Litchfield enquirer., 1847-05-20


 conductor on n railroad, whose business i, is to go forward and diaw the train at> fer him; and if he neglect his duty, or go wreng in any way, 1t is no wonder II ihe train push forward and throw him of the track. (Much laughter and applause The most pressing purpose of the fra ueers of tho Constitution in this respect, was doubtless the regulation of commerce with foreign nations; but they cut the cloth broad enough and wide enough to embrace these subjects also. l do not ascribe to Washington, Madison anu their compa aiOns, the force of intellect to con- template all the contingencies which should arise in the country after them. They did not imagine that there would ] be tW 6 or three hundred steam vessels on | the lakes, or that the Great Mississippi from its mouth to it's source, would os ours, constituting a sort o: great "inland sea-" Laughter and applause. But their work provides for it all. The con- s,itu.icn they left justifes, and present circumstances require, the execution o1 that policy, which shall comprise the whole country as one country both as to ! internal and external commerce.. They do not mean that the powers of the gov- ernme nt should be determined by the taste of the water, whether fresh or salt, or bv the circumstances of the po>itiom of some paltry port of entry. In this braach the constitution is ample ana large enough { to accomplish these ends with the observ- ance of just economy. l kaow of no true economy but the just proportion of expenditure to object. Absolute saving is mere meanness In country of such extent as this, the ohjesGts Of government should be to give variety of labor, to bring ou. ths active energies of tne Pco' pie, and deyclope it's peculiar abundance.
 In Massachusetts we cultivate barren soil. My learned fir end here (Dr. Hitch- cock) knows the whole of Il. IL is hurd, sterile granite IL has no Virginia beds of coal, no substratum of iron, no salt springs. IL is without all these sources eff may so speak) of sub'srranean wealth. Nowhere arc these advantages more hounieously conferred than upon the inhabitants of Virginia. Within four teen miles of your city Gas my learned friend tells mel there is geological phe> nomenon, bed of coal thirty feet thick, resting on granite rock. Our New Eng land granite knows no such company Now it always appeared to me that labor and enterprise ncrded just, nat excessive pro:e ction, from thc government, in order to draw these sources of mineral wealth from the earth. I have, too. always been a man for cann1s and railroads to just extent. When Louis XIV. established his grandson on ,he throne of Spain, he said, "There are no longer Pyrcnees." But trust we may soon use the phrase in a more useful ard pro:cr sense, and that we shall proceed with our canals and rail roads until we ca5 say "There are no
 longer any Allcghanies.
 Under these general impressions of the constitution, believe that our ancestors set us an example of great things. We have had no battles of liberty 10 engage in (wha,cver other battles il may have kcen the policy of our rulers 10 under> take,) Laughter nor were wo horn to the work of making constitution. The maintenance of justice and right, 'ho ob- SC srvance of the precePts of law, religion and morality-ihese are the objects to which we have 10 look. Our gove nment is designed less for achievement than for perseverance in the maintenance of pub
 lie order, the public good, the conserva- l t'Oh Oi bHS H"oliS
 We may look with pride and exultation abroad, to see where this constitution has placed us n the eyes of the world. IL is not sgotistical to say, while we take no pre- emincnce, that through we may con- quer and Sn' jugate nowhere, this great republic is Inc observed tf all observers. We cannot say that it is our work or even the work of our great fnofallwrs. The great result has followed, because sentl- ments and principles, inherent in inc ppo> pie of the old thirteen States. fitted them to be free; sentiments and principles ac- quired by long practice under the coloni- al governments. We should not deny our ancestry. or rePudinte the principles of libe ,.ty we derived from them. We should rather bold to those principles as an in- heri,apo,. When I think of Hampden, and Sids"y, and Vanr, and Burke, and Chatham, I oiren imagine it would be gratsful.to the,n. ;f from Heaven above, they could lock dswE. ard see iher prin> cpics, from the infusion of liberty into the English constitution, th 2 sentiments of liberty. independence, and pt ~s"nal right, transmitted here. and inc pr" cl'ce and deep imbibing of those sentiment by inc COlOnISlS, wulCu HltCu tuCHl lO SstA. AiS" and carry on free government The h1=- beas corpus, the right of trial by jury. tue petition of right these contain the great elements of liberty, and were acknow> ledgsd hero. It was this previons pre- paration which fitted the people for those great achievements, the Declaration of Independence and the establishment of the constitution
 Let Us contrast with this result the in. troduction of liberty elsewhere. If we examine the source and origin si our lib. ertv, we will find that i. came from Eng land. We have tho dominion of law oyer he will of individuals. But how is it with others who have made the same ex- pertinent! Look al the naishborng go- vernment of Mexico; mere military anarchy; with no security of life, person or property. The man who happens to be the leader of the army is the head of the State, and the army rules the rest. To the disgrace of liberty, Mexico is infinite. ly worse governet lhan il was under the
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