The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1865-12-13

the greatness Of the occasion invites u
once more to repeat. with solemoity. tn
pledges Of our fathers to hold ourselve
answerabe before our fellow men for tn
success of the republican form of govern
ment. Experience has proved its sufii
cheney in peace and in war; it has vim
dicated its authority through dangers
and afflictions, and sudden and terrible
emergencies. which would have crushed
any system that had been less firmly fxet
In the heart Of the people. AT the nau
guration of Washington the foreign rela
tons OF the country were few, and it,
trade was repressed by hostile regulations
| now all the civilized nations OF the globe
welcome our commerce, and theil
Governments profess toward as amity
Then our country felt its way hesitating
ly along an untried path, with States SC
little bound together by rapid means o.
communication AS to be hardly known tc
one another, and with historic traditions
extending over few years. now interso rse
between the St. les is swift and intimate
the experience of centuries has been
crowded into few generations. and has
created All immense, indestructible ma,
tionality. Then our jurisdiction did not
reach beyond the inconvenient bounda
rles of the territory which had achieved
independence now, through cessions of
lands, first colonized by Spain and
France. the country has acquired more
complex character, and has for its natural
limits the chain of Lakes, the Gulf of
Mexico, and on the east and the west the
two great oceans. Other nations were
wasted by civil wars for ages before they
could establish for themselves the neces.
sary degree OF unity; the latent conviction
that our form Of government is the best
ever known to the world, has enabled us
to emerge from civil war within four
years. with a complete vindcation 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 conlidenco of
all people in our permanence. Here is
the great land of free labor, where indus
try is blessed with unexampled rewards
and the bread of the worAingman is
sweetened by the consciousness that the
cause of the country ais 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 lmppy institutions, population has
increased fifteen fold within century.
Here, through the easy development of
boundess resources, wealth has increased
with two fold grester rapidity than mum.
bers, so that we have become secure
against the financial vicssitudes of other
countries, and, alike in business and in
opinion, are self centred and truly iude-
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
government, refuses to subserve the craft
,f statesmen, and becomes, in it's inde-
pendence, the spiritual life of the people.
Here toleratlon is extended to- every
opinion, in the quiet certainty that truth
needs only a fair field to secure the vic-
.ory. Here the human mind goes forth
in The pursuit of science, to
,ollect stores OF knowledge and acquire
IN ever'lncreasing mastery over the
'orces Of nature. Here the national do
main is offered and held in millions Of
separate ffee-holds, SO that our fellow
beyond the occupants of any
'ther part OF the earth, constitute in
reality people. Here exists the demo-
cratic form of government; and that
Iorm OF government, by the confession Of
European statesmen "gives a power Of
which no other form is capable, because
t incorporates every man with the State,
md arouses every thing that belongs 10
he soul"
Where, in past history. does parallel
exist to the public happiness which is
within the reach of the people Of the
United States 4? Where in any part OF
The globe, can institutions be found so
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 indepen.
dent nation, seems to have been distin
guished by some token of Provi,lential
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 oil 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 whole
constitutional vigor, to our posterity,
and fhav tn fhairs throuoh oonnt laSe |