The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-13

Sir Edward Coke, inspired by generation
for the law, exclaimed: 81 will act as Ii
becomes a judge to actI' and when
Charles i proceeded by the royal mandate
to enforce disputed customs Sir Thomas
Wentworth declared 1--WE must enforce
the laws made by our ancestors, we must
set such stamp upon them that no IL
centious spirit shall desire hereafter to In
wade them" John Hampden had said. 81
ciuld be content but fear to draw on my
self that curse IN Magma Charta which
should DO read twice a year against those
who infringe st."
He quoted the remark OF Sergeant May
nard, the veteran of the English bar when
William the Ill. said, you have outllved
all the lawyers of your time" And had
it not been for Your Majesty" replied the
old lawyer, II had also outllved the LAVISH
This was but forty-three years before the
birth OF Washington Oglethorpe, the
founder of Georgia at once the noblest and
most romantic figure in English annals,
was living and he lived to be the first Eng
lishman to welcome John Adams after
American independence was established,
as our first minister 10 the court Of ST..
James.
How Inevitable was It, therefore, that
thoughtful patriots OF the American revo-
luton should be so lmbued with the spirit
Of English law evolved through the strug-
giles of ancient and regent times, that IL
became the ground work OF our political
system In the tribal bond Of the Anglo
Saxon we may trace the right to trial by
jurors Of the vicinage, and the local self
government of the states. The declaration
of rights penned by the hand OF the illus
trious Somers, the petition Of right forced
upon the reluctant Charles, the immortal
words OF Magma Charta all glow with I'M
dying heat and unfading lustre in the con-
stitution of the United States. 1t is not
true then, as Gladstone declared that our
constitution was "a work struck Off at a
given time by the brain and purpose of
man." but it Is true that It's great vital
basic principles, had their origin as early
as the Fifth century after Christ-amid the
sand and heather of hyperborean shores,
washed by that northern sea whose icy
waters encompassed the ultima Thule of
the Romans, fostered and nounshed
through oil the heroic annals of our race.
And shall we be unmindful of our ties
of kindred with our brethren beyond the
sea? Shall We ignore the debt of graft
tude we owe them for our liberty and
our law? Their ministry have fought us.
but have we not fought among ourselves?
The English people never fought us.
love to recall that the merchants of Lon
don on Change Kissed George the Third
and his proclamation of repressiye meas
ures against the Americans; that the eid-
est son Of the Earl of Chatham resigned
from the British army when ordered TO
take arms against the coonlsts; that the
noble Admiral Keppel, while willing and
anxious to serve the King against the
enemies Of his country, was unwilling to
bear arms against his brethren In Ameri-
ca; that Lord Ehingham resigned before
he would tight our fathers and was pub
licly thanked for it by the merchants
Of London ana Dublin that Oglethorpe,
the ranking lieutenant general of the
British army, refused the supreme COM
mand in America; that John Wesley wrote
TO the British ministry o fervent protest
against their oppressive measures and
declared that silence on his part would
be a sin against the Lord" that Edmund
Burke directed all the powers of his I'M
rivalled logic and philosophlc nature in
favor OF reconciliation with America; that
the great commoner, the imperious Earl
Of Chatham himself, Numbered those
memorable words, Were / an American,
as am an Englishman, / would never
surrender, never, never, neyer;" that
mourning was publicly worn in London
by the Recorder of that great city, and
others, for the American patriots who
fell at Lexington and Concord
II know not, Mr.. President what others
may think, but when / behold the COM
binations Of continental powers against
the mother country; when 1 see her peo-
pie all ISOLATED and unfriended, with ali
the lcr0ism OF their heroic mast Duclxlina