The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1897-07-03
THE FOURTH OF JULY.

their delivcrer, Armnus, who now stands in
bronze facing the Rhine as he always did
when the legions of Rome about to in
wade the marches and forests of the old
fatherland. True, they have not been
blessed with free and Republican govern
ment we have, but the liberty-loving
Tcutons, their descendants now do, held
their savior dear in memory and their barGs
still sing of 'the deeds he did, the fields he
won, the freedom he rcstorcd.'' The
conqueror of Varus is the national
hero; the superstitious Teutons worshipetl
= him, and their descendants now honor him.
fhe French have not to go back far
as the first century to find the date of their
delivery. The bright sons and daughters of
Sunny France sing that grand hymn, ella
Marscillaise," and when Ill the nations of the
earth will emf oy the benign influence of
Democratic government, they will join them
in celebrating the Fourteenth of July one
of the red letter days in the history of re-
publican achievements.
When sec the Germans, who do not
enjoy our privileges, commemorate what
they regard as the beginning of their free
dom, how much more right have We to
remember i'll a proper way the date which
marks the transfer of sovereignty from the
mother country into the hands of our an
ccstors p?
Just hundred and twcnty-onc years
ago the measure known the Declaration
of Independence, drafted by Thomas
Jefferson, was proclaimed to the
country by Congress assembled. In
this age of sweet girl graduates it would
be useless to recount ''the folly Of Engla nd
and the ruin of America during the years
preceding the revolution when England so
wantonly tramlcd upon the rights and ibcr
ties of the colonies; but we cannot but
touch upon the fact with pride that We of
the South, took the first pronounced step
toward achieving the independence of the
colonies The Carolnas and Virginia were
the first to pass formal resolutions virtually
declaring themselves independent, and it
Richard Henry Lee, Of Virginia, who
moved in the Continental Congress ''Ihat
these United States are and ought to be free
and independent States, and that all polit
ical connection between them and the State
of Great Britain is and ought to be dis
solvcd.' We should never forget the fac,
that the South was the first to- declare our
inlcpc ndencc, and that it the voice of
Patrick Henry of Virginia that defended
with clo4ucnce almost unparalleled, the
resolutions formally proclaiminS defiance.
True, that declaration did not accomplish
Independence, but the first step was
taken and from that time we sec the strus-
gle for Democratic institutions. Iniepcnd-
from England soon obtained, but
che most critical period OF American history
is when the two parties tina, divided America
at that time represented b. Jefferson and
JIan,,on, fought out principle -Jeffcr son
f,,It ~
That principle has again AMI again
been brought before the American public
Jefferson was the father of that declaration
and the princi pies it embodied his, those
which Hamilton opposed in part. Hamilton
opposed the tyranny of England and Jeffcr-
the principle of monarchy. Hamilton
wished to take British institutions a
model, but Jefferson cspo:,sed the principles
of Sydny and John Locke, and when he
promulgated that famous document it
startled the world-a defiance, coming as it
did, from colony to the mother country,
and now the libcrty-loving people of the
Garth still delight in it an assertion of the
rights of man.
But Jefferson was dreamer, they say.
Yes, and he dreamed out this sacred paper;
he dreamed out the principles of the grand
oll l'CiiiOClatlC l'ltJ, hC 'ic''ii'C>' Vat ''AS
purchase of Louisiana; he dreamed out the
abolition Of slavery, the extension of our
territory, the republic.
Hamilton simply wished to free hi msclf
from foreign dictation; he cared not what
form of government the colonies would as.
s,,snc, but Jefferson had embraced the new
philosophy of the rights of man, the bcauti-
full principle of human liberty.
That preciouS 1)al,cr which jefferson has
bequeathed to us is supreme trust. Since
the Civil war there is Il tendency to drift
gradually from the principles of Jefferson.
The decisions of the Supreme Court have
favored IIamiltonianisn,, and there is ample
reason for our Democratic leaders to go
ITO Thomas Jefferson for the true theory
of our government. They will find in him
decentralization, Democracy and federation
in RELIGION. Chaste as Washington lust