Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-30

Sn- n Ne hO"AhD. United States.
Here Vice Presidents and Presidents lie
buried Here judges of the courts Of the
United States, when they have put of the
black robes of judicial distinction and put ON
the white winding sheets of the dead, lie
buried. ~
Here the nations soldiers weary and wo-,
out by work and war, have been laid away TO
their rest OF peace. Here they all sleep. AZ
peacefully as the silent river that flows on be-
side them, Swallowed by these beautiful trees
Eianted oy the hands OF devoted countrymen.
here the sun IN heaven looks down upon them
In benediction by day, and the moon and stars
sing together their requiem by night Here
they VIII all sleep on and on till the morn of
resurrection This days work were complete
II II, too, rested here.
But there are other Of the nations dead who
lie here, whose memories 10 us are dearer, more
sacred thhn these. Ii may be well 70 pause and
ask; Who are they? Whence came they? Why
rest they hereE And why this throng Of citi-
memories and to scatter flowers upon tbeIr
graves! Let history give answer:
More than two centuries and a half ago there
was people OF the old world. across the sea,
eoucspeo, industrious, civilized, a Christian
people, who smarted under the oppression of
laws, they had no hand or voice IN making.
bound by forms Of religion which thew neither
loved nor revered, burdened by Responsibilities
lald upon them which they did not create. No
wonder that when such burdens became too
grievous to be borne this people resolved %
abandon the land Of their birth and Of their
fathers and 10 seek a home in the new world
there TO found nation OF their own creation
=. . MAKE laws OF their own enacting and where
they could worship God according 10 the
dictates OF their own conscience
Ihey sailed away, braved the perils Of the
ocean, landed upon cold, unfriendlv shores
where the foot OF civilization had never trod
What sought they thus ATARI
Bright jewels of the mines
Thsr es son. ~ seas: ne spells Of warf
Aye ne al i holy s s4tns pure shrine
The soil where hrst they trod.
They left unstained what there tbev fou,a
They were our NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
manklnd-iovlng pioneers in a new world pro.
jeetors of a new and to be independen, nat,an
government of the people by the people.
That pioneer period lasted Tor a century ana
hall, during which the few hundred of emil
grants attained the marvellous increase 10 three
millions OF souls: Stall the kings of the old
world remained their sovereign, the laws of
the old world oppressed them and the re-
hgions OF the old world held them in iron
bonds. There came a time when they would
submit no longer-when they rose in the ma
jesty Of humility. rebelled against their rulerS
declared themselves free people
AN INDEPENDENT NATION.
They had counted the cost; they foueht for
nine years Of bloody war to gain what thew had
declared to be their insl,enable rights. of life
liberty and the pursuit Of happiness" When
that war was ended they enacted form of eov.
eminent for themselves, but they had not vet
learned the art Of self-government and their
frst attempt, the confederation, proved but a
rope Of sand and only lasted for seven years.
The two parties in the Confederation beld
opposite views of the best form Of governmeut
one holding that supreme sovereignty ought 10
be vested in each separate state, with power 70
enact its own laws and to absolutely control its
own affairs, subject only 70 such general laws
ANA tod hxr rha Nar,fr -1a1a n
or confederation, as were necessary for the gen,
eral defense.
The other party contending that the onIr
safe and permanent government would be .
united state, WITH power to make laws for the
whole alike and leaving TO the several states
only the right to make local laws for domestic
purposes The former of these parties. strong
and overwhelming at first, grew wear bv wear
weaker while the other gained yearly in
strength and influence and finally brought
about the convention of 1857. which framed the
foundation for the present Constitution ana
government Of the United States.
In that convention the same distinct partiee
were represented, the one for states rights and
tne otner Tor central government. There ex-
listed In the convention yet another divided
theory OF government-divided, perhnps, by
local interests. That was the system Of negro
slavery. One party holding that the institu-
confederation should be protected and per-
petuated by the constitution. The other party
contending that slavery was wrong. morally
and commercially. and should be neither up
held nor strengthened BY law, human or divine.
While that convention Of 1857 was the most
potential political body ever convened in mod
ern times as it resulted In giving birth 10 a
nation which should. in q century, rise 10 the
dignity and strength Of one Of the FIRST nations
of the earth, yet it was divided and torn by the
strife OF those two grave political probiems.
and only united after long and bitter discus-
sions in affecting compromise by leaving out
Of the Constitution entirely those contendine
questions, states rights and protection 20 negro
slavery. That act of the manners Of he eop-
stitution was -
xEirEKR BRAVE roR WISE,
for IL lsfs future generations and future lsgi-
lation TO struggle with those problems which
should then and there have been settled for Al
time During . period Of nearly another
century statesmen and judges and philan-
thropask ana legislatures, state and national.
struggled In vain 70 find solution Of these two
great antagonists preblsAs which dissasssa