CIass__^!mi. Book ? 5g fe i(0 II i A N 2^ D.E L I V E R E D ^T ,/ HENKV r. JOHNSON, ESQ, i£J)T SiO^^JI-J'iillliC&a U-»Sl« ^^1 CON NEAUTVILLE, PA., SATURDAY, JULY 3d, 1858. IF V? }e I'- ■;; :S :i: H ® M"^- JE JF ■^. "fT If g T Si QToitrier Print, (*5oaticnnliulIc, Pn. 1858. -^^^^'^ ^^^^^g^^gs^^-^jgs^^lgv^ my/' Al ®RATf© UELITERKD AT CONJVEAUTVIIiliE, PENSTJA, BY HENRY C. JOHNSON, ESQ., OF MEADVILLK... CORRESPONDENCE , CONNEAUTVILLE, PA., JuLY 5, IS/SS. H . C . Johnson, E sq . : — Dear Sir: Having been hic^blj entertainfld hy your Oration, delivered in this place on the occasion of our In- depetideuce Celebration on the 3d inst., and believincr that its, Tub- licfttion woiild interest and benefit the public generally, we there- fore request that a copy be eont to the Courier, at your leisure,, for that purpose. Truly Yo^ur.s, A. J. Mason, W.'F. Owen, G. W. Zahnisbk, Jkssk Smitj), C. 13. Power, Sv G. Kkick, J. G. Foster, and others. Meadville, Pa., July 6, 18.58. Okntlkmkw: I have received your letter of yesterday ; and in obedi- erce to your request, I enclose, for publication, a copy of iny Ora tion, delivereJ at your place, on the occasion of your celebration of the last anniversery of our Declaration of Independence. ]l33pectfully, HENRY C. JOHNSON. To Messrs, A. J. Makon, Dr. W. F. Owen, Rev. G. W. Zaun i3KK,Jp8SK Smith, C. B. Power, &. G. Krick, Jambs Q.FoaTBKi Mid others. i Mk. Pkhsidem — Ladies and Gentlemek: We bail the Fourth of July! We hail it as a d:iy maJe glo- riously immortal, by one of the most s\iblirae achievements thas was ever conceived in patriotism or executed in hinnau wisdom, since the foundations of the earth began. Thus consecrated, wo hail its return in the calendar of time, as our great national Sab- bath, vi'hen we can all,, with one accord, seek rest from our secular labors and honor the day with appropriate observances; when meii- of every political faith, mutually laying aside their partizan differ- ence, aa unbecoming the day, meet together iaonecoujmon brother- hood, to recount, with filial affeciiou, the deeds which our fathers liave done; to con, anew, the lessens of virtue and polity which their wisdom bas taught us; and to renew, at the altar of our Csuiitry, our vows of eternal devotion to her best interest — her integrity, one- and indivisible. In this spirit, we may take a retrospect of ouf history, taking example from its brightness, admonition frotn il.^ ^hades, and dwelling with astjon.iskment upou' our unp^r;\lleleti advancement in population ; in the nianura«?tiiring arts; in agricul- tural and commercial wealth ;. and in educational facilities, since our jiatriot fathers declared to the world, this day, eighty-two years ago; that we were, "and of a right ought to be, a free and independent people.'' Id this spirit, loo, we may speculate upon our future, as it presents itself in wonderful progression, until the power of num- bers fails in making up an aggregate of the constituents of our ua- lional greatness. For these things, as a band of brothers, in the brotherhood of our nationally, we hail the Fourth of July. We liKil it with the sounds of war as it is ushered into being; we hi il it with songs of triumph at early dawn ; we hail it with the horn of plenty at the festive board, through the meridian hours; and. wv. hail it throughout the live long day, in high rejoicings. All hailf to the Fourth of July; and may it ever be hailed in its recurring seasons, by us, as a virtuous, united, enlightened, free and prospeious people, until the " A.ngel shall stand with his right fool uj)on the sea and his left loot upon the solid land, and swear by Him that livelh for ever and ever, tliat time was, time is, but time shall be no more.'' It Un^ heretofore, bjeep, too general a custom of our Fourth of Jul^ 4 INDEPENDENCE ORATION, orators, to draw upon tbe ancients and their mythology; other v;ountries and their illustrious names for oratorical figures, compari- sons and examples. And singularly enough, Romo, the worst of Jill nations, comes in for the best of all adjectives in these effusions. 'Of all nations of tbe earth, in times past or present, the Roraaas ■are the very last people that we should take as an example.