The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-07-06

cannot name or comprehend 1t any more than we can comprehend the life eternal, for it is @ part of that life
 The men who tried to resist the inVa- ders of New Haven as they marched along the road which lies at our feet on their errand of destruction, acted In | obedience to a force which from the earliest dawn of civilization has im- pelled men to battle for human rights, and strive for nobler and better things. Their fervor their acts, seemingly part of the brief span of their indiyidu- al existence, were In truth part of this greater life which have been try ing to speak of, but which eludes analv ysis or description. Truly "the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal"
 These thoughts press me to-day as l ask myself why, after so many years, We should come here to revive and per- petuate the memory of what was done by our ancestors on that 5th day of July, 1779. No great battle was fought, no conspicuous results followed the work performed on that hot and dusty July day. The story occupies a very small space in our history and yet we I then; we are trying to make the place conspicuous, and trying to tell those who shall come after us that we think the things done here were worthy Of lasting appreciation. It Is because the great unseen life of people throbs' on
 forever, that places and events have such an influence upon life and destiny, The world is full of places which we call historic or holy. What was done upon earth's soil seems to have become a part of it so that the place itself has a voice and speaks to those who stand upon it. Who can comprehend or measure the influence and power which goes forth evermore from the place
 where something was done for humani-' ty Religion has its holy places. Pa
 triotism it's consecrated fields. This is not the language of poetry, it is a state ment of fact. Who can analyze or ac- count for the influence which since that dark hour on Calvary has gone out from the Holy Mount. Who shall ac- count for the spirit excited by sight of Bunker Hill monument. Who can truly
 understand the living force which for ever emanates from a patriots grave. So, though We cannot explain the req son for 1t, there is something here
 which calls up patriotic sentiment, which makes us think of country and
 duty, and prompts us to speak of liber lty and to value it above property and above life itself
 The story of what took place within
 the range of our vision has been too oft
 en and too well told to repeat here.
 Every circumstance has been treas ured up on the printed page, every relic
 of the occasion of the day is cherished.
 No new light can be thrown upon the l transaction. The minutest details of the landing, the advance upon the town, the resistance by the militia and volunteers, the killing and burning, the occupation, the swift gathering Of pa-
 triots from the adjacent country, the hesitation of the British officers, the plundering by drunken soldiers. their
 brutality, the council of war, the final
 decision to spare the place. the retreat
 and authorization, and the quickly fol- lowing destruction of Fairfield and Nor
 walk, are familiar to all the children in
 our schools. It is better then that we
 should try to understand the spirit
 manifested upon the occasion which we
 commemorate rather than to recapitu-
 late its incidents.
 It is not easy to put ourselves in the
 place of the citizens of our state during
 the war of the Revolution, to enter full ly into their lives, to realize their hopes and fears, or to appreciate the determi- nation and courage which they felt and acted. Everything is so changed. Nothing seems left but the landscape I 1- ;., Haven of a century ago. The town in 1779, including the territory which has
 since formed other towns, might have contained seven or eight thousand peo- pie. The city itself less than four thou : sand. The same territory, city and towns, now sustain population of
 about one hundred and twenty-five thousand. The spirit of improvement in commercial and material life has so changed its features that the man who
 like Rip Van Wrinkle could come back [ from the sleep of century and stand with us upon this hill would scarcely recognize the familiar scenes of his day.
 All would be new and strange to him,
 and he would believe himself victim
 of enchantnent New Haven was then
 part of a colony struggling for indepen-
 den existence as a state. The habits and occupation of it's people were un-
 pretentious and simple. They had in-
 deed history, and a character the re-
 suit of their history. The thrift of Ea-
 ton, the piety of Davenport. and the
 patriotism of both, were reflected in . their lives. The spirit of the pilgrim
 and puritan, of the martyr and the reg icide characterized the community.
 They were struggling for liberty. They were descended from ancestors who had
 been battling for liberty long before i, they migrated to America. Questions
 of religion, of government, of authority,
 of law, were the real questions of their remarkable and strange lives The
 state and the church meant more to
 them than they seem to mean to the
 present generation. They appreciated . more fully think than we can now
 what it meant to fight for liberty. Lib
 erty which was denied to them had a larger meaning and evoked a more in-
 tense life than we can appreciate. In 2 l full enjoyment of it's blessings how can I we understand the sentiment to which 1 Patrick Henry gave utterance when he l cried Give me liberty or give. me 2 death." In the record of the non-fm- g portation meeting held at Norwich