The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-10-27

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Of thought and character such as / have
already spoken Of, and which are the legit-
innate outgrowth of pastoral and agricul-
tural occupations. And to my mind the
most propitious sign Of the times is the in
ereasing interest in these employments,
and the evident determination on all sides
to quicken into life and action this too
neglected interest We need its influence
not only upon the State, but upon indi.
viduals. Think for one moment of those
who have blazed like meteors along the
horizon of the worlds history; who never
knew the holy calm Of thought; the pure
and lofty aspirations; the sweet sense of an
overruling providence, which wind them
selves about the hearts Of those who COM
mune with nature in her chosen sanctuary
and who see in the seed-time and harvest,
the sunshine and the storm, and the ever
changing seasons revolving in their course,
the manifestations of Gods love to man.
Pause, if you please, amid the ruins Of
that imperial palace built by the great car
dinal of France, beneath whose light the
"solemn tides of empire ebbed and flowed, y
or on that fertile plain where the sun Of
Austerlitz shone brightest; or again at
1
Waterloo, where it set in blood to rise no
more; or approaching nearer to our own
period, behold the marvellous career of one
who, not many years ago, was mere ad-
venturer, lingering amid the splendid club
rooms Of London, an exile and in want,
the mention Of whose very name gave birth
to sarcasm. Behold him a few years
later in the royal walks of Paris; receiving
in the palace were Medici and Bourbon
held high revel the attentions of naughty
rank; Magenta and Solferino poured their
martial glories at his feet, and the rays of
his brilliant and oracular star sped their
meteor way to the halls of the Montezu-
mas. But the Titan's lust of power was
there. Ambition, that guilty thing, which
made the angels fall, had entered his dark
soul, and in the fullness of time his crown
and throne and sceptre all went down amid
the bloody horrors of Sedan. And then
turn from these moral deformities to the
splendid race of men, of farmers l had al
most said, who fashioned this fair fabric
Of free government, and mark how patri-
otism, self-sacrifce and virtue, adorned by
the simplicity of agricultural life, were
woven like threads of gold with the very
web and woof of their existence, and how
their love for the pleasures of country
life survived in them whatever passion
they may have had for fame and wealth
and power.
Look at Jefferson, whose services shed
an undying lustre upon the age he adorn-
ed; when his mission was ended, quietly
and lovingly returning to the shades of
Monticello--and Madison, too, born for
the highest dignities of the State, finding
the solace of his declining years in the cul-
tivation of his farmland above all the
immortal Washington, seeking the earliest
moment to surrender his commission to
the Congress assembled at Annapolis, and
departing thence with eager haste to the
charms of Mount Vernon; and again, when
in the full flush of perfected fame, retiring
from the presidency of the greatest repub-
lie, as did Cincinnatus of old from the
leadership of the greatest empire, to cult
yate the soil he loved so well on the banks
of the Potomac. There is no thinking
man among us who would not, am sure,
rejoice to see this people return once more
to the primitive tastes, occupations and
habits which made the era of which l
have spoken one of exceptional purity;
abating nothing Of our progress in science,
art and letters, for who would or could
proclaim divorce between them and agri-
cultural progress, but abating much of the
etfeminacy which SO mars the manhood of
our day, and much more of the loose mo-
rality which debauches private life and
corrupts public station. There is hot
fever in the blood which urges men to
sudden wealth-no matter how gotten
which, in its delirium, has taught the
widest heresies, which has fed on poisons
the public sentiment Of this country until
like the necromancer Of old it has raised
devil it cannot now control. But do not
believe the disease has yet reached vital
part of our system; it is only another form
ofthat common and inherited frailty which,
alas, nations and individuals alike must
feel; but do believe that the only true
remedy as to send the patient to tie country.
We have, as nation, very serious re-
sponsibility resting upon us--that of trans
mitting to others the freedom we have in
herited. Not only are we supposed to be
solving for the world the problem of self
government, but what is Of far greater
consequence, We are solving this very i'm
portant question for ourselves. In the
family of nations we occupy peculiar po-
sition-without hereditary distinctions or
entailed inheritances, or any other of those
mere artificial means by which a govern
ment is cast upon distinct classes---with us
it rests upon the whole people, and its only
safeguard lies in their patriotism, intelli-
gence and unpurcirasable hsuesty. And
hitherto, whatever croaking philosophy and
political skepticism may say tu the con-
trary-in the main at least, they hive not
failed us. The results have filed with joy
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