f
all parties, the late President Harrison was a _good_ man; and now
that he has gone to the judgment where there is no respect of persons,
who does not feel that this is a better title than he could have won
by the most splendid administration of our government? Impressive is
the lesson of his departure, and sincere was the mourning that
followed him to his grave; but the remembrance of his inflexible
though modest worth will abide in the firmament of public life, a
bright star sending down its calm influence through the interval of
years and ages. Let the people demand of their rulers that they copy
this example. Let them say to the candidate for public office,--We
require moral principle, we desire religious faith, in those to whom
we commit the trusts that are at our disposal; we wish for something
on which we can rely, and the only thing on which we can rely is
character. Let them say to the representatives of the nation's dignity
on the floors of Congress,--Conduct yourselves like men of principle;
pollute not these chambers by invectives that would disgrace a
dramshop nor by broils that belong to scenes of midnight riot; attend
to the business for which we sent you to the national halls, and make
us not ashamed of ourselves that we have chosen men, whom we cannot
respect, to be our legislators.

And finally, the same principles which should sway individuals in all
the relations of life are applicable to nations in respect to both
their internal and their foreign affairs. The same principles of
reverence, justice and generosity. Of reverence; for the Divine
providence and government embrace within their oversight the largest
empire as well as the humblest man, even as the same care guides a
planet that shapes a drop. That prayer which the civil authority of
the State puts into the mouths of the ministers of religion, "God save
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," is not a mere form of words. It
has a meaning, which the hearts of the people should confess. Of
justice; for a community, be it larger or smaller, in its action but
expresses the aggregate or the preponderance of certain human wills,
every one of which should be subject to the law of rectitude, and
whose combined force must therefore represent the prevalent morality
of the members. Nothing can be more preposterous, than to maintain
that a community is not bound by the laws of moral obligation. If this
be the fact, then the most enormous wickedness may be