The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-27

Beyond its shores, is also a new world.
When the first expedition landed here,
the turk was threatening Vienna, and
the spaniard was asserting his right TO
| burn ard pillsgc In Holland. me nres
| of tho tnntiieitioh burned in Spain ana
Belgium. France sunk to second-class
/ power, grovelled beneath the rule Oh one
of the most worthless of its many worth
less kings, the third Henry-while Eng
land, the England of Drake and Raleigh,
of Shakespeare and Bacon, and OF Eliza
beth. already lay beneath the growing
shadow Of the Armada, whose success
threatened the extinction of English
liberty and of the Protestant religion
Russia was then small collection Oh
barbaro,s tribes and Germany and ltaly,
not vet nations, were mere geographical
expressions. Contrast that with the
Europe of today. The change is barely
less startling there than that on TINS
side of the water.
The change has been greatly the reflex
action from this side. Civilization mas
been and is the steady increase In the
betterment Of the masses. The leaders
of thought, Shakespeare, Bacon, Mlchael
Angelo, Dante Petrarch, the painters
the sculptors the statesmen were as
great then as since. The difference is
in the masses. Then degraded, disre-
garded, beaten with many stripes, dying
like animals after living like 'brutes;
today they have voice in every govern
ment and are beginning more fully to
perceive that they have unlimited power
which they can use for their own ad-
vancement and the betterment of their
material surroundings.
The change started here when a new
race began. without feudal burdens and
amid the breadth and freedom of un-
trammeled nature. With new paths to
tread. new roads to make, new rivers to
travel new cities to build. men began
to think new thoughts and to add to the
freedom of nature the liberty of speech
and of action.
Well do we come here to visit the spot
where the shackles of ages were broken
precedents forgotten and where man
first bgan to stand upright in the ike
ness in which God had made him.
Naught tells more forcibly the depres-
sion in which the minds of the men OF
that day were held than the TACT that
the hardy English mariners, the descend
ants of the vikings of old, delayed nearly
a century after Columbus had discover
ed the New World before the foot OF an
Anglo Saxon had trod the shores OF
North America. From his discovery IN
1892 to the first landing here IN 1854
and the first permanent but feeble set
Element at jamestown in 1907 was
long time Could another new continent
such as this be discovered in 3OOO miles
of London today, not as many hours
would elapse as our ancestors OF three
centuries ago permitted years to pass
before the English race would lana on
it's shores. IN 1920 Cortez led the Span
iards to the Plateau of Mexico and sub
verified an empire. Yet sixty-tive years
more passed before Amadas and Bar
lowe led the first English expedition to
land on this continent
Not only were mems minds enthralled
by governments which existed solely LOT
the benefit of the few, and at the ex-
pense of the many, but the condition OF
the upper classes was only IN degree
better than that of the poorer. Cohee'
sugar, tobacco, potatoes and other artl-
cIes of common use by the poorest to-
day were unknown. Queen Ehzabeth
herself lived on beer and beef, and FORKS
being unknown that naughty lady ATE
with her fingers as did Shakespeare,
Raleigh and Bacon. Articles of the COM
| monest use and necessity in the dwellings,
| of the poorest now, were then not TO De
! obtained in the palaces of kings. Carpets
were absent in the proudest palaces ana
on the fresh strown PUSHES beneath thell
! tables princes and kings threw the bones
| and broken meats from their feaSts.
| Religion was to most a gross SuperStl-
! ton. law was a iargon and barbarous
and medicine the vilest quackery. JUST
in proportion as the masses have been
educated as freedom has been won by
them. as their rights have been con-
sidered. the world has advanced in civil
cation and in material well being.
Unlike the founding of Rome, where
the seat of Empire abode by its cradle
no great cities arose here at ROANOKE
Island, at jamestown nor at Plymouth
The new movement begun here was no
for empire but for the people and it has
advanced and spread in all directions.
In 1920 Daniel Webster delivered
! memorable Grafton at the anniversary o
the landing at Plymouth Rock. In tina
speech he prophesied that our free gov
eminent could stand only so long al
there was a tolerable equality in the
| division of property. What would he sa!
could he stand here today and coun
over the names of those possessed o
20 millions dollars, of so millions, of l0
millions, even of more than 200 millions
and name over the great trusts and cor
porations who levy taxes and contrlDu
tions at their own will, greater thai
those exacted for all the purposes o
government? He instances that Whei
the great monasteries and other churc
corporations under the Tudors threaten
ed English prosperity the eighth Henr
confiscated their property (as has Deel
done in our day by Mexico and othe
Latin countries) and redistributed thel
accommodations. He might have adde
that when the new commercial mono
poles under his daughter Elizabeth bad
; fair to take the place of the suppresse
ecclesiastical foundations in recreatin
!, inequality, the Commons called on he
to pause and that naughty, unbendin
, sovereign had the common sense to saw
: her throne by yielding.
Mr.. Webster also utilized the occaslo
| IN noint tn tho fact that in France b