The Irish standard., 1898-01-08

| ming position and prestige before tho
| world? 1t was this: This nation was
built upon man In his radical unity and
individual dignity; not upon any ira
dition or any theory handed down from
the past; not upon any feeble imitation
| of old-world government; not upon any
fanciful conception or empty conceit;
not upon any visionary scheme Of pc
| litical economists or dreams of world
feformers; not upon any sophism or ex
| aggregation. From these all the faith
| ers were singularly free.
placed here In the new count ry,
communing with nature in her weary
| heart and source, their souls enlarged
by the boundless prospect before them,
the vast ocean stretching away the
wave of its immensity-the huge noun
tains lifting their ponderous heads to-
ward the sky-the primeval forests,
with their solemn silence, inspiring
their minds and lifting them to great
conceptions-a vast continent before
| them, speaking of the greatness of OBJ
| jective truth-of Gods work and The
littleness Of man; impressed by these
and the boundless extent and fertility
of their country, they passed by all
| sophisms and entanglements, and ra-
turning to the very source Of things,
taught by nature, guided by reason and
inspired by providence, they founded
f! this nation upon man. They did not
begin by formulating the rights of
kings or the powers of governments
of these the world had heard enough,
but they spake of man and his 'inalien-
able rights-life, liberty and the pursuit
| of happiness The declaration Of ill
dependence, which gave the nation life,
and which became the spirit and was i'll
spirit incorporated into the constitution,
is the most momentous document In the
| history of the world. 1t is not a series
| OF glittering generalities, but list of
| divine truths. 1t Ia distinctly Amerl-
| can principle, and at once the founda-
tion and greatness of our government. y
statements of constitutional writer's,
that the foundation of this government
| was received from England, illustrated
how different everything here was to
that in the old country.
Since the pronouncement of the An
glican Bishop of Albany we must speak
Of England with bated breath. Europe,
not England, is the mother country.
Our institutions are not identical with
those of England. They are funda-
mentally distinct The Englishman ap-
peals for concessions of government to
Magma Charta, the American to natural
right, justice, and the law Of nature
We are not the step-child Of England,
and we can manage our own affairs
"In order to be faithful to their great
mission" he said, at is necessary that
| Americans should understand them
! selves, and that the American citizen
should have understood, the American
citizen should be conscious Of his duty
Many writer's have understood the
American constitution and the
theory In the case of Rousseau.
1t is known that Thomas jefferson
was q believer in, this philosophy
and accepted somes Of its worst
conclusions. 1t is a mistake to UNDER
stand the American constitution in tho
sense of the social compact theory, for
it is directly opposed to it. Providence
| guided the hand and inspired the heart
that wrote the declaration of indcpend-
| encc. The theory of Rousseau only
changes the name and substitutes one
tyrant for another. Tho declaration CT
independence declares that man has
certain rights which are antecedent to
government, and which, therefore, the
government cannot give or take away.
This asserts the rights of man, and.
| therefore, the rights OF God. The doc,l-
| ment states that the government de-
rives it's powers from the people, but
| this Is to be understood in the sense
| that the people are the condition, not
the power.
"In order that 1t may be eternal,
| every American should know and UNDER
| stand his country know, understand,
and accept this principle, guard and
protect, assert and maintain 1t against
J all impugners Of It, 1t solves all prob
lens, answers all questions, settles all
! difficulties. Anything that is against
it is un-American. 1t settled the, gravest
of all questions for us-the religious
question-by regarding the religion of
| man natural right, and In consc-
quence religious freedom is the result.
Social equality followed not in the sense
that everybody ana everything is to be
reduced to dull level Of medocrity,
but that all avenues should be open 20
the worthy and the essential rights of
all guaranteed.
"Such is the basic principle of Amcri-
| can citizenship. Tempests may sweep
our commerce from the seas, the fair
days will bring it back again; the crops
may fail and famine come, but another
| harvest will bring plenty. PcstilcncG
may decimate ourss pk kople and the onco
populous marts. becd|n for the time as