Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-07-07

"a oBSIi
House.
Hot air balloons and fireworks O
all kinds were sent up to the cloud
until midnight. The display of fire
works was the most elaborate eve
seen in this city and for three hour
there was a continuous stream of fir,
upward, to the delight of the thous
ands who saw it.
The Knights of Pythias marched
with the procession at night ant
with their odd dress and torches
made an imposing spectacle.
Ii there is one dissenting voice as
to the affair not being an entire sue
cess it has not come to the ears O
the LEDGER.
COL. FLEETS ADDRESS.
The address of Col. A. f. Fleet
OF the Military Academy, on the
Fourth, was upon two of the great.
est achievements of Thomas Jeffer
son, which he desired to have in.
scribed upon the monument to be
placed over his grave-his efforts in
behalf of religious freedom and his
authorship of the Declaration Of
American Independence. We give
a synopsis of the address which was
heard with profound attention from
start to finish by the large crowd
who had assembled in the grove:
"The problems of one generation
often become the universally accept
ed axioms of the next. When every
Sabbath morning the church bell
invites the faithful to pay their VOWS
to their great Creator, and each one
worships God according to the die
tates of his own conscience or yet
declines in outward form at least
thus to render obeisance to the most
High, how few there are who recall
the fact that it was not always thus
even in our own land of the free
that a little more than a hundred
years ago it was a common thingf for
one to be imprisoned or fined be-
cause their conscience would not
permit them to worship their Maker
in the way prescribed by their
neighbors, and according to the form
ordained by the authority of the
State.
While a member of the Virginia
House of Burgesses Mr.. Jefferson
had been put on a committee to re-
wise the statutes of the state and his
first blow was struck at the system Of
entail, which, after a debate of three
weeks was abolished never to return
again.
But he found it easier to set free
the estates of his countrymen than
to liberate their minds from the
thralldom of a prejudice which had
been the growth of centuries. From
the first day of the session, petit.
tons poured in upon the assembly
praying for the repeal of the statutes
oppressive of the conscience and fol-
two months desperate contests con-
tinued almost daily. 1t was at this
time that he introduced his "Bil
for Religious Freedom" by which
he designed to sweep away the whole
system of religious restraint anc
monopoly and establish perfect lib
erty of conscience and opinion.
On the 10th of May a resolution
prepared by John Adams and Rich
ard Henry Lee passed the house adj
vising all the colonies to form gov
ernments for themselves. North
Carolina Rhode Island andConnecti
cut all took action toward the estab
lishment of Independent govern
ments, and Virginia had instructed
her delegates in Congress to move fol
a Declaration of Independence ant
had crossed the Rubicon by ordering
a constitution to be formed. Richart
Henry Lee was selected by the dele
CATION to move for the" Resolutions 0
Independence" which he did OIL
the 9th of June, John Adams sec
onding them. These resolution
were postponedto July 1, andin tn
meantime a committee was appoint
ed to prepare a declaration to thi
effect. On June II John Adams
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman
and Robert r. Livingston were Sc
lected as the committee for thi
purpose. They unanimously presse
Mr.. jefferson to undertake tn
draft. He did SO, DR.. Frankli
and Mr.. Adams suggesting a fe'
valuable connections. On the firs
day of July Congress took up tn
Resolutions of Independence
Richard Henry Lee, discussed an
passed it. On the same day til
House took from the table the dra
of the Declaration of independents
which had been reported b
Mr.. Jefferson. It was debate
for three days and finally o
the evening of the Fourth it VIZ
passed in the form with which "
are now so familiar. It is enoug
to say that this noble document alor
so ~fearlessly conceived and so felic
!, tously expressed, had it been Nj