Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-15
THE KNOXVILLE WHT(
Knoxville, Tenn, July IS, 1858.
uFE GRAFTON
Delivered at Knoxville, Tennessee, July
fth, 1865.
" eEoEaE ANDREws, Ese.


Niuety-tWo wears ago to-day nation was born
then our fathers laid the foundations Of the Rep1b-
h. and gave this day and country 70 their chill
5ren That infant nation, from her wer-rocked
cradle has grown giant, and Us birthday we have
met % celebrate. Il is no idle holiday that brings
ls together no unmeaning festiyity that has to-day
closed lhe shop and stopped The pillow, silenced the
,5sp-ing hammer and stilled the rushing turbine
and made Sabbath ell over the land.
Deep ia the peoples heart is the sentiment Of pa
.rolisun II may lie obscured il may be silent and
uneKpressed; men may think il all extinguished
that cold ashes only remain, and that selhshness
and corruption have taken It's place. But it is there
still, and ready 10 blaze and glow when the need
shall be and the occasion shall come; and woe TO
the statesman OF the demsgogue Who in making
he calculations shall leave this out Of his account.
Statesmen Of the times Of old could not believe
that loyalty could exist and be preserved, unless
centred and directed in devotion 10 visible mon
arch, and so for countless ages they have set up
their idols, and the multitudes have accepted the
feeble representation Of divinity and shouted along
live the King IL remained for our own age 10
demonstrate that free people could recognize 10y
atty in the abstract and render high devotion 20
their country without the Intervention Of kingly
symbol. The Englishmsn fights i5r his Queen, and
GOES cheerfully 10 his death in her servcs. The
American fights for his native land and dies for her
The sentiment is the sarae in both, but ours is the
higher, worthier and mora true
Il is because patriotism is a sentiment as we'll as
a principle and because noble sentiments and wor-
lby principles best encouraged aud advanced by
giving them freest expression; because we cannot
preserve the principle and still ignore the senti-
ment that we are met 10 celebrate this day
We celebrate the natal days of those we love. We
hold Scored memorial week by week of the day
when creation was finished, and the day when the
worlds Redeemer rose from the dead. We cele-
brste wish songs and rejoicing the day Of that Ss
yiors birth, and in solemn sacrament symbolic
His death. All that is most sacred in memory,
most precions in our hopes, we symbolic and cele
trate reckless Of who may disbelieve or scot. And
e envy not the ron-ribbed heart that beats slowly
and cold in gloomy sefshness, that throws its icy
current through tae life and has no pulse of enthu-
'asm for day like this We do honor 10 our Ia
theirs to-day, and ss we contemplate the grandeur
o. the courage and faith which, through dark and
trying years, they displayed, we need net measure
With nice criticism our patriotic enthusiasm.
Ono by one, we have borne the last feeble survi-
rort Of that stormy time 20 their honored rest and
nov the place Is Vseant where In Our annual pro-
cssons the soldiers OF the Revolution used 10 walk
Their eyes saw the foundations OF the nation laid
and lie majestic structure rise. Thank God that
they closed loo 10 sea the hands Of frantic
lrAitOrs digging az The foundations they had laid.
On an occasion like this, the anniversary of our
usliols birth-the oft-recurring milestone in her
progress our eyes turn naturally backward over the
psth we have already trod and search earnestly the
future that lies before Us. We see the coming years
As they march in long professions 10 join the ages
past but we question them in vsin what burden Of
JOY woe 10 us OF 30 the land we love- they bear in
their swift, unending march We turn our eyes TO
the swift Tying yesrs-the centuries that have gone
70 lose themselves in the eternity past and strive
10 read as best may the records they have left.
