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of 1812 declared by a Southern administration ; however 

 much the same New Englander disapproved and condemned 

 the annexation of the imperial domain of Texas, opening up 

 the great and noble West ; and however much the men of the 

 South condemned, in 1861, the action of the North in invading 

 their firesides and carrying desolation on wings of fire far 

 and wide through their borders, yet I thank God that in the 

 result they are all of one opinion. The New Englander is 

 proud of the fame won by the gallant Yankee tars upon the 

 billowy deep in the war of 1812 ; his ships and his railroads 

 have peopled the barren Mexican territory, won by the policy 

 of annexation, with a busy, industrious and thriving popula- 

 tion ; and the men of the South rejoice to-day in the preserva- 

 tion of the Union of our fathers, and unite in the hope that 

 God's infinite mercy may preserve it for ages to come ! 



At the bottom of all our progress is science, " the expunger 

 of error " and the maintainer of truth, whose laws are two- 

 fold — first, that the operations of nature are regular and 

 immutable, and, second, that they are one. Aye, there have been 

 ages, and those ages are not remote, when men groveled in the 

 worst forms and orders of superstition ; when, as Buckle relates, 

 in Scotland, two hundred years ago, to be in a constant state 

 of affliction was considered to be the prime object of existence ; 

 when the most innocent relaxations and amusements were pro- 

 hibited ; when it was considered a sin to hold market on a 

 Saturday or Monday because the preacher said it was so near 

 Sunday ; when that innocent amusement of our youth, swim- 

 ming, was considered unlawful for Christians at any time, even 

 on week-days, and cases were cited from the pulpit how God 

 had shown His disapproval of this carnal practice by taking 

 away the lives of divers reckless youths while engaged in it ; 

 when a minister, in order to teach this doctrine of affliction 



