Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-01-19
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS
Gentleman Of the Senate and House O.
Il Representatives., and Fell0r GU
gems.
u Nearly ono hundred years hav,
passed since the Declaration of Amer
lean independence, and soon our peo
pie will be busy with preparation fol
i u proper celebration OF the hundrctl
anniversary of the nations birth
4 The period of our national existence
has been one of vast advancement in
science, in the arts. i'm Invention. and
In appliances for human comfort and
convenience. Ii has been remarkable
for improvements in the speed and
convenience of locomotion, and in the
celcrity of communication for de-
/ vclOpemcnt Of the wonderful powers
Of steam, SO little known u century
ago that the countless uses of that mo-
tor to-day make it practically new
agent brought into subsection to man
for the discovery that the mightiest
and subtlest force known to exist in
=,
as is the electric telegraph, TO do mans
bidding. The sun, too, has been made
his servant, and its rays are grasped
and trained to preserve for him the
scmblance OF his loved ones. I'M
prOvements IN machinery have char
acterized the century, which have at
once lessencd the severity of labor, i'm
creased its returns, and multiplied
the comforts of the great mass of the
people in all civilized nations. Edu-
cation has been more generally diff
fused than ever before and the print
ing press, that great educator, has
made more rapid strides than in all
the previous centuries of its history,
and to-day there are publishing hoils-
es, any one of which could, in given
time. almost duplicate all the work of
all the presses of the world. in the
same period of time, one hundred
years ago. In short, the century now
closing, may be safely said to have
witnessed a larger advance in human
knowledge, greater improvements in
mans condition socially. and might
ier progress in every department of
human activity and inquiry, reaching
all classes of society. and affecting all
the nations Of the earth, than any
similar period in the worlds history.
Among the many causes that have
tended 10 bring about this great adj
vancement, one of the most powerful,
in my Judgment, has been the exist
ence of this republic, and the growth
and prosperity of this people. To q
review of this growth and prosperity
and the development of the nation
and our own State, have thought it.
not inappropriate, in this the centen-
nial year of the republics life, to de-
vote a portion of the formal address
required by custom on this occasion.
Nearly q century ago, our forefath-
crs laid the foundations of our na-
tional political edifice, and they laid
them broad and deep. Yet, when af-
ter hard and weary struggle they
had achieved the independence for
which they had risked so much and
fought so well, this handful OF peo-
ple-some three millions in all. scat
tered in a'narrow belt along the At
lantic coast found that the bond of
union that had held them together
during the conflict with the mother
country, was exceedingly weak when
the common danger had passed
while local jealousies and conflicting
interests menaced total disruption.
They were poor and were burdcned
with the debts which the States. both
separately and unitcdly, had incurred
during the war for Independence.
Although admitted to the family Of
nations. they were tolerated rather
than welcomed and their expressed
devotion 10 the principles of civil lib
erty was regarded by the advocates of
as evidence Of either sickly
scntimcntality or political hcresy.
The statesmen ofthc old world. train
cd in the school OF monarchy. admit
ted, although with hesitation and re-
luciancc, that n republican form OF
government might be maintained in.
and suffice for, poor and sparsely
inhabited country like Switzerland.
but they utterly denied that ii could
be maintained i'm, or would suffice for
Il great and powerful nation. The
territory of which our forefathers
were the acknowledged owners and
upon which this experiment was TO be
tried. reached on the north. as now,
to Canada, ON the west the Mississippi
river defined lis limit. and on the
south the thirty-tirst parallel of lati-
tudc cut it of entirely from the Gulf
of Mexico. and left the mouth of the
Mississippi wholly in the hands of
power. Thus supplied with
nothing but territory and prospects
the former perhaps abundant. but the
latter, in the opinion of the worlds
wise men, discouraging enough, and
not at all dazzling even TO the most
sanguine of its founders--our rcpub-
lie commenced its career.
To-day that territory has expanded
southward until we hold the northern
line of the Gulf coast to the Rio
Grande, and westward until it in
cludes the Pacific coast from near the
tllirty-second parallel to Cape Flat
terry, not counting our recently ac-
quired possession of Alaska. The
Mississippi, formerly our western
boundary, is now east of the center
of our domain. Our thirteen States
have increased to thirty seven, with
territory enough left for nine or ten
more, each as large as some of the
more powerful of European king
doms and our three millions of peo-
pie, large portion of whom were
slaves. have grown 10 forty millions
all, thank God freemen. We have
had the fortune common TO all ma
and contention. pros
periiy and adversely, peace and war;
yet think il true that no other ma
ton, during the last hundred years,
has prospcrea as has ours, and in no
other land have the people as n
whole enjoyed nearly so great Il
degree at once of liberty, of order, of
safety, aud of comfort; while onr
system of government. supposed to be
lacking in unity and force. has been
found 10 be able, not only to endure
the strain of foreign war. hut to
suppress utterly and uncondiiionally
a rebellion the most extensive. the
most powerful. and i'm all respects the
most formidable the world has
known.
have said, and repeat HAT in my
Judgment our existence and prosper
ity, as q government and people, have
had much, more perhaps than any
other one cause, to do with the inn
proved condition of the masses of the
people in all civilized nations. The
monarchists OF the old world, while,
as before remarked, doubting, or NJ
fecting to doubt, mans capacity for.
self-govcrnmcnt, except in isolated
cases, yet looked with suspicion and
distrust upon the attempt 10 establish
here what has since been so happily
called by one of the purest and wisest
men the world has produced. "a
government of The people, by the pco-
pie, and for the people, and they
feared, not umreasonably, that, il such
attempt should perchance be success
ful, the example would cause disqlict
among their own people, who had no
share in administering the govern
ments under which they lived. This
has been realized. Our example has
had its influence for good upon the
people OF other lands. Seeing that
here liberty is compatible with order,
that here men may govern themselves,
that here bayonets are not necessary
In tho afo hilitv ar thu rnynrnnna,,t n l.