The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-07-09

ton and worlds plaudits were being !aT
ished upon him for his victorious leader
ship in war he deliberately refused to ac
cent an immoderate extension OF Ills tenure
as President and fixed q term OF eight
years as the limit beyond which no man
Should be President of the United States
He had fought, not for conquest, but ioi
his country's freedom. He lived not foI
ambition, but for his country's good, and
richly does his memory deserve the praise
of Byron's pen:
"Whorc may the wearied eye repose
When gazing on the Great,
Where neither guilty glory gloHs,
Nor despicable state?
Yes-one-the first-the Iast-thc best
The Clncinnatus Of the West
Whom envy dared not hate
Bequeathed tho nanle OF Washingtom
TO make men blush there was but one"
"First in war, first in peace and first IN
the hearts of his countrymen" he not only
was and is, but will remain the example OF
the highest type of Citizenship. His char
acter, my friends, presents to my MIND the
fullest, roundest, most complete standard
of exalted manhood which has eyer been
bequeathed to history by statesman or war
rier. In public point Of view ne: vas as
a general tho equal Of Cesar and greater
than Napolean-greatcr than Napoleon,
because he could bear adyerslty ana rescue
victory from defeat, which Napolean never
did. This assertion may astonlsh those
who have laid aside their Judgment and
given play alone to their admiration! for
Napolcon's brilliant exploits at !Aooi, az
Austerlitz and Jena, but history will sus-
tain tho claim that Napoleon never extri.
Gated an army from defeat. Hence, he lost
five magnificent hosts. His genius only
enabled him to utilize the values of victory.
while Washington, by bis prudent ano y!
sagacious powers, was able to parry the
strokes Of misfortune and achieve success
under circumstances in Which Napoleon
would have failed. AS statesman no was
far-seeing, cautious and jealous OF the m
terest of the infant government his lead
ership had founded. Instead of presenting
to the country the spectacle OF ambition,
he gave the only instance on record OF
great military chieftain setting llmltation
upon his own power.
"How shall we rank thee upon glorys. page,
Thou more than soldier and just less than sage
All thou hast been, reflects less fanie on thee,
Far less than all thou hast forborne to bo."
Tho independence of the United States
gave to the world the only real rept6lic
that it has ever seen, except the little dis.
trict of some twenty-five Square miles upon
the top of the Alps. San Morino, with
less than one-fifth the population Of Abb
bcville County, has for over fourteen hum
dred wears been q free State, governed by
its own people because it was too poor to
tempt tile spoiler or to engender internal
dissentions. The great republics OF which
history tells, were so only in name. Rome
had her classes, the Patricians and the
Plebeians, whose influence and opportuni.
ties were vastly different. Her laws were
not equal or uniform and her tribunes,
consuls and dictators were but modified
forms of monarchy. The same is true OF
Athens and the Republic of Greece. In it
the chief magistrate often held dictatorial
power and prescribed as Solon did, the laws
which were to govern the people, who were
as in the Roman Republic, divided Into
classes with different rights pertaining to
each. In such n republic, with citizen
ship willing to submit to such distinctions,
it was meet for their great lawgiyer, Scion,
when asked if he had given Athens the
best of laws, to reply "the best they were
capable of receiying.'"' =,
The modern republics have likewise been
far from such governments as would prop
erly entitle them to the name. The gov
ernmonts of Mexico, Central America, and
South America, have been in continual
discord and frequent revolt Even the Re.
public of France, has not been able to Gull
those principles of liberty and maxims of
government which promise perpetuity to o
nation: but in her laws to-day we find
censorial powers invested in her officers.
II is only in the United States of Ameri-
ca that the spirit of liberty and equality
before the law finds genial soil in tho
hearts of the people. 1t is here that homo
is offered to the lovers of liberty through
out the world. Under our laws none OF
The rights of man are abridged except so far
as may be necessary for the well:being OF
the whole people, and such abridgements
are only made by the people themselves.
In monarchial governments the laws are
made by one supreme head or by council
whose selection is not left to the people.
In government, like so-called republics,
the laws are framed by bodies but little bet
ter than mobs. In our Union the laws are
guarded with the utmost care and every
person who participates in their enactment
is selected from among the people. They
arc directly responsible to the source of
their power and are easily changed when
they abuse or misrepresent the trusts I'M
posed upon them.
With principles so benign, with safe
guards so strong our government has within
The first Century of its existence extended
the limits of its territory until to-day it's
flag floats, with protecting power, over the
fourth government of the world in area,
and the fifth in number of citizens who
owe it allegiance. The loyalty of its citi-
zens is un9uestioned. We have the small.
est standing army of any nation in the
world, except Denmark which with q
population Of less than two millions, and
an area of less than fifteen thousand square
miles, has an army that is only eight men
less than ours. The greatness of the moral
power Of the United States is better illus
trated by comparison with Russia, which
has in round numbers q population OF
100000, 900, while ours is only fifty million,
and yet Russia has standing army oil
more than million men, while our army
numbers only thirty-six thousand. Russia
has fourteen times rs many soldiers in pro-
portion to her population-that is, it takes
one man out Of every one hundred men,
women and children in Russia, to guard
the Empire in time of peace, while it only
requires one out of every fourteen hundred
in the United States. And yet our shores
are laved by the tides Of two oceans whose
coasts aggregates over 4,300 miles and our
frontier reaches more than $500 miles,
$500 of which bound the possessions oi
Great Britain. This is sufficient com
mentary on the greatness of our country.
It's constitution is q bulwark Of freedom.
Its Justice and its integrity are tower OF
strength. Clothed in the panoply of these
attributes it is safe from sedition at home
impregniblc to invasion from abroad.
In little more than century our father;
have built system so strong that a fearful
civil war could not destroy, but only per,
fected it. Disagreeing upon the theory ol
government, their differences were arbitra
ted in battle and the result has yindicated
the course of each. The South in defeat
has risen to her former equality, with every
principle reserved, for which She fought
save alone, the right of secession, which is
destructive of government. Secession IS a
thing of the past, but State sovereignty i'll
the government Of its citizens is funda-
mental principle Of our government. The
bloody issues of The war for a time made
our free institutions tremblc in the balance
but the old ship of state was too firmly
anchored to be torn from her noorlngs,
and the teachings Of our Washington
barred the unholy ambition of the laurel
crowned Grant, who was his Nations hero
and who sought, like Cesar or Napoleon