Washington telegraph., 1855-07-04

is enough to still all the tumults of our trou-
bled nature-to hush all the angry corten-
tions of conflicting interests-to allav all
the anxieties of the patriots heart in refer
ence to our country's future. The idea of
the Union of these States. How vast the
field of contemplation which it opens before
the human mind Il grasps within its hor
oscope the glorious associations of the past,
the most intense appreciation Of our pre-
sent blessings. the most intense and anxious
hope as to the glories of our country's fu-
ture The Union of these States Why,
the very idea carries back the mind to the
time when our Pilgrim Fathers landed on
Plymouth Rock, at jamestown. and at Roa-
noke-when their hearts and their arms,
nerved with strength and vigor, impelled by
devotion to civil liberty. and a resistance
to religious oppression. they braved all the
storms of the ocean-they suffered all the
privations and perils which were peculiar to
people flying from oppression to distant
wilderness The same idea Of the Union
comprehends the time-if we glide still fur
ther along down the stream of history
when our patriot fathers, stung by the op-
pressions of the mother country, were lash
ed into resistance, and took up arms for the
purpose of asserting the great principles
which were the rights of British subject,
and which they supposed had been invaded
This same idea of the Union covers the
time when that conclave of sages met in this
very city-aye. my brethren, within a few
hundred yards of the very spot where we
are now congregated. And really. when 1
allude to that important event in onr histo-
ry-when I feel the stirring associations
connected with it-when l feel that [ am
within sight of that hallowed place, 1 feet
as Moses did in sight of the burning bush :
that the very ground on which stand is holy
ground Aye my friends. this idea of the
Union. The Union it carries your minds
eye back to the scene when that conclave of
sages-whOse hallowed bones now rest in
our classic soil-assembled together, and
there pledged TO each other their lives, their
fortunes. and their sacred honor, and de-
clared that these provinces were, and of
right, ought to be. free and independent
States. 1t covers associations still more
thrilling even than those it carries you
back to all the battle fields of the revolution.
This idea of the Union it covers the sacri-
fees of our fathers at Bunker HILL at Sar-
atoga, at Brandywine, at GuilfoTd, at Cam
den, where the blood of heroes crimsoned
the soil and watered that tree Of Liberty
under whose spreading branches we are
now repOsing in peace and quietude Yes,
my friends, this idea of the Union, which
was the result of our fathers sacrifices, can
not fail to carry back yous minds to the per-
lis. the sufferings. the sacrifices of those be-
roes, and of that man whose name is hallow-
ed in the hearts and affections of every low
er of his cOuDtry-tO a time, | say, when
British cannon were heard booming across
the harbor of Boston-to time when the
patriots heart struggled with anxieties-to to
time when our patriot mothers hugged
their infants to their bosoms in despair, to
that very time when Washington drew from
his side his trusty sword and led the sons of
freedom to battle Gentlemen, in contem-
plating the glories of that time, you cannot
fail ever to observe in the foreground of the
picture the calm countenance of the great
man to whom have alluded, ever placid
amid the storms, the strifes. and the tumults
of battle-that great man, say, who has
come down to history the greatest. the
noblest, the mightiest among those
few. the immortal names
That were not born to die
My brothers, this idea of the Union It
is an event in our history no less momen-
tous even than that refer to that time,
when these hero statesmen assembled for
the purpose of framing that glorious consti-
tuition under which we live when, coming
together from this vast confederacy, with
conflicting feelings, representing conflicting
interests. they there laid deep and strong
the foundation of this glorious temple of lib
erty. around whose altar their sons may as
semble, and there offer up their sacrifices of
peace and fraternal concord This was the
Union of these States That idea, | say,
even covers the glorious achievements by
our flag, during our last war with Great
Britain; for it was because the nationality
of our country was affected-because our
equality of rights-growing out of the ma
tional equality represented by this union
emblematised by the stars and stripes-was
violated, that we drew the sword in the con-
test; and it was in that contest that nation
al equality was avenged in the blood of the
enemy. And looking up to period still
later, and within the knowledge of all of
us-tO our recent war with Mexico-we
even there see that it was under the broad
agis of the Union-the Union as embodied
in the stars and stripes-that our sons
marched over hecatombs of the slain to the
very walls of Montezuma and as the beams
of the rising sun shot athwart the eastern
mountains. they first greeted that glorious
flag which ''was still there" Brothers,
this idea of the Union covers the broad po-
sition which we now occupy among the na-
tions of the earth Look at our present po-
sition. What is it that has peopled the will
derness? What is it that has substituted for
the rapine of the wilderness fields OF waving
grain? What is it that has whitened with