xt7ghx15n565_112 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7ghx15n565/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7ghx15n565/data/0000ua001.dao.xml unknown 9.56 Cubic Feet 33 boxes archival material 0000ua001 English University of Kentucky Property rights reside with the University of Kentucky. The University of Kentucky holds the copyright for materials created in the course of business by University of Kentucky employees. Copyright for all other materials has not been assigned to the University of Kentucky. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. James K. Patterson papers Patterson Speeches text Patterson Speeches 2024 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7ghx15n565/data/0000ua001/Box_11/Folder_3/Multipage9934.pdf undated section false xt7ghx15n565_112 xt7ghx15n565 PRESIDENT JAMES'K. PATTERSON

woomovi WILSON

Comments on His Attainments and
Availabilty For Presidency

PERSONAL ESTIMATE

Thinks No Other Aspirant Since Republic Started
Embodies His Qualities

In response to a request by Judge Samuel M. \Vilson of an
expression of opinion by ex-President Iames K. Patterson, of
State University, on the ability and attainments of \Voodrow
\Vilson and his availability for the office of President, Mr. Pat-
terson replied as follows:

PRESIDENT PATTERSON’S ESTIMATE

LEXINGTON, KY., April 30. 1912.
judge 5.1111115! J]. I I 7130/1, Latngz‘an, Ky. .-

MY DEAR FRIEND—I am in receipt of your letter of the
27th inst., requesting my opinion of Governor Woodrow Wilson,
his ability, attainments, and availability for the high office to
which he aspires.

I am not, as you know, a politician, though I have, during
the course of a long life, given some attention to political affairs.
I have not kept pace with the various phases of the present
presidential campaign. and hence know the political status of the
leaders only in a general way. \Vhat I say shall. therefore, be

 

   

without prejudice to any of the great Democratic leaders now in
the field, any one of whom would 'fill the presidential chair with
dignity and ability. I shall make no invidious comparisons
between Governor Wilson and his rivals for the Democratic
nomination.

I believe that heredity counts for quite as much in men as
in the lower orders of animated existence. If this be true, Gov.
ernor Wilson has the advantage, to begin with, of an heroic
ancestry, trained in the school of self-denial and stimulated by
the spur of necessity. Hardihood, self-reliance, strong convic-
tions, sound moral principles, a courage fearless but not reckless,
tact, discretion, sobriety of judgment, these are among the
characteristics of the stout breed of men and women reared in
the home of his ancestors and transmitted in full measure to his
immediate forebears on this side of the Atlantic.

These are the qualities characteristic of Governor Wilson to-
day. They have been neither obscured nor diluted nor obliter-
ated in the VVilsons and VVoodrows of America, and are quite as
persistent and obtrusive in the land of their adoption as among
the straths and glens and mountains of their original home.

The inherited ability of Governor Wilson found opportunity

for development through an education, the best that the country
could afford. His admirable training in Columbia, S. C, pre—
pared him for the undergraduate work of Princeton, where he
graduated with honors in 1879. This was followed by post-
graduate work at Johns Hopkins, where he took the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in 1886, and where he laid the foundation
for the work in historical research and political philosophy which
has since in great measure occupied his life. Here he was
grounded in the politics and economics of Aristotle, the Republic
of Plato, the profound discussions of Grotius. Vattel and Blunt-
schli, upon the law of nations. Here he worked out and collated
the material for the great work which brought him prominently
before the American people and ranked him with Lecky and
Bryce and Lowell and Taswell-Langmead and Gneist, as a star
of the first magnitude. HThe State-Elements of Historical and
\“ractical Politics,” published in 1888, when only thirty-two
years of age, astonishes the student by its strong grasp of prin-
ciple, its abundance of material, its wealth of illustration, and its
admirable historical and political perspective. This work, which
I consider in many respects his magnum opus, made his reputa-
tion as a thinker and a writer on both sides of the Atlantic.

