Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-07-07
lNG,, JULY Z, 1866.

IT vi Us
| have warred. BY him, too, the pestilent
swamp, the forest the torrent, have been
subdued. He has ransacked the secrets of
! the earth and sea, and by the potent magic
of science, skill, and labor, compelled the
very forces that combined against him to
| do his bidding, till in a space of
time that in the book Of history is
scarce page, this continent so lately
| rude and desert, blossomed like the rose, till
| in all the earth there was no land so free,
| so prosperous, so happy, so hopeful as ours.
AL this it was till. the evil spirit sowed
among us, too, the seeds of discord, lit the
fatal fires of faction, let loose the demon Of
civil war to work havoc and desOation
where peace and prosperity had made al
most an Eden on earth. And now the war
| is over. The victory is won; the van
qIished disarmed, and helpless before us.
| Never was victory more unquestionable,
unquestioned, and complete. is there no
| lesson for us in the Indian legend have
| told your Shall we white men be less mer-
ciful than the Indian whose home we in
heritp Shall we Christian men be more re-
vengeful toward our brothers in sin than
was the Pagan savage? Shall we, who
boast of civilization, and progress, and
| knowledge, fail to reach that noble sagacity
of craftsmanship which deems war frutless,
and victory incomplete until the enemy,
conquered as we'll by clemency and mag
nanimity as by arms, Is converted into
| friend. This day, citizens, you set apart as
the political festival of all the year. You
do well. 1t should be a. holy and happy
| day. Never. while this Republic lives,
should its citizens fail, when this anniver-
sary comes around, to celebrate it with
pomp and rejoicing, to awaken the mem
ories of its early perils, to ascend, as 1t
were, the stream of its history back to It's
| first source, to that dark and doubtful hour,
! ninety years ago, when the thirteen colon
| les, uniting in one solemn purpose, set be-
| fore mankind that calm statement OF their
! grievances, which you have read to-day,
! broke the tie which had bound them to the
| government which did them wrong, and
| appealing to Heaven and the future, de-
| clared themselves to be thenceforth thirteen
equal and Independent States; and in de-
fense of their rights as such free and in
| dependent States, pledged their lives, their
| fortunes and their sacred honOrs. You
know how well and brayely that pledge
was kept. Thus was born the new con-
federacy of States, then and now called
the United States" Think, citizens,
what it was then and what tbs now. This
ancient society has honOred me with its in
vitatiOn to speak to you to-day. | scarce
you. Fourth of July orations have a doubt
| ful reputation. 1t seems to be the custom
for orators on this day to utter only such
words as shall be pleasant to hear-to con-
gratuate, to flatter, to applaud, and Heaven
knows there is for us ample subject of con-
graduation, and he need never flatter who
desires to praise to its desert the brave,
generous American people. We have
much cause to be thankful: the war
drum rolls no longer, the sword ia
sheathed, the battle flags are furled.
The corn is waving over the graves
where sleep in peace, side by side,
the victor and the vanquished in the terri
BILE conflict which has been, and never again
can be. That awful trial of the thought,
| in which arms were the advocates, and the
argument shot and shell, the bayonets and
the vessel, is over. Judgment unappeala-
BILE and irreversable, has been given. 1t is
decreed that no State of the United States
can sccede, can leave the Union, can cease
to be one of the United States without the
consent of all. Judgment unappealable
and irreversable has been given. 1t is de-
creed that the relation between capital and
labor, which prevailed in certain of the
| States, called Slavery, shall exist no more.
| These two questions that have disturbed
society need disturb it no longer they are
of the past. There let them be buried. For
all this we owe our thanks to that Provi-
dence in whose hands are the destiny Of
nations, and under Providence, to the gal
liant men, who, on land or sea, with stead
| fast hearts fought the great quarrel out
| Why should waste words in telling you
of this? Your own hearts cannot fail to be
| sensible of it. And why should ] keep
back the gEaNer and sadder thoughts that
| struggle fer utteEance, or now, because it is
the Fourth of July, break the resolution
| formed long ago, 10 speak to the people
| whenever they cared to hear me, the
! thoughts that lay nearest to my heart-to
| be alWass candid, franl and open with
| them; to speak the truth, or not to speak
| to them at all. Citizens, | warn you that
| the republic is still in danger. The worst
| of the storm has blown over. The state
| still rides a proud and gallant sight. She
| has escaped, more by GUd's providence than
| by good steering, the Scylla of secession.
she is drifting, drifting slowly, but surely,
| into the charybdis of Capitalization. Can
her course be changed? Is there time still
to put her head about, and escape the dan
ger? God knows; it depends on him and
the people. Have you even thought what
Capitalization really means and what are
| its inevitable tendencies? Cast yourmem-
| ory back to the state of political affairs ten
or twelve years ago. Then we in New
York scarcely felt the finger of the Federal
| Government 1t carried our letters, and
collected certain import duties to an
amount necessary to meet the current ex-
penses of that Government, and they were
trifling. But for all other purposes of gov
ernment, the law of the State of New York
| was sufficient, paramount, and supreme.
Now all this is changed. The finger of the
Federal Government now is stronger than
the arm of the State We are getting what
| is called stronger Government. We have
| now let loose on us a cloud of assessors,
collectors of taxes, federal officials of al
sorts, prying into eyeryman's transactions,
questioning, spying, informing, gather
| ing up a large proportion of our labors,
and pouring it into the central reservoir,
from which it flows and percolates in
eorrupting streams from end ito end of the
land, and countless officials, great and small,
with faces ever reyerently turned towards
| Washington, as Doslem's turn towards
Mecca lap upthe eintoxicatiug tide andIcry
for more. Our artisans work hard and earn
good wages, but somehow they can't live
as. well as of old. Wages are high, but the
necessaries of life, are higher. What's
the cause of this2 2 1t is because, in order
to, satisfy a few worthy millionaries, to pro-
tect them, to increase their profits, the cheap
| supply of all sorts Of commodities, (which
foreignnations are eager to sellIus, is, as far
as possible, shut out by excessive. import
duties, Thus the manufacturer is protected;
| the manufacturer becomes rich, the COM
sumef becoms poor. Thus laboro is saori-
feed to the fewS the people that pay taxes
are SACRIFICED to those that receive taxes.