Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-08-11

them, indeed, when the road to liberty
is pointed out with rifle. On many
matters Franklin and jefferson thought
much alike. Franklin had the strange
theory, as rarely entertained in his day
us now, that Justice is as strictly due be-
tween neighbor nations as between
neighbor citizens. 4 highwayman is as
much a robber when he plumbers in a
gang as when single; and nation that
makes an unjust war is only great
gang" In the same vein Thomas JEFF
ferson: IL know of but one code of NOR
atty for men, whether acting singly or
collectively. lie who says | will he a
rogue when ! act in company with a
hundred others, but an honest man when
| act alone, will be believed in the for
mer assertion, but not in the latter"
The United States has come nearer than
any other large nation to living up to
this high ideal, and it ought not to
throw it overheard with all the rest of
our traditions.
As to meddling with foreign affairs.
the texts in this traitors handbook are
many, beginning with Washington's
opinion that EVERY nation has right
to establish that form of government
under which it conceives it may live
most happy" Jefferson says in his
pmgent way: sometimes it is said
that man cannot be trusted with the
government of himself. Can he, then,
be trusted with the government of 9th
ers? Or have we found angels in the
forms of kings (Otises) to govern him ?"
Lincoln's homely common sense pricks
the thick skin of Anglo-Saxon arrogance
in these words which might have been
written for the present time: Those
arguments that are made, that the in
ferior race are to be treated with as
much allowance as they are capable of
enjoying that as much is to be done
| for them as their condition will allow
what are these arguments? They are
the arguments that kings have made for
enslaving the people in all ages of the
world. You will find that all the argu-
ments for kingcraft were of this class
they always bestrode the necks of the
people--not because they wanted to do
it, but because the people were better off
for being ridden"
AS for Daniel Webster, some of the
passages quoted here are positively in
cendiary in tone. This might have
come from the anti-imperialist league, if
the organization contained an orator like
Webster: sit is certainly true that the
just policy of this country is, in the first
place, peaceful policy. No nation ever
had less to expect from forcible aggran-
dizement. The mighty agents which are
working out our greatness are time, in
dustry and the arts. Our augmentation
is by growth not by acquisition; by in
ternal development, not by external ac-
cession. No schemes can be suggested to
lis so magnificent as the prospects which
sober contemplation of our own condi-
ton, unaided by projects, uninhuenced
by ambition, fairly spreads before us"
This is, of course, out of date. and so is
his naive wish that the country may
"become vast, splendid monument, not
of oppression and terror, but of wisdom,
of peace and of liberty, upon which the
world may gaze with admiration for
ever" We are building our monuments
out of dead Filipinos nowadays.
How short-sighted was Webster when
he said: eve cover no provinces we
desire no conquests; we entertain no
ambitious projects of ACKNOWLEDGMENT by
war" And the censor should certainly
smear his inkball over this quoted pas
sage from the Marshfield speech of 1913 :
"All men look at us, all men examine
our course. They see us as that star of
empire which half century ago was
represented as making its way westward.
| wish they might see it as a mild, pla-
cid, though brilliant orb, moving ath-
wart the whole heavens to the enlighten-
ment and cheering of mankind, and not
as meteor of fire and blood, terrifying
the nations" In these days when the
country is Systematically kept ignorant,
it is worth while to recall Jefferson's
vigorous saying: "Were it left to me
to decide whether we should have a
government without newspapers or news.
papers without government, | should
not hesitate moment to prefer the lat,
ter" 1t will be seen from these extracts
that the compiler Of patriotic Nuggets
is dangerous man, who is trying to un.
settle the opinions of loyal citizens by
giving them treason in sugar-coated
pills. Let Postmaster-G General Smith
look out for this book.
|
We have received from the hands of
Hon. +. ID. Hale a copy of "The Lucha,'