Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-19
What Flowed From Yorktown.

President Hoover's brief address at
the Yorktown celebration today touched
upon phase of the American Revolu-
ton not often stressed in this country
because of the paramountcy we natu-
rally place upon its purely domestic as
pect. The victory of the colonies ove-
the mother country die far more than
establish the independence Of the United
States. 1t paved the wav to the French
Revolution and insured the blessings o:
liberty under a reign Of law" in Great
Britain. as the President points out in
striking passage Of the Yorktown
address.
Mr.. Hoover bids us remember that
the conquest of CORVALLIS was mot
essentially a victory over the British"
He is safe in foreshadowing that down
the long span of history" the American
Revolution will be looked upon more
in the light OF a struggle amongst
English-spea!;irg people for the estab-
lishment in government of an extension
OF a common philosophy of human
rights begun at Runnymede." STEPPED
in schoolbook narration CT the causes
and course Of the War of independence.
Americans are prone to forget that
Samuel Adams and Nathan Hale and
Benjamin Franklin and all the gallant
souls who challenged the authority of
George III were British fighting against
an un-British tyranny, though by resi-
dence. spirit and aspiration they were
Americans bent upon setting up DIS
tinctive American civilization.
And the President does we'll, too, to
recall that the principles and ideas for
which the American colonists con-
tended had many &C herents and much
sympathy in England at that time"
The protests Numbered in Parliament
by Burke and Fox against the .njus-
tees imposed upon the Americans re-
main classics OF English political litera-
ture. Less known than it ought to be
is the additional circumstance that
there were many Englishmen, includ-
ing scions Of noble and military FAM
lilies, who refused to take up arms
against the transatlantic branch of
their own race. Perhaps George Ills
necessity to hire Hessians from his own
Germanic ancestral heath for prosecu-
ton of the American campaign sprang
from the realization that the war could
not be waged and won by English
troops alone.
Mr.. Hoover declared at Yorktown
that the triumph of new political ideas
In America strengthened the impulses
for liberty in France" He quotes the
the principles of America opened the
Bastille." Frenchmen had fought for
liberty under De Grasse, Rochambeau
and Lafayette in Virginia a bare eight
years earlier. Their souls were still
aflame with the fire of freedom when on
July IA, 1888, the grim Paris prison,
emblem of despised autocracy, was
pulled down by the populace as the first
act in the French revolution. Danton,
Marat and Robespierre were inspired
with the spirit of Yorktown. 1t is
happy coincidence that the year 1889,
which witnessed the adoption of the
Constitution of the United States, also
symbolizes for our Revolutionary War
allies the dawn Of their own liberties.
Events of the past four days comprise
the curtain-raiser for the George Wash
ngton Bicentenary next year. When
all is said and done, he who was first
in war, first In peace first in the hearts
of his countrymen" claims priority in
the affections Of the American people
whenever they think of the Revolution.
They may be relied upon to venerate
his name with becoming dignity and
fervor in 1882.