In quick succession there followed from his pen HThe Old
Masters and Other Political Essays;” “Division and Reunion,
1829-1889;” HGeorge Washington;” and the ”History of the
American People,” which takes rank in point of ability with

Green’s history of the English people.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 

He has thus covered practically the whole field of history
and politics. from‘Solon and Peisistratus to Stubbs and Bryce,
De Tocqueville and Montaigne. Meanwhile, he had studied law
at the University of Virginia and obtained license to practice at
the bar, had become in succession Professor of History and Po-lv
:itics at Bryn Mawr, in the \Vesleyan University of Connecticut,
and in 1890 Professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University,
and Lecturer on Administration at Johns Hopkins. From 1902
[until 1910 he was President of Princeton University. Honorary
degrees from Tulane, Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, Brown, Harvard,
Dartmouth and Yale attest the high estimate in which he is held
by the great universities and colleges of America.

No aspirant for political honors since the foundation of
the Republic has brought into the arena greater natural ability,
more profound and varied scholarship. a larger field of polit-
ical and historical research, a more intimate knowledge of
political conditions, the relations of the governing to the gov-
erned, the co—ordination of the functions of civil government,
the relations of equity and common law, the influence of the
civil law upon modern jurisprudence, the growth and develop-
ment of free government, the scope of international law,—all
these are equally familiar to him and all collectively form the
immense store-house, the immense thesaurus at his command.

In great national crisis, the attention of the public naturally
turns to such a man. When with the ability and attainments of
Governor Wilson you associate the uprightness, the integrity, the
candor, the straight-forwardness and the clean moral life, resting
upon the sanction of deepseated religious convictions, the public
feels that here is a man capable, experienced, trustworthy, able
to guide a university, to rule a state, or to conduct the affairs of
a nation. No dilettante, no tyro, no political adventurer devoid
of convictions, wearing the sandals of Theramenes, and measur-
ing with a Lesbian rule, but a man of force, of earnestness and
integrity of purpose, such a man as would have rejoiced the
heart of Thomas Carlyle, and worthy to stand in the category of
Cromwell and Pitt, of \Vashington and of Lincoln. H *

It is said sometimes that Governor \Vilson has changed his
opinions upon grave questions of public policy. Well, that is
not without precedent. Mr. Gladstone began his political career
as a conservative and ended it as a liberal. Sir Robert Peel
entered parliament as a protectionist and closed his political
career by leading a movement for the repeal of the Corn laws.
Anti-slavery men were mobbed in Boston in 1825 and in 1860
Abraham Lincoln was elected President. Changes of opinion
have changed the course of human history. The change of
opinion in Luther, Zwingli and Calvin and Knox and Cranmer
and Ridley created Protestantism.‘ The change of opinion in

4

 
 
 

 \Vashington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin and \Vitherspoont
caused them to renounce their allegiance to'the British crown:
and created a nation. Conditions change. The glacier moves
resistlessly forward, and if we fail to move with it, we become
moraines stranded upon the mountain side.

“Humanity sweeps onward ;
Where today the martyr stands,
Tomorrow crouches Judas,
With the silver in his hands;
And the hootingr mob of yesterday
In silent awe returns
To glean up the scattered ashes
lnto history’s golden urns.”

The nation grows from infancy to maturity and to manhood.
Modifications of former opinions are legitimate as conditions
change, but this is not eonvertible with the capricious tergiversa-
tion of the political adventurer, who trims his sails to catch every
breeze. Civic evolution is the law of nature, and the intelligent
citizen participates in the development. \Vhatever may be said
of Governor Vt’ilson, it cannot be said of him as of the Bourbons
after the Restoration: "They have learned nothing and forgotten
nothing.” He has both learned and has forgotten. \Vhat is
new and approved in political morality he learns and assimilates;
what is obsolete he leaves behind as an anachronism. This is of
the essence of wise statesmanship. The wise statesman knows
what should be done and he knows how to do it.

