Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-04-20
Likens Constitution
AS Guiding Light
For Whole Nation

ANo ~ SAA~AAeo AoAsS
For Whole Nation
Boston, Mass. Apr. 1s-(By A. P.)
Two figurative lanterns. as beacon
! lights for nation and people, were
swung verbally tonight in historic
Old North Church by Charles G.
Dawes, ce-president Of the United
States, at the 150th anniversary cell
ebration of the famous ride Of Paul
Revere on the eve of the fighting at
Lexington and Concord.
The Constitution was likened by
the vice. president in his address to
| guiding light for the nation. Char
acter, the old New England type Of
| character, he called beacon shining
for future generations of the Amer
lean people whose character still was
in the making.
Mrs. Pauline Revere Thayer of
Boston, a descendant of the Patriot
| Revere. introduced General Dawes,
himself descended from William
Dawes, who. like Revere and others
on the night Of April IS, ITS. rode
Through every Middlesex village and
farm spreading the alarm that the
British were on the march.
1T is an honor to be introduced by
a member of the Revere family, a de-
scendant of the. patriot whose fam
GUS ride in the cause Of American
freedom we gather to celebrate. Vice
President Dawes began. I'VE have
in Mrs. Thayer herself and in her
family which. for over $50 years has
been identified with all that is best
in Boston and New England life, the
highest evidence that with a family
as with a nation. it's continued
strength influence and prestige are
! based upon character and faithful
ness to high ideals.
"One hundred and fifty years ago
tonight, Robert Newman swung in
the steeple of this church the Ian
terms which flashed to Paul Revere
and his companions the news that
the British troops had started on
their march to Lexington and Con-
cord. The great story of Reveres
ride. immortalized by Longfellow, the
American people know and treasures
in its heart. The hanging of the
lanterns was a military event and
the ride Of Paul Revere, William
Dawes and Doctor Prescott was a
military expedition. The start of the
march of the British troops had de-
termined this. Thus the war of the
revolution started and, with its sue
cessful elimination it brought free
dom to the American people. Then
| ensued the struggle of conflicting
ideas among our people themselves
as to a form of lf-governmenr,
which led finally to the adoption of
the Constitution of the United States,
guaranteeing liberty under law to the
individual American citizen.
III we think of our nation now and
the nation as it was at the time of
the adoption of the Constitution IN
1857, the comparison may well sug-
gest itself to us of the feeble and
fiickering lanterns on this Old North
Church which $50 years ago signaled
the start of Paul Revere-the first
beacons in the contest for emanci-
pation-with that great blazing light
winch one sees at night in New York
harbor on the Bartholdi statue-the
enduring light Of liberty shining as
guide for the oppressed of the
world.
1T seems well in this quiet church
to speak for a moment of the great
est beacon light which still shines
IN American life and guides the
course of the nation-the Constitu-
ton of the United States. The gem
eral recognition by the peoples of the
world of the inalienable rights of the
individual. referred to in our Declar-
alton of independence and guaran-
teed by the Constitution Of the Unit
ed States. is the basis of civilization.
our constitution has removed from
the realm of public conflict those
rights of the individual, the reason
ableness and necessity for which
have been demonstrated by warfare
as old as the world itself. Their es-
adjustment through the ages has
cost the blood of untold millions. BY
our government under the constitu-
ton, the individual is protected in
the right to peacefully pursue any
proper avocation. the right to wor-
ship in the way his conscience may
dictate, the right of a trial by Jury,
the right to own property, and such
rights as protect him in the peaceful
pursuit of happiness. No opposing
power. either within or without his
government can deny him these
rights.
The rock upon which representa-
tive constitutional government rests
is the fact that the ultimate judg-
ment of the people is sound and
just. But our forefathers knew that
in the process of forming ultimate
Judgment, public opinion must pass
through a series of changing and
temporary phases. A temporary
phase Of public opinion. if it was
habitually to determine government.
al attitude. would result in the de-
struction of the inalienable rights of
the individual. What has DESTROYED
free democracy in history is the fact
that under that kind of a govern
ment, temporary phase of public
opinion would determine govern
mental attitude. Governmental ac-
ton having been wrongly taken in
response to temporary phase Of
public opinion the ultimate right
Judgment Of the people would come
too late to correct the mistake. BY
our constitution, with its system of
checks and balances. it is rendered
certain in this nation of ours that
only the ultimate right and sound
Judgment of the people crystalizes
into law
Our constitution has therefore es-
tabllshed the rule of the people as
distinguished from the rule of the
mob. Our government can survive
only as long as it's policies are gen
orally determined by the ultimate
sound judgment of the people and
not by temporary public opinion
as distinguished from ultimate pub
lie opinion. And the final guardians
of the inalienable rights of the in
dividual, including freedom of the
press. the rights of property and re-
hgious tolerance. are the courts of
the United States which interpret
the laws passed by congress in rela-
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