The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-25

it might have found a home amid the
rugged and almost uninhabitable sleeps
OF the north; it might have come into
being among some population thinly scat
tered over some arid and melancholy
waste, or dropped down upon some island
lying like a jewel upon the bosom of
the tropical sea- and it still would have
been great and would have exalted and
ennobied any people.
But the works of God are fogica! and
symetricsil a jewel must be properly
set: a great landscape properly viewed.
and a great idea must have a grea; out
ward and material expression. Religion
has so wrought from the temples of
Greece TO the cathe1rals Of Europe and
commerce seeks by gigantic constructions
to adequately express Use tothe world
Man may fan. bat whan Providence
works there must be order, symetrS. and
harmony. and. therefore, the great idea
of liberty was not confined to a solitary
island il did not find home among the
barren and uninhabitable sleeps of the
north and did not appear among the poor
population of some arid and me ancholy
waste. but here upon this great continent,
a world of its own; the every national re-
| source and every national advantage. ev-
| cry form of beauty and every poSsibiIl-
1 ty of growth.
| such IS lsberty's home. In giving il there
q
4 thought should have a great expression
/ God. therefore throned 1t upon our vast
and Dorderous mountains. lifting their
! heads TO the sky, mirrowed II IN our
! great lakes which. like the Ccea1l. rehect
| IIss immensely. sang 1t by our ma)esuc
| rivers going down between the baGks
Of progress and Industry 10 the sea; spoke
Il in our primeval fnrsSts. whispered II
/ on tbe houndless prairie land. Numbered
! and booned II in the everlasting roar OF
mighty csftaraots. grasped 1t in the arms
| of two great oceans. oraamented II Win
every form and type of beauty and gave
to the greatest thought in history a nap-
| itatfon worthy of itself
| Oh. my country, how beautiful art thou'
I hove fhee. l love thy rivers and Shy
| lakes and mountains and thy wales; but
/ most of all. thy liberty! Who does nor
love thee is base: who wouh not die FOR
| thee a craven who would in1ure tnee' let
him perish. Thy heroes were Coo cho-
! sen instruments IN founding this home
- freedry-r and should II ever. which God
| fo-shsd be imperiled every man who Is
| a man would stand forth ready 10 sacri-
| fee in thy defense his life. liberty, and
| social honor. ~,
.sRnt the effect of this declaration, the
! euunciation of this principle, was "orio-
| wide. Liberty had come into the worlo
| and tha spirit thereof was abroad. Every
|
| Everv potentate was obliged to consult
| the neople. The world thrilled with 1t
| II hettered the condition of every people.
| Tba leaders of the revolution in France
| asserted it and carried 1t beyond eX-
| tremes. beyond all reason and all justice,
! and II passed over 10 Ireland groaning
under tyranny and suffering under saw
age cruelty greater than that of Spain
multiplied a thousand times over. inqulsi-
ton and all thrown in, and the Mater
DoIorosa of Christian nations led by as
gallant a band of patriots as ever loved a
country made a desperate effort for free
dom. All the South American people
waited one by one for the inevitable horn
to sound the note of liberation, and even
the Far East felt the effect of liberty S
new birth in the world
when Caiuas Cassius stood over the
dead body of the mightiest man that ever
appeared in the tide of times he lifted
his sword. smoking still with the richest
blood of all the world, and touched by the
sublime nature of the work, he exclaimed:
How many ages hence
Shall this, our lofty scene. be acted over,
In States unborn and accents yet unknown,
So oft as that shall be-
So often shall the knot of us be called
The men that gave their country liberty
"And so indeed might the founders Of
| this nation coming out OF that memora-
BILE convention at Philadelphia, have been
moved with the work they had done when
they declared all men to be created free
and equal, and gave to all the inalienabie
right to life, liberty. and the pursuit of
happiness, so they, touched by the SUBJ
lime business they had in hand, have ex-
claimed: How many times shall this
our lofty scene be acted over insthe States
unborn and accents yet unknown! Ay.
truly, and as often as that shall be, so
often shall they be called the man who
gave their country liberty
But foundation is not all, nor per-
haps is it the most difficult work. Tt
perpetuate is no less important and no
! less difficult. of equal honor with him
who writes a grand poem says the poet
, Longfellow. is he who reads ii grandly.
"Of equal honor with him who POUNDS
. a great work is he who perpetuates it
! | who gives his country liberty is he who
defends 1t brayely. This Is our duty and
| our privilege. Woe to US If we forget it
Monarchies may count on force, but re-