Fairly interpreted, I see no change in Governor \Vilson’s
views, expressed or implied, which is not in entire harmony
with an intelligent interpretation of existing conditions, and an
honest effort to direct and to lead to the attainment of the best
possible results.

I am, my dear sir, with much respect,

Your obedient servant,
lAMES K. PATTERSON.

 

  

AN! ADDRESS

DEL] VHREI)

Commencement Day, June 2, 1886,

' JAS. K. PATTERSON, P11. 1)., F. s. A.,
I

PRESIDENT, :: LEXINGTON, :: KENTUCKY.

PI‘BLISHED BY ORDER OF BOARD OF TRESTEES.

FRANKFURT, KY;
tin-nun. OFFICE, JOHN D. \VOODS, I'L'ULIV PRINTER .\.\‘n 131mm“.
1886.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

  

ADDRESS ON COMMENCEMENT DAY
BY JAS. K. PATTERSON, PH. D., F. S. A,

PRESIDENT OF THE STATE COLLEGE OF KENTUCKY.

     
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
   
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
   

[Published by order of the Board of Trustees]

In the absence of Governor Knott, who was invited to address you, I propose to
occupy your time for a few minutes with a brief retrospect. It is the custom with all
engaged in mercantile pursuits and in manufacturing enterprise, to take an inventory
of stock at stated periods7 and from conclusions, based upon trustwurthy data, to
determine whether their business be prosperous or the reverse; whether they be hold-
ing their own, advancing or losing ground, and in the light of the information thus
obtained. to determine the policy of the future.

This is not, by any means, the first time that the College has taken a retrospect
of its operations. This is done by the Board of Trustees annually, but on no previous
occasion have the public been taken into the confidence of the College authorities as
I propose to do to-day. '

Twenty-one years have elapsed since the Agricultural and Mechanical College

was established. These Colleges owe their existence to the act of Congi . of 1802,

 

donating lands to the States for this purpose, in proportion to representation. The
allotment to Kentucky was 830,000 acres—a magnificent endowment if it had
been judiciously and economi ally managed The State committed the mistake of
attaching the College created under the act to one of the denominational colleges of
the Commonwealth, instead of putting it at once upon an indepemlent basis. The
land scrip was sold for fifty cents pe‘ acre, the proceeds invested in Kentucky six per
cent. bonds, of which the State Treasurer became the custodian, and the income from
this invested fund was directed to be paid over annually to the Trustees of the Ken-
tucky University, the institution to which it was attached, so long as the connection
existed. The Legislature reserved the right to dissolve the relation at any time. The
Legislature required that the Kentucky Universlty should provide, within a reasona-

ble time, a farm worth not less than $100,000, for the use of the Agricultural College

 
 

for Lapel-inmate] purposes and a Mechanical Department for practical instruction in

  

  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

2 COMMENCEM l‘lNT DAY ADDRESS.

the Mechanic Arts. The first condition was in part met by the citizens ol' Lexington
and vicinity, whosubscrihed the money for the purchase of the farm. The second was
in part met by a donation for the erection 01‘ buildings and the equipment of at Me-
ehanieal Department. The State, moreover,advanced $20,000 to set the lnstitution
going. In 1866, twenty years tgo, the Agricultural College opened. lts matriculates
increased from y -ar to year till, in 1809—70, the maximum was reached. From that
yiear its attendance began to decline, owing to causes the discussion ot‘ which are not
appropriate to this: occasion. In 1878, the Legislature of that year sent a committee to
Lexington to investigate the condition ot’ the College—itsrelations and its work. They
found the number of students to be about 75. They found that its Mechanical Depart—
ment had practi 'ally closed. They found that its Agricultural Department consisted
ot’ ordinary farming and gardening, with no attempt to do experimental work. They
found that adequate College buildings had nchr been provided; that the title to the
estate purchased as its site was vested in the Kentucky University. The committee.
unanimously reported to the Legislature, advising the dissolution ot' the relationship at
the end of the collegiate )"211‘tl1e‘ll current. “hen the dissolution Was etl'eeted, the
Agricultural College was just where it had been thirteen years before. It had its endow-
ment fund in the custody of the State Treasurer, viz, the prtweeds ot the sale ot‘ 3:3 ,—
000 acres of land at titty eentspc ‘ acre. But it had nothing else. It had no lulildings,
no laho ntories. library", museums or physical apparatus. It. had no t'arm, no shop. The.
State found that the $20,000 which it had advanced was irreeoverably gene. The ques—
tion then eame up, what shall the State do with it‘.’ The Legislature appointed a com-

