Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-07-04

lnaugCr6tcd In New YORK city, 1t was
almost impossible for him to get strong
men to take positions under the United
States government. In the United
States government today the most i'm
portant position next to the presidency
Is that Of chief Justice Of the supreme
court Of the United States. Yet John
Jay, the first chief justice of the United
States supreme court resigned his seat
in order to be candidate for governor
Of New York, in which contest he
failed. Washington had the hardest
work to obtain proper men for his cab
met. John Marshall, who afterwnrd
became the great chief justice of the
United States supreme court refused
the position Of attorney general, pre-
ferrins to remain member Of the Vir.
ginia state senate.
AS an illustration Of the low esti-
matt placed on positions IN the Unit
ed States government in the beginning
of the last century we find De Witt
Clinton, q United States senator from
New York in 1901, resigning his posi-
ton in the United States senate in or
der to become the mayor of New York
city. Can you dream of anything that
would be more incomprehensible to
the statesmen of the present day? The
idea our early statesmen had Of the
union of the states seems to have been
that of bond but little closer than an
alliance such as might bind two friend
ly European countries. But rs they
came to realize that the union was one
for mutual strength and protection the
importance of the central federation
assumed greater proportions. And So
my brothers, as we thank God today
that the United States government has
grown into a cohesive unity we should
not be bitter or harsh in our criticism
Of those statesmen who in 1861 still
believed that the single commonwealth
was supreme. John c. Calhouns ad-
vocacy of state sovereignty was the
natural sequence of the thought, which
was almost universally prevalent when
Thomas Jefferson became president,
that the United States was a confed-
cracy Of seventeen commemorative
rather than n single government Of
which the different states were only
integral parts.
The State Sovereignty Idea.
SO universal was the idea of state
sovereignty in Washington's time that
when the first president made his ia
nous tour of the New England states
the governor of Massachusetts at first
refused to call upon George Washing
ton when he came to Boston. He prac-
tically said. Il hold as independent a
position as the president, and he must
come to me before go to him Mark
you, this action of the governor was
not in south Carolina or in Georgia or
in the "hlack belt of Mississippi, but
in old Massachusetts, the home Of Gar
pie have now learned that the United
States is nation.
Another fact which forciby struck
ne in DR.. Hales autobiography was
the immense amount of unoccupicd
land which the United States govern
mcnt Possessed which had not then
been explored and which the leading
Statesmen did not expect TO utilize for
a century at least to come. They took
| poSScsSlOu VI tuiS lanU not because
they wanted it. but because they were
| afraid somebody else might want it,
and then there would be two nations
upon the American shores instead of
one. Not even the prime movers in
the Louisiana purchase had any true
conception of the great national bar
gain.
II T iyin hot
he was doing" writes DR.. Hale, that
in the letter in which he announced to
President Jefferson Napolcon's amaz-
ing offer and his own conclusion of the
great purchase he says, L have told
them that we should not send an emil
grant across the Mississippi in 100
years." So little did the government
know of the region it had purchased
that President jefferson a short time
after Louisiana had been coded to our
government, had to send ont the Clark
and Lewis expedition TO find out what
kind of region ii was and whether
the people could live there at all. And
one Of the chief reasons, wrote DR.
Hale, why the New England states OPP
posed the Louisiana purchase was be-
cause their own population was so
mea ger and they were afraid that this
new region Of the far west might draw
some Of their people away and leave
the farms of the New England valleys
untitled In other words what | wish
TO snow is that the great west. which
came into our possession during the
earlier part of the last century, was not
only undesired land. but that God
forced it upon an unwilling people in
order to work out the destiny which
he had for it to do. The American
people as a nation have had greatness
thrust upon them. While God was
laying the foundation Of this future
greatness in its great landed terrific
ries the American people, from Presi-
dent Jefferson down. We're almost
unanimous in their vehement protest
The Guidance Of Providence.
If IL We're not for the fact that be-
licve the Lord God of the hosts Of
Moses and Joshua Is guiding this ma
ton, l would say that the acquisition
of our great territories was nothing
but long series Of haphazard luck.
The way we became possessed of Lou
isiana was as undersigned and unsought
az is our present possession Of the
Philippines. When the Spanish-Ame
49,