Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-09-22
Grafton by Hon. Geo. naneror..


VI uF OulO
FEtLow CITIZENS OF rne Q. STATES
The defence of our country is not bur
den to be stunned bot an inalienable right
which We are to assert and a sacred duty
Which we are to fulfil The heroic deeds
of those who, in battle, have stood up for
tile moral existence Of the nation, and Civ
en- the greatest proof of their love for it
by perlling theirlyes in its defence, deserve
to be commcmorated by works OF art,
That the evidence of their virtue may he
ever present to the eye of the people. "y
our willing sympathy with their Efforts, we
make heir glory our own; by contemplating
their actions with love, We renew IN our
own breasts that just courage with which
they glowed, and gain the ennobling con
sciousuess that we too have the power with
in us to initiate their example
Citizens Of Cleveland, executing pur-
pose which had its origin in their own mu-
nicipal government, chccred by the patriot
ic zeal Of an artist who is native of their
state, and sustained by the coniding ener-
gy of their spirited contractors, bave rails
cd the monument which has just been un-
yelled Before the myriods here this STA
tue is now dedicnted to the Union in the
names of The people Of Ohio
The inhabitants of this Commonwealth,
are by TIER descent Of common blood allied
with nearly oll the older U. States, & all The
most highly civilized countries of the world.
The homes Of their ancestors are to be found
in the Old Dominion and all the States to
the north Of it, in The British Isles aud Ire
land, in the lberian peninsula, in France,
In Italy and all the Continental States,
especially in Germany so that in addition
to the mysterious affinity Of human nature
with truth and freedom, no word can be
uttered in any part Of the cultivated world
for right and liberty, but you may claim in
il n family interest Of yonr own. 1t is the
sons OF your forc!athers OF whom you ex-
peCt that the tomb aud the birthplace of
Virgil will be secured to the guardianship
Of the free ; it is your brothers and your
kindred, WHO are to take the only worthy
vengeance for what our revolutionary fa-
theirs suffered from the petty princes of a
now fallen empire, by melting aud teaching
its immortal people TO construct a free aud
united Germany.
Ohio rises before the world as the majes-
tic witness TO the bcnefcieut reality of the
democratic principle. A commonwealth,
younger in years than he who addresses you,
not long ago having 20 visible existence but
in the emigrant wagons, now numbers almost
aS large population as that of all England,
when it gave birth to Raleigh, aud Bacon,
and Shakespeare, and began its continuous
attempts at colonizing America Each one
of her inhabitants gladdeus in the fruit of
his own toll. She possesses wealth that
must be computed by thousands Of millions,
aud her frugal, industrious, and benevolent
people, at once daring and prudent, unfet-
tered in the use of their faculties, restless
in enterprise, do not squander the accumu-
latiOnS of their industry in vain show, but
ever 20 on 10 render he earth more pro.
duclive, more beautiful and more couYenl-
ent to man, mastering for mechanic purpo.
SeS the uuwaSiing forces Of nature keep
ing exemplary good faith with their public
creditors building in half century more
churches than all England has raised since
this continent was discovered endowing
aud sustaining universities and other semi
uareS Of learning. Conscious Of the dy-
uamic power Of mind in action as the best
of fortresses, Ohio keeps no standing army
but that of her school teachers, of whom
she pays more than twenty thousand she
provides a library for every school district;
she counts among her citizens more than
three hundred thousand men that can bear
arms, and she has more than twice that
number of children registered as students
in her public schools. Here the purity of
domestic morals is maintained by the vir-
tue and dignity Of woman. In the heart
of the temperate zone of this continent, in
the land of corn, of wheat, and the vine,
the eldest daughter of the ordinance of
seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, already
the Young mother of other commonwealths,
and bids fair to vie with her in beauty, RI
seS in her loveiness and glory, crowned
with cities, and challenges the admiration
of the world. Hither should come the po-
Itical Sccptic, who in his despair is ready
to strand the ship Of state for here he
may learn how to guide it safely on the
waters. Should some modern Telemachus.
heir to an island empire, touch these shores,
here he may observe the vitality and
strength Of the principle aud learn to re.
bnke lladyised counSellors who pronounce
the most momentouS and most certain of
political truths u deuson and failure.
This anniversary of the great action of
Oliver Hazard Perry, is set apart for in.
nugurnting n monument to his fame Who
has not heard how galantly, forty-seven
yenrs ago, the young hero, still weak from
= wasting fever led his squadron to battle
As if shielded by higher power, he en-
coputered death on his right hand, death
on bis left ever in advance, almost alone
for two hours lighting his ship, till it be-
came n wreck, so that but Que of its guns
cold he used any longer, and more than
rour Grlhs Of bis crew lay around him wonud-
ed or Killed then unframed, standing as
beseemcd his spirit, he passed in boat TO
the unniured Niagara, nnfurled his flag,
bore down within pisto-Shot of his enemy,
poured into them broadSides starboard aud
broadsides port, and while the sun was sill
high above the horizon, left no Office to be
done but that of mercy to the vanquiShed
If the comparison does not seem fanciful,
will call his condnct during those eVentfu
hours a complete lyric poem, perfect in all
its parts. Though he was carried away
and raised above himself by the power with
. H., Z. L.