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 }hT) CITIZEN. { 
 
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THOUGHTS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 UST ELECTION, 
 
 AND 
 
 3&mm €mm\t^ €^ttm% 
 
 BY 
 
 AN OLD CITIZEN. 
 
 MONTREAL : 
 
 PRINTED BY J. C BECKET, GREAT ST. JAMES STREET. 
 
 
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 A FEW REMARKS 
 
 ON THE LATE ELECTION. 
 
 •/ 
 
 In the few foUowing observations, I beg to be 
 permitted to state, that I disclaim all intention of 
 giving any one-sided view of the questions before the 
 public, or the slightest offence to any of my fellow 
 citizens, individually or collectively, but to briefly 
 discuss some of the questions which engage public 
 attention, on the broad principles of universal justice 
 and impartiality, and with a sincerity of purpose to 
 promote the best interest of mankind. In the first 
 place, I verily believe that the Gentlemen who al- 
 lowed themselves to stand for the suffrages of the 
 electors were all good men, such as would faith- 
 fully fulfil the duties of their position, according to 
 the best of their abilities, and with the strictest 
 fidelity. With respect to matters of speculative 
 political opii .on, I have not much to say, seemg 
 that the diversified faculties of the human mind, 
 together with the force of early education, compel 
 men irresistibly to come to opposite conclusions, 
 and render it a very difficult matter for the impar- 
 tial enquirer to arrive at abstract truth, and surely 
 there is no man ai the present day, in the middle of 
 the nineteenth century, with the improvement of 
 mind, the refinement of feeling, the expansion of 
 heart, and all the enlightenment and learning, and 
 exalting influences by which he is surrounded, 
 surely none would have the hardihood and fanati- 
 cism to exclaim " Gentlemen, I am the Sir Oracle 
 trf the Age," Gentlemen, you are every one of you 
 wrong, and only myself and my party are right ; 
 there is no man in his senses, who will give this 
 
subject the calm consideration of a moment but 
 what would see at a glance how perfectly ridicu- 
 lous and contemptible would be the position of such 
 a man, with all his self-sufficiency and consummate 
 assurance, and how thoroughly lost he must be to 
 all the high, holy, liberal, generous, and noble 
 feelings of humanity. Such a man might be justly 
 compared to a refractory soldier, at the siege of 
 Troy, described by Homer in the following lines : 
 
 Thersites only clamoured in the throng, 
 Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue. 
 Awed by no shame, by no respect controlled, 
 In scan^^al bu8y,'in reproaches bold. 
 
 God has made man to differ on a variety of 
 subjects, and it is the duty of man to mix up with, 
 and meet all those conflicting elements with the 
 spirit of a Christian, and with a kind and gentle- 
 manly demeanour, never forgetting that he is him- 
 self a fallible being liable to err, and standing on 
 one common platform of human weakness, and 
 imperfections, remembering also thai God has given 
 to every man the sacred right of thinking, judging, 
 and speaking for himself; but unfortunately there 
 is a foolish and wicked antagonistic spir't abroad 
 in the world, which knows no bounds, sees all 
 actions of an opponent through a false and distorted 
 medium, and anxiously waits and watches for an 
 opportunity to blazon to the world his every real or 
 imaginary failing, and through a powerfully mag- 
 nifying lens, presents to the unwary and superficial 
 observer, the petty mole heap swollen to the ponder- 
 ous mountain, which the dim, dark, and murky 
 vision of party prejudice receives as a true and 
 natural object, and the deluded man chuckles and 
 rejoices, and flatters himself that he has got posses- 
 sion of an additional weapon which will place him 
 on vantage ground, and pave the way for a final 
 triumph, and a glorious victory over his opponent. 
 It is no uncommon thing to see political antago- 
 nists anxiously waiting for an opportunity to pick 
 
