Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-05-31

our national life. Look at the North
side and you will see a painting of the
MayfiOwer entering Plymouth Bay Il,
December, 1920. bringing to New Eng
land han1 of one hundred pilgrims
seeking refuge from Intolerance and
impelled by the force of Il great moral
idea. Look now at The South side and
you will see the ships of Newport sail
ling into the harbOr of jamestown, Nir-
Sinia. in May, 1907, with an equal num-
Der of colonists seeking new world for
material reasons, chiefly. and deep in
the shadow turks a Dutch craft laden
with slaves that touched at Jamestown
one year before the MaytlOWer landed
at Plymouth.
Here then We're two types, each quite
distinct from the other. in the North
the Englishman of the middle class, the
small farmer, the artisan, ready fer
work. hungry for liberty.-the natural
founder of a free democracy. In the
South the Englisnman of the upper
class owning large estates, loving ease,
scOrning labor.-the natural founder of
a rural aristOcracy. IL the North the
ROundhcad. in the South the Cava Ter.
Springing thus from different classes OF
English society, environment and cir
cumstances intensified the dissimilari;y.
Climate and soil ma Il Vii ginia and the
South naturally land of large planta-
lions owned by ariStocratS and culti-
waited profitably by slave labor. while
they made the North region of small
farms titled by their democratic owners
The contrast between the types was no
less striking than between the sug-
gested lassitude of May and the en-
forced vigor of December when the two
colonies first touched these shores: AMI
although they fought side by side III
the Revolution and Southern gentle
man and planter led the Northern
farmers and mechanics t. final victory
still two widely different systems were
gradually growing up on either side OF
Mason's and Dixon's linz, THE Ameri-
can people entered into the shadow Of
the Civil War before th"v had fairly
emerged from the Revoiut;on.'
For the thirty years prior to 1861 the
breach grew wider. Slavery was the
burning issue, row forging to the front
and again forced into the background
by concession and compromise. Moth
ing is ever settled until it is settl ID
right and the conflict was sure to come.
We Of the present day whose political
campaigns are waged upon such mild
issues as the tariff, free silver or i'm
perialism know nothing of the passion
that stirred the hearts of the people in
those ante-belum days. Orators like
Garrison and Phillips were pleading.
poets like Whittier and Emerson were
md mo tx-r V.nN
joy and John Brown We're dying, all for
the cause of freedom.
Enter again If You will the national
gallery and there see the picture that
hangs next beside that of Washington.
1t is the 4th of March. 1861. and the
occasion is the Inauguration of Pres
ident. not of the United but of the di-
vided States, for Jefferson Davis had
been declared President of the South
ern COnfederacy a month before On
the steps of the Capitol at Washington
stands tall. gaunt figure, with a face
thoughtful sad and carewOrn as if re-
f1ecting the burden of the years that
were to follow, an untried man of the
common people. facing political cri-
sis such as no President had faced be-
fore. With bowed head and moist eye
lie raised his trembling hand to heaven
and took the oath of his high office be-
fore the venerable Chief Justice fancy
whose decision in the bred Scott case
had flannel the passions of the North to
fury. About him and before him we
can see representatives of both North
and South intently listening to every
word that fell from his lips. eager to
learn his policy and his purpose; while