The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-05
GOV. WILSON'S INDEPENDENCE
 DAY SPEECH

Ocean Grove, N. J., July 5.-Gov- ernor Wilson was the principal speak CT at the Fourth of July celebration here yesterday. He said in part:
 It is an interesting and del1ghtfuI circumstance that the celebration of with us The birth of the nation will always be for us a memory of thrill ing and @transcendent interest. we can never cease to rejoice that a free government came into existence in such memorable circumstances on this continent, which was destined to be devoted to free institutions. The greater the nation grows the more v1- tai will her early history seem to us, the more truly significant of the i'm portant and memorable things that were to follow.
 gle that made us free, not the defn- ite recollection of the causes and provocations of the war of indepen- dence that excite us. These things grow dim with us. We have lost the feeling of a small and struggling nation We have taken our place in the great family of nations, alongside the great power whose rule we then flung off The bitterness of the struggle Is long past. We look back to 1t without resentment and deal with the great nation from which we then S0pdTdI0Q uOt OHiy WIIHOut AOS- tile feeling, but with genuine cordial ity and an affection sprung out of memories of common origins and common institutions.
 Yet the whole transaction seems to grow in interest rather than to lose 1t. The point is not that we reject ed the authority of England. The very men who led the Revolution rev. erenced the constitution of the moth CT country, knew the long and hand some history of the struggle for l1b- 'erty by which it had been built up; knew that, even in that day of blum ders and of mistaken policies that alienated her colonies, her govern ment was the freest in the world, the model of all peoples who then looked to see representative government SUD- plant the tyranny that held other lands in its grip. Their motive was the permanent motive in the history of all liberty. What gives the Amer ican Revolution its character and dis tinction is not that the colonies in America rejected government un- suited for England, but that they re- themselves. The whole point of the struggle was that the English govern ment could not understand them and their affairs, could not adjust it's au- thority to their interest, would not give them the latitude and freedom necessary for their own development, was too narrow in its conception of authority to allow colonies anywhere to grow to the full stature of vigor- OuS states. It was a case of malad- puStme ent and of authority exercised in a way that was not suitable to the real circumstances and interests of
 Our connection with England cut off the struggle, the incessant, impla- cable struggle, was transferred to this side of the water. Having cast off the authority of England as un- suitable. we set about putting togeth- CT institutions for ourselves which would be suitable, and the history of our politics since that great transac- ton has been the history of readjust- m ent. At each stage there has been disclosed a new necessity for some fresh declaration of independence, in- wrong adjustment of law or unfor- l tunate development of economic rela- tionship.
 The thing to be proud of and to l base our hope upon is that these dec-t 1 larations of independence have one declaration was. It is my wish to | dwell upon the things that have so | far kept us from error and misfor- | tune.
 In the first place, we have at each | stage of this struggle for development |
  the facts with clear ,unclouded eyes. | We have had the sagacity at each | stage to see things they they were, to handle them as we handled the orig nal matters of revolution, not as fan cies, but as definite, indisputable facts. This is our title to self govern nent.
 In the second place, at the same time that we saw clearly, we have acted in spirit of self-possession; like men, not like children; like men schooled to the orderly developments of law, unlike impatient novices, who | think that law can be thrust aside | and every process hastened beyond | the pace with which law can be kept ID.
 We have been blessed, moreover, with calm leadership. Our develop nent has been guided by men who not only had full comprehension of | what it was we desired and needed | to have, but also of the means. the and prudent means by which it could be obtained. States