The Illinois free trader. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1840-1841, 1840-07-24

a nation descended neither from the noble |
nor the peasant, but from those intermc-
diate classes who are more free, bold,
and adventurous than either, should pos
sess every inherent quality, calculated to
give to liberty its utmost possible duration.
There may be, too, in the nature of the
country we inhabit, so wild, so bold and
picturesque, in its conformation $50 I'M
accustomed to the dominion of man,
more than an emblem, nicely,
of the condition of her sons. | cannot
pursuade myself, but that the dweller up
on cultivated plain, bearing in its habi-
tations and its fixtures, the evidence of
the same long continued sway; who sees
from his youth to his grey hairs the same
unchanged dominion exercised over the
vast fields, over every thing around him,
will yield more readily to the fixed condi-
ton of things under which he was born,
than he whose impulses are kept in con-
tinual play, by the traces of Improvement
and innovation which every where sur
round him.
From all these considerations, then, but
most especially from the general diffusion
of knowledge among the mass Of the peo-
pie with whom the whole power of the
government by the republican principle
resides, land when knowledge IS, power,
by its own natural laws must tend to re-
MAN, | think that we may Justly believe
that the institutions of our country will
attain the utmost duration of which by the
laws of their nature they are susceptible.
And if we pause to reflect on the millions
whose fate it will hereafter influence: on
the vast territory over which the stars and
stripes of our country shall hereafter be
an emblem of liberty or of oppression
we shall perceive that if we would notbe
unworthy of our fathers it will need our
utmost vigilance to transmit TO times to
come, what they sacrificed so much to
transmit to us.
Permit me to make one further allusion
to what patriots have been accustomed to
look upon as peculiarly inimical to the
pcrpetuity of freedom, and to dwell for
one moment upon our own condition in
reference to it, and have done. mean
party spirit We cannot more appropri-
ately take leave of this occasion, than by
recalling to our recollection the parting
counsel of the father of his country, when
about to relinquish its patcrnal government
into other hands.
"There is an opinion that parties in
" free countries are useful checks up
&" on the administration of government, and
serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty.
This, within certain limits is probably
g true and in governments of monar-
" chical cast, patriotism may look with
"indulgence if not with favor upon the
esprit of party. But, in those of a
popular character, in governments pure
ely elective, 1t is spirit not to be en-
couraged. From lis natural tendency
at is certain there will always be enough
"of that spirit for every saluary purpose;
"and there being constant danger of eX-
" cess, the effort ought to be, by force OF
"public opinion to mitigate and assuage
&" it; a fire not to be quenched, it de-
mands an uniform vigilance to prevent
" it bursting into flame: lest, instead OF
warming, it should consume"
Such is the doctrine am proud to say
| most soleInnly believe we have not de.
parted from its lnjunctions. The feelings
and the circumstances under which VIC
have met here this day, conveys the mos
iorcible conviction that its counsels art
deeply remembered When we rc1cc
that we are in the midst, and on the eve
of the termination of a most prolonged
and active contest for the administration
OF our country that in it, principles O
the deepest importance are inyoved-tha
upon 1t, Our feelings, perhaps our prejud
ccs; have been deeply excited: and tina
now, IN tie very midst of all the passion:
these circumstances must create, we lay
aside, for the day, the very recollection
that they even ever existed, to sacrifice
our common offerings upon the altar o
patriotism, ] cannot but feel, that WI
have kept with no unworthy fidelity The
trust our fathers reposed in our hands
and that we shall this day depart to on
homes with less intense feeling that VIZ
are partlzans, and a deeper recollection
that we are brothers of common coun
try, and more united sentiment of prid,
and qualification at its prosperity ant
greatness.