The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-10

HE history OIL lne couuliy may
ION be divided into two periods; the
first extending from the perman-
- so+,1ament of the English colonies
:. +be close of the American reVoiutioh'
aooo,,d from the acknowledgement
of the independence of the colonies u
the present time. Comparihs 'ne
u of the country at the beginning
and at the end of the second perioo' anu
noting the expansion in area popuia-
tio, agriculture, mining transportation
commerce. education, arts~sclehee' inNeN-
,ion government, international reiauonS
anS Tho settlement of principles anu az
lions upon which human SOCIETY 10
- er,,,v constituted, we find nation
:, so,,o1onnoen+ which has no parallel IN
,,a.ory of mankind No other ma
+io. of ancient or modern tlihes 81"
a,,r;ny a century and quarter iloii'
nth 70 a maturity of principles ana OIL
,,ar Of dominating influence upon an
.,o,.arnments and people. Whatever VI
eoreign evils we have imported through
. practically unrestrained lmmisra'ion -,
-. Of orr national life, founded
49,, the hest precepts of ages, nave
nreserved and advanced the hishes' pr
cinies of human liberty. Whatever "li
4cuIties and failures we nave met anu
,.ot endure. the people of the oiii'eu
a+ates are today among the foremost III
,,ora, nrogress and in just aspirations LUZ
the future. 4,or bad
va the attachments of the nation hao
their genesis in that earlier periou u
Colonial life. At the times OF the hiss
permanent settlements of Virginia anu
..sacbusetts. the people OF England
,,,ora commemorative of the highest type
a,,.,,;,otion then existing. Through
foreign wars and domestic controversies
through many wrongs ana tyrahiiie'' NV
nod conceived certain rules OF nauonai
existence, which, often broken anu O."
nled uron by parties and moharcns' su'
xive1 in the conscience and resoiNe" u
.he people as the heritage, the very oii III
=; of freeman. Those hlgn views "eie
transmitted with the first colonies TO t'e
coil of our country. The Puritan never
sucoumbed to oppression, never iooSeu
his grasp upon those inalienapie rlsn's
W. :, come to man from Goa. Inc cav
aler was an agent in the estapilshiieh'
of ,enefcient rules Of free government
TT we find among both types ihoiVioea'S
who had no views except OF seii-aoN ance-
won't II is equally true that they were
z,in.+ed nv men of character who were
,,,soired nv an earnest desire to pro-
ota the future good of their country
and posterity, regardless OIL 'hen pei
sonal interests or prohts.
Auons the men who settled at James
town on May 10, 1907, there were ie""e's
of high conception of government anu
An the colony of jamestown were ihe
1rst assertion of social and government
ta1 principles which lie at the foundation
of our national life Some of the acts
of that colony were the beginnings OIL
orr constitution.
The movement for the colonization OF
Virginia, following the treaty OF peace
between England and Spain, in 1900 was
national in scope 1t became one OF the
,mnortant factors in the politics OF the
neriod: not only in England and America
hut in France, Spain and the Nether-
lands: not only in the contest then go
,ne on between Protestanism and Ro-
,, Catholicism, but in the conflict be-
...r tho crown and the commons. While
ond those of the Massachusetts bay set
t,ements non-conformists, they held the
came Christian faith as those of Virginia.
The emigrants to jamestown, notwith-
standing the presence of a few Roman
catholics, were not only distinctiveiy Pro-
testant but representative of a nation
practically undivided in faith and uni
tod in the Church of England. The min
isters of that church took an active part
from earnest interest, in the colonization
of virginia; and the sermons state pa
pers and records of the time show that
N, work of the church was the first i'm
nortant element of colonization and oil
-,hsament influence and effect upon the
\ ,,-srnment and institutions of propaga-
zion of the Christian religion; and the
objects of the expeditions under Gates
an Delaware. stated in the letters pat