Morning journal and courier., 1881-06-28

Dl6to fre0QOm or mlnQ ana act1On, and to the capacity of common men unaided, with no self-styled God appointed guardian over them, to maintain SeIf government and self g0ue77ame1at. Have done with all morbid dis trust of the people, says the triumphant
 march of America. And therefore, say I,
 that the prospect for the career of civil lib
 erty and all kindred institutions among the
 up this nation is most inspiring.
 And what is true of those institu-
 tions which we enjoy in common with
 Great Britain is -eminently true of our
 one peculiar institution, our form of repubi-
 can government. The past and the present
 enjoin upon us an abiding faith in the capac-
 ity of republicanism to meet and endure the
 severest attacks that speculation, that per
 verse social doctrines, that immigration, that revolution can bring against it. All things
 say, have done with infideIity in regard to our republican experiment.. Have no fear that this structure which our fathers built with sword in hand will ever part asunder. Have no fear that America. which, notwith
 standing all it's follies, sins and crimes against | law, justice and humanity, has been the
 means of immense and ever-increasing bene- l fit to the human family, will ever fall of ! from it's present eminence and repent God | that he made it. This republican govern l ment and federal constitution has stood the 1 strain of immense prosperity and equal ad- versity, and has been the means under God | Ignorance and crime. There is far more to be done in the future than has been done in | all the past toward the elevation and amelio- ration of humanity. And believe that this system of ours, which has already been the l instrument of eradicating countless things unsightly from this garden of God, will en- ! dure till there shall have arisen 8 saving in- | tegrity among all men, and a highly | developed and cultivated public opinion-the l only guarantee for any nations preservation; | till the endless examples of tergiversation, | dupIicity and demagogism that have charac- terized our annals in the past shall be a thing of the past till the old northern no' so long unheard shall again bear sway in politics :: l till statesmanship and not political empiri- cism, factiousness partisanship shall char | acterize all our legislation.
 Years ago the pilgrim ship, all in white,
 sailed hitherward freighted with the prayers | of men like Cromwell and Hampden. At
 the same time camei ithe slave ship, allin black, l with death upon it's prov and no eye behold ing it. A long, long fight took place be- tween them; but the slave ship has | been captured and scuttled, and the pilgrim shores The cause of human freedom is the cause of God Since the second birth of this nation in 1S65-as 8 free consistent republic | we are but fifteen years old-the mental, moral and material development of this country has been tremendous. The death of
 
 transgressions of our fathers-was eloquent with hope for America. He seemed to say to all those perishing with him like the mar | tyr Latimer to his fellow sufferer: Be of good comfort and play the man! We shall this day light such fire, by Gods grace, as shall never be put out.' Since that day civil | liberty has ceased to be an ignis .ftttalus l with us. Since that day it has been possible for American to sing, with no lie upon his
 lips, his national hymn America | Since that day mankind and the l maker of men have here come into old command letg tiat has here again begun to be obeyed. Since that day this land of ours has begun again to clothe itself in the I drapery of it's old glory Moreover we are 8 nation now-depend upon it-broken and fragmentary, it may be, in part but still a nation such never were before. And | as nation we have ceased to do evil and are l trying to do well. Bonds of sympathy and union are closer drawn than they ever were previous to the late awful war. The intel | lectual barrier between the North and the South has been broken down, and a way opened up for something like similarity of ! thought and feeling throughout the country. NeIghborhood is no longer sentiment and | locality passion to the degree it once was. | Men are beginning 8 little to trust to the l good sense, good faith and good judgment of l each other. All over the country the senti- | | that house divided against itself cannot l stand. Even now, think, the South does | hear and heed the voice of the angel of God. | Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be | saved.' Even now the South has begun to re- echo the sentiment, What God has joined | together let no man put asunder.' And l even now, many who were once in arms I against this excellent government of ours are l glad at their own defeat in the great rebel | lion. I believe that the time is surely con- 1 tug, and quickly coming, when we can say | with Webster before his apostasy, but with a l different meaning 1T know not what the | North is nor where there the North is '-ay,
 and add to it, know not what the South is nor where the South is; when the line of the l Missouri compromise shall be wiped out, | when the memory of notification, of the | Wilmot proviso, of the fugitive slave law, of | secession, of reconstruction, shall have faded from mems view; when the cry shall no l longer be heard, my State, my section, my l district, but my country when not one man living can read without emotion, died for the | Union. This splendid consummation has all l ready been begun. The bricks are fallen l down, but wewill build with hewn stones the | sycamores are cut but we will change them l into cedars.' The component parts of this
 nation are united; and already can be heard
 from the East to the West this unconquerable ! resolution. We are persuaded that neither l death, nor life, nor municipalities, nor pow | CTS, nor things present, nor things to come,
 nor height nor depth, nor any creature shall
 be able to separate us Let us then, forget
 ting the things that are behind look to the
 things that are before. Everything points
 to another fulfllment of the old prophecy : l The last shall be first' As run my eye
 over the history Rof our country it's past,
 its present, and what it's future seems likely l to be, think I see in it all written by the
 hand of God this inspiring declaration Be-
 hold have set before thee an open door and no man shall shut it. '''
 THE PRIZES AWARDED.
 l Prizes were awarded as fnlIoWs