Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-07-03

S|HE republic of the United States
 may be said to date from the adop-
 tion of the Declaration of Independ-
 ence. Until this time the l3 strug- ding colonies, rent and torn by internal iealousies, without a clearly recognized eader and having no treasury or mint, scarcely knew what they desired of the mother country.
 A very obstinate king and decidedly .hortsighted prime minister denied the very reasonable demands made by the patriots. Two or three battles had been fought between the royalists and revolu- ionary troops, but very strong and in auential party within the colonies still be- Eieved that all differences might be har- moniously adjusted and that the former status could be restored. In the number of representatives in the congress at Philadel- phia were several members who had hoped for change of heart in George IT.
 The declaration, when adopted, changed everything As soon as it became the unani- nous expression of the representatives of the people, who had full powers to act for their constituents, not "a doubt was left in the minds of any. It was understood thenceforth that the war was to be one of subjugation, or that it should end in the independence of the colonies.
 LnG SuDSGQUGuC events were SSCOuAdTy to this great and heroic action on the part lion, the adoption of the federal consti- tuition and the election of an executive head were necessary and logical results of the casting off of allegiance to Great Britain.
 The leaders in the movement, Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Hancock and the oth- CTS, understood fully the gravity of the act. They knew that from the standpoint of the crown every representative who signed that document was guilty of treason and might be hanged for the offense. They knew that in the day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence a nation was born, or that humiliation and degra- dation would be the lot of the participants in it.
 These brave men did not act hastily. They had counted the cost They had no precedent for action, and no encourage ment of success from the pages of history. Similar struggles for release from typranny usually had resulted in the forging of heav- fer chains. They lacked harmony in do nnestic affairs; they needed money, cloth ing for their troops and money to pay them their due. In effect they had no capital ex- cept sense of the righteousness of their cause and an abiding faith in the loyalty of the colonists to the cause in which they had engaged.
 The words liberty" stindependence' and free" must have sounded strange in the ears of the people of Europe in that day. In Great Britain the press was mug zled effectually. The common people of the German states were scarcely more thar slaves; Russia was despotism; Italy was composed of number of petty sovereign ties, each vieing with the other in crush ing out the liberties of its subjects; Spair and Portugal had not heard the words be fore, save in derision. Poland was ther engaged in dying struggle against op pressors from without. France was in tht mire of ignorance and tyranny.
 Nowhere in. all of the world could the framers and signers of the Declaration o1 Independence see the light of that liberty which they sought to give to their people They were as people groping in the darl in a country that was strange to them. Ye' nowhere in this immortal document is there a suggestion of doubt or fear. The justic, of the cause is set forth in words that burn and the determination of it is. left conf | dently to the issues of battle.
 The declaration is a great light rising ou of infinite darkness. It was the first prom ise of rule of the people by the people where no tyranny might be found, ane | where the highest distinction awaited ths | worthiest, without reference to the acci 1 dent of birth or the power of wealth.