Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1845-06-21
What Is TO become of our Country .
by JUDGE STORY.

ls, now la II possible not to feel n profound sense
of the responsibilities of this republic to all fu.
ture ages! What vast motives press uron us
for lofty efforts-what brilliant prospects invite
our enhusasm-whats solemn warnings at once
demand our vigilance and moderate our conf
dence
The old world has already revealed to us, in
! its unsealed books, the beginning and the end
OF all marvellous struggles in the cnuse of H.
berty. Greece ! lovely Greece the land OF
scholars and the nurse of arms where sister
republics, in fair procession chanted the praise
! OF Iberty-where is she For two thonsand
years the oppressors have bound her to the
EARTH Her arts are no more. The last sad re-
| lies of her temples are but the barracks of
ruthless soldiery. The fragments of her CO.
lumns and palaces are in the dust vet beauti-
| tu in ruin. She fell not when the mighty were
upon her Her sons were united at Thermopv-
lp and Marathon, and the tide of triumph rol ed
back upon the Ilelespont. She fell by the
hands OF her own people. The man of Mace.
donla did not the work of destruction. 1t was
already done by her own corruptions Danish.
menis and dssensions
| Rome republican Rome whose eagles
! glanced in the rising sun--where and what is
! she The eternal city yet remains. proud g.
ven in her desolatons, noble in decline, yrn-
cradle in the majesty of religion. and calm as
! in the composure of death. The Malaria has
traversed the paths worn by the destroyers
More than eighteen centuries have mourned
over the loss OF the empire. a mortal disease
was upon her before Caesar had crossed the Ru.
bc"n, and Brutus did not restore her health by
the deep prcbings of the Senate chamber. The
Gohs and Nandals. and inuumerable swarms of
! the North. completed only what was begun, at
home. Romans betrayed Rome The eei.
ons were bought and sold, but the people paid
the tribute money.
And where are the republics OF modern times
that clustered around modern Italy Venice
and Genoa, exist but in name The Alps, in.
deed, look down upon he brave peaceful Swiss
in their native Businesses but the guaranty OF
their freedom is their weakness and not their
strength The mountains are not easily re-
aned. When the invader comes he moves
like an avalanche, carrying destruction n his
path. The peasantry sink before him. The
country too, is too poor for plumber and too
rough for valuable conquests. Nature presents
her eternal barrier on every side to check the
wantonncss OF ambition. And Switzerland re-
mains, with her simple institutions, military
road to climates, scarcely worth a permanen,
possession, and protected by the jealousy of her
ueiphbors.
We stand the latest, and if we fall, probably
the last example OF seltgoyernment by the
people. We have begun it under circumstances
OF the most auspicious nature. We are in the
yigor OF youth Our growth has never been
checked by the oppression of tyranny. Our
constitutions have never been enieebled, by the
vices or lnxuries ofthe world.
Such as we are we have been from the be-
ginning, simple, hardy, intelligent, accustomed
10 selt-governmen, and scli.rcspcct. The At
anic rolls between Us and formidable foe
Within our territory, stretching through many
degrees Of latitude, we have the choice OF ina
ny products and many means of independence
The government is mild. The press is free
knowledge reaches or may reach every home
What tairer prospects Of success coulG he pre-
san,ed What is more necessary than for the
people to preserve what they themselves have
created
Already has the age caught the spirit orour
institutions. 1t has assembled the Andes, and
snulcd the breeze of both oceans, it has intuse
itself in the lie-bood of Europe, ard warmed
the sunny plains of France, and the lowland'
ofiioIland, It has touched the philosophy OF
Germany and the North, and moving onward
toward the South, has opened to Greece the les
sons of her better days.
Can it be that America under such circu,n,
stances can betray herself? That she Is to bo
added TO the catalogue of republics the iuscrp
ton upon whose ruin is, They were, but they
are not !" Forbid it my countrymen Forbid
it Heaven
call upon you, FATHERS, by the shades O
your ancestors by the dear ashes which repose
in this precious soil, by all you hope to be, re
sst every attempt TO letter your conscience, ol
smother your public schools, or extinguish you
! system Of public instruction. | call upon you
MOTHERS, by that which never fails in woman
, the love of your offspring, teach them as ,he,
climb your knees to lean on your bosom. IN
blessings of liberty Swear them nj the a,tp
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