West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1909-04-29

Struggle Cor Freedom Pursued Since
World BEGAN.


We give below the Grafton Of Harr,
Richard Watkins ON his commencement
from the Tunnclton high school:
Ladies and Gentlemen.
We learn in the course of our schoo
lie tia, the beginning Of Liberty dates ial
back into ancient times when those tw,
great nat ons, the Greeks and the Romans
struggled against oppression and she,
their blood TO enjoy the privileges Of lib
e'ty. But W. do not find in them IN,
account OF any populous region blcss,s
with liberty as We enjoy il today. We,
while the ancient nations made Close ap
proaohcs to true liberty, they lacked IN,
one great essential To make il rcalit,
AMI TINS tell entirely short Of Il in prac,
ticc.
IL IL true they had men of great learn.
ing, I'm, ior the want Of the art of print.
ing they could not let the outer world
share in their opinions, which would hay,
done the most for the happiness of IA,
people. They could not navigate distant
seas for the want of the mariners com.
pass, and thus for years they made nc
progress along the shores of the Mcditcr.
rancan. In respect To freedom they sue,
cecdcd IN establishing popular govern.
ment in single cities bat were unable I,
extend this authority over n large or pop
ulous country. 80 the lr,cSt Of their cities
accordingly, fell prey To some foreign
invader or to some domestic tyrant. In
this way liberty made no advances in IN,
ancient states.
In the middle ages the petty Italian ~
publics made efforts Ia regain their polit.
ical rigl 4 which had been wrcstcd from
tmrn. liut these struggles for liberty NJ.
suited much rs they had done in Gr,ccc
h,winr great examples ol pubic pros
pe'ity lnr n short time, hut making ne
prpNS in the hiildhis mp Of literal
government.
NJ length new era began. The art oI
printing cnino into nss', the Turks can,
TUNED ConstMltinuplc and drnvct tho learned
tricks into Italy, aud letters revived.
The religious wars ending at this time
awakened u spirit ui adventure amonp
thc maritime nations. which lrd Ia mnnN
discoveries being made, among them this
glorious country oi ours--Amcrica.
NJ this time the only rcal advance mad,
in Europe for the cause of freedom was
IN England. Constitutional liberty in that
country was prosecuted and subdued, hut
not entirely stamped out From these
suppressed people the first brave band of
a.. ...xs "A .
discovery Ia find a land where liberty and
It's blessings might be established. These
men came 10 the newly discovered conn
try, America, and with the puritans, who
had been driven out at England for daring
to worship God according "a the dictate
of their conscience, founded and built the
first permanent settlements in this co,n-
try. Nor was IL long before these men
were joined 10y the Germans, who had
been prosecuted for inhabiting the Pal
atinate when the army OF Louis XIV was
turned into that region; and 10y the HUI
guenots, convicted for holding what they
deemed the simple truth of Christianity,
while Louis was very jealous OF the cstab-
lisiled faith. These were followed later
by the Highlanders, convicted of the
enormous crime of loyalty 90 their hered-
itary prince on the plains Of Collodcn
and the Irish, accused Of supporting the
rights OF their country against an oppres-
sivc power. Such are the men who set
tied America In this way we have for
fair representation of what
was most valuable in European character
the industry Of one, the inventions and
curious arts OF another. and the principle,
and courage Of all.
Thus we can all see how IL was that
with the blood Of such men running
through the veins OF our forefathers when
England began % do the unjust thing by
them they rose in rebellion, declared their
right 10 he free and independent, and de-
Tended their contentious with the sword.
And 50 well did they do this that after
seven years Of hard fighting England rec
Ognized their right 10 rule themselves in
the way they thought best
And now, az we who are assembled here
are free and independent people, let us
resolve that our children shall have occa.
sion tO commemorate the memory OF their
fathers as we have come to bless the mem
DRY OF ours. And that this may be the
ease let ms ever be jealous Of the rule laid
down for our guidance by wise and un-
selfish sircs who recognized that call gov
ernments derive their just powers from
the consent Of the governed" and that
that nation il best governed which is
least governed" thereby insming them
the priceless boon OF liberty for which all
men yearn.