The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1891-07-15

every fertile ridge, and still gathering
and pouring onward to form new States
in those vast and as yet thinly set
tied solitudes, where the mighty riv-
ems roll along their majestic currents
and hear no sound save their own
dashing." Mark all this, and then say
by what bounds will you hold together
so mighty a people? what defenses will
you raise for so vast an empire what
safeguard will you give US against the
dangers which must inevitably grow out
of so vast and complicated an organiza-
tion In the swelling of our prosperity,
what field viii open for political cor
ruption what world of evil passions to
control, and jarring interests to recon-
cile what motives to private and official
cupidity what prizes will hang at a
thousand goals TO dazzle and tempt am
bition Do we expect to find our securi-
ty against these dangers in railroads and
canals in our military posts and ships
of war Alas, when shall we learn wis
dom from the lessons of history Our
most dangerous enemies will grow up in
cur own bosom. We erect bulwarks
against foreign invasion, but what pow
er shall We find in walls and armies to
protect the people against themselves ?
There is but one sort Of internal improve
ment more thoroughly internal than
that which is proclaimed by the Civil
Service Reformer of to-day, that is able
to save this country. The improvement
of the minds and souls of her people If
this improvement win be neglected, and
the increase Of our population fail to keep
pace with our physical advancement, one
of two alternatives is eertain-either the
nation must dissolve in anarchy under
rulers of its own choice, or if held to-
gether at all, it must be by a government
so strong and vigorous as TO be utterly
inconsistent with constitutional liberty.
Let the one hundred millions who, at no
very distant day, will swarm our cities
and fill our great interior, remain sunk
in ignorance, and nothing short ofan iron
despOtism will suffice to govern the ma
tion-to reconcile its vast and conflicting
interests, and hold back its fiery and
headlong energies from dismemberment
and ruin. Those who now crowd the
busy scene of human affairs will soon
have passed from the stage of the past,
and their places will be filled by the men
Of new generation.
But grant that they may preserve the
high trust in the spirit and virtue Of
their illustrious ancestors, and in all
ages to come to perPetuate those social
and political institutions, and those prin-
ciples of civil and religious liberty by
stamping the great features of our nation
al character with moral worth and in
telligence which shall prove impregna-
bic in that hour Of trial, when armies
and fleets and fortihcotions shall be in
VAIN.
Every nation has its monuments,
whether of art, Of glory, or Of science.
They are the representatives of national
character. The people themselves look
up to them as memorials OF their great
ness, and strangers look upon them to
know what that nation is. We dig them
out of the ruins of antiquity to learn what
antiquity was and We seek them in the
structure of modern society, to know what
the modern world has done. What is
the monument of the American people
Our improvements are all social improve
ments We have no other glory which is
not held in common With other nations.
But we do claim to have acknowledged
asserted and maintained principles Of So
ciety and of government which were
never acknowledged before by any ma
ton. We have embodied them in great
charter of human rights. 1t is the sole
representative Of our character. II is our
monument, and it is gazed upon by 9TH
ers with an interest and intensity great
er than was ever affixed upon the Pyra-
mids of Egypt, or the gilded and magnif-
icent structures of the 18th century. The
corner stone of our monument was bath
ed in the blood of our revolutionary ia
theirs, but it was built in compromise,
until transformed by the powers of war
and peace into the fullness Of freedoms
magma charta, in whose light the God
given law Of equality for man, stood forth
resplendent when its crowning summit,
stained with the martyred Lincolns
blood, was placed in its lofty position by
million brave and heroic boys in blue
II, then, there is any glory in our govern
ment, anything valuable in its princi-
Piles, let us study, love and venerate the
great monument of this nation-our con-
stitution. Then, in this free land, where
each can act and speak for himself, where
the love of country, the ocean tide pa
triotism, flows deep and strong where re-
ligion shall bear sway over a virtuous,
intelligent, and patriotic people, our
whole national being shall be elevated
by this glorious structure.
1t will be in the future as in the past,
past, an anchor to keep this Republic to
her moorings through the fiercest storms.
Secure in herself from internal conten-
tions, secure in the might of national
intelligence and virtue and union, though
the waves of the connections of other
nations may break on our shores and
hurl their spray high to heaven; and the
deep mutterings of the commissions of
earth's dynasties, uptorr from their old
foundations, may be heard across the
Atlantic yet, serene in her own impIeg-
nable strength, our Republic shall calmly
regard these changes uimoved, to await
her destiny in high reliance upon Him
who laid the foundation and reared the
superstIucture of her prosperity and
greatness, and, with the voices of mill
lions, solemnly swell he harmony of
our National song to Hin
Our Fathers God 20 Thee.
Author Of Liberty
To thee we sing
Long may our lanl be bright
With Freedoms hly light
Protect US by Thl might,
Great Colour King"
Merit Wins.