The weekly ledger., 1857-07-11

trivial matter cloud our pleasures.
The President here introduced
J. ". ARMSTRONG, ESQ.
who after apologizing for his inability to do
justice to so grand a theme as this day sug-
gests, at so short notice or rather with no
notice at all, said, in substance: When we
look back on those days, which, although
they were days Of trouble and vicissitude to
our fathers, we are filled with laudable pride
for the energy and fortitude with which those
trials were met and finally overcome Their
struggles against oppression ensured to us
the right Of freemen, and their deeds are now
borne abroad to an admiring world. In the
days of 76, sorrow brooded o'cr the land;
the sun Of prosperity yelled his face and the
mourners refused to be comforted But the
men, and the women too, proved adequate
to the times, barred their breasts to the storm,
withstood the shock of tyranny, trusted
their cause to the God of battles and came
off triumphant, victorious -bequeathing to
us the reverse, the contrast of their years of
suffering. To day the radiant sun looks down
ljoyonsly on happy, exutant millions of Free
men-Nature with her smiling face welcomes
our festivities our Mountain towns reyerber-
ate the shouts of liberty and the Valleys era
die the resounding echoes. Your beaming
faces, ladies and gentlemen, speak Of the gen
eral felicity. All things seem to unite in the
celebration Of our emancipation from the
thraldom Of heartless throne.
Americans high or low, basking in the sun
of prosperity or wrapped in the clouds of ad-
versity, among friends or enemies, on land or
sea, in the midst Of civilization or camped
among savages, on whatever soil, in whatever
cline, their hearts swell with enthusiasm and
they hail this day with rapture. And they
are not alone in the welcome of this political
sabbath. A whole christian world is this
day moved by kindred sentiment, and would
gladly join US openly in our poems of praise
to freedom. Applause.
My friends, while sheltered from the storms
of Instruction. let us be firm in our resolve to
aid Others, by our adhesion to free govern
ment, in swapping asunder the chains of self
constituted rulers, and spread for them the
banquet Of luxurious freedom. Applause.
When we people our memories with the
images of the past aud see the brave and
high souled few, who, spurning the bodily
ease offered by those who would yet hold the
mind in slavery-turning them from the ban-
dshments of Courts and palaces to the dreary
wilds of the New embarrassing the track
less Atlantic and planting themselves here to
undergo all the hardships of emigrantS to an
unknown land, our hearts thrill with admi-
ration for their guardianship of the mind,
" that god like part of man Applause
Let other lands boast that they are so free
that no slave can breathe their air--yet they
wear the badge Of vassalage and bend the
knee to lords by primogeniture-while we
alone acknowledge none our superiors, and
pay fealty only to Our Constitution and our
God, He who created all men free and equal
Applause
But this liberty-this heirloom of Free
dom, the second best gift Of God to man,
which has been handed down to US for three
quarters of century was not a free gift to
our ancestors, but was purchased at the price
of blood; and though dear bought is not
therefore immortal 1t needs our most fos-
tering care 1t is a tender plant that can
only flourish in the hot house of the aifec-
tionS of an intelligent people Ignorance can
furnish it no soil in which to take root,
and the murky clouds of superstition give
forth no genial showers for its nourisnment.
1t glories in such institutions as these poin-
ting to the Debating Club, and that motto,
4" Per@ceraatia Omnia Vlacit," is sugges-
tive of the care it requires and the success of
that perseverance.
In conclusion, ladies and gentleman would
say, may the American Flag, proudly unfurl
ed ever float in the breeze Of prosperity, as
it does to day, over a free people, unreut by
faction, unstained by the blood Of civil war,
unpolluted by orruption-spotless as the
Alpine SHOWS, until the ship of time shall
have borne generation upon generation across
the tempestuous sea of life to IA placid haven
in eternity.
Music by the Band.
The President then introduced
JAMES T. BROWN
youth, of the Y NJ. d. Club. who deliy-
cred the following eulogy on the character of
Washington and the heroes of the Revolu-
ton
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentemen-
YOU must not expect from me that which you
would hear from one of older and more expe-
renced. Still may be pardoneG for coming
of which am a member have been placed
before you, to aid in the celebration of this
day, which it well becomes every American
to maintain as "A national holiday But in
the midst of our rejoicing let us not forget
those who secured to us the liberties we en-
ioy. nor the priyatons endured that we
might have freedom and happiness. Put aside
the romance their adyenturers now have in
- Al