Friends and Fellow Citizens-We have been edified and instructed today,our hearts have been warmed, and our minds entertained with a variety. ShallI say interspersed with music? No, for it has all been music, whether flowingfrom the hearts of our fellow citizens, or produced by the skill of ourbands in the use of musical instruments. All has been music-music to theear, and poetry to the heart. We have had a variety, all tending, however,to one point, all chiming in one common harmony, without a jarring string.We have had the gushing eloquence of youth, kindled as it were with liquidfire, portraying the glories of our country, and touching upon some portionof its history.
Our sympathies, and feelings of patriotism, have been moved in listeningto the items relating to the "Mormon Battalion" -their sufferingsupon the plains of Sonora, and the variety of scenes of joy, and sorrow,and patriotism; and the results in their march. We have had portrayed beforeus at one moment the opening of the treasures of the western mines, andthe cause that led to it, pouring into the treasuries of nations, as itwere, a stream of gold. At another moment we have been entertained witha view of the results of the actions of our fathers, and the causes thatled to the great Declaration of Independence, and to the statement of theprinciples contained in that instrument, which was read to day; contemplating,not only the direct bearing of those actions of our fathers in setting anation free, but the indirect bearing and influences of such movements uponthe whole world of mankind-upon the destiny of the race of which we forma part.
At another moment we have listened to the grave eloquence of officialgentlemen, portraying the history of our fathers in the anxious movementsthat finally resulted in the establishment and in the maintainance [maintenance]of those great principles and truths put forth in the Declaration. In short,we have had a variety, and we have had entertainment that has been profitableto the mind, and that has caused us to reflect. And as to the display ofeloquence; poetry, music, and above all of patriotic feeling, good sentiment,and wholesome doctrine, what is there left?
I, for one, feel, in rising under these circumstances, as though I wouldrather sit and contemplate, and reflect upon the history of the past, andthe glorious prospect of the future. But on the other hand, I feel willingas a fellow citizen to contribute my mite, realizing at the same time myown weakness, and not having had time to prepare anything in writing.
I will express my ideas, or rather a few of them, in regard to the Constitutionof our own country, and its political principles, of their effects, andof the results of the movements which gave rise to that Constitution. Thelonger I live, and the more acquainted I am with men and things, the moreI realize that these movements, and particularly that instrument calledthe Constitution of American Liberty, was certainly dictated by the spiritof wisdom, by a spirit of unparalleled liberality, and by a spirit of politicalutility. And if that Constitution be carried out by a just and wise administration,it is calculated to benefit not only all the people that are born underits particular jurisdiction, but all the people of the earth, of whatevernation, kindred, tongue, religion, or tradition, that may seek to take ashelter under its banner. It seems broad enough, and large enough, to receiveand protect all that may be in any way deprived of the common rights ofman. It was doubtless dictated by the spirit of eternal wisdom, and hasthus far proved itself adequate to the wants of the nation, and to the wantsof all mankind that have seen fit to attach themselves to it, to come underits protection, and share in its blessings.
The great question, as has been before observed to-day more than once,is, not the operations of the instruments, the beauty of the writing, theformation of the language, or the principle of liberty guaranteed therein,but the administration of those principles. For instance, paper itself cannotenforce its own precepts; and unhallowed principles in the people, or inthe rulers which they choose, may pervert any form of government, howeversacred, true, and liberal. They may overthrow and destroy the practicalworking of those very principles, which are so true, and so dear to us,and in which we so rejoice. It is the living administration, after all,that is the government, although a good form opens the way for good results,if carried out; but if not carried out, the form becomes a dead letter.Much depends on the feeling and action of the people in their choice ofmen and measures, and much depends on the administration of those they maychoose.
In the principles of the Constitution formed by our fathers, and handeddown to their children, and those who should see fit to adopt this countryas theirs, there is no difficulty, that is, in the laws and instrumentsthemselves. They embrace eternal truths, principles of eternal liberty,not the principles of one peculiar country, or the sectional interest ofany particular people, but the great, fundamental, eternal principles ofliberty to rational beings-liberty of conscience, liberty to do business,liberty to increase in intelligence and in improvement, in the comforts,conveniences, and elegances of this life, and in the intellectual principlesthat tend to progress in all lives.
