Rome Free Academy - De O Wain Sta Yearbook (Rome, NY)

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20 THE SENIOR ANNUAL. before, England had passed laws restricting American trade by the Navigation Acts and otherwise, so as to compel the colonies to trade wholly with her. By forcing them to ship goods only in English vessels, she de- sired to coerce them into dealing with her alone, so British shippers and merchants would reap all the profits. Then the colonies had, during the French and Indian War, suffered great losses in They had their own troops and those were greatly su- perior to the British regulars. They had suffered untold misery by having their homes devasted by the savage tomahawk and torch, and to resist this they had risen in all the vigor of their youthful strength and by so money and men. maintained doing they had become acquainted with their own power. England although she had in this war lost many men and had spent a large sum of money, had humiliated her old enemy France as she had never been able to do before. She had not suffered the local misery and priva- tions owing to her remoteness from the seat of conflict. Yet she thought that the colo- nies should bear a part of her indebtedness and did not give them due credit for the glorious part they had taken in the war by donating men and money to the crown, or for their real value in a commercial sense to their mother country. This tax she desired to levy as she pleased without giving the colonies any voice in the matter. This raised the cry of, “no taxation without representation,”’ and still. later Pat- rick Henry’s sentiments of, “give me liberty or give me death.” The settlement of these colonies had much to do with the determined resistance which they showed the crown. New England was settled by Puritans, fleeing from Episcopalian oppression; New York by the sturdy, liberty- loving Hollanders tied in no way to Brit- ish rule; Pennsylvania by Quakers, a simple, peaceful, yet firm people; Maryland by Catholics, fleeing from unjust laws; Virginia greatly augmented in numbers by Cavaliers, exiled from England during the days of the commonwealth; Georgia by debtors, rescued from unjust imprisonment. ‘These elements, combined, had in the succeeding generations formed a homogeneous mass of liberty-loving people, peaceful, yet not to be trod upon, loyal, yet not blind. The Tory ministers of England apparently could not grasp the true situation. They seemed to think that the appearance of armed force would awe the colonists and force them into submission, thus effectually quelling all disturbances. But, no! the Americans were not thus to be silenced. Too long had they been left time to study the principles of civic right and wrong and to cherish a natural de- sire for liberty. They had conquered the savages, cleared the forests, and transformed what less than two centuries before was a howling wilderness into farms and gardens, villages and cities. The colonists had legislative bodies, com- posed mostly of popular representatives, which were perfectly competent to handle all legislation needed by the colonies. The light of after events plainly showed that it would have been a wise step for England to have recognized these bodies as legal, law making assemblies and granted them full sway in the exercise of their legislative functions. This she would not in most cases do, and conse- quently she alienated the more influential col- onists by this overt act of injustice, this enmity towards establishing those principles of popu- lar government for which she herself had suffered so much to attain. The actions taken by the government of England were not confirmed by all the peo- ple of the home government. Burke, Pitt and Fox with others opposed them as un- just; but the reins of power were in the hands of Tory chieftains, who delighted in meas- ures which tended to strengthen the power of the king, even at the expense of the people,

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL. “Cupid” Wallace and his mixture of dog and Germany in Miss Creeble’s room. This picture is taken from life. Ask Wallace how it happened. D. A. R. ORATION. The Shot Heard Round the W orld. Truly has it been said that it takes cen- turies for the growth of great constitutional principles, yet important constitutional chang- es are instilled in the minds of mankind by How plainly the happenings of the year seventeen hundred and thoughts, although we are removed four gen- erations from those who participated in its struggles. One hundred and thirty-one years the events of single days. seventy-five are registered in our have intervened since that little company of minute men stood upon the village green at Lexington, and, face to face with their op- pressors, inaugurated the great struggle which has brought about such beneficial results for all humanity. Let us go back of this and see for what reasons those men were gathered there. Let us study into the causes which brought on the conflict which followed, and forever de- cided that America should be the home of a free people and that a strong, arbitrary goy- ernment could not impose upon her seeming- ly weak colonies. Let us see what made the brave husbandmen so willing to lay down their lives before those British troops, when they knew that in that skirmish they must necessarily be beaten. It was because great principles were at stake that they so bravely stood their ground when ordered to lay down their arms. Years

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL. 2) and the acknowledgement of the king as the supreme head and great authority of the na- tion, so that it would be a crime even to question his actions. But the time had come when a tyrannical king was to be taught a lesson on the equality of man, and a - vacillating parliament the strong principles of democratic reform. Let us now come back to the Massachu- setts colony and the events which took place there. Boston had refused obedience to par- liamentary mandates and therefore Boston was to be punished. Her port was declared closed, no ship being allowed to go either in or out the harbor except on government busi- ness. General Gage was sent there with a body of men to awe the Bostonians into sub- mission. He did not understand the colonists and, because of their lack of military training, looked upon them as contemptible opponents. He forgot that they were actuated by patri- otic principles, which made them dangerous adversaries. The arrogance of the redcoats, as the British were called, soon led to ill-feeling be- This finally As this, of course, only tended to increase the self-confi- tween them and the townsmen. resulted in the Boston massacre. dence of the English soldiery, matters were constantly approaching a climax. Meantime the minute-men were training and gathering supplies in anticipation of an approaching conflict. Gage learned that numerous stores were gathered at Concord, and determined by sending out a destroying expedition to give the insolvent rebels a les- son. Accordingly he secretly planned an expedition, which was to march, as stealthily as possible, and destroy these stores, but the Americans were not idle and, though the moyement was started in the night, lights flashed forth signals and Paul Revere start- ed to awake the surrounding country. The British were compelled to march to the un- expected accompaniment -of ringing church- bells calling the minute men to arms. At last the Redcoats arrived at Lex- ington. A company of minute men were gathered on the village green. Pitcairn and Lay down your arms.”” cried, ““Disperse you But the little company stood their ground. Finally When the smoke arose, the bodies of seven Americans lay upon the ground. The first blood of the Revolution had been shed, the martyrs of that deathly struggle had laid rode forward rebels. the order to fire was given. first down their lives. The British troops pushed on to Con- stores, and But all around the From behind trees, fences and barns a galling fire was cord, destroyed some then turned toward Boston. people were flying to arms. poured upon the retreating English, which Had it not been for reinforcements they would never have reached Boston, from which they had so boastingly issued but a few hours before. threatened to exterminate them. The patriotism of the Americans was plainly shown on this, the nineteenth day of April, seventeen hundred seventy-five, and a struggle had commenced which has proven whole world. The shot echoed a benefit to the fired at Lexington echoed from mountain and plain, ocean and was and re- inland sea. Autocratic governments heard it and trembled. Liberty-loving, God-fearing it with delight and down through the years we see its results written people hailed in the heavens by the finger of man, and sealed by the finger of God. Countrymen, we today must listen to its echo, and keep out of our glorious country which have wrecked so many nations, so that we may those corrupting influences render a good account to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords of the trust with which those worthy martyrs intrusted us, and that those democratic principles of government, which were the final result of the struggle, inaugurated by that battle, may be forever established as the bulwark of all good gov- ernment and an everlasting monument to its instigators.