St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-26

In the Odtset
| of a nation the future is just as much
hidden as it is hidden in the outset of
| the individual heart. When Webster
was delicate, half indolent boy at
| school he did not dream of day when
| he would be immortalized by wisdom
| and eloQuence; nor did the young Ben
| jamIn Franklin dare think of becoming
minister to France, and of being the
| practical philosopher of the age. Thus
the greatness of nation is concealed
| Carthage she claimed as much land as
she could inclose with the leather
string which she could cut from
the skin of one OK. The ora
Gle had granted her that much
ground for an empire, 1t was enough,
for she could not see afar off the golden
age of her city, Dor see Rome almost out
done by the splendOr over the little in
land sea.
THUS all the American greatness Of
| today was hidden from the statesmen of
its morning years. They did not see the
valley of the Mississippi; they did not
see the vast area of the West; they did
not see the Pacific coast, much less an
iron road and a telegraph which would
make a thousand miles or chain of
mountains no barrier to proximity or
unity or love. Thus the statesmen of
| 17S0-anu 'S7-wOrked and debated
without knowing the infinite
Greatness of Their Task.
"When one adds to this ignorance of
the future the jealOuSies and wicked
ness OF the heart, and the great conflict
| of local and temporary interests, one
| cannot but wonder that out of such a
| chaos could have come the nation
which now rivals the England which
| has been gathering volume for 1900
| years.
"What saved the colonies from falling
| into discOrd with each other, to become
at last the property of England. France
and Spain, was the simple fact of few
| great men who could perceive. and pre-
| sent, and defend vast political prin-
ciple. Chief among these was Alex
ander Hamilton. No old Greece, no old
Rome, no modern Mexico, no modern
| Brazil ever possessed such au inspired
| founder. He had depth of thought,
clearneSs OF utterance, an eloquent style,
! and untirlng perseverance. He was
confessed to be q mental colossus.
| When some of the states, chiefly New
York and Virginia, at last agreed to
adopt nearly all the constitution, but
| claimed power to reserve the right to
withdraw at any time, Hamilton stood
| firm upon his theory that the cOnsti-
tuition must be adopted not in part
| nor for q time, but i'll all and for
! ever. Out of the fact of such men
came the United States. When once
each year our country celebrates a day
! of thanksgiving il should bless God for
4 group of men who, coming after the
! bloody battles had ceased, compelled the
colonies to form Union which would.
long after, place upon WebSter'S lips
the words:
some and Inseparable.,
"Those were the words the Washing
tons and HamiltOnS knew by heart; the
two words which carried the nation
through the secession period, which ran
from 1880 to 1860; the two words which
| led up to that republic we now behold
Sd magnificent in its fOrty-fOur states.
| We must be thankful indeed for vast
| harveStS of wheat and cOru thankful
for the machines and appliances which
genius has discovered or invented, but
we must be most thankful for govern
ment which permits each citizen to reap
what he has sOwn and to eat his wheaton
| loaf in home that is surrounded by
! liberty and peace.
lin the light of this thanksgiving
| period we can now perceive that the
civil war of 1861 was not merely an
| emancipation OF slaves. but 1t was also
| new and tremendous impulse to the
words of Hamilton and Webster, zone
|. and inSeparable In 1905 Aaron Burr
attempted to detach the Southwest and
make a new nation, with himself as
/ king. He advanced SO far as to ship a
| few troops. Afterward came the Cal
| houn Ieresy and revolt; afterwari came
| the CONFUSION of 1861. Out of these
! dark days came at last the final consent
| of the South that the Union is Sacredly
| joined to the word forever The
dream of Hamilton passes year by year
into its fuliillmcnt.
| Wen and Events
! come along in such numbers and form
as to compel all eyes to see that vision
of great republic of which once only 4
few could even so much as dream. Let
us thank God for that protection He has
for a century thrown around our idea of
union Of states in one cause.-the free
dom and welfare of the millions.
Next to the fact of the union comes
the fact of the general education. What
created the HamiltOnS, the Washing
| tons, the kranklinS, and their cO-labOr-
erS? They resulted from that inteli-
| gence which had been creeping along
in Old and New England for genera
tons. Edmund Burke was just as
broad and wise on the other side
of the Atlantic as franklin was
upon this side. No American
ever surpassed Edmund Burke in plead
ing for the rights of man. In London
he was called the great American
But John Milton and others are seen
far back of Mr.. Burke. There is only one
philosophy as to the cause of such men.
They are all madein those school houses
i'll which is taught the worlds thought
| Kingcraft. despOtism. slavery can not
enter into the books of literature be-
cause literature is composed of true and
beautiful ideas, and in all kingcraft and
human subsection there are not truth
and beauty enough to fill one page of
prose or make one stanZa of poetry. In
his ode to France COleridge saug:
Yes while I stood and gazed, my temples
bare,
And shot my being through earth. sea and
| air
Possessing all things with intensest love.
o, Liberty, my spirit felt thee there.
"But no critic can erase the word lib
erty from this verse and insert the term
royalty or 'deSpotiSm.' The poetry
would die under such leaden load
! Thus all literature has always opened
| its lines to receive the rights and the
happiness of mankind. Thus it comes
to pass that all true statesmen have
come to US through that school house
which opens to the mind the pages of
universal and beautiful truth. That
which made the Millions, the Burkes,
the Hamiltons and the Gladstones has
held this nation in its path, and will
hold it to the truth for times to come.
The same breadth of thought which
enters into the creation of the worlds
| literature soon spreads over the soul
that hangs over the pages of such truth.
A poetess says, playfully, perhaps:
oh! the heart is free and fetterless thing,
A wave on an ocean, bird on the wing.
but literature indOrses the cOuplet
and has never yet touched soul with
out turning it toward the highest light
| Nd thn ,r,iGnSt frnndnnn w mead IN