Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-07-04
DAY OF PATRIOTIC MEMORIES

Tree people against the greatest mill
tary power on earth; help from France,
Valley Forge, no bread. no soldier"
Washington in the calm doggedness CT
submission; starvation in the log
hut of the patriot, blood-money in the
palm of his Tory brother; the Sun of
Lexington and Bunker Hill suffered a
long eclipse, new risen, looking
through the horizontal air. shorn of mis-
beams: Arnold, the brave, became Arm
old, the traitor; Washington prayed,
the patriot starved, patched his cloth
ing and shot straight; the horror of
needless bloodshed appalled, England
! and the world. patience, Yorktown,
treaty of Paris and victory.
This was all out of the line of human
development, the weak. the true, the
noble has conquered the strong; CON
quered by sheer force of perseverance
and the earneStneSs of their claim
these few scattered settlers-to own
the nucleus of national domain and
governmental organization compared
with which in point of real greatness,
all other domains and governmental or
CARNATIONS in history are clearly infe-
! rior
But the main point is. either all other
national organizations, historic and ex-
! istent, are and have been clearly wrong
and on the wrong track, or the Amer
/ lean Union is.
This is an Old. old world Men have
come and gone. But, in many vital. es-
/ sential characteristics, men have chang
| ed little, if at all, We must understand
this We are not in the direct line of
descent as a government and state
among men. Are we prepared to still
abide by the challenge of the Fathers ?
| You know who it was said, My king
dom is not of this world" With rever.
ence we speak the words: We may SET
| His kingdom to one side for the pur-
poses of this article. But consider this
and do not falter in the face OF II: What
did all the great and good thinkers and
men of action always say, as they came
to the maturity of their judgment, and
looked out upon the more or less bar
barre systems of the world Z?
Did they not maintain with tongue.
pen, sword and life. that the beaten
track--the line-was not the best posi-
BILE way among men and governments ?
Well, that is where we stand We
are a living organized departure from
the track Of history. We must stand
alone.
No wonder our first president spoke
OF entangling alliances. The books and
the mere theorists cannot place" the
United States Of America. They may
can and do criticise and prophecy things
of evil, Prophet be thou thing of evil ?"
but they do not understand the plot %
this drama Of American liberty. We
ought to be an empire, but we perish In
remaining a republic.
Now, in conclusion, shall we say este
perpetua Surely.
speaks the mind, science, history are
not all there is in the problem The
Fourth of July stands for an existent
reality, known as a government by the
people, for the people. of the people.
While this endures aggression against
wrong shall have a voice; while aggres-
sion against wrong is a fact, the Amer
lean system will remain a fact.
But mark you-and mark il well-we
are that separate growth. apart that
has no direct ancestor In the line Of old
world systems. We stand alone and by
our own reason to be AS 60 whether
we are properly one OF the great family
of nations. | submit that, in the light OF
the facts. that pleasant theory may safe
ly be questioned It cannot be safely
accepted until we see what the rest Of
the family propose to do. The Fourth
Of July Is hardly cosmopolitan.
ROBERT ARMfTAGE.