Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1903-05-30

burg address was given by Captain z.
II. Bliss
The Indian school band was present
and the boys in the band should be
complimented on the patriotism they
show.
Commander Harsch introduced Prof.
H. w. ID. Bryan, of this city, who deliv-
cred the address and The Citizen
prints it in full and 1t speaks for itself.
1t is as follows:
Bryan's Address.
Soldiers of the Grand Army of the
Republic, Ladies' of the Relief Corps,
Fellow Citizens We mourn today the
nations dead. A generation ago they
died-the death of heroes-to maintain
and perpetuate government, the most
remarkable in history.
Graded in liberty, nourished with
the thoughts, prayers and lives Of men
whose mastery of themselves made
tnem valiant to subdue the rugged will
derness of new world, our country
advanced toward its glorious destiny
at once the envy Of the tyrant and the
hope of the oppressed.
Its task was tremendous. A republi-
can form of government was regarded
as impracticable. Among the nations,
il was looked upon as reproach to
monarchial institutions and destined
to result in a revolution destructive Of
property rights. At home all the con-
ditions of life were new and strange
the great body of the people needed re-
construction to adapt themselves to
the untried-its citizens needed train
ing in the school of liberty. The pur-
poses, aims and practices OF govern
ment of freemen for freemen, were
deciphered slowly, rudely and with
many mistakes.
There were, however, schoolmasters
in those days whose wisdom and prud-
ence taught the people and whose ex-
amples of civic virtue are today, and
always will be the priced heritage OF
lovers of liberty. =
| The foremost master of that emin-
| ent school, the intellectual giant who
laid wisely and well the foundation
stones of our fabric and constitutional
government, was Thomas Jefferson.
Had his sturdy ideas of personal liber-
ty prevailed, there would have been no
such sectional animosities as after
wards distracted the country. He plac-
of independence, an anti-slavery
clause, which was stricken out by con-
| gress in Difference to the wishes OF
| some of the slave-holding states. In
| 1884, Jefferson presented to congress
| plan for the government of the west
ern country, which provided that slav-
cry should not exist therein after 1900.
AAe region referred to not only en-
| braced the Northwestern Territory,
but what afterwards became the states
| of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee
and Kentucky. The clause prohibiting
slavery was lost by but one vote.
Throughout his long and useful life,
jefferson was the uncompromising foe
to every form of tyranny and slavery.
The motto on his seal was Rebellion
to tyrants Is obedience to God" He
said, 81 have sworn upon the mind Of
man" mo man has the power to let
another prescribe his faith"
There was a large number in the ear
ly days of the republic, who foresaw
that disaster was the inevitable con-
sequence of traffic in human flesh and
of the subjection of human beings to
the debasement of slavery and whose
voice and pen were protesting forces.
1t has always been a source of pride
TO me, that my great grandfather,
George Bryan, when a member of the
Legislature OF Pennsylvania. in 1880. or
| iginated and caused to be passed an
act abolishing slavery in that great
commonwealth.
To us, in these late days, We calmly
read of the stirring events which ac-
companied and followed the birth OF
this great republic. II is almost in
conceivable that men who were willing
to endure sacrifices and even death It.
self, in vindication of their liberty,
should, at the same time, be willing to
inflict all the curses of slavery upon
many of their unfortunate fellow men.
We are confused and bewildered as we
attempt to understand how the ques-
tion of slavery moulded the very form