The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1868-10-09
The Polar star of the Party.

| GEO. II. PENDLEToN addressed null
titude of People at Springfield, Illinois,
recently, and made one of the greatest
speeches of his life in defence of con-
stitutional liberty. In speaking of the
Constitution. he said:
The great polar star of the Dcmocra-
tic party is the Constitution of the Uni
! ted States. Do not, my fellow citizens,
| in the heat of this arduots contest. do
not forget that great lesson. The Re-
publican party believe they can amend
! it they can change itand make it bet
ter Constitution than our fathers made it
| in the days of old. charge it upon YOU,
! Democrats that are here to-day. never
| to consent TO its amendment or its deg
radiation. Do not seek to amend lido
not seek to change it. do not seek to
evade it. Obey it. II was good enough
for your fathers. 1t is good enough for
YOU. If YOU obey it, it will be good
enough for your children for one hum
drcd years to come. study it-undcr-
stand it. Carry it about with you as a
living presence in the walks of your
daily life. Take it to your home-read
ii to your wit'c-tcach it to your chill
dren: put it upon your family altar,
that when you bow your head in sup
plicatng prayer it may be there next to
the image of God himself. DO this, and
then in His own good time you will be
able to raise it up to that place and
power to which the brazcn serpent in
the wilderness was raised in order that
the plague might be stayed DO this.
aud ,yill hn nl,l, IN rni IL Ia,
that high place of honor to which the
Ark ofthc Covenant was raised. around
which the Almighty kept ward and
guard, that he who touched it with I'M
pious hands should die. Remember,
tellow-citzens, that the Constitution
contains within itself all that was good
in the experience of the past, and all
that is hopeful in the prospect of the
future. 1t is the ark of safety in the
midst of the flood which is upon us.
1t may be tossed in the backncss of
darkness upon the weary waters OF ma
ny days. but it will rest upon the noun
tain top at last: the sun will shine, the
dove will leave it never to return, and
now as then, emblem Of purity, liberty
and peace. she will rebuild her habi-
tations amidst the scenes of her former
life. 1t may be in the providence of
God that this country of ours will fol-
low in the wake ofall nations that have
gone before. If it shall be so. let it
not be owing to the faults or misIor-
tunes of the Democratic party. If it
must be so, lie. it be known that it was
the party of our love that stood to the
last, with heroic virtue. to the principles
Of civil liberty. Ii it must be so. let us
take consolation in the thought that in
the eternal circles of God. death is but
the precursor of resurrection. and that
the same principles which hasten ma
tons TO decay contain within them
selves the sparks Of living fire which
secure undying youth to our immortal
race.
Amid the wreck of time its progress
is still onward and upward, higher and
| higher and still higher. Higher! high
cr. That is the motto of our race; that
is the motto of our aspirations: that is
the hope of our immortal souls. Hi CHI
er! even as the eagle when he takes his
flight to the sun higher! as the immor-
tai stars, when in their eternal courses
they cncircle the toot-stOol ofthe throne.
| Higher! as the soul of man, when leav-
ing its tenement ofclay, it seeks through
all the agos the home OF its father and
its God.