Image provided by: Silverton Country Historical Society; Silverton, OR
About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1900)
T H E TO R C H O F REASON, SIL V E R T O N , O REG O N , F E B R U A R Y 8, 1900- We can add to th eir voice in th e s e ' The above an d sim ilar expres eyes;— All, all conjure us to act has been printed by the I ruth fundam ental docum ents a few con- sions of P aine, culminating “ I8 wisely aud faithfully in the rela Seeker, of New York. I would like tions which we sustain to them .” firm ations and even these con- expression in the Seventh Crisis, Following these glorious voices to take for granted th a t it ha» been ' “ The Religion of H u m an ity • ,” were d e n s e d :— se u ;— - « , or wHl be, read by you, for it is T hom as P aine asks: “ W h at is the real foundation of our Repub of the “ S pirits” and the “ M asters” in qu ite necessary to enable you to l i k R epublic?" and replies: lie and of all m odern R epubl.can- the past, and their hopes for the u n d erstan d well th e reasons why “ T he best form of governm ent for ism. Change th e word ‘M onarchy futur«*, we went through a bloody the b irth d ay of Paine should be • !• , and — X-KI« R »ro hit! to w Im perialism you have his civil— a fratricid al war; we buried conductiug the ‘res-publica’, or the made the Republican Festival of the verdict upon the issue of our day. our very souls in debt and obliga- puhlic business of a nation, after it U nited States and of the world — J efferson reaffirms the P ream ble lions th a t we have not yet, after becomes too extensivo and populous UrVUUJCD vvjvr vä .. - ------ r . .... Â i provided alw ays,that we are to have for the simple, dem ocratic form.” to the D eclaration. W h a t a volum e. more th an a qu arter of a century, JUI I I I “ r i l l i p i V j -w * the R epublican as our form and been able to really lessen; and The Federal Republic, he shows at could be collected from his works now we are met a t the close of the model of governm ent. length, is its n atu ral form, in which sustaining it, and closing with th e F inding ourselves thus free for century w ith the avowal th a t all of ever m em orable words: the people sustain the im perishable th is evening to grapple with the “ E te rn a l vigilance is th e p n c e o f lib e rty .” th is blood, toil, debt aud sacrifice S tates and their divisions for their question of the nature and continu has been a foolish experim ent to W ashington , though conserva dom estic affairs, and the in d estru ct ance of the Republic, let us pause determ ine “ W h at is all this w orth?” tive and constructive in a d m in istra ible Nation for the general, com and realize where we are by listening And are we to answer, as far as tion, like Jefferson, was as stu rd y mon, internal and international to the voices of those who have made our R epublic is concerned, nothing ! a R epublican. He says: purposes. H e shows th a t, i t possible for us to be w hat andw bere “ The preservation of the sacred T h at our g reat R evolution was in IN A R E P U B L IC , we are. Yes, let us for a few m om ents fire of L iberty, aud the perpetua fact, and in the long run, a mis (1) Men are born, and alw ays tu rn back to the past and hearken take; th a t our governm ent is not tion of the R epublican model of continue, free and equal in respect to its adm onitions as though from governm ent, were considered by its only to sym pathize w ith the British th e “opened heavens.” 'A ould not its of th eir rights. arm ies in serving others as they founders as finally staked on the (2) G overnm ent is instituted to voice be like th a t which came to th e experim ent in tru sted to the hands did us; hut th a t we are to im itate re treatin g S ain t of old: Quo preserve these rights, viz.: Liberty, their exam ple, and rival and, if pos of the American people.” property, security and resistance to V ad is?”—“ W h ith er goest th o u ?” A gain, while W ashington, like sible, excel them in bearing the Do you rem em ber how those words oppression. Paine, did not approve of the un “ white m a n ’s b u rd en ,” of placing (3) All governm ent aud au th o r are said to have come to S aint I eter? upon them a colonial Em pire, in constitutional and anti-republican W hy,from ‘the heavens’when he was ity is derived only from the people parts of the F rench R evolution, he stead of the F ederal Republic which governed. about to leave the Rome of Nero to would sustain Dem ocratic home retained to the last his devotion to Again he says:— escape persecution unto death ? R epublicanism . In his reply of governm ents as the nurseries of “ I am the avowed, open, and in They came when he was about to the new brotherhood of M ankind. th a n k s to Paine for fifty copies of deny his Lord again, and adm on- i trepid enemy of w hat is called Now we are laughed at if we his “ R ights of M an,” W ashington, M onarchy; and I am such by p rin ished him th a t he m ust go back cherish the hope of Thom as Paine, to whom th a t work was dedicated, like a true soldier of the cross and ciples which nothing can either a l says, May 6, 1792, when he, too, was of W ashington, and of the “ F a th bear witness and suffer, for if not ter or corrupt — by my attachm ent very busy with a “ Congress on his ers,” th a t th e “ S tarry B anner is to to H um anity ; by the anxiety which th e cause of the great redem ption be the C onstellation of hum an would fail, and the Lord would 1 feel within myself for the dignity h an d s” :— “ I rejoice in the inform ation of rights,” and those rights the basis and the honor of the hum an race; have