St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

Page 9 text:

jf - ' 'Sf V .g P H' 5 ' ' 3250 ' . gill. I N , in : I l fr, X . ' 3 , j E L'- ,I T J -- K. ' . . .25 1. 2 , , ,p-rm.,,.. 1 Ye. i N: - .5 6 Tj. ,L ij' 'Y n' v rv 2 N cg, 'ji ss' S N, . C- ST. JOHN'S COLLEGIAN. 210 Our federal government has been, sorry to say, resisted by states claim- ing state sovereignty. But is not the federal government able to cope with such events? Yet, it is a tried. and proved fact. What was our late civil war but a clamor for state sover- eignty ? What was the cause of their rebellion but some measure in the constitution, repugnant to their sense of state rights? c Again, what was the remedy but the final return of the states into the Union and their approval and adoption of the consti- tution in its integrity ? Yes, we may Ermly, unconscientiou sly and undeni- ably say that our federal government, with its written constitution, is all powerful, never to belaid aside with impunity so long, ass this great re- public exists. , I Our republic stands as an object of admiration to other nations of the globe. England, our former oppres- sor and persecutor, in the seclusion and isolation of her island home, looks with pride on her daughter of the west, France, our ally in time of distress, has experienced the whole- some intluences of a republican form of government, and has followed the precedent set by our favored com- mon weal th. The empires and monar- chies of the east, whose forms of government transmitted from genera- tion to generation and strengthened by the nonsensical superstition of ages, may well indeed bow their heads in humble adoration to the glourious republic of the west. Greece the land of poets and phil- osophers, by the daring and bravery of her loyal sons, rose to an eminent position in the history of nations. But Greece rose to fall. She, intoxi- cated by her own success and glorying in her own power, essayed impossible undertakings, until Home seizepl ?T.n-1 upon her vitals and ROlllG7S sive rule destroyed every vestige of her former greatness. Home the 'tqueen of cities and arbiter of her age, proud in her maj es- tic beauty and insolent in her trans- cendent power, ,rose to fall. Her le- gions planted her standards in the most distant climes and snatched victory after victory from the very jaws of her enemies, until the eastern hordes swept down on her like an avalanche and corruption sapped away the essence of life. Shall it be so with our grand stable and untaint- ed republic? May heaven forbid! Grave problems confront us at the present time, problems w.hose solution remains the duty of the present gen- eration-problems of finance, of taxes of conflicts between capital' and labor A--such are the questions demanding immediate solution, an almost super- human taslr for one generation to ef- fectuate, Yet, they must, be solved. Upon their right and just solution dependsthe destiny of our boasted nation. How shallthey be solved? How, indeed, was our republican form of government established and and made to be a bulwark against the attacks and ravages of Time? How have we attained Hnally to such a plane of development and progress?

Page 8 text:

TH E PHILOMATH EAN SOCIETY

Page 10 text:

211 ST. JOI-IN'S COLLEGIAN., y . Justin such a manner and by j'uSt such a rare combination of tact .and skill, with one valuable exception, that of the experience of ages, shall our present questions he deciphered. By rending the veil of Time and piercing, the gloom of the future, what do we behold? Are we, the de- scendants of those noble fonndersof our republic to fail in our duty, hum- ble though it may be, to their sacred seas -'Are we to slacken the reins of government and let the ship of State sail on in a reckless course, until sure and certain of it will be, she' shall strike .upon one of the num- berless rocks of demagoguerv and-an overwlielininge destruction seal her eternal fate? It is for us to deter? niine our destiny, how it shall be? It remains for us to say whether as a nation we shall stand or as a sem- blance of a nation we shall ignomi- niously fall. l 5 4.5.43 l , 'ruin msn or run ennnan' rnirinn. M At the time of the French revolu- tion, Gerinany occupied large ten of territory in central Europe. It was divided into some three hundred states, whieli,'witli two or three ex- ceptions,were small and insignilieant, each having its own petty army and its own ruler whose power was abso- lute. lt is true 'there existed' a shadow of a union biniiing the states together, but it Q was an empire in name only. At the hands of Napoleon, Ger- many suffered deeply. The number 1 .. 3. L gb' of states 'was decreased to most of which were united nndergtlie Rhine Confederation, and ruled bya relation -of the conqueror, Prussia fared but .little better. However, she was left intact, as he believed that a great neutral power in central Enropewould afford France the best protection against an -invasion Russia. In the first coalition formed against the Emperor, Prussia acted iuga hesitating and undecided man- ner, and at last decided to remain neutral. . But the indignities to which Napoleon subjected her soon drove her to War. Alas! She had taken up arms' too late, for, she now was compelled to fight alone, as the armies of the coalition were irre- trievabl y scattered on the memorable lieldrof Austerlitz., 'At Jena and Auerstadt her armies miserably com- manded, were surprised by the French and hopelessly defeated. So utterly broken was her strength that for seven years she occupied no' higher position than that of a subjugated and tributary country. By the close of the Napoleonic wars many of the smaller states lying along the Rhine had virtually become a part' of France. l ' The allied solvereigns comprising the Congress of Vienna, failed to realize the great influence that the Emperor had upon the people, they did not feel that he had given to the human mind an impulse it could never lose, that absolute despotism was doomed to swift decay. They ignored the changes that were