The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-07-25

live in peace. We have peace for the
peaceful, but war for the turbulent
We will not suffer wrong, nor infict it
upon others. Our great mission, is to
augment the powers of the people,
The principles we profess lay upon us
an obligation to set an example before
all nations more humane and Just thar,
any monarchy can, ,Tand.to prove the
practicability and stability of Repub-
licanG Government. * n, ,.,..t
All foreign powers stand amazed in
view of the inherent central power that
we have exhibited as people. Imme-
diately npon the breaking out Of tho
rebellion crowned heads seemed to take
delight in pronouncing the great Re-
public a failure, humbug. We have
proved that they did not understand
what they Were talking about. They
pronounced US an excitable people, in
capaple of self government. Through
a long and dreadful war we have
proved that we are calm and delbcr-
ate, cool and persevering. Never for
single moment did we think Of aban-
doning our cause. Pursuing n straight
and wcll-defined line of policy. no
central power upon earth could have
exhibited greater strength. And when
the great head of the nation was as
sassinated, Though revered, and hon.,
ored, and mourned by the whole peo-
ple) so far as the mere effect upon the
Government was concerned, it scarce
ly produced q jar. Where is the mon
archal Government that would not
have been shaken from center to cir.
cumfererence ? Not a wheel of our
Government ceased its motion, in all
its different departments, and our
stocks were quoted and sold in the
market as if nothing had happened.
Already have we commenced repair
ing the damages of war with as much
celebrity as the ocean heals the seams
gashed in it by the keel of a ploughing
ship, and without being accused Of
vain boasting, may l hot say that we
have right to look forward to a
bright and glorious future. A future
not only better than our past, but bet
ter than any past. Truly We possess
within ourselves the clements OF a
great people. With o territory con-
tinuous and compact, bounded by the
two great oceans of the. globe on the
east and the west, aud extending from
the great Northern lakes to the Gulf
of Mexico, passing through so many
degrees Of latitude that we produce
within ourselye all the staples of hui
man life to be found in the temperate
and torrid zones; with vast network
of rivers and canals, forming Vninter-
rupted lines of water communication,
diverging from our great cities on the
sea-coast to the frontiers; with those
great rivers that break from the mount
aims of the North, and roll on their
mighty flood of waters across conti-
nent, carrying upon their bosom an
immense internal commerce; with con-
tinuous lines Of railway extending over
the country for more than twenty-five
miles; with immense manu-
producing some of the finest
fabrics; with agriculture lifting its lofty
head, and filling the granaries of the
world with its products; with the vast
mineral resources Of the country, gold
and silver, iron, lead and copper, which
are beyond all computation; with a
commerce cleaving every wave, fleets
every ocean, and shipping
in the ports Of all nations; with unsur
passe / educational advantages; with
Just tice sitting enthroncd in our courts,
and law, order and religion command
ing the respect of the masses of our
people, who shall set bounds TO our do
or prescribe our power?
AS military nation we certainly /
rank among the first. We have the
finest navy that floats upon the waters.
Our arms have been victorious upon
the land, and upon the sea, and in the
war of the revolution, and two sue
cessful wars with foreign powers since
the revolution, and the great civil con-
llict from which we have just emerged,
We have acquired q military fame
equal to that Of ancient Greece, when
CROSSED into Asia, and in
eQmmemoration ef his great military
achievements upon the plains of llllum,
offered sacrifices to the goddess Miner
vi, and crowned the tomb of Achilles.
But in the midst of such contemplat,
ions as these let US not forget that the
seat Of power is ever varying and ever
and that if we would pre-
serye our liberties we must do right,
and be ever watchful, and vigilant.
The powerful and glorious nation of
one century, istAe degenerate people
Of the next. tcs ~, i. Jo,.
History. is full Of startling examples.
The mighty kingdom of Persia, the
splendors of ancient and magnificent
Babylon, all Greecc,--from whose boz
som sprang forth those splendid fires
that called into life and being the gen.
ins of Notwithstanding, with all
her celebrated cities, covering the Med,
terranean Sea with her commerce
the great Roman Empire,-the bound
,riesof which Augustus was unable to
prescribe in his last will and testament,
passed suddenly away. rrr
The mighty cities of the Nile, tho
Tygres, and the Euphrates, were, in an
hour, sacked by the hand
of the invader, and where architecture,
abor aud commerce once proclaimed
heir greatest triumphs, and reared the
oftiest monuments Of human power,
and hcaven-born genius the world ever
A
"Now only treads the timid slave,
Where grass srgrows each nouldering bone
And stones themselves to ruin grown,
Are gray and death like old"