Ohio History Journal

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LETTER OF HON

LETTER OF HON. GEORGE B. LORING.

 

READ AT THE CELEBRATION BY R. R. DAWES.

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 5, 1888.

SIR: I have been requested by His Excellency, Gov.

ernor Ames, of Massachusetts, to represent that Common-

wealth at the Centennial Celebration of the first settlement

of the Northwest Territory, under the Ordinance of 1787,

at Marietta, Ohio. I regret exceedingly that at a late hour

I am compelled to deny myself the pleasure of being

present on the occasion. I feel it to be my duty, however,

to express the interest Massachusetts feels in the event

you celebrate, and in the prosperity and welfare of the

community occupying this spot, on which her citizens

found an opportunity for the exercise of their heroism,

their wisdom, and their Christian philanthropy.

It is evident to us, who can look back over the eventful

years which have passed since Marietta was settled, that

upon the principles incorporated in the State and society

then founded, depended the fate and fortune of the Republic

just then coming into existence. The people who had

achieved the independence of their country by the Revo-

lutionary war were destined to occupy almost the entire

continent, of which their territory formed but a small part.

The strip of land between the Alleghanies and the Atlan-

tic was entirely unequal to their purposes, and the govern-

ment they had founded was so vigorous in its character,

so broad in its design, so peculiar in its construction, that

it was not to be confined to a narrow and limited section

of the continent on which it was planted. To extend the

limits of its territory and to extend its jurisdiction over all

the land and waters, which were important to its existence

and power, was the early work of the founders of the

Republic. By purchase and treaty this was accomplished

until the title to the vast territory of the Northwest was

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