* Ttike them all in all, in the mass, they were among the meanest, cruelest, vilest, most perfidious, gross and brutal wretches, that ever Htained the face of the earth. From the moment when (if this he •not as some writers think, a fable) the wolf suckled Romulus bru- tally butchered his brother at the founding of the civilization, thu* inaugurating the planting of the state with g murder, to the hour ■when tbe hoarse blood-roar of the legions of Titus rrse over tbe ^hideous sack and slaughter of Jerusalem, and from thence, to that Mes'sed day when the sohIs of trampled nations lived again in tbe *;torm of the Huns- that swept asvay the tottering fabric of the Kinpire — from first to Irret, Roman history is a dreadful clot of cru- elty, ignorance, lust, robbery and murder, Tbo wild milk ihat the infant Roinnlus drew from the teats of tbe wolf, was in the veins of the nation from the beginning to tht* •end. The government began in a brutal oligarchy, and ended in ;i most rampant, profligate and violent des;potism. I'he society, iu the main, was always corrupt and gross. Filthy licentiousness was the vice of all classes. The popular amusement., always a good in- dication of tbe character of a people, was the amphitheatre, wh-jrn the unhappy gladiators, the best men of conquered nations, were forced to tight for tbe p''|>ted to a tiigtilj- e:^leel.ped Irieutl. INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 5 -Vho aro 50 often, on occasions of tl.is kind, held up to us as exampie«. 11)18 1 look upon as inappropriate to our present Ijcrhts; as un- American in taste; as ilireadbare in .stvle; and a ° lacking the comprehensiveness of intellect to ^jrasp our own stupendousness which hirnishes more than the ancients ever dreamed of, or other A-'iimes attained, in so short a lime. Are not the ^lessed toachings of our Holy Religion, more heau- tilul, sublime, and fecuna of good, than all that has ever emanated from the Pantheon? Does not the valor, patriotism, and wisdom 01 our tatJiers, rival the valor, patriotism and wisdom of the ancients ? And IS not our direct republican thought, mo.t appropriately coa- ^eyed by tamiliar hgures and comparisons, in vijrorous an.rlosaxon. ■Other ages have produced no equal to our own^WAsniNGTOv and no superiors to our own eloquent and gallant Henry Clay or our own heroic and invincible Andrew Jackson. Nor have oth.^r dimes a people more intelligent, warlike, independent and prosper- ous than our own ; nor hav« they a country more fertile, exDansiv« and inviimg than ou.s. When we conte'mplate our own "heroes and the grounds made classic by their heroism: our statesmen and the eternal impressions of their wisdom; our country and its areat jlesliny, with what feelings of proud disdain do we turn front th^ literature wr.ich seeks for models of heroes in the rubbish of past centuries, and for examples of governments in foreign climes. VVe i^hould have an oratory and a literature peculiarly our own • Rn oratory and a literature essentially American; which lon.^s for no greater mode! than our own Washington; which holds no^clas, ot statesmen in greater veneration than our own Revolutionary bathers; which recognises no form of government as superior (,'.> that which a wise and virtuous people rules; and which nftects nothing, in style, beyond the expression of ideas in plain Encri.h. We should .ea'n to think as Americans, and to write as Ameru^ans ; and for these purposes our own great names at:d our own brief but brnii^nt history, furnish well-stored maga-iines of the necessary material . With a literature of our own, and an imag.-rv from ouV own great names aiid iJistinguishing events, our pec"ili«riiies as n ^^or^rmnent and our history as a people, the virtues, wis.lom an,^ ^.eeds or our ancesters are promif.onlly arrayed for our emulaiion; ino prmciples of our government are made familiar as household wordfi: and our mission among the nations of the earth, thu^ over ndmonishes m of the duty which we owe to ourselves and of 1)10 example which we should Pet to the oppressed of other climes H-nlortammg these views, [ will not on this occasion, further oHen-J your ear with a Roman name or the act of any man who did not hohl as the basis of his political faiih, that human governnu-ni only legitimately emanates from ,and of a right belongs