The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-23

amy that the beauteous and forever
from England that the harbingers CT
the great, glorious political dawn came
forth. Amid the wilds of this vast
Continent the apostles of freedom
found home. Here it was that the
great rinciples-fundamen and
eternal, | hope-the right to worship
and serve God and to select our own
Jaws and rulers, according to the pro-
found dictates Of our own consciences,
we're first developed and brought into
practical operation. He is a
grafton to God, to humanity, to him.
self, who will conniVe at or help on in
any way the destruction of the Consu-
tution-the very protecting Aegts OF
our liberties. 1t was one of these great,
underlying, precious principles OF all
enduring freedom. that constituted the
burden of our faithful patriotic fore
fathers cry-taXation without repre-
entation is tyranny-that was the
ringing cry that went around the
world, and that animated the hearts
IF our great ancestry, and formed the
slogan of the resolute and angry pa
riots who fought to win.
What was the result? 10 not here
stop to condemn and damn the bold,
lemptS to undermine, to sap and de-
stroy the great chart of our liberties.
refer to the first sixty or more years
IF our history as a free, brave, great
people, after the manacleS of oppreS-
sion had been torn from the fettered
arms of the Goddess of Liberty. and
aid at her feet shattered into a thou
sand fragments. He is a bastard and
villain who will dare to attempt to re-
a "a "A
If Liberty. The result is. that TAX
Ition without representation is tyran-
n.y. is a principle that not only is en-
bodied in the Constitution of the
Union of States, but actually forms a
part of every State Constitution. This
great principle for which heroes died
md patriots fought SO gloriouSly.
constitutes the Introductory sentence
If our present Constitution. 1t is the
irst political lisp of our children. 1t is
The last and grandest conclusion of the
high speculations of our statesmen 1t
the rule of all legislation. 1t is the
,eSt of all measures
Here there is found the great under
ying foundation stone of liberty and
Independence, concord and justice,
prosperity and happiness. 1t is the
dea of representation. Without it we
would be at the mercy of tyrants, and
oowerless in the hands of selfish, I'M
orincipled demagogues who are al
ways on the make, and of insolent,
srasping, insatate plutocrats.
The foremost orator OF Rome in all
he ages was Cicero, and he we'll I'M
edstood this principle l have referred
o. Hence he proclaimed this great
POLITICAL truth before Christianity had
inferred Rome-that Liberty consists
n the power of doing that which Is
permitted by the law" Libertas est
)otestas faciendi id quod jure liceat.
t is great and eternal truth that
where there are arbitrary restraints.
whether imposed by oligarchs or
nobs, there can not be possibly any
'ational and genuine freedom. Hence,
t is of the very first Importance that
here should be wise, equal, just,
0enignant laws. Whatever we may al
oW or agree to do, let us never forget
he lessons of the past, or the stern
-eachings of revolutionary suffering
md devotion and cost and triumph.
Let us never for one moment agree
% surrender any mart of the great and
priceless gift which had been
Nrenched by patriotic hands from the
greedy-grasping power of British tyr
amy. The inheritance cost the sever
est thought, the completest and sub
imest devotion, the highest and most
Infaltering courage. Watch jealousy
and resolutely the very dawnings in
our land of usurpation and oppression,
whether by the President the lawyers
Or the courts. There are some times
great. dangers III the courts. j MERTON
mere that as early as the Tatth Con-
gress, there began a serious distrust
of"the Supreme Court of the. United
States. John Randolph had three
years before sought TO nave the judges
removed on petition of both Houses
of the Congress. Unfriendly opinions
to that court abounded, and it was be-
cause mainly "of the encroachments of
the court under the strong hand Of
John Marshall. fDodds Life of Ma
con- page 231.) Again we read: Men
were getting as far from Hamilton
ideas as possible" Marshall and Ham
iiton were very able and very dan
gerous.
OF course there must be laWs-good
wholesome, wise, equal laws. They
must have regard to the protection
and welfare of all--not class but all
Law that shocks equity, is reason s
murderer" All countries at some pc
RODS have suffered from bad laws.
The great philosophical statesman
Edmund Burke, said that bad laws
were the worst sort of tyranny" He
held that in England they are of Ill
bad things the worst, worse By far
than any thing else" 1t is forever true
that they are indeed the best and
wisest and safest laws that give to the
people the very best liberty. SO the
Congress and Legislatures are to be
eternally watched, for 1.-The price of
liberty is eternal vigilance" The late
Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, af-
ter Webster the greatest man that
State has had in the Senate. said one
memorable thing-'GiVe me the cen
traliSm of liberty; Give me the i'm
perialism of equal rights" And that is
precisely the only kind of "centralsm"
that should ever be tolerated for mo-
ment by the wise and true men on
these shores-the only kind of impe-
ralsm that should be allowed unGe>'
any plea, whether it be a Cleveland,
a Mckinley. or a hot-headed fanati-
cal President of the Rooseveltian
type. These men did not understand
the meaning of liberty. They violated
it. They could have learned of the