Mariposa Democrat., 1857-07-30
AN GRAFTON
Delivered July 4, 1857, at vIsaIIn, Tulare C
BY $. c. BROWN, ESQ.

/ bi .. " pNO"Ni EoN
Mr.. CHAIRMAN-Lades and gentlemen-I
am confident you have not assembled here
with any high expectations regarding your
speaker, or you would have made choice oi
some other of those many persons present, SO
much better able to address you than myself
The subject too, is one on which, for the last
fifty years, hundreds of annual addresses have
been delivered all over the Union, rendering il
almost impossible for one to devise thought
appropriate to the time, which has not already
been said or sung in a thousand various shapes
But as bad speech is always more accepta.
bic than good apology, shall only observe,
in the language of modern scripture, " Blessed
are they who expect nothing-for verify say
unto you, they shall not be deceived"
The jews still revere the day of their de-
livery from Egyptian bondage. The Greeks
long commemorated the victory of Marathon
and the heroic defence of Thermople. The
Romans celebrated the foundation of their En-
pire, the flight of Tarquin, the establishment
of the Republic, and its many brilliant victo-
ries, and almost every State that has existed,
and every people that have fourished, have
left behind them additional evidence of the
proneness Of the mass Of mankind to revere
the heroic virtues of their ancestors; even long
after they themselves have become too degen-
crate to initiate their example. The next de-
gree below the performance of noble deeds
ourselves, is an appropriate admiration of their
accomplishment by others. And the Ameri-
can people are only carrying into practice a
natural and proper sentiment of the human
heart, shared with themselves in common with
the rest of mankind, when on this day they
assemble together in every town and city
throughout the Union, to freshen their remcm-
brance of that revolutionary struggle which
gave them their independence. And amid
that long and trying contest, every hour Of
which was filled with noble deeds and generous
sacrifices, what day stands so preeminent
above the rest as that on which those great
and good men who composed the Continental
Congress of the confederate but rebelous colo
MES of England with the wisdom of the sage,
the virtues of the patriot, and the boldness Of
the hero, signed their names to that Declara-
ton of Independence to which you have just
enjoyed the pleasure of listening, and which
served as key to unlock the doors Of national
sovereignty through which our great, our hap
py, our hopeful Republic passed to its equal
station among the powers of the earth and ex'
PEELED the remains of English despotism from
the American household
All the good results of the Revolution-all
the beauties of our social and political systems
all this grand display of energy, and of in
dustry and of power-al this magnificent de-
velopment of the resources of Nature, and all
the vast diffusion Of useful intelligence, ofvirtue
and of happiness, belong to that Declaration.
The war of the Revolution had commenced,
and the memorable fields of Lexington and
Bunker's Hill had been crimsoned with the
blood of American martyrs long before that
Declaration opened to their enraptured visions
the sublime prospect Of final freedom, and yet
the colonists bravely fought and bled, and died
with no loftier object in view than to learn how
much the display of their valor might affect
the terms of their vassalage.
But that Declaration gave birth to new
courage, more extended views, and higher
hopes The soldier felt that he had country
to defend, and flag around which to rally
The Statesman saw that England, whose pride
forbade her to treat with her rebelous colo.
MES, might be induced to make terms with a
sovereign State, and all saw, all felt that SC
great an object could not be lost, so noble an
aim could never fail, and that though they
themselves might perish in the doubtful con
flict, and pass off the stage in the hour of gloom
and dependency, yet whole people united
in so holy cause, must and toould succeed al
last and that they would leave behind them
friends and children to enjoy the blessing, and
who would prize it the more that it was pur-
chased with their blood
OF all the State papers of ancient or modern
times that ever emanated from the councils
of Republics, OF the cabinets Of Kings, thai