Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-06-17
Speaks on Law and Liberty at
University of Va.
Truo Liberty is Under Restraint of Best
Function of Universities Liberty
and Equality arc Prizes Most Difficult to
be Won Experience of tho wise Die
tales Sharp Limitation to franchise.
Especial to virginian-Pilot.,

.
d: c.. delivered before the faculty in
Public Hall A large and appreciative
audience greeted Mr.. Curry, who held
the attention of his audience through
out.
| Young Americans are apt to be i'm
patient OF control, rebcllious against
confinement to severe study and rest
less for public action. The ideal of
many youth is an insubordlnate Rough
Rider in Il red Ciarbaldian shirt. Few
| terms are 80 much OIL lips and pens
as Law and Liberty. Men babble of
liberty while their limbs are fettered
ManS true liberty is not to be free
from law. but under restraint and
guidance of best law. The sphere of
law is universal. In the physical
law obeycd. we have cosmos; dlsobey-
ed chaos. The tear on childhood's
cheek and the harmony of the spheres
are controlled by the law of gravita-
ton. fittest symbol of the omnipres-
ence of the Eternal. Palmyra
Thebls. Babylon, Karnak are not so
much wrecks of time as of disobedi-
ence TO the right.
1t is impossible to over-estimate the
influence of great thinkers who have
been the product of higher education.
The history of the world is the history
of great men. All great truths which
nave influenced the destineS of the
human race have been the fruits of
the meditations of thinking men. We
have not few men and women of
| broad and generous culture, but we
need Aristotles and Calhouns IN poll
| tics, Augustine. Abelard and Calvin
| In theology. Bacon and Leibnitz in
philosophy, Froebel and Herbart in
education, whose speculations and dis
courses make great epochs in the
worlds progress The function of
such universities as this is to create
and nurture such men and the relation
! OF the university to the country, as
the guardian of ethical interests, as
the defender and creator OF grand
| ideas, cannot he over-estmated.
1t is terrible symptom when men
complain that the Ten Command
ments are not applicable in politics.
| Intellectual Higor is no antidote for
| corruption of morals. How can a high
standard of national or personal honor
ever be attained or preserved, when lit
erature, the press, the churches, can
| onize an assassin and q traitor and
place him on n pedestal alongside the
crcto- martyr Stephen and of the Christ?
| How can n people hold I'D to their
| children for imitation the chivalry and
| uneXcelled achievements of the historic
| and noble past when they justify
! crimes and frauds IN elections and make
success in ballot stufiing the stepping
| stone to highest civic stations?
| a wicked government can brutalize the
people and transmit its evil influence to
| unborn generations. AS a prin-
| ciple. as the end of civil government,
liberty excludes the larger portions OF
mankind and shows how wildly we talk
| IN the Fourth-of- enthusiasm about
democracy and the rights of man.
We have had the saddest expe-
rience of the wickedness, the revenge
ful meanness, of applying the glittering
Generaltes of the Declaration of indie
pendence to the suddenly emancipated
African slaves. Liberty, IL we mean
cWpaciiy for free government is the
due and right of disciplined, enlighten-
ed citizenship. 1T would be both absurd
ana criminal to bcStoW self government
on Cuba, the Philippines, Turkey or Sc
dan: Liberty is the highest and
| noblest reward bestowed on mental
and moral development. Liberty and
equality are prizes to be won, most diff
iicult TO be won and preserved; the
more so by the dangerous error that all
men are born free and equal. All
men are created equal is Il generaliZa-
ton, not true historically, politically.
individually, ethnologgany. in heaven
or in earth. Governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the
governed, If put in practice would
lpturn every government on earth. No
such consent was ever asked or had.
Only Il selected portion was ever priv
LEGGED 20 represent society. The
experience OF the wise dictates a sharp
limitation 10 franchise Suffrage of
right belongs to those best able to
guard and promote the public welfare.
inc sneaker, in deOlOring mob law
throughout the United States declared
that the despoiism OF the rablole is
not The dominion of the people" and
that I'VE have more liberty than Is
good for us. especially IL it overpeaps
legal and moral restraint and runs so
readily to excess"
In noting the changes wrought by
the Civil War and since, the speaker
URGED young Sowtherncrs not to sulk
over the wrongs OF this period, but
secure in the memory Of a golden past,
10 race the ISSUES of the day souarely
and take n determined hand i'm the
management of this government, to the
glory and uribuilding Of which their
lorciathers had contributed so greatly.
IonchinS cn the negro problem, the
speaker declared that every considera-
ton of justice. humanity, self -preser-
WALTON. material prosperity, demands
that the State. by wise and liberal pro-
vision. Shnn secure the proper educa-
tioh or the negro We are teth-
cred TO the lowest stratum of society,
ana II we do not lift it up. it will drag
us down Ito the nethermost hell of pow
erty and degradation.
Reverting again To our present duty
the speaker urged that while keeping
fragrant and perpetual the deeds asld
principles of '6l and go. we should not
seek to revive dead issues. Why ar
ray ourselves in medieval armor TO
wage n hopeless struggle against in
ternal Improvement sound money or
manifest destiny. or more important
stll, why n vain, suicidal attempt 80
bring the death to life? This