, 1875-07-04


q; INDUCED in vocal pyrotechnics and Chin,
fre-cracRers. Ninety-nine successive re.
have We Set aside one whole day for kill
small boys. putting out eyes, ronding liral
;; soaring horses, burning houses, and otherwi
y providing disaster, dismay, and disgust, as
j. glorifcation and symbol of the American id
Of freedom. There must be one more
them,-there is no escaping that, t,-whic
= = being the Centennial, viii probably conce
!; trate the miserics AMI absurdities
hundred into one. After the cunulati,
fashion Of one Of GuMonn's Jubilees, the
might be hundred gentlemen appointed
r read the Declaration OF Independence in co,
cert, a hundred cannon to fire hundre
salutes, hundred ministers to make Il
opening prayer, a hundred orators to deliyt
the same old speech, and hundred packaee
OF hre-crackers set off at once as grand benz
dictlon and Gnal. But, if we shall surviv
tue hundredth repetition of unlimited Icens
and folly, cannot some other and more sen
s1ble celebration Of the anniversary of Amer
can independence be invented? Can't r.
dispense With the crackers, and rockets. ant
pistols, and cannon, and gimcracks, and th.
Whizz and bang Of the traditional Fourth
| What is it We celebrate, after all? Thu
character of the celebration comes down from
q day when the American heart fred anew a,
| the suggestion OF red-coat, and when the
hlnt~locks saved over from Lexington and
Bunker Hill were brought out naturally upon
| the recurrence Of the day when the Amer.
! cans formally foreswore their allegiance to
hing GEonaE, and started out to attain new
nationality But every year has removed us
further and further from the sentiments Of
those days. Time has at least eliminated the
bitterness from the reciprocal antagonis1n be-
tween the British and Americans the sym-
bols ought likewise to. be thrown aside. L
is time to abandon the childish types Of an
anlmoslty that dates from our youth.
The number Of people in this country
OF native birth who cherish tn.
dltional hatred Of Great Britain is very
limited We are attaining adolescence in our
national growth We have more ser;ous
matters, and have gone through more trying
experiences, than at the time the Fourth-of-
Jnly pistol and fre-cracker had special sig
mhcance. We have had serious internal
strife, political and warGke. We have grown
IN territory, population, invention, wealth,
luxury, with progress without parallel or
precedent This growth ought to have OBJ
literated the petty and puerile spite that our
present mode Of celebrating the national
anniversary inevitably suggests. We be-
deve that it has done 80, and it on1v |
remains to change the form.
After the next Fourth, when NC shall recall J
md celebrate the growth of the nation and
ts wonderful accomplishments will it not be
order thenceforth rather to investigate
han glorify, rather to mediate than cele-
'rate Will it not be well to put off the old
orm Of resentment to Great Britain, and cul-
lvate closer afhletion ? We started hundred
ears ago with English civilization, and we
dapted it pretty closely to the Greek
model Of a Republic It was a curl
us aud dangerous experiment. -. We
ave succeeded to a degree, but we
hould not deceive ourselves with the delusion
t perfect and permanent success, wherein
'e have at once advanced pa,ii passu with the
lother Country in civilization aud stability.
nd passed her in democracy and freedom.
reat Britain has made immense strides in |
9th. With the exception of the American
lea OF universal suffrage, which carries with
the idea of political nnd social license, the |
eedom Of British institutions is SO broad
lat We may well inquire whether per-
'nal rights, and security of property, and
ADMINISTRATION Of Justice, are not as soundly
ased in Great Britain as in America. ,
After We shall have completed our centenary
9 must hold ourselves to more strict &C. $
'unt for our civil, political, and moral con- I
ton than when We were sowing the wild a
It's Of our youth. The anniversary Of our !
adona1 birth will then have something of s
e maturity, soberness, retrospectiou, and Y
trospecton Of the man who begins to a
unt the gray hairs, and the woman who y
n no longer disguise the wrinkles, and Il
ho look back over life to sum up and bal- I
zee the good and the evil, the pleasures and Il
ans, the profitable and improbable dis L
'sition Of time, the successes and errors, of b
,areer. u
Official morality, political rectitule, and Ii
integrity, are the themes TINT N
ould henceforth occupy the anniversary m
oughts OF the nation We should take p,
ne into account the accumulating dangers h,
a democracy that rests upon universal sui b.
zee, unlimited as to numbers and unouali. NJ
as to education or possessions. A repub- 70
cannot bear up under corruption as we'll lis
a monarchy The diffusion Of power and br
clashing of interests, the spirit Of party sh
4, the rule Of Caucus, the influence Of dem- II
'gues, the greed for political power and IN
CO, and the misuse of both,-all CON- in
10 to the increase rather than tha IN,
'pression of corruption, whether polih- th,
or commercial We have already beoun in
suffer serionaly in our reputation abroad. | Az
soHuaz, the other day in London, was 1or
lost forced into defense Of the nation 81,
ause Of the impression which has besn thu
BY the exposures Of public corruption we
corporate frauds in this country. There AMI
o other way to correct public moral, thaa "v
'eg1n with exposures which hurt our good the
'e elsewhere and bring our system into chi
At7E1&N 1t-k