The more I contemplate our country, the providences which have attendedit, the principles upon which it is governed, the principles upon whichthe Constitution is founded, and the practical working of it when properlycarried out; the more I look at the spirit of our institutions; and themore I contemplate the circumstances of mankind in general; the more I realizethat which before I had scarcely thought of, that which even the largestcapacity had failed to grasp-the greatness of the destiny of those principles.One thing is certain, in the minds of all Christians who admit the truthof the Bible, and who have perused its pages, and that is, there is a daycoming when all mankind upon this earth will be free. When they will nolonger be shackled, either by ignorance, by religious or political bondage,by tyranny, by oppression, by priestcraft, kingcraft, or any other kindof craft, but when all will positively have the knowledge of the truth,and freely enjoy it with their neighbors. However they may do in other points,these points are clearly developed in that good Book which Christendom acknowledges.This is the destiny that the Prophets of old have predicted in regard tothe race of mortals upon the earth. Whatever principles of darkness haveunited to obscure ages and generations; whatever of wrong and blood-shedmight prevail; whatever of corruption, deception, or superstition mightenslave the mind of man, and chain down his body; however the earth mightbe drenched in the blood of millions; however many might be the futile strugglesof nations or individuals for liberty; yet, in the final result, the darknesswhich has covered the earth will be chased away, light will prevail, libertytriumph, mankind be free, the nations be brethren, and none have need tosay to his neighbor, "Know ye the Lord," or the truth, which isjust the same thing; for all will know Him, from the least to the greatest.If such is to be the final result, how natural it is for men to look atthe workings of the causes that will bring it about, and to contemplatethe great things that are growing out of so little, comparatively speaking.When a single individual conceived a big thought, and formed a grand designof taking an unbeaten track, and penetrating the unexplored seas of theWest, who could have contemplated the result that has grown out of it inabout 300 and odd years?
On the other hand, when a few colonies, weak and feeble, settled onthese western shores, called New England, when all the grain they had intheir possession, in a little while after they landed, might have been measuredin a pint cup, who then could have contemplated the result? Or when a fewsmall colonies, weak and far separated from each other by dreary miles,without the aid of steam cars, or steam boats, or the convenience of thetelegraph to convey news from place to place with lightning speed, wereunited, and by their representatives made this Declaration we have heardto-day, and pledged themselves, though few in number-only between two andthree millions, to defend and carry it out, who could have contemplatedthe result even of that? And when these few colonies were once set freeto manage their own affairs, and, having achieved that which they so bravelyundertook to accomplish, and establish liberty, they came together to establisha capital that should be central and convenient for the colonies that werethen strewed along the shores-at that time who could have contemplated anation that would stretch its dominions and settlements from Maine to Florida,and from the north east, washed by the Atlantic, to the very interior ofthe continent then unknown to civilised man? and that the shores of thePacific would have formed our western limits, its seas been whitened withour sails, and the unnumbered millions of Asia influenced by our institutions?
Our hearts beat high for liberty. The valleys of the mountains, theback bone of the American Continent, are peopled with 20 or 30 millionsof free people scattered over the land, and dwelling securely under thesame banner, and now are we assembled to celebrate the day on which freedomdawned.
Who can realize the present and future bearing of this? Mine eyes havebeheld the down trodden people of our ancient mother country-England. Ihave contemplated the working of European nations, not after the hearingof the ear only, but mine eyes have beheld it. I have also beheld a portionof the great Pacific, and seen our brethren of mankind at war with eachother in Spanish America, for I have crossed the equator, and been far alongthe western shores of the Pacific. I have also seen thousands of peopleof Asia, from the most despotic government on the earth, swarming upon ourwestern shores, dwelling under the common banner of freedom-I mean the Chinese.
We have heard something to day about the prospects of annexation, orenlargement of the dominions of the Constitution of America. The principleof annexation of large countries is not important, but the influence ofour institutions, the pattern we set, the working of these institutions,and their influence abroad will bring about the same results precisely,whether it is particularly by annexation or not. The Spanish American, whois he? He possesses a country and resources almost unbounded. Put that countryand its resources with the United States, with the Canadas, and I will guaranteethat every man that now stands upon the earth could be sustained by theseresources, if the rest of the world were to sink.