mission of eleven men to do three things: to make ar'angements for its provisional

 
  

i

 
 

 

existence till the meeting of the next Le slature; to advertise tor and receive bids from
those towns which desired to have the College established in their midst; and to prepare
and present to the next General Assembly the outlines ot an Institution, such as the
dignity, the traditions and the educational wants ot'the Commonwealth required. These
duties they discharged. Bowling Green and Lexington were competitors for the
lnczttlnll of the College. The latter offered to the Leg'slature of 1870—80 the City

Park, the present site, and $1’0,000 in city bonds, to he used for the erection of build—

 

ings, which otl'er the County Court supplemented by $20,000 in county bonds, to be
used for the erection of buildings or the purchase of land. Bowling (lreen otl'ered
5330.000, and a connection with a local institution, Ogden College, such as the State
had tormerly made with the Kentueky l'niversity. The commission accepted the
oll'er of Lexington, and the Legislature accepted and ratified the reeoinmendation.
The Leg slature then proeeeded to rte—organize the College upon a basis entirely
undennwealth. This remunmendation was emhodied in a bill which
pa sod hoth liranehes of the Legislature and received the signature of the (lovernt'ur.

tinder these provisions, with this prospective income, the College \‘as re-organized.

 

Durng the collegiate sc sion of 1880-8]. the fiillowing departments were consti—
tuted: Mathematics and Astronomy, Natural History, Civil History, Mental and
Moral Philosophy. English Language and Lie‘ature, Latin and Greek Languages
and Literature,French and (lei-man Languages and Literature, Chemistry and l’hy—
sies, Agricultural Chemistry, Practical Mechanics, a Normal School Department, a
(‘ommereial Department and a Preparatory l)ep:’ll‘tin(‘llt, with a Principal and Assist—
ant. Contracts for the College buildings were let within the proceeds of the city and
county bonds given for that purpose. As, the building‘s advanced in their (‘0' strue-
tion, it became paintully apparent that the estimates and contract priees would he

largely exceeded, mainly on account of the failure of some of the contractingr parties,

  

and the not-es ty of relettiue; the contracts under circumstances disadvantagelms and
onerous in the extreme. Still the Board of Trustees and the Faculty were not dis-
managed.

Our embarrass}nents were. happily known only to ourselves. and the Trustees he—
lieved that an economic management of their resources would enalde them to come, out
all right. Thedepartments were well tilled; the attendance had more than trehled in
comparison with that of the last years of our connection with Kentucky I'niversity.
Every point was strained to provide machinery for the Mechanical Department,
chemical and philosophical apparatus, and to lay the foundations of museums and
to provide such other material appliances as were indispensalile to make instruction
etl'ective.

Meanwhile a storm was brewing of which we had little dreamed. In October.
1891. it became known that the synod of Kentucky, controlling (.‘entre College, had
taken measures adverse to the State aid given hy the Commonwealth to the. State
College. Later on it was, surmised that the authorities of ("entral Yniversity were
disposed to make common cause with Centre College, and later still. ominous indiea-
tions came from another college in a neighhoring county and town.

