The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-10-22

Ah ~ W WAduVLu dAlu AhAkhs
The mighty soul of the great admiral
was undaunted by the lngratitude OF
princes, and the hostility OF the people,
by imprisonment and neglect. lie
died us he was securing the means, ma
preparing Z campaign ior the rescue oi
the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem from
the intidel. He did not know what
time has revealed, that while the mis-.
sion of the crusades, OF Godfrey oil
Bouillon and Richard OF the Lion
Heart was q bloody and fruitless
romance, the discovery OF America was
the salvation of the world. The one
was the symbol, the other the spirit;
the n death, the other life. The tomb
OF the Savior was n narrow and empty
vault, precious only for its memories OF
the supreme tragedy OF the centuries,
but the new continent was to be the
home and temple Of the living God.
The rulers OF the Old World began
with partitloning the New. To them
the discovery was expansion OF empire,
and grandeur to the throne. Vast ter
ritories, whose properties and posi-.
billities were little understood, and
whose extent was greater than the king
doms of the sovereigns, we're the gifts
to court favorities, and the prizes OF
royal approval. But individual intel
ligence and independent conscience
found here haven ana refuge. They
were the passengers upon the caraveis
oil Columbus, and he vas unconsciousIy
making for the port Of civil and reIigl-
Gus liberty. Thinkers, who believed
men capable OF higher destinies and
larger responsibilities, and pious people
who preferred the Bible, to that union
OF church and state where each serves
the other for temporal benefit oil both,
fed 10 these distant and hospitabIe
lands from intolerable and hopeless op-
preston at home. 1t required three
hundred years, for the people thus
happily situated, to understand their
own powers and resources, and to break
bonds which were still reverenced, or
loved no matter how deeply they
wounded, or how hard they CALLED.
The nations OF Europe were go COM
pletely absorbed in dynastic difficulties
and devastating wars, with diplomacy
and ambitions, that they neither heed
ed nor heard Of the growing democratic
spirit and intelligence in their Ameri-
can colonies.
A DIVIDED CONTINENT.
The northern continent was divided
between England, France and Spain,
and the southern between Spain and
Portugal. France wanting the capacity
for colonization, which still character
ICES her, gave up her western posses
sions and left the English, who have the
genius Of universal empire. masters OF
North America. The development OF
the experiment in the English domain
makes this day memorable. 1t is due
to the wisdom and courage, the faith
and virtue OF the inhabitants OF this
territory that government Of the PEG.
pie, for the people and by the people
wa inaugurated, and has become a tri-
umphant success. The Puritan settled
in New England and the Cavalier IN the
South. They represented the opposites
Of spiritual and temporal life and opin-
ions. The processes OF liberty liberal
lied the one and elevated tho other.
Washington and Adams were the new
types. Their union in a common cause
gave the world a republic both stable
and free. 1t possessed conservatism
without bigotry and liberty without Ii
cense. It founded institutions strong
enough to resist revolution. and elastic
enough for indefinite extension to meet
the requirements in government OF
ever enlarging areas OF population and
the needs of progress and growth.
Platforms Of principles, by petition,
or protest, or statement, have been as
frequent as revolts against established
authority. They are part OF the politi-
cal literature Of all nations. The De-
claration Of Independence proclaimed at
Philadelphia, July fourth, l776, is the
only one of them which arrested the
attention ofthe world when it was pub
lished, and has held its undivided in
terest ever since. The vocabulary OF
the equality ofman had been in familiar
use by philosophers and statesmen for
ages. II expressed noble sentiments,
but their application was limited to
classes or conditions. The masses cared
little for them nor remembered them
long. Jefferson's superb crystalli-
cation OF the popular opinion, that
"all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights, that
among these are lie, liberty and the
pursuit Of happiness" had its force and
effect in being the deliberate utterance
OF the people. 1t swept away in a sin
gle sentence kings and mobiles, peers and
prelates. 1t was Magma Charta, and
the petition OF rights planted in the
virgin soil of the American wilderness,
and bearing richer and ripper fruit. I'm
der its vitalizing influence upon the in
dividual, the farmer left his pillow in the
furrow, the lawyer his books and
briefs. the merchant his shop, and the
workman his bench, to enlist in the pa
triot army. They were fighting for
themselves and their children. They
embodied the idea in their constitution
in the immortal words with which,
that great instrument OF liberty and or
der began: ave. the people Of the
United States, do ordain." .
OUR PROGRESS.
Benjamin Franklin, philosopher aud
patriot, amused the jaded courtiers of
Louis XVI, by his talks about liberty,
and entertained the scientists of France
BY bringing lightning from the clouds.
In the reckoning OF time, the period
from Franklin to Morse, and from Morse
to Edison is but span, and yet it marks
a material development as marvellous
as it has been beneicent. The world
has been brought into contact and sym.
pathv. The electric current thrills and
unifes the people Of the globe. Power
and production, highways and trans
nnrLn hnun heen 90 multinlind md i'm.