The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1860-08-22
The Destiny of tbs Republic.
BY JUDGE STORY.


what is, how is it possible not 10 feel pro-
found sense of the responsibilities of this
republic 10 all future agesl What vast
motives press upon US for lofty efforts =
What solemn warnings at once demand our
vigilance and moderate onr confidence
The old world has already revealed 10 Us
in its unsealed books, the beginning and
end of all its marvellous struggles in the
cause of liberty. Greece lovely Greece
''ihe land o. scholars and the nurse of
arms" where sister republics, in fair pro-
cessions, chanied the praise of liberty and
the good-where and what is she For
two thousand years the oppressors have
bound her to the earth. Her arts are no
more. Ike last sad relics OF Ter temples
are the barr acks OF a ruthless soldiery the
fragments of her columns and her palaces
are in the dust, ye. beautiful in ruin. She
! fell not when the mighty were upon her,
Her sons were united al Thermopyl9 and
/ Marathon and the tide of her triumph roll
ed back upon the Hellespont. She was
conquered by her own factions. She fell
/ by the hands of her own people. The man
of Macedonia did not the work of destruc-
( tion. 1t was already done by her own cor
ruptions, banishments and dissensions.-
| Romei republican Rome whose eagles
glanced in the rising and setting sun
] where and what is she 2 The eternal city
/ yet remains, proud even in her desolation,
| noble in her decline, venerable IN the maj
/ esty of religion, and calm as in the compo-
sure of death. The maLa1ja has but travel
ed in the parts won by desiroyers. More
than eighteen centuries have mourned over
the loss o! the empire. A mortal disease
was upon her before Cesar had crossed the
Rebicon and Brutus did not restore her
health by the deep probings of the senate
chamber The Goths, and Yandals, and
Huns, and swarms of the north; completed
only what was begun at home. Romans
betrayed Rome. The legions were bought
and sold, but the people offered the tribute
money.
And where are the republics of modern
times, and Genoa exist but in name. The
Alps, indeed, look down upon the brave
and peaceful Swiss, in their native fastness-
es but guarantee of their freedom is in
their weakness, and not in their strength
T The mountains are not easily crossed, and
the valleys are not easily retained. When
, the invader comes; he moves ike an avail
anche, carrying destruction in his path
, The peasantry sink before him.-The coun-
Try, too, is too poor for plunder, and too
rough for valuable conquest. Nature pre-
har II 10 iIo f0
check the wahtoHess Of ambition. And
, Switzerland remains, with her simple insti-
/ tutions, military road to climates scarcely
2 worth a permanent possession, and protect
ed by the jealousy of her neighbors.
We stand the latest, and, if we fall, proba-
bly, the last experiment of self-goyernment
by the people. We have begun it under
q circumstances of the most auspices nature.
a We are in the vigor of youth. Our growth
has never been checked by the oppression
: OF tyranny. Our constitutions never have
: been enieebled by the vice or the luxuries
IT of the world. Such as we are, we have
: been from the beginning, simple, hardy,
/ intelligent, accustomed 10 self government,
and self-respect. The Atlantic rolls between
US and any formidable foe. Within ourow
II territory, stretching through many degrees
of latitude, we have the choice OF many
products, and many means of independence
The government is mild. The press is free
Religion is free-knowledge reaches or may
reach every home. What fairer prospects
of success could be presented What
| adj IN ht
sublime end ? What more is necessary
than for the people 10 preserve what theJ
themselves have created
Already has the age caught the spirit o
our institutions Ii has already ascendeC
the Andes, and suffered the breezes of bott
oceans 1t has infused itself into the life
blood of Europe, and warmed the sum,
plains OF France and the lowlands of Hol
land. 1t has touched the philosophy of Ger
u many and the nor.h and, moving onwarn'
to the south, has opened TO Greece the les
son of her better days.
ID Can it be, that America, under such cir
cumstances, can betray herself That sh'
x is TO be added 10 the catalogue ofrepublics
al the inscription upon whose ruin is, "The.
or were, but they are no: "a Forbid it, m.
/; countrymen forbid ii, Heaven!
y call upon you, fathers, by the shades O
:" your ancestors, by the dear ashes which re
pose in this precious soil, by all you are
> and all you hope 10 be, resist every proiec
/ of disunion; resist every attempt TO fette
your consciences. or smother your publi
y schools, OF extinguish your system of put
lie instruction.
call upon you, mothers, by that whic
' never fails in woman, the love of her of
snrinn To teach tnern AZ they climb vnr