Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1861-07-24

I 'F'''N VI WV NIlN VI NlI uulllllllNlIltlOn,
whether II agrees or whether il conflicts
with moral principle aud right is an exhib,
| II OF patriotism but in so doing YOU are
only abusing noble words and paving the
wayior an utter extinction of their true
meaning, and an ultimate justification of
DR.. Johnson's sentence that "Patriotism
Is the last refuge Of II scoundrel." =" We
must keep this fact distinctly in our
/ minds, or the history Of of all national
failures will lind fearful repetition in th c
days OF our children.
Our national security is based upon, and
must proceed from, our devotion and f.
deity to our great national idea. i, cry
people have their representative value,
and they manifest it by working out
| through their laws and customs an effort
for some special observance. II will not
do to say that departure from the law
may, under certain circumstances, be us-
/ ttiuble we must guard, with miser's
vigilance, tho great palladium of our lib
ertes, and while we swear to support the
Constitution, we must also resolve TO hght
those who set at it defiance, whether the
assault comes from without or from within.
A departure however triling, and seem.
imgly harmless, will open the door for a
future train OF evils which must sooner or
later, sbroud the sun Of our glory in end
less night.
Look at Greece. Her great mission, ot
one time was to deyelope and to beautify
art, to cultivate and to polish the human
mind, BY the Greeks, ard by them alone,
literature, philosophy and the fine arts
were treated as important concerts Of
State, and employed us powerful engines
Of policy; hence he was coasdOrel the
best patriot OF ancient Greece, who had
the wisest and widest conceptions of the
capacities fnd genius OF Greece, and who
labored to paint that idea willingly before
the national mind and direct tho flame
o! national aspirations famed by is hero
io memory up to the noblest possibilities
OF Grecan cndearnnce. Bu: in time
Greece became untathlul to her national
idea, and sank into comparative barba-
rsm. In her last days She became sen
suous. and divided into fierce factions
Her occasional hashings Of genius were
mere limitations OF her great originals =
and thus ceasing to manifest her real val
ne, Sic was overthrown by a superior
power.
So, too, that most gigantic power that
ever oyerohalowed the earth, old Rome
possessed at first and long continued to
work out its own idea, virtue, including
personal courage, and personal iutcgIity |
was its great glory. No nation ever existed |
on the face Of the earth wherein such ros, |
pect was paid to authority, and such alIe> |
glance TO honor as in Rome. But after
five centuries iron rule uninterrupted |
prosperity, laXity and careles5nesS crept !
in, and brought with them, or indeed |
We're OF themselves, the seeds Of the ma
tion'S dissolution and of death SloTly |
but surely the work of corruption spread,
a.:d wrought out the ruin of the Empire
For four hundred years that COLOSSAL !
frame Of iron lay in the death-struggle-
Old Rome was hard to die. But at astthe
nation that had been so noted for its vir.
ne, became as infamous lor its destitution |
of principle and was blotted out Of oxis-
tenCe IN shame.
These are few illustrations, Mr., Presi. |
dcmt, but certainly they will suffice to |
show that there is such a thing as a Nat |
ional Idea, and that the downfall of the |
nation may be looked for when it ceases |
to cherish and develop that idea provided |
that Of itself it is not inconsistent with |
eternal right. IT we are wise we will not |
believe with the page Of history thus !
open t. us that our own nation will be an !
exception to tbs hitherto uuvaryng law |
We should rather seek to understand how |
far we have been true TO the Obligations |
we owe our country, and il now swerying, |
either to the right or the left ye may re
turn to that Idea, and thus lave reason 10 |
boAstthat the patriots who gave it nation. !
al existence ale our fathers.
1t is hardly possible that we should err !
in determining what our National Idea is |
The poorest child has it in its power to |
read, and to understand it, The. hills and |
valleys of our glorious Old Commonwealth |
have echoed to the steps Of some of those
from whose pure minds It was fashioned |
and formed. Only few handred miles |
from here, in tho commercial city of
Philadelphia, stands the Hall where with |
firm nerve they pledged life, fortune, and
sacred honor 10 its defence. There
hgngs the venerable bell, he ring, as by
the Inspiration OF prophecy, the sentence
which tells better than many words could
cypress, the true mission Of my cOun-
try and in that Hall, ynd around that
bell, rs 10y greater than a prophets shrine
numbers from every quarter Of our land,
and others from far distant shores, daily
assembled, foolish and blind are ;hey who
in that sacred place, and with the shad-
ows Of our fathers standing out from its
walls, cannot see, and DO not know, the
Amer can Idea, and cannot feel a response
in tueir own hearts 10 its self evident
truth.
But Mr. President, Ladies and Gentle.
men, the hands on the dial admonish me
that | must close, The pos zion in which
we are now placed is one Of most fearful
suggestions. a. we look upon it in the
light Of history and ! desire not to al
lude to the present unfortunate state of
affairs uEder which our country is now
groaning-my heart sinks within me when
| contrast less than one year ago with the
present almost hopeless condition of the
country. And we are certainly not di-
minishing its danger by divertne atten-
ton for little while to mere si1e-issues
The union Of our nation is a most blessed
and most desirable bond, and he is no
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