Waterbury Democrat., 1903-02-13
IRELAND ON LINCOLN
Notable Speech by the Arch
 bishop In Chicago.
EQUALITY FOR ALL UNDER TIE FLAG
RepIIbIfc That Lincoln Saved Musr Be Given Equal Civil and PoIft- 2caI Rights Without Regard
 to Creed or CoEcr.

Be Given Equal Civil and Polft-
 2caI Rights without Regard
 to Creed or CoEor. CHICAGO. Feb. Archbishop Ire land of St. Paul was the guest of hon. or at a banquet given at the Audi torium hotel by the Lincoln club in commemoration of the ninety fourth anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. In an address on the great emancipator Archbishop Ireland said in part:
 3"The republic that Lincoln saved! How she has growni And as she grows the more beauteous she seems, the more winning are her graces and the more soul entrancing her claims to our love and devotion.
 "The republic is what she is because she has virtually remained what Washington intended her to be and what Lincoln bade her to be-a gov ernment of the people, by the people, for the people. This is what she must remain if she is still to live and to reign. The vital principles of democ- racy must animate her. Every man under the flag must be equal before the law in civil and political rights. It matters not what his place of birth, what his religious creed or what the color of his face If he is an Ameri- can citizen, the laws of the land must shield him, and the fayors of the land must flow upon him.
 "'To announce, for instance, that the citizen who is black must not aspire to a political office or must not ap- proach the ballot box is to war against American institutions. To hold popu- lations in perpetual tutelage, whether on our immediate continent or in the islands beyond the seas, is to set aside LincOln's principles. Delays may be counseled. Often delays should be counseled, for the question always calls for an answer: Are children to be made to walk as adults? Are popula- ticns incapable of self government to be allowed, for their destruction, it's privileges? But when the time comes that such populations have ripened into self governing manhood the rights of that manhood must be theirs. And meanwhile the mission of the flag Is to hasten them toward such man. hood
 "-he day must be expected when our territories will be states and when our island possessions will be states. Abid- inG dependencies cannot be the ap- panage of republic
 '"The flag has been carried far be- yond the America of Lincoln's day. This is as it should be. A great na- ton cannot but grow Occurrences will come to it beyond its control that will compel it to grow. It is for hu- manity that freedom loving republics do grow.
 T rejoice in the territorial aggran- dizement that has come to America, and no fixed limits would dare put to yet further such aggrandizement, but always and everywhere would I hold out to new friends and new brothers the hope and the promise that in due time fullest civil and political equality with myself and my fellow Americans shall be the reward of their loyalty and good citizenship.
 aThe United States is by force of ir- revocable events an international DOW CT. She cannot isolate herself, for her interests are amid all peoples, and their interests are amid her people Our pride in her grows, and as she thus grows in greatness we watch her with jealous eye as she enters into the new spheres of duty and responsibilities
 '"The republic is committed to our love and our care. Let us be loyal to her. This is the lesson of Lincoln day"