Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-09-16

she whale body eftouers and producers.
Thks n . eEest result. ~ which - Illus
h1sed ehe 'bsniaesles of . just govern
ment ond the rsnenss Is secures TO hon
ct -, Whieh fee6a aad slothss, and
sheAEaau nations.
Whaa meAnas-i What folly, ny eoun-
~ men, to 1ute1rupI this wonderful re-
suit OF free representative government?
IT was the sayings Of the great Roman
Senator There is nothing In which
human nature approaches nearer 10 the
power of the gods than to found new
States or Ia perpeIuate those already
founded"
If it is not permitted TO you or to me
to become the founders fnew States, it
is our privilege, and ought to be esteem
ed our highest honor TO perpetuate that
great and free commonwealth founded
by our fathers, the people of which ale
by force of our wise and matchless Con-
stitution zone people, This, rely OH it
can not he done without maintaining
intact and inviolate the national honor
and faithfully and honestly paying to
the last dollar the national debt. | do
hut utter the judgement of that history
in which God is. and through which He
teaches TO men and nations the profound
est lessons they learn, that nation dis
honored is nation dead! If you would
perpetuate your institutions, maintain
the national faith aud pay the nations
debts. A people who have the means
to pay their just obligations and who
deliberately refuse to carly out their
honest contracts, are not fit live and
by DEGREES of the presiding Providence
that "shapes our ends, rough hew them
how we will ;" must sooner or later per-
ish
| have said all that L desire to say
touching the dishonorable proposition OF
reputation. This debt can not be paid;
the just obligations OF the nation can not
be met; the nations contract can not he
carried out without paying the amount
Gated for by the bonds and legal-tehder
notes in coin, or its equivalent. That
was the agreement that was the con-
tract. 1t is not met by paying, as this
Democratic party proposes, the five
twenties in legal tenders. The reason
given by this party-the best reason that
could he given by this party-the best
reason that could he given for this pro-
posed act of bad faith-is that the bond
holders bought in le al tenders or green
backs. Were not the ten-fOrties bought
in greenbacks? Why not apply the le-
gal tenders received by the capitalists
in payment of ali debts owing to them,
and were not those debts equal to the
present debt of the United States? If
tileIudgement of this party, as pronounc-
ed, ia good, It needs no assignment of
reasons, If bad no reason assigned can
support it or make it good. The reason
is worthless. # held good, it results
that legal-tender notes hould never be
redeemed in anything blt written prom
ises never to pay Legal tenders for the
bond-legal tenders for legal tenders.
That would be an irredeemable currency.
III, IMPARTI.Ls SUFFRAGE.
/ now ask your attention to another
issue kindred to this which has been
thrust upon you by this so-called Dem
ocratic party-that is, Whistler the Gov
ernment of the United States shall be
what it il intended to be, the govern
ment of the whole people, or the govern
ment of only part of the people. The
great Apostle of the Nazsrene, eighteen
hundred years ago, declared that "God
hath made of one blood all nations OF
men, From that day to this conflict
has gone on tstween the friends OF equal
and exact justice TO all men. of civil
government made by the people and for
and oppression, of the right of the few
to rule the many, and especially of the
blasphemous assumption that one man
may OF diyipe right, rule the millions,
and demand of them .sallegiance In all
to himself and to his posterity forever
not merely for day, or year, but for
ever, until empires and pations perish,
and men shall be no longer upon the
EARTH Against this mopstrOus assump-
ton every pulsatiOn of the human heart
is and ever has been in revolt.
After centuries of trial and struggle
the triumph came, when the armed for
ces of England surrendered Oh the field
of Yorktown to the men of the AmerI-
can Revolution. This great result of
free government in Amer
iea syas not achieved without centuries
of sacrifice end preparation. i'll the Old
World. Even the discovery of the new
heritage of freedom WAS rewarded with
claims captivity. This new wirld, re-
served by Providence for this expert
meut of representative government, was
not occupied by the pilgrims until the
immortal genius of humanity had first
invented gunpowder and paper and
printing, and finally the great expert
Inent was only made possible by the re-
man mind against the depotism which
for centuries had enslaved it.
The experiment was begun after all
this costly preparation, and thus far has
continued, relying solely upon consent
of the people, and proclaiming to all the
world that the.only Legitimate Office of
civil government among men is to pro-
tect each and all alike in those righ.s of
life and liberty which are the gift of God
and as universal as the race.
This proclamation of the democracy
of the New Testament has summoned
hither the flower and manhood of every
civilized people in Europe. The result
is that FROM 'S9 to '69 we have grown
from three to forty millions of people.
From thirteen States we have grown to
be thirty-seven-thenl limited westward
by the range of the Aileghenies, now
east and west only by the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. To-day territory as
large as continental Europe is subject
to the government of the free people OF
America.
In this land of ours men and citizens
were by the corruption OF the European
system, made slaves. In the consuming
fires of the late great conflict for union
and liberty every fetter binding human
limbs were turned to dust, and to-day
the Republic refuses to bear upon its
soil a single slave.
This victorious people having atoned
for the crime against humanity by the
sacrifice of blood; have, by asolemn decree
declared by the amendments OF their fun
damental law. first, that hereafter there
shall be no slavery or involutary servi-
tude in this republic except as punish
ment for crime. upon due conviction /;
and, second, that no State shall deprive
any person of life. liberty or property
without due process of law, nor deny to
any person the equal protection Of the
laws; nor make nor enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or
immunitiss Of citizens of the United
States and that all persons born within