The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-07-07
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. MEANS

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nations have their days of jubilee, when
some leading event in their history is
commemorated. France celebrates the
destruction of the Bastile; Germany, the
triumph of Sedan; Italy, the entry of the
Italian troops into Rome. The Hebrews
to this day commemorate in JOY and
| feasting the deliverance of their race
from the bondage of Egypt; hut not one
| of these celebrations can compare in
worldwide significance with the Fourth
| of July. The Bastile was a monument
of ancient despotism, the overthrow of
which signified that the people had cast
off the chains of their tyrants; Sedan
was a great military victory, but it was
victory of conquest; and the day which
marks the union of the Italian peninsula
witnessed not so much the birth of new
nation, as the resurrection of race.
How much more memorable than all
these is that great day, when the dele
gates of Great Britian's American col
onies assembled in Philadelphia, pro-
| claimed that new nation had been
founded in the New World. having for
iCs basis the inalienable right of man.
kind to life, liberty and the pursuit OF
happiness, and, in the name o a few
weak communities fringing the Atlantic
| shore of the Western continent, threw
down challenge of defiance to one OF
the most powerful empires of the earthl
The Declaration of Independence was
not the assertion of freedom by nation
| of slaves. Americans were always free.
The Pilgrims who landed on the bleak
| New England shore were freemen;
bound, it is true, to British allegiance,
but exercising from the first the rights
of self government. The American col
| onies never lost the freedom which the
| Fathers established, and the brief tyr
amy of Andres only scathed. without
destroying, the heritage of liberty
handed down by the founders to their
sons The Declaration of Independence
was as much an assertion of rights
which had long been enjoyed, and pro-
test against tyrannical attempts to en-
coach upon those rights, as it was proc
lamation of that independence which
| Americans deemed to be necessary for
the protection of their freedom. The
stubborn George I'LL, stranger to Brit
ish traditions and t. that love of liberty
which had placed his dynasty on the
throne. apparently imagined that he
could treat his American subjects like
his HanOverian serfS, and compel them
to yield to any eXaction or restriction he
saw fit to impose.
1t should be remembered that George
III. would have found comparatively
weak support in his purpose to coerce
the American people had it not been for
the utterly selfish and grasping spirit
which animated the manufacturing and
commercial classes of Great Britain in
their attitude toward Americans. Brit
ish manufacturers and merchants were
anxious to destroy the growing indus
tries and commerce of the American col
onists, whom they looked upon as pos
sible rivals, and whose markets they
wished TO see supplied not with Ameri-
can, but with British products, and with
products imported from abroad by Brit
ish traders. 1t was in pursuance of this
policy that the Commons of England
sustained the English government in the
attempt to crush the liberties of Ameri-
ca, and contributed lavishly, during sew
en- long years. both men and treasure
for the conquest of America. The re-
I luctance to recOnize the inevitable situa-
ton, at the close of the struggle. W S as
great on the part of the Bri'ish mer-
chants and traders as iG was on the part
of the King and Lord North.
The Fourth of July, 1776, proclaimed
not only the political but the industrial
Independence of the United States. The
War of the Revolution showed the de-
termination of the American people not
to tolerate the British policy of Grip
ping American for the benefit of British
trade. The trouble ended in the triumph
which we celebrate to-day. But Great
Britain did not give up her purpose with
defeat, and from that period until the
present England has missed no opportu-
nifty to strike a blow at American indus
trial interests During the late Rebellion
her policy was largely dictated by the
wish to see free trade Confederacy es-
tablished which would exchange it's cot
ton for British manufactured goods, and
the party of free trade in the United
States has always had a cordial ally in
the industrial interests of Great Britain
The Fourth of July, therefore, conveys a
lesson of patriotism in the broadcast
sense. 1t teaches us not only to be
proud of the greatness of our country,
but to he solicitOus for the principles
and policies which have made our coun-
try great.
The American nation has triumphed
over all it's antagonists, both foreign and
native. Yorktown, New Orleans and
Appomattox have marked the termina-
tion of three memorable efforts to defeat
the destinies of the American people.
The struggling colonies on the Atlantic
have grown to be mighty nation, span
ming the American continents nation
unsurpassed in wealth and resources and
in civilized population, nation long
numbered among the great powers of the
earth. Well it is, therefore, that on the
natal day of our country our minds
should 60 back to the sacrifices, the de-
vOtion, the sufferings of those who
created and maintained the American
Union, to the men of Gettysburg and
Appomattox as well as the men of Bun
ker Hill and Yorktown, to the achieve
ments of those we have with us, as well
as those who have passed away. Let us
see to it that all that has been endured
shall not have been endured in vain,
that the blood of brave men shall not
have been shed in vain in defense of
American institutions, and that those
institutions shall be preserved and
handed down, firm and intact, to COM
ing generations.-N. Y. Press.
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