Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-12-26

yield in the present and give promise for
the future"
.'Of the future greatness of the new
nation Washington had no doubt. He saw
as If face to face that continental domain
which glimmered to others as through a
glass darby. The great west was no seal
ed book to him. and no one knew better
than he that no foreign power could long
control the flow of the father of waters to
the gulf. He Is said to have lacked i'm
agination, and if the exhiliration of the
poet, the mystic, or the seer is meant, this
may be true. His mind was not given to
indulgence In dreams of ideal common
wealths like the republic of Plato or of
Cicero, the City of God of Augustine, or
the Utopia of Sir Thomas More, but it
grasped the mighty fact of the empire f
the future and acted In obedience to the
heavenly vision. But the question was:
Could that empire be realized and con-
trolled by the people within It's vast
boundaries In the exercise OF self govern
ment? Could the conception of a central
government, operating directly upon cit
liens, who at the some time were subject
to the same jurisdiction of their several
states, be carried into practical working
operation so as to reconcile imperial sway
with local independence? Would a scheme
work which was partly national n partly
federal, and which aimed at unity as well
as union? And could the rule of the ma
iority be subjected with binding force to
such restraints through a system of repre-
s~entation, that of a republic rather than
that of a pure democracy, that the vlo-
lence of faction could not operate in the
long run to defeat a common government
by the many throughout so immense an
area? Could the restraints essential to the
preservation of society, the equilibrium
between progress and order, be so guarded
as to allow for that sober second thought
which would secure their observance, and
thus the liberty and happiness of the peo-
pie and the enduring progress of human
ity? While the general genius of the
government was thoroughly permeated
with the ideas of freedom In obedience,
yet time was needed to commend the form
in which it was for the future to exert
itself"
mo ship can sail forever over summer
seas. The storms that it has weathered
test and demonstrate its ability to survive
the storms to come, but storms there must
be until there shall be no more sea. But
as amid the tempests in which our ship of
SGdUo Was lduuC1leu, dHu LII Gue UInleS W
cCme, with every exigency consultations of
illustrious men will rise upon the kingly
skies to control the whirlwind and dispel
the clouds by their potent influences, while
the clear upper sky the steady light of
the great planet marks out the course the
vessel must pursue and sits shining on the
sails as it comes grandly into the haven
where it would be-"
The orator completed his address at 80.
having consumed an hour and a quarter in
its delivery. As his voice died away on
the last word of the elegant perbration a
storm of applause swept through the audi
ence which continued for some minutes.
The benediction was then pronounced by
the chaplain of the house, after which
Washington's Grand March was rendered
by the Marine band. The martial strains
having ceased, the vice-president declared
the joint assemble dissolved, and to
stirring air of the "Star-Spangled Banner
the invited guests slowly left the chamber.