The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-12-09

the best interests of the goSerneo. mas III
facfIties of adjustment, and all capabilities OF re-
dress. and reform, Of equal rights and justice III
strong without oppression IL 5 eolerahe "H 49,
weakness. 1t is the instrument OF the peopie an IN
yet its authority is irresistible. has ~ ~ egsct-
provision for the righting Of wrongs, ana ior enec.-
mo ALI needed revolutions. Free speech anu ehe ree
press, and the free ballot can work ali the gIea'
changes that the sword and cannon only a eN
,gbere effect. TIE masses of the people can secure
oil ,ba+ in RIGHT they can ask for. Their own votes
better than armies can give them All tney WISH
has no irresponsible subjects IL gives oo eve! n@- -
the highest right of his manhood ana by ns 'uy
III Tnon Him for responsibility. for thought and
action. il awakens in Him n spirit OF inteihgehce'
and a feeling of obligation. 1t tends to make ains
people self reliant, and to lead thehh 10 HI heH'
for the great duties of self-goVernneht.
We have then great reason to bless our uou 'o-uny
for the government He has given to our nauoh. No
oppressor,s heel grinds US. NO key Oh hho"ieuSeS
withheld from any. No door OF truth Is oarIeu
against the humbest. No cloud OF ignorance keeps
The rnasses in superstition. No sword OF terror
guards the way of life from the approach OF any
Each one may walk in paths OF MS own selec.lon'
and climb to any eminence that ne mas the AFFINITY ~
occupv. No shackle now binds the soul or pouy o!
any eycept such as he himself may have forged and
bound upon himself. 1t is a sublime spectacle 10 see
such millions of free men covering our Wloe extent
of territory, great alike IN peace ana war; miiiions
of liberty-loving men standing up under the resPons-
utilities of self-gogernment, able to repel any foe
without, and to crush any traitor within, loyal anu
patriotic from their own enlightened choice, ana
ready ever under their convictions OF right to make
sacrifice of life, and wealth, for the honor and welfare
and perpetuity of their country. We are blessed In
this perhaps above all the nations of the earth, and
we do to-day, not boastingly. but humbly give our
Thanksgiving to God for 1t.
See again, how, in giving US a rapid growth and
progress, God hath dealt with us as He hath not
with any other people. While other nations have
trodden a slow and uncertain way through long
centuries, ours has come up into equal power and
position within the age of a single man. Young as
it is, all the great nations of the earth are not only
recognizing it as standing in the front rank with
them, but are more and more looking to 1t for pre-
cedent and example. Declaring itself a nation less
than a century ago, it to-day ~confesses to no superior.
1t thinks of none as more mighty or prosperous, or
as having greater resources. 1t fears none as foe.
1t feels called upon to arm itself against none. 1t
looks up to none for favor. 1t is itself drawing the
eyes of the world to itself. Bleeding France, in her
agony, gathers her hope from the strong and free
people of the new world. And as Seward is reputed
to have remarked 81 the American, the world over. Is
becoming the man of the period" In the arts of
civilization and peace also, our country stands among
the foremost. 1t leads all the kingdoms in the results
of inventive genius In practical mechanics, in
navigation, in applied arts. in the results of military
sciences, it is second to none. The steamboat, and
telegraph, and reaper. .aud sewing machine, and
multitudes of minor Inventions, which have wrought
marvellous changes in the processes OF business and
life, have been given to the world by it. 1t has torn
away forests and planted homes and gardens and
cities over hundreds of millions of miles of area.
The yearly products of its soil are valued at over
1900, 10000 o of dollars. 1t manufactures to the
value of 81 ,200, 0O0, 900. The worth of its live
stock is estimated ut nearly 81 500, 900 900. 1t had
a commerce before our late war to the amount of
So, 900, O00, 900. Its rail roads add miles almost too
rapidly to be counted. Its common schools dot its
whole surface, and are reckoned by the hundred
thousand. Its colleges are numbered by hundreds,
and its academies by thousands. Its presses send
forth millions upon millions of sheets day by day
and week by week. The gospel is dispensed from
more than a hundred thousand places of worship.
