Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-15

It stands, in intellect morals and all manhood, fa
m advance of any previous generation.
IL Is part of this eternal law, that ali progress
and perfection in mind or matter must DO wrought
Gut through storm and trial. 1t is law inexora
bic and not 10 be evsded-to it individuals and ma
tiOns and che vast human race must conform Ths
tree sheltered in grove or garden grows graceful
and tall, but it is grand and strong only when "A,
roots have been compelled 10 rrapple with Oh,
] mountain side and its boughs 20 battle with The
, gale. Individual man does not grow great and
strong in circumstances of quiet and ease These
are the CIRCUMSTANCE he covets but can never at
tain he marks out for himself & quiet path where
comfort and peace shall wait, and ali pleasant
thiEgs attend; and 10 God forces him through
thoiay ways Of labor and trial. where is no resi- oy
shade and care burdens his shoulders, and spectrec
Of fear and shapes Of misery rise dark and vast be-
fore him, and stop all his way He grosns as he
walks, but through all his arms and bis soul grow
strong. He comes from the strife smoke-gr5med
and blood-stained and Scared, but if be be q true
man he is victor still. He wrests courage and
strength from every conflict, and the burrows on
his brow are the names Of battlefeds where he has
been the conqueroF. And when az last he dies in
all his inches man, it is manhood made and de-
Teloped BY the labcrs and trials through which he
has walked. The pure gold and the strong sword
blade come forth from the FIRE and the hammer and
SOD iorges men and nations At white heat aud
| N4'SHby D4OMEt DEt ii the man Dc unworthy
the place assigned him, and in vice. indolence or
cowardlce, refuses 81 walk the rough path marked
out for him, that men must step frcm the line and
| give his place 70 better. There is no niche on
earth prepared Tor the imbecile OF the coward and
IN The arrangements Of Providence shiftesEness is
crime
So il is with nations God plants a nation on the
EARTH and lays its destiny in its hand and its oppor-
tunities before it.; and then if it prove worthy,
through the centuries he educates and disciplines
that people. He makes it do battle with the ele-
ments and 9courges it with pestilsnce and famine
/ BE surrounds il with enemies who must be met and
! conquered gives traitors scope in its midst and
makes eternal vigilance the price of IFS liberties
War, invasion, conspiracy, revolution, try its
strength But through il ALL if it be true 10 itself,
the nation lives and courage Craftsmanship and pa
triotism come from the discipline. Philanthropists
may weep and patriots despair but the slow reient-
/ less mills OF God grind on. The path Of the ma
4 tons destiny lies through The fire and food, aud
there il must walk, wortbier shall take its place
Through all time earth's races have been upon
trial. Some have accepted the stern test and bat
Ting for their high destiny, have gone on towards
its fulfllment. Others, in cOwardice effeminacy or
vice. have refused the hard conditions Of glory and
| success, and have been swept away 10 make room
for worthier
oh Freedom thou Grt not poets dream.
A fair young girl will light and delicate limbs
And wavy tresses gathering from the cap
With which the Roman master crowned bis slave
When he took OF his gives. bearded man
Armed 70 the teeth art thou one mailed hand
Grasps the broad shield the sword thy brow
Glorious in beauty though 1t be, IS SCARED
With tokens Of old wars thy massive limbs
Are strong with struggling Power at thee has auprbe
His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee
Merciess Power has dug thy dungeon deep,
And his swart armOrers, by thousand fires,
6ave forged thy chain yet while he deems thee bound
The links are shivered, and the prison wallis
As springs tho fame above burning pile.
