Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1891-07-10

| will amongst the nations of the earth.
We have no dynastic skeletons in our
closets. We have no Eastern question;
no deep-seated aus for quarrels; no
occasion for brutal war. We commend
our ways and institutions not by the
sword and cannon; but by reason and
example. We have no career of conquest
before us. We make no campaigns on
other peoples, and have no scheme of
forcible annexation. Resting in digni-
fed content and satisfaction upon what
is incidentally our own, we look out with
the calm ayes of wonder and sympathet-
ic regret upon the Old World peoples,
| with their burning quarrels and hostili-
ties; their large and standing armies;
their fearful military burdens, and their
keen and bitter rivalries. From all
these we are removed as If by a wonder
full Providence, and not by any virtue of
excellence of our own. All this is a lit
tie part of our natural heritage-for
which we are to be thankful, of which
we may not boast; 1t is the gift of God.
But we may congratulate our fathers
upon their wisdom in recognizing this,
and following a consistent foreign policy,
based upon the ideas of peace rather
than war. It is not a boast to say that
we make a large part of the hope Of the
world. To state this is to state a fact.
The modifying influences of our in
situations on the worlds legislation and
forms of government have been none the
less real for their voluntary nature. We
have not wrought by the storms of bat
tie, and the fury of war. Ours has not
been the influence of the political hur-
ricane and cyclone, but rather the quiet
and genial influence of a fair and steadi-
ly shining sun. We have shown the
world our ability to carry on a gigantic
war, with sternest resolution and I'M
daunted courage, to the end. We have
shown in all crises that We can regulate
our own affairs and compose our own
internal dissensions. Beyond that we
have needed no mighty display of force
in barbaric war. And that we may never
need it, is the heartfelt prayer of every
good American.
1t was but yesterday that we saw the
birth of a commonwealth yet to be a new
America-the commonwealth of Aus
tralia. There is no need to call to the
mind of any student of politics the re-
markable influence We have there exerted
without an effort. That new nation, SO
far as it's circumstances permit, has al
most copied us. Indeed we may fear
they have copied some of our mistakes.
It is plain that institutions political are
tending to follow Jul democratic-repub-
lican model more and more. This will
continue to be so-for now we have q
mighty ally i'll our forms and ideals of
government in the great new republic of
France, in the old world. And in pas
sing let us note chat this ally is most
happily the actual ally of old, who, in
OF days of poverty and weakness, in
time of deadly peril and want, came
to u rescue IN the revolutionary war,
the freest, noblest and fullest help of her
best blood and treasures, helped us to
achieve that independence, which, with
out her aid, we may we'll remember,
might not then have been achieved. So
We do we'll to place as the most honored
member of the military family of our W
august and grand Washington, the name
of Lafayette-a name to be forever hon
ored and held in remembrance by all
patriotic Americans, as we'll as the name
of the land which gave him birth and
to us.
But let us not spend all our time to-
day in congratulations or even in thanks
to the source of all blessings. We may,
in good nature and candor, plead guilty
to that Indictment in the past. Let us
remember that we are to go on to our
lessons, and not dwell forever in the
company Of pleasing self-complaisancies.
We have our lessons to learn, and they
are manifold. We have our dangers
to contend with, and they are manifest
already. To these the serious citizen
should most deeply and earnestly ad-
dress himself, remembering that it is our
duty to prepare wisely a safe future for
the generations that are to follow us.
The problems before us are deep, serious
and many in number. The dangers are
all within ourselves. The enemies we
are called on to fight are those within
the camp-not without. We need to
question our OWL boasts, to study our
own ignorance, amend our W nepli.
gence, and repent us of our own sins. In
this honest determination which as a
people we wv to ourselves and the outer
world, we need not proudly fancy that
we have nothing to learn from other ma
tions. Europe can teach us many i'm
portant truths, if we be only willing to
be taught. Australia, which so readily
follows Dur lead in some respects, is
distinctively u pioneer in others; and
notably in some OF the very domestic and
economic questions upon which our ma
tional mind is to-day so much exercis-
ing itself. We may learn important les
sons from the work of Great Britain in
her worldwide colonization and com
merce; we may learn something from
France, and from Germany also in this
regard, to say nothing of all the benefits
we may derive from these leaders in
arts and thought and scholarship. And
we are to remember that our responsi
bility to the world is bounded only by
the limits of what we are and are vet
to be in a splendid future.
National greatness, and influence, and
privilege, all help to define national re-
s~ponsibility; and the greater the possess
sion of the one in any peoples dover,
the more serious the burden of the other.
Hence, we are not to o that we
are the only n engaged yet in political
pioneering; we are not the lonesome
leader. We have some august company
in all this work. Let us learn from
them all We can, and be grateful for the