Daily national Democrat., 1861-07-07
Poem by John Il. Ridge.
DELIVERED AT SAN FRANCISCO, JULY 4, 1856

With hammered pomp, with eloquence and song
Upon her path impulsive bounds the earth,
As conscious of her deed OF grandest birth;
And Times Recorder, standing in the sun,
To count the orbic periods as they run,
Re-notes the chiefest hour of all the age,
And finds new glory on his blazing page.
Oh, well this day may throbbing bosoms beat.
And fervent spirits feel divinest heat
And young and old, with willing steps and free,
And voices glad as waves of summery sea,
Come forth, from cottage and from hall, to fling
On Freedoms shrine the tributes that they
bring!
Well might the theme the meanest muse inspire
To sweep the willing chords with hand Of fire,
For, burning in the tirmament of fame,
Each name renowned pours down its food Of
fame,
And deeds come erowding in the path of years,
Till all the Past in one grand scene appear,
And, standing midst the wondrous days of old,
We seem the unveiled vision to behold
What kings with trembling and with awe sur
yeyed-
The deep foundations of an Empire laid.
With Adams and with Washington we see
The growing of the shadowed prophecy,
And watch elate with pillared structure rise,
Till, crowned with stars and domed amid the
1t fronts the Nations in its length and 10.
Amidst the raptures of the hour agl0w,
heights,
Descendeth Immortality and writes
Her name upon its consolidated brow!
Long years, or bright or dark that tower has
stood
Full many siege has braved of fire and food
NontendlnT factions sweeping at its base at will,
The storms have cleared and left it glorious still
Through light and darkness has its beacon light
Still shone upon the nations wandering sight
And when they looked to see its proud dome
bend,
And midst the blackenng gloom and wreck
descend,
1t rose, emerging from the tempests shock,
AS Chmborazo's embarrassing rock
But in our dome the EAGLE builds his nest
And with our banner flies with armored breast
Yet, crawling round those pillars white, we've
seen,
Beneath his perch, those meaner things unelean,
That, kissing, wind where demigods have trod
THEY'VE slimed Mount Vernon's cons Grated sod
In all the Nations highways still we meet
Their coiling shapes, and in the august seat
Where sat Washington, but late we found
The meanest reptile of them all inw0und.
But now these Sinner things their tasks have
done,
And in their stead comes forth the monster one
Their many-hcaded sire Yes, treason rears
Aloft his snaky front, and, impous, dares
The high and holy place, where sits enthroned
Black rolls the cloud DER friend and foe alike
But ~hom, schOm SkaN tie J0l Of yengeancc
striker
Methinks the starry banner that has braved
The regal mistress of the deep has waved
Where Cortes' banners scared; with victory
best,
Has rippled in the brcczes of the west;
In Northern hurricane has tossed, and known
But triumph IN its march from zone to zone,
Shall never sink before yon rebel crew
Shall never bow, vile traitors, unto you.
Oh, would those tongues could speak which now
are dumb
For, 10 the evil days have on us come
Aud heroes, patriots stand appalled, to see
In hands untred the Nations destiny.
Good men and true there are-strong men and
bold
But not, oh, not the mighty men of old
Twas not till Jaekson's heart was dust; till Day
70 Night had given the electric brain of Clay;
Till godlIke Webster's all imperial mind
From its vast sphere of living light declined,
That Treason, scourged into his den, did dare
Again come forth to foul the shrinking air,
And blot the face of Freedoms soil with births
That He'll shall own too mOnstrous for the earth 5,
And he who stood those men Of strength beside,
In heart and brain and breadth of soul allied,
The statesman of younger time, but tried
In DAYS his elders might have shrunk to see
The gallant glorious DOUGLAS, where is he?
The bOsts that rallied to his battle-cry,
And deemed such power was never made to die,
Now weep above the spot whose sods eniod
The man OF might tins orb shall seldom mould.
He died too soon: but other souls sublime
Shall spring perchancc from out this troublous
time,
And, seizing from each silent cheftan's grave
The dropping mourning standards of the brave,
Their folds unfurl aud bear them to the field
Where tree-born patriots die but never yield
God of our fathers, grant that such there be!
Aud round them pour the millions of the free.
Let voice to voice, and hand to hand, and soul
TO soul give answer, and combine rs roll
The waves unto the marching winds that sweep
Cloud -banncred thurder-armed, upon the deep
In peace or war; still let our Nation stand
FAIR Liberty still haunt her native land,
And long, long after a0e have sunk to dust
And crowns aud kingdoms failed, as fail they
must;
And Treason, spreading wide its serpent tolls,
Has died, selt-stung, in its own coils!
This frame gigantic of our Nations might
Shall loom upon the worlds enraptured sight,
Still bearing on its broad majestic brow
Esro PLRpETUA--Etethal be, as now