a hole in each others coats, and when they have 
 got so far, out comes the antagonistic pruning knife 
 ground to an edge, and sharpened by all the 
 powerful friction of party prejudice, until so many 
 deep incisions are made in the garment, that the 
 poor man is left coatless, and then to complete the 
 matter, by a little twisting and tvnning, they re- 
 verse the Christian doctrine, and walk off with his 
 cloak also. Of this toi.e and character I am sorry to 
 say, are most of the political writings of the day. 
 Some parties declaim against the late government 
 in no measured terms, accuse them of breaking 
 their promise to their constituents and the public, 
 and treating with contempt and indifference the es- 
 tablished laws of the land, others talk of deep-rooted 
 corruption, nay of the want of common honesty, and 
 of taking a course that will lead to the ruin and 
 destruction of this rising colony. But I suppose that 
 nearly all grounds of opposition to the government 
 of every country arises from diversity of op'n"-n. 
 The Government heie are accused of keepir 
 the settlement of the Clergy Reserves, the Sei; 
 Tenure and other Bills, connected with the set; 
 of matters of vast importance to the country. . 
 the Government were of opinion that those questioh.^ 
 surrounded as they are with diversified and conflict- 
 ing interests, should be allowed to work their way 
 by cool, calm, and deliberate consideration, and 
 should not be hurried through the house, are they 
 to blame for delaying Ihem and not coming at once 
 to a final decision ? The Government are charged 
 with breaking the laws of the land in proroguing 
 the parliament. But after a vote of censure had been 
 passed, the Government mav be supposed to have 
 said, " Gentlemen, we are fully convinced that the 
 course v/e have followed is the one which is best 
 calculated to promote the general interest and 
 welfare ot the country ; the foundation stone hps 
 been laid for iis future prosperity, loans have been 
 advantageously negotiated with the mother eountr^^. 
 
Railroads and Telegraphs are threading the land in 
 every direction, free trade principles have been 
 matured until they have received or are about 
 to receive legislative sanction ; in short the whole 
 machinery for raising the country to the highest 
 pitchof e.ninence as a commercial nation has 
 been put in active operation, producing a bright 
 and cheering era, which bids defiance to the 
 page of Canadian history to produce a parallel; 
 but you, Gentlemen, are of a different opinion ; 
 we have as much right to claim the truth on 
 our side as you have on yours, therefore before 
 we proceed to the final settlement of the important 
 matters before us, we prefer carryi -"g our causo be- 
 fore a higher tribunal, — wo will bring it to the test of 
 public opinion." 
 
 The only legitimate and rational channel by 
 which we can arrive at truth is through the shady 
 avenues of cool, calm, and dispassionate investiga- 
 tion, contemplating with rigid but at the same time 
 impartial scrutiny, even to the very outposts, all the 
 windings of diversified opinion, and then drawing 
 from the whole a middle line of inferential convic 
 tion. One of our Editors brings out to public view 
 a long list of accusations against the Hon. John 
 Young. But they were satisfactorily answered in 
 the Pilot. There may have been errors in the course 
 of that gentle mans public life for 
 
 " The best laid schemes o' mice an' men 
 
 Gang aft a-gley, 
 An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain 
 
 For promised joy." 
 
 but if there have been errors committed, I believe that 
 there is no one who has been acqua ted with ihat 
 gentleman for a number of years past, but will readily 
 admit ihat they were errors of the head and not of the 
 heart. One of the speakers who was addressing the 
 
 'm 
 
 was m- 
 
 pCupiO ut lut' liusiliigo ill iUvOi ui iTii. z wuu; 
 
 terrupted by a person callmg out, " What have you 
 got to say about the Tug Boats ?" but no answer was 
 
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 given. Perhaps there >\as a mistake in the Ho i. Mr. 
 Young's public career, in that particular, but the 
 motive which should be the touchstone to try every 
 action of our lives might be in this case pure. The 
 Hon. Gentleman no doubt thought, that by taking 
 off the government Tug Line and throwing the bu- 
 siness into the competition of private companies, 
 the public would be cheaper, and more efficiently 
 served. It is a well known fact, that the Hon. 
 Mr. Young is now, and has been for some years 
 past, highly distinguishcf. for his honor and energy 
 of character, both in public and private life. 
 L. H. Holton, Esq., after his address to the 
 pe;ople '*^om the hustings, was rather cavalierly 
 called upon to answer some qi.jstions relative to 
 his tampering with the late ministry at Quebec, to 
 which questions, Mr. Holton firmly and positiv^ely 
 denied, the style and manner of the interrogatories 
 put to Mr. Holton, were altogether out of keeping 
 with that gentleman's well known urban and bene- 
 volent deportment. Another Editor toF us that 
 Mr. Badgley is a very good man, but objected to 
 him for several reasons, which I suppose from a 
 dash of delicacy of feeling, the reasons w^ere not 
 given. I have known the Hon. Mr. Badgley for up- 
 wards of thirty years, and during that time, that 
 gentleman has always stood high in public estima- 
 tion. The same Editor in his remarks on. Wm. 
 Bristow, Esq. (who seems to have come in for his 
 share of censure through the public press) says that 
 any person who has read his articles for the last ten 
 years, cannot for a moment suppose that he is a 
 man of sound principles, intimating that he has 
 Jumpt Jim Crow on the Clergy Retjcrves question ; 
 but v^hat mortal has any right to step in between 
 the avowed convictions of a man's mind and the 
 public, and address him in the following language, 
 
