New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-07-06
SEVENTY. EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY
OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

THE FOURTH Al IHb ChioiAb
n, Tuesday afternoon an audience Of aoou' n'e
,hous,nd persons assembled at the Crystal Palace 70
n.,,;c,,te in the celebration OF the anniversary vi
.to declaration Of American Independence.
The proceedings commenced with Hail Column
his" by the Germania Society.
''1 - N, Wakeley then offered an appropriate
prayer. If Tn.
Mr. Dels6eld c. Smith read the Declaration OIL IN
depeudence; and after Yankee Doodle oy the "ei'
mania Society ,.
The Rev. T.. II. CHAPIN was introduced 10 the au-
dience amid great cheering and delivered the ioo"
ing Grafton on
TIT AMERICAN IDEA. AID WHAT GROWS OUT OF IT.
Nothing really good and great ever grows 100 iamaf
The sublime phases Of nsiurehe utterancee OF eternal
,,u,btbe deeds Of iusrous men-the achievements that
create erss in the history Of naonto the mind and TO
the heart are always esh and inexhaustabe. Americans
never will grow weary Of this day. There may be some
here and there who tired of the speeches and VINO
deprecate the show; but the Of the people will a.
woys celebrate the Fourth Of July AT least until the Ia
mer story and the facts often pondeTed contain noh
ing worth thinking about any longer, this will continue 70
be Jubilee end the seampressure OF patriotism VIII lei
off artillery fireworks and oratons. When all this pa
ride becomes mere form-when we have to ealcaHiIe
Fourtb Of JuIy-let it cease But long az II comes by
nsnration there must be something that inspires and let
il be honoed in It's most bombastic ebulon And
the Fourth of July falls Il. time which TO many
seems sad and uncertain this only constitutes stronger
reason for summonng its proud and generous themes
We should only touch the earnestly the electric pulse
that animaes us people. Following the tide of my
personal feelings to-day, might say gloomy things ani
perhaps severe things but deem it no unworthy compo-
mse to look out from the orbit of my private thoughts
into the circle of general conviction. here not to
spe ak against anything but for something which you all
admit; and hope you will believe me when say that
if ANYTHING is hit it will not be because have Travelled
out Of fny path strike it, but because it lies in the way
Fellow citizens of all parties and Of every form OF ialth
invite YOU as Americans to-day ascend the Mount OF
Remembrance and Of Vision and consider what we behold
there.
have alluded to the general for celebrating the
Fourth of July But there arc special why we
should celebrate the Fourth of July, 1851 For in
no strained sense il is centennial celebration, and
involves that class of suggestions which spring up in con-
templatng the lapse of hundred years The year 75i
q memorable in our annals, and remarkable ior us
bearings upon the American Revolution. 1t witnessed the
of the French seven years war which,
no doubt precptated the crisis of l776 For IN the rst
place the issues OF that created Or at east suggest
cd an excuse that odous principle of taxation which tie
British endeavorcd 10 force upon u.s. Under
the plausible pretex making the Colonies pay for the
support Of standing army osiensiby Tor their own de-
fee but really for the furherance of British power the
Ministers of King George eOdeavoed to pracicc the ds
pon of taxing America without the action OF ITS people,
OF the voice To this plan the events
of the French war gave impulse ana definite icrin nu'
the crafty caught in their own snare GrenvIe
"Sys.em Of Colonial measures was the progentor Oh
new nation. The Navigation acts the stamp act the yea
tax were those links the iron OF Oppression when
were hammered int the sword OF deverance Applause
For in the next place il the result of the French war
not increase the need OF British protection on me part
of the colonies but to loosen the feeling OF dependence
In SCATTERING the dominion OF France this continent
England had dspated the teror OF Border warfare and
scattered those meshes of surprise and cruelty when
bemmed the infant colonies and threatened the march O
the early pioneers Ii felt them that there was less need
of help from across the water. Nay. rather, it felt
that under Providence, the American people had os her
abors and sacrifices acquired suicien; strength OF Their
own Their Intercourse not the iDgraude OF wards
who pampered by fortune meeny struck back the hand
that he'd cherished Them but the manly assertion oi tree
sons ho had faithfully fulfilled their contract and served
their time. Cheers. Side by side with the royal troops
ho had endured the burden and heat of the day and had
poured out their lives And the services which they
dered had made hor mark 1t was provincial eng neer
who threw the shell into the citadel OF Louisourgh TWAS
provincial youth-his coat torn with bullets but whose
lie Gesignod by Providence for higher ends DO ball could
toucL-i provincial youth that bore the brunt when
Braddook soldiers quailed Great app ause.l And II
by labor had development and manly strength by
costly sacrce in the enlargement Of their usefulness
they felt the throbhings of " manifest destiny and
learned that they had become able TO stand alone had
they right TO the result In the peris of the will
deress and in the Of batlebeore the batteries Of
Cape Breton the shores of Lake George by the lonely
rivers of the West-the really Young America of that
day. bad been baptized in its own blood and had come OF
age Applause And this indicates still another result
OF the seven years 1t was the school OF that mill
tary experience which demanded by the ext
gences of the Revolution and the scholars were Prescott
Putnam, Pomeroy, Stark, Gates, Lee ana washington
Loud and continued cheering.
In various then, this had close connection with
the of Independence and makes the year 1874 me-
morabe year. And it is memorable not only for the com.
that pregnant conflict but for its special
In that year. Washington at the head OF his little
band in the valley OF the Ohio dark night in May,
himself fired the first shot which, in the words of his
torian, kindled the world into fame, and which
ried his into the saloons Of Paris and in that same
year BENJAMIN Frankn at Albany, acting upon his motto
-"Jon or die projected confederation OF the Colonies,
and breahed into the grand plan of Union the Dream
" of enduring fe." Applause. Yea, hundred years
ago this very day remarkable day. On the Fourth
oil July 1854 Washington forced TO an honorable
retreat Fort Necessity and the same day, Frank
lin set his name TO plan for the league OF the Provinces,
at Albany. Only twenty-five years elapse, and how sud
den the change, and yet have just seen, how init
the connection between the two classes OF events =
only twenty-five years espse, and on the Fourth OF July
l776 Warrington at the head Of Aper,caa army,
ard Franklin has signed the Declaration of lndepen
"dence." lGreatApplause
But fellow citizens, the great Revolution which was
contaminated by that armed array and by that act Of
Declaration not the product of twenty years Of
twenty centuries of outward historical actions
Events only the shells Of ideas; and often it the
fluent thought Of ages that is crystazed in moment by
the stroke Of pen the point of bsyonet Applause
In the minds and hearts Of those Revolutionary
the deep current of those Revolutionary evenfsthere
worked idea, not Few BY any means but STILL for rea-
which shall give, call il the AMERICAS IDEA II
had sanction and its Hud clear consistent utterance
believe in the oraces Of Christianity. II found
tuary the breasts Gifts early saints and martyrs passed
the world and struck the chord OF political action
il blended with the spirit Of Teutonic independence II
Hourished well in England and found uerance in Para-
men and from Tower. Hill. The cavalier bore it in his
naughty consciousness to his new home in Virginia The