The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-07-12

people FROM this virtue and this
be nourished; il must decline in their decline ad rot
IN their decay Tsey traced this vigor aud virtue
inexhaustible springs And, as the unspent heat of
| lava soil quickened by the returning Summers,
through the vintages Of thousand years nil still
glow in the grape and sparkle wine will the
exuberant forces race supply an unstnted veor 70
marx tue virtues OF immense populations and 10 the
/ remOtest generations.
To the frivolous philosophy of human life which
naS 1 an the world pupPet show, and history
book OF anecdotes, the moral warfare which fills M
the life Of man and the record Of his race seems as
unreal aud as aimless the conflicts of the glitter
ing hosts upon an airy field, whose display lights nm
the heeting spendOrs Of a northern night But free
Government for great people never comes from or
gets aid from such philosophers. To true spiritual
things more substantial few things more likely to
endure in this world than human thouphts human
passions, human interests, thus molten into the
| teReremus. 1
have made no account as unsuitable 10 the coca.
sion Of the distribution Of the national power he
! tween the general and the of
the special arrangements Of executive authority Of
legislatures, courts and magistrates whether Of the
general or of the state establishments Collectively
they form the body and the frame of complete gov.
eminent for great opulent and powerful people oc
cupyng vast regions, and embracing in their posses
sions wide range of diversity Of climate Of soil
ana o. all the circumstantisl influences Of external
nature L have pointed your attention to the
principle and the spirit Of the government for which
all this frame and body exists, to which they are
| subservient, and whose mastery thew must con-,
form. The life of the natural BODY is the blood ana
the circulation Of the moral and intellectual forces
and Impul-es Of the body polite shapes and molds
) the national life. 1 have touched therefore upon
the traits that determined this national life as m bs
or from, and for the people, and Of from or for
any rank grade, part or section Of them. In these
TRAITS are found the ordinances constitutions and
customs" 10y wise choice Of which the founders OF
states may, Lord Bacon says, ''sow greatness TO
| their pOsterity and succession"
And now, after century of growth Of trial Of
| experience, of observation, aud of demonstration
We are met on the spot and the date Of the great
: n con .rf.h
! fathers our structure with their foundation our
Intervening history and present condition with their
faith aud prophecy. That respect the opinion Of
mankind in attention to which our statesmen
/ framed the Declaration of independence, we too
aeknoN ledge as a sentiment most it to influence
III our commemorative CALCULATIONS to-day.
| To this opinion Of mankind, then, how shall we
answer the questioning of this day? How have the
! vigor and success Of the countiy's warfare COM
ported with sounding phrase of the great N ami
festo! Has the natien been able T. hold its terri
| tory on the eastern rim .of the continent or as
cOyetous Europe driven in its boundaries or internal
! discussions dismembered its integrity Have its
numbers kept pace with increase or have the
mother countries received back TO the shelter Of
hrmer INSTITUTIONS the repentant tide Of emigration2
or have the Of unstable society distressed and
reduced the shrunken population Has the free suf-
fr2ge, as quicksand, lOOsened the foundations Of
power and undermined the pillars Of the Stateg Has
the free press, with illimitable sweep blown down
the props and butresses OF order and authority in
government driven before its wind the barriers which
fence in society," and unrOofed the homes which once
were castles against the intrusion of a kng2 Has
r.
and independence 10y law run into independence Of
law Have free schools by too much learning made
! the people madl Have manners declined, letters
angulshed, art faded wealth drcayed, public spirit
witheredl Have other nations Stunned the evil exam
pie, and held aloof from its infection? Or have re-
Election and hard fortune dispelled the illusions
der which this people burned incense to vanity and
| stumbled in their ways from the ancient pathsl''
Have they, fleeing from the double destruction which
attends folly and arrogance, restored the throne,
built the altar relaid the foundations Of society," aud
again taken shelter in the old projections against the
perils shocks and changes in human affairs, which
| divert and crack. rend and deracinate
| The unity and married calm Of states
| Quite from their fixture"
Who can recount in an hour what has been dene in
a century, on so wide field, and in all its mutitu-
dinOus aspects? Yet may not avoid insisting upon
decisive Ineaments Of the material social and
political development of country which the
ord of the hundred years displays and thus present
to the opinion of mankind" for it's generous judg
ment, our nation it is to-day land, Peo-
pie and our laws. And, first, notice the wide ter
ritory to which We have steadily pushed our linn.
its. Lines of climate mark bonn diaries north and
south, and two oceans east and west. The space be-
tween, speaking by and large the whole tenn
perate of the continent and in area, measures
tenfod the possessions of the thirteen colonies.
The natural features the climate, the productions,
the influences of the outward world, are all implied
in the immensely of this domain for they embrace all
that the goodness and the power Of God have planned
for large share of the habtable globe. The steps
Of the successive acquisitions, the impulses which
assisted and the motives which retarded the eXpan-
sion of territory I'll play of the competing ee-
ments in civilization and their ncessant struggle
each 10 0utruD the Other the rTepresslbie conflict
thus nursed in the bosom of the state the lesson in
humility and patience Tin charity for all aud malice
toward none, ;" which the study of the manifest de-
signs of Providence so plainly teach us-these may
well detain us for moments illustration.
And this calls attention to that ingredient in the
population of this country which not from the
eliminated pride OF Europe, but from the abect de-
| spondency of Africa race Disseminated from all
tie cOnvergiug streams of immigration which have
named by inefiacsble distinctions Of nature which
md into
| slavery, while all others came by choice and for
greater liberty; a unrepressnted in the Congress
which issued the Declaration of Independence, but
now, in the persons of 600 600 of our cOuntrymen
raised, by the power of the great truths then de-
cIared, it from the dead and rejoicing in one
country and the same constituted liberties with our
| selves.
In August, 1920, Dutch slave ship landed her
freight in Virginia completing her voyage soon after
| that of the Mayfiow r commenced Both ships were
| on the at the same time, both sought our
shores and planted their seeds Of liberty and slavery
to grow together this chosen field until the har-
vest. Until the separation from England the several
| colonies attracted each their own emigration, and
from the sparceness of the population both in the
Northern and Southern colonies, and the policy OF
might in all of them The institution Of slavery did
not raise definite and firm line of division between
the tides Of population which set in upon New Eng
| land and Virginia from the Old World, and from
| them later, from new points of departure, were
diffused over the continent. The material interests
of slavery had not become very strong, ana IN us
moral aspects sharp division Of sentiment had yet
shown itself But when unity and ind of
eminent accepted by the colonies, we shall look
10 vain for any adequate barrier against the natural
attraction of the sofer china and rich productions OF
the SOUTH which could keep the Northern population
in their harder climate and on their less grateful
SOIL except the repugnsncy Of the two systems OF free
| and slave labor TO commixture. Out of this grew
the impatient, and apparently premature invasion o.
the Western wilds, pushing constantly onward, In
parallel lines, the outposts of the two rival interests
What greater enterprise did for the Northern people
in stimulating this movement was more than supplied
to the Sosthern by the pressing necessity for new
lands which the requirements of the system of slave
cultivation imposed. Under the operation Of these
causes the political divisions of the country built up
wall of partition running east and west, with the
novel consrQuences of the 'sborder states OF the
country being ranged, our foreign boundaries,
i drauu the