The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1892-07-05

sciences sake, thoughtful. temperate and in
ouslflous IL is said Of their descendants, after
/ one hundred years, that not one with drop
| OF Hnguenot blood had ever been convicted of
an infamous crime. Conspicuous in the mil
Iary and civil life of our early history, the
Huguenot, like the Puritan, has impressed
| the national character with high and endur-
ing quantities, qualities on which we may Sc
cureIy plant our faith in the permanent be-
Hetlcence OF our Government.
And the honest old cavalieri Full of quail
Ties that grace the home, in private life
courteous, generous, truthful. tender, and re-
spectiul 10 women, of engaging manners,
amlable temper and elegant tastes he stands
striking and noble figure against the sky OF
our early history. In public life, pre-eminent-
l! 10y al without servility, he had fought on
English soil, mot for treacherous KING or
an intolerant church, but for the old banner
Whlch had waved in so many battles over the
neaus OF his fathers, and for the altar at which
ne mad received the hand of his bride" From
the moment when the head ofhis father rolled
on the scaftold, Charles H., though wandering
almost Shelterless on the continent, became TO
Tue loyal cavalier the King of England.
transferring his pursuit of fortune to the New
World, he gave to his first settlement the
name OF his King, and later his first college
bore the name OF succeeding sovereIgns.
"A good citizen should be u loyal subject"
was the political creed of those old tobacco
planters, and during long years Of New Eng
lands discomfort and resistance to British
authority the Nirginian stood by his king and
hls'church. Finally came the blow that shat
tered the loyalty even of the cavalier, and
when those shattered fragments formed again
the British subject had disappeared, the
American citizen was born the old loyalty
was transferred to the new flag and a cavalier
moved in Congress the adoption of the decla-
ration to which the Puritan, the Huguenot
and himself alike pledged their lives, their
fortunes, anu their sacred honor"
Hail! hrdiny, resolute, fiinty John Adams,
the Puritan; hail ! polished, cultured intieXi-
BILE John Jay, the Huguenot; hail! accom-
plished eloquent, chivalrous Harry Lee, the
cavalier. All hail respendent trinity, issu-
ing to-day in perfected and glorious national
unity.
Another ground OF our faith in the perrna-
nence and the permanent benefcence of our
institutions, lies IN the fast hold we still keep
OF the theory OF our Government as Govern
ment by the people, and in the steady growth
among us Of a sense of responsibility concern
ing its character. do moi forget the common
cutlery against the neglect of political duty
, by the more industrious and intelligent ee-
ments of society, and against their inditier-
ence TO the operations of political machinery.
But the neglect Is only seeming. The pubic
feeling Is flexible and gives before the onrush
OF the vicious elements in politics; but when.
IN our anxiety and terror, the barriers seem
to Us about 10 break, suddenly the strained
public sentiment springs again into place, the
small thieves are swept into ObScurty and
shame the sky clears, and a new era begins.
The people are mot Ceau, nor deaf nor dumb"
they are busy. You may trifie with them a
little while-tAey are not quite ready TO attend
to YOU yet but 90 on till the farmer has hoed
cut his row; Till the merchant has balanced
his BOOKS; till the banker has concluded mis-
loan and counted his cash; till the mechanic
= |
, kissed the baby-and thCn-loOk out! We
may indulge less in rhapsody than we did
fifty years ago, but we give more intelligent
attention to the varied and DerpieXing pro-
hlemS of government. II we gj,Sh less we
think more. Never in the history OF the
nation has its political literature been
so rich in suggestion, careful in
thought, so intellieenty patriotic in tone, or
contributed so largely by political laymen
We no longer find III oar political leaders he
/ sources of our political Jews. We lind them
|
magazines. We derive them from such writ
ors us Edward Atkinson, George w. Cable,
Goodwin Smith, w. D. Kelly, f. l.. God
kin, Edward Bethany and Henry George.
We select our representatives from men
OF kindred views with ourselves, gath
cred from kindred sources, and thus the
doctrine Of that matchless formula
ga Government of the people, by the people,
and for the people"-is now, more than ever
| be1ore, giving impulse to our political | fe
A third ground of OR faith may be io-nd
in our successful emergence from the peris
and storms of the past.
We are apt to be oppressed by present
trouble ana men are not wanting who see in
our sky to-day lurid portents OF disaster. one
man sees them in comb nations of capital
another in combinations of labor, a third in "a
conflict between the two, fourth in the
spread OF the doctrines Of social anarchy |
am forced to think of these things as of small
bodily discomforts, slight attacks OF national
indigestion, which fret US, irritate us. and
make Us, at times, a ittlc ugly, but which
possess no alarming symptoms, and yield
readily 10 time and simple Treatment l have
the ught of them as have stood on some
headland and watched an ocean wave rise and
tossing name and rOarS of anger, it PUSHES
upon the shore, dashes its spray upon the
gazer, bursts into million drops, falls, and re-
treats again to the restless deep that gave it
birth. In its impo.ent fury it has hurled it.
self upon continent and met its fate Still
the continent stands. Still the sea rolls. The
atmosphere is purer for its taste of salt;
through the shaft red wave itself the sunlight
has flashed; the ozone of the common air has
filled Its lungs; it has touched the earth and is
satisfied.
So we have seen rise and fall the waves of
political discomfort in the past-Shay's re-
bellion of 1856, the whisky instruction of
1871, DORIS rebellion of '42, the ant-rent
tumults of IA, and the widespread riots OF
~ Swallowed in forgetfulness, they have
already disappeared from the common MEM
Dry, and are now found only in printed
records seldom read. SO see the discontents
+ of the the present time boil and foam. surging
, against the sober thought the high-raised
granite of the nations patriotism, only to
TALL back exhausted and helpless and in their
periodic renewal giving to the nation
sWeeter condition and q higher health
In times of profound peace like the present
when the energy of the nation has long run i'm
channels OF productive industry and trade
2 we are apt, also, to bewail q supposed de.
cadence of public virtue. Our leaders dwindle
in our eyes and we look reeretfully over the
| heads of the low figures in the foreground
upon the imperial men behind whose names
and deeds rise eternal from the levels of our
common life.
In this our history but repeats itself, Go
back little less than four decades-to the
period between 1854 and 1850. For twenty
: years preceding the country had grown ran
idly populous and rich. The arts OF peace
had multiplied with unparalleled rapiditv:
the rapid extension Of railroads was quicken
ing the ener sies OF the nation; steam engines
were bringing Pennsylvania coal and iron
into use; the settlement of Michigan had
added to our Golfers rich mines of copper on
the shores OF Lake superior; the invention of
the telegraph had stimu ated commerce had
increased facilities for the publication of news.
papers, and added to their value while the
invention of cylinder presses had widely ex-
tended their circulation; O fierce commercial
spirit had pushed over our borders added
vast areas to our territory and poured the
fabulous wealth of this golden State into the
nations lap; in Congress and out of IT,
throughout the land, the lust of wealth DOS
sessed the people, the fures of selfshness
were attacking our most sacred traditions
and the great leaders had passed and were
passing away. Adams and Jefferson were no
more; the voice of Webster no longer defended
was enshrined in our hearts among the glori,
Gus departed; the splendor of American
craftsmanship, we said, had vanished the
heroic days were past; and we looked with
troubled eyes into future filed with pain
and untouched by light. But when the
threatening cloud that lay upon our national
horizon rolled its black form to the
zenith and broke, there sprang, full-armed, as
from the brain OF Jove, host of mighty
spirits, beneath the shock of whose conter-
ton the earth rocked as never before since the
birth Of man. Craftsmanship was not dead:
generalshp was not a lost art; patriotism and