The Irish standard., 1898-07-16

| eASA anu pay lLell part III tIlc ever
shifting, yet mighty drama which tends
to mankind's betterment and God IS
| glory. AS the nation receives from God
authority for its work and its needs, so
does 1t speak to us with divine voice
which In its own realm merits and
claims our obedience
AS it protects our higher interests, our
homes, its peace, its civilization, SO
upon the high and solid basis of justice
and gratitude we owe it action and
allegiance. The supreme and determin-
ing rule Is: Render to Caesar the
things that are Caesars, and to God the
things that are Gods" For after God
is country, and after religion comes pa
triotism."
Patriotism, moreover. combines many
other things which are personal and ten
der. We are not isolated beings. We
tend to truth. to liberty and to God.
The very local surroundings of life be-
come part OF ourselves; the very natural
features OF our country come to be as
kin; the high mountains, the noble
rivers, the grandeur of the ocean. fret
ted and curbed by our rocky coast. all
these things are instinct with feeling
and make our love-
The Impressions and associations of
home. mothers love, a fathers care.
the playground Of our childhood. the
hallowed and historic spots, u Lcxing-
ton, Bunker Hill, whore heroes fought
and bled, tho very pavements beneath
our feet-these are nourishing forces Of
patriotism. What is wanting to us: AS
regards history, these United States arc
providential In origin, In history and in
preservation. In us the cause of human
liberty and progress is bound up.
Human genius, exceptional ability,
valor, have done many wonderful things
III creating, in holding people together
under authority, in determining laws,
In welding states into one mighty and
enduring fabric of empire; but one
thing mere genius has never done, no
nor ever conceived, II government such
us lIeSo united states.
Other and great states, ancient and
modern, have risen and tourished and
filled n great place. But they were often
scourges in Gods hands; they fell, and
great was the fall thereof; their root
was rottenness and their flower went up
as dust, for they knew not or cast from
them hn of Nn,J
For what. l ask, is it that makes for
| the ennobling and preservation of man:
what safeguards and sanctifies the home
| what Is the sanction of law and the
! motive and safeguard of obedience;
| what begcts character and directs and
cnlightens public opinion; what is the
solid barrier against moral corruption
und unholy greed; what promotes peace
ana maintains Justice; what reduces to q
minimum crime, lawlessness, pauper-
ism; what makes Il country worth living
for and dying for; what alone makes life
tolerablc, nay blessed?
1t is rcligton--religion. the only, the
immutablc basis of civic us of human
life, which, pcrmcating and directing
individuals and states, transforms and
renders them worthy of the divine bless
Ing And the recognition of this great
truth is happily superabundant in the
| profession and policy of this great gov
! ernmcnt, and In tho public and private
lives Of It's great men,
! In the very document which gives rise
to this days celebration, tho name of
God grcets us In Its opening paragraph;
1t is invoked in Its closing sentence.
Extending this day greeting to our
gallant boys in blue, who on land and
sea uphold our flag and honor so bravcly.
extending also sympathy to the wounded
and the friends of those who nobly died
| meath Southern sun, surely 1t is wise
to recognize that new conditions confront
us, and that even in tho seeming paths
OF peace there are dangers.
In country so large, so teeming with
the different races of earth who all here
lind shelter beneath freedoms canopy.
tbs well surely that those who seek a
home among us should be taught deyo-
ton to the flag and what that flag repro.
sents.
Yet am not of those who see danger
lurking here. for SO profoundly am con-
vinced OF this nations grandeur. 80 we'll
| appreciate the opportunities for the
pursuit of life, liberty and happiness
which it affords, SO fully do l realize It's
glory, that the conviction comes home to
me that strangers to our soil will soon
love this, their adopted land, when the
genius OF Its institutions will have be-
come apparent to them; when once they
have realized that this is and should be
the land OF universal brotherhood: that
here. like Gods sunshine, there is free
dom for oil; then will they SO love it that
IN every danger, in every crisis such as
that which now confronts us. they will.
like the gallant sons of that Niobe among
nations, whose blood flows in my own
veins. rally to It's defense.
Soon, too. will they learn that though
vast and boundless are our plains, ex-
tensivc our marts of trade and COM
merce, there yet is not room enough for
| Englishman, Irishmau. Italian. French