The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-14


hlstoryf On what do we build, and for what do
we buldf What greatness do seek to
aehievel To what do our institutions tend2 Is
| 1t the creation of mere wealth, or is iJ the adj
vaneement and elevation of the human race2
Shall we not light up our pathway of progress as
| people with more of Justice, more of benevo-
| lence, more OF the higher attributes that stir
within our hearts and dignity our manhood?
The Greeks called men anthropos conc with
| face turned upward" and what shall be tue use
\ OF all our withdrawing inventions il they do
| not turn mans face upward, and create a higher
action for our peopel Strong fOrtresses chains of
| mountains, rugged frontiers and deep seas do not
OF themselves protect country. IL is living
! wall of brave hearts and willing arms that con-
| stitute its sure and cheap defense. The strong
est fortress in the known world is the rock of
Gibraltar, and for nearly two centuries 1t has
| been held by main force by the hand of an alien
and stran ger-a menace and an abiding reproach
TO the Kingdom and people who surround it-be-
cause braver and holder hand than its natu-
raj owners has taken and withheld IL from them.
The essential integer OF our country, the chief
prlnclple OF the American government, the germ
| OF our greatness as a people, is Independent,
| fearless, individual man-the founder and head
| of n family whose social and political influence
enlarges itself from the family into State, for
the family is the birthplace and nursery of the
| fireside virtues bred at home. HouOr, truthful
ness and courage, sef-denal and modesty, char
| ity and honesty, these are the qualities which
enlarge their influences from home to the neigh
borhood until they permeate the community,
| pervade the State, and public sentiment at last
becomes imbued with the spirit Of personal worth
and integrity.
In the ultimate settlement of the gravest af-
fairs of nations these questions upon which
men must rely for safety and good order, and
| under the form OF government we have adopted
| the need for their cultivation aud ascendancy
! seems greater even than elsewhere. They must
| be represented somewhere in our government;
therefore, whether you call it local selr-govern-
ment or home rule, am deeply impressed with
the necessity for its restoration in full force in
| the broad Union, equally for the strength and
safety OF the Union as well as OF these pillars of
| the States of which that Union is composed, and
upon whose integrity it depends; and this Is one
of the most important duties of the political
| party to which we are attached. proper reg
ulation of two opposing forces-centrifugal and
centripetal-maintains a true equilibrium, and
| for the last twenty years the latter force has
been overexercised and the former weakened by
an obvious result Of the invention of steam and
| the telegraph, and the safety of our popular in
| stitutons demands decentralizaJion-a dstribu-
tion OF power, and its exercise for local self
! government by those whose daily lives and
interests are to be affected by it,
THE RIGHT OF LOCAL sELF-GovERNMENT.
Home rule, or local sell. .governmen mt, it right
and necessity for American citizen, and 1t is
the intent and meaning of our written constitu-
tion of Union The strength of State depends
upon the number of upright independent, self
respecting individuals it contains; and in our
Democratic theories of governments, all inva-
sons of individual freedom of conscience and
action not essential for the preservation of So
cial order and the protection of Individual and
public rights, are unwise and unwarran ted.
All tendencies of legislation which. ignoring
! individual responsibility, substitute govern
mental control In matters social and personal,
| tends TO weaken the powers of the individual
| and enfeebling them by disuse, to lessen their
agency in good government. In this mlschiev-
GUS substitution OF governmental power in
matters social and personal lies the
objection to snmptuary laws, to in.
ference with conscience in social
nand religious affairs, and to invasion
1of the domain Of private opinion and personal
| liberty which seeks to impose penalties for an
ticipated acts aud otfenses; this spirit of wise
and unjust interference by the government is
| the objection to laws which, under the name of
| taxation, favor certain classes of occupation at
the cost of others, and abridge that freedom of
| contact and commercial intercourse which an
enlightened and enlarged sense of self-interest
should control. 1t is, IN fact, the principle of
cialism of communism, of paternal oversight by
the government, substituted for individual en-
deavor, guided by intelligent self-interest and
| restrained by individual conscience. IL is to
| promote % healthy sentiment and habit of self
| reliant manhood that the Democratic party
throughout the United States insist upon
| the fullest degrees of individual liberty
of conscience and action consistent with
the public safety and rights of others,
and for that reason we deprecate ali
unnecessary interference with the rights of
| local self-government and all class legislation
by the general government which assumes guar
danshlp and protection the business of a
private citizen and functions of control over
matters OF domestic and local interest. We
must carefully and jealousy insist that the true
| germ and real basis OF greatness of the country
| should not be obscured and overlooked, and pub
| lie control allowed over matters properly be-
| longing to private jurisdiction. We need this
cheek upon the centralizing influences of consoli-
datiOn of wealth and power and the tyranny of
| party organization, all of which tend to wither
individual manhood and conscience, and ab-
| solve men from a sense of personal duty and
obligation.
Col. Breckenridge on "Manifest Destiny
Col W. G. p Breckenridge, of Kentucky,
responded to the toast manifest destiny"
and after speaking at some length on the
probabilities of the future of the great repub-
lie, concluded with the following glowing
peroration:
I'VE celebrate the natal day of one who was
neither soldier, orator, poet, artist divine.
No sectarian is called by his name; no graves or
blood stains sanctify his triumph; no listening
| crowds were driven into an act of herOism by
| the wondrous power of his speech; no songs Of
his cheer the cottage of the humble nor illumi-
nate the closet of the cultured nor did his genius
add picture, or bust, or monumental pile to
the treasures of mankind. Yet he wears Il
deathless name. In the presence of
orators whose eloquence never surpassed
by the very side of matchless Patrick Henry,
the freeman of orators and the orator OF
freemen, this silent man stands conspicuous. In
an era which gave Washington to freedom and
| Bonaparte TO glory, this swordless man achieved
| Immortality. For hundreds of years the songs
of the free have been sweeter and happier be-
! cause OF him, and at n Symposium of the gifted
| he would sit an equal and honOred guest. All
who love religious liberty do Just honor to this
prophet of universal federation. and keep fresh
his unfading memory with sweet charity and
unceasing gratitude. He, more than any man of
his day, foresaw the manifest destiny of his
| country, and he more than any other one SO
shaped the policy of the country SO rs to realize
that destiny" Referring TO the condition of
America in Jetferson's day, the speaker said
| LESS than million people, scattered
along thin fringe of the Allan
| tic. had homes in the New World and
| acknowledged allegiance to the King of Great
Britain" Compare our republic aud these peo-
pies with the rivals of 1743, the French and tho
| the a
foresaw on that spring day in l743, but this is
what Jefferson did afterward foresee and labored
to produce. The form of government actually
adopted under the constitution framed by Jefier-
son was not precisely In all its details what he
preferred, but the pervasive power residing in
| it's principles was such that with his guidance il