to the peopl,. Xta causes which impelled ua to a separation from tho moih«f 6 INDEPENDENCE ORATION. country have just been read to you from our Declaration of Inde- pendence; but the results of th?.t separation, no human power can estimate, so immense is their magnitude and so rapid their devel- opements. The greatest and most immediate resuk, however, was the organization of the confederation upon the principle announc- ed in the Declaration, that "governments among men derive tlieir just powers from the consent of the governed." This is the basis of our government, and from it have emanated those re'sults which have challenged the admiration of the world. The body and soul of our being, is comprised in the union of the States and government by the people. The union of the States and government, by die jieople is the principle upon which and for which, our Constitution wa« framed ; and its roots have spread so wide and shot so deep, that it would be easier to upheave the everlasting hills than to extir- pate it from our soil. As now organized, our government is a Democracy formed up- on the experiment of rei)resentation. All power exercised by the representative is derive:!, either directly or indirectly, from the j)eople. By the theory of our government, all power belongs to the people, to be delegated or resumed by them at pleasure. In short the government is 0/ the people and for the people. The idea of representation and executive powers, forms no part of its principle. There is nothing but the Constitution, which, by the observance of certain form.s, may itself be altered or amended, to prevent the people from at once resuming any of the powers which they have intrusted to others. In several of the States they have exercised this power. For example, in Pennsylvania, the whole Judiciary of ihe State, from Chief Justice to Justice of the Peace, were appointed by the Governor; as were the Auditor General, Surveyor General, Canal Commissioners, Prothonators, Registers and Recorders; but the people, at one time and another, took the appointments of those officers from the Executive and made them elective. This did not, in tl:e least, ;itfect the principle of the government. The people merely resumed a power, which, after exjieriment, they thought ilid not work well in the hands of others. They have in this way limited the Executive authority, and why not the Legi.-ilalive ? The people have maJe both Governors ami Legielators; and they have the same power to unmake that ihey Jjad to create. They made the (!onstitutio'';s, definmg and limit,- iiig ditt'ereut branches of the government; and by viilue of their sovereignty, these. Constitutions they may alter or amend. Suppose that the people sliould wish to abolish Legislation by Senatois and Reprosentatiies, ana to legislate for lliemselvea in, ]>0Dular assemblies, can their rijhi to do so be queet'oned ? Aro not the people sovereign ? Assuming it as «.ot disputed, that the people haive tho rig^Ut ta INDEPENDENCE ORATION. T modify the present system of legislation, it becomes a grave ques- tion if they should uot, to some extent, exercise it. In the great majority of iu.-itances, men who entrust the management of their business toothers, sooner or later, discover that their interests have been neglected or that they have been defrauded by their agents. K very day's experience in life, shows this to be the case. It has been 80 from the time Jacob took advantage of his position, to despoil his father-in-law, Laban, of his Hocks, down to the ])reseut d iv ; and so it will be,to theseltiugin of the Millenium. If private individuals with sll their watchfulness become the spoil of iheir representatives, how can the ung'uatded public hope to fair better ? Tlie greater portion of onr modern law makers, are nothing more nor less than legalized j)lunderers of the public coflers. This is a harsh truth to utter; but nevettheless, it is a truth — a truth which we should bear iii mind, and not reject as some do. under a miserable affectation of :; sickly sentimentality, which is shocked at its utterance ou the Fourth of July, while in reality, they reject it through a squeamish nnd innate aversion to truth, on any occasion or at any lime, simply because it is the truth. Of