The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-12-09
together by rapid means Sf eonmunica-

together BY rapid means u eommunica-
tion as to be hardly known to one another,
and with historic traditions extending. lover
very few years; now intercourse between
tho States is swift and intimate; the aex-
perience OF centuries has been crowded
into few generations, and has created an
intense, indestructible nationality. Then
our jurisdiction did not reach beyond the
inconvenient boundaries OF the territory
which had achieved Independence; now,
through cessions of lands, first colonized
by Spain and France, the country has ac-
quirod more complex character, and has
for its natural limits the chain Of lakes,
the Gulf Of Mexico. and on the East and
the West, and two great oceans. Other
nations were wasted by civil wars for ages
before they could establish for themselves
the necessary degree OF unity; the latent
conviction that our form of Government
is the best ever known to tho world, has
enabled US to emerge from civil war within
four years, with q complete vindication Of
the constitutional authority of the General
Government, and with our local liberties
and State institutions unimpaired.
The throngs of emigrants that crowd to
our shores are witnesses of the confidence
OF all peoples in our pcrmanence. Here is
the great land OF free labor, where industry
is blessed with unexampled rewards, and
the bread of the workingman is sweetened
by the consciousness that the cause of the
country ''is his own cause, his own safety,
his own dignity" Here every one enjoys
the free use of his faculties and the choice
of activity as natural right. Here, under
the combined influence of fruitful soil,
genial climes and happy institutions, popu-
lation has increased tifteen-fold within
century. Here, through the easy develop
ment of boundless resources. wealth has
increased with two-fold greater rapidity
than numbers, so that we have become
secure against the financial vicissitudes of
other countries, and, alike in business and
in opinion, are seif-centred and truly inde-
pendent. Here, more and more care is
given to provide education for every one
born on our soil. Here, religion, released
from political connection with the civil go
vernment, refuses to observe the craft of
statesmen, and becomes, in its indepen-
dence, the spiritual life Of the people
Here, federation is extended to every OPT
mon, in the quiet certainty that truth
needs only fair field to secure the victory
Here, the human mind goes forth un-
shackled in the pursuit of science, to col
lect stores of knowledge and acquire an
eyer-lncreasing mastery over the forces
OF nature. Here, the national domain is
offered and held in millions of separate
freeholds, so that our fellow-citizens be-
yond the occupants OF any other part Of
the earth, constitute i'll reality people.
Here exists the Democratic form Of govern
ment; and that form of government, by the
confession OF European statements, "glv.s
apower of which no other form is capa Die,
because it incorporates every man with yne
State, and arouses everything that per-
tains to the soul.
Where. in past history, does parallel
exist to the public happiness which is
within the reach of the people of the
United States? Where, in any part of the
globe, can institutions be found 50
suited to their habits, or so entitled to
their love, as their own free Constitution?
Every one of them, then, in whatever part
of the land he has his home, must wish
its perpetuity. Who of them will not now
acknowledge, in the words of Washington,
that every step by which the people of
the United States have advanced to the
character of an Independent nation, secn.s
to have been distinguished by some token
of Providential agency" Who! will not join
with me in the prayer that the invisible
hand which has led us through the clouds
that gloomed around our path, will so guide
us onward to a perfect restoration Of fra
ternal affection, that We of this day may
be able to transmit our great Inheritance
OF State Governments in all their rights,
of the General Government in its Constitu-
tional vigor, to our posterity; and they to
theirs through countless generations?
ANDREW JOHNSON.
WASHINGTON, December 6, 1865.
COTUMRTA.