The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1880-06-10

IldthOtiS ~ ~ - bAaA- -
i've, moral perceptions, moral fearlessness
Of the citizen.
That State IS greatest, whose citizens
are best the State IS the people
its glory and lis shame, alike How from
the people. The product IS not more per
feet than the modelin the mind Of the in
yentor. The poet, the painter realizes no
beauty not already sketched in the inner
most studio Of thought. The idea IS tru-
VI than the art tie State IS an idea rel
vealed to the invocations Of wise and
faithful patriotism.
The State IS a fact, having form and
substance, yet visible only il its influence
and practical effect.
We know il, and feel if. in the exercise
Of It's duties and its powers; its lasting
qualities are developed and its benefcence
attained by the vigor Of its moral forces.
Its frame. work is seen in the structure
Of its departments its intellect is en-
throned id the nerve centers Of its consti-
tuition; its voice is heard in the compass
and harmony Of its laws; its hand IS felt
in the superiority Of its powers We feel
the pulsations of its heart, in the ferven-
~ Of patriotism; trace the aspirations Of
its spirit ia the moral bias Of the people,
and behold its grandeur and its purity in
the answering rectitude Of the national
conscience.
The State is the creature Of mans ne
cessities, the perfected institution Of his
wisdom and sense ofjustice.
II ought, therefore, to possess the es-
sential attributes Of moral being; it
must have conscience, intelligence, knowl-
edge, wisdom and it will convince the
world of its title to these if the people,
in their own lives, furnish the testimony.
It feeds on the food of its: constituents
drinks from the same pure ori.impure
fountains lis their companion in !. all
their vicissitudes Whatever elevates the
citizen exalts the State whatever cor
rupts the citizen degrades the State, tits
lifted proudly aloft on the swelling bosom
5of truth and justice despairingly de
pressed in the ebbing tide Of degeneracy.
The morals Of apeople are indexed in
thelvirtues OF vices Of. the statesmen, or
opponents Of public opinion.
An epoch is measured by the value Of
a life Or the actions Of a ruler or teach
er; and periods Of purity and blessing
gid ancient and modern annals like APP
pies Of gold inspictures Of silver. j
But, the chief use Of lessons Of past
politics, consists IN the warning errors
they attest in the manners and practices
to be Stunned id the fallacies and fail
ures Of policies and !expedients;; in con
trasting the few victories of virtue, with
the many conquests Of corruption. !.
95.5-
The political and social institutions Of a
country, bear the impress of their found
ers. "The public life of nation" says
Mr. Froude, lis but thelife Of successive
generations of statesmen" Men make
epochs, not epochs men. Chiefs Of re-
publics says Montesquien ''i1 the birth
Of societies, form the institutions; and
those institutions in the sequel, form the
chiefs of the republic
Our ancestors furnished venerable ex-
amples. That constitutional declaration
exceeds in. interest and widespread in3
fuence, the great English charter
Liberty was dying in the hand Of mail,
clad tyranny. But there is a God, in
destiny. who shields injustice and oppres-
sion with imbeeility, when the next foot
fall Of human progressis about to descend
a weak immoral king-a wise, loyal
priest, faced each otherInearly seven hun
dred years ago The monarch's name
became synonymous with oppression, but
Stephen Langton IS a name enrolled
among the worlds noblest spirits (which
purify corrupted commemorative "a
name, which IS virtue, and a soul
which multiplies Itself, throughout all
time, when wicked men wax mighty
and a State turns servile. :
Mightier than his prince, he stands
forth the noblest in patriotic devotion to
duty to his couhtrythe highest type Of
moral integrity, which the events that Sc