The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-06-19

| res. The principles Of liberty were work
! ed out by great individual thinkers, such
! as Dante and Boccaccio IN Italy, and
Rabelais and Arminius. and the Jesuits
who founded most Of the European uni
versities and withstood Jansenism, and
voltaire, Rousseau. Diderot. George Fox.
| Tillottson. Newton, Swift and Locke.
TIE Pilgrim Fathers IN New England
had no idea Of personal liberty The ho-
erty they established was that OF the
church, and any exercise of personal lib
erty was remorselessly crushed. Indi-
viduaI liberty was established IN Rhode
Island by Roger Williams, a refugee
from the Puritans in Massachusetts, IN
1896; by the Roman Catholic Lord Baltt-
more in Maryland through his non-Cath-
oIio Governor Stone, IN 1919. and by Will
lam Penn in Pennsylvania, in 1853.
Thete was therefore no lack Of light
and knowledge on the subject Of personal
liberty among the leading men of our
colonial period. Nor was there any COM
plaint against the mother country that 1t
restricted any mans liberty Of thought.
speech or personal conduct. The only
anger on that score was that the English
authorities and It's colonial church allow
ed too much 'license"-this being che
name for liberty in the colonies, where
the unit of the commonwealth was not the
man, but the organized congregation, IN
der control of presbytery and synod
BY the inevitable toryism of the English
colonial churches, and also by its hered
itary antagonism to Anglicanism IN all
forms, the Presbyterian church was the
moral anu religious leader in all the steps
that led to the revolution. Its ministers
were very able men. and they had broad
ideas Of the equality of the various sects
Of the country, but they hated personal
liberty, and y cir revolution against it
began in the first provincial congress long
before there was any purpose Of armed
resistance to English measures and while
separation, though a doctrine Of some
publicists in England, had no advocate in
America.
Honaparte said, 1.-THE masses do not
care for personal liberty; it is only few
peculiar people who care for that" That
he could easily learn from the French
revolution, wherein Robespierre and his
Committee of Public Safety easily assum-
ed parental control of all the minutae of
life, and even compelled gardeners to pull
up their flowers and plan specified vege-
tables. 1t was equally proved in the rev.
dictionary movements in America.
The vast majority of colonists were de-
vout sectarians, and the few peculiar
people" who valued their personal Hber-
ty, though we'll represented in the prov
81 haI
the people. On October "a, IVA, congress
adopted its resolution against every spe-
cies of extravaganza and dissipation, such
as gaming, cock fighting, shows, plays
and other expensive diversions and en-
tertainments." There were no real sump-
tuary or military reasons for this resolu-
ton, and although there were enough
old-fashioned English statesmen in the
congress to prevent its being put into the
form of an absolute prohibition, 1t vir-
tually was such. (FHF
There was a fine company Just then play
ing the best English dramas IN American
cities. who suddenly found themselves I'M
der thesame ban with cock fighters. and,
all the theatres being instantly closed, the
company went off to find liberty for their
art in the West Indies. The horse races
We're stopped, the dances ceased, and the
gentlemen and ladies of Philadelphia were
not permitted to give Mrs Washington
ball when she was on her way to join her
husband at Cambridge
During the revolution, and for many
years after, Americans had less liberty
than they possessed under the monarchy
they were overthrowing Had we gained
revolutiou-and II was steadily advancing
toward us-there could not have been any
such reverslon 70 low principles. But mil
itarism cannot tolerate personal freedom
even in a war for national Independence.
The Declaration of Independence itself
was an instrument to suppress independ-
ence Of thought and speech. The popu-
lar notion is derived from TrumbuWs
picture Of the singers crowdlng eagerly
around f. AS matter OF fact, the sing
ing went on at intervals into the follow
ing year, and the document was a kind
of creed, a test Of patriotism" by which
delegates had to commit themselves and
their states, sUrrendering any power Of
furthr discussion. Throughout the coun-
try the property OF loyalists was confscat-
ed and the habit Of lynching began Some
excellent men. who regarded their oaths
TO support the king as binding. some cler-
symen were roughly handled: peaceful
Quakers suffered for their principles. and
though the so-called tories" were not
murdered they were often tarred and
feathered and carried about on rails and
their families ruined.
No war ever ends.
American independence was q necessity.
but the violence by which it was obtained
was calamity. and it was recognized as
such by the great lovers Of liberty. such
as Thomas Paine and Franklin. who 70
the end OF life maintained his faith that
there never was q good war"
The revolution did not end with
Fourth Of July festival We had defeat
ed and Inundated great power. and f.
was absolutely necessary that n strong
defensive union OF states should be i'm
mediately formed. II order 20 do that
our fathers were compelled to comprona-
ise away principles essential 70 a repub-
Ncan government Equal legislative DOW
er was accorded 20 the largest and ne
smallest states, enc Of which threatened
10 invoke the return Of England: com
promises were made with the slave trade
and slavery Tor the sake OF one o.. tw5d
states. and the seeds OF discord and civil
war were thus sown. These were there
suits OF the dangers consequent on vic
rory. and the urgency that did not ad-
NIT 81 a calm and mature organization.
But there are several other Seeuets
which become q paramount Importance al
= moment when We are about &c assume
control % foreign populations and 10 In