Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-03-06
power and right of self government they have

preme and sacred trust and he here conse-
crates himself to their service
This impressive ceremony adds little to the
solemn sense of responsibility with which I
contemplate the duty owe to all the people of
the land; nothing can relieve me from anxiety
lest by any act Of mine their interests may suf-
fer, and nothing is needed to strengthen my
resolution to engage every faculty and effort
in the promotion of their welfare.
Amid the din of party strife the peoples
choice was made; but its attendant circum-
stances have demonstrated anew the
STRENGTH AND SAFETY OF A GOVERNMENT BY
THE PEOPLE.
In each succeeding year it more clearly APP
pears that our Democratic principle needs no
apology, and that in its fearless and faithful
application is to be found the surest guaranty
of good government.
But the best results in the operation of
government, wherein every citizen has share,
largely depend upon proper limitation of
purely partizan zeal and effort, and correct
appreciation of the time when the heat of the
Pul OAAthh oAoulu DG lucTSGu Ill lle Datr1OLlSn
of the Citizen
To-day the executive branch of the govern
ment rs transferred to new keeping. But this
is still the government of the people, and it
should be none the less an Object of their af-
fectionate solicitude. At this hour the ami
mosities of political strife the bitterness of
partizan defeat and the exultation of partizan
triumph should be supplanted by an ungrudg-
ing acquiescence in the popular will, and
sober, conscientious concern for the general
fully and honestly
ABANDON ALL SECTIONAL PREJUDICE AND
DIsTRUsT,
and determine, with manly confidence in one
another, to work out harmoniously the achieve
ments of national destiny, we shall de
serve to realize all the benefits which our hap
py form of government can bestow.
On this suspicious occasion we may we'll re-
new the pledge of our devotion to the Consti
tuition which. launched by the founders of the
Republic, and consecrated by their prayers
and patriotic devotion, has for almost cen
fury borne the hopes and aspirations of great
people through prosperity and peace, and
through the shock of foreign conflicts and the
perils of domestic strife and vicissitudes.
By the Father of his Country our Constitu-
ton was commended for adoption as ''the re-
suit of spirit of amity and mutual conces-
sion" In that same spirit it should be admin
istered, in order to promote the lasting well
fare of the country, and to secure the full
measure of its priceless benefits to us and to
those who will succeed to the blessings of our
national life. The large variety of diverse and
competing interests subject to federal control,
pers silently seeking the recognition of their
claims, need give us no fear that ''the greatest
good to the greatest number will fail to be
accomplished if, in the halls of national legs-
lation that spirit of amity and mutual con-
cession shall prevail in which the Constitution
had its birth. If this involves the surrender
or postponement of private interests and the
Abandonment of local advantages, compensa
ton will be found in the assurance that thus
the common interest is subserved and the gem
eral welfare advanced
In the discharge of my official duty I shall
endeavor to be guided by
A JUST AND UNsTRAINED CONSTRUCTION OF THE
CONSTITUTION,
a careful observance of the distinction between
the powers granted to the federal government
and those reserved to the State or to the peo-
pie, and by cautious appreciation of those
functions which, by the constitution and laws,
have been especially assigned to the executive
branch of the government.
But he who takes the oath to-day to pre-
serve, protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States, only assumes the solemn
obligation which every patriotic citizen on
the farm, in the workshop in the busy marts
Of trade, and everywhere, should share with
him. The Constitution which prescribes his
oath, my countrymen, is yours; the govern
ment you have chosen him to administer for
time is yours; the suffrage which executes the
will of freemen is yours; the laws and the en-
tire scheme of our civil rule from the town
meeting to the State capitol the National cap
itol, is yours. Your every voter, as surely as
your chief magistrate under the same high
sanction, though in a different sphere, exer-
cises public trust Nor is this ALL Every
citizen owes to the country vigilant watch
and close scrutiny of its public servants, and
fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity
and usefulness. Thus is the peoples will i'm
pressed upon the whole frame work of our
civil policy-municipal, State and federal
%
spiration of our faith in the Republic.
1t is the duty of those serving the people in
public places to
CLOSELY LIMIT THE PUBLIC EXPENDITURES
to the actual needs of the government eco
nomically administered because this bounds
the right of the government to exact tribute
from the earnings of labor, of the property of
the citizen, and because public extravaganza
begets extravaganza among the people. We
should never be ashamed of the simplicity and
prudential economies, which are best suited to
the operation of republican form of govern
ment and most compatible with the mission of
the American people. Those who are selected,
for limited time, to manage the affairs, are
still of the people, and may do much by their
example to encourage, consistently with the
dignity of their official functions, that plain
way of life which among their fellow-citzens
aids integrity and promotes thrift and pros
perity.
The genius of our institutions the needs of
our people in their ho me life, and the atten-
ton which is demanded for the settlement
and development of the resources of our
vast territory, dictate the scrupulous avoid
ance of
ANY DEPARTURE FROM THAT FoRIGN POLICY
commended bv the history the traditions