empire of the West, which, remote from all the strifes and struggles of the Eastern Continent, controls and sways them all: and, while its being is of the future, rather than of the past, already holds the equilibrium of nations, and the weathergage of the world. E PLURIBUS UNUM. Mark, for one moment, how amazingly this problem, of a plural unit, is practically worked out, in our amazing Constitution. To every nation, in the world-Japan and China, now, are not exceptions-there must be the foreign and domestic side. The side, which it turns to its own people, for protection, for encouragement, for consolation; and the side, which it turns to the whole world, beside, for sovereignty and independence: "enemies, in war; in peace, friends." In our inimitable Union, this is supplied, by the State governments, on the one hand, and, on the other, by the General government. As Jerseymen, as Georgians, as men of Massachusetts, all that is private, individual, domestic, social, in its more immediate and endearing forms, is clustered about New Jer sey, Georgia, and Massachusetts; and sheltered, in their shadow. We live, at home, among our own people. We know each other, all. We grasp each other's hands. We feel each other's hearts. But, when the world is to be met, in commerce, in diplomacy, or arms; when the nation is to rise and rally, at the angel summons of benevolence, or at the clang of the war-trumpet, we are one single people. We are all Americans. There is one country for us all, with one all comprehending Constitution. One glorious baldric, blazoned with the stars and stripes. One monarch eagle, that, from his eyrie in the Alleghanies, mounts to heaven, with all "the terrors of his beak, and lightning of his eye." One broad and blessed and perpetual union; the union of our homes and of our hearts; indomitable, impregnable, imperishable: "Independence, now, and Independence, forever." And are there those, upon whose homes and hearths, this glorious union sheds the blessings of its bow of peace and love and hope, that have the heart, to stop, and calculate its value? Will they count the stars? Will they register the pulses of the ocean, as it lashes the bold shore of freedom? Will they sound the blue depths of the overarching empyrean? Will such an one measure his hearth, with a carpenter's rule? Will he map, for us, the heart-fields of his home? Is there a value, in arithmetic, for his wife? Or an algebraic formula, for his children? There is no such American. There can be no such man. If there were, I would fear to stand with him beneath the arches of the Constitution, lest a rock, from them, should fall, for his destruction; and involve me, in his just ruin. Were he my son, he should take his feet from off my hearth. And, could he be an alumnus of this College, his Alma Mater would freeze him, with one fierce frown, into perpetual stone. But, no; it cannot be. The invalua ble can no more be calculated, than the infinite be measured. And, second, only, to the blessings, which flow, immediate from the Cross, the benefits, which, by the Union of these States, have been secured to us: and, with God's blessing, on our faithfulness, shall be our heritage, forever. In this College, next to the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, the Constitution of these United States is carefully expounded and enforced. The birthday of the Union is the birth-day of the College. The annual recognition of its return exults in its twin blessedness. And, to the hearts of the young men, that shall go out from here, the glorious banner of the stars and stripes will ever bear emblazoned, on its broad and sweeping folds, the precious sign of the all-conquering Cross. And it must be so, dear friends, if we would keep the blessings, we enjoy. They come to us, from GOD. We hold them, at His hands. We can only keep them, with His blessing. It is impossible, that, in an age, like this, and in a country, such as ours, questions and differences should not spring up. It grows inevitably from our "E PLURIBUS." It is inseparable from that which makes the strength and safety of our "UNUM.” On the one hand, be not alarmed by them. On the other, neither cherish them, in your own hearts; nor irritate them, in the hearts of others. From the midst of them all, and, far above them all, look up, to the stars of the Union. Remember the fields, where it was assert ed. Remember the blood, with which it was sealed. Shall any separate between the plains of Yorktown and the heights of Bunker Hill? Will any cease to be the countrymen of Putnam or of Marion? Will any one consent, that the orbit, in which he revolves, shall Beautiful not revolve about our central WASHINGTON? analogy, between our civil constitution, and the system of the Universe! UNUM, E PLURIRUS, alike the law of both. Each, governed and sustained, alike, by forces, from the centre, and by forces, from the circumference. The rest, the beauty, the comfort, the glory, the perpetuity of both, secured by their mutual reaction; and enjoyed, in that perfect equilibrium, which, in its noiseless and unrippled serenity, perpetuates alike the concord of all the States, and the harmony of all the spheres. That this may ever be so, will depend upon GOD'S favour, and, so, upon our prayers. And, in the view of this, and, for its sake, let me commend, to you, who love the Union, and desire its perpetuity, to consecrate it, ever, in your devotions, before GOD. From every fireside, as from every altar, let the "Prayer for Congress" rise, from the true heart of Christian patriotism: "that all things may be so ordered, and settled by their endeavours, upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us, for all generations." In the fervent words, in which David's pious patriotism found utterance, "O, pray, for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee: peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces." "GOD is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof rage and swell; and though the mountains shake, at the tempest of the same.' "Sail on, Sail on, O, ship of State, With all the hopes of future years, Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith, triumphant, o'er our fears, Are all with thee, are all with thee!"-LONGfellow. |