Putnam patriot., 1910-07-01
TRIBUTE TO
 THE SICNERS.
By AOLAI E. STEVENSON

|RoM Fourth of July address
 by the Hon. Adlai E. Steven
 son. former vice president of
 the United States. the follow Ing vivid appreciation of the signers of the Declaration of Independence is taken:
 Let Us turn for a moment to the Con- tinental congress assembled in lnde pendence hall in Philadelphia on the Fourth day of July, 1776. One act of Insult and oppression upon the part Of the crown toward the colonies had fol owed another in rapid succession un- til the time had come when the repre- sentatives of the colonies were to de- eide in favor of a5jeoi submission to tyranny or to resolve to be forever free and independent. Upon the one side were the ties of country and com mon ancestry, upon the other rebellion against the mother country and the commencement of struggle the end If which no man could foretell; upon the one side unqualified submis-
  tight of kings" upon the other war with the greatest nation of the globe. with independence as the prize of vic tory and with defeat as surely the forerunner of infamy and death.
 The men who signed this Declaration were not unmindfn of the grave re- responsibilities which they assumed It was no rash act upon their part They well knew that Great Britain would never permit these colonies to be wrested from her grasp without struggle They well knew England, with her untold wealth, her powerful army and q navy that made her mis- .ress of the seas, was q foe to be re spected even by the strongest govern ment upon the earth To the imper- lshable honor of the signers of this Declaration be il said that they did not hesitate when the dread issues of that hour were to be decided
 The gospel of universal liberty had been proclaimed To the world. Foe lges mankind had believed there was a divinity which doth hedge king. The world was now startled from Its ethargy by the declaration that re distance to tyranrs Is obedience 10 Sed." The new gospel proclaimed by the signers of the Declaration Of h. dependence was in conflict with that Oy which the world for generations had been governed. Boldly and un- eqHivocally il challenged the doctrine If -ssrh xf earons of England at the point of the sword had wrested from an unwilling .yrani that Magma Charta which for iges had been the palladium of English liberty. Again and again during the reign of the long line of the predeces- sors of George III. some darling ot prerogative of kingly power had been grudgingly conceded to an exasperat- I'd people. But these were mere ef- iorts to restrain within bounds. not to destroy. the one man power.
 Our Declaration of Indepe0dence sol smnly announced as . self evident ruth that all men are born equal II srociaims as the cardinal feature O1 he social compact. as the very con aerstone of civil government. the ab solufe equality of all men Govern nents were Iceland b have been ss- labiished among men for tho benenf sf the governed What . gtorious M- heriranee ts this Declarati0o. WhAf ofry ssafesmanship is brsatbed in tfs svery utferance. Well did the greas sommoner Of Eneiand exciAim. -Ihs men who can Q write seervs to os eree-
 whencs eens tho 0so who sisnso shh Dsclarnttont n uhat school of po,st1es e phiaassDAy d16 thsy iear1 these greaf trufhD1 Who taught t1eD h sciescs q political sovernDeaf! From ubss loyal tns of hvgiveu dsd
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