederation was government of checks
without balances, and of purposes without
power, the statesmen who guided it demon
strated often the resistless force of great souls
animated by the purest patriotism, and united
in Judgment and effort to promote the common
good by lofty appeals and reasoning. TO elevate
the masses above local greed and apparent
self-interest to their own broad plane
The most significant triumph of these moral
and intellectual forces was that which secured
the assent of the States to the limitation of their
boundaries, to the grant of the wilderness be-
yond them to the general government and to
the insertion in the ordinance erecting the
Northwest Territories Of the immortal proviso
| prohibiting slavery or involuntary servitude"
within all that broad domain. The States
carved out of this splendid concession were not
| sovereignties which had successfully rebelled,
but they were the children Of the Union. born
of the covenant and thrilled with its life and
liberty. They became the bulwarks of nation
| atty and the buttresses Of freedom Their
/ preponderating strength first checked and then
broke the slave power, their fervid loyalty
halted and held at bay the spirit of State rights
and secession for generations; and when the
| crisis came il was with their overwhelming
assistance that the nation killed and buried its
| enemy. The cornerstone Of the edifce whose
| centenary we are celebrating was the ordinance
| Of l778. 1t was constructed by the feeblest of
| Congresses, but few enactments Of ancient or
modern times have had more far reaching and
beuefcent influence. 1t is one Of the sublimest
| paradoxes of history, that this weak confera-
| ton Of States should have welded the chain,
against which, after seventy four years Of fret
full efforts for release, its spirit frantieally
| dashed and died.
The government of the republic by Con-
gress of States, diplomatic convention Of the |
ambassadors Of petty commonwealth. after |
| seven years trial. was falling asunder.
| Threatened with civil war among its members, |
| instruction and lawlessness rife within the |
| States, foreign commerce ruined and internal |
| trade paralyzed, its currency worthless, its /
merchants bankrupt its farms mortgaged, its |
| markets closed, its labor unemployed it was |
| like helpless wreck upon the ocean, tossed /
about by the tides and ready to be engulfed in |
the storm. Washington gave the warning and /
IaolI n1 60 ankeA IL
TO command, but now entreating. The veter-
ans of the war and the statesmen of the Revo-
luton stepped to the front. The patriotism
which had been mised, but had never /
faltered, rose above the interests of /
States and the jealousies Of lar
ring Confederates to find the basis
for Union. at is clear to me as A, b, O."
said Washington, "that extension of federal
powers would make us one of the most happy,
wealthy, respectable and powerful nations that
ever inhabited the terrestrial globe. Without
them we shall soon be everything which is the
direct reverse. l predict the worst conse- |
quences from half starved, limping govern
ment, always moving upon crutches, and
tottering at every STEP" The response of the
country was the convention of 1887, at Phila-
delphia. The Declaration of Independence
was but the vestibule Of the temple which this
illustrious assembly erected. With no success
full presidents to guide, it auspiciously worked
OUT the problem Of constitutional government
and Of imperial power and home rule supple
menting each other in promoting the grandeur
of the nation, and preserving the liberty of
the individual.
The deliberations of great councils have
vitality affected, at different periods the history
of the world and the fate of empires; but this
Congress builded, upon popular sovereignty,
institutions broad enough to embrace the con-
tinent, and elastic enough to fit all conditions
of race and traditions The experience of a
hundred years has demonstrated for us the per- |
fiction of the work, for defence against foreign
foes, and for self-preservation against domestic
instruction, for limitless expansion in popula-
ton and material development, and for steady
growth in intellectual freedom and force. Its
continuing influence upon the welfare and
destiny of the human race can only be meas
ured by the capacity of man to cultivate and
enjoy the boundless opportunities of liberty
and law. The eloquent Characterization of |
Mr.. Gladstone condenses its merits: "The |
American constitution is the most wonderful
work ever struck off at given time by the
brain and purpose of man.
The statesmen who composed this great
senate were equal to their trust. Their con-
illusions were the results Of calm debate and
wise concession. Their character and abilities
were SO pure and great as to command the con-
fdence of the country for the reversal of the |
policy of the independence of the State of the
power of the general government which had |
hitherto been the invariable practice and al
most universal opinion, and for the adoption of
the idea Of the nation and its supremacy.
Towering in majesty and influence above
them Fall stood Washington, their president.
Beside him was the venerable Franklin, who,
though eighty-one years Of age, brought TO
the deliberations of the convention the unm- |
paired vigor and resources Of the wisest brain, |
the most hopeful philosophy, and the largest
experience of the times. Oliver Ellsworth,
afterwards chief justice of the United States
and the profoundest jurist in the country;
Robert Morris, the wonderful hnancier of the
Revolution and Gouverneur Morris, the most
versatile genius of his period; Roger Sherman,
one of the most eminent of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, and John Rut-
ledge, Rufus King, Elbridge Gerry, Edmund |
Randolph and the Pinckneys, were leaders OF |
unequalled patriotism, courage, ability and |
learning while Alexander Hamilton and |
James Madison, as original thinkers and con-
| structive statesmen, rang among the immortal |
| few whose opinions have for ages guided min |
listers Of state and determined the desiinies of
| nations.
This great convention keenly felt, and with |
devout and serene intelligence met, its tremen-
| dous responsibilities. 1t had the moral sup. |
| port Of the few whose aspirations for liberty /
had been inspired or renewed by the triumph |
of the American Revolution, and the active |
hostility Of every government in the world.
There were no examples TO follow. and the |
| experience Of its members led part Of them to |
lean toward absolute Capitalization as the only |
refuge from the anarchy of the confederation, |
| while the rest chung to the sovereignty Of the |
States, for fear that the concentration Of power |
would end in the absorption of liberty. The |
large States did not want to surrender the ad- |
vantage of their position, and the smaller |
States saw the danger to their existence. The |
leagues of the Greek cities had ended in loss
of freedom, tyranny, conquest and destruc-
ton. Roman conquest and assimilation had
strewn the shores Of time with the wrecks of
empires and plunged civilization into the
perils and horrors of the dark ages. The gov
eminent Of Cromwell was the isolated power
Of the mightiest man Of his age. without popu-
lar authority to fill his place the hereditary
principle to protect his successor The past
furnished no light for our State builders the
present was tull of doubt and despair. The
future, the experiment of self government, the
perpetuity and development of freedom, almost
the destiny of mankind, was in their hands.
,b;o criais fine couraOa and conRdaneo