New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-01

A Precise Recorder.
In estimating this shadow Of shade
of doubt which he chose 10 leave on
the statements Of his own father and
grandfather as to his origin, we must
that this man was also, from
boyhood to extreme old age, one OF the
most laborious and precise, most
minute and even meticulous Of record
ers. He was not able in mere personal
accounts of pocket money, covering
years and evC.y insignificant outlay, 10
set down one item. or even 10 carry
It forward to next years balance. at
either Sd. or ID. if in fact it had been
2lad. Naturally such a man was not
able to accept any family testimony or
anything except a legal record, duly
sealed and witnessed, for any ancesto:
farther back than his grandfather-es-
pecially since he was the known sou
of an ill-educated and hard laborinG
pioneer, who rose at last TO be a lana
surveyor; and since he was, himself,
often found jeering at the vanity Of
having grandfathers.
Now l venture to think that on
equally substantial grounds We might
commit the folly Of questioning the
Welsh blood Of Howell Dda the Good,
grandson of Roderick the Great. or OF
that Prince of Gyneed, who reigned
over this happy land forty-four years
as an independent vassal' Of the King
of England
I shall indulge in no such outrage.
I shall request you TO assume that this
mans father and grandfather knew
where their family came from when il
entered the new colony, only two or
three generations earlier. And so l
am here to ask you to include among
Welsh contributions to. the larger
movements Of the world the name AMI
worldwide fame OF Thomas Jefferson,
author of the Declaration Of indie
pendence.
Do l need reason for this beyond his
unchallenged Welsh origin? Who will
name the achievement by any other
man Of Welsh blood or Of British bio III
which has more largely influenced the
world for good than that empireshak-
ing, Continent-shaking document, that
saved Great Britain from herself; tina,
saved America for herself, and de-
veloped in place Of the two and half
millions Of that day a nation of ninety
three millions on the continent, while
II protects and guides islands Of ten
or twelve millions more in every zone
and on every sea; that shook down the
most obstinate of monarchies. turned
it into a republic, with regenerated
people, now the most prosperous gov
eminent France ever had, and the most
stable and enduring it ever had since
Louis XIV-not excepting that Of either
Napoleon.
The Declaration OF Independence.
Yet these are merely some Of the
external results more or less distinctly
traceable TO the momentous statement
he addressed to the civilized world on
the Fourth Of July, 1776. do not dwell
upon any Of them or argue them. Still
less do insist upon the English style,
lucid, convincing and OF stately dig
nifty unsurpassed, l venture to think,
by any official paper in your thousand
years Of Parliamentary history. in
which he clothed one Of the most philo
sophie and unassailable and yet most
revolutionary accounts Of the origin OF
government since Plato. I'VE hold
these truths TO be self-evident, that all
men are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights, that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness; that to secure these
rights governments are instituted
among men, deriving their Just powers
from the consent Of the governed"
There was the inward and spiritual
meaning Of this whole gospel Of your
American Welshman-the Declaration
to which he brought the people Of his
country and TO which he drew the
considerable judgment Of all others.
His real work was the diffusion OF
an unaccustomed idea Of the origin Of
government and Of the scope Of hu-
man rights-rights held not as Eng
llshmen or Americans or Frenchmen,
but simply as men. That is the origin
Of the spiritual unrest which broke out
in Europe at the close of the eighteenth
century, and now pervades all classes
everywhere--an unrest not 10 be
ouieted until It triumphs. But IT never
meant, and Jefferson never meant, the
madness which the agitators Of the
present day find in 1t. 1t never meant
withdrawing the handspring OF the
worlds progress, free individual initia-
tive. On the contrary, 1t meant the
widest extension Of free individual
initiative TO every human being capable
of it, limited only by respect for the
equal rights Of others. Mr.. Jefferson
wrote to NJ. LHommande paris, l7SO:
THE policy OF the American govern
ment is to leave their citizens free.
neither restraining nor aiding them In
their pursuits" And TO NJ. de Meunier,
in 1875: 81 am warm zealot for tho
attainment and enjoyment by all man.
kind Of as much liberty as each may
exercise, without injury TO the equal