Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1876-07-14


or to aid our progress in it. So far from
this, all notifications Of European politics
accept the popular principles of our sys-
tenn, and tend to our model. The move
ments toward equality of representation,
enlargement of the suffrage, and public
education in England-the restoration of
unity in Italy-the confederation of Ger
many under the lead of Prussia-the act
ual Republic in France-the unsteady
throne of Spain-the new liberties of Hun
gary-the constant gain to the peoples
share in government throughout Europe
all tend one way, the way pointed out in
the Declaration of our Independence.
Freedom from military power and the
maintenance of that arm of government
in the people; u trust in their own ade-
| quacy as soldiers, when their duty IA citi-
zens should need to take on that form of
service to the State; these have gained
new force by the experience of foreign
and civil war, and u standing army is a
remoter possibility for this Nation, in its
present or prospective greatness, than in
the days Of its small beginnings.
But in the freedom of the press, and
the universally of the suffrage, as main
tanned and exercised to-day throughout
the length and breadth of the land, we
find the most conspicuous and decisive
evidence of the unspent force of the institu-
tions of liberty and the jealous guard of its
principal defenses These indeed are the
great agencies and engines of the people g
sovereignty. They hold the same relations
to the vast democracy of modern society
that the persuasions of the orators and the
personal voices of the assembly did in the
narrow confines of the Grecian states.
The laws, the customs, the impulses and
sentiments of the people have given wider
and wider range and license to the agita-
tiOns of the press, multiplied and more
frequent occasions for the exercise of the
suffrage, larger and larger communication
of its franchise. The progress of a hundred
years finds these prOdigious activities in
their fullest pay-incessant and all pow
erful-indispensable in the habits of
the people, and imprcgnable in their
affections. Their public service, and
their subordinaliOn to the public safety,
stand in their play upon one another and
in their freedom thus maintained. Meth
er could long exist in true vigor in our
system without the other. Without the
watchful, omnipresent and indomitable
energy of the press the suffrage would
languish, would be subiugated by the cor
porate power of the legions of placemen
which the administration of the affairs of
a great Nation imposes upon it, and fall a
prey to that vast patronage which, 4" we
are told, " distracted, corrupted, and fl
nally subverted the Roman Republic" D."
On the other hand, if the impressions of
the press upon the opinions and passions
of the people found no settled and ready
mode of their working out, through the
/ frequent and peaceful suffrage the people
would be driven, to satisfy their dis
pleasure at government or their love OF
change, 10 the coarse methods of barri
cades and batteries.
We cannot, then, hesitate to declare
that the original principles of equal socie
ty and popular government still inspire
the laws, live in the habits of the people
and animate their purposes and theil
hopes. These principles have not los
their spring or elasticity. They have suf
feed for all the methods of government
in the past; we feel no fear for their ade
quacy in the future Released now from
the tasks and burdens of the fOrmativ,
period. these principles and methods car
be directed with undivided force to th'
every day conduct of government, to tn,
staple and steady virtues of administra
= ton The feebleness of crowding tn
= statute books with unexecuted laws; tn
danger of power outgTowing or evadin,
|
of temporary eXpedients; the COnstan
tendency by which parties decline int
factions and end in cOnspiracies; all thes
mischiefs beset all governments, and ar
part of the life of each generation T,
deal with these evils-the tasks and bur
dens of the immediate future-the NatiOI
2 needs no other resources than the princi
2 pies and examples our past history sup
) ply These principles, these examples o
our fathers, are the strength and the safet
of our State to-day: " HortbuS, dHtiqui,
! Stdt res R0maBd, DiriSque."
Unity, liberty, power, prosperity-thes
= are our possessions today Our territOr
i is safe against foreign dangers; its com
pleteness dissuades from further ambition
to extend it, and its rounded symmetry dis
courages all attempts to dismember it. N
division into greatly unequal parts woul'
7 be tolerable to either No imaginabl
union of interests or passions large enOug
t to include One-half the country but mus
e embrace much more. The madness Q
partition into numerous and feeble frag
: ments could proceed only from the hope
$ less degradation of the people, and woul
S form but an incident in general rule
r The spirit of the Nation is at the high
e est-its triumph over the Unborn, inbre
+ perils of its Constitution has chased ava,
= all fears, justified all hopes, and with uni
l versal joy we greet this day. We hav
! not proved unworthy of a great ancestry
a we have had the virtue to uphold what the
| so wisely, so firmly established. Wit
e these proud possessions of the past, wit
a powers matured, with principles settled
5 with habits formed, the Nation passes a
{ it were from preparatory growth to II
D spOnsible development of character an
+ the steady performance of duty. Wha
e labors await it, what trials shall attend il
r what triumphs for human nature, whs
g glory for itself are prepared for this pee
! pie in the coming century, we may not rs
= sumo TO foretell. lone generation pass
Y eth away, and another generation cometl
/ but the earth abideth forever" and W
9 reverently hope that these, our constitute
: liberties, shall be maintained to the unenC
/ ing line of our pOsterity, and so long a
$ the earth itself shall endure.
l. In the great procession of Nations, l
$ the great march of humanity, we hold ou
. place. Peace is our duty, peace is on
f policy. In its arts, its labors and its vic
tories, then, we find scope for all our en-
o ergies, rewards for all our ambitions, II
e nown enough for all our love and fame
It In the august presence of SO many Nations
!, which, by their representatives, have don
f us the honor to be witnesses of our con
8 memorative joy and gratulation, and i
!, sight of the collected evidences of tn
t greatness of their own civilization wit
: which they grace our celebration, we ma
well confess how much we fall short, ho'
+ much we have To make up, in the emula
?. tive competitions of the times. Yet, eve
d in this presence, and with just deferenc
e 10 the age, the power, the greatness of th
e other Nations of the earth, we do not fea
e to appeal to the opinion of mankind
c whether, as we point to our land, our pee
n pie and our laws, the contemplation shoul
4 not inspire us with lovers enthusiasm
G for our country.
It Time makes no pauses in his marcel
Even while l speak the last hour {
d the receding is replaced by the first hou
Il of the coming century, and reverence fc
/. the past gives way 10 the JOY
II and hopes, the activities and th
II responsibilities of the future. A hur
e dred years hence the piety of thu