the millions annually collected from the pockets of the peo- ple, in ihe shape of revenues, by far the greater portion is filched from the Treasury, by political jugglers, through ilie legerdemain of legiilatiou. Any kind of a claim, no matter how destitute it ^nay be of merit, can tie worked through Congress or our Legisla- lur*^, now-a-days, provided, \l is large enough to sop the niem- <>er8. Hundreds of claims of this kind, are passed in indecent haste and with a shameless disregard of duty, while thousands, which are meritorious-, are coldly passed over and neglected, from yt- r.r ix> year, until claimants are so disheaitoned or impoverished ih;ii they abandon the f5eld. Old soldiers; the widows of old soldiers; aTid honest creditors o'f the government must be deferred in their )»rayers, if there is a stupendous fraud upon the carpel. Look a: the liiillioRs upon millions of acres of the public domain, whicli have l)«on grunted to Railroad companies, and other associated Np<;cu!ators! Look at the millions of dollars that were bribed oui (jf ihe Treasury under the glare of the noon-day sun, as ''Oceau Slea.Mi Mail Money." Look at the milliotis which have otherwihO t»eon squandered and with scarcely the shadow of a claim — mor of the representative, how are they to iiold htm accountable? Li Pennsylvania, the Journal but seldom reaches the people; and we can learn nothing of our Legislative prf)ceedings from the Legis- lative Keconl. The man that goes- to that source for information, lias confusion worse confounded. The information can scarcoly be . gleaned from our Acts of Assembly; for they are published at such times, and are so voluminous, that they remain almost as seal- ed books till tha law makers are again at work. The Acts of 1855, and those of 18.56 and 1857, make up for each year, a closely printed volume of nearly 800 pages; and those of 1858, will most likely overrun that number. Those laws but seldom reach us be- fore Jidy or August. Now, how is it poRsible to wade throujih, weigh and digest 800 p;iges of Laws between the middle of July .Hiid the election in October, so as to pass upon the siowardship of the representative? If legislators must make 800 compact })ages of laws at a Session, let them meet but once in three or four yearn; so that those who are to be aticcted by the laws and are to obey them, can have a chance to find out what they are. When^ we are inundate 1 by more laws than we can read without letting thd plow stand iu the furrow, the idea of the masses being famil- iar with the laws which they are to obey, is simply absurd; ami the theory of Representative accountability is entirely impractica- ble. But still, notwithstanding this deluge of laws; in spile of this monstrous abuse of Legislation, we are a great, a wonderful' }«nd a growing people. We arc scf because the principle tnaimains- ihat the people are supreme. INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 3" Tli0 EOi'ereignty of the people, impresses every mau with nn in- cVividualily ; and is calculated to develope in ibe citizens those cori- i»tituent8 of true manhood, ii|)on which (he State will flourish in times of peace, and in which it will find a defence, solid as adaman- tine rocks, in lime of peril. Show me a man with the feeling of an American, and I wil! show you one erect and upright; creat- ed in the imaoe of God, and feeling that he has a soul in bis body. In proportion as the people of a Stale appro^ich the highe>i standard of intelligence, virtue, industry aad self-reliance, so are the real sources of their nalional prosperity enhanced and establish- «*d; and these qualities flourish best, when and- where, each man feels that he is a sovereign, as we do. Look about you, and you- will find thnt you are surrounded by men. Aye! men, who fee! that they were born into the world wiih certain rights; that they are equals amoHg men ; and that they have duties as citizens. — Aye, men! not things in the forms of men , that have had their souls ground out by ibeiron heels of Europi-'an despotism. When you stiikt^ hands with Auiericans, you thauli God that they arw your countrymen;, tiiat you and ihey were bom under a govern- juent recognizing the doctiine of the piirfeclability of manhood; the capacity