The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1867-05-24
long only that ] might ask you whether
we have indeed lost the former Repub-
lie forever. Did the apostle of Radical


ism read the portents Alright?
/ can not certainly answer. All his.
tory is written for our instruction. II
tells us that liberty lost is with diff
Guilty regained; that constitutional law
once dragged to the dust by the pas
sions of man is rarely again raised to
govern them in the same generations;
that when violence and arbitrary ar
rests and destruction of the press and
disregard Of law, enacted by the ignor-
ance or prejudice or passion of the peo-
pie, once destroy the pure appreciation
of the value and safeguards of liberty,it
is difficult to restore it, even as it is
difficult to restore the face of beauty
when it is Scared, or to revive the lus-
trous purity of innocence when it is
defiled. vols. W
lr. Webster, years ago, had occasion
to discuss the same subject, and with
that tpompands splendor of diction which
marked all his political addresses, he
said:
"Other misfortunes may be borne,
or their effects overcome. If war
should sweep our commerce from the
ocean, another generation may renew
it; if it exhaust our treasury, future
industry may replenish it; if it desolate
and lay waste our fields, still, under
new cultivation, they will grow green
again, and ripen to future harvests.
1t were but trihe, even, ifthe walls
of yonder capitol were to crumble, if
its lofty pillars should fall, and it's gor-
geous decorations be covered by the
dust of the valley. t...
"All these might be rebuilt But
who shall reconstruct the fabric of de-
molished government? Who shall
rear again the we'll proportioned COL
umns of constitutional liberty? Who
shall frame together the skilful archi-
lecture which uniteS national sOver-
eighty with State Rights, individual
security and public prosperity? Now
if these columns shall fall they will be
reared not again. Like the Coliseum
and the Parthenon, they will be destined
toameancholy, mournfulimmortality.
Bitterer tears, however, will flow over
| them than were ever shed on the mon
uments of the Roman or Grecian Art,
for they will be the remnants of a more
glorious edifice than Greece or Rome
ever saw-the edifice of constitutional
American liberty"
Gentlemen, feel the force of these
words. know that others feel them
more deeply perhaps than l. I see a.
mong many good men a tendency to
| despair. | see among my own friends
those who agree with me generally
on public affairs-a disposition to give
up all for lost. They have lost hope;
they have lost courage; their despond-
ency counsels inaction. The newspa-
pers, the public speeches, but above all
| the private conversations, indicate this
feeling. Gentlemen, do not sympa-
| thize with it. / have high hopes for
the futu! e. L see the dangers which
are before us see long and weary
way. / see long and eXhausting
not conceal for myself that it may-be
struggle of the sword. Many of us
NAV 90 down with harness on in the
midst of the fight, but hope fills my
heart, and the magnitude of the prize
nerves my arm. ~
The reaction will surely come. All
history, all philosophy declare it. 1t
has come to all other nations; it will
come to US. 1t has come, sometimes
clothed in the white robe OF peace,
sometimes with its garments dyed in
blood. In every country there has
been party of power, and a party a
gainst it. In every country there have
been men who loved liberty as they
loved virtue, and honor, and truth,
men who would avenge its wrongs,
even as they would protect the virtue
of the wife of their bosom, or the honor
of the mother who bore them. Liber-
ty inspires the esoul. Its sacred fires for
ever burn amid its apostles and defen-
ders. When peaceful means are exhaus-
ted. it draws the sword. Let its enc
mics, then, beware, whether they sit
single solitude on throne, or crowd in
tile market-pIaces. So will it be with
us.
Our people desire to be wise and vir-
tuous. Our country is young and rich
it's painful lessons in vain. The splen-
ded recollection5 of the past have not
entirely passed away. Its vestiges are
not all buried in the ruin of thepresent.
The hopes of the future are bright IN
the reflection of its expiring glorles.
They will accelerate the counter rev.
olution. Let us diligently prepare the
way. 1t is wisdom to accept accom-
plished facts. 1t is folly to abandon
correct principles in the moment OF
their adversely. Principles are eter-
l-institutions of the government are
but tinstrumentalities-f vary as the
dayssucceed each other, seem to change
at the bidding of the tickle moon. Let
us hold fast to principles, let us modi-
fy institutions, let us recognize the
changing phases of facts. 1t is the Of
flee of wise men to adoptjust principles
of government by the aid of institu-
| oop6ifion nf affairs