Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-01-18


means which tend to so desirable result.
A nation is strong in proportion to the
homogenity of its people. To be country
men should in itself be pledge of brother.
hood wherever we meet, aud brotherhood
implies community of language and similar.
ity of habit and thought. To encourage
and stimulate our naturalized fellow. citizens,
and the new comers who purpose becoming
such, TO adopt our language, to educate
| their children with ours, and TO identify |
! themselves with us as rapidly as possible, |
! is the dictate of true patriotism in us, and, |
at the same time, is the best welcome we |
can give to them, since there can be no ques- !
tion that they will thus become most quick |
! ly acquainted with their rights as citizens |
will be least likely to be overreached and |
made dupes of in business or in politics,
and will find the road to pecuniary profit
and personal advancement most rapidly open
before them.
Our common school system is to be fos-
tered and improved, and there is nothing
in which our people have deeper interest
than this. IF there be any one thing to
which, under Providence, more than TO an
other we owe our safe passage through our
recent perils, | believe il is the intelligence
which our common schools have universally
diffused. 1t has not been simply the power
to read but that larger and wider culture
which has made the American people capa-
bic Of weighing and deciding upon grave
arguments of right and of policy in the
midst Of greatest excitement. Ths Govern
ment appealed to them rs to men able to
comprehend any arguments Of State policy
aud the steady loyalty OF the people and
their persevering support Of the national
cause was in direct proportion to the intelli-
; geHce and education of different states or
} communities. | will even go further. and
declare my belief that outside OF the imme
: date theatre of hostile operations, the cause
, Of the Government never lost any thing by
, the most unlrammeed freedom of public
discussion and printing, because the people
were always able to detect the sophsms Of
di,lnyslty, and their patriotic purposes we're
strengthened rather than weakened by see
2 ing the whole force Of the enemy they had
i to meet. Among the safeguards of our lib
critics and guarantees of the permanence Of
j. oar institutions, [ reckon our school system
u the very chief Blind and devoted love of
0 country may exist under despotism, if g-
Q nnraHce be the mother Of a superstitious or
d childish attachment but liberty and repub-
licnnism can ba built on no other solid foun-
Vt dation than int lligence in the whole mass
n Of the people. A wise self interest is made
$ the basis of all scientific political economy,
- and when whole people have learned to es.
e innate that interest truly, besides loving
e their country dearly, you have ground for
I faith in the stability Of their government,
D such as can be got in no ether way. 1t is
J. because Of the general conviction that eul
l. common schools may be made to secure this
g result that there is an equally general be
o lief that no money used for public purpose:
8, is 80 we'll Invested as that which supports
10 our school system.
Ie No statement Of our condition and our du
IS ties would be complete which did not speal
E. of the debt we owe to the sad array (slmos,
e an army in itself) ofthe msimed and dis
III abled heroes to whom the return OF pesc,
,e brings no bright prospect for their own f,i
ir ture. The dead may be supposed to looi
lr down in glory and in pride upon the work
a they have accomplished by shedding thei
n blood, and our money of them become,
N rath hor exultant than painful but these sicI
a and crippled ones are condemned to looI
lie upnn tho general prosperity and joy, feelin,
n bitterly than their lives must be deprived
10 Of nearly everything which health and yigo
would have secured them. If we shou!t
n give them cause TO think their country is un
'e grateful, We shall double their mis- ry ant
to provo ourselves unfaithf u to one Of the mos
ir solemn duties which eau be imposel upon us
~ More than eight Thousand disabled Obi,
a soldiers are already upon the rolls of tn
n NATIONAL pension bureau. The pittanc
As which the general Government can eiv
r. them will not save them from want Ho,
Is can we best do the remainder of our dut
VI toward them? A beginning mas slread
ar been made in the temporary establishment
~ Of State Soldier Home, but it is manifts
rs that it will provide for very small part o
It. those who have good claim upon us, if in
he deed any system Of cOngregating the pen
I'D sioners in permanent asylums can accom-
A. plish the desired end believe the peopl
le nre ready to do their whole duty in thi
10 mattor, and will expect those whom the
. have intrusted with the legislative power t
n provide adequately by law the best pract
nd cable system for lischarging this great DEB
- of honor. This disposition on their par
nc has been manifested not only in the nobl
w and generous private contributions throug
lis societies and commissions, by which tn
es comfort OF our soldiers in the field and tn
is efficiency of our military hospitals were wor
'st derfully increased, hut the same spirit hs
le prompted numerous local monuments to on
es dead, and will, trust, grow into some pei
at manent memorial on behalf Of the State q
.al large, in keeping with the dignity Of on
he position and with the depth Of our feeling
at In these az well as in other ways the lat
~ war has brought great burdens upon on
en- State, but its prosperity has been such the
'te have been horne without impoverishiny ou
th people or Srsning the public resource.
To- Our state debt has been diminished durn
ip this very period OF commotion, aud such ha
We been the thrift of the community and tn
~ success Of business enterprise, that we sc
to on evory hand tho evidences of accumulatin
re, wealth. Ohio, "the 6rSt-born of the ord
ey nance of 1857" has been true to the prir
of ciples Of that great act of statesmsnshir
ry- which dedicated the northwestern territor
"a to freedom and free labor, and now NOR
than ever before is realizing the benefits 0
nd the wisdom which then launched her upo
tly u career of unexampled growth under tn
ch auspices Of religion, intelligence and fre,
Ter dom.
hit A different policy, based upon false an
ID, unjust system OF labor, has brought fort
ch its matured fruit ef rebellion, followed b
ng desolation and ruin. God grant that tn
In lesson so sternly taught by experience ma
'u.. be wisely learned by all, and that the retur
OF TO the right path may everywhere speedil