The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1855-07-06

f"S"'n w uss DuC ABOVE all, we SnOulQ mere
make the stern resolve to improve and enlarge
the legacy which has been left US, and to trans
mt 1T, not only preserved and unimpaired, but
highly improved, adorned and beautified, to
those who are to come after US. By so doing
alone can we Americans, fulfil our high destiny
and render ourselves worthy of the trust which
has been reposed in US. 1t is peculiarly fit
and proper for us Americans to be here to-day
May we here renew our faith and strengthen
our resolve to perform our duty May we here
take our reckoning and ascertain whether we
have been driven, by the fury of contending
elements, away from the standard of our faith
erS.
1t is, perhaps, a frailty of our nature, that
under circumstances of peculiar prosperity, we
are apt to become unmindful of our duty, and
to turn away from the maxims and the princi-
pies through which alone can be perpetuated
the great blessings we have inherited. The
son OF the laborious and successful man of bu-
slness, when he comes in possession of the
boundless wealth which the long and toilsome
life OF his father had accumulated. almost at
once forgets its origin, and turns away from
the great lessons of industry, prudence and
economy, through which alone his fathers sue
cess in life was made sure,an,' by an adherence
to which alone, can an inheritance so acquired
be preserved. He is almost certain TO enter
upon life of needless, thoughtless eXtrava-
gance. He despises that which his father most
regarded land he respects and courts that which
his father most avoided and despised. He thinks
that he is greater than his father was, for in
addition to all his parents virtues, he is as
sured that he adds un immense fortune and
bOundesS experience, neither of which in his
youth his sire possessed. He, therefore, looks
with indifference upon the cautious, prudent
example which was set him, and like some OF
our modern politicians, thinking only of the
great doctrine OF progress, and regarding it as
his especial duty to ignore everything which
was said or done by some one older than him
SELF he boldly dashes out into an unknown sea-
Perhaps it is a sea of folly and of dissipa
ton he has no chart to guide him, he has
thrown his fathers chart away. Vague, unde-
fined notions of destiny, fly in rapid succession
through his brain. On he courses, knowing not
whittier, until cloud, not larger than his hand
is seen in the heavens. Suddenly the heavens
are black with storm; the deep bosom" of
the " blue ocean" is no longer smooth and I'M
ruffled around him the angry heaving pillows
alrcad y testify his danger, and thick fog like
the sable curtains Of midnight is spread over
the heavens, shutting out all impending danger
from his view. In his extremity our young
mariner turns to seek his pilot, but finds no pi-
lot on board he searches in vain for the old
chart Of his father, for he has forgotten that
he had thrown that old chart away at last he
s bewildered and lost, with no power to direct
or control it; his vessel is left entirely at the
mercy of the elements Perhaps it is to be
stranded upon some rock, which the ignored
chart Of his father would have pointed out to
him; or, perhaps, to be run into, while cross
ing the track of some old and skitul seaman
who is cautiously pursuing his course over the
angry pillows, and through the thick black
fog,with his eyes intently fixed upon the chart
which he feels assured will guide him safely on
ward, through perils and through storm, so
long as he courses along the lines there traced
out before him.
Fellow citizens, is it not somewhat 80 with
US as a nation ? Are we not disposed to throw
the old chart away? Do not our crude un-
defined notions Of progress tend to lead US off
into trackless ocean of uncertainty, in which
the doubtful and dangerous elements may ov-
erwhelm us.
Without pursuing the course which is usu-
ally adopted of eXulting in the wonderful and
Astounding prosperity of our country, and of
that freedom whose wide spread influence, grow
ing broader and broader, is rapidly extending
to the remotest corners of the earth, let US,
upon this occasion, turn our attention to the
condition of our country and learn wherein if
at all we have improved upon the lessons which
our fathers taught US.
Alas fear that the enquiry will not prove
favorable to us. 1t seems to me that the vir-
tue and simplicity Of Repubicansm, were new
er so fully exemplifed in this country as they
were during the earlier periods of our consti-
tutlonal history.
l believe, also, although the conviction is a
painful one) that true Republican simplicity
and virtue were never, during the history OF
our government, so thoroughly disregarded by
those in authority as at present. There seems
to have been for the past few years spirit
among the people of the almost entire Union
an irresistible feeling of party attachment, If
party prejudice, and Of party devotion. 1t is
n spirit alike at War with the example taught
US 10y our fathers, and with the true genius OF
republican liberty. 1t is spirit which when left
unchecked and uncontrolled, even in govern
ment like ours, is almost certain to sweep away
every vestige of true liberty, and to establish
despottSm, more potent and irresistible than
that which it pretends to oppose. Nay more
1t is spirit which lays its ruthless hand upon
the purest, noblest and best of men, and with
one bold effort, strips them of the hard earned
laurels they have won, and doOms them to a
life of disappointment and obscurity. 1t often
deprives the State of its wisest and safest coun-
sellors, and places the destinies of the people
in the hands of unprincipled and Incompetent
demagogues. AS o necessary consequence, it
leads its votaries to an abandonment of prin-
ciple, stiles the noblest impulses of genius, land
removes from the human mind everything like
an exalted emulation; and encourages, in their
stead, subserviency to popular prejudice and
passion which is alike at war with the prac-
lice OF our fathers, the true principles of Re-
publican liberty, and with greatness of
character.
The Father Of this, our beloved country, at
the close of his eventful public life. LOOKING