The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-19

mighty intellect rose to its zenith Of splendor
after Marshall spoke. But Hamilton, with all
his greatness and all his patriotism, was human.
as are the statesmen of to-day. No exceptional
political code ruled even what we call the heroic
age of the Republi-. We deplore the geograpi-
cal division of our day, but the same sectional
lines through the country in Washington's
administration. Hamilton's great policy OF
assuming the State debts, favored by the North,
was carried by bargain which conceded the
location of the national capital. favored by
the South, on the Potomac instead of the Sus-
Quehanna-a bargain to which jefferson was
party and which was as much matter of
log rolling as any legislative legerdemain of
modern craftsmanship. Edmund Randolph,
of whom jefferson said that ut his
habit to give his opinions TO his friends
and his votes to his enemies was driven
from Washington's Cabinet on charges
OF personal and public dishonor Timothy Pick
ering declared that John Adams Influenced
by selfshness, ambition and revenge Picker
ing always painted with bold, free brush, in
strong colors, and he doubtless overdrew; but
he was great enough to be Adams's Secretary of
State, as he had been Washington's before.
Calhoun proclaimed at the outset that the ad-
mlnistration of John Quincy Adams must be
defeated at all hazards, no matter what its
measures"-a declaration which could hardly be
reconciled with any honorable code of public
judgment at this day. And when the admins
tration triumphed after the great debate on the
Panama mission, Martin Van Buren,, then
senator. and afterwards President, said 'Yes:
they have beaten US by few votes, after hard
battle; but if they had only taken the other side
and refused the mission, we should have had
them"--implying that the opposition was as
ready to take the one side as the other, without
regard to the merits of the case, and that it re-
sisted the mission only because the administra-
tion proposed it. Who would be willing to ayow
such rule of action nows
/ am not here to dethrone any cherished idols.
share the general reverence for the greatness
of the past despite its blemishes but in the COM
parison deny the decay, and decentralization,
and depravity of our times. We suffer from
evils which our fathers could not know; evils
which have come with the growth of wealth, and
population, and power; from speculative greed,
ity; from the vices OF great cities, and the con-
fict of great interests. But. in spite of all this.
the level of the age is higher We hear mourn
full refrains upon the decay of craftsmanship,
but run an airy line from the summit of achieve
ment in the creation of The Republic to the pin
naeie of triumph in our own day, and in all the
stretch of years between where is the head high
enough and the work great enough to reach its
level2 Not since the first days of the Republic
have the highest qualities OF individual and
national greatness been tasked as in the stu
pendous struggles and problems of our own
epoch, and no heroism in history wears brighter
laurels chan that which shines on the hundred
bloody fields from Chickamauga to Appomattox:
pie of enduring glory than that which, with every
care of national honor, and national credit, and
national liberty has built and dedicated the re-
constructed and regenerated Union; and in these
triumphs Of the field and forum the scholarship
of the country has borne its full part In the
conflicts of the future it must speak and act with
no less potent voice.
/ do not sympathize with the wild and reckless
denunciation of the public service inefficient
and corrupt. 1t isn't true; it doesn't touch the
real sores; it confuses and misleads the public
mind. Outside of the large Cities with their
local rings. the public service, by whatever party
administered, has for the most part been as
honestly and faithfully conducted as the average
of private business. The root of the evil is not
a lack of integrity or capacity, but the lack of
proper conception that public Office is public
trust; it is not NAL administration. but the or
ganiZation of the administrative machinery,
outside of its proper function, into political en-
CINE; and no duty of American scholarship is
more commanding than that of leading the
awakened American thought to still higher
and broader apprehension of the true govern
mental system.
1t is to the educated forces of the country that
we must look for the leadership in this march
of progress. 1t is the man of positive and en-
lghtened earnestness who stamps his impress
on his times. The American people love and
onor a brave and resolute leader. They
| specG man of principle who makes coura-
geous battle for his intelligent convictions of
right ''Havn a core" says the demagogue to
the patflOt III 1eine story, TOT III the people
lose their reason they will tear thee to pieces
take of myself answers the patriot to
the demagogue; sfor when the people recover
their reason they will tear thee to pieces The
| appeal to popular passion may fail to-day; but
| the appeal to popular reason will triumph to-
| morrow. Pain would climb, but that / fear
to fall, wrote the aspiring but hesitating court
| Ter on the window pane 'If thy mind fail thee
do not climb at ALL wrote the royal mistress in
| answer. Young Of high and honorable
aspirations, let not your mind fail you you
set on. to climb the ladder of worthy ambition
in the world. Plant Yourself solidly on the
rock Of right. Go forward with firm step and
clear purpose. Said Wellington, SAT Elton
Waterloo was Won" Remember that within
these college halls you lay the foundations of
future success. Be brave, and just and faithful.
Above all to thine self be true,
And it shall follow the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any
And SO, young men, / summon you with the
generous enthusiasm and the pure aspirations of
ardent young manhood, going forth clad in the
armor of right and equipped with the training of
faithful and cherished alma MATER to uplift
your standard to keep the faith of your own
best ambition, and wherever placed, in whatever
sphere. do valiant battle for truth and principle,
the poet
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow,
keeping watch above His own.
Henry G. Bowen's Fourth Of July.
WOODSTOCK Conn, June l8-The celebration