Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1873-09-04

ly weak in many of the great positions
and trials of life.
1t is an element of strength and
courage to feel that you belong to a
sreat nation-especially to a nation
that loves liberty better than any 9TH
er, and is not surpassed in wealth,
power, AID valor. Two men met in
Paris during the war, and were intro
duced. One said, 81 am a citizen of
the United States" to which the other
replied, ~ am citizen of Virginia,
sir. "Ah, Virginia; that is small
part OF my country, that has been a
good deal cursed with slavery and the
distractions of State rights"
When the mind of the nation is fully
saturated with the sentiment of ma
tionality that We are but one people
there will be no danger, though our
boundaries come to embrace the entire
continent.
THE FAR-REACHING INFLUENCE.
What the sun Is In the heavens, diff
fusing light, and life, and warmth, and
by its subtle influence holding the
planets in their orbits and preserving
the harmony of the universe, such is
the sentiment of nationality In a peo-
pie, diffusing life and protection in
every direction, holding the faces of
Americans always toward their home,
protecting the States in the exercise OF
their just powers, and preserving the
harmony of all.
We must have nation. 1t is a me-
cessity of our political existence. We
should cherish the idea that while the
States have their rights, sacred and in
Violable, which we should guard with
untiring vigilance, never permitting
an enoroachment upon them, and re.
membering that such encroachment is
as much violation of the Constitution
of the United States as to encroach
upon the rights of the General Gov
eminent; still bearing in mind that
the States are but subordinate parts of
one great nation-that the nation is
over all, even as God is over the uni
verse.
ACTUAL STATE OF AFFAIRS.
In answer to the general charges of
corruption, and the allegation that
everything is going on wrong, and that
the country is on the highway to ruin,
present the actual state of affairs-the
general and unparalleled growth, de-
velopment, and prosperity OF the ma
tion-the peace, cDntentment, progress
and elevation of the people.
Here and there exceptional condi-
tions exist. In some of the States of
the Northeast there is complaint that
the agricultural interest Is suffering
from various causes, and especially be-
cause of extortiOnate charges by rail-
roads for transporting their productions
to market; in Others, that the manu-
featuring interest is depressed; and in
some parts of the South that there is
want Of growth and prosperity from
causes growing out of the rebellion and
from local misgOvernment. 0t
For these exceptional conditions and
depressions the Democratic politicians
have no remedy of any kind to pro-
pose beyond the restoration of their
tattered, dilapidated and blackened
organization to power. Questions of
transportation they neither understand
! nor cafe for. For the depression of
manufactures they have no sympathy
whatever; and for the misfortunes of
the South they are above all others re-
sponsible. They are like quack doct-
ors who approach a healthy man in the
full vigor of life, and try to persuade
him that he will certainly die unless
he will purchase and swallow their vii
famous nostrums.
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.
In further answer to their charges, /
refer to the fact that since the inaugu-
ration Of General Grant, on the 4th of
March, 1869, $50 millions of the nation
al debt has been paid off. Within that
70 of hn ,frvy l.
been reduced by a Republican Congress
$50 millions. Within that time the
credit of the nation has been improved
and established throughout the world.
Within that time our difficulties with
England have been settled upon an
honorable and advantageous basis, by
which England pays the fifteen mil
Hons and a halt in coin, and has, upon
our suggestion, recognized arbitration
between nations as substitute for war
the grandest triumph in the history
of diplomacy, ancient or MODERN
Within that time our chronic difference
with England, in regard to the North
western boundary, has been settled in
our favor. And 1 made the general
statement that the Government, in its
various departments, is now admins
tered more strictly in-accordance with
law, and with more system, than ever
before.
And when we take into considera-
ton the magnitude of the Government
and the vast amounts of money now
collected and disbursed, as compared
with former times, believe it may be
truthfully affirmed that there are fewer
defalcations, less malfeasance in office,
and more fidelity to official duties than
at any former period in the history of
our Government.
The vast enterprises that have been
projected and executed within the last
few years, the enormous expenditures
of money for military and civic pur-
poses, and the necessary multiplication
of offices and public agents growing
out of these things, have presented OPP
portunities and temptations for corrup-
tion and peculatiOn such as never eX-l
isted before in the country, and it isl
the subject of grateful surprise that
there has been so little, and that the
public virtue, instead of being dimin-
ished, has been strengthened and in
creased.
CIvIL-SERvICE REFORM.
Inc cldInOrS Vi tle OppOSItiOii iof CIV
il-service reform, which were heard so
persistently for the last two or three
years, are now almost silenced. The
President has gone farther in that
work than all preceding Administra-
tions, and has introduced great changes
in the administration of the civil SER
vice. In the departments at Washing-
ton clerks are appointed only after
thorough competitive examinations as
to their qualifications, and afterward
promoted from grade to grade upon
similar examinations. This has had
the effect to divorce service in the de-
partments from political influence and
the current politics of the day.
One of the evils of administration
and defects of our system has been rep-l
rosan ted To he the infiunnca aYarcisad |