Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-01-19
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
OF THE
GOVERNOR OF OHIO.
Gsntlansn Of the Senate
and HoHse Of Rspresentofices:

copsututing the State OF Ohio, was an
unbroken wilderness. Her admission
into the great confederacy Of American
States is fresh in the memory of many
who are now before me. Little more
than half a century has elapsed since
that event.
She entered the Union with popuia-
ton of hardly sixty thousand inhabl-
tants. OF the thirty-one States which
now constitute that Union, she is the
third in population. More than two mil
lions of citizens, in the full enjoyment
of civil and religious liberty, now live
within her borders.
Her resources have been adequate not
only to the expenses of Government,
but have been applied to the construc-
ton of long lines of canals-to the es-
tablishment and maintenance Of mag
niicent system of public instruction,
and to tie erection and support of large
and expensive institutions for the educa-
ton and restoration Of the unfortunate.
Private enterprise has kept pace with
the increase of wealth and the growth
Of population.
The wilderness has given place to
cultivated fields, and smiling villages
raise their spires where but few years
ago the lofty oak displayed its foliage.
Colleges and other institutions of in
struction have been founded and en-
dowed. Places the most remote have
been brought into close proximity by
extensive lines of railroads. Indeed,
the number of miles of our finished and
projected railroads, is greater than that
of any other State in the Union.
Such rapid growth in all the elements
which make a great and prosperous
people, must fill the heart of every eiti-
zen with patriotic hope and honorable
pride.
The future prospects Of our people
are as promising as the past has been
prosperous.
He would be unworthy of your con-
idence who did not feel honored at
being called, by the voice of its people,
to the Chief Magistracy of SO great and
SO growing a State. Words, indeed,
are inadequate to express my thankful
ness for the confidence which has been
reposed in me. and my sense of the re-
sPonsibilities of the position in which |
have been placed.
The growth of our State and the high
position which she now occupies, have
been produced by the self reliance and
energy and industry of her people.
The character of the government has |
tended to encourage these qualities, and
has had an important agency in aug
menting the moral force Of the people.
Personal security-freedon from
violence and insults the primary and
important object of the establishment of
all civil government. The weak must
be protected from the strong. Life is |
hardly desirable where it is not secure,
or where it is constantly exposed to the
fear of oppression and the apprehension
of wrong.
Our laws throw their shield around
all, and grant impunity to none. In
them the weak find refuge and sup
port. and none are so powerful as not to
need their protection. Under their
equal operation all enjoy the fruits of
their labor in security and peace.
Our comparative freedom from any
thing like monopolies, by which compe-
tition is cut of, labor oppressed, and
generous and ennobling rivalry is de-
graded, has encouraged our citizens to
embark in schemes of public and private
improvement which, in a society diff
ferently constituted, would never have
been undertaken.
The grant of special privileges has
not only produced the evils inherent in
the system. but has been the Just cause
of dissatisfaction and uneasiness in the
minds of the people. They have natu
rally felt that their rights had been
abridged, and the rule of equality,
which constitutes the very foundation of
human freedom, and which should pre-
vail in all Legislative action, has been
violated.
The result, too, has always been un-
fortunate, and demonstrated the folly of
going beyond the limits of declaring
and securing the rights of individuals,
and Furnishing and redressing their
wrongs.
Government has no right to interfere
with the pursuits of the governed
When it assumes the power of discrimi-
mating between different classes, it is
usurping portion of sovereignty which
the people have never conferred. The
exercise of talents and industry should
be left within the limits of general laws.
No class or particular body of men,
should possess rights or privileges not
enjoyed by the whole mass of the body
polite.
We are not accustomed fully to con-
slider all the advantages of the general
prevalence of the principle of equality
of our political system. Like the air
which we breathe. its very commences
is an obstacle to the full appreciation of
all its blessings.
The ordinary discharge of the duties ,
Of citizenship calls into exercise all the
mental faculties. The administration of ,
public affairs, by requiring the co-opera ,
ton of the people, furnishes them with .
the most useful and practical lessons in j
government and legislation.
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