Knoxville Whig and chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1875-1882, 1875-06-02

price has been paid for the salvation of the
| Republsc Are we not under the most
solemn obligations 70 see to il that these
men have not died in vain2 Ought we
not, with most viglant care, TO cherish MS
sacred the purity Of those institutions for
/ which so great ransom has been paid
] And ought We not upon these occasions,
/ when we have assembled 10 recall the vir-
/ tues and sacrifices of the heroic dead, TO
consider whether there are not now dam
/ gers TO the country for which they died Z;
/ dangers against which we may be called
/ upon in this time of peace to initiate in
/ spirit the virtue sad courage Of these dead
Let US count not as necessary evils
those vices which confront Us in
short of no revolution in peaceful ways
/ which does not include and establish pulit
| ical purity and official integrity.
THE CENrENSGAL PERIOD.
| Let Us remember, too, that this is most
| suspicious season FOE returning TO the
! light of other DAYS to the primitive
| standard Of Republican purity. We are
standing upon the threshold OF our second
century as nation
/ One hundred years have rolled away
since the British Major fired the shot
| heard round the world The days of
Lexington, of Concord and Of Bunker Hill
are being recalled TO US. A century lies
behind ms, crowded with wonderful aChiev-
ments. From thirteen struggling colonies,
skirting the Atlantic seaboard, We have
grown to thirty-eight powerful States eX-
tending from ocean TO ocean; a population
Of 100000 has increased TO 40, 600 600 Our
fathers in their widest dreams could not
foresee the marvellous developments of the
past hundred years.
1t may be too that we stand looking for
ward upon a century whose achievements
Will 60 lar beyond these of the past.
Nature has got secrets that will be wrest-
ed from her by the hands of science and
discovery, and be converted to the purposes
of man. \ mighty territory remains yet
to be reclaimed from wilderness and des-
ert, and TO be transformed into happy
homes, for n free people! What untold
stores Of wealth lie buried in the bosoms Of
| these nountains-whose capabilities were
unknown-whose existence even was un-
suspected by our fathers What stupen-
dous future lies before this nation if it is true
/ to the high desiiuy whereunto it is called
| Centuries before Christ a Grecan philos-
opher in lOttipst prose, that has been the
| delight of all the ages that have succeeded,
| and will be If all that shall come, portray
| ed in his ideal Republic II government
! wherein the good only should be rulers.
| For moro than two thousand years Plato's
| ideal government has been the dream Of
| the philosopher and sage. But the con
| ditiOns for the establishment of such a gov
eminent in the Old World were most I'M
fortunate, and all experimenting after
| Plato's model ended in disaster and shame
Old traditions and ignorance, an alarmed
priesthood, contiguous governments, hos
| tile and anxious % interfere, all stood in
the way of successful experiment.
At length the world saw n people be-
come a milton, in which all the fairest con
! ditons appeared to unite. 1t was an Eng
i disappearing race, who bad traditions, it
! is true, but they were traditions of
Runngmed and Magma Charta." Priests
| they had, but they ministCred ~ the altar
| of Freedom. Ignorant they were not, for
| the school house had been reared in every
! hamlet. There were no neighbors to mo-
! lest or make afraid. 4 continent lazy be-
| fore them for development, with its thou
sands of miles of sea coast, its millions of
acres of virgin soil, its mighty lakes and
wonderful rivers, its untold treasure of
/ field and food.
What wonder that the world in
| looking at all these happy conditions took
new heart and ref ecte that p!ato's
atty upon the shores Of the
new Atlanta If the past
hundred yoors hos not answered the eX-
pectations Of the friends of popular govern
ment-and it has not-the cause must be
found in the decay of public virtue. Our
material prosperity has blinded US to the
dangers that threaten the public Welfare.
and made Us negligent Of the plainest
duties of citizenship. We have suffered
parties to dictate, and, instead of making
| the good our rulers, we have made those
our rulers who sought power for power 5
sake.
On this centennial year when the glori-
Gus past is recalled, is it not well to pause
and take our bearings for the future
The dead 49, who sleep at our feet
49, have placed new obligations
Der the price that has been paid for
national lenity and resolve that it
shall not have been paid in vain
If | have dwelt upon what seemed to me
the great danger that besets popular gov
eminent, it is not because l have lost faith
in the Republic. | believe that the heart
of the American people is sound and that
the evil of which | have spoken is fast
awakening an alarmed public sentiment.
There is growing dislike toward party
chainsh Ind Jan increasing tendency to be
independent of party discipline.
| believe these centennial years are call
| ing us back to sober thinking and that we
are fast awakening to the truth that while
material prosperity is desirable, public
| virtue is essential for the perpetuation of
| free Institutions.
Our work of love to-day, beautiful and
! becoming as it is, will have tar-reaching
results for good if it should inspire in US II
more exalted patriotism and a determine
/ ton TO guard with anxious vigilance insti-
| tutions founded a hundred years ago by the
sacrifices of our fathers, cemented and con-
| secrated in these later years by the sacri-
| fees of these our fallen comrades and
| friends.
The Third Term
Whether or not General Grant de-
sires, or will attempt by manipulation
/ of conventions, to get the nomination
/ for Presidency, is agitating the public
to a considerable degree, but whether
he does or not will have no effect on