The National tribune., 1885-06-18

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Catholics among the colonists who first peo-
pied the beautiful State in which we are.
Thank God, no longer my" but "Our"
Maryland.
So that when the Revolution ended, and our
! fathers found that the safety of each and all
| demanded a common Government over the
| thirteen victorious Colonies, political and re-
| ligious liberty was necessity, and it was inev-
| liable that Church and State should be forever
| separated in this our land.
The work in progress from that day to this
| has no parallel in history. Men of all races, of
all creeds have poured into our midst. and there
| is in course of solution the great problem of
the formation of new people, made up of all
| races and Christian creedS, living together in
harmony.
| When think of the past of our country, of
| the wonderful episodes of its history, and of
| the still more magnificent future before us-if
| we remain true to our God and ourselves-it
seems to me that the history of the world con-
verges upon US, and that our childrens chill
dren-I know not i'll how remote day-will
witness in America the grandest development
Of Gods purposes in regard to the human race.
| Feeling thus, have believed that the great
est evil that could befall us would be division.
| United, our future is brilliant beyond compare.
| Separated into discordant and warning frag-
ments, we have nothing to look forward to.
GROWTH OF sEcEssIoNIsM.
|
| driven into this Union, it would be impossible
| to limit the number of fragments. The same
causes which divided the country into two
| parts would operate with increased power and
| break up these two fractions into many petty
| States. the iaughing-stock of the world, and
| powerless to ensure respect abroad or security
at home
| Those abroad who envied and feared our
greatness were most forward in encouraging
| disunon, not from any sympathy or affection
| for either party, but simply with the desire to
| break our strength and reduce us to powerless
| inactivity.
| 1t was for these reasons that felt it duty
| to struggle for the preservation of the Union
| l loved so we'll As have already said do
not Judge those who honestly held different
views, but rejoice that the logic of events has
sustained my own, and still more do 1 rejoice
| that the vast majority Of those who fought so
earnestly on the other side now cheerfully ac-
cept the result, and are proud of their citizen
ship in our land at last thoroughly reunited
But, my countrymen, it is not enough that
we are now reunited in heart as well as in
fact; it is our duty to look to the future, and
| avoid, as far as human wisdom may, the posi-
biity of division in the centuries to come. The
solution seems to me very simple. The country
over which our glorious flag floats in peace and
guietness is immense.
The two great oceans of the globe wash its
eastern and western shores; on the north chain
of the grandest lakes that dot the surface of the
| earth on the south a gulf which would have
afforded ample scope for the ambitions of the
| maritime nations of ancient times
Within the vast area thus encompassed, na-
ture has exhausted herself in creating every
example of physical conformation on the grand
est scale. The Father of Waters rushes through
our midst in his mighty course, and with his
giant children dwarfs even the superb rivers
of our eastern and western coasts, which in
themselves yield not the palm to the greatest
streams of Europe
Huge mountain chains, with their rich val
leys-all teeming with mineral wealth and clad
with forests-diversify the landscape, modify
the climate, and furnish the springs whence
our rivers flow.
Immense plains, the smallest of which might
form an empire, and which equal in fertility
the far famed Sicilian fields where tabled Ceres
first taught men the culture of wheat, extend
for miles innumerable through the length and
breadth of our land. Every variety Of soil,
temperature and climate exists, from the gla-
ciers of Alaska and the forests of Maine, to the
orange groves of Florida and California and
the sugar lands of Texas; from the SUBMITS of
our snow-crowned mountains to the delta of
the Mississi ppi. The variety of the products of
our fields, rivers and forests is infinite.
Our great rivers. canals and railways afford
easy means of communication, and the numer-
Gus ports upon our shores enable us to mai ntain
commercial relations with all parts of the world
Men of every Christian race and of every
Christian creed are protected in the free pur-
suit of prosperity and happiness.
PLURIBUs UNUM.
But from these diversities of race, soil, topog-
raphy, climate and productions, springs that
diversity in unity, so happily characterized by
our national motto-E Pimibus Unum. 1t is
upon the constant recognition of this diversity
in unity that the permanence Of our institu-
tions rests.
A centralized Government, seeking to regu-
late the internal affairs of all the subdivisions
of the country, would necessarily fail in its
effect, for it would create friction, resulting in
evitably in dismemberment. Our safety lies
in the recognition of the right of Municipali-
ties, Counties and States to regulate their own
purely domestic affairs as seems best to them.
Let the General Government keep within the
limits of the ample powers confided to it by the
Constitution of our fathers-powers vast enough
for all purposes of peace and war-powers
which sufficed to deal with the greatest of all
trials that can befall Government, civil war,
and all will be well with Us. The great ma
chine will meve on for centuries, accommodating
itself hereafter to the new necessities OF the
mature giant, as readily it has in the past to
those of the infant venturing upon its first
hestating steps in political life.
Let us, my countrymen, now happily re-
united, and securely sheltered beneath the |
Rgs of our common country, impress upon our |
children the momentous fact that in the pres
ervaton of the Union rest their hopes for the
greatness of the Nation and the security of our
people throughout the ages to come. Moreover, |
let us instl in their minds the no less vital fact
that so long as people remain sound of
heart and worthy of Freedom our Constitution
affords the means of remedying all abuses and
of protecting the weak against the tyranny of
the strong. Within and under them the feeble |
will ever fnd that security which they must |
lose if they withdraw themselves from the
strong protecting arms of the Union and the |
Constitution.
Who can more ftly insist upon these axioms |
of political truth than you who stand III this |
preSence-alike those who never wavered in |
their faith, and those who having once de- |
parted from it, now honestly rejoice in q re- |
united country? What more appropriate place |
can be found for the expression of these funda- |
mental principles than this-where mighty /
armies once stood to seal their devotion with I
their best blood?
In the eyes of future generations how |
strange, how romantic and how stirring will |
always seem the history of these two armies, |
pitted against each other through long years of |
battle, from Yorktown to Appomattox, where
the scanty and mangled remains of the great |
Army of Northern Virginia, exhausted and |
depleted in the long struggle, at length laid
down it's worn-0ut arms, but not its honor.
Thanks to the magnanimity of the great sol
dier who then led the Union hosts-now, alas!