The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-03
THE MAKING OF HISTORY.

nation furnishes many notable illustrations
of this truth. Ore of these connected with
the birth Of the Nation may be appropriate
ly recalled on the eve of its birthday. In
celebrating the Fourth of July we are apt
TO think of the Declaration of independence
as the outcome of definite plan and of
deliberate proceedings the end of which was
foreseen from the beginning. Moreover we
are apt to think of it as the first step in a
chain Of events clearly foreseen and deter
Mined upon that led on and up to the free
dom OF the colonies. In reality 1t was moth
ing of the kind. 1t was simply an inevitable
came to take it The wisest men Of the
revolutionary period did not foresee 1t long
in advance, and some of the truest patriots
regretted and deplored it. 1t was not so
much part Of a preconcerted plan as it was
an unavoidable and uncomfortable result of
the evolution of events. Actual hostilities
with the mother country had begun fifteen
preceded by a series of events extending
over several years, the logical tendency and
inevitable outcome of which the wisest men
of the time did not perceive. Even when
the war began they had no idea what it
would lead to or where 1t would land them.
Independence was vague dream enter
tanned by comparatively few and secuted by
many. The sole object of the colonists at
the beginning of the struggle was to obtain
concessions and to preserve the connection
with England After the war was ended
and peace declared that sturdy patriot John
Adams said: There was not a moment dur
ing the Revolution when / would not have
given everything 1 possessed for a restora-
ton to the state of things before the con-
test began, provided we could have had
sufficient security for its continuance" And
this from signer Of the Declaration Of In
dependence, Benjamin Franklin a few days
before the battle of Lexington stated that
he had more than once travelled almost
from one end of the continent to the other"
Git was very small continent them, land
kept variety of company, eating, drink
ing and conversing with them freely, and
never had heard from any person, drunk or
sober, the least expression of wish for
separation or a hint that such thing would
be advantageous to America" A little
more than a year later Franklin signed the
Declaration of Independence. John Jay,
another sterling patriot who rendered i'm
mense service to the revolutionary cause
and was afterwards the first chief justice of
the Supreme Court, said: During the
course of my life and until the second petit
ton of Congress in 1175. 1 never did hear
an American of any class, or of any descrip-
ton. express wish for the independence
of the colonies. 1t has always been, and
still is my opinion and belief. that our
country was prompted and impelled TO in
dependence by necessity, and not by
choice" James Madison, afterwards Pres
ident, said: ut has always been my i'm
preston that a establishment of the colo
NAL relations to the parent country, as they
were previous to the controversy. was the
real object OF every class of the people, till
the despair of obtaining it," etc. These ex-
pressions show that the wisest men Of the
time did not fully recognize the character
of the history they were making. They
found themselves surrounded with certain
environments and they dealt with them the
best they could doing their duty as they
saw ii and leaving the consequences to a
higher power. The Declaration Of INDIE
pendence had to be made when 1t was made,
the war had to be fought out and the Con-
stitution and government of the United
States had to be established. but nobody
saw the end from the beginning. The hand
Of the Lord was in it all.
So. too. in our civil war, nobody clearly
saw the end from the beginning. and events
persisted in shaping themselves In spite OF
the efforts of statesmen to control them.
On the part of the North the war was not
begun for the abolition of slavery. but for
the preservation of the Union. If Mr..
Lincoln had issued his emancipation proc
lamation at the beginning of the war the
whole course of history might have been
changed With all of his tact and wisdom
he could not have made it effective at that
time nor have prevented it from having
a disastrous effect on the Union cause Yet
when the time was fully ripe for it and
the logic of events required it to be issued.
Mr. Lincoln. with all his popularity, could
not safely have withheld it. He had TO go
with the current and be controlled by events
rather than control them.
The same law is operating in the present
situation. and has been ever since the war
with Spain began. 1t was operating in the
long series of events that led up TO the war.
Nobody foresaw the end from the begin
ming. and nobody could control the events
that have worked out certain results Pres
ident Mckinley, in his speech at Boston on
the 10Th of February last, said:
What nation was ever able to write an
accurate programme of the war upon wnich
IN was entering much less decree IN al
vance the scope of its results! congress
can declare war but higher power de,
crees its bounds and fixes ITS relations anu
resnousfhilities. The President can dlrect
the movements of soldiers on the neld anu
fleets upon the sea, but he cannot foresee
the close OF such movements OF pieScilioe
their limits. No accurate map OF nations
engaged in war can be traced until the war
Is over nor can the increase OF responslol,,
ity be fixed until the last gun Is nred anu
the verdict embodied in the supuiauohs vi
peace
At the beginning OF the war NOBODY
dreamed that IL would end I'm our acquir-
ing the Philippines. week before the
battle of Manila bay a proposition 10 ac-
ouire them either by conquest or purchase
would not have been seriously entertained
That was no part of our plan, but IL seems
TO have been a part Of Gods plan. just as
,ndependence In the revolutionary war and
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