It was expected that the new College. building‘s would he Completed and ready
for occupancy late in the autumn. The Legislature was to convene on the 28111
of November. Hon. Henry VVatterson, of the Courier-Journal, had been invited to
deliver the. address upon the dedication of the College, and the intention was to invite
the Legislature to be present. The correspondence with Mr. \Vatterson made it
doubtful whether, on account of his business engagements, he could accept the invita-
tion, and on the 17th of November, I went to Louisville to confer with him in person.

 

      
  
  
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
   
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
  

4 COMMENCEMENT DAY ADDRESS.

()n the morning of the .18th, while in Louisville, I read in the columns of the Courier—
Jou1na1 a manifesto issued by the denominational collep'es of Kentucky, six in num-
ber. assailimr the pill‘K 1ple of State aid to the State Colleoe, and callingr upon the peo-
ple of the Conunonw ealth to insist on the repe1 111 of the t-11\ levied fo1 its benefit. It Is
not my purpose to discuss this pape1. I concluded that I could not do better than to
remain in Louisville one (1113' 10111101 and to answer in the 110\t issue of the Courier—
Journal the appeal of the presidents of Colleges and presidents of boards of t1 ustecs
whose names were appended to the document. The argunn-nts in favor of repeal
appeared on the 18th. ()11 the 19th the plea for the maintenance of the State College
likewise appeared. The Senators 11nd Representatives, who were expected to receive
and digest the appeal of the colleng against aid to the State. College in the brief
interval between its reception at their 'l1o1nes and their departure for the seat of gov-
ernment, had only one (lay less in which to consider the plea of the State College for
the continuance of State aid.

()11 the assemblinw of the Legislature, it soon became mamfest that the State Col-
lege question would be one of the questions of the session.

Sho1tl3 after the Legislature assembled, a bill was introduced to 1epe11l the ta\
levied for the benefit of the College. E11r'l3 in January the subject 1111s brought bc-
f'01e a 10111111ittee of the House in an (-111bo1'ate argument by Dr lle11tt3gof Centre Col-
lefre, to which unrulncnt 111pl3' 1111s 111ad1 by the President of the Coll1 1:11 11 i011 d113s
later. In 11dd1tion to the question of c\pcdienc3 and justice of State aid to an
Institution owned and controlled b3 the 01,11111110111ve11lt1l1. the question of the constitu-
tionality of the tax was raised and argued before the committee by 1111 ex-Chicf-Justice,
one of the ablest lawyers at the bar. Reply was made by counsel. For weeks and
months the assault and 11m use “cut on with 1111fl111‘gin1"energ3. WVhen finally the
matter came before the House for action, the motion fo1 iepeal was laid on the table
by a handsome 11111jorit3', and thus the famous legislative contest of 1881-2 ended.
After the adjournment, however, suit was brought in the Chancellor’s Court in
Louisville to test the constitutimmlity of the act. Simultaneously a test case was
made in the Circuit Court of )[agoflin county. The decision of the Chancellor’s
Court and of the Magofiin Circuit Court both affirmed the constitutionality of the,
tax. Appeal was taken, and the case, argued before the Supreme Court in the
Spring of 1883. But no decision has yet been reached by the Court of Appeals.

The cause of the College, the cause of superior education for the industrial
classes, has thus far triumphed all along the line. Three successive Legislatures have
refused to disturb the settlement of 1879—80.

Let us now look at the relative status of the College in 1882 at the conclusion of
the great legislative contest and to-day. Had the assailants known our financial embar-
rassment, it would materially have compromised our prospects and weighted us in the
struggle. On the completion and equipment of our buildings we found ourselves
$36,000 in debt. Nearly half of this amount was due to the professors of the College,
whose salaries remained for that year unpaid. 87,000 were borrowed from the North-

ern Bank on personal security to meet the most pressing obligations and notes exc-

     

