The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-07-12

request, respectfully solicit copy of you
excellent Grafton for publication.
- Yours, truly,
..r ..r. JOHN GREEN,
JNo. S. ARMSTRONG,
E. S. HoLowELI-
Committee.
Messrs. GREEN, ARMSTRONG and HoLowELL
Gentlsman-Yours of the 4th inst ha
just been received. The few remarks
have made on the present occasion hav
been hastily prepared and not designed 70
publication. Such as they are, however, yol
ale welcome to them, and the original copy
is hereby transmitted, hoping the spirit
if not the letter, will be as we'll received
by the public at large as they apparentl,
have been by the people here assembled
Yours, truly,
| JNo HlsE.
LADIES AND GENT EMEN-" X now thySelf,
is scriptural injunction, and at this
| period of our national existence-in these
times of anxiety and domestic trouble, il
behooves every true patriot to apply it tc
himself, ard seriously reflect on its full
| import.
1t Is not my purpose, on this occasion
! to dwell with particular emphasis on the
! past history of our beloved country-to
/ refer to the noble deeds of darng-the
I self sacrificing sprit-the devotion and
patriotism OF our forefathers in establish.
ing the independence and renown of our
beloved country; to dwell upon and paint
in glowing colors their good deeds, and
plume ourselves with their noole works
| whilst we may be comparatively destitute
of their virtues, and unworthy to enjoy
the rlch legacy they bequeathed to us.
/ They now are mouldering in the quiet
sepulch.e, and the white marble denotes
their resting places. When we turn our
faces in one direction, the rising sun paints
in its bright morning beams the sumrhit
OF Bunker Hill, where now quietly repose
the heroic dead who fought and bled in
our behalf. When we cast our eyes il
another direction they rest on the sacred
soil of Mount Vernon, whose green sward
is nourished by the decaying names OF the
immortal Father Of his Country and
the proud and lofty obeisks OF such men
as the Sumpters, the Marions, the Mont
gomeries, the Pulaskis, the Dekalbs, and
hosts of other WORTHLESS are scattered al!
over our beloved land, as shining monu
ments of the past-of the greatness and
glory of their deeds; and of which we
we may well be proud if but one feeble
ray of the bright halo that surrounds
them may shine upon the last resting
places of the great and good of our day
and generation
But their noble deeds will have been in
vain, if we are uniaithful in the keeping
of the precious vase so richly adorned by
their works. They were equal to the cir
cumstances, and the day, and the hour
that surrounded them Are We their
legitimate offspring and successors, equal
to the day and the hour that surrounds
US? In other governments the heroic
deeds and the noble daring of the ances-
tors attach 10 and Improperly descend
to the child and family. Many a worthy
lord ard noble peer, whose bones have
long since returned TO the mother earth
furnishes the pride and boast of Il long
line of unworthy and degenerate sons.
Their long mantles furnish, or seem to
furnish, gilded robe for all manner OF
unworthin Sheltered all over with the
corruptions of the state, ana against which
the people may war IN vain. The more
enfeebled and debased the individual or
state becomes, the more reliance Is placed
on what Others have done Let us not too
strongly rely on what our forela,hers did
for us Whilst their sainted spirits are
becomes US indeed often and proudly to
refer to their pure patriotism and Self
devotion TO the great work they had
before them; but we should also remem-
Der that, to be worthy of such sires, we our
selves must nobly perform the work set
before us They are gone, and cloudless
Immortality is theirs We are the living
inheritors of the fruits of their hard and
earnest toll, and to be worthy of the
priceless legacy, let us endeavor at least
10 initiate If we cannot excel in all that
made them great and good.
Our revolutionary forefathers, and the
great statesmen that followed immediate
ly after them, LAID the foundation, and
successfully carried through all trials and
tEibulations, the administration of our
government, maintaining with but one or
two exceptions comparatively uuimport
ant, peace among ourselves and with the
whole world. Peace and prosperity, such
as the world had never witnessed. and
the most ardent hardly anticipated, sur
rounded us on every side The commerce
of our nation visited every sea the handi-
work of our artizans was found in almost
every cline; the busy hand Of honest in
dustry filled the land with pleasant: music
and never had people felt so little the
aching burthens usually incident to a
great and powerful government Quiet
and plenty surrounded US on every side
SO that, indeed, our great success daZzled
our eyes, and in wild bewi!derment our
brains reeled and were filled with
restless thoughts. Old and timely adrlo-
nitions of the great and good that had
preceded us we're carelessly thrown aside,
and new ideas usurped the lawfu abode
of calm and enlightened counsels; and,
like proud vessel on the wide and angry
deep, we set all our canvass 10 the gale
which now blows and rocks the mighty
ship of state we'll nigh to wreck and ruin
We may well fear that in the end our
unlimited prosperity has proved our ruin.
Man to-day is the same restles and usufp-
ing tyrant that he ever was. He has only
modified his designs by the circumstances
power that inclted Tamerlane to lay
waste vast empires by fire and sword, still
'dwelis within the human breast and if
we lack evidence of this, the great rebel
lion now desolating our land furnishes
ample proof for the most skeptical. When
men are so lost to all the memories of the
past-so dead and callous 10 all patriotism
and love OF country, as to calmly and sys-
tematically plot: as well in the full light
of day as the dead hours of the night, the
overthrow and dismemberment of the
bes- government that God in His goodness
ever gave to man, we may we'll assert that
the human heart has not been much
enobled by the lapse of time, and that to-
day it harbors the same lust OF power that
in by-gone days animated the most reck
less in their wild greed after power and
-, .ot,, sc v,lnn ~