Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-07-16
Ex.Prssident Pierce,s Address at Con-
cord. ~. H., July q.


Ex.PIesident PIE Address at Com
cord, ~. H., July 9.
Nj FRIKSDs AID FKELow CoUSTEYMES: While
I have cone 90 preside at this meeting at your
bidding permit me 10 say that no command less
imperative than your wish on such an occ isi6n,
would have brought me here: and trust that in
view Of the great aggregation OF personal resa
tons which thirty Years Of manhood life no e
formed between us. Won will recognize in this
fact warm recprocston on my part. Of the
respect and affection which IN all that time,
/ have never failed TO find on yours. Zap
plause.
We meet on the anniversary Of day hallowed
by soleraa memories. aud sanctifed that OF the
birth Of the American Union. The Declaration
OF Independence laid the foundation Of oar Do,
itical greatness in the two funda mental ideas Of
the absolute Independence OF the American pee.
pie and of the sovereignty Of their respective
States Under that standard our wise and heroic
forefaihers fought the battle OF the revolution:
under that they conquered In this spirit they
established the Union. having the conservative
thought ever present to their minds, Of the origi
nal sovereignty and independence OF the several
States. all with their diverse institutions, inter-
ests opinions aud habits. 10 be maintained intact
and secure. by the reciprocal stipulstions aud
mutual compromises of the Constitution They
were master builders. who reared up the graLd
structure Of the Union, that august temple be
meath whose dome three generations have en-
oyed such blessings Of civil liberty as were never
before vouchsafei by Providence 10 man; that
temple before whose altar you and ! have not
only bowed with devout and grateful hearts, but
where. with patriotic VOWS and sacrifices, We
have so frequently consecrited ourselves to the
protection and maintenance OF those lofty col
umns Of the Constitution by which it was upheld
No visionary enthusiasts were they, dreaming
vany Of the impossible uniformity of some wild
Utopin, of their Own imaginatiOns. 70 despe
ate reformers were they, madly bent upon
schemes which ii cOnsummated. could only ne
suit in general confusion, anarchy and chaos
Oh. no. Hugh hearted, but sagacious and practi
cal statesmen they were, who saw society as n
living fact not troubled vision: who knew
that national power consists in the reconcilement
of diversities Of Institutions and interests, not
their conflict and o5teration; and who saw that
variety and adaptation of parts are the necessary
elements of all there Is sublime and beautiful in
the works of art or of nature.
Majestic were the solid foundations, the mass
i've masonry. the columned lOftiness of that mag
nifcent structure of the Union Glorious was
the career Of prosperity and peace and power
upon which. from It's very birthday. the Ameri
can Union entered, with the assured march Of
the conscious offspring of those giants of the
Revolution.
Such was the Union, "a conceived and admin
istered bv Washington and Adams. BY jefferson,
and Madison. and jackson Such | saw tras the
Union, ere the evil times befel us: ere the mad
ness of sectional hatreds and animostics pos
sessed US; ere. IN the third generation, the all
comprehensive patriotism of the Fathers had died
out and given place To the passionate emotions
Of narrow and aggressive sectiOnaliSm. The
Eastern States covered the sen with their ships,
the land with their farms and their manufactures
so did the middle Atlantic States. with addition
to their mineral wealth OF coal and iron; while
the Southern States with their rich. soft climate
and cOngenial soil. raised up those great staples
of cotton. tobacco. sugar, rice. corn, which are
the life of commerce and manufactures; and the
vast regions of the est grew to he the granarie-
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 were the material elements of our ma
tiOnal power. each State with its difference of in
terests, co operating with the others to constitute
one harmonious whole. And so the various Eu-
ropean races co-existing here. though differing 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 element of the power of the
Union.
Goriously sublime above all the 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 the gov
eminent of men recprocally respecting one an
Others rights Of States, each moving. planet
like, in the orbit of its proper place in the frml
ment Of the Union Then We we're the model
Renublic Of the world honored loved. or fearel
where we were not loved respected abroad peare
ful and happy at home No American citizen
was then subject 10 be driven into exile for opin
ions sake arbitrarily arrested and incarcerated
in military hastiles-even a. he may now be-not
for acts words of imputed treason bur If he do
but mourn in silent sorrow over the desolation OF
his country: no embatte1 hosts nf Americans
were then wasting their lives and resources in
sanguiuarv civil strife: no suicidal and patric1al
civil war then swept like a raging tempest OF
death over the stricken homesteads and wailins
cities of the Union.
Oh. that such change should have come over
our country IN a dav. az il were-as if all men in
every State Of the Union. north and south east
and west. were suddenly smitten with homiciial
madness aud 1.-THE custom of ell deeds" render
ell rs familiar n il t were a part of our Unborn
nature: rs II an aveng ing angel had heen suffer
% bv Providence ~ wlive a sword of flaming
FIRE thavs oar ne IDS 20 convert manv millions
OF good men. living together in brotherlv love.
Struc;ion of themselves and of each other. and
wing but smouldering ruin Of conhscration
and Of blood in the place of our once blessed
Union
| enieavor sometimes 70 close nv ears 10 the
sounds. and NV ewes TO the sights of woe. and to
ask myself whether all this can be-to INQUIRE
which is true. whether the past happiness and
prosperity o. nv country are but the hattering
vision of haDDy sleep. or ia present misery and
desolstion haply the deluson of some disturbed
dream One or the other seems incredible and
impossible: but alas, the stern truth can not be
dispelled from our minds
Can YOU fOrget-ougft | especially be expected
10 forget those not remote days in the history of
our country, when it, greatness and glory shed
the reflection at least Of their RAYS upon all our
lives and thus enabled Us % read the lesson of
fathers and their Constitution in the light of
their principles and their deeds! Then. war was
conducted only against the foreign enemy. snd
not in the spirit and purpose Of presenting ron
cOmbatant populations. nor Of burning undeien
del towns or private dwellings. and wasting the
fields of the huSbandman. the workshops of
the artisan. but of subduing arme'l hosts in the
field Then. the Congress OF the United States
was the great Council of the whole Union. anx
ious TO promote the interests aud consult the hon
or and just pride OF all The States, seeing no TOW
er beyond the law. and Gevontly obedient 70 the
commauds OF the Constitution
How Is all this changed. And whvf Have
we not been told. Ia this very place. not two
weeks ago. ~ the voice Of an authoritative ex
posifcr: A we not ali know thar the cause of our
calami;'es ! the vicious in-ermeidlinc of too