Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-03-22
- Il Y l. G H
HON. D. W. V00R Il ES,
OF INDIANA.
Delivered IN the House OF Represent
attves OF the nsted States,
March 5. 1861
OF INDIANA.

/ arise TO address the House to-day. with feel
inss Of profound depression and gloom ID Il q
melancholy spectacle 10 behold a free govern
ment die. The world. it j. true 10 filled with the
evidences % decay All nature speaks the voice
of dissolston and the lIrgh say of history aud OF
life Is slrewn with the wrecks which time, the
great despoief. has made But hope oil the ia
ture. bright visions Of reeivins~ glory are no
where denied 10 the heart of man. save as he
gazes upon the downfall OF legal Liberty he
listens sOrrowfully To the autumn winds they
sigh through dismanted forests, bnt he knows
that their breath will be loft and vernaI in the
spring. and that the dead flowers and the withered
foliage will blossom aud bloom again. be sees
the sky overcast with the angry frown Of the
tempe-t. but he knows that the sun will reappesr;
and the stars. the bright embazonry of God,
cannot perish Man himself. this strange con-
Meeting link between dust and deity. totters
YEARLY onward under the weight of years aud
pain toward the gaping tomb, but how briefly his
mind fingers around that dismal spot IL is filled
with tears and grief, and the willow and the cy-
press gather around il with their loving bat
mOurntul embrace And is this alr Not so.
II man die. shall ne not live again. Beyond
the grave. in the distant Alden. hope provides an
elysium of the soul where the mortal assumes
Immortality and life becomes endless splendor.
But where. sir. in all the dreary regions OF the
past filled with commissions wars. and crimes
can you point your finger TO the tomb OF free
commonwealth on which the angel Of resurrec-
ton has ever descended, or from whose mouth the
stone Of despotsm has ever been roll ID away 7
Where. in what age and in what cline. have the
ruins of constitutional freedom renewed their
youth and regaiued their lost eststeg By whose
strong grip has the dead corpse OF "A republic once
fallen ever been rsseii The merciful Master
who walked upon the waters and babe the winds
be still. lett no ordained apostles with power %
wrench apart the jaws OF national death and re-
lease the victims OF despotsm. The vail of the
heart broken over the dead is not 40 sad 20 me
the realization Of this fact But all history,
with loud and unbroken voice. procaims il, and
the evidence of what the past has been is cOnclu-
sive TO nv mind OF what the future will be.
Wherever in The wide OF domain of human con
duet people once possessed OF liberty. with all
power in their hands. hive surrendered these
great gifts OF God at the command Of the usurp
err they have never afterwards proven themselves
worthy To regain their forfeiied treasures.
Sir. LEI history speak on this point Bend your
ear and listen TO the solemn warnings which dis
tint ages perpetually utter in their uneasy SUM
bers Four thousand years OF human experience
are open aud present for the study of the Ameri
can people. Standing we do the last and
greatest republic in the midst of the earth. it be
comes most deeply ia this crisis of our destiny
TO examine we'll the Career aud the final fate Of
kindred governments ia the past.
The principles of self-government are of an
cient origin. They were not created by the au-
thors of the American Constitution. They were
adopted by those wise and gifted minds from the
modes of former times and applied to the wants
of the American people Far back in the gray.
uncertain dawn of history. ia the land of mystery
and OF miracles. the hand OF Almighty beuevo-
tence planted the seeds OF constitutional govern
ment by which life. liberty, and property were
made secure Abraham anu Lot each governed
his household and his herdmen by law; and al
though they became offended at each other. vet
under the divine sanction they refrsned from the
pleasures of conquest, subjugation, confscation
They divided the country before them by a
primitive treaty. and the grass continued to grow
for their hocks unstaned by fraternal blood and
uncrushed by the boot of war. And in long
after wears, when the descendants of the patri-
archs broke their prison doors in Egypt ana lay
encamped in the wilderness. the omniscient
presence came down and gave them frame
work of funda mental law in which the popular
will was largely recognized. system of juris-
prudence devised for the people of Israel
which protected liberty and administered justice
Under its influence the feeble fugitives and
homeless wanderers without bread and without
water IN the desert became an empire OF wisdom.
of wealth. and of power. The liberal institutions
of the Jewish theocracv produce1 statesmen,
poets, historians, and warriors, who will con-
tnue TO challenge the admiration of posterity by
the sp,endor of their achievements as long as
generations come and go the waves of time
They lived within the immediate jurisdiction of
jehovah They possessed the ark OF the cove
nant and took counsel with ministering angels
directly from the portals of Paradise With all
nfo Il &. IN THAR kahalf
it IL he wondered that they claimed
emption from the changes asd mutations OF hu-
man affairs, and boosted that the seal of perpetu
ity had been impressed by the Divine hand on the
pillars OF their government But public virtue
became deouuched: the popular heart corrOded
with the lust of conquest and of gain; primitive
purity faded away under the baleiul breath OF
embiitered factions: the fires of patriotism were
smo,hered by ranking hate and the thirst for re-
venge: and all these evil passions broke forth in
the voice of "a malignant majority camorins
for king. In that hour OF disastrous eclipse
the spirit of liberty took her flight forever from
the hills of Judea Thousands OF wears have
rolled away since then The Holy Land has been
the theater ct conflicts which rocked the world as
the thrOes ot All earthquake Genius and hero
ism have there blazed stars in the Eastern
skies There, too. was enacted the sublime
tradesy of reiemption-that tridegy which sum
moned the inhabitants of all worlds rs It's wit
ne-ses. and filled nature with agonv in all her
parts The ewes of mankind have been turned
back aud hxed upon those scenes of immortal IN
terest Tor more than thirty centuries. But who
has lifted up and restored her fallen system of
liberal Institutions The people surrendered
their rights. their franchises. their self-con,rol
and welcomed the power of one man. The base
act has never been reversed A. the tree fell 30
il hes Ii died at the root. DeSpotism reigns
undisturbed and uubrOken. ia darkness and In 81
lence. where once the light and music OF freedom
gladdened the souls OF the stately sons and dark
eyed daughters of Israel
And leaving the land of sacred history. what
folly meet Us AZ every step in the onward path
way of time. Where nov are those splendid
structures which once adorned the shores of the
Esean, the EuxIne. and the Mediterranean?
Athens. the eve OF Greece, the school of the
worid-has her dismal fate impressed no lesson
on the thoughts of mankindf Fifteen hundred
years before the birth ot our Savior. the light
OF civil order and civil freedom arose in the L.
land 0i Crete. and sent It's RAYS through the vale
of TEMPE. the rich plains OF ThesStlv over the
fruitful fields OF Attca and BPotia. and lowered
with an everlasting and mperishabe radiance
around the heads OF Olympus, Helicon and Par
n-ssus IL i true that kings governed in those
early days hut absolute power IN one man
unknown Laws made by the people chained the
hcentiOus hand OF oppression The proudesi
mOnarch> of those wsrlike ages governed in obe