The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-10-19

fury Just gone, tide after tide Of population
has been thrown upon rs soil But they
came not to devastate or destroy not 70
Law waste by Gre and sword: not with the
spirit Of the Roman, the Teuton, or the
Norman they came and still come, the
best fruits Of other civilizations, 70 enlarge
the capabilities and swell the current OF
the Republics lie.
To this. History has no parallel. The
people who settled along the Atlantic,
differing from each other in their traits,
were yet, through those differences, alike
In manly vigor and high resolve. AMI
mated by various motives In hnying the
placcs OF their nativity to come to wlld
and unbroken wilderness, but with none
that were not heroic and worthy the found
ers OF an Empire; OF different religious
faith, OF different pursuits, OF different na-
tionalities, OF different training, OF different
modes Of thought, OF different races, yet
all with that subtle bond OF sympathy
which made them feel IS one, and moulded
them into a Race fit to take charge OF the
dcstnies OF q Continent. ~,
| would not oyerrate nor underrate these
men. Time enough has gone for the mists
Of prejudice TO have dlifted away from
their imposing figures. We can now re-
gard them and study their words and WORKS
rs II they belonged 20 another race and
country, and forgetting ancestral relations,
consider them simply as historic characters.
And whether you look upon them as indi-
vidUals discharging the everyday duties OF
priyate life; as soldiers meeting the re-
sponsibilities OF their calling upon the
march. In camp, or on the field OF arms;
or as moving in the loftier arena, and hlllng
the higher and more difficult r3tc OF states
manship, they have never been surpassed
i'm apv age ancient or modern. Whatever
they do or whatever they say, is done and
said with the gravity and strength OF men
acting in matters OF serious import, and
with an intellectual grasp and manly
heroism worthy OF themselves.
And vet we must not forget the period
in which they lived and acted, and their
happy surroundings, and how much they
were indebted TO both. They were IN
new country Of boundless extent and re-
sources, and around them no malign in
fiucnces. The decisive battles In Church
and State-in Religion and Politics-had
been fought in Great Britain, and on the
Continent, and those fundamental ideas
which they accepted rs intuitiYe and pTi-
mary were the results Of many centuries
OF fierce. bloody. and relentless war. These
were the outgTOwth Of years OF saddest
experience and our fathers found them
ready TO their hand, and were wise enough
to Use them.
Their Declarations and Bills OF Rights
were not original with them. The contests
which their ancestors beyond the sea waged
with their rulers evolved the principles
which these Declarations and Bills ayow,
sEd which they madc.the coner-stones OF
the institutions we now enjoy. Religion
had already passed through the furnace
heated seyeniold by passion, and had vim
dicated its true position in the Conscience
and in Society. Politics had been strug-
cling through historic time in the thoughts
OF the prOfomdest thinkers ana IN the eNpe-
ricnce Of men to find some Landing-place in
which the power OF the Government ana
the liberty of the individual might find
rest and harmonic.
The results were before them. And,
whether i'm the council or the field, they
felt by the very necessity OF the case, i'm
their fight with Centralized power, the value
of those principles which had been wrought
out in their Fatherland in both Church and
State. There was no hour from Lex
ington 10 Yorktown that the importance OF
individual effort was not appreciated, whe-
ther huI1ying together; with their rifles,
from their humble homes to strike blow
like that at Kings Mountain, or in the Re
solutions Of Congress in Yindication OF
their cause so full OF practical sense
and profound wisdom, so comprehen-
sive in their bearing, and so in accord
with the peoples present happiness
and future growth, so iar-reaching in their
import, and involving such vast conse-
quences to the Race, that they seem TO rise
above ordinary discussion, and sound like
the utterances OF heroes In "the Psris-
ment OF man, the Federation Of the world"
Thus in the recognition OF these princi-
pies, their studies, their experience as Colo
nists, and the hardships they endured in
their struggle for independence. taught
them the value OF individual effort, and re-
suited in the formation Of a pronounced
character that has never been
surpassed. Not iorgetiul OF the necessity
OF Government, nor OF those bonds into
which they were born, and which by the
laws Of their being made them citizens OF
the State, they yet broke away from those
traditional errors which announced its alb
solute and despotic supremacy. No peO-
pie ever acknowledged the authority OF
Government and its rghtiuness with more
cheerful and willing submission, provided
its true place aud power were assigned it
in the human economy.
They looked upon il not as an indepen-
dent power existing by virtue Of some in
herent majesty, issuing DEGREES rs by Right
Divine, and without sympathy with its
subjects; nor yet "a mere agent in the
hands of numbers to execute their own
will for selfish purposes, regardless OF the
feelings and interests OF those upon whom
it is executed; not as Power dis
tinct and antagonstic, but rather As the
medium for the expression OF popular will,
30 organized by proper checks rs to afford
protection to the individual whilst he was
working out his own destiny-preyenting
its use for evil purposes, and compelling il
to perform its proper functions by its own
normal operations.
The consequence was that the Govern
ment represented not solely the organized
strength OF the community: ii represented
the virtues and cXcelences and progress
OF the individuals and OF the society which
they composed. Imposing no restraint
upon the individuals effort in any depart
ment OF growth, and protecting him Whilst
he was putting forth his energies and en-
ioying the fruits of their exercise, each be-
came the complement OF the other, and
presented the solution OF the problem long
sought for, but hitherto unbound, OF the
harmonious union Of allegiance and protec-
ton.
Nothing ike this in its extent and pro-
portions has been given Us before. Repub-
lies we have had, and Democracies, and
Representative Governments; but never
before in ancient or modern times has uni
versal suffrage prevailed rs il does here over
such an area Of country, in full recognition
Of the rights OF each and every citizen,
whilst there is also equal recognition Of the
supremacy Of the Government which this
aIilf..ncr 90 1nnlcnu aud Lu trhich IN IL AZ fhn