And shoutest to the nations, who return
Thy shoutings, while the pale oppresoor ices"
Through such 4 course of discipline have our lib
critics come down 70 us For thousand years the
island whence cur fathers came, reeled with war
and revolution, and dripped with blood But stern
discipline bred stern virtues in the hearts of our
cestors They brought law and order from the
midst Of chaos and conflict and the stream of our
liberties gushed forth where the feet of the war
horse smote. And when transplanted TO our west
ern shores, our fathers brought in their arms and
hearts the gathered strength of the centuries of war
and toll and vigilance that had gone before; and
here contending with rude nature and savage foes
they kept the strong arms and stout hearts that
should soon be needed so much And thus it was
that when the our of trial came, and
Freedom on her natal day
Within her Wsr-rocked cradle lay,
An iron race around her stood
Baptized her infant brow with blood,
And though the STERN that round her swept
Their constant ward aud watching kept"
l need not dwell ON the tale of their strife aud
suferings, their courage patriotism and faith You
know it all, and we do we'll, with professions and
serve their memory.
Marvellous was the courage that enabled the in
FAINT nation first TO grapple with IFS giant enemy
But more wonderful the faith and determination,
that through loGg years of trial and difficulty and
disCouragement held up their armed hands and kept
their faces 10 the foe. Is is easy 10 summon spirit
and courage for sudden onset-a short and deeis-
i've warfare. But the experience that tries the souls
Of men, is the long torture Of suspense and delay
the sickening grief Of hope deferred the weary con-
I -
ment and despair For eight years our fathers
| fought with matters round their neck-fought on
| land and on sea@-fought with the savage and the
soldier-conten9ed against poverty and starvation
and ruin-with faint-beaTtedness and cowardice and
treason. The end came at last and 10 human view
/ the prospect Of peace was only less gloomy than
/ that Of war. a loose and ncoherent Confederacy
instead of a nation an army, starving, ragged and
unpaid treasury empty; debt Of hopeless mag
ntude and ruined credit; these confronted the
/ founders Of the republic when peace first dawnod.
/ The elements of nationality were there at their
hand, but in what chaos and Reorganization and
the virtues demanded by the new-found peace were
not less than those required by sternest war.
But terrible as were the trials and struggles Of
those who guarded our nations youth-grievous as
were the woe and death and ruin Of those eight
years of war; we from our century Of distance can
look back and that this nation was 10 be saved
and blessed, not one struggle grief pang of that
stormy time could have been spared-not one day
could those weary years Of war and desoation have
! been shortened.
! The long stress of common danger-the long
/ anxiety for a common cause became bond Of sym
/ patty and union between the severed colonies and
/ created a nation where league had been.
The liberties won with so mnch toll became
doubly sacred TO those who won them, and TO their
sons-the blessings purchased with blood were sane
titled by that baptism for all time-the nationality
| lsbored for, fought for died for, became thing
| worshipped by all hearts and against whose pre-
| ciousness no equivalent could be set That we have
! q country we know, and thank God but It is the
land fathers died to give us, and our brothers
died TO save that we love, and here this sacred
anniversary vow before high heaven 20 maintain.
Those eight years Of war; and the years of political
! perplexity Immediately following, taught the men
Of that time the necessities Of the country the dan
gers 10 be guarded against in organizing form OF
| government, and the defects Of the experimental
systems which they tried The lessons of q century
| we're crowded into those few years, and the men
who learned in that school were such as the world
1 never before produced The constitution they pre-
pared is the wonder of the world and its provisions
are only short of Inspiration. IL is bold in its orig
inAlity yet guarded and conservative in its checks
and couDter-poises. II boldly recognizes the doc
trne that al political power resides in the people,
! and vet that this political power can be exercised
with safety only in accordance With, and under the
provisions Of law, It i0ds the organic law of thr-
teen feeble colonies-it is the comprehensive bond
that includes and governs with equal perfection an
/ empire OF nearly forty States. An instrument so
brief in IFS grand simplicity, and yet so broad and
all compromising has never been produced before
or since and none Of the scores Of limitations II has
/ called forth have ever equalled it.
Well may we keep this dsy-well may set
apart day in the year TO perpetuste the memory
Of our fathers deeds and teach children 10 love
their fathers land Let il be kent through all time
/ Il