The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-23

france, ana In England was not the least
powerful OF the controlling factOrg which
| enlisted in the cause OF American liberty the
| matchless eloquence of Charles James Fox
and the varied learning and mighty influence
At the commencement of the war II was IN
+ doubtedly the view of Washington's contem-
| pcraries that his genius confined to mil
I itary channels and that his chief work would
be ended with the acquisition of independ-
enee. Had this opinion been verified he
would have gone down in history simply as
great military commander and this ami
versary would have passed without special
eommemoration. But the event demonstrated
| that
HIS GREATEST SERVICES
to his country were rendered after the sur
render of CORVALLIS. The period which in
tervened between that surrender and the
adoption of the constitution has well been
styled the critical period of American his
| tory" Independence had been won by the
stern arbitrament of war and peace had
returned, but the exhausted nation found
Itself confronted with a problem difficult
and as serious as ever confronted the wis
dom and tried the patriotism of man. 1t
| was plain that the confederation no
longer able to bear the strain of It's own
weight. Under the exigencies of war the
states had tolerated that weak and inefIl-
clent government and regarded it as tenn
porary makeshift. Without power to en-
force its will its mandates had been obeyed
by the several states only in SO far as inter-
est Vi pdtTlOllSu might dictate. us cOlSTeSS,
without fixed place of abode had wandered
from place to place, attended at times by
hardly score of members, and On one oc
CASTOR had fled its hall on the approach of
a regiment of mutinous soldiers clamoring
for arrears of pay.
The meeting of commissioners called for
the purpose of settling disputed questions of
fishery and trade between the states Of Mary
land and Virginia resulted in a national
convention for the purpose of framing a ma
t1onal constitution. Behind the closed doors
n hot anti or,d IN
ellis were secured and confirmed forever the
fruits of the American Revolution. Without
the constitution the blood of the revolution
would have been shed in vain. and without
the stronger and more perfect union which it
established the story OF the
STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
would have been dismissed from the records
of history as one more Intellectual attempt
of the race for liberty and government.
1t is unnecessary to detail the VeXatious
questions that were settled, the animosities
that were allayed the compromises that were
effected. The method of taxation, the basis
or apportonment for representation in the
congress, the assumption of the debts Of
the states the control and restriction Of the
slave trade, that hideous monster whose bale
full shadow fell long ago across the
tons path. all this and required the
attention and threatened the disruption of the
convention. The pen of John Adams has
transmitted to day more complete ac-
than was accorded to his own contemporar
les. and from that authentic record we know
that the successful contamination due
IN large measure to the tact, the hrmness
and the self-Doise OF Washington, the presi-
dent OF the convention. Alexander Hami
ton said that the figure of Washington
in the mind Of every delegate when the pow
ers and duties OF chief magistrate were de-
termined and this task was therefore i'm
measurably lighter.
Commander-in-chief Of the first army in
history hat Trcyu -nrJ Pow +ha Y,riT10
pie Of liberty for all men, presiding officer
of the deliberative body that framed that
principle into organic law, and on it based
the first government in history that
really free, president of that republic. guide
and ruler of its fate in the perilous days of
its fnfancy-these are the titles of Wash
ington to the endearing love and gratitude
of this people.
A century has rolled away since the nation
stood by his grave at Mount Vernon and
HIS FAME IS BRIGHTER
as the years roll on. He is the mighty heroic
figure of the heroic age Of the republic. His
spirit g,oriies every page of the Revolution.
Let scholars and statesmen discuss the bal
ances and the compromises of the constitu-
ton; let philosophers and historians discriM-
/ mate between the relative merits and serv-
ices of the other characters Of that day
Washington holds first place in the heart
and in the ina gnation of our citizens. His
title to fame is secure who lives and ts loved
in the hearts of the children of his land.
Summon back today the earliest and sweet
est recoliectiors of your life, the memories
of that golden time of childhood when with
eager mind and throbbing heart you heard
for the first time the sweet old story of free
DOM thousand glorious images come
trooping to the call; Paul Revere booted and
spurred, riding his wild ride beneath the ST.
lent stars; Ethan Allen demanding the sur
render of Ticonderoga; the yeomanry Of
Massachusetts, standing and dying by the
bridge of Concord and the green of Lex
ington; Moultrie at Charleston, saving his
breath regretting that he had but one life
to give to his country; these are the bright
pages of that glorious book, but on every
page and in every line We feel the genius
of the stern, in1exible commander. He Is
the embattled spirit of the Revolution, as
Stunning command of the army in front of
Boston, crossing the Delaware on that wintry
Christmas eve. saddened by the treachery of
Arnold, On his knees at Valley Forge, pray
ing that the hardships OF his soldiers might
be lightened, harasssd by the conspiracy of
the Cabal, misunderstood even by his own
countrymen and tortured by abuse and mis-
representation, but
IN STORM AND CALM,
in victory and in defeat, mistaken in his
allegiance to the patriot cause and resolved
to do and to suffer unto the end While thus
the memory Of Washington shall live a
warm and breathing reality IN the hearts of
the children of this and this great republic
can well bid defiance to danger from within
and aggression from without
Only a few days ago we met to render our
testimonial of reverence and honor to the
great name of Abraham Lincoln The transi-
ton from Feb. Il to Feb % is neither abrupt
nor homogeneous, for the names of Washing
ton and Lincoln will forever be linked to-
gether in the history of this republic. Dis
similar as men be in environment and
characteristics, they are alike In this, that
each was the chosen instrument of q higher
power in the preservation Of our government
To the discharge of that sacred mission they
were summoned from diverse origins and
opposite conditions. Washington belonged to
the patrician Class of Virginia and he was
justly proud of the traditions that from the
settlement Of the country invested his native
state with peculiar glory.
The ancestry of Lincoln vas of those whom
he loved to call the plain people of Amer
lea" and his early life and manhood were
passed in state that was too young for
tradition. Washington was a gallant and
experienced soldier before he came to mans
estate. Lncolng solitary incursion into mill
tary life formed the theme of his own ex-
Quisite humor and pointed raillery.
Washington was a slave-owner. but his
prophetic vision foresaw and welcomed the
time when the institution of slavery should
perish from the land. When the young Lin
coin, a bcatman on the river, first beheld
the slave marts of New Orleans and the
captive mount the auction block, he dedi-
Gated his life to the cause OF freedom. Wash
ington gave to America her ind peEdeIce and
her constitution Lincoln gave to America a
freedom that was
BROADER THAN THE CONSTITUTION
itself and he preserved that sacred charter
purified by the Gre and blood Of war, for all
g nerations to come. Lincoln saw the tanner
of Galena fit representative of the dignity
of human labor receive from The knightly
hand of Washin gton's kinSInan the sword of
the defeated Confederacy, and in the day
and hour Of the fu.flment of his mission
closed his eyes forever on the things of earth
May we not hope and believe that in the
mystic regions of that other world, whose
human these