The daily gazette., 1876-07-05

which placed sad damper on that por-
tion of the cele bration.
THE FoURTH--THE CITY HALL MEETING.
Morning was ushered in by the usual.
noise and din, which continued uninter-
ruptedly during the day. About 8
o clock people began to gather around
the stand in front of the City Hall, and
by $3.50 o'clock, the time for opening the
meeting, the vicinity of the stand was
crowded by about 1000 people.
The stand was handsomely decorated,
the flags and lanterns, and also the en-
tire front of the Hail. while large
painting Of the State Coat -of-Arms occu-
pied the middle window OF the second
story.
! On the stand, when the Meeting open
ed, were Mayor Whitley, John O'Byrne,
Esq, City Treasurer Vincent, Revs
bers of the City Council and Of the
Millard Club, Ex-Mayor Valentine,
John 9. Patterson, Esq, H. F. Pickles
! and other leading citizens.
Mayor Whiteley presided, and in his
opening remarks said that the people of
this great country. were assembling
during the day to do honor to the one
hundredth anniversary of our national
birth. He acknowledged the honor con-
ferred upon him by selecting him to pre-
| X,
introduced Rev. Geo. II. Kramer, who
made an appropriate opening prayer.
Then the United Cornet Band played
"Hail Columbia" and the Millard Club
sang Star Spangled Banner" with
spirited effect.
S. Wiley, Esq, was next introduced,
and proceed to read the Declaration of
Independence. The reading occupied
about twenty minutes, and was listened
"a u hrna Ii In,o kay NJ,
read in fine style, and upon concluding
was most heartily applauded. Then at
the suggestion of the Mayor the crowd
gave three hearty cheers for the Declara-
tion and the men who framed it.
The band proceeded to play Columbia
the Gem of the Ocean," after which the
chairman introduced John O'Byrne,
Esq, the orator of the day.
In opening Mr.. o. Byrne alluded to the
graceful compliment of the com ,nittee
in selecting a foreign born citizen to
make the address on such an occasion, IL
compliment which he assured his hear
ers he appreciated most highly.
Proceeding with his remarks he allud-
ed briefly to the condition of our country
one hundred years ago, with three mil
lions Of people and meagre resources,
while now we have forty millions of
people and resources greater than those
|
land, during these same years, increased
only from twelve to thirty millions, and
no other nation had kept pace with our
progress.
From this he deduced the lesson
that the liberty and freedom of the
people are far more effective than the
power derived from king or potentate
= and that we must maintain this liberty
) and freedom, and guard it zealously
. against any monarchisl innovations, OF
= our progress will cease and our couu.
: try retrogradc.
After referring to the past course oil
the country and the fulfillment of the
assertion made in the Declaration
" that all men are created equal, :" the
, speaker closed in the following strain
One hundred years ago, around the
old State House Philadelphia, were
!, gathered no denser crowd than now
here, then as now-the declaration of
independence was read. 1t was then
: to be sustained by serried columns OF
! armed men, now by the votes of unS
armed freemen. The grim and bloody
visage of war, has unruffled its frowns
and scars, and the halcyon smiles of
peace now wreath the same brow; but
peace has its duties, as we'll as war,
and their performance are sternly de-
manded.
Within the old State House sat the
Continental Congress-its story is too
we'll known to need repetition. To-
day in the same city, the greatest Con-
gress of the Nations, ever before as.
sembled, holds high council. 1t is not
a congress of q race, or q nation; it Is
a gathering together, of all the tribes
and people, Whom God scattered upon
the plains of Shinaar, for impious def
ance of his power.
Although diverse in speech, with
Babel's confusion upon every tongue,
yet the threshold of ratification has
been reached, and an acknowledgment
by all mankind, from the Malay, Mon.
igolian, Hindostona, Persian, Tnrk and
Arab, as we'll as from our cognate
races, that all are brothers, the children
of common father, friendly rivals in
the race for human perfection,
The address, which occupied about
twenty-five minutes in its delivery.
was listened to with attention and en-.
Enthusiastically applauded.
the death of Mr.. john Baylis, who
had been injured during the night by
the premature discharge of a cannon.
He spoke in a very feeling manner,
and said that Mr.. Baylis met his death
at his post of duty and while this duty
was of civic nature, it was just as
important and worthy of being we'll
performed as though it was duty of
the battlefield.
Rev. f. b. Duval offered fervent
snta
Club sang freedoms Auspicious
Day." the band played "Star Span
gled Banner" and yankee DOODLE"
and the meeting adjourned at 9:30
o'clock, with cheers for the Constitu.
| ton and the Union.
During the progress of the meeting
the audience remained in their posi-
lions, evidently much interested, and
seemed 10th to depart. On the whole
the meeting was complete and graft
| fyinp success.