The southern press., 1851-07-09
WEDNESDAY, JULY s.ls5i.
=. w.h,fer,s speech vt the Capitol.


We present to our readers in this days paper
The speech of Mr. WEBSTER on the fourth in-
slant. when the cornerstone Of The Capitol was
laid
Mr. WEBSTER dwells at length, and with EN-
phasis, on the contrast between the wealth
population, and power, of this coniederacy now,
and at the time when it was formed. And he
concludes this contrast or comparison with the
excamation--
Who does not admit this unparalleled growth
of prosperity and renown is the result, under
Providence, Of the Union of these States under
general Constitution which guarantees to each
State republican form of government, and 10
every man the enjoyment of life, liberty, and
the pursuit Of happiness, free from civil tyranny
or ecclesiastical domination.
1t is of vital Importance to understand the
causes Of our progress. In about thirty years
after this Union was formed, Mexico declared
her independence. Her territory was greater
and more productive than ours, and her popula-
ton more numerous. She formed federal
Union in 1924 Yet now, after the lapse Of
twenty seven years, she is less populous, pros
porous, and powerful than under Spanish domin.
ion She has yet federal Union-yet she is
driven back from her borders by troops of saw
ages, and is rent at her capital by faction. If
independence and Union were productive Of
prosperity and greatness, why has Mexico not
advanced? Why have the South American 70.
publics not prospered 1t is because the char
acter of their people was not equal to ours. 1t is
because they have not been 30 faithful to those
moral laws Of our race, which the Supreme Be-
ing has prescribed, as the condition of human
welfare and progress.
The original emigration to this country was
religious 1t consisted, in all the colonies, OF
people far above the average grade of moral
principle and practice at home, and who were SO
devoted to their faith, that they renounced the
comforts and pleasures of established society,
and encountered the perils Of unknown naviga-
tion, and CT unknown and barbarous regions,
rather than submit to religious and political ty-
ranny. The Puritans of New England, the HUI
guenots of South Carolina, the Moravians of
Georgia, the Quakers of Pennsylvania the Cath
ocs of Maryland, the Episcopalians of Virgil
mia, all excessively renounced the country
where they could no longer be conscience-free.
There never was such moral migration since
the world WAS made To these we must add
great numbers of men of energy, enterprze,
and pride, who would not remain and submit to
the power of kings or the pride of wealth.
And from those apostles of religious, and of
civil liberty, the power and glory of America
have sprung.
The idea that we owe our progress to second.
AIRY causes, to forms of government, or the for
tunes of war, is falacy and heresy.
But it is no new thing. When the Hebrew
had succeeded in the conquest Of Canaan, an
were powerful enough to repel aggression fror
any Of their neighbors, the statesman, warrior an
king, who ruled over them, undertook one dn
in an hour of presumption, to enumerate ii
people. lie wanted, we suppose, to announe
from the capitol at Jerusalem, their progress
numbers; he wanted, probably, TO enjoy the az
count of their multitude, to inspire the peopl
with notions Of their own strength, and to intim
idate their enemies. This lesson of deusiol
and of pride was incompatible with the true prin
ciples of Hebrew and of national power. The,
owed their greatness TO the mercy which tn
Supreme Being had bestowed on the faith o
ABRAHAM-on the obedience Of ISAAC and of ia
coB-on the fidelity of those who survived tn
privaiions and the temptations of the wilder
ness.
The pride Of population and power wai
therefore, promptly resisted with pestilenc'
And they were humbled. All history sacre
and prolane abounds with evidence of the tel
dency of people and rulers to this deusiol
Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty conqueror indulge
il, and was sent forth to learn humility anon
the beasts of the field Belshazzar, in his hon
Of pride, undertook TO appropriate the sacre
vessels of the Jews for his orgies; and his king
dom was taken away. Xerxes, with his TIVE
millions Of soldiers marched, without cause, I,
the conquest of the Greeks, and taught then
how Persia could be conquered. Napoleon, no
satisfied with the humiliation of southern Eu
rope, went forth with half a million to Moscow
and returned fugitive. 1t is the peculiar in
trinity of human nature TO be depraved b
power. And we have illustrated already thi
great truth, by dismembering Mexico, and the
plundering the weaker section Of the Union O
her share Of the acquisition. And it is hig
time for us TO learn that, as we owe all on
greatness to the degree of our observance
hitherto, of the great principles of moral dut.
so as we abandon them neither population no
Mon, wealth, nor power save us rom til
catastrophe of ruin.
Mr.. WEBSTER ha. quoted the dreams of Ii
Bishop of Cloyne, and the Bishop or Dea
of St. Asaph in eloquent poetry and pros
of a millennium in America. We would delig
10 indulge in su n dreams. But alas socie
and government here are rapidly approximate
10 their condition in Europe. Vice, erin
and poverty want the love of glory instead