Senator Hoar On Thomas Jefferson

SENATOR HOAR ON THOMAS JEFFERSON.

At a supper in Washington, Monday evening, Senator Hoar, ex-Poastmaster General Charles Emory Smith, and William J. Bryan were guests of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial association and made speeches. It seems odd to think of these prominent republicans joining with democrats in lauding the memory and achievements of the patron saint of democracy. But nothing indicates more clearly than this how much more than a democratic politician Thomas Jefferson was. That he was a great constructive statesman is generally recognized. Senator Hoar paid him high tribute in the following terms:

"If we want a sure proof of Thomas Jefferson's greatness it will be found in the fact that men of every variety of political opinion, however far asunder, find confirmation of their doctrine in him. Every party in this country today reckons Jefferson as its patron saint. 

"More than any other statesman down to his time- more than any other statesman I can think of, save Lincoln alone- he had a steadfast and abiding faith in justice, righteousness and liberty as the prevailing and abiding forces in the conduct of states, and that justice and righteousness were sure to prevail where any people bear rule in perfect liberty. For this doctrine he was ready to encounter unpopularity, poverty, if need be, imprisonment and exile. Upon it, as on a cornerstone, he laid the foundation of the republic."

Charles Emory Smith paid an equally high tribute to the statesmanship of Jefferson. He said among other things that "The purchase of the Louisiana territory was by common consent the supreme act of Thomas Jefferson's administration as president. There are three master facts upon which his enduring fame chiefly rests. First, he was the author of the declaration of independence; second, he was the founder and leader of a party and school of political thought which, under various names, has divided the nation from its beginning to the present time; third, he made the Louisiana purchase. 

"In its historical importance this act ranks with the half-dozen most momentous and epochal events in our national annals- with the declaration of independence, the adoption of the constitution, the molding of national power through constitutional construction be Chief Justice Marshall, the abolition of slavery, the overthrow of secession with the permanent triumph of an indissoluble union, and the Spanish war, with its far-reaching consequences. It was the first and most important enlargement of the republic, and the manifesto of its continued expansion with the advance of the world."

Wm. J. Bryan spoke of what Jefferson did for freedom of speech and religion as follows:

"To Jefferson the doctrine of free speech and freedom of opinion applied to everything because he rightly understood that no censorship of opinion would be permitted that would not be more dangerous to truth than to error, for those who are conscious of the righteousness of their cause are not so apt to invoke force in defense of their opinions as those who are conscious of error and who, recognizing their inability to defend their views by reason, fall back upon coercion."