Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1915-07-01

long established rights upon the seas
OF our people as citizens of q neutral
country, those rights which the cus-
toms and treaties of nations hare con-
ferred upon countries which are not at
war. IL may be our task to enforce
these rights By diplomacy and con-
ference, II that can he: IL may be our
task 20 enforce them by war, H. that
must be. Once more IL may be our lot
10 place our services at our country's
cal, as in the days of I7T6, of 1872, OF
1861 and 1888.
As we view future which holds one
or the other Of two such momentous
alternatives, surely MI Of Us must
feel profound sense of solmenity.
You must feel Il. young gentlemen who
are tonight leaving behind you the
first era OF your lives, ard are now "a
embark upon the sea OF life's realities.
The possibilities of the days to come
must impress you with their serious
ness, and must instil in you the deter
mination To play your part in them,
whether il be big or little, whether il
involves bravery and heroism, or UNI
assuming self-sacrifice, or work oi
whatever kind, as becomes sons of the
State Of Maryland.
The history of this splendid state oil
ours gives US all the Inspiration for
which any man could wish. Mary
lands history Is the story of the lives
OF the great men of her past. Biogra-
ply shows us what man is capable OF
at his best. It's study stimulates us
as nothing else can, because It shows
the actions, the accomplishments the
4ffa ~ r.
by which the past surrounds them,
worked and struggled, suffered and
died as we must do. IL inspires us to
aim for the stars which great men
finally reached.
The Bible itself is series of bio
graphies of patriarchs and prophets
and kings, and finally Of the nOblest
and purest life in all history.
The eighteen hundred years which
have elapsed since Plutarch's Lives
were written have not sufiiced to les
sen the influence of that work in in
spring the great men of the world,
and in imbning their minds with q
longing to emulate the deeds of Alex
ander and Hannibal and Caesar, and
the other heroes of antiquity.
So IL Is that one cannot read the
lives of our own great foretathers in
Maryland, without feeling our hearts
beat little faster and the blood flow
more quickly through our veins with
the determination to play our part in
life as fearlessly and as ruggedly, IL
need be, as they played theirs.
How little known Is much that Is
great in Maryland's early history, and
what strangers to- US are so many of
the strong men of our past. The
Charter of our Province, granted in
1632, provided that legislation should
be enacted with the advice and appro-
baton of a majority of the freemen of
the Province, and gave To every colo
mist the right to be present in person
or by deputy, in the Assembly. Thus
ut that early day did England promise
To our forefathers the principle of rep
resentative government which nearly
n century and a half later she was de-
stined TO deny. When we talk today
of the principles Of democracy and
extol our right to govern ourselves
and To make our own laws, how many
of US recall these beginning of repre-
sentative government in America,
which are found in the Charter which
Charles | granted to Lord Baltimore,
nearly three hundred years ago.
Freedom of religious warship was
fundamental feature of our institutions
from their very beginning. The oath
of Office taken by the first Governor of
Maryland was: II will not by myself
or any other, directly or Indirectly,
modest any person protesting to- be-
lieve in Jesus Christ, for or in respect
of religion" How, like n matter of
course, this seems To Us today, but let
US not forget how wonderful it was
when granted to- our Maryland fore
fathers in the days when mer went TO
the dungeon, to the whipping post. to
the stake and tn the gallows for the
sake of their right to worship God as
they pleased.
Who today ever hears of Daniel
Dulaney, the youngster? Yet during
the discussion of the rights of the
coloniSt his argument against the
Stamp Tax was one of the great loren
sic efforts of the times and contributed
foundly to the state of mind which
finally eliminated in the Declaration
of Independence. After the Revolu-
ton, there was no orator or lawyer
more widely known than he. His leg
al opinions were considered of rs
high authority as the decisions of the
courts themselves. They are frequent
y sound in the early reports of our judi
cial tribunals. Yet today his name is
hardly memory, save among those
who belong to the profession which he
adorned.
In 1916 the Maryland Convention
furnished the Revolutionary Army
with Flying Camp. The men we're
drawn largely from the counties OF
Talbot, Queen Anne and st. Mary's,
and also from Annapolis and Balti-
more Town. They were under the
command of Col. SmallwOod. AT the
bloody battle of Long Island IL be-
came necessary for Lord Sterling tn
attack large body of British troops
under CORVALLIS near the Upper Mill,
in order TO enable the main line of our
army to escape capture. For this
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