THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLIC, ITS DANGERS AND ITS HOPES. AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED BEFORE THE LITERARY SOCIETIES OF HUDSON COLLEGE, JULY 2nd. 1873. BY HON. JAMES A. GARFIELD. CLEVELAND, OHIO: NEVINS BROS., BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, 78 AND 80 FRANKFORT STREET, 1873. FUTURE OF THE REPUBLIC, ITS DANGERS AND ITS HOPES. AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED BEFORE THE LITERARY SOCIETIES OF HUDSON COLLEGE, JULY 2nd. 1873. BY HON.. JAMES A. GARFIELD. CLEVELAND, OHIO: NEVINS BROS., BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, 78 AND 80 FRANKFORT STREET, 1873. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Literary Societies: On many accounts I should have preferred to address you on some theme directly connected with college work, It would have been pleasant to turn away from the busy, noisy world, and spend an hour with you in the peaceful shades of academic life. But you are soon to appear upon a stage where powerful forces, old and new, are acting with unwonted vigor, and producing results worthy of your profoundest study. A thousand fields await and invite you; but be your choice what it may, you will be responsible citizens of your country; and the glory of its successes, and the disgrace of its failures, will in large measure rest upon you. When the last of the three classes now in College shall graduate, the Republic will have completed its first century; and so quick and active are the elements that now determine the fate of nations, it may depend upon you, and your generation alone, whether our institutions shall survive a second centurv. Few men can now lead isolated lives. In a country like ours the relations of the State to the citizen are vitally intimate and reciprocal. The permanence and prosperity of the State make the success and prosperity of the citizen possible, while the worthy and honorable success of the citizen strengthens and adorns the state. Whatever career therefore you may follow, you cannot be indifferent to the fortunes of your country. I propose then, as the theme for this hour, THE |