Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1861-10-24
VOL 4--NO 43

shape Its future course, ana molu
its future destiny. Even while we
are enjoying this festive occasion,
the electric wires may be flashing
all over the country the news OF
glorious victory or of calamItous
disaster. Whatever ii may be,
and whenever 1t may come, he
hoped we should accept it with
equal hearts and with unconquer-
able determination, Il It be victo-
ry, that we should take measures
to strengthen and assure IT, and to
secure all its fruits; ifit be disas-
ter, that we should take measures
to retrieve it, and to turn it back,
rising to meet it with that indom-
liable spirit which made The old
Roman legions more terrible after
defeat than after victory.
And whatever we may be call
ed upon to suffer, to sacrifice and
to lose, we can not suffer and lose
too much for our country. 1t is
better that you and |, and all this
goodly company, should perish
nay, | speak the deliberate judg-
ment of my understanding, when
| say that it is far better that the
whole generation of living men
who now rejoice in the unnum-
bered blessings of our Constltu-
ton and our Union should perish,
should pass away, as the shadow
of cloud passeth over the sum-
mer field, than that the ConStltu-
ton and the Union should fail.
And they will not fail; all the
elements that make up success are
on our side-numbers, wealth,
science, skill, right, justice, and
truth. And God is on our side.
To doubt it, is to doubt that he is
the Being which he reveals him
self to be In nature and In Script
ure. 1t may be that in his Justice
he designs to punish us for our
sins, for our pride, for our exclu-
sive devotion to material interests
and for our indifference to the
means by which those interests
are promoted; but it can not be
that he Will reverse his own laws,
and work a miracle, that wrong
may triumph over right.
Mr.. President, look at our
, countryl See it as it is pictured
on the map, that we have studied
Of late as we never studied 1t be-
fore. Mark its natural bounda-
: ries, lis defensible frontiers. See
its broad surface, reaching from
: ocean to ocean, and spreading
, through the latituIes of the tenn
perate zone. See how, by its
r confguration, by its geography,
t by It's soil, its climate, its pro-
ductlons, by all the tokens by
/ which nature indicates her inten-
ton, this was intended for one
country, and we were intended for
one people. Look at its vast
chains of natural communication,
, and its immense lines of artificial
connection, soon to be increased
f by another of unparalleled magn-
, tude: For soon the great oceans
shall be connected, not merely at
the points where the indenteo
{ coasts, pressing to each other, in
, vite the enterprise, but through
the great heart of the country,
over the plains, across the rivers,
t and through the passes of the
t Rocky Mountains. Along this
line the pioneers of civilization
f shall take their stand, and from
this parent stem shall issue
t branches bearing in every direc-
5 tionthe triumphs of free institut'ns
For all purposes of intercourse
, and communication, the opposite
t frontiers of the Republic are near
! er each other to-day than they
were at the time of the Revolu-
ton, when our settlements were
| Struggling along he Atlantic coast
Or pressed between the mountains
and the sea, and when visionary
: men were speculating whether, at
\ some far distant period, the tides
S of civilization might possibly
surmount the Alleghanies, and
: pour into the valley of the Mis-
q Slssippi. Look at that valley
2 now-the home of intelligence
I and refinement, the seat Of power
! and of empirel
o Such, Mr.. President, is our
i country, your country and mine
4 tie theme OF our earliest praises,
y the pride, the hope, the JOY OF our
! maturer years--iounded by faith,
!. defended by valor, protected al
f ways by an oyerullng Providence.
Utterly unworthy should we be OF
. the age in which we live, OF the
:,-;l,-,,;.n - which We have