Many record have the ages left for our perussl.--
We find them in the silent stars-where
The ocean old, centuries old,
Faces restless 70 and fro
Up and down his sands Of gold"
where the deep rocks yield up the histories they
bear-where the volcano has heaved and the earth
quake has walked. We find them in the history,
written and unwrtten Of our rave-in the traces Of
revolulions-tbe tombs Of races-the monuments of
7ictory-the records Of defeat-the wrecks of en-
pres, that strew the darkening past. Hard to de-
cipher perplexing 10 arrange, difficult TO apply are
these vast legacies from the vanished ages. But
they arc all recorded for US, and as We read and
ponder and practice, so shall our destiny be.
said that our nation was born but less than a
century ago. but that is less than the truth. The
Present is but the unfolding Of the eternal Past
e has existed in the possibilities and prophecies Of
lndnite duration. Our history dates back 10 the
earliest morn Of creationour destiny has been IN
ioding throughout the past eternities. We stand
~ this nineteenth century, the children and heirs Of
al the ages past For us were their tolls and strife
t5lAs-for US the purchases Of their bloodshed and
VAT and representation victories and defeats
Tor US the Lessons Of their experience and the gath
cred wisdom they have left. We of this century
may appropriate this rich heritage and use it wisely
snd well for ourselves and for those that shall
after US; or we may, with reckless proAIgacy,
iqusnder our opportunities and leave for the sue
eeeding age but the terrible record Of our failure
Ihs thing we know the world will move on, with
our help or without IT, We may help, but we can
not hinder il. Gods eternal law Of progress pro-
Pes the universe and we have but Che alternative
to fall in with that law, or to stand ont Of the way
while the world rolls by
That there is such a law of progress none can de-
ny III Is the rule laid down by the Infinite in ac-
cordAnce with which de works out his plans. We
may not understand its Limitations, OF comprehend
is scope but we see that il exists and that the uni.
verse has been, and still is governed in accordance
With IT, We can see the hand of Providence in .he
education Snd training Of the nations We can see
hat through all the centuries in spite of long de
.sy and seeming relapses, an almighty hand has
2een guiding our race through storms and trials on
toward lie higher destiny. E
Philosophers tell US that countless millions OF ages
Ago the vast universe existed only vapor, form
ess and void fsr-reaching, widespread, filing The
'nunte immense, where now It's suns blaze and lis
planets roll That slowly, while the cons went by,
aud none but the Eternal and the Infinite looked
'u' lhe iormless matter recognized the law of God
ano sought ia myriad centres aud suns and systems
Were born IN the depths Of darkness and Chaos And
men The earth We now inhabt hung poised in her
new iound orbit a globe Of FIRE, where the fierce
S.embled elements raved and seethed in mad con
niet beneath their gloom Of cloud, For long ages
me stre Of elements went on, till at lsst the fierce
neal cooled and the solid crust OF earth and The hoi
sea stood above the central fires and thenlow forms
q" vegetable and animal life came forth and coT-
cred the new earth and SEA- Still AZ the ages rolled
% me law Of progress wrought. Vegetable life
OA on higher forms, and snimals, from the first
~ ,uaimentary shapes, grew great and OF compli-
go structure, and filed the esgth and sea with
LgSsefa OF terrific nature and bideous proportions
- - 1nen these long, fierce ages also passed away
- man The perfected work Of his Maker, in Hi
,rSsS and monarch Of earth, came 10 his kingdom
o. Oou saw that IL WAS good. Through millioni
ss@ the preparations had been making, bu
m eernity takes no care FOR wasted time. Blu
-. POIhl OF perfection was reached by uninter
~ - progress There were long ages when al
suco.pi. snons OF nature went calmly on but Oh
copvri.ii steps OF progress wero reached throngi
Unions when earth seemed returning 10 he
AL chaos and deluge and earthquake and vol
a. lie annihilated the work of ages.
tbs WIN the earth we inhabt, so Il has been wit
has --lnan race The same great law Of progres
-, s,ttought in both. Stumbling ard blind hav
y bsn ne steps Of lie demonstrating off, retrogra
on. ,"t still advancing. Empires have rise
u Mango gone into Oblivion civilization be
We wsrrantccentrea over the eartn, ana ag1ln -
-ananity has gone onward Tnroug
Z. Mrr4s- -r1ess-tbroueh sll earth's 81
+ ,0ved Cane red and crime-thTough the cei
- theg havsdow on the dial seemed goin
y q rs bY thought that the Almighty ha
N - ~ york ouf race has come, till no