 Sir, because 
 
 
 
 I licit aU aiiU o«j wdo iiic 
 
 true position of a certain case at one time, you 
 ought as a matter of course to believe the same 
 
a 
 
 thiiiff now. The reasonable reply might be, how far 
 mv professions are in accordance with my convic- 
 tions are not for -ou to judge, that matter rests 
 between myself and my Malier only. Why if a 
 man never changed his opinions where would be 
 the use of any research after truth ? and of what use 
 would be all the books which have ever been writ- 
 ten o.i a variety of subjects, if men were determined 
 to stick to the same class of ideas which occupied 
 their minds in early life, until the end thereof? what 
 would be the consequence? Why, if they were wrong 
 when they set out of course they never could be 
 right If ignorance, darkness and error enveloped 
 their' minds in early life, the same melancholy 
 delusion mu.t accompany thern to their graves. 
 The wisest men have changed tneir opinions, and 
 changed them on rational grounds too, Irom read- 
 ing, conversation, and reflection, and there have 
 been some modification of thought and feeling for 
 some time past on that sadly vexed question the 
 Clerc^V Reserves. I have for many years thought it 
 wouTd be a perfectly just act, to turn the whole 
 amount of the government grant into another chan- 
 nel, and apply i- to the purposes of general educa- 
 tion, but on more mature reflection, I feel impressed 
 with the belief, that this almost sacred rignt of 
 church property, which has been so Jong enjoyed 
 bv the church, is a vested nght, received by legal 
 endowment, and should not be wrested from the 
 church w.th a ruthless hand, but should at present 
 be handled with a delicacy of touch and feeling 
 towards a highly respectable body of Christians, and 
 matters relating thereto, should be changed orily so 
 far as would give general satisfaction to the diver- 
 sified sections of the Protestant Church. The great 
 error rests in the home government in this matter, 
 in not extending the grant to the whole protestant 
 community, and not in the people in receivmi^ and 
 holding ihe grant as a Ugal right. And this has been 
 the cause of almost all the troubles and heart burn- 
 
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4 
 
 V 
 
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 9 
 
 ings which have been so rife in the Province for 
 years past, and will continue to be so till the end of 
 the chapter, unless a fair and equal division of the 
 grant a:: far as circumstances will admit, be made, 
 according to the number of members of churches 
 throughout the protestant population ; then I humbly 
 conceive that it is the imperative duty of our legis- 
 lators to bring about with as little delay as possible 
 so desirable a consummation, for it is not only the 
 amount of money which each church may be said 
 to lose by not sharing in the grant, but it is the 
 species of contempt and neglect by which they are 
 treated that cariies with it the sting, for the Govern- 
 ment are virtually saying to all those religious 
 bodies who are excluded from the grant, " Your reli- 
 gion, gentlemen, is inferior to the favored few, it is 
 not worth our protection and aid, it is a mass of 
 error an-i delusion, and ours is the only true and 
 orthodox faith." Now this is a direct insult to the 
 human understanding, and there is no species of 
 despotism which is more galling to the mind of man 
 than that which is directed against religious opinion. 
 State endowments for the encouragement and pro- 
 motion of relir on in the dark ages were requisite, 
 but in the pre eat enlightened state of society, 
 common sense and common justice cry aloud that 
 every church should stand on its own foundation. 
 Cut I am no advocate for tearing up root and branch 
 old settled laws and long standing customs. But the 
 customs and laws of every country must as a 
 matter of course, keep pace with the human mind, 
 and the errors of the present and the past must of 
 necessity give way to the rising reforms of the pre- 
 sent and the future ; I am ready to admit that the 
 secularization of the Clergy Reserves, would be a 
 just act, in an abstract point of view, yet on the 
 ground of expediency, it would I think be some- 
 what premature, the province not being sufficiently 
 ripe for its adoption, and that moderate measures, 
 with regard to this question would be more condu- 
 
