The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-05-17

no hope for fre0dom3 ls all lost : Al
we to wander on in q wilderness {
doubt and uncertainty until our eye
shall suddenly open on, first anarchy
then on uncontrolled power, unlimite
and illimitable, and finally shall our ono
proud bird Of liberty take her final an
everlasting flight from our shores, AM
| leave nthe hopeless gloom of tyran
nyf For one, do not think so. In m,
mind (overtrusting and hopeful it ma
be) think / can see the dawn Of
brighter and happier day. A people 9
long the recipients of the blessings @
constitutional liberty; SO thorough,
indoctrinated in the teachings Of tn
fathers, descended from ancestors VIII,
| snatcned the habeas corpus and trial by
jury from the unwilling hands of power
cannot readily or willingly consent t.
see the overthrow of a system Of govern
ment which was intended to dispense
! and which, for many long years, di,
dispense its blessings upon the people
like the gentle dews of heavenf
1t may be laid down as an axiom o
truth, established and illustrated by thu
worlds history, asapplicable to repub
lies, that government founded on thu
consent of the governed cannot be hal
free and half not free. The contrary
doctrine to this is self destructive 10 ap
ply it to our own county. 1t is impos
sible that for any considerable length o
time the States of the north may enjoy
the blessings Of constitutional govern
ment, and still refuse it to Us of the
south. 1.-THE governing power deprives
the people of these States of rights prop
erly belonging to freemen, they must
as otter of course, stop the mouth
and hush the murmurings of those of the
north who protest against the outrages
and the same arm OF power which
brushes us must needs crush itself
Our fellow-citizens of the north ore toe
wise not to discover that in sustaining
corpus and trial by jury and the bill OF
inevitably like double edged sword cut
both ways, and the back hand blows OF
power must fall on them with the same
destructive force with which it falls on
us. If the government Mt the centre
loves not liberty well enough to bestOw
it willingly and freely on all alike, then
is free government a failure and
equal rights solemn mockery.
Then let us not for moment indulge
in the delusion that 40 millions of free
men will silently and quietly acquire
i'm its ruthless anG destructive hand OF
tyranny, in its base and unjustitiable
assaults on the bulwarks of liberty.
Have we nothing in past and recent
developments to strengthen our hopes
in the final triumph of liberty, in addi-
to our blind faith in the capacity of man
for self-government? Is nothing TO be
learned from the earnest protestations
of our northern fellow-citizens against
the abuses of power, and the calm and
and unselfish resignation with which
the followers Of Lee and Johnston and
Jackson, have submitted to violations
ofgood faith most plainly aud solemnly
pledged?
Is there nothing to encourage the pat
riot In his blind devotion to liberty in
the recent gatherings ofthe people from
Maine to the far off shores OF California,
and in their spontaneous rushing to-
gether like the crushing of many
where manly protestations and solemn
declarations of principles have awaken
ed t American mind to new ideas and
new strength in behalf of sound princi-
pies, made sacred by long devotion
and most holy memories? Is there
nothing in the recent declarations of the
great Teuton of the west, whose,vOice has,
ere this, reached every town, village,
hamlet, and city of the land, when in the
presence of assembled thousands he
dared stand up and answer the question
-"Have the American people become
so utterly indifferent to their true in
terests, to their national harmony, to
the purity of their political life, to the
integrity of their free constitution, that
they should permit themselves to be
driven like a flock of sheep by those
who assume to lord it over them?
1.-The question has now found the an
swer-No! no! The virtue, the spirit OF
independence, the love of liberty, the
republican pride of the American people
are not dead yet. No! nor can thew die!
and that answer is given in thunder
tones by the convention of American
freeman here assembled.
"We begin TO breathe again as freemeu.
We dare again to call things by their
right names. We feel once moro that
our convictions OF right and wrong are
our own. Like the bugle-blast OF
doomsday, the summons is resounding
north aud south and east and west.
The breath of victory is in the very
air which surrounds Us, and that victory
will not escape from our grasp if we are
true to our mission.
We have seen what many of us feared
to be the end, and we have seen the
beginning of the end of misrule. Rea-
son is about to resume..her sway, as she
is left free to combat error.
yet Freedom yet thy banner torn but flying.
Streams like the thunder storm against the
wind,
Thy trumpet voice though broken now and
dying,
The ioudest still the tempest leaves behind.
Thy tree hath lost its blossoms and the rind,
Chopped BY the axe looks rough and little worth
But the sap lasts, and still the:seed we find,
So shall a.better spring less bitter fruit bring
forth"
And now, ladies and gentlemen, not
to detsin you on a subject exhausted by
eloquence and poetry, yet none the less
dear to us On its annual return, let me
ask, in view of the past, what is the
duty of the livingf II, by the hand OF
supernaturafp power, we could burst the
cerements of these graves and bid their
inmates awaken and arise, and could
ask them what should be our course,
what would be their probable answer?
Methinks from them we should learn
lessons of wisdom.
Let us learn to emulate their many
virtues, and bear with becoming resig-
anu COui dkO, bhC
ills of life. Let us learn from those
of food, the scanty clotning, the march
by night and by day, the burning heat
of the summers sun, and rain and sleet
and snow OF the winters storms, and
who at last gave their lives willing
sacrifice on the altar ofprinciple, lessons
of patience and fOrtitude.
II is well that our ceremonies should
come to close, and that our beloved
sleepers should be left to repose.
I know not why, but standing thus by thee,
1t seems as if had thine inmates known.
Thou tomb! and other days come back on me
With recollected music; though the tone
SO changed and solemn, but the cloudy groan
OF dying thunder on the distant wind:
Yet could seat me by this ivied stone,I
Till / had boden forth the heated mind, -
Forms from the flowing wreck, which ruin
leaves behind,
Then rest in peace, departed heroes;
No more for you the blazing hearth shall burn.
Nor busy housewife ply her evening care.
Nor climb your knee the envied kiss TO share.
To these and those comrades who
sleep elsewhere, "tbe plumed troop"
''the ear piercing fife," "the spirit stir
ring drum" and the cross crowned
banner, shall be no more. Yet, may
we not, by the glorious eyeiot faith,
look to that realm where wars and
rumors ofwars shall never come, where
white winged peace and joy and love
forever dwell? May we, on this oc "a
sion, say with another, SIT cannot be
that earth is mans only abiding place.
1t cannot be that our lite is but a bubble
cast up upon the great ocean of eternity,
10 aoat for awhile upon its surface, and
then forever sink to nothingness. Else
why is it that those noble and glorious
asnirations. which leap like angels