of rueti' for self-sfovernment;. and the sovereignty of t'.ie people. The manhood, self-reliance and enterprise of Aineri- saiis, their attachment to the State, are all attributable to the doc- trine that the people are supreme — a doctrine, to which we trace r.ur present and growing greatner^s, in spite of any stupid or vi- jCious administraiion of our atfairs in legislation or otherwibe. Under the [>i'inciple of popular sovereignty, we have grown into- >iuch colossal juoportions that our numerous si)rings of wealth, our Mufolding Rtretjgih and our strides to the very first place among the powersof the earth, can hardly be ascertained. By law, a census is taken every ten years; but previous to the lasc census, the labiirsi in this department were attended with but few satisfactory result*:, 'i'be last census however, under the superinlendency of Joseph C. G. Kenneb.\y Esq.. formerly of this County ,. a man of untiring industry, great latent, varied attainment and wonderful method, was intended to be such an exploration and exhibit of our various economy, as would give to the world' and ourselves, a realizing (sense of what we are, and are yet to be. The task was a hurcjlean one. A force of a hundred clerks with the aid of many gentlemen ;4o9. 10 INDEPENDENCE ORATiOH. of onj" O'wn countj and the few years which have elapsed sifice J' was under the dominion of the Aborigines. A little more than >jxty years ago, there was not a whjte resident witbin what is no* Crawford County. Our primeval forests had not then \yeen rjiarred hy the white man's as; and ibe deer, the bear, the hnffalo and th« wolf roamed through them ia therr native eon&dooce while the beaver dammed and tba SrouJ played in oar lin>pid stream'?. Over all these the red man helsi his wild do'minjon^ and his righs there was none to dispute. I5nt »ow, how great the change.-— Those majestic foresis have succumbed to the woodman's ax; toe hutfrtlo has sought refuge from his dread foe, ihe while man, on the far, far distant slopes of the Rocky Moiuilsi'Ds; the beaver dair- has given v their fathers in the spirit lacct, until they have all been gathered to their Measedi hautjng ground beyond the narrow confine which separates lime from eternity ; and row , a new race descended from the lineage of a strange land, lord it where tliey were so reetnlly alxsolute masters. "What a change is here; and trho can ccnvem plate it without eraotiows of sadness. With me- tire contemplation of such a change is tinged with a feeling of profoun-d inelancboly. It has pleased Providence, thos far, to crowd more of varied incident into the short sjian of my fleeting years, that genet- ally fii'ls to the lot of men in a- life time; and there has been muub jn my chequered destiny, to bind me to our red brethien in ties of re.«p€Ciful commiseration and affectionate regard . For weeks arrd months, my wayward wandering* have made me the companion of llie Indian, in hi.« camps on the open plain snd in mountain fasi- liess. I have seen him on the war trail and have Imnleti with hmi in the buffalo path^, I have known anv:) studied him in his native wilds, 86 he staod, protul, erect ftnd lordly as CJod made bim, aiwi before he w?»s bowed down by civilization and its contaminaiing intiu- •>nces; and I must »ay, I arrj the fast friend of ihe red nian. 1 have broken bread with Governors; I have quatfed wine with Senators; and I have found comfori in the lowly cat of the poor; but nowhere whether in maible halls, in the chambers of hegislalion, or in the KjUHlid huts of poverty, have 1 seen nwre of frank hospitality, more ( f lh*i Self sacrificing spirit of friendship, or of ihe slcn devotion of patriotism, tliitn 1 have experienced )n the c;i:iip cr seen at the t»i)uncll fire of iLe Indian. Go tD the Indian's lodge, and ia the fullness of hif hospitality, he will share wiih yon his last morse! o* f(>o<.i ; tax his friendship or his honor, and you will f7nd him true a^ lliM dial lo tl.e son; invoke Iijh pairioiism, and he will siiow liirn- felf ready lo lav down his life for his tribe. In nhort, ihe Indiai), ij> his native 6tate, has in llieir rijx'ness, al! of out vaunted viriu-et and none of our lamented vicoH. It li bvkl ^.vtivrii' that we uhovild ospevitne* a pang ij: w*lne»8i?