The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-07-06
Continued from First Page.)

eminent that should be at once free
and thoroughly representative of the
popular will.
Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and /
their compeers of the period that gave
birth to the American nation were the
first to recognize the two great truths, !
that individual manhood furnishes the
only correct and safe foundation for
the best form of government for man
kind, and that all just government
rests, in the ultimate on the consent of
the governed.
These truths, first formally recog-
nized and announced in the Declaration
of American Independence, were in di-
rect defiance of the hitherto asserted
divine right of kings to govern, and
were also incompatible with any claims
of an aristocracy of any sort, in so far
as governmental powers are concerned,
and in conflict with any recognition of
classes and castles in the body polite
The experiment attempted by our
revolutionary fathers was as bold as it
was novel; and looking backward now,
over the comparatively brief period of
our national existence, it seems almost
marvellous that, with the scanty re-
sources that were available and with
NAL provinces, the American revolution
for the achievement of complete indie
pendence and the establishment of free
self-government was so completely and
brilliantly successful.
But the new and stirring truths, that
every man is born with an inalienable
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, and that resistance to ty-
rants is obedience to God, Immediately
took. deep root in the hearts and con-
sciences of the American colonists; and
through seven years of struggle and a
baptism and contest of blood and fire,
finally developed in full fruitage a sys-
tenn of free self-gOvernment, which has
now grown to the Stalwart status of
the American Republic, whose wealth,
intelligence, influence and power are
fully recognized by all the nations of
the earth.
Americans on this day. whether at
home or abroad, may be pardoned, if
they indulge in feelings and express
sions of national pride and rejoicing
over what has been wrought within the
territory of the United States OF Am
erica, in little more than "a century of
life and growth. The nation has ex-
tended it's jurisdiction and sovereignty
from what was a narrow strip of At
lantic sea coast and an almost unin-
habited wilderness to the farthest pos
sible limit of the Pacific shhore.
The starry flag of our country now
floats, with unquestioned authority,
from the vast chain of the lakes of the
north to the great southern gulf, and
from where the lofty Katahdin frowns
down upon the stormy Atlantic as it
fho CHI Of III I,
Rock to where the snowy Sierras look
out upon the blue, unvexed Pacific.
Our population has increased more
than twenty fold, and the original sis
terhood of thirteen States now num-
bers fOrty-f1ve independent, self-gov-
erning communities, and we confidently
hope and expect that other members
will ere long be welcomed into this
circle, and that other stars will be ad-
ded to the galaxy that now adorns our
flag.
Territorial acquisition, or enlarge
ment, is not the American policy; yet
we have accepted and shall cheerfully
accept any increase of our national ter
ritory and Jurisdiction that seems to
be natural and is in accord with the
proper spirit of national progress and
with our national character and insti-
buttons; and it is my thought that we
may be, in the future, compelled by
considerations of prudence and the ne
cessities that may arise and affect our
national position, to relax, or modify
our somewhat rigid doctrine in rela-
ton to this subject.
1t may be that in the future the peo-
pie of the United States will see fit to
extend the jurisdiction of the Republic
beyond the present continental shore
limits; but, in any such case which may
arise, this will only be done in accord
ance with the desire and with the full
and free consent of fthe communities
that would be affected by the change.
OF the progress of the American ma
ton in intelligence and wealth, it. is
neither necessary, nor would it be be-
coming, for us to boast. In neither of
these respects is any encomium needed;
what has. been accomplished III the way
of advance and achievement speaks
constantly for itself in our contact with
the civilized world, intellectually, So
cially and commercially.
Suffice it to say that in nearly all
the American communities the educa-
ton of the people is held to be of the
first and highest Importance; that the
free education of the common people
is recognized as a necessit~ if our free
institutions are to remain intact and
permanent; that generally all educa-
tional institutions and efforts are lib
orally sustained; that in all depart
ments of literature and science the sons
and daughters of the Republic have al
ready won high distinction, and many
of them are now recognized as among
the benefactors and the teachers of the
world. On one point only is there any
difference of opinion, or apprehension
of future difficulty, and that is in ref
erence to the relations that exist, or
may be established, between our free
common schools and certain religious
organizations. But l believe it may be