10 
 
 cive to the peace, prosperity, and happiness of the 
 people, and would infuse a general spirit of con- 
 tentment and satisfaction, which a more rigid 
 measure would fail to produce. The thing itself 
 would I humbly conceive work its own cure, the 
 rising sense of justice and liberality, in the minds 
 of the gentlemen who are most deeply interfisted m 
 the question, will I am convinced induce them to 
 take 8uch steps as will gradually bring about a sa- 
 tisfactory reform, by allov/ing the rectories to die 
 with the deaths of the incumbents, and by sanc- 
 tioning such other measures as will in time bring 
 about this much desired change. , ^ , ,. 
 
 Mr Bristow is in favor of giving to the Catholics 
 separate schools, but I am fully persuaded that 
 amalgamation should be the watchword of the Se- 
 nate, the Pulpit and the Press, particularly where 
 there is a mixed population ; and all who sway 
 the sceptre over the public mind, should persuade, 
 invite, encourage, and endeavor to draw together 
 men of every country and creed, men of every 
 shade of sectarian and political dogma, should be 
 invited to converse freely and familiarly, upon all 
 the passing topics of the day. If this practice could 
 be carried into full operation, the world in a very 
 fevv years, would be peopled with a more exalted 
 class of beings than it now is ; then would libera- 
 lity of sentiment and feeling, fall from every lip, 
 and flow from every heart, the selfishness of human 
 nature would be in some measure subdued, and a 
 reciprocity of kindly bearing and C^^stian ^ove, 
 would supplant that asperity of feeling, and that 
 foolish and wicked antagonism, which is too pre- 
 valent in the world ; but bring children together 
 in the same school by all possible means ; let them 
 sit side by side, on the same form, instructed and 
 corrected by the same kind and gentle hand, Ca- 
 tholic and Protestant on the most penect equuiuy, 
 free from the most distant shadow of sectarian do- 
 mination. Do this, and you will plant the seeds of 
 
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11 
 
 i ^ 
 
 .»^ 
 
 Christian love on infant soil, do this, and you will 
 be cementing the ties and bonds of friendship in 
 early life, which will be felt, with all its happy 
 influences from the cradle to ihe grave. Neverthe 
 less, if the Catholics so strongly desire separate 
 schools, and cannot be happy without them, I would 
 say, let them have them, for it should be the object 
 of the rulers of the land, in all countries to promote 
 as far as they consistently can, the prosperity and 
 happiness of every section of the people. Mr. 
 Bristow is a person of kind and gentlemanly bear- 
 ing, and has for many years conducted an impor- 
 tant paper in this city, with tact and ability, and 
 his writings have been kept free from all scurrilous 
 and vituperative personal abuse, and 1 am proud to 
 see a countryman and a brother Protestant, stand- 
 ing oat in bold relief amid the petty jarrings of 
 sectarian and national feeling, and coming forward 
 to advocate in the Halls of Legislation, the equal 
 tights of Protestants and Catholics, without dis- 
 tinction of country or creed; and I lirmly hope 
 that this event will lay the foundation stone, in this 
 icity and the surrounding country, of a better order 
 of things, when petty political and sectarian jea- 
 lousies and strife will be buried in the dust, and 
 when every Protestant will cheerfully take his bro- 
 ther Catholic by the hand with a warmth of heart 
 and a flow of soul. One of our Editors, a gentle- 
 man of no mean talents, boasts of being a Reformer 
 of the first water. What a blessing it would be for 
 mankind, if ev«ry editor, legislator, and minister 
 of the gospel could boast of being a Reformer, 
 WITH the first water ; I mean the clear, pure, cold 
 water of heaven, that trickles down the mountain 
 side, and through the dale with sparkling t)eauty, 
 and tipt by the glowing beams of the virgin sun, 
 courses its winding way with golde i spangles to 
 
 thft rinnlinor Krnnlr a inef <>mt-»lpm o!* l;.a vpn-hnrn 
 
 purity, peace and love O, what a blessing ti> 
 society it would be if a share of that talent wt»ich 
 