The natural elements of the American continent, that are not developed,would sustain the world. The Spanish American possesses a country that isrich in every thing that is desirable, as a climate in all its varieties.It is rich in mineral wealth and agricultural resources, in timber, andin all the elements of wealth and greatness, and is comparatively undevelopedand unoccupied. But who are these Spanish Americans? They are in a greatmeasure aboriginal inhabitants of this country, mingled with European people,from the pure white of old Spain, and in all its shades until you come tothe full blooded Indian, or Redman.
What institutions are they under? They are said to have liberty, somethingafter the pattern of the United States, but in many instances, I am sorryto say, only in part, not in spirit, nor in truth; for while they professliberty, they themselves are in bondage to a religion established by law.While their institutions may be nominally free in many respects, they havethis awful clause specifying a certain religion, that shall be the religionof the State, to the prohibition of all other religions, or public exerciseof other religions. Hence the people are trammelled by priestcraft, by ayoke of bondage, first enforced upon them by the sword in the days of Cortesand Pizarro, and afterwards rivetted by the traditions of three centuries.They know not how to appreciate liberty, they know not how to throw offthe yoke that goads their neck.
As it has been observed to-day by one of the orators, mankind are progressivebeings, and there are no obstacles that might be thrown in the way of theirprogress, that could not be overcome. This will apply to our brethren ofevery shade on this continent, and to mankind in general. It is hardly possiblefor one dwelling at home to realize the influence that American and Englishinstitutions, which are the best, exert over the nations, and among them.They look to America for instruction and example in the first place, andthey next look to England; they look to these countries for everything thatis yet undeveloped, of liberty, art, science, education, and improvement.You may say they are Catholics, but who blames them for this? The law oftheir country made them so, and tradition has fastened the bands, and makesthem so yet. But when they speak to Americans, they speak with those whomthey suppose can teach them. When they contemplate the United States, theycontemplate a country that they suppose is setting them an example worthyto be patterned after. They delight to sit for hours and learn of our institutions,of our railroads, of our telegraph, of the speed by which we can conveyourselves and goods from place to place, and of our wonderful quicknessof conveying news. They love to hear of our improvements in steam, of ournavigation, of our schools, of our newspaper liberty, or the liberty ofthe press, of our liberty of conscience, of our universal adaptation ofeducation, and of our system of paying for education out of the public funds,leaving the people to contribute freely according to their own judgmentand desires for the support of religion. These things have a bearing upontheir minds; they are ready to converse upon them, and when they have heardthe description, say they, "It is good, far better than our own institutions,"and they are ready to condemn the priestcraft among them, but they haveto follow it because they have nothing else. Their organs of thought arenot accustomed to much exercise, they want the information to liberate themselves.
When we contemplate the designs of the country, and its influence, wecontemplate not merely our own liberty, happiness, and progress, nationallyand individually, but we contemplate the emancipation of the world, theflowing of the nations to this fountain, and to the occupation of theseelements, blending together in one common brotherhood. They will thus seekdeliverance from oppression, not in the style of revolution, but by voluntarilyemerging into freedom, and the free occupation of the free elements of life.In contemplating the fulfilment of things so clearly developed by the Prophets,I do not view it as do many, who suppose a revolution should take placein France, in Austria, in Germany, and the other nations, and that one revolutionfollowing another, would gradually emancipate mankind in every nation, andgive progress to the principles of freedom, to liberty of thought and action,and to the free circulation of intelligence. We have seen it tried, andtried in vain. The people are not able to throw off those fetters of bondage,and that heavy yoke. Circumstances are against them. But Providence opensthe way whereby they may liberate themselves-I mean the first and best spiritsfrom all countries under the heavens. They may leave the old constitutionsto crumble down in their own rottenness, and emerge from them, and comeout where they may enjoy sufficient of the elements upon free, good, andequitable principles; operate upon these elements, and increase their numbersand powers by the union of the best spirits of all nations of the earth.
