Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-01-14
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ASD HOUSE, OF REPRESENTATIVES
Iappear before You to take the oath,
which the Constitution prescribes, as nee.
essary qualification TO perform the duties Of
the chief Executive Office of our State, TO
which have been called and avail my
self Of the occasion now presented, to ex.
press my grateful thanks to my fellow citi.
zens, for the favor with which they have
been pleased TO look toward me, and ia
compliance with a usage sanctioned by the
example Of my predecessors, to declare
briefly, the principles that will guide me il
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 thai
have characterized all Of his official acts.
] may well congratulate you upon The
gratifying evidences he has furnished of the
growth and greatness Of our State. The
history OF no other political community has
been marked by more wonderful progress
in all the elements Of bene6cient ciyiIza.
tion. Our condition is at once prosperous,
commanding, and happy.
Little more than half century has elaps.
cd since we passed from a territorial to a
State government. The number of cur n-
habitants did not at that time exceed fifty
thousand The State was an almost I'M
broken wilderness. What have we not ac-
complished since
We have created and resred up civil in
stitutions, and monuments of public spirit
and social enterprise, which in other coun-
tries have been the work Of centuries
Onr population has increased fifty fold and
we rank among the first States of the I'm
ion 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 cities, and open
cd excellent thorOughfares ia nearly every
part Of the State. When almost in our
infancy, comparatively poor, aud with an
untried credit, we projected and speedily
completed the construction of our extern
sive system of canals, and of slack.water
navigation 10 our interior rivers, at cost
of over fifteen millions of dollars. We
have built, almost entirely by private eapi-
tai, more than three thousand miles in
length Of railroads, at cost of over one
hundred millions of dollars, which have
greatly augmented the public wealth, large
ly contributed to equaliEing the value Of
lands in the different parts of the State,
and vigorously encouraged the development
Of nearly every branch of useful employ
ment. We have invested largely and pro-
htably in mines and mining, and in manu-
factures, all of which branches of Industry
give promise of such steadily increasing
prosperity, as will permanently preserve 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
agricultural, mining and manufacturing.
We have done more. We have adopted
vigilant and humane confinement and dis
cipline for the vicious; have erected asy-
lums for the unfortunate which challenge
the admiration of the world; have endowed
colleges and universities numerously and
liberally, and organized a system of schools
for educating the youth of the State, which
is justly our greatest pride.
Such are some of our triumphs. To what
causes are We, under the favor of Proyi-
dence, chiefly indebted for them
Our geographical position, giving to us
mild and healthy climate, equally remov.
ed from the severe cold of the North, and
the intense heat of the South, and peculiar
lY adapted to vigorous labor in every form:
the diversified character of the surface of
the State, divided into uplands and low
lands, bill ranges, and intervening valleys.
heavily timbered tracts and naked prairies,
which alternate 10 manner the most favor
able 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 civiliz-
ed communities; our exhaustleSS mineral
treasures, and natural facilities for com
meree and navigation, which blythe genius
and enterprise Of the people have been SO
boantituliy tributary to our wealth and
power--haye been SO potent and indispeDs-
able agencies in the production of our mar
Veious growth, as not to be overlooked in
however seminary review Of its eauses
Bot as inviting as they have been to la.
Dor and capital and their multiplied auxil.
iaries, they would have been comparatively
Intellectual in populating and enriching our
State, and in securing to us the social ad-
Vantages for which we are so eminently dis.
tingnished, but for the moral assistants af
t0rded in the wise provisions of the organic
act under whose benign auspices the foun-
datioas Of our territorial Organization were
laid, and which Incorporated into our State
Constitution as fundamental principles of
government, have been most effective in
mouldihg our institutions, and by furnish
Ing the chaut, 10. directing the progress Of
enr legislation.
It was appropriate that the ordinance
Of 1887 should have been the last, as il
was the erowning gift, Of the Congress of
the old confederation tosthe country. Mob
ly did its trainers illustrate, in its matchless
provisions for guarding the rights, and pre-
noting the happiness of the people, their
sagacious forecast and exalted pOtpiotism.
II established the fundamental principles
Of civil and religions liberty as the basis of
All oar laws. constitutions and governments; !;
provided for the freedom Of persons under
the protection of the habeas corpus and
trial hv fnriea In ba imnarfiallv saIaotad.