Year: 1866

D has become American in interest in
It thought and in patriotism: but the good
n results we have seen should only en-


courage us to more systematic use of the
y means which tend to so desirable a result
. nation is strong in proportion to the
It homOgeneity of its people. To be cOun-
It trymen should in itself be a pledge OF
l. brotherhood wherever we meet, and
@ brotherhood implies community of Ian


guage eand similarity of habit and thought.
/ 10 encourage and stimulate our natural,
lid fellow-citiZens and new corners who
s purpose becoming such, to adopt our
: language, to educate their children with


ours, and to identify themselves with US
: as rapidly as possible, is the dictate of true
+ patriotism with us, and ,'at the same time,
P IS the best welcome we can give to them,
: since there can be no question that they
r will thus become most quickly acquaint-
ed with their rights. as citizens, will be
least likely to be overreached and made
T dupes of in business or in politics, and


will find the road to pecuniary profit and
: personal advancement most rapidly open


before them.


Our common school system is to be fos-
: tered and improved, and there is nothing
r 10 which our people have a deeper inter.


Fest than this. If there be any one thing
70 which, under Providence, more than


another we owe our safe passage through


our recent perils, believe it is the intel
, ilgence which our common schools have


universally diffused. 1t has not been


simply the power to read, but that larger


and wider culture which has made the


American people capable of weighing and


DECIDING upon grave arguments of right


and policy in the midst of greatest excite
ment. The Government appealed to


them as to men able to comprehend any
arguments of State policy, and the steady


loyalty of the people and their persever-
ing support of the national cause was in


direct proportion to the intelligence and


education of different states of commu-


mites. | will even 60 further, and de-


clare my belief that, outside of the i'm
mediate theatre of hostile operations, the


cause never lost anything by the most


untrammeled freedom of public discus


sion and printing, because the people
! we're alwaJ able to detect the sophisms


of dislOyalty, and their pttriotic purpos-


es were strengthened rather than weak
ened by seeing the whole force of the en-
emy they had 20 meet. Among tn safe
guards of our liberties and guarantees of


the performance of our institutions


reckon our school system the very chief
Blind and devoted love of country may


exist under a despOtism, if ignorance he


the mother of a superstitiOus or childish !


attachment; but liberty and republican
| ism can Be built on no other solid foun- I


dation than intelligence in the whole mass


OF the speople. A wise self interest is |


made the basis of all scientific political |


economy, and when whole people have 4


learned to estimate that, interest truly /


besides loving their country dearly, you 4
have ground for faith in the stability of


their government such as can be got in no 4
other way. lis because of the general con /
viction that our common schools may be 4
made to secure this result, that there is .
an equally general belief that no money
used for public purposes is so well invest .
ed as that which supports our school sys- /
TEN.


No statement of our condition and our .
duties would be complete which did not
speak of the debt we owe to the sad ar
ray (almost an army in itselfll of the
manned and disabled heroes to whom the .
return of peace brings no bright prospect .
for the future. The dead may be sup
posed To look down in glory and in pride
upon the work they have accomplished
by shedding their blood, and our memory
of them becomes rather exultant than
painful; but these sick and crippled ones
are condemned to look upon the general
prosperity and joy, feeling bitterly that
their lives must be deprived of nearly ev-
erything which health and vigor would
have secured them. If we should give
them cause to think their country un-
grateful, we shall double their misery and


be ourselves unfaithful to one of the most
solemn duties which can be imposed up
on us. More than eight thousand disa-
bled soldiers are already upon the rolls of
the national pension bureau. The pit
tance which the general Government can
give them will not save them from want


How can we best do the remainder of our
duty to them? A beginning has already
been made in the temporary establish
ment of State Soldiers Home, but it IS
manifest that it viii provide for a very
small part of those who have good claim
upon US, if indeed any system of congre-
eating the pensioners in permanent asy-
lums can accomplish the desired end. l
believe the people are ready to do their
whole duty in this matter, and will ex-
pect those whom they have entrusted
with the legislative power to provide ad-
equately by law the best practicable sys
tenn for discharging this great debt of
honor. This disposition on their part has
been manifested not only in the noble
and generous private contributions thrO'
societies and commissions, by which the
comfort of our soldiers in the field and
the efficiency of our military hospitals
were wonderfully increased, but the same
spirit has pr mpted numerous local mon
uments to the dead, and will, l trust,
grow into some permanent memorial on
behalf of the State at large, in keeping
with the dignity of our position and with
the depth of our feeling. Il


In these as we'll as in other ways, the !
late war has brought great burdens upon
our State, but its prosperity has been !
such that they have been borne without
impoverishing our people ofstrainins the
public resources. Our State debt has
been diminished during this very period
of commotion, and such has been the I
thrift of the community and the success
of business enterprise, that we see on eY-
cry side the evidences OF accumulating I
wealth. Ohio, d" the first-born Of the or
dInsnce of 1787," has been true to the
principles of that great act of statesman
ship, which dedicated the northwestern {
territory to freedom and free labor, and I
now more than ever before is realizing
the benefits Of the wisdom which then
launched her upon a career of unexam-
pied growth under the auspices of reli-
gion, intelligence and fre edom. ii


A different policy, based upon false
and unjust system of labor, has brought
forth its matured fruit of rebellion, fol- {
lowed by desolstion and ruin. God grant |
that the lesson so sternly taught by ex- I
perience may be wisely learned by all, 8
and that the return to the right path may
everywhere result in such abundant hap !
piness and wellbeing that past strifes and {
may be forgotten in the gener- )
al joy 8


James E. Murdoch, commenced his en-
at Crosby's' Opera House, Chi {
cago Monday night, and is attracting i'm
mense audiences


Intense cold weather on the plains is I
Snow-bound emigrants have T