Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-12-14

and North, deeply deplored the existence
Of slavery and strongly inveighed against
It. In l774. Thomas Jefferson. in the Vir-
ginia Convention, boldly pronounced the
abolition of slavery to be the greatest OBJ
iect Of desire in these colonies, where it
was unhappily introduced in their infant
state
And, in the original draft Of the Dec
laraton of Independence, he penned the
following sentence: 'The slave-trade is a
cruel war against human rights While,
James Madison, a few years afterward, in
that Convention which assembled to form
the Constitution, under which we now ex-
st as confederated government, openly
declared: I'VE intend this constitution TO
be the great charter of human liberty to
the unborn millions who shall enjoy its
protection, and who shall never see that
such an institution as slavery was ever
known in our midst Surely, if Jefferson
could say, Il tremble for my country on
account OF its connection with slavery,
when think that God is Just, we ought
to be astounded when we reflect that the
same Being hears uttered, as it were, IN
tie name Of the WhoIe nation, that awful
sentiment, "a negro has no rights which
the white man is bound to respect And,
surely, all good men and true throughout
the land, ought to regard that chair from
which it was proclaimed, throne of in-
iguity; and lifting their hands to Heaven
in attestation of broad and unqualified
dissent from the outrageous principle thus
broached, cry out with the Psalmist: Shall
the throne of iniquity, which frameth mis-
chief by law, have fellowship with thee, ,
o God!
II. proceed to show in the second
place, that God has blessed as a6ove all na-
tions wiM positive IavorS and advantages.
Turning away from what, were there
time to contemplate it, would prove an in
teresting theme, viz: Gods dealing with
US since the earliest settlement of the rock
bound coast of the Atlantic, by our faith
ers, / advance to brief consideration of
our present condition. f.
In descending to particulars, designate
/. Geographical Position and E'etent.
Situated between the two mighty oceans
OF the globe, and removed alike from the
seventies of Polar ATTITUDES and the intense
heat of the Tropics, we possess an extent
of territory twice as great as the Roman
Empire could boast in its palmiest days
the area comprising about three millions
and quarter of square miles, which is
equal to one-twentieth of all the land on
the surface of the globe. With country
thus extended, we possess every facility
for commerce that the oceans can yield
every facility that an inland navigation af-
forded by vast lakes and rivers can sup
ply-every variety of soil embraced within
the limits of the Temperate Zone, and, in
exhaustible mines, not only of the useful,
but of many of the precious and less COM
mon, metals and minerals. In view of
these unexampled natural advantages and
resources, it is not wild fancy, but sober
Judgment which reaches the conclusion
that when such resources shall have been
fully developed, the territory now occupied
by the American people will be adequate
to the sustentation of a population equal to
three fourths of the pre- sent inhabitants OF
the globe.
Our relative territorial position and ex-
tent, then, furnish one ground of thank
fulness to the Almighty; since, in dater-
mining the bounds of our habitation, he
did not, as he might have done, place our
ancestors in bleak and inhosp;tablc por-
tion of earth, but, in region where their
descendants can become not only mighty
and fourishing people, but, where it is
impossible they shall not exert the widest
and NOSE biding influence, either salutary
or baleful, over all the nations of the W orld.
2. 4 second particular claiming oar no
| h0o IN
Nearly thirty millions of human beings
are now spread over this broad land, and
with unparalleled rapidity are our num-
bers steadily augmenting-not less than
eight hundred thousand individuals con-
shutting the yearly accessions. All coun-
tries of christendom can point to their rep
resentatives among US, who, blending TO-
gether as it were, the peculiar features oi
the different stocks from which they have
descended, present the spectacle of COM
Iposite people, all the more thrifty and
promising because. these peculiarities dc
thus enter into combination. The sturdy
Englishman, the frugal Scotchman, the
industrious Irishman, the iraseible Welsh.
man, the hardy Norwegian, the phleg-
matte Hollander, the vivacious Frenchman,
| anu IIe poinSfSIluS 0SIlHau, WlIl Iue III
domitable, progressive Yankee, as the
foundation element in our national com
pound, yield character unlike any other
ever Witnessed. The vigor of nascent
manhood is ours, and impelled by it's buoy.
ancy, as well as by the exigencies Of new
and fast peopling country, we are devoting
ourselves with wondrous energy to the gi-
gantic task of securing a position among
cotemporary powers, far in advance Of al
who have preceded as. No difficulties de-
ter, no dangers daunt. Success crowns al
most every enterprise, stupendous though
i: be, while each success is only creative
of fresh desires to engage iniundertakings
yet more arduous. Surely, my hearers,
this is all of God. lie is prospering US
in these steady and large accessions to our
prospecting us in these fortunate
issues to our Herculean efforts! But,
whether such prosperity shall eventually