The weekly Ottumwa courier., 1860-07-19
POINT ISABEL, july 4th, 1860.

POINT ISABEL, july 4th, 1860.
Mr.. EDITOR ......
The celebration had at ourliyc-
ly metropolis to day, will be long remembered.
The fineness Of the day and the patriotism
OF the people, contributed to make the occa-
sion one of rare magnificence Each item OF
the programme | have not time to report
The speech of the orator of Ottumwa, VI /
the leading feature Of the day, and it is this
that here submit. Some parts have been
compelled to omit, but in this have endeav-
ored to act ctjudicouSly. send you all the
remarkable passages. -.
FELLOW CITIZENS Let us, without dis
tinction of party, remember for what we
have been assembled to day, and hu-r-rl
back that tide of fanaLicism in which we are
apt to let our prejudices enshroud us. This
glorious day-the anniversary of our nation
al ndcpendence-you, citizens of this free
and independent Republic, have assembled
here to celebrate. Having laid aside all
business cares, you have left desolate, for to
day, your valley and ill-side homes, in order
that you might come up here and join your
extatic voices in one tremendous shout for
Freedom. The day l say is glorious, but
what is the day to the OCCASION five con-
trast this American continent with what it
was when it was an Indian continent we
shall see with what mighty strides human
progress advances. Five hundred years ago
this land was wilderness now it blossoms
like rose.
Some three hundred years ago might have
been seen on the restless, boiling, turbid
bosom Of the Atlantic little craft, vending
its solitary and unknown way across the
painless ocean. Painted high on its dngy
front you might have read, through the
densely flying mist, "the May Flower"
On board this sea-worn, weathcr-beaten
craft, were hearts that beat in the bosoms
of daring chivalrous men-men who had
originally descended from that prosecuted
race, the Huguenots or Bushmen, and had
been driven from their native land for daring
to worship God according to the dictates of
their conscience. In their day of trial the
great Manitu did not desert them, but guild
cd them safely through the untried waters
TO these western shores. They landed on
Pilgrim Rock, and in gratitude to their pro-
tecting God, threw themselves PROSTATE on
its soil and offered up their heart felt thanks
of praises. Fellow Citizens, these are our
fathers, and these the trials they endured
for u.s."
After speaking of the difficulties and dan
gers they incurred in clearing the forests,
subduing the wilderness, and erecting for
themselves homes-the speaker went on to
say
"The Empire Star westward took its
course, crossed the rocky sides of the Al
leghany peaks, passed the big and little
Miami and marched on with majestic tread
over boundless intermnable prairies, till it
reached, for the present, the terminus of its
glory-the father of waters-the glorious
Mississippi and here awhile it rested. 1t
had vast ocean in which to vegetate, soma
thought sufficiently vast for all time, but the
tide of human indomitableness soon
rose high and threw ITSELF in one vast ire
pressible wave, over its watery barrier
Here now it rests along the valley of this
beautiful creek which takes its name from
the cleanliness of its inhabitants"
The speaker then dwelt on the rapid prog
ress made in the arts and sciences, and
closed with peroration eulogizing the He
roes ofthe Reyolution-Patric Henry, Wash
ington and Blackhawk.
The effort is universally conceded to be
an able one.