The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1863-02-19


the destroyers of our free institutions.
[Gredt applause. As there is nothing
in history so horribly atrocious as this
rebellion, 80 the Imagination Of man
can conceive of nothing which would
shroud the world in gloom, as the blot
I ting out Of this Sun of Freedom from
the Ornament of nations. Wreck this
Republic, and you wreck every hope of
freedom in every human breast. APP
Iplause. For nearly three hundred
years the hand Of the Great Creator has
shaped the destiny Of America as the
home of liberty and Their efuge of the
Oppressed. From every country and
every cline, from the heavy tread Of OIL
igarchies, from the sharp fangs Of des-
pots, from the woes aud fears Of bloody
revolutions, from poverty, heart-brokenn
ness and living death, millions have
found here that freedom which they
. sighed for as their richest boon in life,
and the most blessed inheritance they
could transmit to their children. Great
Applause. Here has grown into gigan.
tic proportions nation presenting the
grandest development the world has ev-
er seen of human intelligence and pro-
f gress, and holding in its outstretched
hands to all the earth tho choicest fruit
, man has ever tasted of regulated and
y constitutional liberty. To mortal pres
\ ceince that nation seemed immortal
G those fruits perennial and undecaying.
Butln the midst of peace, prosperity and
It seeming contentwent, all is plunged in
to confusion and dismay. The lvid
n cloud ofwar envelopes the land, the
D.. tread Of armed legions shakes the earth,
the thunders of battle fill the air, blood
II stains the ground, the groans Of the dy-
n ing fll the ears Of night, and the walls
Of the hereaved rise to heaven from count
less habitation>f Whatenemy iias done
this? Have the despotisms of the Old
. World, tired of Americas example and
o glory, massed their mighty columns to
n bear her down into the dust? Has her
q ancient foe challenged her to third
!. war for independence Has auy other
70 nation invaded her peaceful shores? No,
n my friends; would to God it were any or
. all Of these, rather than what it is. Ap.
,s pause Her own sons are her assail-
l. ants! Americans are pouring out the
: blood of America! The heirs of
v liberty are destroying their own pre-.
r. cious brth-rightI The children of the
IF Constitution are hacking and battering
>. that glorious fabric, every seam Of
! which wss ccmented with their fathers
,e blood, and every arch ofwhich is vocal
n with the prayers and benedictions of
d the illustrious dead Applause. And
le all for what? Who has oppressed, who
10 wronged thcm2 The voice of the uni
is versal brotherhood of man acquits this
nation,,of wrong to them. What, then,
is urges this demoniac onslaught? Let US
Of not fear to speak the word ogain. Let
!. US be true, though VIC die for it! [Ap.
It plausc. Speak it, write it, printit, pro-
n claim it, that it is the aristocracy ofSla-
N very-[crics Of that's it'']-hurling it.
" self az iinst tho buttresses Of the Consti-
ID tuition. to clear it out of their pathway
10 to empire! 1t is the lust Of power, the
to greed Of gain, the arbitrary will of in
l. born despots, that hurrios them on to
m their hellish work. viii they triumph
!. Not if the sons of America, native aud
at adopted, ars faithful and brave and en-
is during. Immense applause. And shall
ry we not be SOP [Voice-"We will."]-
" Shall we falter in the trying hour?-
n ["Never, never" Shall we fear to Ga
RS forwurd2 ['No,"] Fear, ten thOusandI
IN times more, to so backward single
r- step. Great applause. The star of
On Hope leads onward; then let our march
nd and our cry be onward! Ever onward
ne Immense and long prOtraoted ap.
No plause.]
d, ELDER KNAPP's PRAYER FOR THE