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Show "Arc, and of Right Ought To Be." Trofcssor William A. Dunning: of Columbia University, Xew York, at the meeting or th- American Ameri-can Historical association at its meeting- in Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, December, 1002, in the discussion of th' paper by Professor James Sullivan of the Ifi?!i School of Commerce, Xew York, on "Tho Antecedents Antece-dents of the Declaration of Independence," said j that the words of ;Arc and of Plight Ought to be'' f free and Independent States had "a pleasing: fullness full-ness and finish" and were a "rythmic collocation of plain, strong Saxon words." He thought "the man who coined it should havo the credit of his work." He thus traced it : To Jefferson in the Declaration; Declara-tion; to Richard Henry Lee in the resolution offered in congress on June 7th, 1775; to Dean Swift in the Drapier's Letters; to the English parliament's bill of rights of 16S!; to the house of commons iu the reign of James I in 1621; to Whitgift's articles touching preachers in loS:. Jr Then he continued: . "One would like at least . to find consolation in the thought that it has a. peculiar fitness for the English race, amid which it originated; that its clean out and massive term j reflect- something of that strong political genius ; which wc have been taught has come straight down from the. forests of ancient Germany through tho God-favored, even if not historically indeterminate; Anglo-Saxon." But before we lay that nattering unction to our souls .we must read again the account of that notable drama of A.D. Io00 in which the loading ( parts were played by Tope Boniface VIII and Philip the Fair of France, neither of whom boasted a drop of English or Anglo-Saxon blood in their veins. The French king claimed to be independent of all human authority. Boniface replying with j his characteristic force and directness, said: "Let not the French say in their pride that thcy have no superior. They lie. Quia de jure suut rt esse dobent sub rcge Romano et Iraperatore." (For of right they are and ought to be subject to tho Roman king and the emperor.) (Report-Am. His. Asso. 1902, Vol. l,p. S4.) It would seem then that the phrase has a history his-tory ante-datiug modem times and running wholly clear of English traditions. Martin I. J. Griffin ia American-Catholic Historical Researches. - . k |
