184 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



missionary societies. AYc say, the citizenship of tlie Union. We do not 

 mean mere Anglo-Saxon energy, but the universal citizenship, native and. 

 adopted, which, under the influence of our Government, from the stim- 

 ulus of fi-ee and enlightened institutions, becomes a wierd unity of 

 strength in demonstrating the national force to which Ave have alluded. 

 "Blood will tell," sa3's the sneering aristocracy that makes and supports 

 crowned heads and ])rivi]eged classes. We accept the maxim. Blood 

 will tell when it receives the oxygen of political freedom, and is circu- 

 lated for the development of unrestricted brains and muscle. 



This astonishing contrast seeks a solution only at the hands of the 

 nation; and the nation, with its eyes fixed upon the God-inspired maxim 

 of every State — ''Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" — answers steadily and 

 forever the question in these magic words: ^'E Piurihus Unum." There's 

 an atmosphere in the national liberality and equality that so soon as 

 breathed by the individual, transmutes the alien blood of a German, 

 Frenchman, or Irishman, into the same insti-umentality of daring and 

 patriotism and independence which inspired the primal declaration of 

 freedom, and set free and emancipate the furtive genius of American 

 character. Under the influence of this atmosphere there are no born or 

 inherent privileged classes; no obstructed or closed avenues to wealth, to 

 fame, or rank. Ever}' door of industry and de])artment of usefulness is 

 opened at the first tap of energy; and few are the sluggards who can 

 resist the general and genial welcome. The theory of kingcraft is 

 exploded. Born aristocracy and heraldic pedigrees are no longer essen- 

 tial to governments. Because a man has primarily distinguished his 

 industr}^ by felling trees or making coats, does not argue that he cannot 

 wield with surpassing success and grandeur the executive powers of the 

 mightiest nation of earth. Honest and useful labor needs no champions 

 that it has not found in Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. 



Here is the sublime secret of our national greatness and prosperity. 

 From this source springs an agriculture as comprehensive, as substan- 

 tial, as prolific, as exhaustle.ss as the soil npon which the nation is 

 founded. iSTot an agriculture owned and dispensed by kings and princes, 

 by dukes and lords, by ruling classes, leased and sub-leased until the 

 poor toiler is reduced to a harvest of husks and a bed of straw ; but an 

 agriculture almost as free as air, and as rich as rain and sun. light and 

 energy can make it. There is no government in the world so well 

 adapted to the science and power of agriculture as a republic, and no 

 Government can live, become mighty, and expect to endure, without 

 agricultural abundance. The United States, through the genius of the 

 people, formed a government infinitely calculated to inspire a stupendous 

 husbandry — it sowed the seeds of an unparalleled agriculture, and as a 

 sublime and glorious result, it never rests from the pleasurable labor of 

 harvesting homes. Homes that are the fountains of national strength; 

 homes of hospitality and plenty; homes of lo3'alty and of deathless 

 attachment; and homes which are, in proportion as they are free and 

 diffused, the best conservators of manly vigor, energ}'', endurance, intel- 

 ligence, beaut}', honesty, chastity, and virtue. Upon this kind of agri- 

 culture, more than any other department of governmental reliance, 

 depends the ])rogress, the power, and endurance of the Federal Union. 

 Free and untrairtmelied agricultural homes, cultivated and kept in order 

 by the men who own the soil, are tlie sources of the most indestructible 

 naticjual wealth. And in our country there is but one thing that can 

 militate against this great national desideratum. That is the tendency 

 to a monopoly of soil, the holding of more land than can be properly 



