Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1854-10-11
THE SECRET OF 1T.

Let him who searches for the secret of our
success and greatness as a people, look among,
our hills and valleys, and behold it in the in
selligence, industry, and consequent indepen-
dence that signalize every condition of life,
from the cheerful, hard-handed yeoman guiding
his plough, and the swarthy artizan at his
bench and forgefre, to the merchant prince
whose 'white sails of commerce" rustic on ev-
cry ocean. There lies the secret of Americas
greatness, the more noble and glorious, since
herchildren commenced their life and nation
in the wilderness, with only the exle's inher-
itanee, poverty, suffering and danger before
them. Yes thank Godl they started with
little more>rthey had faith, hope and endur-
ance, and hence the mighty transformation
they have wrought, making them liz their very
youth the model and miracle of nations.
tits not in armies and navies, "strong walls
and rnoated battlements, that our hope, strength,
antssafety lie; our prestige, people, is cast
ueea ahigher principle than physical force,
though our armies and navies have answered
and we trust ever will answer, for themselves,
when the nation is assailed. Freedom lies
at the bottem of our greatness--its palladium
the spirit which sought and the integrity which
maintains it, and its Acropolis the glorious in
stitutions warmed into life by itS fire. Our
march and conquest has been one of moral and
intellectual force, a Homegrown and triumph,
uub hos h, ri
science, invention an enterprise, upon the re-
cord of nations, wherever the foot of travel or
the keels of commerce could reach. We have
put forth peaceful hands and drawn in abun-
dant fruit and wherever the eye looks from
the St. Lawrence to the Deltas of the Missis
sippi, or from the Atlantic to the Pacihc, it be.
holds our prosperity.
We are great on the right principle--great in
and of ourselves. Great, because we can gov
ern, feed and clothe ourselves, and keep q sur
plus.in our granary, and in land and cottage
room for nations that ask our charity, abroad,
or exes who seek, and do not abuse our hos
pitality, at home. The splendor Of America
arises altogether from the conquest the Ameri
can people have made over their soil, their cir
cumstanceS, and themselves; triumphing thus,
there is no enemy too strong for them-they
are capable Of any conquest. Selfconquest,
too, has been a double one with us, for, achiev-
ing greatness within ourselves, we have sent
the influence of example and ideas abroad, to
work silently and nightly for US in all the
world.
Yes, there lies the secret of our success and
greatnessamong our hills and valleys. We have
no castles with their hammered keeps to answer
for the eace and plenty which prevade the
nation. Anarchy and disorder are kept aloof by
no serried ranks save ranks of quiet people
armed with simplicity, intelligence and truth.
Our only walls and battlements are strong, true
hearts, bound together by common faith in
Freedom and God, and bearing in unison
through the cities, thronging our ocean bays
and river forks, the villages that glisten like
clseters ofjewels over our boundless landscape,
and the white cottages crowning our green
farm fields like bouquets Of domestic bliss
While these cities, villages and cottages exist,
animated by the same strong, true hearts, and
our school houses, scarcely out Of sight of each
other,and churches, smiling from spire to spire,
continue to intersect and encircle the land diff
fusing their light and blessing to- all, we shall
need no Gordon of steel Or stone to uphold our
greatness and glory.-[N. Y. Mirror.