The Irish standard., 1915-11-27
Continued from Page ~
abundance in the towers all the PEG
pie might give praise to God.

abundance in the towers all the PEG.
pie might give praise to God.
"War, when it came, was ever a
punishment-'the evil that we suffer
for the evil that we do'-and though
they might Sound the loud timbrel
there was Christening rod held as
high as the glistening spears when the
battle shields made a death couch for
the fallen leaders; when the wailing
places were made appalling with the
means of the widow, and when black
ness fell ON the Mothers heart as the
light of the house, her first-born,
was extinguished. No trophies of VIC
tory nor spoils of war could compen-
safe for the murmur of discomfort that
surged and receded and rose again;
for the distrust that loosened foun-
dations of government; for the lower
ing of the moral sense, without which
civic virtue is but meaningless
phrase. The glory Of Israel was not
in Enthusiastically it was insig-
nificant-it was it's pursuit of Justice,
it's desire for peace, its holding fast to
the destiny-the preservation of eter-
nal truth-to which it had been shaped
by divine hand. In that sense it was
a world power to the end of time.
would it not be truly the shallow
est pretense, i'll this venerated and VEN
cradle temple, where patriotism as
we'll as religion has found utterance
that is holy tradition, not to recog-
nize the bearing of sacred history
upon ourselves? Could we in our rev.
erent answer to our country's execu-
tive, overlook the happy singularity
by which we are become a nation
apart, not by limits of domain, but by
conditions, which now not many peo-
pie are permitted to enjoy? Shall we
not OH this day visualize the accom-
plishment of the noble purposes to en-
act measures that shall tend to pre-
serve the peace and promote the pros
perity Of the several American States?'
God surely had special design
when he Graded the hemisphere in the
lap of ocean-in it's vastness to satisfy,
in it's security to preserve, unapproach-
able in resource, unrivalled in show
ing, incompatible in the responsive
energy it called forth.
"At this day we look at our begin
ming, sometimes wondering, sometimes
confounded. There is world at the
foot of the cross that is lifted up on
San Salvador. There is a cry for lib
erty in the Land of the Sanctuary
There is a defiance to tyrants where
the Cavalier rode abroad. There is
sacredness of home where Plymouth
confronts the storm.
with enlarged vision we sweep the
horizon of our history north and south,
and are met with a marvel of sturdi-
ness that broke through the barriers of
nature, overleaped obstacles that
seemed impossible, and subdued to
mans use, forces that were charged
with destruction. We are Inundated,
II we are not less amazed, at the CO.
lossal things which under milder skies
no less aggressive spirit has builded
to the enduring genius and culture of
the Latins.
Great, without doubt, were the an
cient republics; but the 'crumbling
bricks gave evidence too late of de.
cay that was swifter than the meas
ure of time. Great was the fall there,
of; they were found wanting in the
balance because they lacked man
hood conscious of rights that may be
neither altered nor abridged; the man
had been lost in the census; and the
state created to maintain sacredly the
life and liberty of its citizens abdi-
Gated it's reason for existence in it's en-
deavor to absorb what it was meant
to protect.
mo government can perpetuate it.
self on vice. The social compact
called the state may be a necessity
but its form is not. Great crises bring
revolutions with accepted results.
But whatever the form, the security
and happiness of the people must be
its motive and aim.
IF ever the eyes of men were upon
America it is today, it may not be in
unbounded admiration; it must be in
hopefulness of better things for them
selves. We are not without our faults;
where human wisdom is our ordinary
guide, human frailty must at times
tntrude upon our onward march.
There may be some who forget that
a minority has rights; others who act
as If commerce was our only worth
when it is but our opportunity; many
would use our instruments of liberty
for purposes which these sacred guar.
antees exclude. But hostile individ.
uals do not make hostile institutions,
and at no time has it been overlooked
that America was founded on natural
rights, justice and equality. Where
these are not evident in the fullness of
perfection. 1t is from no inherent vice
In government. Legislation may not al
ways be, in its origin or in its intent,
in accord with our principles; but leg.
is1atiOn ond conot3futod oovornp,ou&