Year: 1876




the era of which these periods are com
memmorative, is irresistibly Tempt d ia
glance retrospectively into the past, to re-
call the chain of events which constitute
the record of the nations history, and to
pass In judgment upon the bearing each
( may have had upon the after and future
welfare of the country. Then to turn
pectively to the great future, to strive
In the Imagination to fathom its hidden
depths, to lift the veil from its unrevealed
secrets, and pierce the dark ohscurity with
which they are surrounded. To-day the
sons of America meet together, to do
homage to an event which, above all 9TH
crs, we have ever delighted to honor
This day is one which has been fttngy
! styled "the Sabbath day of American
/ Liberty" From the dawn of our earli.
est recolections, we have been taught to
look upon this, the natal day of our coun-
try's Independence, as one on which the
mind is to be given up to thoughts in which
the past, the present, and the future of
our country are to hold the highest place.
1t is on this day that we should recall the
circumstances which gave birth to our
nationality, and gather from the records
of the past lesson to guide us in the
future. And throughout the wide domain
in which the Stars and Stripes are looked
up to as the emblem of our nations sove-
reignty, the day in which the independ-
ence Of the young republic of the West
ern World was first proclaimed, is held
as one for patriotic thought and patriotic
revelry.


If such Associations and memories clus-
ter a ound this anniversary with each re-
curing revolution Of the wheels of Time,
how much more food for reflection is az
forded by the present occasion. We stand
today upon the threshold of another CEN
tury. Not mere century of the cycles
of Time, but century of national exist
ence. In the lives Of men century is
period far beyond the three-score and ten
which Divine wi, dom allotted as the linn
it ofhuman Ii e. fthe three millions who
peopled the Old Thirteen at the day and
hour when the bell of Carpenters Hall
rang out its joyous tones, procIaiming
Liberty to all the land and to the inhab
ants thereof, how many can totter forh
to take part in the demonstrations with
which the Centennial mourn is u>heed
in ? Few, indeed, are they They who
had reached the estate of manhood, who
We're the participants in the events OF
that period from which our national his
tory may be said to date, live only in the
memories of their descendants. Three
generations of men have passed from
earth since that hour which gave life to
liberty, but as nation we are yet in our
infancy. The records of the Old World
show us the origin and duration of its
Great Powers, from the hour of their
Bit th up to the present day. Those from
whose people we are proud to trace de-
ent, count the time of their existence by
centuries, as we have counted ours by
years. There is, however this to be said,
that under the benign and progressive
rule of republican Institutions, the pro-
gress of our country in the century which
has elapsed since the hour of its BIZ tn,
has bought it to rank in the roll of
nations to which it could not have aspir-
ed in ages of despotism.


1t is grand thought to us that we are
of those who have lived to celebrate this
day and that we can do SO with the con-
sc,ousness that all who mingle in the
throngs which march to renew their vows
at the altar of American Liberty, have
no reason to sorrow over the wrecked
hopes Of divided nation. And it is
another grand thought that our as en-
blage, and hundreds, aye thousands of
kindred ones, meet to-day upon the soil
Of countries which, when our fathers
emerged from the conflict, bleeding vet
triumphant, Che gage Of which they
threw down on this day century ago,
still paid their allegiance to the powers
of the Old World. The western limit OF
the new nation came only to the brink Of
the Father of Waters once across its
depths and the ticolor of France or the
red and yellow banner of Spain waved
where now the red, white and blue of the
Union is acknowledged as the emblem of
our sovereignty. Beyond the Mississippi
and stretching onward until it met the
blue waters of the Pacific, was vast ex-
tent Of territory which was an unknown
land. The Jesuit Fathers had penetrn-
ted some of its wilds, the hunter and
trapper had gone yet farther towards the
setting sun, but beyond these limited
sources of information the world knew
nothing of part OF our dominions where
to-day are great and populous States. Lit
tie did our fathers, when they appended
their names to the immortal document
which has been read to you this morning,
imagine the future power and extent of
the Empire whose foundation they were
laying. AS they pledged their lives,
lHelr IOTtuues, anu thcit suSicu HphoI
to the maintenance Of the cause in which
they had embarked, the future of the mar
row strip of land along the Atlantic sea-
,ard containing the settlements OF the
O'd Thirteen, were gloomy and uncer-
tain. They had thrown down the gage
of battle to one of the foremost powers
of Furone whose haets Whiteninp the
oceans of every cline had given her the
title of "Mistress of the Seas" and they
- VI 1...... IL u N I'll Of thn nnnrn " fhnv