The Placer herald., 1863-09-12
SPEECH OF EX-PRESIDENT PIERCE.
Delivered at Concord, N. H., July 4th,

your bidding. permit me to say, that no com
mand less imperative than your wish on such an
occasion, would have brought me here and
trust that in view Of the great aggregation of
personal relations which thirty years Of manhood
| Lille have formed between us, you will recognize
in this fact, warm reciprocaton on my part, of
the respect and affection which, in all that time
have never failed to find on yours. We meet
on the anniversary of a day halowcd by solemn
memories, and sanctiied as that of the birth OF
the American Union. The Declaration of Inde
| pendence laid the foundation of our political
greatness in the two fundamental ideas of the
absolute independence of the American people
and OF the sovereignty Of their respective State
| Under that standard our wise and heroic fore
fathers fought the battles Of the Revolutions un-
der that conquered. In this spirit. they establish
ed the Union, having conservative thought ever
present to their minds Of the original sover-
eigntyiand nepenndence of the several States all
with their diverse institutions. interests opinions
and habits, TO be maintained intact and secure.
by the reciprocal sipulations and mutual com
promises OF the Constitution. They were master
builders who reared up the grand structure Of
the Union, that august temple beneath whose
dome three generations have enjoyed such bless
ings OF civil liberty as were never vouchsafcd by
providence to man; that temple before whose
altas you and | have not only bowed with
devout and grateful hearts, bit where with pa.
triotlc vows and sacrifices, we have 80 frequently
consecrated ourselves to the protection and main
| talnance OF these lofty columns of the Con-
stltution by which 1t was upheld. (Appause.)
No visionary enthusiasts were they dreaming
valnly OF the impossible uniformity of some
wild Utopia, OF their own imaginations No des-
peMtc relormers were they, madly bent upon
schemes. which, il consumated, could only result
in general confusion, anarchy and chaos. Oh
no! nigh hearted, but sagacious and practical
statesmen they were, who saw society as a living
| fact. not as u troubled vision; who knew that
national power consists in the reconcilement of
diversites OF institutions and interests not their
conflict and obliterltion; and who saw that varie
ty and adoption OF parts are the necessary ele-
ments ol all there is sublime or beautiful in the
works of art or OF nature. Majestic were the
solid foundations, the massive masonry, the col
umned loltiness OF that magnificent structure OF
Inc Union Glorious was the career OF prosper
lty, and peace. and power upon which from its
very birthday, the American Union entered, rs
win the assured march of the conscious offspring
OF those giants OF he Revolution. Such was the
Union, as conceived and administered by Wash
ln9ton and Adams, by Jefferson, and Madison.
ana Jackson. Such, say, lc0s the Union ere
the evil time bcle us; ere the madness of sec
TO al hatreds and animosites possessed us; ere.
IN the thlrd generation, the all comprehensive
patriotism OF the Fathers had died out. and given
place to passionate emotions of narrow and
aggressive sectionaliSm. The Eastern States
covered the sea with their ships, the land with
their farms and their manufacturers so did the
Middle Atlantic State, with addition of their
mineral wealth of coal and iron; while the South
ern States, with their bright soft climlte and
cohgenlal soil, raised up those great staples OF
cotton, tobacco, sugar, rice, corn, which are the
lie OF commerce and manufactures; and the vast
regions OF the West grew to be the granaries of
Europe and America; and still further on was
| revealed the land Of gold and silver on the re-
mote shores OF the Pacific. These We're the ma
terlll elements OF our national power, each State
with It's difference OF interest, cooperating with
| the others to constitute harmonious whole.
And so the various European races, co-eXistne
| here, though utering in blood. religion, temper,
the Protestant and the Catholic the Puritan and
| the Cavalier; yet by their very difference Of
character, afforded the mental and moral ele-
| ments OF the power Of the Union. Glorious
sublime above all that history records OF national
greatness, was the spectacle which the Union
exhibited to the world, so long as the true spirit
OF the Constitution lived in the hearts OF the
| people, and the government was a government
OF men, reciprocally respecting one anoher's
rights and OF States, each moving planet-like
IN the orbit OF its proper place in the frmanent
OF the Union. Then were the moue Republic
of the world, honored, loved or feared, where
| we were not loved, respected abroad peaceful
and happy ut home. No American citizen was
then subject to be driven into exile for opinions
sake or arbitrarily arrested and ncarceruted in
tor acts or words Of imputed treason but if he
but mourn in silent sorrow over the desolati on of
MS country--(appLlusc;) no embattled hosts of
| Americans were then wasting their lives and re-
sources in sanguinc civil strife; no suicidal and
parricidal civil war then swept like Il raging
tempest OF death over the stricken homesteads
and wailng cities Of the Union. Oh, that such
| q change should come over our country in day.
as 1T were AS II all men in every State of the
| Union-North and South. East and West-were
suddenly smtten with homicdal madness-and
the custom of fell deeds" rendered as familiar
as if it were part OF our inborn nature; as if an
avengng angel had been suffered by Providence
to wave sword Of flaming fire above our heads,
to convert so many millions of good men, living
| together in brothery love, into insensate beings,
savagely bent on the destruction of themselves
and Of each other, and leaving but smodering
ruin of conivgmtion and OF blood in the place
OF our once blessed Union
| endeavor sometimes, rs have no doubt you
do, to close my ears to the sounds, and my eyes
to the sights OF woe. as to ask myself whether
all this can be--to inquire which is true whether
| the past happiness and prosperity of my country
are but the fatterng vision OF a happy sleep, or
| its present misery and desoaton haply the delu-
sion OF some disturbed dream. One or the other
seems incredible and impossible; but alas the
stern truth cannot thus be dispelled from our
minds. Can you forget, ought especially be ex-
| pected to forget, those not remote days in the
history of our country when its greatness and
glory shed the reflection at least Of their rays
upon all our lives, and thus enable us to read
the lessons of the Fathers. and of their Consti-
tuition in the light of their principles and their
deeds? Then war was conducted only against
the foreign enemy and not in the spirit and pur
pose oil prosecuting non-combitant populations,
nor Of burning undeiended towns or private
dwellings, and wasting the fields Of the husband
man. or the workshops of the artisan, but OF sub
DUNG armed hosts in the field. Then the Con-
Tess Of the United States was the great Council
of the whole Union and OF all its parts Then
the Executive Administration looked with impair
tial eye over the whole domain of the Union,
anxious to promote the interests and consult the
honor and just pride of all the States, seeir no
power beyond the law, and devoutedy obedicnt
to the commands OF the Constitution. How is all
this changed! And why! Have we not been told
IN this very place, not two weeks ago, by the
voice Of an authoritative expositor; do we not al
low that the cause OF our calamties is the visc-