Gov. Bagley's "address."

State of michiuan, Kxi'iiitive Office, Ijtirising Feb. 22, 1676. ( To the People of this State of Michigan: Without the sanction of Legislativo authority or establirthed precedent as a guide, I cannot resist the temptation that the centennial yciir we have just ontered upon brings to me oi askiug your attention to a fèw suíg"Rtions and thoughts as to tho wo shall mako of it. Thougb aa u polilical organization we cannot lay claim to even a aeuii-centennial age, yet as one of the youngwr brothren of' the great househould of States, we hold in grateful love our place in the family. We have within our border uo Mecca liku Plymoiith Koek or Btrokei Ilill to which patriotio pilgrims turn their willing footsteps, yet a large proportion of our poople are the descendants of the Fathers of the Kepublic - the men who in council fraraed our form of government, and on a score of battle-fields fought and died to ostablish it. The lapse of time, the demands of businoHs, the new life we are living, all timd to a forgetfulness of the old time, and of the history our fathors made with pon and sword. Is it not woll, therefore, in this anniversary year to pledge anaw our affectioiiB to the " land we live in," to re-build the fire of patriutism on our own hearth-stones, aud renew the love of Liberty and Country in our own hearts, that in the times of the ReTOlution warmed the hearts of our aucustorn ? Have we not forgotten, in the hurry and strife ot our money-getting, in the rapidity with which eveuU have orowded upon one another in these lattr day8, the blessings that have come to us froin the past, and the debt we owe it? Have we not taken the good that has come to us, as rewards of our own merit rather than the hard earning of the early builders ? Are we not grow ing thoughtless of our country, its institutions and government, and carolos of its perpetuity 'i Political quacks imagine new diseases affeoting tho body politie, and invent panaceas for their cure, without a protest from the people. One urges that property should govern - another, education - another, birthplace - one desponds for fear the government is not strong enough, while another shudders at the oentralization of power, and here and there perchance is a misanthrope who has lost all faith in a governmeut of tho people. Shall we not in this hundredth birthday of the nation, turn away from these teachers of false doctrine, resolving to hold fa8t, not only to the form, but to the spirit of the government as it was established in its simplicity and strength 'Í 80 resolving and 80 doing, we need not fear for the future. We, of Michigan, needto do our duty in this direction, and we cannot commence too soon. The history of the United States is not taught in five thousand of the six thousand schools ot the State. It occurs to me that this is not the way to insure good citizenship in the future. If our children are thus educated - or rather uneducated - we shall by and-by become a nation of doubters and croakerg. I hopp the parents and children, the school officerg and school teachers of this Stato, will see to it that this be changod at once If from the inspiration of the time this single reform nhall be seoured, the centennial will indeed prove a bleasing. On Saturday, the lüth day of April next, I urge upon every citizen of this State who own a piece of God's ground - whether it be large or small, whether in city or country, town or village - to plant a tree, that our children and our children's children may know and remember as the tree planted by patriotic hands in the first centenmal year of the Republic. In a country of land owners, where the poorest man may, if he will, own the ground he stands on, this geems a most appropriate memorial act, and I earnestly hope our people will unite in adoptáis: this susrgestion. 1 am well aware that these are per haps only symbols - eternal show - but will they not bespeak an inward glow of patriotic impulse, and raay they not set in motion in the plastic minds of our youth - and perchauce of eider folk - a ourrent of patriotisin and love of country, that shall know no ebb? Let ns now resolve to cherish the legacies of Free School, Free Church, Froe Prosa aud Free Town meeting left us by the Fathers. Let us preserve simplicity and eoonomy of government as cardinal points in our political creed, and thus make sure " that under God, government of the people, by the people, and for the puople, shall not perish froui th PArth."