12 
 
 goes to swell the troubled sea of political strife, and 
 inflates the minds of angry opponents with the 
 worst passions of our nature, were employed in 
 calming down the raging ocean of intoxicating 
 drinks, and in cutting off by Legislative enactments 
 the cause of that mighty mass of evil by which 
 poor humanity is afflicted, a mass of evil of which 
 the unthinking man has not the least conception. 
 For what is all the slaughter of a Bonaparte, an 
 Alexander or a Nicholas, or all the wars which 
 have ever cursed the human family, compared to 
 the wholesale butchery which the mon3ter Alcohol 
 inflicts on the body of man. But his ravages stop 
 not here, for he seizes on the soul also, and carries 
 with it its withering, blighting, soul-destroying influ- 
 ence beyond the confines of lime, into the boundless 
 regions of a never-ending eternity, floods the world 
 with misery, destitution and crime, with the or- 
 phan's cry and the widow's teav. O, that our new- 
 born senator may have something in his speeches 
 high above the angry disputations of party politics 
 not selfishly intended to pander to the prejudices of 
 the few, but nobly directed to the promotion of the 
 present and eternal welfare of the human race, then 
 will that gentleman have ample cause to boast, 
 that he is, indeed, in the most emphatic sense of 
 the word, a Reformer of the first water. The intro- 
 duction of a prohibitory Liquor Law v/ill infuse 
 new life and vigor into society, both in a physical, 
 moral, and religious point of view, it will crush in 
 a measure the hydra-headed monster Alcohol, with 
 his thousand fangs, that fell destroyer of the peace, 
 virtue and happiness of mankind ; it will make 
 better husbands and fathers, better wives, mothers 
 and children, better subjects of the government, and 
 in the fullest sense of the word belter members of 
 society, in all the social relations of life. It will give 
 
 fiAfnritv +rt rkiTkr»pr1v ^V^- l'^*^ i<" ^^^ll O.hnnorp. the 
 
 drunkard's home from a hell to a heaven, it will 
 nearly close the doors of the poor-house, the luna- 
 
 •i 
 
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 .a 
 
13 
 
 
 lie asylum, the hospital and the jail, and throw 
 open thr- doors of the school-house, the ehuroh, and 
 the gates of heaven. The loss of revenue, on ac- 
 count of the abolition of alcoholic drinks, will be 
 more than counterbalanced by the reduction of those 
 expensive establishments, poor-houses, lunatic asy- 
 lums, hospitals and jails. To those who are en- 
 gaged in getting up petitions for this good and 
 noble purpose, there is a pleasing feature in the 
 general tone of society, wherever the measure is 
 presented; nay, I can safely say, that nine-tenths 
 of the persons applied to have cheerfully given 
 their assent, some with a warmth of enthusiasm 
 much to be admired, some with a spark of Chris- 
 tian charity gljstening in the eye, and the throbs of 
 Christian philanthropy beating at the heart, even 
 the poor down hill drunkard, hails with delight the 
 most faint and distant glimpse of a hope of salva- 
 tion from a drunkard's grave, and the dreadful sen- 
 tence of a drunkard's doom, '' Depart from me ye 
 cursed, into everlasting torments, prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world." Such is the 
 mad infatuation which intoxicating drinks have 
 over the human mind, that the man who has been 
 long addicted to the intemperate use thereof, loses 
 all power of self-control, and in proportion as 
 the degrading passionis indulged in does it become 
 stronger, and in the same ratio is the mind weak- 
 ened until all the high intellectual powers which 
 God has given to man, to guide him throu-h this 
 life and prepare him for the next, is subjugated to 
 this Satanic influence, and all the noble powers of 
 man are bound up in the fetters of the most des- 
 poiic tyrant that ever cursed the human race. Then 
 reason and judgment are trampled under foot, the 
 aws ol God and man are set at open defiance, uil 
 love for wife and children is totally obliterated, and 
 not ung remams but a horrid passion and thirst for 
 that infernal iiuid which winds Itself like a scor- 
 pion round the heart, and drags annually upwards 
 
