The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-12-15


to consider what opportunities might
present themselves, what combinations
might offer to protect ourselves against
designs inimical to our form of govern /
ment. The United States desire to act
in the future as they have ever acted
heretofore; they viii never be driven
from that course but by the aggression
of European Powers; and we rely on
the wisdom and justice of those Powers
tOreSpect thesystem OF fnOn-interference
which has so long been sanctioned by
time, and which by its good results, has
approved itself to both continents.
The correspondence between the Uni
ted States and France, in reference to
questions which have become subjects
of discussion between the two Govern
ments, will, at proper time be laid be-
fore Congress.
When on the organization Of our
Government, under the Constitution,
the President of the United States de
livered his inaugural address to the
two Houses of Congress he said TO them,
and through them to the country and
to mankind, that 'the preservation OF
the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny
of therepubIican model of government,
are Justly considered as deeply, perhaps
as finally staked on the experiment IN
trusted to the American people"
And the House Of Representatives, an
swered Washington by the voice OF
Madison: "Weadore the invisible hand
which has led the American people
through so many difficulties, to cherish
a conscious responsibility for the desti-
nyof republican liberty" More than
seventy-siX years have glided away
since these words were spoken; the l.
nited States have passed through sever
er trials than were fOreseen; and now,
atthis new epoch in our existence as one
nation, with our Union purified by sor
rows. and strengthened by conflict, and
established by the virtue OF the people,
the greatness of the occasion invites Us
once more to repeat, with sOIemnlty,
/ the pledges Of our fathers to hold our
I selves ansWerable before eOurfell0W-men
/ for the success Of the republican form
/ of government.
/ Experience has proved its sutficlency
/ in peace and in war: it has VindIcated
/ its authority through dangers and atf1Ic-
/ tions. and sudden and terrible emergen-
cies. which would have crushed any
system that had been less firmly fixed
/ in the hearts of the people. At the in
I auguratiOn of Washington the foreign
relations of the country were few, and
/ its trade was repressed by hostile regu-
/ lations; now, all the civilized nations Of
! the globe welcome our commerce, and
/ their Governments profess towards Us
| amity.
Then our country felt its way hesita-
/ tingly along an untried path WithStates
! so little bound tOgetherby rapid means
of communication as to be hardly known
/ to one another, and with historic tradi
/ tions extending over very few years
! now intercourse between the States Is
swift and intimate; the experience Of
! centuries has been crowded into few
I generations and has created an intense,
/ indestructible nationality.
Then our jurisdiction did not reach
/ bevOnd the incOnvenient boundaries Of
! the territory which had achieved indie
/ pendence: now, through cessiOns Of
! lands, first colonized by Spain and
France, thecOuntry has acquireda more
complex character, and has for its ma
I turaI 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 eStab-
Iish for themselves the necessary 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 lWar within fOuryears,
with a complete vindication OF the
constitutional authority of the General
1 nTTr
ties and State institutions unlmpalTed.
The thrOngs Of emigrants that crowd
to our shores are witnesses of the con-
fidence of all peoples in Ourpermanence.
Here is the great land OF free labor,
t, where industry is blessed with uneX-
ampled rewards, and the bread OF the
working man is sWeetened by the con
sciOusness thatthe cause of the country
els his own cause, his own safety, his
own dignity" Here every one enjoys
the free useOfhis facultiesand the choice
of activity a. natural right. Here,
, under thecOmbined influence Of fruit
full soil, genial climes and happy insti-
e tutiOns, population has increased fifteen
fold within a century.
Here, through the easy development
of bOundless resources, wealth has in
creased with two fold greater rapidity
than numbers, 30 that we have become
secure against the financial vicissitude1
of other countries, and, alike in busi-
ness and in opinion, are self-centred
and truly Independent. Here more
and more care is given TO provide edu-
: cation for every one born on the SOIL
Here religion, released from political
. connection with the civil Government,
refuses to subserVe the craft of states
men, and becomes, in its independence,
the spiritual life Of the people. Here
: liberation iseXtended to every opinion,
, in the quiet certainty that truth needs
only a fair field to secure the victory
Here the human mind goes forth un-
E shackled in the pursuit of science, tC
collect stores Of knowledge and acquire
I an ever increasing mastery over the for,
ces of nature Here the national do
main is offered and held in millions Of
separate freeholds, so that our fellow
: citizens, beyond the occupants Of any
other part of the earth, constitute il
reality a people. Here exists the dem
ocratic form of government, and that
form of government, by the confession
of European statesmen, ''giVes apOWer
of which no other form is capable, be.
cause it Incorporates every man with
the State, and arOuSeS everything thai
belongs to the SOUL"
Where in past history does a parallel
exist to the public happiness which l.
within the reach of the people of the
United States? where, in any part Oi
the globe, can institutions be found Sc
Z GI1it N n ha r. -n r.