The Portland daily press., 1889-05-01

ness athat all when nad Deen since obtained il
| little more than as confirmation or commentary.
| There were the grandchildren of the statesmen
| who had summoned Charles before Parliament
and compelled his assent to the Petition Of
RiOhts. which transferred power from the
Crown to the Commons, and gave rep
resentatiye government to the English
sneaking race. And there were those who had
snruno from the iron soldiers who had tough,
| and charged with Cromwell at Naseby and
| Dunbar and Marston Moor. Among its
| members were Huguenots whose fathers had
| followed the white plume Of Henry of Navarro
| and In an age of bigotry, intolerance and the
dedication Of absolutism, had secured the great
| edict of religious liberty from French despo-
tisn and who had become people without a
country. rather than surrender their convictions
and forswear their consciences. In this Con-
press were those whose ancestors were the
countrvmen Of William of Orange, the Beggars
of the Sea, who had survived the cruelties Of
Alya. 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 freedom
and strength.
These men were not revolutionists; they
were the heirs and the guardians of the price,
less treasures of minkind. The British king
and his ministers were the revolutonists.
Thew were the reactionaries, seeking arbitra-
rily to turn back the hands upon the dial of
time. A year of doubt and debate, the bap-
tism of blood upon battle fields, where soldiers
from every colony fought, under common
standard, and consolidated the continental
army, gradually lifted the soul and under
standing of this immortal Congress to the sub
lime declaration: 1--WE, therefore, the repre-
sentatiyes Of the United States OF America, in
General Congress assembled appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude
of our intentions, do, in the name and by the
authority of the good people of these 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, pro-
scribed and threatened with death, affixed
signature which has stood for century like
the pointers to the north star in the hrma-
ment Of freedom, and Charles Carroll, tainted
that among many CAROLS, he, the richest man
in America, might escape, added description
and Identification with 'of Carrollton." Ben
jamin Harrison, delegate from Virginia, the
ancestor Of the distinguished statesman and
soldier who too day so worthily fills the chair
of Washington, voiced the unalterable deter
mination 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 Pres
ident Massachusetts, man, whom she has ex-
cluded from pardon by public proclamation;
and when they we're signing the declaration,
and the slender Elbridge Gerry uttered the
grim pleasantly, 1--WE must hang together or
surely we will hang separately, the portly
Harrison responded with the more daring
Lumor. at will be all over with me IN mo-
ment, but you will be kicking in the air half an
hour after am gone" Thus flashed athwart
the great charter, which was to be for its sign
ers death warrant OF a diploma of immortal
ity. as with firm hand, high purpose and I'M
daunted resolution they subscribed their
names, this mockery of fear and the penalties
of treason.
The grand central idea of the Declaration of
Independence was the sovereignty Of the peo-
pie. 1t relied for original power, not upon
States, or colonies, or their citizens as such,
but recognized as the authority for nationality
the revolutionary rights of the people of the
United States. 1t stated with marvellous
clearness the encroachments upon liberties
which threatened their suppression and justi-
fed revolt, but il was inspired by the very
genius of freedom, and the prophetic possibil-
tiles of united commonwealth covering the
continent in one harmonious republic, when it
made the people of the thirteen colonies all
Americans, and devolved upon them to adj
minister by themselves, and for themselves, the
prerogatives and powers wrested from Crown
and Parliament 1t condensed Magma Charta,
the Petition of Rights, the great body of Eng
lish liberties embodied in the common law and
accumulated in the decisions of the courts the
statutes of the realm, and an undisputed
though unwritten constitution; but this orig
inal principle and dynamic force Of the peo-
pies power sprang from these old seeds planted
in the virgin soul of the new world.
More clearly than any statesman Of the
period, did Thomas Jefferson grasp and divine
the possibilities Of popular government. He
caught and crystallized the spirit Of free insti-
buttons. His philosophical mind was singu-
larly free from the power Of precedents or the
chains Of prejudice. He had an unquestioning
and abiding faith in the people, which was ac-
cepted 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 colonies
to imperial authority, and to pulverize the
privileges of caste. 1t inspired him to write
the Declaration Of Independence, and per-
suaded him to doubt the wisdom of the powers
in the constitution. In his pas
sionate love of liberty he became intensely
Jealous Of authority. He destroyed the sub
stance of royal prerogative, but never emerged
from its shadow He would have the States
as the guardians of popular rights, and the
barriers against Capitalization, and he saw in
the growing power of the nation ever-increas-
ing encroachments upon the rights of the
people. For the success of the pure democ-
racy which must precede Presidents and Cabi-
nets and Congresses it was perhaps providen-
tial that its apostle never believed great
people could grant and still retain, could give
and at will reclaim, could delegate and yet
firmly hold the authority which ultimately
created the power of their republic and en-
larged the scope of their own liberty.
Where this master mind halted all stood
STILL The necessity for a permanent union
upon the bowstring which encircled its throat.
1t was admitted that union gave the machinery
required to successfully fight the common
enemy, but yet there was fear that it might
become Frankenstein and destroy its creators.
Thus patriotism and fear, difficulties of COM
munication between distant communities and
the intense growth of provincial pride and in
terests, led this Congress to frame the articles
of confederation. happily termed the League
Of Friendship. The result was not govern
ment, but ghost. BY this scheme the Ameri-
can people were ignored and the Declaration
of Independence reversed. The States by
their legislatures, elected delegates to Con-
gress, and the delegate represented the SOW
ereignty of his commonwealth. All the States
had an equal voice without regard to their size
or population. 1t required the vote 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 States, but it possessed no
power TO enforce its demands. 1t had no
President or executive authority, no supreme
court with general jurisdiction, and no ma
tional power. Each Of the thirteen States had
seaports and levied discriminating duties
against the others, and could also tax and thus
prohibit interstate commerce across its terri
terry. Had the confederation been union in
stead Of a league, it could have raised and
equipped three times the number of men con-
tributed by reluctant States, and conquered
independence without foreign assistance. This
paralyzed government without strength. be-
cause it could not enforce its DEGREES; without
credit because it could pledge nothing for the
payment Of its debts; without respect. be-
cause without inherent authority; would. by
its feeble life and early death, have added
another to the historic tragedies which have in
many lands marked the suppression of free
H.. had II mot heen saved NV tha ;r,ali:-....