to return and be again cruci of the independence, liberty, growth fied, or the hum an race could never by the disgust which I experience your personal prosperity, an d as welfare and happiness of every no one can feel a greater interest in be saved. An old m yth, you m ay when I observe men directed by the happiness of m ankind th a n I people, as it was, and was ever to be well say. es, but our Q uo \ a dis ? children, aud governed by brutes; to us. W here are we? W hither are do, th a t it is the first wish of my and by those sentim ents which to us is a real, an awful challenge heart th a t the enlightened policy we drifting? If there is any pos of history and evolution. For if make me shudder a t the calam ities, sible doubt about it, the testing in th e Republic is the true polity and the exactions, the wars, and the of the present age m ay diffuse to quiry should begin at once in the all men those blessings to which salvation of m ankind, and we, aftei m assacres with which M onarchy head and h e a rt of every Am erican; being called to save it, allow it to has crushed m ankind; in short, it thev are en titled , and lay the for as to th is foundation of every foundation of happiness for future be sacrificed, again m ust the race is against all the hell of M onarchy thing, “ tru th can never be confirm generations. decline, and again m ust H um anity, th a t I have declared w ar.” W ashington had in sim ilar term s ed enough though doubt did ever And again:— “ the C hrist th a t is to be”, be sacri sleep.” “ It is no longer the p altry cause replied to P ain e’s letter sending ficed by ever longer revolutions and A nd of whom m ust we inquire? to him the key of the B astile, A ug wars before the E ra of Liberty, of kings, or of this or th a t in d iv id W hen the sailor is in doubt as to Peace and Progre.-s can retu rn to ual, th a t calls France and her arm ust 10, 1790. (C onw ay’s Life of his course of whom does he make ies into action. It is the great cause P aine, Vol. I., 300-303.) perm anently bless our race. W hy of S cience , of T here is no time, and there cer inquiry? The latter p art of the last century of A ll . I t is the establishm ent of tain ly should be no need to repeat course, the verified and classified m ade of our civilized nations a Gol a new E ra , th a t shall blot despot- knowledge of M athem atics, Astron gotha of sacrifice to achieve the cer is from the ea rth , aud fix ou last- : fu rth er the declarations of the gen om y and N avigation. H e would tain ty of a better era. W ere they ing principles of peace and citizen- elation which endorsed the D eclara be considered as not only “ unsafe,’ tion of Independence unanimously , m istaken? Shall we flee from the ship the great R epublic of M an .” b u t practically insaue if he should as the most im p o rtan t political and obligation and sacrifice of follow Aud again he says: “ Let it then be heard, and let hum an docum ent ever issued by fail to m ake this inquiry an d fol ing up their victories, or make com low its results. mon cause with their enemies, and m an learn to feel th a t the true Man. And now as to our S h ip of S tate , forget the thousands— nay, m illions greatness of a nation is founded! D aniel W ebster brought to a fo- the sam e du ty of tak in g the Scien who perished th a t a real D em ocrat on principles of H umanity . . . cus and tra n sm itte d to us the voice tific bearings of our course, and of ic Republic m ight become possible I defend the cause of the poor, of th a t generation and its century following them faithfully when and never again“ perish from off the of the m anufacturer, of the trades- when he sent to us this splendid taken, is the most binding aud sol face of the e a rth ”. When the rev m an, of the farm er, and of all invocation, adm ouition and en emn d u ty th a t rests upon the con olutions of the last century were thuse on whom the real burden tre a ty :— This lovely land, this glorious science of every citizen. W hat achieved the revolutionists were of taxes falls—hut above all I liberty, these benign institutions, these physical Sciences above th in k in g as much of th eir posterity defend the C ause of H umanity .” the dear purchase of our fathers, nam ed are to the ship a t sea, the as of themselves. How strange it Again P aine says: H istorical and Social Sciences, sum I speak an open and disinterest- are ours I Ours to enjoy, ours to would have seemed to them if they med up in the term S ociology , are could have fore-heard the u tteran c ed language dictated by no passion preserve, ours to transmit . Gener- to the Ship of State. T he evolution es of today? How different their but th a t of H u m an ity . Indepen- ations past an d generations to come of H istory reveals the steady course efforts would have been, could they dence is my happiness, and m ust hold us responsible for the sacred of Progress of which th a t Science i- I view tru st. O ur fathers from behind have known the little labor and tie th a t of* the people. sham e it would have been for us to things as they are, w ithout regard adm onish us w ith th eir anxious, the outcom e and exponent. L repudiate their Bills of R ights, the to place or person. My country is paternal voices, posterity calls out said th a t it differs from the physic Im m ortal D eclaration,and th e great a l Sciences, because its results are of the future, C onstitution,and its main and ever the world , to do good is my re - to us from the bosom .... • . 1! -!i— _ the world tu rn s h ith er its solicitous, not precise and certain as in them- avowed objects and purposes? LIGION« » n