The record-union., 1898-02-22

tlS iledItS VI SuCH as give SotI " thCH
preachings and attend upon the doc
trines they advance against the system
we enjoy and which they would supplant
by vain, fanciful and untried schemes
of so-called betterment.
We should turn to the memory of the
chief of the early patriot fathers on his
anniversary day, and contemplating the
liberties he and his colleagues won for
us. teach our children that in such ex-
amples they are to find the loftiest goal
of citizenship and the most worthy am
billions for emulation. We should point
out to them the fact Bancroft has so elo-
quently put upon the page of history,
that when all had been accomplished
and a holy revolution had been sue
ceeded by peace, and while the ground
was trembling beneath the arbitrary
governments of Europe" Washington
was delivering the inaugural of the first
of Presidents in the Americas. and the
representatives of the people, but just
redeemed from monarchical thralldom,
were responding to his address in these
reverential words:
With you we adore the invisible hand
which has led the American people
through so many difficulties we cherish
conscious responsibility for the destiny
OF Republican liberty. We join with
you in your fervent supplication for our
country; and we add our own for the
choicest blessings of heaven on the most
beloved of her citizens
We should conjure our sons and
daughters to write in their hearts that
judgment of the cause of liberty and the
great leader by the men Of his time,
and to echo by their lives and their de-
votion to their native land the prayer Of
that first American Congress under the
Federal Union.
We should teach them to fear not, and
doubt not because of the preachings of
unholy discomfort, the sophistries of
mischievous ''reformers," or the vicious
assaults Of frothy anarchists in their
futile efforts to undo what has cost so
tablish, that on its ruins there may be
erected the unstable fabrics of systems
which can never obtain among men until
human nature is reformed and heaven
he now has.
We should read to them to-day over
and again the words which Washington
in 1888 with the simplicity Of a great
soul, and the courage of the man who
dares to challenge the objection that
he is stepping beyond the bounds of
privilege, addressed through the Gov
ernors Of the States to the people of
the country hailing them as sole lords
and proprietors of vast tracts of conti-
nent, comprehending all the various
soils and climates of the world, and
abounding with all the necessaries and
conveniences of life, and acknowledged
possessors of absolute freedom and in
dependence. This is the time said
he, "of their political probation; this
is the moment when the eyes Of the
whole world are turned upon them;
this is the moment to establish or ruin
their national character forever"
With this conviction of the impor-
tance Of the present crisis, silence in
me would he a crime. I therefore
speak the language of freedom and sin
cerity without disguise. There are
four things which L humbly con-
ceive are essential to the we'll be-
ing. / may even venture to say,
to the existence Of the United States
as an independent Power: First, an in
dissoluble Union Of the States under
one Federal head; Second, sacred re-
gard for public justice; Third the
adoption of a proper peace establish
ment, and fourth the prevalence of that
pacific and friendly disposition among
the people of the United States, which
will induce them TO forget their local
prejudices and policies. 10 make those
mutual concessions which are requisite
to their general prosperity. and in
some instances to sacrifice their indi-
vidual advantages to the interests of
the community. These are the pillars
ON which the glorious fabric of our in
dependence and National character
must be supported.
We should not stop with that nor on