Though these three great statesmen failed of complete success, their
noble and self-sacrificing example must surely inspire others.
Meanwhile, "in the sunset of life which gave mystical lore," they have
said figuratively to the American people as did Roman gladiators in
another arena, "Caesar, we who are about to die salute you."
Many high school graduates have no better conception of the meaning
of Jefferson's "Declaration of Independence" and the "Constitution"
of Washington and Franklin than of the book of Mormon. They do not
realize what our liberties cost, and how easy it is to lose or, once
lost, how difficult it is to recover them.
On March 5, 1810, Mr. Jefferson wrote to his friend Governor Langdon
of Virginia:
"While in Europe, I often amused myself with contemplating the
characters of the then reigning sovereigns of Europe. Louis the
XVI was a fool, of my own knowledge, and despite of the answers
made for him at his trial. The King of Spain was a fool; and
of Naples, the same. They passed their lives in hunting, and
dispatched two couriers a week one thousand miles to let each
know what game they had killed the preceding days. The King
of Sardinia was a fool. All these were Bourbons. The Queen of
Portugal, a Braganza, was an idiot by nature; and so was the
King of Denmark. Their sons, as regents, exercised the powers
of government. The King of Prussia, successor to Frederick the
Great, was a mere hog in body as well as in mind. Gustavus of
Sweden, and Joseph of Austria, were really crazy; and George of
England, you know, was in a straight-waistcoat. There remained,
then, none but old Catherine, who had been too lately picked up
to have lost her common sense. In this state Bonaparte found
Europe; and it was this state of its rulers which lost it with
scarce a struggle. These animals had become without mind and
powerless; and so will every hereditary monarch be after a few
generations. Alexander, the grandson of Catherine, is as yet an
exception. He is able to hold his own. But he is only of the
third generation. His race is not yet worn out. And so endeth
the book of Kings, from all of whom the Lord deliver us, and
have you, my friend, and all such good men and true, in his holy
keeping."