The Van Buren press., 1860-07-13

your eXCClle0t 8Ot16SS, tuIS uaJ ucilNCtCu ot
the solicitation OF your fellow citizens.
CHARLES G. ScoFr,
SAMUEL N. HAYS,
RrcHAnD THRUsroS. }Committcc.
PETER kUYKKNDALL,
THOs. j. AsBELL,
VAN BUREs. July 4. 1860.
GENrLENEN-I thank you for the good
opinion expressed of my address, and cheer
fully furnish you with the manuscript for
publication.
Respectfully,
H. THos. BRowN.
To CHAs. G.. Scorr, etc.
Grafton Of HI. Thomas Brown, ESQ, deliy.
cred on the 4th Of July, 1880.
LADIES AND GESrLENEx bid You all welcome
to another anniversary in the cycle of our Rational
existence. This bright July morning ands us a,
the beginning of the eighty fifth year of our indie
Pendence, still enjoying. in undinninshed degree
the blessings Of liberty and peace bequeathed to
US By our ancestors. Our relations it'll all foreign
nations are the most am;cable and happy, and our
commerce has extended beyond the expectations Of
the most sanguine. Eighty-f four years, n nd what
change! Why. there are still among us those who
saw the government formed. and who passed
through the memorable aud elcckere,l struggle for
independence. My earliest and dearest recollec-
eions OF boyhood are connected with
" The war worn soldier kindly babe to stay,
Sat by the fire and talked the night away
Wept DER his wounds and tales of sorrow done
Shouldered his crutch, and showed how fields
Were won.'
A few white heads and totterng forms Of that gal
liant old band still remain. but soon they must be
numbered among tho things that were.
Our advancement has been so rapid, and our i'm
Provement in the arts and Sciences 30 great that
seems almost FIVE hundrel years since the periai
our resbiution. BY the magical power of steam
and lightning, We behold the miraculous historical
phenomenon of nation not yet hundred years
old in the front rank of civilization and refinement
The electric telegraph, the most remarkable inven
ton Of the age, has transpired within the memory
Of most individuals within the sound of my voice
Lo, how wonderful. That subtle fluid which w.
had been accustomed to see with awe and tremb
ling in its zigzag play through the sky, behold
its tremendous power in the riven fragments of tn,
knarled oak, now curbed down, by the genius o
man, to carry on its current the sien; and peaceful
messages of news. of business, and even the mos
tender expressions of affection and love.
But while We glory at national festival, ant
sing anthems to the praise of Liberty-while w.
assert the proud boast, that here in this Western
land of ours, has been asylum for Irish Exiles
and French Husenots, for the oppressed and wound
ed in spirit, from whatever land they may com,
whether from the orange groves OF Italy--the snow,
Of the Alps, or the Netherlands of Germany
whether Russian serf, a French Gascon, or ,
Turkish Mandarin-each can here enjoy equal right.
and equal privileges under his own vine and fis
tree" say that. while this is justly our PROUD
boast should We not look around US and sec i
there is nothing to tarnish our fair name, or hum
ble our national pride Is all this rapid advance
ment straight forward and legitimate progress, o,
have We not sometimes been lost in by paths amid
Shiny quagmires and filthy swamps, far away from
the great high way set out in by our forefathers
Arc there no social and political evils which we
should depreeate and endeavor to amend i?
deem not Inappropriate on this day. when we
come to offer up sacrifices the altar of liberty
that we should make confession Of some Of our Ma
tional sins and wickednesses. Gladly would /
iinger over our past glory. amid the monuments Of
the mighty dead, and scenes of apcestral renown
but surrounded. as we are, by our present social
and political commissions, the task would be al
most as bcotless as that Of old Mortality decipher
ing efaced inscriptions on old tombstones He
would be regarded a reckless pilot who sits alb
stractedly gazing at the stars in the wake, while
the thunder was in his ear and the dark clouds OF
- apProachin9 ssOrm lower over his devoted yes
~ lfesr 1,Sny Of otr- -sountrymen have cut loose
nom the old moorings: and drifted rapidly into
new and questionable theories and practices. In
some sections outrageous social dogmas arc openly
advocated and practiced.
A corrupt and icentious spirit of the press has
flown over the land like angel of death, distll-
ing from its shaggy wings insidious poison on the
moral heart of the nation. Free-l -loveism, that No
och Of modern society, which threatens to consume
in its fiery course the revered tranquility of the
domestic fireside, has its advocates, and yearly
gaining ground. Mormonism disgusting bloteh
on our national face, is not yet exterminated. Alb
olitonism, fanatical cant, which attempts toover-
run long established doctrines of law and right in
the mad pursuit Of its peculiar notions Of JUS
tice and humanity. Its devotees, like the Popish
adherents Of Charles the First consider themselves
..,u,,. Iv no oaths nor pledges, however sacred,
when they c,,,,e in contact with the advancement
Of their tenets. and claim higher lac which alb
solves them FROM all moral r-ir,tu q Who say
that slavery is gangrene on the bous nolitic
v hieh must be eradicated by insurrection fire a,.
sword. D-magogisrn, the hcrce genius of the
French revolution. which with its reiga of terror,
md king numbering populaee, stands with blood
shot eyes and disheveied hair. a CORY picture on
he historic page, that demagogism has found a
,otholi here. it it cruel in its prescriptions as
he isspotisra Of Tudors--as insidious In its op-
.raticns that as i.eInquisiticn. 1t panders to
he lowest impulses Of the human heart to accom-
,l sh is selfish ends and there nothing too high
n sacred fo- its leveling ambition.
approach taase things with no conscious spir-
1, nor do ay claim to extraordinary acpteness in
mixing their discovery, for they arc evils known to
H. The puhIie rrtss IS daily filed with instanc-
.; and orr citizens in foreign lands frsqueEtly
a,ated VITA a.sir existence. They are not.
en.. vcul! insinusts, tbs legitimate fruits Of our
Rapnlic.n institutions, bc. they are exe-esenees
n our natural Tnc~.h which every patriot should
.r,eavor to cot Of ard leave the national trunk
.uoosh AID healthy. Our country, which, like the
r fant Hcreltes is own ns.ura. E.safhes IN r..in