Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1860-01-13
Fsll0w- OIllisens q ~ Senale


appear before you to tako tho oath
which the Constitution prescribes, as n nee.
essary qualification to perform the duties Of
the chief Executive office Of our State, TO
which have been called; and l avail my
self Of the occasion now presented, to ex-
press my grateful thanks to my fellow-citi-
zeus, for the favor with which they have
been pleased to look toward me, and in
compliance with usage sanctioned by the
example Of my predecessors, to declare
briefly, the principles that will guide mo in
the discharge of my official trust.
My immediate predecessor has communi-
Gated TO you the condition Of the State, with
the eminent ability and fidelity that have
characterized all Of his official acts.
may we'll congratulate upon the graft
flying evidences he has furnished of the
growth aud greatness of our State. The
history of no other political community has
been marked by moro wonderful progress
in all the elements Of benefcent civiliza-
ton. Our condition is at once prosperous,
commanding, and happy.
Little more than half a century has
elapsed since we passed from a territorial to
State government. The number of our
inhabitants did not at that limo exceed fifty
thousand. The State was an almost un-
broken wilderness. What have we not ac-
complished since9
We have created and reared up civil in
stitutiops and monuments of public spirit
and social enterprise, which in other coun-
tries have been the work of centuries. Our
population has increased fifty fold and we
rank among the first States in the Union in
wealth, and dignity and power.
We have cleared the forest from many
millions Of acres, reclaimed the soil from
the dominion of nature, and subjected it to
such course of profitable husbandry as to
supply an annual surplus of agricultural
products of not less than fifty millions Of
dollars in value. We have erected numer-
Gus and wealthy towns and opened excellent
thoroughfares in nearly every part of the
State. When almost in our infancy, COM
paratively poor, and with an untried cred
it, we projected and speedily completed the
construction of our extensive system Of ca
mails, and slack-water navigation in our in
terror rivers, at cost of our fifteen millions
of dollars. We have built, almost entirely
by private capital, more than three thous-
and miles in length of railroads, at a cost
of over one hundred millions of dollars,
which have greatly augmented the public
wealth, largely contributed to equaizing
the value of lands in the different parts of
the State and vigorously encouraged the de-
velopment Of nearly every branch of use
ful employment. We have invested large
ly and proftably in mines and mining, and
in manufactures, all of which branches Of
industry, give promise of such steadily in
creasing prosperity, as will permanently pre-
serve to Ohio her place in the front rank of
the mining and manufacturing States of
the Union. Our commercial and navigation
interests have kept equal pace with our ag-
ricultnral, mining and manufacturing
We have done more. We have adopted
a vigiant and humane confinement and
discipline for the vicious; have erected asy-
lums for the unfortunate, which challenge
the admiration Of the world; have endowed
colleges and universities numerously and
literally, and organized system of schools
lVI SuuO"ttuS thC JOuth VI tuO OIabSJ nhlSu
is justly our greatest pride.
Such are some of our triumphs. To
what causes are we, under the favor of Prov
idence, chiefly indebted for them!
Our geographical position, giving to usa
mild and healthful climate, equally re-
moved from the severe cold of the North,
and the iltonse heat of the South, and pc
culiarly adapted to vigorous labor of every
form, the diversified character of the sur
face Of the the State divided int uplands and
lowlands, hHl-ranges and intervening valleys,
which alternate in manner most favora-
bic for the productive interests of life; the
extent and unsurpassed fertility of our soil,
yielding in perfection, nearly all the agri-
cultural staples the most valued by civilized
communities; our exhaustless mineral treas
ures, and natural facilities for commerce
and navigation, which by the genius and
enterprise of the people who have been so
bountifully tributary to our wealth and pow
er-have been so potent and indispensable
agencies 10 the production Of our marvellous
growth, as not to be overlooked in however
a summary review of its causes.
But as inviting as they have been to la
Dor and capital and their multiplied auxili-
aries, they would have been comparatively
intellectual in populating aud enriching our
State, and in securing to us the social ad-
yantages, for which we are so eminently
distinguished, but for the moral assistants
afforded in the wise provisions of the organ
ic act, under whose benign auspices the
foundation of our territorial organization
were laid, and which Incorporated into our
State Constitution as fundamental princi-
Piles Of government, have been most effect
i've in moulding our institutions, and by fur
nishing the chart, in directing the progress
of our legislation.
1t was appropriate that the ordinance of
1887 should have been the last as it was
the crowning gift of the Congress of the
old confederation to the country. Nobly
did its trainers illustrate, in its matchless
provisions for guarding the rights aud pro-
noting the happiness of the people, their
sagacious forecast, and exalted patriotism.
IL established the fundamental pFinci-
pies Of our civil and religious liberty as
the basis Of all our laws, constitutions and
governments; provided for the freedom Of
person under the protection of the habeas
corDug and trial nv iuFies To he imnartiallv