The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-05-26
HIS SPIRIT IS NEEDED
he Wisely Laid Our Edlfce Upon the
Bed Rock of Love of People"
BRIEF RECURRENCE TO HIS TEACHING
Must Rid Ourselves Of the BaclIi Of Selfish
Personal Ambition and Then We Shall
Not Suffer From the Microbes
Of imperialism.

To the Editor: We may pretermit the in
quiry as to whether the McLaurin discus
| sion has become closed incident. We as a
people and as a commonwealth shall
not be haunted by the spectre of in-
perialism. nor scathed by the fires OF
expansionists, nor woun led by the
! assegais of the Malays if we do as JEFF
ferson advised; if we are animated by
that high sense of patriotic duty which
controlled his actions.
Imperalists may rant with the volu-
bility and i'll temper of Jesuits, but we
shall need in this State TO bills of at
tainder, nor shall we, as the AthenlanS
did, write against the names of the re-
calcitrant I and obdurate a harsh
Judgment, to-wit: I'VE condemn.
The redeemed commonwealth buttress-
ed in public virtue will enjoy tran
guilty as permanent as our everlast-
ing hills. Every bit of cordage that
clings to the spars of the British bat
tleship is marked by the royal proprie-
torship. a scarlet thread runs through
"The kings own" Let Us make pub
lie virtue the trade mark Of North
Carolina, and let us Autograph its scar
let symbol upon the hearts of our poll
ticians We need to get back at once
and for all time to the principles of
Jefferson. We need the inspiration of
these truths in our closets and in our
councils. and then the country may eX-
&c y,sY, nfr r.
Tightening zone, but North Carolina a.
least will be safe. In our holiday adj
dresses we apotheoize his great DEM
ocratfC spirit, and now and then violate
it's repose in our assemblies and cabi-
nets We must rid ourselves of the
bacilli of selfish personal ambition AMI
then we shall not suffer from the
microbes of imperialism and expan-
sion.
/ fear the principles OF Thomas JEFF
ferscn, the covenants contained in his
immortal declaration found their most
patriotic accentuation and expression in
an age that is now nothing better than
a memory / trust the apprehension
is unfounded. He wisely laid our edifice
upon the bedrock of love of people,"
He piled the trowel with the full knowl-
the pIummet when he had Inspected
the superstructure with The observa-
ton, the work is true and right
trusty" jefferson knew that whenever
personal-individua motives influence
the human conduct, they affect the
safety, the tranquility of the body cor
porate; when selfish considerations run
deep and wide they endanger the pub
lie peace Can we not just now abide
the test of a brief recurrence to the
sage of Monticello; even now when per-
haps there are no dark predictions of
our future, and no shadow athwart the
sun, whose beams are laden with oul
hopes, our aspirations? Let us be ad-
monished by what eloquent tongues
, have said of him in the past. Let us
refresh. our sentiments and enlarge our
conceptions, thereby eliminating the
past. The love of the people was the
sentiment of the exalted commoner Of
the colonies, as it was of Brutus and
Cato. jefferson was theChristian parallel
of Brutus; in virtue he emulated Cato,
the moral contemplation of the virtues
of such men; their ardent love of lib
erty; their infexible constancy, the bur
den of the orators defamation, the
subject of every patriots eulogum in
spires the patriotic citizen with noble
emulation. The words Thou tyrant, :"
smote the heart of the king, as the
sword of Brutus smote the heart of
Caesar, and the Cascas and Cassiuses
delivered the blows until tyranny lost
it's grasp. From that moment the peo-
pie knew that Jefferson was the defen-
r. foit I,oi
His great hand traced the eloquent
annunciation that a new commonwealth
had been born, and dynastic imbeciles
saw and trembled. 1t was an apocalyp-
tic vision that smote them blind like
erty trampled under the royal foot,
/ bugles, bayonets, bombs and blundeI :
busses haunted the king upon his
throne TOO Iate,' asseverated Re-
publican patriots, for the tyrant to in
woke the doctrine of the Stuarts. of the
| Bourbons of Austria and of Brandon
burg. America shall be free, was the
spirit of the proclamation of Jefferson
! and the elder Adams. With an organic
| law of comforting powers in it's high
| sovereign capacity to be perpetual I'M
| less abrogated by its own constituent
! limitations, it was the tie that bound ali
| invisible union Of indestructable States.
| Angels of light who proclaimed to the
watching shepherds upon the Judea
hills the glad tidings of great joy,
caught up and bore through the gates
of the celestial city upon the same an
J niversary of American Independence
| the immortal spirits of Jefferson and
Adams who by divine aDDOintment
performed together the humber but
| hallowed duty of emancipating' the
struggling colonies from the thrall OF
J the tyrant.
| His public services were performed ir
the closet, the council, the cabinet His
arduous labors were legislative, diplo-
matte, ministerial, magistrial His IL
| lustrious actions widowed no matron
/ orphaned no child, ravished no heart
Profoundly tutored in the science oil