Year: 1867

dices of creed, caste and color will be swept into
oblivion, and intelligence and worth be recog-
nized as the standard by which the citizen shall
be judged. The people of this country are years
in advance of the politicians in ali measures
necessary to the advancement of national pro-
gress and even now, in the quiet of their own
firesides, discuss, sanction and approve of SUBJ
jects for future legislation which the mere poll
tcian, who seeks to float into power the cur
rent of popular opinion, would hesitate long ere
he openly decided to advocate.


But have already fingered too long upon this
point, and must pass to the consideration OF
others. We pause and wonder at the hesitation
with which our fathers approached independ-
ence, when the tocsin of war had been sounded
already and the blood Of Liberty's martyrs red
dened the ground. But we are looking BACK
with the light of another century TO guide us
a century, too, in which the world has advanced
more in knowledge, in enlightenment and in
freedom than in decade of centuries before
And whether judge of that act by the Won
drous influence which it has had within the
limits of our own country, or by the broader IN
fiuence which it cxerted upon the political his
tory of the world at large, it will appear equally
great


The ending of the contest thus inaugurated
left the Colonies free and independent. For
nearly eight years the tide of war surged over
the land with varying fortune but no hour
seemed SO dark, no period so gloomy that the
nation lOSt ltS nope or Ialtereu III lue Pitu ~ h
chosen. At one moment the flag OF the new
constellation would be borne aloft in triumph,
and the hearts of the patriotic hosts would LOOK
ioyousIy forward to the hour when, their ohJect
secured, they could lay aside their warlike ar
ray and return to the welcome pursuits OF peace.
Then, again, disaster and rcverses would follow,
and the end seem more distant than ever.
could recall to your minds the successive scenes
which followed each other in the great drama OF
the Revolution-the disastrous battles OF Bran
dywine and Germantown; the winter camp at
Valley Forge, where the half-starved soldiers OF
Liberty, with accomplishing fortitude braved
death in its most terrible form, the SHOWS Of the
valley crmsoned with the blood Of their shoe
less feet yet ever turning deaf ear to the prom
ises of pardon and reward which the English
leader found to distribute broadcast
among them. l could recall the midnight march
across the frozen Delaware the victory OF Mon


mouth the surrender of Burgoyne, which was


the decisive battle of the war, bringing to our
aid the armaments of France, and extorting from
the Continental thrones the recognition of our
ability to- maintain separate national existence
But will not follow, step by step, the many acts
of that drama. They were impressed upon our
hearts with earliest recollection often have
we recalled them in Imagination following tho
war-worn patriots through victory ana defeat 10
the glorious end.


The old Articles of Confederation under which
fhe of independence had been fought and
carried TO successful termination, were found
to be wholly inadequate to the purposes of gov
ernment in the hour of peace. 1t was as rope
of straw which had, somehow, answered the
purpose for which it had been made, but which,
it was felt, would give way upon the slightest
pressure. To form a more perfect union-to
link the different Colonies with their conflict
ing interests) together under form of govern
ment which would be equally binding upon each
and at the same time impose no burden upon
one which would not be borne equally by all the
others, became the task of the statesmen of
America And here, Mr.. President, permit me
to remark, that of the present day can have
no adequate conception Of the magnitude Of that
task which lay before the trainers of our present
constitution. 1t was one which called alike Tor
the most profound intellect, the highest scholar
ly attainment softened and moulded by unal-
loyed, unselfish patriotism. The unseaed books
of the Old World were before them, the begin
ming and the end of republican government were
written there in letters of portcntous gloom.
The land of classic renown where liberty first es-
tablished its empire, lay buried hopelessly amid
the ruins of its former greatness, and the cres-
cent of Mahomet glistened in the morning sun
above the spot where the apostles Of the Christ
ian faith first proclaimed its sublime truths to
ignorant and idolatrous world. Farther to
the westward, beneath the sunny skies of Italy,
where once republican liberty reigned IN undis- ~
puted power, sending forth its conquering le-





known world, despotism which cnchaincd both
mind and body, held the temporal as we'll as the
spiritual sway. But it was not necessary to
search so far into the records of the past for ex
amples which should serve at once as guide
and warning; within the memory of their own
immediate ancestors were the living witnesses
who had seen the Commonwealth of England,
which, reared under the auspices of the stern
Purtans of that land, flourish while their
great leader lived and bore the title of Lord Pro-
tebtor, yet returned at once TO a more hopeless
despotism when the title wrested from the
feeble grasp of his son and successor. In their
attempts to form government in which the SOW
eregn power should be lodged in the hands of
the people, they could look for no aid, no SYM
pathy from the established governments of the
Old World, however much of moral encourage
ment would be given at the hands of the telling,
down-trodden millions who were their subjects.
They had witnessed with undisguised joy the
success of the revolutonists, which had hum
bled the power of naughty England, crippled
her strength, depleted her treasury and shorn
her of her fairest possessions; but they could
give no encouragement toward the formation OF
system of government based upon the Iree
suffrages of the masses, which should emana.e
directly from the people, and be respons'oi@r @ "
the people alone for its acts and measures Inc
experience of after years has shown US that WIN
no other people than our own, ana ia tue new
World only could this experiment tior such IL
was) have been safely entrusted and a.. tired. . 1t
was so utterly at variance with all the tnen e1-
;st;na nr;ncinles of governmental policy, that
doubts of successful result s0ndsd di the sd5 minds
tLe boomine of the guns which ushered in this
morn-the glad throngs which have assembled
today to swell the anthem of Freedoms praise
the glorious banner of our country which
floats proudly from million fagsta1s, with star
after star added to its blue field until three times
the old thirteen now beam in glory there, tell
US that the experiment HAS NOT failed


The records of the Old World, which were
handed down for our guidance, pointed clearly
to the most deadly enemy which republican in-
stitutions had encountered in the past, and
which had ultimately caused their. overthrow.
Not the millions of trained barbarians who, un-
der the lead of Xerxes, poured across the Heles-
pont from the plains of Asia, caused the down.
fall of the Republics of Greece. Not the irrup-
tion of Alaric, with the hordes of Northern
Europe, blotted from the map of the civilized
world the proud Empire of Rome Each, united
within itself, could have defed any power