The Newtown bee., 1894-07-06

political seeds the fruit of which we en- joy to-day. The instructive spirit of pat riotism imbued the hearts of the people, and the spirit of independence which cul- minated in revolution was nurtered in their humble homes. They
 I "As a child when soaring sounds molest, 1 Clings close and closer to it's mothers breas So the loud tempest and the whirlwind's roar | But binds him to his native mountain more !"
 l shall not recount the causes which 1 led up to the Revolution; suffice it to say that England continued to oppress her colonies until her conduct towards them | became uncomfortable. It eliminated in the spring of 1775, and on the 18th day of April in that year, little band of Massachusetts farmers, fearless in the cause of right, proposed, single-handed and alone, to fight the whole British En- pire, and actually opened the war of the Revolution. They could not be intimi- dated, and the professional English sol- diers were glad to run for their lives and seek safety behind their ships. No won- der that Patrick Henry, with eloquence that never yet has been equalled, could rouse the world as he told the thrilling story of his brethren already in the field.
 Never was 8 more devoted or a wiser band of patriots than that which con- posed the congress of '76. They were environed with difficulties which would utterly discourage men of weaker heads or fainter hearts. They were without power but to recommend. They had all exhausted army to recruit amid a dis couraged people, and powerful and de- , termined foe; and all this not merely
 without money, but also without credit :; for the bills which they formerly issued had greatly depreciated and were daily deprecating; yet amid all these dis couragements they held on their course ] of patriotic exertion, hopeful and undis- l mayed.
 To-day we celebrate the 18th anniver- S sary of the event which overthrow the a divine right of kings and established the fundamental political truth that all men V are born free and equal. Upon the an nouncement of this doctrine, the civilized
 world stood aghast, but after eight long.
 dark and weary years, the god of wal
 had held firmly in his grasp the scale o1
 might, his messenger announced the tri.
 umph of right, and the angel of peace n n Three millions of people, imbued with 8 |. solemn sense of the righteousness o1
 their cause, embattled and conquered the t, most powerful foe it could engage. II 1T, was a devastating conflict, and while the
 laurels of victory rested with the armies 7. of the embryo nation, it's ambition was
 realized, it's energies were shattered; il '' established the truth, but it's practibil
 ity was enigmatical. The joy conse r quent upon the realization of an almos
 hopeless hope so overshadowed every n other consideration for the time being
 that the people were not radically unlike C children so overjoyed with some new to,
 that all else is forgotten. But this ex
 cusable intoxication was of sh0r5 dura
 tion. Recovering from the stupor O.
 their exuberance, the founders of the re public realized the difficulty of establish
 
 "all men are born free and equal'' a G. one of it's corner stones. The prfncipl n they established by force of arms, bu
 the application of that principle to prac
 tice was, at most, experimental,-a con , dition calculated to appall them.
 I9 The fact that here in Connecticut wer
 first planted the seeds of that particula l form of government under which we live
 should be the cause of a certain amour ,r of pardonable pride in each of us. O.
 the 31st day of May, 1639, at Hartford
 in a sermon delivered by Rev Thoma
 Hooker, was first announced the under y, lying principle of onr national and stat
 governments of to-day, and, in fact It shortly thereafter, the colony of Connec y tcut was enjoying a form of govern
 ment, differing only in detail from tha ht which we enjoy to-day. Massachusetts e, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware
 Maryland and the Carolinas had thei
 governors by the kings commission, bu
 at that time Connecticut,a ,as she does tc
 day (sometimes) elected her chief execr
 tlNc oIlCeI' Iuere was nO HoDillGy or arls
 tocracy here. All men being born fire
 and equal, each was entitled to voic
 in the establishment of a government C the people, by the people and for tn A' people. The sovereignty of the peopl - surplanted the sovereignty of the king -' It was the erection of a political supe ;" structure upon the foundation laid b y one of the most remarkable men of colo n nial time, Rev Thomas Hooker. s While Athens and Rome had tried tn i experiment of the popular form of go "O ernment, it remained for America to giN oA to advancing civilization a democrac @ unhampered by the neutralizing limit u" tions that brought destruction upon tl 00 republic of long ago. The civilize
 world watched with curiosity the expi 'n iment of the young republic. But th' ut curiosity turned to amazement as the or beheld it's onward and unfaltering marc a1 toward the first rank of nations. o lls ward, onward we went in the march ny civilization, and history looks in vain f ch like example of national progress al nG stability. What at it's inception w US looked upon as a political chimera, ce the rawlings of political monomaniac 'u- not only has the historian been compell, UT to give to it the brightest pages of hi oi- tory, and look vainly through the re oI ords of time for parallel, but the cl Ial mera of it's founders is gradually su