Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-12-07

Deen pitched in new fields, and last |
years houses await their new posses- |
sors."
With such constant change. with
such separation of the mass of The peo-
pie from early and settled home as
sOciations, and with the incessant oc-
cupstion of the mind by the great
physical problems presented, it would
not have been strange if q great and
dangerous decadence had occurred in
that domestic and private virtue of
which the home is the nursery, and in
that generous and reverent public spi-
rit, without which our system of gov
ernment must be a speedy failure.
Furthermore, the lawgivers them
selves have been continually changing.
The lawgiver of this generation is not
even the descendant of the oLe Of last,
in every case, else education, tradition,
and example would pass for more.
A great stream made up of the over
fiowing OF nearly every nation of earth,
has constantly poured in to US. These
peoples have not only been permitted
to iningle their blood and languages
with our own, but after short probation
have equal rights with ourselves. And
ultimately, confident all would be well,
we have givt TO our slaves civil and
political rights.
Remembering then, our constant ex-
panse OF territory, making it more diff
hcult to secure order; our mixed and
mixing population, with diverse views
and inclinations, and that despite
these, no principle of liberty, or of re-
publican government set out with has
nnrf.ll llr,tx
thank God and take courage, assured
that the prospect for the future is better
than in the past. Our Republic stands
to-day in spite of the rapid expan-
sion of the nation over territory so wide
that the scanty strip of the original
States, it has been said, is only as Il
fringe on its immense mantle. at has
kept its place while vehement debates,
Involving the prOfoundest political
principles; have stirred to its depths
the whole public mind. 1t has kept
its place while the tribes of mankind
have been pouring upon it, seeking the
freedom and shelter which it gave"
2-As Citizens, let US be thankful
that the wisdom and courage OF our
ancestors is not lacking in their descen-
dants. We must admit, too, that the
founders of this government possessed
these in large measure. In a patrOni'
zing way we sometimes say or feel thai
what they dimly saw and aimed al as
a possible Liberty, We possess. We
smile at their sO-called battles as only
skirmishes. No. They held certain
truths most tenaciOusly, because they
had con into possession of them as d
legacy from their ancestors, and eS
teemed them sacred. They were wise
in their plains for reaching their purpO-
ses, and when worst come to worst
they died cheerfully and courageOusly
During the past six months tens ol
thousands of our fellow citizeH3 have
crowded the halls where the great De-
ciaratiOn was discussed and signed. A;
they looked upon the vast array of rel
les and mementoeS, so carefully pre-
served, as they looked upon the por
traits of the men who sat there
| wonder il they thought much of the
work there done? Did it enter the mind
of any one that those fOrty-odd men,
on Il certain day, in fit of vain-glory
or desperation, they knew not which
had luckily made an utterance thai
startled the world, and caused millions
of people from all quarters of the globe
to throng the city in which they sat, g
hundred years afterward. Perhaps
not. but why is it this work done a
: century ago stood, and men feel will
stand for another century? That De.
claration was no more earnest than
others, nor perhaps so eloquent. But
they have perished, while it lives on.
In truth, it was not made in day moi
in many days. 1t grew out of the cen.
turtles of the past, and was destined to
live into the centuries of the future.
An eloquent orator says: "NOt out Ol
books, legal researches, historical in
quiry, the careful and varied Stnties OF
: language came that document; but out
of manifold personal and private dis
cussion, out of clear sympathetic obser.
walton of the changing feeling and
thought of men. The'voice of the cot
tage as well as the college, of the
Church as well as the legislative AS
sembly, was in the paper. 1t echoed
the talk of the farmer in hOmespun, as
well As the classic eloquence of Lee, or
the terrible tones of Patrick Henry. II
gushed at last from tfie pen of its wri-
ter, like the fountain from the roots of
Lebanon, brimmi1g over where it is.
sues from the rock, but it was because
its sources had been supplied, its full.
ness filled by unseen springs The peO-
pie whose deputies formed our Declara.
ton, were largely descendants of En-.
Iglishmen. 1t was therefore only natu-
raj that even when adopting that ulti.
mate measure which severed them
from the British Crown, they should
retain all that. had been gained in the
Inn . Land hx,x IF
and strife. Their work derived viz
tue from every field of struggle in En-
gland; from every scaffOld hallOwed by
free and cOnsecrated blood; from every
hour OF great debate; Il thousand years
brOOded over the room where they as
serted hereditary rights. The paper
which they adopted, fresh from the
pen of its young author, and written
on his hard pine table, was already an
essential life of a venerable age; and it
took immense impulse, it derived AN
interest and vast authority from its re-
lation to that undying past in which
they too had grand inheritance, and
from which their public life had come.
Have the men of succeeding genera
tiOns met their obligations with any,
thing of the sagacity and courage of
these political fathers, is the question
that in this hour presses for an answer.
Yes, undoubtedly yes. Falseness,
baseness there has been-was then. Bit
ter contentious over themes and meth.
DDS, but who that looks upon the ua-
ton to-day, (nOt forgetting, either, the
menace and the threatening of the
present hour), remembering the chan
ges through which it has come, the per.
ills to which it has has been exposed,
will not be led in honor to say, wisdom
and courage has not been wanting.
3. We may be thankful most OF all
that there is left for US national con
science. The cOnSciencs is to an individ-
ual or nation the last stronghold of se-
ri Ill