The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-03

iudeu by the luea tnat Is to-day the mos
dangerous of all decisions, that free insti
tutions We're an easy thing to establish
and easy thing to perpetuate. They were
too deeply read in human history, toe
freshly chastened by their own expert
ence to fall into any such error. Nor did
they dream, wise, able patriotic as they
were, that, out of their wisdom and
craftsmanship. they could create a dura-
bic system. by any piece of paper they
might devise and sign in the Federal con
yention, as Locke and Shaftcsbury be-
lieved they could do for the early colo
nists of North Carolina. They knew,
and they guided their action by the
| knowledge, that governments are not
made to order, and that free government,
| of all orders, was the rarest, slowcSt and
most precious growth of the centuries.
| And so, as Mr.. Bancroft tells us in clos
ing his history of their work, they
wrought, and as far as possible they
wrought only with materials that were
the gift of the ages.
The institutions. customs and methods
OF administration which. in thousand
years Of struggle and effort. the people
had developed in the mother country, and
had learned to work with some degree
Of familiarity and success: the separate.
but kindred systems Of local government
which. colonists. with such Il political
heritage had spontaneously developed and
adapted to the conditions and the larger
freedom. of a new country these were
the materials with which they wrought
i'll wisdom and craftsmanship Their
work was evolution. not Il break with
the past; natural and healthy growth. not
revolution or creation. Their warrant
for believing that their fabric OF govern.
ment might endure was that in structure
and principle it was in accord with the
ideas, the past experience and the inher-
tied capacity Of the people for whom
it was intended. OF the two original con-
tributiOns which they made to the Con
stitution. the electoral system for choos-
ing President and Vice President. and
the Supreme court. the one was speedily
nullifed by the development of party sys-
tens they did not anticipate. and the
other has become a bulwark of freedom
and balance wheel OF government, be-
cause 1T was ordained to be the living
voice of a written Constitution as To
all controversies that arise under its OPP
Grafton.
The great controversy Of the Federal
convention. on which. for Il long time,
the result of all its labors hung suspend
ed. was the proportional representation Of
the large and small States in the National
Legislature: and this was settled by a
happy compromise. One vital issue they
could not compromise and left to the
chances and hazards of the future. the
permanent and indisS0lube or the volun-
tary and repealable connection of a State
with the Union: and this had eventually
to be appealed to the God of battles. and
a new amendment to the Constitution
written. not by the pen Of statesmen but
by the sword of warriors.
Such, in brief outline. is the genesis
of our free government. and such. in gen
eral, must be the genesis of all free gov
eminent. It's form and organism. such
as circumstances and accident and strug-
gle through many generations make IT.:
its strength and vitality. a people slow
ly educated by like experience and disci-
pline TO us, to defend and to perpetuate
it. There is to-day. and there can be-
no stable freedom except historic free
DOM For Il quarter of a century France
has been republic resting on universal
suffrage, but the freedom of the French
man is not the freedom of the English
man, still less of the American. Mexico
is a republic with constitution very
much like our own. but not a republic in
our sense of the word. Names signify
little; constitutions written or unwritten
signify little; even universal suffrage
means little; the potential energy. the liv-
ing spirit of freedom, is not found in any
Of these, nor yet in charters or bills of
right, or declarations or statutes. but in
the political training. the individual en-
lightenment and morality of the people
and in their devotion to personal liberty
Institutions cannot make a free people
free people will make free institutions
The great South Carolina statesman, who
pondered more deeply the principles of
government and the philosophy of liberty
than any other man in our history. slim
med up the result Of his reflections in
words that should be written over the
portals of every legislative chamber and
of every great school of learning in Am
erica: Liberty is a reward to be earn
ed; q reward reserved fer the intelligent
the patriotic, the yrtuous and the desery-
ing This is the generalization of true
craftsmanship; and this is the fixed law
of ProyIdence,as we are permitted to read
its laws in the stately procession of hui
man history. And because liberty is the
highest and MODEST reward reserved for
the development of our moral and intl-
lectual faculties, there is an indefeasible
obligation on every great school of learn
ing to flt successive generations to earn
THIS reward, to receive, preserve and
transmit it, by safer title deeds. to those
who come after them.
1t is ON less difficult to preserve than
to achieve. In the progress of civilization,
III the swift march of material develop
ment, it may become more difficult. Eff
fectual public service effectual and saga
cious leadership, cannot be easier in
country of seventy-two millions, than it
was i'll a country of twenty millions, for
which Mr.. Calhoun penned these preg-
nant words. Problems of craftsmanship
cannot be simpler in a republic extending
from sea TO sea, with its multitudinous
cities, its boundless range of occupations.
itc iTcr yUoa1tJ ife, al, -,