FOURTH OF JULY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 3, 3 July 1943, Page 4

FOURTH OF JULY

THE DAY AND THE DEED

DEMOCRACY IN INFANCY

(By G. 0.)

"'A long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism. . . . He has refused assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. . . . He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount of payment of their salaries. . . . He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass the people and eat out their substance. . . . He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." No; these are not some of the charges made by Czech or Pole against Hitler, but by reputable British subjects against their King, asserting their rights (going back to 1215 A.D.) to protest against oppression. This they did one hundred and sixtyseven years, ago tomorrow. They went further, declaring, "We therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World fOT the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the

Name of the authority of the good People of these Colonies solemnly pub« lish and declare That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and that all political connection between them and the State ofLGreat Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.?' And it was so—as from July 4, 1776, public proclamation of the severance being made at high noon, four days later. «• ■» » All this and more also about the Fourth of July is borne on the mind and laid to heart by the respectful British pilgrim to that Shrine of Liberty, the "State House," now Independence Hall, in the city of Philadelphia. It is a venerable Georgian building, standing out in its own- parklike Square, which is adorned with ladylike trees. Overshadowing the Hall are great business buildings, their very modernity and height serving to emphasise its dignity and those adjacent of its period. This Hall is exceedingly rich in memories of persons no less conspicuous in the history of the British than that of the American peoples. Here, in this Declaration Chamber, was General George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in 1775; here Thomas Jefferson, with Benjamin Franklin and three others, were present when they were authorised to prepare the Declaration, and did prepare it; here came Lafayette to be officially received; and here in state lay, the body of Abraham Lincoln. Everything that can be done to keep it neat and as it was in July, 1776, is done by those in charge of it. After all, they are acting as trustees not only for American citizens but also for British subjects, for Independence Hall is the common historical heritage of both. «• *» « The citizen from Kalamazoo, Michigan, or Peora, Illinois, and any British person may read here the facsimile of the Declaration of Independence and mark well its significance. The original document is in Washington, but it was signed in this very place, late on a July afternoon. Here too may be conjured up the dramatic scene then enacted, for all the "properties" are at hand lor the purpose—the very chairs, the desks, the tables, the massive silver inkstand . into which feathered pens were dipped to sign the deed by which political. ties between America and England were severed for all time. Here, in the late afternoon 'on July 4, 1776, sat the President, John Hancock, and at his right hand his secretary, and some 56 delegates from all the States before him. On that very table the Declaration was laid for signature, and it was signed. Its engrossing is a masterpiece of penmanship. To those who say they can and believe they can read a man's character in his signature this document offers a fascinating choice of examples of men. The lives of the signatories, however, are well known "and so can be tallied with their signs manual. There is the signature of "John Hancock"; no mistake about that, with its glorious flourish following the final "k," a gem in calligraphy. By contrast are the neat and unpretentious "Thos. Stone" and the rather shaky "Step. Hopkins." "Benj. Franklin" is noteworthy for its elaborate curly finish. But by comparison with the cryptic signatures to many business letters of today (arid not always by writers of importance) the signatures to the Declaration of Independence were patterns of legibility. The men wrote as plainly as they spoke. «■ ■» * Fireworks and feasting in other times than these marked the Fourth of July for juvenile America. What is being done in the States today by way of celebration remains to be told. In other times, too, the day was remembered by callers of British nationality on American Consuls the world over, the exchange- of courtesies and good wishes, to the accompaniment of tinkling of little bits of ice in glasses of delectable drinks, with flowers and ferns and palms in tubs, and a going and a coming, and paying of compliments, and pleasant little speeches made. Thus it used to be—"and of Right ought to be" —that the anniversary of the break between America and Britain was. honoured by American and Briton alike. That it may ever be observed in the spirit of sincere friendship and mutual respect and in the common interest of them both, surely, is the heartfelt wish of their respective peoples. They now stand shoulder to shoulder defending, to the death, the self-evident truth that "all men were created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among' them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."