>^' INDEPENDENCE ORATION. II tiie exod'as or exiinction of such a people; «nd when we nm back the short retrospect which witnessed the red man's dominion over the very grounds that we now stand upon, w« weep that the dawn •pf our pow-er should have extinguished the sob <»f the Seoecas.- — Upon (he hills and in the valhes which we now inhabit, generation iiftff genera I. ion of this iolerestiKg people has been born, has lived iind has passed away; but there is none now left of their long line'i C't' heroes and sages, nor of their race, to tell us of their former greatness; to recount their deeds of heroism in defense of their '.ountry ,• or to relate tlie fad taJe of their eufterings . None of their thousand.^ who have lived in the mutations of centuries, nnw stand here to tell us of those things: but in their steatl, behold ! the brave sons and lovely daughteis of their usurping conqueror. Who, to look upon our rich fields and elegant improvements, in- evit.»rival:on, while the war should exist. It may hero ht^ remarke*! , iMat few have had a greater share of dishearteninu difficuhleA in iwivftte life, and that few have ever borne them with gr^atw r-quanimifv. The war wns,£t length, happily terminated, bj vitb. VVnjne, in 1791.'* INDEPENDENCE ORATION. 13 ""For several months in iVOljivien the Indians, -were dailv ex- pected to attempt the utter exermination of the people on Frencli Creek, Gen. Mead with his family resided at 'Franklin, which is twenty-five miles ftom Mesidville, in order that he might have it in his power to repair to the garrison in that place as ihe dernier Tesort. During this period, hia lather was taken hy two Indians from a field, where ho was at work, and carried to the vicinity of Oonneaiit Lake. Some days after, he was found together with one «f the Indians, both dead and bearing such marks of violence, as showed that they had had a contest; and it was deemed probable, that the other Indian had been wounded, in the renconnter, from the circumstance of his companion being left unburied." A Geographer, under the date of 1804, in bounding Penn?ylva- Tiia, says, \l-jat"it is bounded on the north by the Iriquois or Five Nations of Indians." The same Geographer, from the stand poin^ of 1804, in the spirit of prophecy, and looking far into futurity, in speakmg of the future of Western Pennsylvania, says : "This country will, in future, be one of the most advantageous commercial situa- tions in America, having in a manner the key of the Indian trade. The fur trade will center here in less than half acentury." In 1804, the fur trade was the great trade of the country, enlisting the capital and energies of such men as Gen. Ashley, Stephen Girard, Pierre Chsnto and John Jacob Astor; and giving employment to many hundred whites, besides the savage hordes extending from the lyforthern Lakes, back to the Pacific Ocean. This prophetic geographer little dreamed that long before the o«pirationof the half century which was to make us the key to the Indian trade, and the center of the fur trade, an Indian would be as much of a curiosity in Western Pennsylvania, as an African lion; Mid that the fur trade would be almost wholly limited to barter in the hid«s of such unfortunate domestic cats, as should becom-j the spoil of our enterprising village boys. But to return to our owe times. I am not one of those croakers who delight to discouree^upon the supposed degeneracy of our own times. No such impressi^jn finds a place in my mind. There may be, and doubtless are individual liostaocos of degenerate sons of worthy sires; but tliat we as a people have retrograded, in any particular, since Uoioniai or Revolutionary times, I wholly and t^niphaiicnlly deny. If we make allowance for the qualifying inll-i- ♦noe of education, and the subduing tendencies of enlightened ae>ista, bad been received. Pubik; »nxie-ly nought after every incident of this fearfully unequal contest, where- in our brave volunteers were assailed five to one bv the flower of the Mexican regulars, commanded by Santa Anna,''in person. Na baule^ had been fought and victory won, in modern times, against such fearful odds; and the heart of the nation was struck wit"h va- vied sensibility. While wa tb-ew a funeral pdl over the honortfa mOEPE^JDENCE ORATION. 