Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1861-05-09

knoweth whether we are come into the king
dom for such times as these?' While this is
the solemn possibility and weighty respon-
sibility, who will recoil from the duty allotted
to the hour7 1t is not the necessity of
government we are to settle, for that is pro-
claimed wherever the footprints of man have
marked the place of society, wherever civ
ilization has chased barbarity, wherever social
joys are known, or common sorrows felt; that
has been proved in every act of man since
creations lord became pilgrim, "for gov
ernment is nothing but the badge of lost inno-
cence." 1t is not the peryerseness of human
wckedness we are to decide, for that the
deluge has written in the rocky page Of
cursed earth; that is seen in the mute ruins
of grandeur, is read in the desolate fields of
former prosperity, heard in the prisoners
manacles, the widows distraction and orphans
wall; that has made the countenance an index
and has had a monument in human cowarCice
since the exile of Cain; that conscience pro-
claims, that the angels learned on Calvary.
1t is not the moral power of willing fidelity
to truth We are to measure, for that made the
patriotism of Moses refuse the heirship of
roy atty for the raiment of righteous poverty;
it was that took away the bitterness of
hemlock from Socrates; it was that gave
holy sacredness to the name of Luther;
that, thank God, is spoken from every sodded
grave, vocal with the lurking memories of
martyred devotion, since the fertile hour of
that alien midnight when first Roman soldier
quaked with fear. 1t is not the possibility of
| popular government We are to decide. No;
that "land of scholars and nurse of arms"
where the lingering strains of Demosthenes
still charm the white crested billows of the
sacred sea, has in her ruins proud testimo-
nv, to which signing patriots look back in the
Il LIZ Ia f..
hope, though the foot of dynasty has long
trodden their necks. That other ill fated
peninsula, immortal for her history, her glory
and her tombs, though priestridden while
stretching out her neck as if to behold those
strange and mystic shores where religious
freedom was born, still sends upon the lau gh-
ing waves of Tiber, the loyal echoes of Cicero
to answer the Mediterranean's vocal surge
Liberty asks no lesson of us to show that
despotism is contIadicted by human nature,
it needs no fresh argument for the self des-
| tructive character of tyranny, while the past
speaks of no Caesar without a Brutus, no
Charles without Cromwell, no pope without a
reformeI. The merit of devotion to principle
we may be standard to estimate, but the
world wonld not want if we did not teach
| it, for that has its cloud of witnesses rising
| from every consecrated field of Europe and
| America. That is not unknown to this world
unless we have forgotten our origin, for no
shrines are holier than the graves of our faith
ers, and no institutions dearer than their Ia
bors of sincerity have purchased, have ever
gladdened the soul of fugitive freedom since
heaven has looked with compassion on human
frailty. 8
| Government has been demonstrated to be a
necessity by the fact OF sin. Fidelity to truth
has been honored. Devotion to posterity
has been rewarded, and the value of liberty
has been shown by the many sore purchases
which history records. Yet in all that varied
history upon which we look back to learn,
though we see revolutions and chan ges,
peace and prosperity, war and adversely; men
of courage, ability and worth; conquests of
valor and defences of loyalty; mau's very ad-
vances prove his power and measure his re,
sponsibilitv, exposing normal Incidence in
| human nature which serious times alone can
arouse In all that varied history there is little
to express with accuracy the issues of this
hour.
| Our government, we know, is the experiment
of a few brave men catching inspiration from
the peril of theil day. 1t is in some respects,
of the same kind and the same general aim
indeed that others of antiquity had made,
that few Of the oppressed in every age had not
conceived But, though the difficulties of its
commencement were second to none, the
prospects of advancement we're certainly au-
spicfous, and the circumstances of its growth
were surely encouraging. The first struggle
justified the hopes that had b:en barely
ventnred; the inveteratc character of their
foe, proved the inyincible character of bravery
| in a righteous cause. 1t had men, who de-
rived from their faGhers sense of dignity and
right, that adverse events only fostered and
sharpened. The wisdom ofits founders has
never been questioned, their patriotism has
been the theme of oratory and song, their pi-
ETY. has been written above. In addition to
this, their far sightedness engaged liberal
| education as one of the chief supports of gov
ernment, and their industry was no ac-
| quirement, but was the gift of nature to index
| their characters. Jealousy forrlght, bravery
in fight, the manhood of their leaders and
singleness of noble purposes, compelled the
respect ofnations whose prejudices were hos
tile to the spirit of liberty. Nor were these
things apart from natural advantages; for this
broad land, purified with forests and floods,
was rich in all those resources that prove the
| bounty of nature In its extent it fully justi-
| fies the remark of Mrs. Willard that an over
ruling Providence designed to place here,
one great, united people. With these it had
| a population not noted for all the mad enthu-
siasm of the Freuchman or the indolenco of
| the German, but with the high mlnded loyal
ty of the one, combining the calm. cool, cal
culating reflection of the other. Our institu-
tions as consequence have been prosperous,
our commerce ubiquitous, our intelligence
almost precocious, our wealth immense
What was lacking in former republics in nat
ural aids and high toned morality and pure re-
ligiou, was not so distant that we could not
grasp it and hold it as the pillar of our pecu-
liar strength, while all that former times did
show in energy and master spirits, we had in
addition to their own instructive examples.
Nor have our fruits been inconsiderable in
the world of literature and science. England
may boast her Newton, but America will
never forget her Franklin. The Emerald Isle
brought forth Philips and Curran, but the
world will hear to the end of time the cleo
trifying passion of Clay and the strong but
polished logic of Webster. Though Byron
sstouched his harp and nations heard entranc-
eds yet with as ohaste Imagination though
less sublimity betimes, our own poets have
aspired to be subjects of criticism. If these
are any indications of success, and these are
fruits of the liberality and high influences ol
our government what hardihood mus not be
required at the hands of sin to rebuke the
fair prospects we cherished. No; not all the
questions time submits as to popular gov.
ernment, could be answered by our generous
ancestry. Their work was to overlook the
neglected work of the past, cih theiI owr
responsibilities. They were indeed worthy
of easier tasks, and though their gricfs, were
put to rest without the accomplishment O