The Irish standard., 1898-01-08
"CIvIS SUM AMERICANS" IS THE
BEST IN THE WORLD.
ESTIMATE OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP.
FOUNDATION OF U. 8. GOVERNMENT
IS NOT ENGLISH.
so SAYS REV. Or. D. j. STAFFORD,
RECTOR OF ST. PATRICK,s CHURCH.
WASHINGTON. D. G.


on recent occasion Rev. DR.. D. T.
STAFFORD, Of St. Patrick's church. de-
hvered a lecture under the auspices Of
the G. A. R. Of Washington, d. c.. at
the Columbia Theater, his subject be-
ing The Principles of American Citi-
zenship." Many distinguished persons
were present. Department Command
er Hopkins introduced DR.. Stafford In
euloglstlc words, and as he stepped to
the front OF the stage he was greeted
with applause During the delivery of
| MS address he was listened to most a..
tentively by the audience.
DIR. Stafford spoke substantially az
follows:
ClVls Sum Romanus"-I am a Ro-
man citizen. That was the proudest
title of antiquity; it meant the strength
OF Roman armies; it meant the powe"
OF the Roman people; the majesty of
the Roman law; it meant freedom from
all 1ndignity, and, therefore, men glori
ed In 1t, and thought it the proudest of
all things to be able to say-l am a RI.
man citizen!
"Civis Sum Americanus-I am an
American citizen. That is the proud-
est title of the modern world. Prouder
and greater and better and higher than
that OF Roman. 1t means the rights of
man, 1T means eternal justice; it
means progress, civilization: It means
the solution forever, upon a basis of
justice and equity, of the most monlen-
tous social problem and the establish
ment upon basis of natural Justice of
the ideal form of government. 1t is,
therefore, thing incomparably more
| glorious to say than L am a Roman
That signified power, might and force;
this signifies justice and right.
! Every nation in this world is in
some sense chosen people, and has
some mission assigned to it by prov
ldence; some peculiar thought, idea
or principle which distinguishes and
udLlOnE,
Which constitutes it in its Individual
being, and the workings and develop
| ment and explanation of which con-
stitutes the nations life work and mis-
sion. Thus the Jews were the chosen
people for the preserving and handing
down in their fullness and purity of the
! original revelations Of God The
| Greeks were chosen people for culti-
vation of art and philosophy, for the
refinement of the senses and the eleva-
| tion of the mind. The Romans were
| for the establishment and development
| OF Jurisprudence and law and state,
The Greeks and Romans likewise full
| filled a providential mission in the es-
tablishment, the one in the East, the
other in the West, of universal Ian
guage, which was to be the medium of
| the universal religion. The American
people are a chosen people, chosen for
the purpose of solving for all time
the most difficult problems of govern.
ment, of establishing upon a basis of
natural Justice and equity an ideal
| state-of showing the dialectic unity
! between authority and liberty and lib
erty and authority, and thus giving
the world not only the highest concep-
ton, but the realization of the ideal
state"
DIR. Stafford then reviewed the differ
ences between men, always divided
into two parties-conservative and
| radical. He said the conservative
stood for the old and the radical for
the new. One was a party Of memory
and the other of hope. Changes were
always being made and repeated, but
at none of these times was liberty born.
One day it was the king, the next the
people.
Thus one party or the other carried
the day." he continued, "and :hus was
lost almost every opportunity in history.
One case was, however, and grateful
let man be for 1t, one solemn moment
which touched the souls of men with
awe, one change big with consequences,
Oue lTduSlLlOn, WneIE UOCn extremes
were avoided and the happy medium
struck. This was in the proverbial
birth of this nation, when neither ex-
treme conservatism nor extreme radi-
| calism carried the day. But the faith
ers, guided and directed by providence,
founded this nation upon a basis of ma
tural justice and equity. Building bot
ter than they knew, they laid the foun-
dation of an ideal state, and ignorant,
! certainly, Of the full import and sig
nificance of their position, they realiz-
ed the highest conception Of govern
| ment.
What was this principle? What the
| foundation upon which was erected this
| great ediflce? What was this thought
which influenced-that moved, elevated,
and made great, great in conception and
bold In execution-the fathers and
which, infusing into the nation vigor