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

COMMEI'C EMEN’J‘ DAY ADDR E35. 5

outed for the balance. So stood the case at the close 01' the fiscal year 1881—2. How
stands the am to-day 1’ Every cent of the obligations of t e College. principal and
interest, has been paid. Thousands of dollars have meanwhile been expended in addi-
tion for labo 'atory equipments for mierosmpes, speetroseopes, polariseopes and other
material. Three well equipped laboratories for gene‘al chemistry. organic chemistry
and agricultu 'al chemistry, and for the experimental station, have been provided.
\Vithin the last year the Normal School has been strengthened by doubling the ef-
fective work of‘ the departlnent proper. Within the last year, too. the most import—
ant step which has-ever been taken towards realizing" the idea of agricultural training
and experiment was taken by the Executive Committee, viz, the establishment of an
experiment station for work exclusively experimental. {Hider the charge of a com-
petent director its bulletins have already attracted attention from widely difi‘erent
quarters and have taken rank among the best publications of the kind in the country.
Under the auspices of the director a measure requiring all fertilizers used in the Com-
monwealth to be analyzed at this station, and by the otiieers of this ltullege, with safe-
guards for the protection of the farmer, was passed by the Legislature. Every pack-
age sold henceforth in Kentue y will bear the imprimufur of the College and bring
the fact of its existence and its work home to every purchaser in the State. More-
over, the etl'eetive work of the Preparatory Department an indispensable feature of
the Institution, has been largely Increased since 1882.

“70 have no controversy with the denominational colleges of the land \Ve hid
them God—speml in their work. There is room for them and for us. We believe that
the net result of the contest has done them good as well as us. It has stimulated
them to provide for the necessities of the youth of Kentue y by the ell‘ort to in—
crease their endowments, to lengthen their cords and to strengthen their stakes. Un—
der a mistaken apprehension of injurious ("()Ill])",titinn resulting from the free scholar—
ship, cheap tuition and enlarged facilities provided by the State College, they assailed
the justice. the expediency and the eonstituthnullity of State aid to a State Institution.
These fears were groundless. Their patronage instead of diminishing has grown, and
they, as we. are more prosperous now than they were four years ago.

Twenty-one years is the limit of minority. The State College has attained its
majority. It stands erect to-day, having~ Iassed through a struggle for existence the
severity of which no one knows so well as he who now addresses you. There have
been periods when for weeks at a time I did not know the satisfaction of a sound
night’s sleep, undisturbed by the difficulties and dangers which beset the State
College. That period is past. The State College has survived all and is here to stay.
Its Trustees never despaired. Its Faculty bore privation, and borrowed money to
supply the want of unpaid salaries. “Te have. survived our perils, paid our debts. en-
larged our sphere of educational activity. This is the net result of twenty-one years.
and with pleasure and pride I present you this balance sheet to-day. We 'are, so far
as we know, in peace and charity with all. This much we know, we are not volun-
tarily, and never intend to be. a disturbing element in the educational interests of
Kentucky. Our mission is. to extend the boundaries of human knowledge by instruc-

   

mmw-mn.w: mm‘ufi-Huu‘“ -

       

(i COMMENCEMENT DAY ADDRESS.

tion and experiment, to aid the youth of the ,‘1n‘nmonwealth. especially the hardy, the
industrious, the energetic. whose means will not provid ‘ an education elsewhere, with
an education equal to the best that can be gotten within the. limits of Kentucky or out
of it. The State College has made a good beginning in this direction. It. will, while
not excluding classical instruction, address itself mainly to those branches of learning
which aie most nearly related to industrial enterprise. \Vhile not neglecting those
sciences which relate principally to the cultivation of the mental faculties. it will ad—
dress itself mainly to the work of instruction and discovery in those departments
which concern themselves with Nature and natural proeesss with the physical sei-

ences. with the laws of matter, with the laws of or 1ixation, animal and vegetable.

 

It will, moreover, endeavor to prepare its students, by means of a sound disciplinary
training in civil history and in moral and political philosophy, for entering upon the
privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in this mighty nation.

