Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-04
Reproduction of TrumbulTs Famous Painting,
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Copyright 1909 by Rights
4 INDEPENDENCE was born this day 1s3 years ago
4 when the aged belrnger sped the tidngs which
4 still echo around the world.
The immortal instrument which was signed by
John Hancock on July A, 1776, has meant more
than the growth and development of an independent
nation on this side of the Atlantic. 1t In itself
the of the greatest bill of human rights
penned. which received the signet of unwlll-
ing king at Runnymead, and the birth of constitu-
tional liberty.
In these days of peace and plenty the Fourth OF
July is given to "salutes of and the ringing
OF bells and TO the feu de joe," with variations
John Adams predicted that it would be, yet the OBJ
servance1of the Fourth occasion for recalling
memories past and giving thanks for the deeds Of
the patriot foreathers is sporadic rather than general
ein the United States The Declaration of Indepen-
dence is not read from the rostrum it once in
every community, and the orators to the links have
gone.
SO much has been taken here as a matter of course
that it hard to realize that this anniversary is
celebrated In the very England from which liberty
wrested, and that observances of it are officially
ordered in many lands beyond the The Fourth
of July has become international in scope for it has
changed the governments of nations whose capitals
far from Independence Hail. So widespread
have its effects become studied in the light or
the present day that in order to get the true value
of all that the Declaration signifies to the world in
1909 it necessary to go back to very beginning
of American liberty
Had not the ideas of government held by the colo
nlsts been essentially British there would probably
never have been any Declaration of Independence
1t is natural for the Brton to demand his rights
it is for him to live. The war of the Revolution
was largely due TO the fact that the two thousand
miles of water between London and the colonies
caused Parliament TO lose sight of the ties of con-
sanguinity and of race
Although the original thirteen colonies were so
essentially English in thought and feeling they had
never actually been established by England as
national enterprise. The only which had ever
received any official aid whatever Georgia, and
that was not sufficient to carry any such feeling
of dependence is essential for the preserva-
ton of intimate colonial relations The right to
colonize the North American continent had been
granted by charters from British king. According
TO the feudal system, which was then rapidly be-
coming effaced, the king owned all the land and
distributed 1t among various favored vassas.
Fables of Wealth.
The sovereign in the way regarded the New
World if it had been by the sword. The most
extravagant ideas prevailed with regard to the wealth
of the American lands. 1t at one time soberly
believed in England that gold and silver and precious
stones could be had for the taking and that the
natives the possessors of fabulous wealth. The
king gave the charters in most with the idea
that he would profit greatly from mines which. would
yield enormous returns to the royal exchequer.
When the colonists came here they found it neces-
sary to make good their titles either by peaceful bar
gains with the Indians or by force of arms From
the very first the spirit of independence fostered
for fefs which had to be maintained by constant
vigilance and negotiations and by show of force did
not carry with them deep of obligation.
Indeed even at that early day. although for the
throne the coonists entertained feelings of loyalty
and devotion, shrewd idea abroad that the
king did not really own the land which he had be-
slowed by his charter. The conquest of nature and
OF the savages begot a rugged independence which
the years went by became and more dis
tasteful to the authorities in England
Yet the idea of separation from the Crown was of
slow growth. The forefathers maiatained that they
were British subjects. although aot living within he
realm, as indeed was specified in of the royal