Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1897-07-11

No other National holiday is 81
stamped in the worlds calendar as
ours. This day marks not the birth
" coronation OF a prince to WELD l.
hereditary sceptre over millions OF
zen who werc born to bc his sub
i cts and to obey his will. Nay.
1ather. il marks the biith OF u new
,eoplc. the birth OF a people crowned
with the divine right to rule them
solves. Iheso phrases have been
used so often that they have become
threadbaro and have lost that wealth
" meaning which they expressed i'll
he language Of the fathers. The
I erdman who has felt the sting OF
the slave-driver's lash never heard a
sveetcr word tnan -freei, m The
pilgrim fathers who saw the
fires OF religious persecution kin.
lied BY the hand " bloody Mary
knew how much Of Heaven there Is
IN the words religious freedom
The revolutiopar. fathers who saw
the colonial assemblies dissolved by
George Ill because they opposed with
manly tirmneS the oppression OF the
people. the fathers who had been
taxed without their consent, who had
been deprivek by the ruyal command
in many cases Of the right OF trial by
jury. who had seen the arbitrary
will OF the English king substituted
for the law Of the land and enforced
by the bayonets Of II brutal foreign
soldicry: the Freuchmen who had
languished for years i'll the dungeons
Of the bastile. not because ot any
crimes Which they had committed.but
because the French monarch had is
suel to some worthless favorite 4
warrant authorizing him to imprison
w~homsncver he chose within those
grim and cruel walls until 1t should
please his fancy to grant release,
knew VIVA, a world ot meaning lies
hidden i'll the word Liberty
When tine Declaration Of l~ndepen-
deuce WAS promulgated it came to
mankind as a new revelation from
heaven: il came at a time when ALSO.
Lutte deSpotic power was s~nthruwnsd
every where. except in Holland and
England. The King was the State,
the King Was the Government. the
King was everything. He was the
sole law-maker: his pleasure was his
only rule; he leNisi taxes without The
consent NJ those who had t. pay; he
waged var to averSe personal insults
or TO accomplish personal ends; he
sem men to prison without any crime
being laid to their charge. and might
keep then there without trial until
they died; he claimed and exercised
the unquesticned authority t" disDoSe
O, the lives and property Of his sub
iects.
The Revolutionary Fathers were
discoveries and inventors. They
did not blindly follow the examples
OF those who had preceded them.
they were not walking III beat
en- pL'hs. they ere pioneers hewins
a bosd highway into the trackless
wilderness, following As their pole
star those immortal principles AN
Der are created free aud equal. al!
governments deuye their just pnwers
from the consent OF the governed
They brought every question TO the
bar OF their own judgment, they con.
structed their system Of government
upon lev and uuiried principles, they
hooked through their own eyes, they
looked upon th= problems before
them y Is the first man on the
first day in Eden looked UPON the
opening glories " the morning. 1t is
not TO be understood .hat work Of the
fathers was one OF pure originality.
on tile contrary, they appropriated
whatever appeared to be gcou in the
experience and the teaching Of those
who had preceded them i'll so far as
ii was adapted To the conditions OF
the new world, but we must remem.
Der that the sum OF human kIowl.
edge was in that day exceedingly
limited. In l0o tue printing press
Of Benjamin Franklin vas admost
the only one in the United States.
and as late rs 1850. it is said there
more newspapers in the State az
New York alone, than in the whole
world outside 81 the United States.
Outside 81 the United States public
schools were wholly unknown. The
revolutionary fathers knew nothing
Of railroads. teleGraphs and tele-
phones. and Of steam, electricity and
the other great agencies * muiern
industrial life they were almost
wholly ignorant Their knowledge
in the realm 81 pohiSs and state.
ctsti was exceedingly circumscrbed.
We read much Of the Gemorracies
and republics Of !he ancient world.
we are fired 10y the stories Of their
better days and 10y the record Of their
struggles agarns; The expressions and
wrongs OF those days; .c, the liberty
and freedom ~ those times has no
q resemblance 10 tina, 81 the
great republic Of the Western Hem.
isPhere than has the little sirclti
which rises in the mountains Of sion.
iana TO the mighty river which nils
ttln Ia EnlI u NI-