The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-06-30
DEPARTURE OF THE REPUBLIC S
FIRST CENTURY.

Before we again extend greeting to
our readers, the bells in all the cities,
the cannon from every fortress and war
ship, the bunting from every masthead,
will proclaim to a proud nation and a
listening world that the great Republic
has passed her One-hundredth natal
day, and with all her retInue of States, |
which each In turn have added starry |
Jewel to the crown that encircles the
pure brow of the Goddess Of Liberty, |
has swept royalty into her second CEN |
tury. From where the tides of the At |
lantic kiss the sands upon the sunrise
shore to where the majestic Pacific
makes ceaseless plant upon the sunset
lands of the North American continent;
from the mighty lakes with their set
ting of emerald, to the restless gulf that
indents its southern limit, loud shouts
of patriotism and glorious songs.of free
dom will voice the pulsing air.
Down to US through the busy decades
of a century that is gone come the i'm
mortal words, "These Colonies are, and
of a right ought to be, free and indie
pendent States" and the invincible
thirteen, which first proclaimed this
declaration, were not more proudly con-
scious of glorious achievement than
are the thirty-seven that unite to honor
and applaud when the changing cycles
have counted off the century.
Then, as the sun sank behind the AL
leghanies, his beams fingered with low
ing light upon the farthest western
limits of the United States of America.
To-day, as the broad Pacific hides him
from view, his parting rays gild her oc-
eideutal verge. Then 100000 of peo-
pie, harassed by poverty, disheartened
by disaster, outnumbered by an arro-
CANT foe, struggled bravely to make
good the words forged in the furnace of
patriotism and tempered by its fierce
fires. To-day more than 100000 of
loyal citizens attest the blessings which
the struggle secured to them.
The lesson that resistance to tyranny
is obedience to God" was early learned
by not only the sons, but the daughters
of the United States, and its observance
has led the Republic to come off victO-
rious in every encounter with foreign
despot and domestic foe. Men O
every nation have sought and found
shelter beneath the starry emblem o.
the free; the colored men, after long
years of unrequited toll, can now bar'
their brows to liberty's breezes, anC
pointing proudly to their emancipation
deed, swell the glad chorus of rejoicing
that shall send peans oftriumph through
the years of the nations century new
born.
Women, not less loyal and patrioti
than are their brethren, as many heroi
deeds attest, alone dwell yet in tn
shadow of oppression's wing; yet tru
to the inspiration of freedom which i
their joint heritage from brave sires an
devoted mothers, they chafe agains
restrictions that hold them in politics
ondage, and, mingled with the rejoiC
ings of those who are free indeed,
heard from all quarters their protes
against taxation without represents
tion.n
Beneath the very shadow of Inde
pendence Hall these words of earnes
protest will go up, miugling with th
reverberations which the glad WIND
and ready echoes will bear up and OF
upon the air, telling a nations gloriou
story of liberty. Knocking, not tin
idly, but with courage boru of righ
they stand at the portals of the Templ
of Liberty, not supplicating as favo
but demanding, in the name of justic
that the last bolt of tyranny shall f
back, and the self-evident truths enuI
ciated by the Declaration of IndepenC
ence be applied with equal force to tt
political condition Of men and womel
Toll on, brave laborers in the field
right, and, when your children's chi
dren shall count the last days from I'll
years of the Republics second centur,
and sum up its records for yet otht
generations, they will.give no proud'
rehearsal than Is embodied in your ju
demands for equal rights.