The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-23

that "nsught 10 everything and everything
ia naught.' But he did sea clearly tina
while tho government Of y republic mus
be \ government of party. yet that inds
pendence of party la much more vital,
essential in q republic thar fidelity to
party. Party ia a servant of the people
but 4 scl vant who 10 foolishiy permitted by
his master TO assume sovereign airs.
With his lofty patriotism and his extra
ordinary public conscience Lowell was dis
tlnctively the independent in politics. lie
was an American and a republican citizen.
He acted with parties IA every citizen must
not il he acts at all. But tho notion that
a voter il a traitor to one party when ne
votes with another was M ludlcrous to
him AZ the assertion that it Is TREASON TO
the White Star steamers to take passage III
a Cuna.der. When hs would know his pub
lilo duty Lowell turned within. not without.
He listened. not for the roar OF the MAJOR
ity in tho street. but for tho still small
voice in his own breast. For while the
method of the republican government IL
party, its basis la individual conscience
and common sense.
BY the time he was so years old LowelPs
conspicuous literary accomplishments and
possio eenius, with HIS political indepcnd-
ence, courage and ability, had given him a
position and influence unlike those Of any
other American, and when IN 1877 he vas
appointed minister to Spain. and in 1851
transferred to England, there was \ feeling
OF blended pride and satisfaction that hla
nobly represented. Mr.. Emerson once said
of an English minister, "hs is a charming
gentleman, but he does not represent the
England that l knew" In lowell, how,
sver, no man in the world who honorsd
America and believed in the grandeur OF
Ameyiosn destiny but would find his talth
md hope confirmed. To give yonr bsst,
says the oriental proyerb, is to DO your
utmost. III coming OF such a man was
the highest honor that America could pay TO
England. II We may %personifY America, we
can fancy a certain grim humor on her part
in presenting this son of hers to the
mother country, 3 sa.plne OF the oloer
parent stock. Nc eminent American has
blended the cavalier and the puritan tradi-
ton, the romantic conservatism and the
wise radicalism of the English blood, in \
finer cosmopolitanism than Lowell. 1t WAS
this generous comprehension OF both which
made him much more than his excellency
tho ambassador of American literature to
tho court of Shakespeare, as the London
Spectator called him upon his arrival IN
London. for it made him the representative
to England Of an American scholarship. a
wit, an intellectual resource a completS
and splendid accomplishment, a social grace
ana charm, a felicity Of public and private
pleasantly challenged England to = con
and friendly bout in which America
did not suffer.
During his official residence in England
Lowell seemed to nave the fitting word for
svsry occasion and to speak it with mem
distinction. II ! memorial Of Dean
Stanley were ereeted in his chapter house,
~ ne n; a1Sir az fIaurtnm ar AZ (fC1ArjIua
1T Westminster abbey, or of Gray at Cam
the desire Of literary England
turned instinctivsly to Lowell as the orator
whose voice would give the best expression,
whose character and renown the great
,st dignity, to the hour. In W~ordsworth's
as president of tho Wordsworth
,oaisty, no spoke of the poet with an affec-
Justice which makes his speech ths
inest essay upon Wordsworth's genius and
career. and of Don Quixote he spoke to the
Workingman's college with a postio appre-
of the genius Of C%ervantes n a
with Spanish literature which
vas a revelation to British worhmen. Con
at public dinners. with consum-
nate tact and singular felicity, he spoke
With 4 charna which seemed to disclose a
1sw art of o~tatory. He did not decline
wen political speech, but OF course in 10
sense. His discourse on demo-
tracy at Birmingham, in October, 1884, was
los only an event, but an event without
precedent. He was the minister of the
republic to the B ltlsh monarchy
snd. az that minister, publicly to declare in
England tho most radical democratic prin-
as this ultimate logical result of the
constitution, and to do it with a
an urbanity, a moderation, Il pre-
eision of statement and a courteous grace
of hnmor. which charmed doubt into ac-
and Armament into unfeigned
al -, ~ a &i,r. ,,r -pnlro W. a1~r,opf cf q rrno% |
to political thought greatly done
this was an event unknown III the annals of
and this is what Lowell did at
Birmingham.
No American orator has made SO clear
md comprehensive a declaration of the es-
sential American principle. or 80 simple a
,tstelnsnt OF It's ethical character. Yet not
! word of this republican to whom Alger-
ION Sydney would awe bowed ard whom
Milton would have blessed, would nave
AIRED the tory nerves of sir Roger de
JoverIsy, although no English radical WAS
'yer so radical as he. line frantic French
democracy of '93 gnashing its teeth in the
'aee of royal power would have equality
md fraternity if every man were gull :,
otined to securo it. Tbs American re-
,ublio speaking to monarchical Europe q
later by the same voice with which
Sir Launfel had shown tho identity OF
Christianity with human sympathy and
'uccor, set forth in the address at BirminR-
lam the truth that democracy il simply the
application of of moral principle
% politics. There were many and great
.Iervicas in Lowell's life, but none of
'ham all seem to me more characteristic
II the man than when, holding the
'ona mission Of his country, in his
person representing its noblest charac-
standing upon soil sacred to him by
and romantic tradition, his Amor
can heart loyal to the English impulse
Shich is the impulse of constitutional lib
.rty, for one memorable moment he made
nonarchical England feel for republican
the sans uifectionate admit alton
hat she felt for him, the republican Amsr-
can. His last official words in England
show the reciprocal feeling. While I
bore as a far-off cousiE," he said, 81
that you are sending me away as
something like Il brother" He died, the
poet, the scholar, the critic, the public
counsellor, the Ambassador, the patriot,
the Borrowing voice of the English lau-
cate and of this English queen, the high
est voices of English literature and polit-
cal power, mingling with the universal
voice OF his own country, showed how
the ue American, faithful to the
spirit of Washington and of Abraham
reconciles and not exAsperatss in
feeling.
So varied, full and fair is the story of
life, and such services to the mind
heart and character of his country we
commemorate On this hailowed day. In