The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1889-05-01
DEPEW'S ADDRESS.
The 0ratorical Feature of the Gen.
tennial Exercises in New York
Yesterday.
A Graphic Sketch of the Transition
From a League of States to
Complete Union.
JsnsrsOss Fear of q Centralized Cover
ment-Ths Genius of wash
ington-

tOucnlng Drle1y upon the colonial period
OF American history Mr. Depew said:
The continental congress partially grasp.
ed. but completely expressed, the central
idea of the American republic. More fully
than any other body which ever assembled
did il represent the victories won from
arbitrary power for human rights. In the
new world IL was the conservator of liber-
ties secured through centuries of struggle
in the old. Among the delegates were the
descendants OF the men who had stood in
that brilliant array upon the field of Run
nymede, which wrested from King John.
erty, to which Hallam in the nineteenth
century bears witness that all which had
been since detained is little more than as
confirmation or commentary" There
were the grandchildren of the statesmen
who had summoned Charles before Parlia-
ment and compelled his assent to the peti
ton of rights which transferred power
from the crown TO the commons, and gave
representative government TO the English
speaking race. And there were those who
had sprung from the iron soldiers who had
fought and charged with Cromwell at
Naseby and Dunbar and Marston Moor.
Among its members were HuguenOts,
who had followed the white plume of
Henry of Navarro, and in an age of big
otry, intolerance and the deificatiOn of
absolutism, had secured the great edict of
religious liberty from French despotism,
and who had becsme people without
country rather than surrender
their convictions and forswear their con-
sciences. In this congress were those
whose ancestors were the countrymen of
William of Orange, the Beggars of the Sea,
who had survived the cruelties Of Alva, and
broken the yoke of proud Philip of Spain,
and who had two centuries before made a
declaration of independence, and formed a
federal union which were models of free
dom and strength.
These men were not revolutionists, they
h.asra anA ek..a saor, s1Fe
priceless treasures OF mankind. The
British king and his ministers were the
revolutionists- They were reactiOnaries,
seeking arbitrarily to turn back the hands
upon the dial of time. A year of doubt aud
debate, the baptism of blood, upon battle
fields, where soldiers from every colony
fought under a common standard, and con-
solidated the continental army, gradually
lifted the soul aud understanding of this
immortal congress to the sublime declara-
ton: I'VE, therefore. the representatives
of the United States of America, in general
congress assembled, appealing to the su-
preme judge of the world for the rectitude
of our intentions, do, in the name and by
colonies, solemnly publish and declare that
these united colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and Independent states"
To this declaration John Hancock. pros
cribed and threatened with death, affixed a
signature which has stood for a century
like the pointers 20 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
delegate from Virginia, the ancestor of the
distinguished statesman and soldier who
to-day so worthily fills the chair of Wash
ington, voiced the unalterable determine
tion and defiance of the congress. he
seized John Hancock, upon whose head a
price was set, IN his arms, and placing him
In the presidential chair, said: 1--WE will
show Mother Britain how little we care for
her by making our president Massachu-
setts man, whom she has excluded from
pardon by public proclamation"
More clearly than any statesman of the
period, did Thomas Jefferson grasp and
divine the possibilities Of popular govern
ment. He caught and crystalized the spir.-
it 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, be constructed his system. 1t was the
trip hammer essential for the emergency TO
break the links binding the colonies to i'm
perial authority, and 10 pClverize the privi-
leges of caste 1t 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
intensely jealous of authority. He de-
stroyed the substance of royal prerogative,
but never emerged from its shadow. He
would have the states as the guardians of
popular rights, and the barriers against
centranation, and he saw In the growing
power OF the nation ever increasing en-
croachments upon the rights of the people.
For the success of the pure democracy
which must precede presidents and Ca bin
cts and congresses, II was perhaps provi'
dental that its apostle never believed
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 authority of
their republic and enlarged the scope of
their own liberty.
Where this master-m halted, all stood
still. The necessity for a permanent
union was apparent, but each state must
have hold upon the bowstring which en-
circled its throat Ii was admitted that
union gave the machinery required TO sue
fight the common enemy. but yet
there was fear that il might become a
and destroy its creators.
Thus patriotism and fear, difficulties of
between distant communi-
ties. and the intense growth of provincial
pride and interests, led this congress to
frame the articles of confederation, happily
termed the league of friendship. The re-
suit was not government, but ghost.
By this scheme the American people were
ignored and the declaration of independ-
ence reversed The states, by their legisla-
lures, elected delegates to congress, and
the delegate represented the sovereignty of
his commonwealth. All the states had an
equal voice without regard TO their
size or population. 1t required the
vste of nine states TO pass any bill, and FIVE
could block the wheels of government.
Congress had none of the powers essential
to sovereignty. 1t could neither levy taxes
nor impose duties nor collect excise For
the support of the army and navy. for the
purposes of war, for the preservation OF its
own functions, it could only call upon the
force its demands. 1t had no president or
executive authority, no supreme court with
general Jurisdiction, and no national pow
er. Each Of the thirteen states had sea-
ports and levied discriminating duties
against the others, and could also tax and
thus prohibit interstate commerce across
its territory.
But even though this Cimmerian dark
ness shot flame which illumined the com
ing century. and kept bright the beacon
fires of liberty. The architects of constitu-
tiOnal freedom formed their institutions
with wisdom which forecasted 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 cru
saders' enthusiasm. Though the eonfeder-
alton WAS q government OF checks without
balances, and of purpose without power,
the statesmen who guided II demonstrated
often the resistless force of great souls
animated by the purest patriotism, and
united in Judgment and effort 70 promote
the common good, by lofty appeals and
high reasoning, to elevate the masses above
local greed and apparent self-interest 70
their own broad plans
The government Of the republic by con
gress Of states, q diploma ATTIC convention OF
the ambassadors of petty commonwealths.
after seven years trial, was falling ssun-
der Threatened with civil war among its
members, insurrection and lawlessness rife
within the states, foreign commerce ruined
and internal trade parslyzed its currency
worthless, its merchants bankrupt, its
farms mortgaged, its markets closed, its
labor unemployed, il was like helpless
wreck upon the ocean, tossed about by the
tides and ready 20 be engulfed in the storm.
for action IL WAS q voice accustomed 20
command, bat now entIestiDe- The vet