The times., 1898-07-17
Z 14!l+llt llI21l' 3 t|t:1 !


against the RIGHTEOUSNESS of arbitrary
monarchy. About fifteen centuries later
the Divine Teacher of Nazareth preached
the new dispensation of the fatherhood
Of God and the brotherhood of man, and
soon that preaching revolutionized the
world. Again, fifteen centuries later
STILL the hopes of the human race were
! quickened into new life by the discovery
of a new world, destined to become the
home and the stronghold of religious lib
erty. These three great events wonder
| fully supplement each other in the dl-
vine coordination of human history and
| in the development of human civiliZa-
! tion.
Passing over an interesting. but
! lengthy review of the bHghting lnilu-
| ences of feudalism, we come 10 the
| question of EngIands part in the con-
| test for constitutional and civil liberty,
which Is not as brilliant as her writers
would have us believe. Il is no more
| TO the discredit OF our present Anglo
Saxon or Anglo-American race that the
\ Angles and Saxons and other barbarians
/ who came with them to plunder Britain
! in the fifth and sixth centuries of the
| Christian era We're the most cruel. the
! most bloodi hirsty and the most thor
| oughly savage of all the sayages who
contributed TO dismember the Roman
empire or TO destroy the Roman civih-
cation than 1t was to the discredit of
the Romans at the time of their greatest
development, that they were c0nfessedly
the descendants of an aggregation of
| cutthroats, robbers, bandits, thieves and
| outlaws. A great race may spring from
| the most contemplate origin. The An
| giO-Saxon race did Hltle or nothing for
the cause of civil liberty until the sew
| enteenth century. Before Magma Charta
there was neither constitutiOnalism nor
.t-- L itr,
! PRONUNCIATION the government was an alb
solute mOnarchy-the most absolute in
all Europe not even excepting the Rus
| sta Of that day. Magma Charta was in
deed a new departure in the political
affairs Of England: and yet It was for
long time no more than brutum fulmen.
/ The dawn of civA liberty In England
was contemporaneous with the ascension
or the Scottish house of Stuart to the
throne Q603). Ii was not until the Revo-
| tuition Of l6S by which James ii was
| expelled. that the power and position of
| Parliament and its functions in the state
were fully and finally confirmed. The
| system Of trial by jury, sometimes claim
| ed 10 be the palladium Of English liberty
was not Of Anglo-Saxon origin. 1t was
| simply adopted by England from the tn
! stitutiOns Of the Franks The indepen-
| dence of the judiciary under our Amerl-
! can constitutional system we regard as
| one Of the very best features perhaps
| the very best. of all our guarantees of
| civil liberty. The English judiciary is not
| and never has been an independent
! branch of government. On the contrary
| Il has always been the creature of the
executive power-although it is very
| greatly TO its credit that with c0mpara-
lively rare exceptions, IL has always
discharged its functions with a degree of
| fear!esness and practical independence
! greatly at variance with its theoretical
/ position in the state
IL Is evident that Notwithstanding Mag
ma Charta- Notwithstanding De Montfort c
Parliament OF A. d. 1864. notwithstanding
/ the imitation of the contest for freedom
| under the Stuarts, Notwithstanding the
| revolution of l6SS and the boasted Bill of
I Rights, true civil liberty was not deveI-
/ oped in England until toward the end of
the eighteenth century, and did not re-
ceiNe formal shape and legal recognition
until the first part Of the nineteenth cen
tury, and even then not so much as the
result of the development of existing in
sutuuons as in consequence of the opera
tloh OF eXtraneous influences. notably
those of the American revolution and
those Of the French revolution.
The brief space at command does not
| permit this article to do Justice To the
lectures on the development of civil liber-
l = 44- -AtAASA I'D At aulG4oT ma kGS q care
| ful analysis Of the different charters
| granted for the establishment of colonies
in America-charters that contained hut
| two restrictions, and those rarely exercis-
ed, on self-government. The government
must be consistent with the laws of Eng
land and subject TO veto by the para
mount authority there. The colonists
were ardent for civil liberty and the
cause Of human freedom. but they did not
recognize the best and most essential ele-
ment OF civil liberty the freedom of the
/ human conscience
1t was not until the war of independence
I that the cause of civil liberty proceeded
by no uncertain steps. That was only the
culmination of the contest which had be-
gun in England in A. D. 1856, with the
conquest Of that country by William of
/ Normandy and the grinding despotism OF
the feudal system. 1t was the beginning
OF the end Of the war of the neonle
against the feudal classes.
Judge Morris makes a mastery analy-
sis Of our system of government. includ-
ing the feature Of purely American in
Vention. the dual plan OF State and Fed
eral government, which he regards &C
perhaps the most interesting character
OF our institutions. He is eloquent on
the reaction of America upon Eurone
The reverberation of the guns of Con
cord has gathered strength and volume
as il has rolled on until all the nations
of Europe. except Russia and Turkey
which should be regarded as Asiatic rath
er than European have been awakened
TO the sound; and even the ancient feu-
dal empire Of Japan on the remote con-
fines of Asia, has been startled nv II
from the slumber of ages to the opening
OF brighter day. The elimination of
the heroic contest for civil liberty In
America created profound impression
in Europe. England and France espe-
cially, were moved by 1t. England the
baffied contestant in the struggle, was
more benefited than injured by the fail
ure; for she learned by it lesson which
has proved to her of inestimabe value
But in France was the first decisive
response in Europe to the principles OF
the American Revolution. The soldiers
of France, the associates of Lafayette
and Rochambeau, the man who fought
by the side of Washington at the crown.
ing struggle at Yorktown, went back tc
Europe fired with all the zeal of con.
verts TO the cause which they had es,
poused so vigorously and successfully
in the new world. The French revolu
ton was the first echo in Europe of oul
American Revolution. The Inauguration
of O'Connelrs great struggle for civi
and religious liberty, and the more re
cent movements in the cause of freedom
are traced TO the influence or the grea
republic.
The keynote of the concluding lectur
is sounded in the first sentence in which
the author says it may seem strange tina
in this day religious liberty and freedom
of conscience should require separate o
special consideration. Civil libert,
without religious liberty and freedom
, | of conscience is TO us unintelligible: for
! with US, the freedom of the conscienc
is the primary essential element OF al