The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-11-12

how Paul Revere on that April night
had ridden beneath the silent stars from
the old South Church at Boston through
Middlesex town and farm, the advance
courier of the army of liberty. He
had wept tears of joy when the sturdy
yeomanry of Massachusetts stood and
died on the green of Lexington and by
the bridge of Concord, and when on that
same eventful April 10, 1775. the sires
and sons and grandsres of the dead
flint-lock and fowling piece chased the
flower of the British army from Con-
cord to Charleston neck. He saw with
the eyes of his Imagination the levies
of the patriotic army as they came
from field and farm, from bench and
bar to crown the heights of Bunker
Hill with carthen ramparts against
which the trained soldiers of England
hurled themselves with reckless valor
to win at last barren and a dear
bought victory. He saw Israel Putnam
with rifle in hand at every post of dan
ger. He beheld Warren fall and die
He saw a land aroused to arms by the
roar of battle that rose from Bunker
Hill and from Massachusetts to South
Carolina, he heard the voice Of Ameri-
ca calling to her sons to arm because
the hour of their trial and their duty
was at hand. He saw the continental
congress assemble at Philadelphia On
the following day of the battle of
Bunker Hill he heard the resolution
of the army. Col. George Washington, of
Virginia. He saw the British evacuutc
Boston and flee in disgrace to their
ships. He beheld Washington snatch
victory from defeat and save his army
after the disastrous battle of Long Is
land He saw the brilliant victories of
Trenton and Princeton which crowned
Washington with imperishable glory as
a military commander and brought new
hope to wavering people and dis
heartened congress. On that ever men,
orable Fourth of July, 1916, he had lis
tender to the words of the declaration
OF independence. All this and more
than this, with the eye and ear of i'm
aglnatlon he saw and heard, and with
the chivalry and heroism of his race
he resolved to draw his sword and i'm
peril his fortune in the cause of th,,
young republic.
Any sketch of the life and service of
Lafayette would be incomplete without
a brief consideration of the assistance
furnished the colonists during the Reyo-
luton from the countries of the old
world. During the century and IL quar-
ter that have passed since independence
was declared the growth of our country
to prosperity and power has been I'M
paralleled in the history of the world.
FROM a population OF hardly three mil
mons we have grown to nearly seventy
milllohs, from thirteen colonies to
forty-tivc imperial states, from a stray
Cling fringe of settlements along the
Atlantic scaAoard to a mighty domain
Which realizes for America the DrO1ld
boast OF an English statesmen applied
10 MS own country, an empire on which
the sun never sets. Let us not forget in
the day OF our glory and power, the
debt of gratitude which America and
Americans owe and can never pay 10
the men and the peoples who in that
early day of trial and struggle gave
their treasure and their blood to the
cause of American independence. 1t
was fitting that the world should con-
tribute to that cause, for America was
destined to be the worlds asylum from
Old world tyranny the first theater of
action on which manhood, industry and
worth were TO win their reward I'M
hindered by caste and unfettered Inv tho
ponds OF birth and privilege. Equality
OF all mcn under the law. freedom of
religious thought and worship, the right
ana the power of the people to al-
minister their own affairs, the doctrine
that rulers are but the servants and
agents of the people with crcumscribed
privileges and delegated powers, respon-
siblc first to God, then to the people:
these, in Il sentence, are the great prin-
ciplcs which distinguish the American
republic from all other governments that
nave ever lived in the history of the
world. These principles appear tr,c
and familiar to us who have Inherited
them after one hundred and twenty-five
years of toll and struggle. They are no
longer mere abstract principles; the
dream of the scholar, the inspiration of
the patriot. but by the cntcavor of the
generations which have preceded us
they have become concrete actualities in
government and in the lives of men.
1t was to establish these great doc
trlneS of human liberty and equality
that to the assistance Of The patriots of
America came the finest spirits and the
most exalted characters of all the M
tlons, of The world. Poland and ireland
the saddcst and most stricken of the ma
tons, sent their best and brayest sons
The annals of patriotism record no
brighter name than that of Casimir
Pulaski. Born in wealth and ease, he
had sacrificed them both in the cause or
his native land and in his exile offered
his sword to the cause Of America. Join
Ing the staff of Washington only a
few he hor