14 
 
 of five hundred thousand of our poor fellow mor- 
 tals, with all their sins upon their heads down to 
 a drunkard's grave. And there never will be salva- 
 tion for the poor lost inebriate, (or but lo a very 
 limited extent,) as long as the soul-destroying beve- 
 rage is allowed to inundate the land, as long as em- 
 blems of the cursed poison swing at every corner 
 of our streets, where the poor wretched drunkard is 
 tempted to spend his last penny. For when he sees 
 the rosy bottle and the sparkling glass glittering in 
 the noonday sun, though the soles of his shoes are 
 about to make their exit from the bodies thereof, 
 and the crown of his hat nodding its last adieu, 
 with nothing but rags to cover him, with every 
 nerve trembling, and with one foot in the grave, if 
 he have a few coppers in his pocket, and his dear 
 little children at home are gasping for bread, such 
 is the damning influence of alcohol, that the poor 
 wretch cannot resist the temptation, but staggers to 
 the counter, and gives his last penny for the poi- 
 soned cup, and to a fellow man too, one who knows 
 the distress of his family, and that certain destruc- 
 tion of soul and body is his doom. Yet this man 
 with a hard, unblushing face, and a harder heart, 
 for the petty, paltry love of money, pockets his last 
 penny, yes, pockets the last penny of his brother 
 man, who has been created by the £ ^^ Father, 
 with the same physical and mental capacity, made 
 to be happy here, and hereafter, but sunk into 
 the very depths of abject misery and crime, by the 
 paralizing influences around him. O, what can 
 such a man feel, if he be not lost to all moral and 
 religious impression when he awakes in the mid- 
 night watch, and the voice of busy conscience 
 whispers in his ear, " The life of man hangs by 
 a very brittle thread ; you are employed in a traffic 
 which is destroying the souls and bodies of your 
 fellow-men, making widows and orphans of their 
 wives and children ; you are spreading destitution, 
 prostitution, lying, swearing, stealing, murder, and 
 
 I 
 
 T 
 
 J 
 
T 
 
 <i 
 
 15 
 
 every species of vice and misery in the neighbor- 
 hood around you, and for the pahry consideration 
 of accumulating a few dollars, you are blasting your 
 own peace and happiness here, and your eternal wel- 
 fare and happiness hereafter. And although God has 
 blest you with health and strength up to this mo- 
 ment remember, that before to morrow's sun 
 gilds the mountam's top, your soul may be required 
 of you, and on the bank of the dark and turbid 
 gulf of death, with that soul flickering on the qui- 
 vering, pallid lip, you may be launched into the 
 boundless regions of a never ending eternity, there 
 to answer for the deeds done in the body." 0, me- 
 lancholy picture of human weakness and degrada- 
 tion, and of the dreadful effects of intoxicating 
 drinks on the family of man. 
 
 " Man's inhumanity to man, 
 Makes countless thousands mourn." 
 
 0, when will the Christian world rise up in their 
 majesty and might, and with the frown of virtuous 
 indignation on their brow, demand the annihilation 
 of alcohol as a beverage, that Monster Evil of the 
 human race. Let us hope that the new Parliament is 
 composed of gentlemen who have the interest of 
 the people at heart, who will endeavor to keep 
 under the sordid feelings of our nature, and culti- 
 vate those of Christianity, patriotism and philan- 
 thropy, and frown down at every opportunity war, 
 slavery, and intoxicating drinks, those giant 
 enemies of human life. For what are all the impro- 
 vements of Railways, Telegraphs, and all the ad- 
 vancement of the affairs of men in a worldly point 
 of view, which have their foundation on the fickle- 
 ness and uncertainty of this life only ; what are 
 they when compared to that improvement of the 
 laws and customs of society which will have a 
 direct tendency to confer inestimable blessings on 
 man here, and to prepare for him the way to a state 
 of eternal happiness hereafter. Having "^expressed 
 my opinion freely on the passing events of the day^ 
 
IC 
 
 which is the inherent right of every one, I have 
 done so without one spark of unkindly feeling 
 towards any man, of any country, sect or party. 
 My heart yearns for the time when all will meet 
 together in the bonds of Christian charity and love, 
 and meet at the grand inquest of ihe country to 
 vote for their respective friends, without fear of in- 
 terruption, meet with the friendly shake of the 
 hand, and the benevolent glance of the eye, and 
 that peace, harmony and love may long reign 
 throughout this city, and through the length and 
 breadth of the land, is the sincere and ardent wish 
 of 
 
 AN OLD CITIZEN.