- ---o IL o,.,Kr =. fnl af
all those social and educational and religious, and
artistic and literary fruits which are the heritage,
and Joy and wealth of q people. Made up OF all
these elements our nations influence has gone out
into all the world. The isles of the sea, have caught
it's spirit of progress. 1t has awakened the old
empires from their slumber of ages. 1t has aroused
the spirit of manhood and freedom in the old world,
and the other states of the new. For all this we do
thank our God to-day.
See again how God has dealt with our nation
marvelously and blessedly in bringing it through all
its great trials and tribulations, not suffering the
fruits of it's struggles and victories to fall to the
ground, and bringing good out Of the evil that was
bred within it. He has lifted it up out of its adver-
sites. He has brought it forth out of its greatest
perls, as into a large place. In the cruclble of its
greatest Affections, He has seemed to consume away
its b~esetting sins, its cOrruptions, and its slavery,
which most of all, threatened its vital growth. For
long, long years, slavery was as a great cancer,
eating into the very Vitals of our nation. 1t was
sending out its strong roots, and filling with its
disease, every part of the national body. 1t was
making sickly the moral sentiment of the whole land.
1t was rotting out our noblest thoughts and princi-
Piles of freedom. 1t was intimidating, and silencing
the press itself. 1t was casting its baneful influence
over the pulpit. 1t was assuming such power, and
imperiousness as to demand that it should no longer
be spoken of as a sin, but should be honored, and
considered as a badge of nobility. 1t was controlling
in the national councils. 1t was debating in the
decisions of the Judiciary. 1t was demanding to be
regarded as national, and as the inherent strength
of our government, as the very basis of its prosperity
and strength. 1t began to speak contemptuously of
free labor. 1t trod upon them that toiled, as but the
mudsills of society. 1t arraigned itself against
public education. and finally it took up the sword to
found for itself an empire of slavery. This world
never knew a more perilous hour. The whole world
had an interest in its issue. Had freedom fallen
before slavery, anarchy and blood would have con-
tinued ever and anon to roll their dark waves over
our land, and mankind everywhere would have lost
their best hope. But God saved us out of that sin.
He delivered us out Of that bloody tribulation. He
lifted from us the curse. He ransomed us with a
fearful price. And He not only brought us forth in
victory, but He is also giving US the blessed fruits of
victory. The wound is healed. A truer unity per-
vades the nation. The one great question in regard
to the nature of our government-the question with
which the great minds in Washington's day had
g%rappled, which Hamilton and Madison and Jay
wrote upon, which Webster and Hayne had their
great conflict over, which Calhoun grew great upon,
and which filled the halls of legislation up to the
very hour of confict-the question whether our gov
eminent was q confederate or federal union was
forever declded. mat fratrlc1dal blood. under the
mercy of God, cemented US into one nation, with but
one national life, and common national interests.
Slavery everywhere henceforth bears its proper brand
of crime. The fields of the sunny south, stirred by
the hand of freedom, bloom with richer harvests to-
day than they ever did under the curseful touch OF
bondage. The crushing debt also, the awful price OF
oneness and liberty, is being paid with providential
and unprecedented ~rapidity.
And now also, that terrible rot Of corruption
which such a war ever breeds, is giving way. Under
the passions and necessities, and Reorganization OF
that fearful war, business and political corruption
spread wide and deep. It became a peril to our
country scarcely second to that of slavery itself, but
the present uprising of the ~yirtuous people in the
city of New York, the very heart and core of the
great disease, gives us assurance that; from TINS
also we can say with David, Praise ye the Lord"
There is not q city, or nation, or individual IN the
wide world, who may not well give thanks for this
stronn rising tide that Is setting toward purity and