Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-12-07

Goa has imposed upon His nation OF
promoting The highest Igelfdrs OF man
kind.
According to the text, the measure
Of our duty in this respect will be
found in our means and opportunities
for accomplishing the work. Some of
these 1 will specify.
I. And first of all, it is evident that
our Republican institutions and our
distance and freedom from the old
governments of the world, ana from
their revolutions and despotisms, fur-
nish US the most favorable opportunl-
ties for exerting benehclal influence
upon mankind, and therefore II Is our
duty so to do.
Whether we consider the nationals
ties Of our puritan ancestry; or CON
template their religious and eeelesias-
ticai beliefs or examine their pOliti-
cal and governmental preferences; or
take note Of the manner In which
they were driven forth~from homes
and country and brought to this new
world; or measure the trials and
hardships under which they were
sustained so herOically; or study the
earlier forms of governments, which
they established; F; whether we eOnsid-
er any one or all of these matters, we
are driven to one and the same con-
clusiOn, viz: that God was in all these
events preparing them aud the world
for that higher, truer, better govern
ment which finally found form and
expression in cur Republican institu-
tiOns. Not since the Jewish theOcra-
cy has any government arisen with so
many proof Of the divine favor and
Z forming as this. 1t seems expressly
adapted for the exercise Of q moral
/ influence, limited only by the habita-
| tiOns of men. Its foundations are
I laid in the unehangable principles Of
4 freedom, truth, justice, virtue. It is
a government directly from the whole
/ people, for the whole people, and
almo st literally, by the whole people.
! 1t is 1 government, too, in which the
whole people can, If they will, exert
a healthy moral influence such as re-
suit only from the enthusiasm gem
Grated by vast numbers moved by a
i common impulse. The springs Of the
government being in the people they
/ can alter or modify it as they please.
Z While, therefore, our government re-
mains what il is, and what it has been
hitherto, il is but the mirror which
reflects the will of the people; and so
/ it brings out to the worlds gaze the
! Qualities of the national heart. And
/ here is the secret of its great power as
I compared with other governments
I Its efficiency is that Of the whole
I people. The administration stands
/ up, clothed in the panoplY, not of one
mans will, nor of the will of an aris-
j tocracy, but Of the nation g will. And
such is the construction of the gov
! eminent that il must be Administered
! more or less under the influence OF
virtue. For both our national expert
ence and observation have Joined in
I teaching the lesson, that virtue, at
I least in the form Of common integri-
\ ty, is the only conservative element in
a Republic. Hence whatever OF en-
! ergy the government manifests must
! be virtuous, while the nation remains
true to itself. For just 50 far as virtue
diminishes among the people, viii the
4 freedom Of the government diminish,
and the people suffer. For no fact Is
4 better established than that a corrupt,
vicious, prOfigate people can be gov
] erned only by force. Our Republiean
/ institutiOns, therefore, as now exist
7
/ far-reaching moral achievement
] They are such as command the admi-
1 ration of mankind. They are them
I selves a power, whose influence has
already vitalized more or less eXten-
/ sively all the nations OF Europe. The
/ notes Of universal freedom of social
elevation; Of human brotherhood; OF
a share in the government by all the
4 governed, which our institutions have
been sounding in the ears of the peO-
| pie of the old world these scores of
years, have awakened heart-yearn-
I ing for like privileges and blessings,
so potential that il has forced its way
TO the throne, and won many kingly
concession to the popular demands
| The universally of this desire for
freedom is seen in the frequent
/ changes and revolutions, which, in
these later years, follow each other so
rapidly, and keep the crowned heads
and despOtic oligarchs trembling for
the perpetuity of their authority.
Nor is this great influence, which is
so silently and constantly flowing out
from our Institutions, materially i'm
! paired by the fact that our rulers and
lawmakers may, for a time, pervert
both the spirit and letter of our glOri-
Gus Magma Charta, by improper en-
actments and violent enf0rcements OF
j the same. For so long IS the people
! themselves remain true 10 their con-
stitution they win sooner or later rec
1 tify these abuses, and bring back the
administration to its fundamental
principles of justice and virtue. We
cannot, therefore, suffer for any great
length of time from a corrupt admin
istratiOn. Whatever form these gov
ernmental corruptions nay assume
they must in time becoms manifest to
the convictions of a majority of the
people, and then the ballot box fur
nishes a speedy remedy. For
aTruth. crushed to earth, slall rise again
The eternal years Of God are hers;
But error, wounded writhes with pain,
And dies among her worslippers.'
That we have this srecupdative power
is well understood by the world
Hence no permanent check can be
given to the moral influences of Oul
| Republican Institutions by the tenn
pOTary mai-administTatims of pOliti-
: cal factions. Abating therefore
! whatever fractions may Le necessary
3 to measure these irregularities of ad-
! ministratiOn, il still remains a great
: integral truth, that We are enabled
! through our forms of government, tC
: exert a powerful influence upon the
: rest of the world. Our action, what
: ever direction itmay assume, is every
where interpreted as an expression o.
! the national will as n MEASURE of the
! national magnanimity ~ an index
J of the national feeling. Hence il
must carry with it a power adapted t
+ stir the heart OF the whole human
} family in spite of expressions anC
Z despOtisms. Our institutions have
: done already a good wCrk in theil
? moral conflicts with tyranny, despOt
T ism and oppression. The ancien
philosopher said, if they would givl
: him a place to stand, he could mOv'
the world. What he asked for il
( vain, the American peOple have pos
: sessed for nearly a century. Thes'
. United States is that place, and ou
1 free institutions are the mighty leve
e with which we are upheaving thu
7 thrones of despots and tOppling owe
: the systems Of oppression in every
3 1 part of the world. The effects already
) | produced are marvellous. The studen
T Is amazed as he conteufplates thi
: mighty changes which have beeI
: made in the governments of the Oh
, World during the psst half century
! and then traces them back to tn
silent but powerful influence exerte'