The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-07-05
SOME THOUGHTS.

Rabbi Levy's address at the opera
house yesterday was a mastery effort,
we'll thought out and forciby delivered.
When brilliant thoughts are welded to
mastery elocution and faultless enun-
| citation, they receive an added charm,
which makes them sink deeply into the
hearts and minds of the hearers. And
| there could be none, who listened to the
graceful periods, and at times the i'm
FASHIONED phrases which welled from
| the speakers lips, that could help feel
| ing the glow of patriotism warm
through their veins, and be reused to
enthusiasm which showed itself by fire.
quent and reiterated applause.
The keynote of the address was the
thought of what the last year had done
in bringing out and showing to the
world the might, the unity, and the true
democracy of the people of the United
States. The sketch of the manner in
which the nation sprang to arms was a
brilliant one, the appeal to the brilliant
roll of names in the past, to which were
added those of the giants of the present
was heart-stirring, and the tribute to
the volunteers who made it possible for
these men to write their names in such
bold characters upon the scroll of his
tory as it slowly unrolls, was appro-
lpriate.
But striking as this portion of the
Grafton was, and quickly as this fired
the Imagination, the section which re-
ferred to the Declaration of Independ-
ence betrayed the deeper thought and
weighed more strongly upon the con-
templative mind. The oftener one reads
| the Declaration of Independence, the
more able and dignified document
does it seem. When that was penned,
the minds of men on the narrow strip
of mainland then occupied, were seeth-
ing and their hearts We're smarting un-!
der oppression and injustice Such a.
time might well have called forth a
rabid and Incorporate document, mir
roring the strong and burning feeling
of people outraged by having their in
herent rights trampled upon, and their
respectful remonstrances brushed aside
as of no moment.
| Had it been such a document, it is
doubtful whether it would have remain
ed the cornerstone that it has. But it
is no such thoughtless invective. 1t
came from the minds of men who tower
as giants, and who never let passion
outrun judgment. 1t is a calm, cold in
dictment of wrong doing, and a calm
expression of determination at all haz-
ards to have that wrong righted in the
only way it could be. 1t is the most
| liberty and freedom which has been
ever penned, and it stands and will
stand forever as the most precious doc
ument ever put forth. In it's calmt in
controvertible logic it puts to shame
much of the turgid rhetoric that has
| followed it. 1t is as true today as il
was when it was penned, and is accept
able at this very moment to all who be-
lieVe in true liberty. Rabbi Levy was
right when he quoted from rabbinical
lore the axiom THE righteous in their
death live, while the wicked in their life
time are dead" The Declaration of In
dependence will never die.
1t is well for us to have this lesson
impressed upon us year by year. for It
should be stamped permanently upon
the minds of the race. National prog
ress is to be desired, culture is to be de-
sired, refinement is to be desired, but all
these without liberty are but dead sea
fruit that looks beautiful on the out
side, but is nothing but a puff of dust
within. Liberty is the life giving prop
erty, the very soul of human affairs.
BY entering the fold of the United
States, Hawaii has acquired that birth
right of true liberty, which the found
ers of the republic fought for, and it
should remember that the liberty we
enjoy was bought at a great price, by
much human suffering, as all that is
grand and noble in this world has to be
bought 1t is not likely that it will ever
be assailed from without, but it may be
assailed from within, and should it be,
however small the aid, the influence of
Hawaii should be on the side of that
liberty which Washington Adams and
Jefferson stamped with their sacrifice,
their genius and their love.