On the one hand the Chinese emerges from the institutions of ages almostimmemorial, from the antiquated creeds and regulations that he thought everyman in the world had been governed by for thousands of years. He emergesfrom that superstitious government, and lands upon these shores, and learnsprinciples of freedom faster than he does the English language-his old traditionsare swept away, and he is a man. But take that whole nation, and they couldnot be brought to think of liberty as we do; take from ten to a thousandindividuals and put them where they may think, and they will think; andas they think, their old traditions will vanish one by one. At the sametime the Spanish American follows, and all the other nations in the train;the barriers will be broken, and they will begin to emerge into freedom.In short, all the people of the earth, though they cannot master their tyrantsat home at one fell swoop, and burst asunder their chains and the fettersof priestcraft that have bound them down, and trammelled the free circulationof thought, yet one by one, family by family, can flow out from those countries,to where they have a right to the elements to sustain them. What is to bethe result in the end? They will step on the other side of the big shipcalled the world, or in other words the Eastern Hemisphere, and take theirstand together, at least upon general principles, if not upon particularitems, and begin to think. It will be a long time, of course, before allthings will settle into a state of harmony; it will be a long time beforemany will begin to think at all. They will ultimately begin to think, andthink until they form habits of thinking, and perhaps after a while theywill learn to think truly. Men who are not in the habit of thinking areas apt to think wrong as to think right, but when the habit is once formedthey will begin to discriminate, and use faculties with which they are naturallyendowed. When they emigrate to this land, the first thing they think ofis to improve the elements, and provide for themselves the means of subsistence.
But the stepping of the people on this side of the ship, or on the landshadowing with wings, in such numbers, would, to use a figure, almost turnthe world over; they would, in other words, overbalance it, the same asa ship would be overbalanced by the shifting of the cargo from one sideof the vessel to the other.
You take the people from the Eastern Hemisphere, and put them on thewestern, far away from tyranny and oppression, and let them use their individualexertions to improve themselves, mentally and nationally, and their influencewill ultimately overbalance the world, they will overturn those institutionswhich they could not conquer in their own country.
Hence we contemplate that small beginning made by the American pioneers,by Columbus as the first pioneer, and by our fathers the pioneers of religionand liberty; we contemplate how that influence has spread and increasedin the earth, influencing the feelings of individuals as well as nationalinstitutions, until among all the nations of the earth, a sufficient numberare gathered together, and the elements sufficiently developed that nowlie unoccupied, and sufficient light is infused for them to comprehend,to contemplate, to investigate, and interchange with each other the blessingsof Providence, until by and by the rest of the world is overwhelmed, thatit is obliged to bow to their superior greatness. "Do you mean thatwe shall return again to our fathers' land, and compel them to be Americancitizens?" No. But to two hundred millions of people on the Americancontinent, dignified by the principles of American freedom, Europe mustbow, by the indirect influence which must necessarily be exercised on thosedespotic nations.
Suffice it to say the continent is discovered, the elements for lifeand happiness are known to exist, and are partly developed, and constitutionsand governments formed, and principles beginning to be instituted and developed,and influences are at work of such magnitude and greatness, that languageis inadequate to express the probable result; we can only borrow the languageof the Prophets, which is also insufficient to convey the idea properly,that is, The earth shall be full of knowledge, light, liberty, brotherlykindness and friendship; none will have need to teach his neighbor to knowthe Lord, but all will know Him from the least to the greatest; darknesswill flee away, oppression will be known no more, and men will employ blacksmithsto beat up their old weapons of war into ploughshares and pruninghooks.Their occupation will be to develop the inexhaustible resources of nature,improve the intellect, and lay hold of the Spirit of the Lord, and liveby it. The world will be renovated both politically and religiously.
These are but partial ideas. To view the subject in its true light,would lead the mind to contemplate all the practical truths in the universe,that are within the grasp of mortal man; indeed it may reach into immortality.We will acknowledge the hand of God in the movements of men, and in thedevelopment of minds, the result of which will be the fulfillment of whatthe Prophet has spoken-the renovation of our race, and the establishmentof a universal Kingdom of God, in which His will will be done on earth asit is done in heaven.