I can not allow this occasion to pass without saying a few words suggested by the
circumstances in which we find ourselves to-day. In one. form orothcr, questionscon-
nected directly or indirectly with education meet. us on every hand. They meet 11s in
the newspaper7 on the platform, in the Legislature, and in the halls of Congress.
They are discussed in the pulpit. in the class—room, by the fireside, and by the \‘ayside.

The well-being of the present and the security of the future depends upon the
views which we entertain respecting them. There never was a time in the history of
the world when more depended upon the intellect. and the morality of men. The ag-
gregate of material wealth. with all the potent influences associated therewith, has
grown within the present century out of all proportion to any increase which ever
preeaded it. The diffusion of knowledge, which is by no 1110a11s convertible with edu-
cation, has created hopes and stimulated desires such as never existed before. Ques—
tions haVe arisen and problems have presented themselves which were never dreamed
of centuries ago, except in the (tell of the reclusr; or the study of the philosopher,
and then in relations and under conditions which differ widely from the environment
of to—day.

The growth of free institutions, the l1]:lli("ll{li)l(‘ birthright of the English-speaking
stock, has changed the whole structure of modern society. More than six centuries
have elapsed since Magna Charm was extorted from King John, the “ablest and most
worthless of the Angevin Kings.” That piece of barbarous Latin with its rude signa-
tures of~illiterate barons has done more for the divine plant of human liberty than all
the classics of antiquity. To it England owes herllouse of Commons, America her
Declaration of Independence and her Constitution, and the States of modern Europe
their dearly bought and highly prized systems of parliamentary government. To the
same parentage belongs the derivative freedom of the Dominion of Canada. and the
other great dependencies which form the most iiiagniiicent colonial empire which the
world has ever seen, aleh one in various stages of development, containing the germ
and the potency of an independent nationality whose influence will profoundly afi'eet
the civilization of the future.

One hundred years ago the English tongue was spoken by 12,000,000 of people.

 

    
 
   
 
 
 
 
    
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
    
  
  
    
 
 
   
     

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COMMl‘lVUICMENT DAY ADDRESS. 7

Now it is the language of 100.0001)th and they the nohlest, the freest and the
mightiest peoples in the world. Among other nations and other races, free institu-
tions may still he said to he on trial with hy no means any thing; like certainty what

the issue will he. lint among" the linglish—sl'ieaking stock on the other side of the

 
 

Atlantic and on this, and in the far—otl' hut thrifty and \‘i_’t|1‘()us and amhitious volur;r
States of the South Pitt‘liit‘, well-grounded hopes exist that the roots of a genuine,
healthy freedom have struck so deep. and the plant has attained, under ciremnstances

of great trial‘ such healthy, vigorous growtlnthat the question of the capahility ot'

 

man for self—governmeut now. under proper conditions, no longer a prohlem but a
certainty. I have said -‘ under proper conditions." and I use this language advisedly.
Nopeople can long; he free unless on these etaIditioiis—inic/(igem-e and more/Hys—
that is, they must know their rights, and they must, in their action, he guided hy
a sense of duty. There are fanatics, whose zeal outrtms their intellihenee. There
are hypocrites, who simulate a sense of duty in order that they may trade upon
the ercdulity and patriotism of their fellow men. “dice these in any consider-
ahle numhers are invested with the privileges of the franchise. they endanger the
existcm-e of the fahrie of seeiety and of the nation. \Vhen thes_e constitute a ma—

jority of those who are invested with the privileges of the franchise. they make self

government impossihle.

New, I helieve the l‘luglish-spt-ak‘iug stock to he capahle of self government.
\Vhy'? They have heeu addressing themselves to the solution of this prohlem for
seven hundred years. During the age of llenry and Frederick Barharossa, while the
i‘hnperor of (Germany was on his way to Calmssa to place his crown in the hands of
the {oman Poutitl', the harons of England were extortin