The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-05

for and junior and other Adamses who have added luster to the Adams name. When l speak the name of Richard Hem " Lee, who prepared the famous reso- ton the outcome of whien was this De- elaration of Independence. see a great number of Virginia Lees passing before me-Arthnr and Francis Lightfoot and Robert Edward and Fitz-Hugh and, greatest of all, Robert D. Lee, the .'pride Of the south" and the loved and honor ed of the north. When I speak the name 1 of Benjamin Harrison, nnotner signer we find the father of William II. liar rison the ninth president of the United States, and the -grandra1her of Benjamin Harrison the twenty-third president of the United States. The name of Phillip Livingston among the signers suggests those of Robert R. and Edward and William. Roger Sherman, who was one of the great speakers, at this convention. was a member of the distinguished Connecticut family of that name, among whose descendants is the present able senator from Massachu- setts, George Frisbie Hoar. Elbridge Gerry,s name suggests not one E1br;oge Gerry, but many Elbridges Morris not only means Lewis Morris, but also that of his great brother, Governeur Norris The reeountlng of these family names alone would prove concfusiyely that there is something in heredity. It would prove that when a man comes from a good ancestral stock it is not as difficult for him to be good or great as if he were born nobody, the grandson and the great-grandson of nobodies
 An Encouraging Assurance.
 My friends, In whose veins flows the blood of ancestors who fought at Bunker HilI and Brandywine and Saratoga and Princeton shall you not serve your country as nobly and faithfully as did the soldier boys and statesmen of IT'S and 17ss? Can 1t be that we, whose fore fathers had so glorious a share in the struggle for national independence. shall ourselves have no part, no honorable po- sition In the struggles that are going on in 1903 to keep our nation pure and good and true? In elden times the Scottish youths were inspired to deeds of valor by the knowledge that they were mem bers of the clan MacGregor or Campbell or Stuart or Mccoy. They were inspired with the determination never to disgrace the family name. It Is recorded that in one of the northern battles the Mac Gregors were being driven back. Their chief rallied his followers and led them forth to a victorious charge with the cry My men, come on Come on Fight like brave men Your ancestors are today watching you' So let be brave and true to Ameriea's best inter- ests, not only for our own sakes, but also for the sakes of those illustrious ancestors who are watching us. Let this national anniversary be to us a day of consecration to the cause of right and freedom. As the mother of Hannibal led her son to the grave of Hamiicar, his sire, and there made him swear unceas- ing war against the enemies of his coun- try. so may we, remembering the graves of the sgners of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, pledge ourselves anew to the struggle against the evils which menace the greatness and righteousness of the nation that they established.
 The Declaration of Independence is an encouraging assurance that in every crisis of our oountry's history God. if we trust ilm, will always raise up the right men for the right place. Who was Thomas Jefferson, the penman of the Declaration of Independence? oh" you answer, he was one of the greatest Americans who ever lived. He was the third president of the United States. He was man whose mental acumen and noble, patriotic purposes the more you study him the more you marvel He
 
 statesman who could discern the future with the farseeirg eyes of a prophet and a seer" True; all that you say in refer ence to the sage of Monticello Is true There was not at the time of his death a name more reverend than that of Thomas Jefferson But who was Thomas Jefferson in 1776? He was only thirty three years of age. He had just entered public life and become a member of the fsaia 1aIo f4a.. h.tF IL. fore. In the realm of debate he could not be classed among the great advocates John Adams Roger sherman. Oliver Walcott, Lee and George Wythe. As a writer he had no such influence in fos- terlng the independence idea as had Sam uel Adams For the most part in the de- Alterations of the Continental congress. he sat as a sphinx with closed lips. Yet because Richard Henry Lee had proposed the resolution of secession and also be- cause Lea was compelled to absent him. self from congress on account of his sick wife and as congress wanted to honor Virginia by appointing a Virginian in Lees place this master mind. the young and comparatively unknown Thomas Jefferson, was pushed forward and he became the author of the famous Declar- alton of Independence.
 Trust in God.
 I repeat in the great crisis of national affairs God. if we only trust him, will give us the right men for the right places. Did he not give the right man for the right place when he gave Thomas Jefferson as the writer of this immortal document? Did he not give the right man for the right place when George Washington became the head of the American armiesa Did not God give the right man for the right place when. at the breaking out of the civil war, Abra- ham Lincoln became President of the United States? Did not God give us the right man for the right place when Will Ham Mckinley sat in the White House and calmly and bravely guided the af- fairs of state during the Spanish-Amer- lean trouble? And shall not God raise up and inspire our future leaders if the American people are gody nation and