The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-06-26
ARTHUR ROPES. General Editor.
A Bugle Call to Georgia.


trict court, calling on the South to
awake, to shake off its political shackles
and become living, sympathtic part of
the United States as it is in this open
ing year Of the twentieth century.
AT the celebration OF the one hun
dredth anniversary Of the State Uni
versity at Athens, on Tuesday, Judge
Speer made speech that is the talk
OF the State Of Georgia. In point OF
elcquence and oratory, says the CORE
spondent Of the New York Sun, it was
one of the finest speeches heard IN
Georgia and was received with vigor-
GUS applause. The speech was con-
spicuous for its orstory, but it was dis
tinguished more as a powerful and
moving plea for new political condi-
tions in the South, and for its fervid
acceptance of the policies OF the ma
tional administration. OF the Presi-
dents course in Chinese affairs Judge
Speer declared that
The administration did all that states
manship, diplomacy, benignity and hui
mainly could accomplish to relieve the
distresses Of China. Humanity and
public interest are generally coinc-
dent. Every movement of those re
sponsible to the people has been die
tated by the most courageous and indie
pendent sense of justice. OF Edmund
Burke Lord Macauley declared that OPP
preston in Bengal was to him the same
in, tha 81
London" and of William Mckinley we
may say that cruelty and savagery on
the banks of the Peiho are to him the
same thing as cruelty and savagery on
the banks of the Potomac.
The address treversed the broad field
of international affairs, discussed the
relations between this country and
Great Britain, gloried in the spreading
of American trade over the world, the
advance of the flag in the Caribbean
and across the Pacific. Referring to
the recent decision of the Supreme
Court in the insular cases Judge Speer
said
For hundred years now blind men
have been quarreling with our national
destiny or with divine providence.
They declared that Jefferson violated
the Constitution in the purchase of
Louisiana. They opposed the pur-
chase of Florida. They were vehe-
ment in their opposition to the acquis-
OF Texas and California. They called
Alaska Stewards folly They rejected
Hawaii when offered as a gift, and
would have had Dewey sail away from
the Philippines and leave them an apple
of discord to the European powers, or
doom them to anarchy. And more
even now belated Americans are bawl-
ing anathemas at the Supreme Court of
the United States, some Of them de-
nouncing it as the plague spot in our
body system because that august tri-
bunal, without Incorporating inlo our
body polite millions OF savages to
whom our Institutions are incompre-
hensible, has seen in the Constitution
the power to govern by Congress these
enormous and most valuable acquisi-
tons of territory, achieved by the wis
dom of our craftsmanship and the valor
of our arms. And this is true, not
withstanding the fact that the CONT
mental Congress with its last waning
breath framed an ordinance for the
RONtEnutuL VI LILO 1brIl-
tory, and since that time Congress has
always governed the Territory and
provided for the government of all the
Territories of the United States, and
has never accorded all the rights OF
citizens of the United States to the citi-
zens OF the Territories.
In Judge Speer's appeal for national
ity, cordial and compact, from the
Lakes to the Gulf, and particularly in
his impassioned pleadings with his own
fellow citizens, which closed his adj
dress and are published below, the old
Democrats of the State heard, as more
than one remarked, "the opening gun
of McLaurinsm in Georgia." The
closing admonition to Southern men to
think, to rise above partisan servility,
and the patriotic peroration, recall the
palmiest days Of the South when its
States were the nurseries of it's purest
patriots, its foremost statesmen:
"The theory of our Constitution" the
speaker declared, "is that every Amer.
lean citizen is sovereign. How long
shall these sovereigns culver under the
party lash? Shall we forever support
measure because it is said to be the
party's interest, or shall we inquire, in
the words of Henry Clay, rs the meas
ure right? Will 1 conduce to the gen.
eral happiness, to the elevation Of ma
tional character2 Shall we forever vote
without regard to the character or Ca
pacity of a candidate because he has BE-
cured party nomination, or shall we
again recur to the test of Thomas Jei.
ferson, the founder of Democracy, "Is
be honest, is be faithful to the Consti-
tutionP' We are sovereigns, it is true
but are we not sovereigns ia exit? Oh,
when shall the King enjoy his owr
again2 Here the old English strain
saturated with the principles of indi.
vidual freedom and popular sovereign
ty, is preserved in all Of its pristine pu'
rity. If this be, and it mnst be, an av