The Portland daily press., 1889-05-01

this immortal speech struck the KEYNOTE OF
representative obligation, and propounded the
fundamental principle Of the purity and per
petuity of constitutional government.
Freed from the limitations of its environ
ment, and the question Of the adoption of its
work, the convention erected its government
upon the eternal foundations of the power Of
the people. II dismissed the delusiye theory
Of compact between independent States, and
derived national power from the people Of the
United States. 1t broke up the machinery of
the Confederation and put in practical opera
ton the glittering generalities Of the Declare
| ton of Independence. From chaos came order,
| from insecurity came safety, from disintegra-
| ton and civil war came law and liberty with
the principle proclaimed in the preamble Of the
great charter, "We, the people of the United
| States, in order to form more perfect union,
| establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
| provide for the common defence. promote the
| general welfare, and secure the blessings Of
liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain
and establish this constitution for the United
States" With a wisdom inspired Of God to
work out upon this continent the liberty of
man, they solved the problem Of the ages
by blending and yet preserving, local self-gov-
| eminent with national authority, and the rights
| of the States with the majesty and power Of
| the Republic. The government of the States,
under the articles Of confederation, became
bankrupt because it could not raise four mill
ions Of dollars the government of the Union,
under the constitution Of the United States,
raised six thousand millions OF dollars, its
| credit growing irmer as its power and re-
sources were demonstrated. The Congress Of
| the Confederation fed from a regiment, which
it could not pay; the Congress of the Union
reviewed the comrades Of a million Of its victo-
rfO oil he's oha14 Il.
flag Of the nation, whose supremacy they had
sustained. The promises of the Confsderaey
were the scott of its States; the pledge of the
Republic was the honor Of its people.
The constitution, which was TO be siren 9Th
ened by the strain Of a century, to be a mighty
conqueror without subject province, 10
triumphantly survive the greatest civil wars
without the conhscation of an estate or the
execution Of political offender. to create and
grant home rule and State sovereignty TO
twenty additional commonwealth, and
yet enlarge its scope and broaden its power,
and to make the name Of an American citizen
a title Of honor throughout the world, came
complete from this great convention to tie
people for adoption. As Hancock rose from
his seat in the old Congress, eleven years be-
fore to sign the Declaration of Independence,
Franklin saw emblazoned on the back Of the
horizon, but it seemed setting in blood red
sky. During the seven years Of the Confedera-
ton be had gathered no hope from the glitter
ing emblem, but now as with clear vision he be-
held fixed upon eternal foundations the endur-
ing structure Of constitutional liberty, pointing
to the sign, he forgot his eighty two years. and
with the enthusiasm of youth cleo trified the
convention with the declaration: "Now /
know that it is the rising SUM-
The pride Of the States and the ambition Of
their leaders. sectional jealousies. and the over
whelming distrust OF centralized power were
all arranged against the adoption Of the consti.
tuition. North Carolina and Rhode Island
refused to Join the union until long after
Washington's Inauguration. For months New
York was debatable ground. Her territory
extending from the sea to the lakes made her
the keystone of the arch. Had Arnold's
treason in the Revolution not been foiled by the
capture of Andre, England would have held
New York and subjugated the colonies, and in
this crisis, unless New York assented, hostile
and powerful commonwealth dividing the
States, made the union impossible.
Success was due to confidence in Washing
ton and the genius of Alexander Hamilton.
Jefferson was the inspiration Of independence,
but Hamilton was the incarnation of the con-
stitution. In no age nor country has there
appeared a more precocious or amazing in
tellgence than Hamilton. At IL he annihilated
the president Of his college, upon the question
Of the rights Of the colonies, in a series Of
anonymous articles which were credited to the
ablest men in the country; at AZ, when he
died, his briefs had become the law Of the
land, and his fiscal system was, and after
a hundred years remains, the rule and
policy of our government. He
gave life to the corpse of national
credit and the strength for self-preservation
and aggressive power to the Federal Union.
Both as an expounder Of the principles and an
administrator Of the affairs Of government he
stands supreme and unriyalled in American
history. His eloquence was SO magnetic, his
language so clear, and his reasoning so fire.
sistible, that he swayed with equal ease popu-
lar assemblies, grave senates, and learned
judges. He captured the people of the whole
country for the constitution by his papers in
the Federalist and conquered the hostile ma
jority in the New York convention by the
splendor of his oratory.
But the multitudes whom no argument
could convince, who saw in the executive
power and centralized force of the Constitu.
ton, under another name, the dreaded usurp-
S Sn 81 SR ing and Mcs'y @
be President" Good" cried John Lamb,
the able leader Of the Sons of Liberty, as he
dropped his opposition; "for to no other
mortal would trust authority so enormous"
washington will be President" was the
battle-cry OF the Constitution. 1t quieted
alarm and gave confidence to the timid and
courage to the weak. The country responded
with enthusiastic unanimity, but the Chief
with the greatest reluctance. In the supreme
moment of victory. when the world expected
him to follow the precedents Of the past, and
perpetuate the power a grateful country
would willingly have left in his hands, he had
resigned and retired to Mount Vernon to
enjoy in private station his wcll-earned rest.
The convention created by his exertions to
prevent, as he said, "the decline Of our
Federal dignity into insignificant and wretch
ed fragments of Empire" had called him to
preside over its deliberations. Its work made
possible the realization Of his hope that, I'VE
might survive as an independent Republic"
and again he sought the seelusiOn Of his
home. But. after the triumph of the war,
and the formation Of the Constitution, came
the third and final crisis the initial move
ments of government which were to teach
the infant State the steadier steps Of empire.
He alone could stay assault and inspire
confidence while the great and complicated
machinery Of organized government was put
in order and set In notion. Doubt existed
nowhere except in his modest aud unam-
bilious heart. my movements to the chair
of government" he said. will be accom-
panied by feelings not unlike those OF
culprit who Is going to the place of his execu--
lion. OU uuWlillilB TITO CfCniub Va
life, nearly consumed in public cares, to quit
peaceful abode for an ocean Of difficulties,
without that competency of political skill.
abilities and inclination, which are necessary
to manage the helm" His whole life had
been spent in repeated sacrifices for his
country's welfare, and he did not hesitate
now. though there is an undertone OF mex
pressible sadness in this entry in his diary
on the night Of his departure: About ten
o'clock babe adieu to Mount Vernon. to
private life, and to domestic felicity, and
with mind oppressed with more anxious
and painful sensations than have words TO
express, set out for New York with the best
disposition to render service to my country
in obedience to Its call, but with less hope
of answering its expectations"
No conqueror was ever accorded such a
triumph, no ruler ever received such a well
come. In this memorable march of six days
to the Capitol, it was the pride Of States to
accompany him with the masses Of their peo-
pie to their borders. that the citizens Of the
next Commonwealth might escort him
| through its territory. 1t was the glory of
cities to receive him with every civic honor
at their gates, and entertain him as the saw
| Tor of their liberties. He rode under trium-
phial arches from which children lowered
laurel wreaths upon his brow. The road
WAYS were strewn with flowers, and as they
were crushed beneath his horses hoofs, their
| sweet incense waited to Heaven the ever
ascending prayers of his loving countrymen
for his life and safety. The swelling anthem
of gratitude and reverence greeted and fol
| lowed him along the country side and through
the crowded streets: Long live George