Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1856-08-23
Mtssttllanepus.
EXTRACT FROM AN ORATIOE.
BY HON. E. R. HARDEN.
Delivered at Nebraska City, N. q,
JuEu 4tk. 1856.

Delivered at Nebraska City, ~ 4,
July 4h, 1856.
FELLOW CITIZENS We are the in
habitants Of a highly favored country.
We enjoy the blessings of a govern
ment, created by the union of sovereign
States. We have presented to the
world a practical illustration Of the
principle that man is capabls Of self
government.
Let us endeavor then to make q
prudent and iudicious use, of the In
struments that it has pleased an all-wise
Providence to place in our hands. Let
us cultivate brotherly love, one with
another, and strive to preserve har-
mOnyl between us; for remember that
"united we stand, divided we fall. -
Let the solemn declaration echo from
the shores of the Pacific to the blue
waves of that Atlantic, that the union
Of these States shall be maintained by
the wisdom, defended by the valor, and
adorned by the patriotism Of the Anne
rican people.
Let those whose lots have been cast
in this beautiful and fertile Territory,
where peace reigns and contentment
smiles, those whose energy and
enterprise have caused the desert to
''blossom as the rose," endeavor to
sunDress cOmmotion. still discord. and
to. dwell together in friendship and
harmony. God forbid that the dis
graceful scenes, that are presented by
some of the citizens of sister Terri
tory, should ever be exhibited here. |
would rather see Nebraska, with her
fertile praries, designed by nature for
the nourishment and happy homes of
our people, severed by some mighty
convulsion of nature, from the rest Of
the civilized world, and floating as an
iceberg upon the ocean, than to see
her soil drenched with the blood of her
slaughtered citizens. An altar has
been erected here, and dedicated to
the Goddess of Peace; and can there
be any more appropriate occasion
than the present, for us to pledge to
each other, in the sublime language of
that sacred instrument, that you have
heard read to-day, "our lives, our
fortunes, and our sacred honor" to
invoke, and to struggle to perpetuate,
in this virgin state, the blessings of
peace, harmony and fraternal love.
Will you? l pause for a reply.
Friends, we have reason to be proud
of our country. The reflection that
We are citizens of America, some by
birth, and perhaps some by adoption,
should fill the heart with pride and
exultation, wherever the American
flag floats, whether on the Mediter-
ranean or the Baltic, the Atlantic or
the Pacific, it affords protection to the
American citizen. He may be an
exile in a distant land, penniless and
without friends, butwhen he gazes upon
the glorious "stars and stripes" of his
country, fresh hopes spring up in his
bosom, his spirits are revived and new
energy is impaired to the man.
The republics and empires of an
tiquity, and the despotic governments
of modern times, employed much of
their superabundant wealth, in the
erection of splendid ornaments, excit-
ing false and vicious taste, and pro-
voking the national pride and vanity,
into an admiration for delusive, unreal,
and unsubstantial objects. An hun
: dred generations the leaves of autumn
have dropped into the grave, yet the
: Pyramids of Egypt stand erect, and
unbroken above the floods of the Nile
But what is the country, and where
are the civil and political institutions
of the Pharaohs and Ptolemies? alas
, these useless monuments survive only
8 to admonish US of the folly and vanity
q of human pride and ambition.
Where is Rome, with all her splendid
monuments of greatness and wealth
where her temples, her columns, hel
colossal statutes, her amphitheatres
Alas the wheel of fortune has accom-.
: pGshedits revolution, and the triumpha
+ monuments of Caesar and the Anto
mines, have tottered from their founda
ton. These stupendous exhibition
of magnifcence wealth and genius
contained nothing to renovate the de
caying elements, andrevive the droop
: ing virtues of a falling state.
Here no Pyramids of gigantic pro
= portions lift their towering SUBMITS t.
the skies. No Coliseum with it's hug,
bulk cumbers the earth-no Roman
! Temples of gorgeous magnifcence
: will violate the simplicity, and humilit,
of our holy worship. With US the in
telligence and patriotism of our states
men, construct monuments from whicl
'. the masses of the people, derive in
Vulnerable and inestimable blessings
May she glorious institutions Of ou
a. happy land be sustained and perpetu
4 a. ated to the remotest posterity, an
may freedom ever find resting plac