Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-07-06

principle, lives, fortunes, and sacred honor
were irrevocably pledged.
At period a few years later, in 1887,
Constitution was adopted for the United
States. It was ordained aud established by =
sthe People of the United States" Its OBJ
eet was declared to be, "to form a more
perfect Union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility, provide for the COM
mon defense, promote the general welfhre,
and secure the blessings Of liberty" The
Convention which framed this Constitution
was presided over BY q deputy from Vir-
ginia, George Washington. 4
Under this Constitution, in 1889, the Gov
erhment of the United States moved for
ward in its career. Recognized and adopted
among the nations i soon became power
among the nations. Population and wealth
Increased. Religion, eduestion, literature,
in all its departments-the arts, in their
varied adaptations to the uses of life-in-
deed all the elements of a higher civiliza-
ton, seemed to be without a limit to their
development and expansion. In two inter
national wars, the Yalor of our arms had
been illustrated on land and sea. The stars
of our national ensign shone ON all the
waters of the globe. If doubts had ever
arisen about the intrinsic conference of the
forever, when the uneasy theories of South
Carolina were overwhelmed by the logic
and elOquence of Massachusetts. We said
of the Republic, "Esto perpetua." And
thus, for seyenty-one years, near three
quarters of a century, the Government, OUR
Government, stood firm on its foundations.
An, would that this career might have
gone on unbroken. Why was it that this
land of ours, consecreted by our fathers,
with a Government the mildest, the most
beEefcent, that was ever established for
any People-why was it that such band,
ithe home ola happy nation, the asylum of
the oppressed, the hope Of the world, should
be rent with civil discord and drenehed
with fraternal blood.
Fellow citizens, it is not for me, on this
occasion, to trace the gradual but steadily
/ advancing causes which eliminated IN the
| rebellion. 1t is enough for us TO know, at
least 1t is enough for US to be thankful for for
ever that when the first overt act oftreason
was committed, when the first direct as
sault was made upon the Government, the
whole Northern people sprang forward to
the rescue. You need no words of mine to
remind you of that uprising. The world
has never witnessed so sublime a spectacle.
1t Will stand forever as an epoch in the his
tory of mankind.
You will remember the painful months
of anxiety and suspense which preceded
that event It seemed as if paralysis had
| st olen upon the nation, and as if a process
of quiet dismemberment was going on,
without arousing it to consciousness. To
| all loyal hearts it was the glOOmiest period
in the history of the country. And hence
| 1T was that treason never performed so
great a service for the Government as when
i coke great nation fl ts lethargy, by
/ firing on Fort Sumter.
But while, as we have said, we would
here abstain from any extended discussion
Of the causes of the war, we cannot refrain
| from adverting to one great fact, which the
opening of the war developed and brought
to light-a fact which stamps with signal
appreciation the institutions of the North
andfth character of its people, as a product
of those institutions, while it speaks with
/ fearful signifcancy ofthe institutions Of the
| South and the character of the people, as
dePenerated under them. And the great
fact thus brought to light was simply this,
that while the Northern States, from the
time of the adoption of the Con-
stitutiOn, had been steadily advancing in
loyalty and devotion to law and order, and
free institutions the Southern States had
been just as steadily retrograding from the
common point from which each section
started on its career. Let it be remembered
that the North and South stood, shoulder
to shoulder, in the RevOlution-that they
united in the adoption, framing and ratif
cation of the Constitution, and that there
was no difference of opinion, among the
fathers of tho Republic from the two sec
tions, as to the unfortunate subject about
which it was deemed expedient to accom-
modate the Constitution TO the existing con-
dition of things. The South declared that
it hoped to be soon relieved from the insti-
tuition by which it was encumbered. 1t
united with the North in declaring the
Constitution to be ordained to secure the
blessings Of liberty" to themselves and
their posterity. In substantial loyalty TO
the Government and the Union, it stood
with the North, side by side.
Now, how came it to pass, that, ,at the end
of seventy-two years, both sections starting
from common centre, the starting fact
should suddenly come to light, that while,
during this long life of the nation, the
North had been growing, if anything, more
united in their loyalty to the Constitution
and the Laws than they were when the
Government was established, the South,
during all this time, had been ripening into
readiness to break up the Union they had
helped establish, and found Government
whose corner stone should be slavery, in
stead of liberty. The truth is, disguise it
w.
delude others as we may, the great fact of
history has again been illustrated-and, ahi
how costly has been the illustrations to US
that free labor and free institutions are
vital 10 a free government, while anything
less than these must be fatal to it. Lay
aside all other phases in which the subject
may be reviewed, and consider simply the
world-established axiom, that free govern
ments must depend for their existence
upon the intelligence rnd virtue of the peo
pIe-and by that is meant the masses Of the
people. Then compare the educational
statistics of the North and South. Com
pare their literature, their press, and their
relative advancement in the arts and scien-
ees, and the wonder ceases that the masses
Of the Southern people should have been
found fit subjects to be led astray by their
ambitious but disappointed politicians
Think you an equal number, or any num-
Der, of Northern men could have been thus
misled2 And why2 Il is because our
free institutions at the North are founded
upon free labor, and free labor is intelligent
labor. This developes commerce, manu-
factures and the arts; and these, in their
turn, not only stimulate culture and self
respect, but they build up cities and towns
and villages, and denser population and
these establish and foster education, and
our splendid school system, and a magnif-
cent literary, and scientific, and po-
litical press, and the people are wiser
than their leaders. And hence it is that
IS our Northern people have stud
led this subject under the more
searching light of a terrible experience, the
hope has grown into their hearts, that
when the government shall have restored
its authority over the disaffected States, it
will be found to have carried with it, not as
an object, but as an incident ofthe war, the
Northern system of free labor, free schools
and free press, there to "bring forth fruits
meet for repentance" throughout the
length and breadth and depth ofthe South
ern country. And thus, what every man
shnnld hone for nnon this snhiect invnlEes