15 >."sain of that fiivilJ, and mingled our maniy grief with the ■s:)rroW8 of their bereaved relatives, a sort of triumph weut up throughout tho the land, and Tc Deum was sung by a nation, rather than by clioirs, to God 'for the glory of the victory. Such was the slate of feeling at the time I speak of; but for the passing hour, all attention was aV>- •sorbed by the circus j^erforniers. At last, one of them underiooV: to personate dKferent characters by throwing otT one costume aiMJ exhibiting in anothor. In this, way he had personated the Higii- ■iander, the Indian, and the Sailor, when he appeared in the In- fantry unifortu of a Soldier of the Army of the United .States, ar;J nhile in this character, a flag was thrown to hina, on which was inscribed the magic words: "tr^?ieraZ Taylor never surrender yP The scene thai followed the unfurling of this flag, beggars 4oiitary inference, in the least calculated to promote the cause 'jf Truth, Liberty, and Justice, 5 know that in so doirg I have intvi- •Gst^d you, and theivin ray hibors are richly rewai'cred. Like every thing else of human structure, owr 'Government hns its imperfections. There is much in our history that we may K< justly proud of, and there are many things thai we fihould bittetiv- regret. The 'blffssings which we enjoy, and the good whi«;h w.^ Jia've done, we should be thankful for; but our errors we should scrupulously e>:amiue, and unsparingly correct. We should Kt* jjuSt to our equals, magnanimous to our inferiors, and grateftti t) ♦ ijwse to whom gr.-'titude is due. ]6 INDEPENDENCE OftATIOJ*. I am aware tuat we have our intestine troubles, and tliat there- are breakers ahead; but still, 1 have no fears nor misgivings as to- the future. At heart , our people feel a yearning love for our com- mon country, and an earnest desire to find a peaceful solution of all the diflficuUies which at present distract us. So deeply are they j^enotrated by these senliiiients, that their patriotic impressions will seek the surface, in spite of fanaticism north or south, and acu like subduing oil upon the troubled waves of agitation. Politicians may, for a period, mar ourimiversal harmony by 6*^c- tional issues, and threaten to uprear the black flag of disunion to gratify a wretched ambition or to advance unholy partizan aims; but such acts, no matter how specious their designs, must sooner or later, meet with the stern rebuke of a virtuous people. Aside from the confidence whiclL we have in the integrity of the masses (■f the Union, for th.e sake of the union and government by the ])eople, there is much in our history to inspire lis with an abiding faith in the perpetuity of our insiitutions. He that holds nations in the hollow of His hand, has been to us a pillar of cloud by day, :tnd a pillar of fire by night, guiding us in safety to desired havfu-', when our most skillful pilots became despondent and trembled for our Safety, amid seen and apprehendiedi nation- wrecking dangers whicli beset our course. It is true that there have been other chosen jieo- ]iie; but they were never abandoned until their hearts became per- ^er^ed, and they lebellnd against their mission. We too, have a dutj' to the nations of the earth, who- are to learn from our example ihe elements of liberty, the capacity of man for self-governmenL. and the practicability of binding ditl'erent sections, and diverse in- ic-rc^sta, in a perfect union, by the centripetal power of the genor;;l •.velfare; and so long as the hearts of the people are true to this design, I have no fear for our prosperity as a unit, ror for either, nor any one cf the thirty odd plauka, composiag our gallant ship, of State. All hail then to the Fourth of July; and may each accuiinulat- i'lg year in our history, witness its return as a day of tejoicing to us ;i!4 a people.true to ourselves and to the blessed principles which in- anguratel our Revolution; and may it ever be hailed tliroughout the world,. by those who are stnigglin£r for tlie rights of human nature, as the great national Jubilee of the New World, who teach by fxample. how the down-trodden of the Old World, insiy become enfranchised, despite the armband armies of oppression. AH hail to tlie Fourth of July; and may it ever be hailed as the aniiiv«i«a