The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-07-06
ADDRESS OF PROF. N. NJ SCOTT
Delivered al the Opera House,
Honolulu July 4, 1891.

Perhaps majority Ul those assembled
here to DAY have bee away from tn ;
and oi their birth many years; some,
no doubt, the greater portion OF their
lives Long separation from the current
aud exciting activities that characterIze
American political lite may not any HE
less qu iliiy Us to judAe dispasslonately
OF the tendency and spirit OF those lnsi!-
tnlons set going by the immortal fathers
of the American democracy. We may be
able the better 10 appreciate those forms
ri poltticnl, industrial, and social lille
which have hal such a potent influence
in the marvellous development. oi the
United States.
IL would seem then not inappropriate
AT hi, ,ilace, at this time, aud upon tins
dav, to give u cnrsory glance backward,
and to touch, all too briefly, upon some
of ,l,e prominent and accomplished ieat-
urps hich have justified the Great Re
pubIic assuming among the powers of
the earth the separate and equal station
to which the laws OF nature and
of nainie's Gol entille them. J"
A candid examination OF but small
part of what has been realized 10y the
American Commonwealth Will force the
convi ton that her founders were not
mistaken in The establishing OF demo-
cratic government.
Whatever adverse criticisms have hetn
passed upon our political forms ana IN
stilu,lons. by those who liked them not,
there is but one opinion about the rectl-
tude Of the intentions OF the men who
formed them. No doubt, many OF tie
principles and axlums embodied IN the
CONSTITUTION of the United States had
been known and written about, as alb
s!ract propositions, from times very re-
mote: vet the practical emhodim nj 81
these principles intoa harmonious whoe
belongs exclusively to That relnarkaole
body OF men assembled at Philadelphia
in 1887. How well they did their work,
the last hundred years have given testl-
mony. How elastic, and, yet how, strong,
the government, the admission OF many
new states and one Of the mostextenslve
civil wars of history leaving no scar
have given evidence.
In its political forms it embodies ma
tional strength and local self govern
meut, in what seems to an American
marvel of simplicity, and yet seems a
stumbling block to even the most highly
educated and accomplished European
minds. In form OF government, we are
nearest that OF England; and simple as
Il is, even very few educated Engllshmen
comprehend 1t.
An educated Englishman would be
ashamed OF him> elf not to know accurate
Nv and infinitely all the conditions and cir
cumstances of the AnphyclionicC Council.
Of the Lycian and Achean Leagues, or Of
the Hanseatic Zollverein, and still be
Indifferent to, and perhaps rather proud
Of, his ignorance of the Federal and
State relations OF his kinsman and great
est commercial npighbor. And yet one
of the best books, in the most apprecia-
tive spirit on American institutions was
recently written by an Englishman
This form OF government, so.effectlve for
the education Of the remotest OF her cll-
Gems in local self government and IN intel
ligent political organization, is still less
understood and appreciated in continent
al Europe. The impairment ludicrous-
ness OF an Italian statesman's suggestion
to the American Minister that the con-
stitution be 80 amended as to comply
Will TASTY anu ullTcCOSulLCu 1tdiihh NC
manda, emphasizes the fact.
Z" care not what the country thinks
or SAYS" said Heine of France. 81 only
wish to know what Paris thinks" vi
no city, county nor State can this be said
Of the United States. There is no con-
centrated organization in any place which
does tie political thinking for the rt,st.
Every State, county, district, township
and city does its own thinking. Thus to
the remotest frontiers OF the Republic, in
every township, may be found capable
men for the work in hand-men SO
trained in free lf-government, that if
need be, they could organize empire or
administer finance on the largest scale.
This is the form Of government
then, the initiation of which we are
met here to-day to celebrate-a gov
eminent which endeavors to lift
artificial weights from off mems
shoulders, to give all, so far as within
the province OF government lies the
power, an eqnal start In the race OF life.
It is a form to which every citizen can be
lovingly loyal, because its operation is
founded upon his own consent.
Its progress, since its organization, in
every domain of national greatness, is am
ole evidence Of the wisdom OF its
founders.
One hundred years ago to day, Wash
ington had not yet completed two years
OF his first term of Office. A population
OF about three millions of people We're
scattered along "a narrow strip OF land
upon the Atlantic side OF the Appalachian
choin al maintains
Western New York and Western Penn
sylvania were widernesses OF forests in
habted by scattered tribes OF savages
The now great, wealthy, and hishly-civil-
lied States of Ohio, Indiana. Michigan
and Illinois were known only as the in
terror Of Africa is now known-by name.
The commonwealth west Of the Mis-
sissippi, the great empire upon the
Pacific Coast were wastes to civilization,
then nominally claimed by European
nations. The entire area OF the Union
was then 100000 square miles. BY pur-
chase since that time, it now amounts to
nearly four millions Of miles-all by pnr.
chase, and not one foot by conquest. To
bring this vast domain under the infu-
ence of cultivation, civilization and polt-
ical freedom has been the task OF the
descendants OF the revolutionary fathers.
1t has been giants task, and they have
performed it like giants. Stanley gives a
dramatic picture Of The extent and SOM