The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1907-02-28
ELOQUENT IRELAND.
A Masterful Address by Archbishop Ire
land on Washington's Birthday.

A Masterful Address by Archbishop Ire
land on Washington's Birthday.
Archbishop Ireland delivered a pa
triotic and scholarly address at the
Peoples church in St. Paul last Fri
day evening (the one hundred and
seventy fifth anniversary of Washing
toms birthday under the auspices
of the Minnesota Society of the Sons
of the American Revolution, from
which we extract the following:
Too Many Laws.
Gin the intentions of the fathers of
the republic political liberty was to be
the guardian and the protector of
civil liberty. It was thought, and
most rightly so, that citizens, being in
a manner the lawmakers, no laws
would be enacted that would 60 be-
You'd the strict necessity in demand
ing restrictions of civil freedom.
Civil freedom, the right to ones own
self, to the use of ones own faculties
of mind and of limb, is so sweet, so
precious to each one, that it was to be
expected it were ever to be held sacred
and never yielded up, unless in obedi-
ence to highest duty towards the
whole body polite. And yet is there
not some peril to civil liberty from
political liberty-at least from what
may be allowed to call the exuber-
ance, the riotousness of political
liberty? AS matter of fact we have
too many laws, our legislatures are
too anxious to increase the bulk of
the statute book. AS things are tend
ing, we shall soon have so many laws,
that, wrapt around, as it we're, by
serried mail, we shall become prison
ers, forbidden to stir or to walk. It
certainly were so, if the bills coming
year by year before the sessions of
the congress of the nation or the leg
islature of the state were to be turned
into binding enactments.
Excess of Power.
''The possession of power is an in
centive to excess. What is the use, it
is thought, of having power, if it be
not put into exercise? And then,
law is called for that the legislator
may have it to be fondled as his own
child. Be it totally unnecessary, even
unduly restrictive of the liberty of the
citizen-a pity it is so, but legislative
power must show itself in act.
''Somehow, autocracy lies deep in
the human breast. L am the state
said Louis of France, and the state
was made the servant to the ambition,
the whim of Louis. I am a sovereign,
thinks in a way the American citizen
and what he esteems must be i'm
posed upon his fellows. Men-women
too-have caught up an idea, seduc-
tive to their vision, salutary, perhaps,
within the family circle, or within the
adjoining burg; at once the form of
law is coveted for it and ones dele
gate to the congress or to the legis-
lature is hidden, under penalty of los
ing votes on next election day, to
transmute it into law. Thus it hap
pens that fads and fancies cover leg
islative files, and sometimes reach the
desired goal, a place on the statute
book. Meanwhile, civil liberty in the
community is shortened in it's breath
ings, and forbidden to pour out it's
heaven born fragrances.
Mania for Legislation.
THE mania for legislation fire.
quently shelters itself under the name
of moral reform. Far from me to op-
pose prudent legislation in the abet-
ment of morality, when crime is to be
punished, natural rights to be safe
guarded, a great and wholesome
measure, in the interest of the public
veal, to be supported. But far from
me, also, at best, promises no results
to compensate for the abridgement of
public civil liberty, which assumes to
so cover the ground of morals that no
room remains for the free-wi]led &C.
ton of conscience, which by it's petit
ness and narrowness annoys and ir-
ritates, and defeats, rather than as
:sists, the very purpose it proposes as
its justification.
To-day another form of legislative
mania arises from the industrial rest
lessness into which our times have
brought us. Here, again, let there be
DAVIS to punish injustice and wrong
doing on every side, whether on that
of the weakling or of the strong, on
that of the laborer or of the capitalist.
Let there be laws wisely reaching out
ITO the encouragement of social peace
and of social prosperity, to the bid
ding nigh of the fair vision of legiti-
mate democracy equal Industrial
rights for all, equal opportunities for
talent and for energy.