PROCEEDINGS AT THE CELEBRATION

OF THE

EIGHTY-THIRD ANNIVERSARY

OF

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

JULY 4-tho, 18591:

ON WATTNONG PLAINS, MORRISTOWN, N. J-

K/wwwwé/N WJ\rw\AAA

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE OIROULATION.

 J\/\JWJ\J\f€ W

NEW YORK’:
WM. 0. BRYANT & 00., PRINTERS, 41 NASSAU ST., 003. LIBERTY.
1859.

The Eightythird Anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence was celebrated on Wattnong Plains by

the residents of Castle Gordon, Wattnong Villa, The

Lilacs, and Burnhain Wood.
The celebration took place at Castle Gordon; the

officers of the day being as follows:

President.
ROBERT GORDON,

Vice-Presidents.

‘GORDON BUTI-‘(NI-IAM, A BYRON SHERMAN, JOHN C. LORD.
Secretaries.
F. G. BURNHAM, MISS ARCHIBALD, MRS. J. C. LORD,
JOHN BETT, MRS. G. BURNEIAM,  13. F. BUTLER,
MRS. C. A. DAVISON, INIISS LEVERETT, MRS. B. SHERMAN.
Caterer.

MRS. ROBERT GORDON.
‘The Order of lllxercises Was as follows:

1st.-———-Re1narls::s by the President of the day, setting
forth the nature of the celebration.

2d.-——-Music by the band.

3d.—-—~—-The 1"eadi1ig of CL Declaration of Independence
by B. F. BUTLER, Esq., of Wattnong Villa, prefaced

4

by some appropriate remarks, and followed by some

others not quite so appropriate, by Mrs. BUTLER.

4th.—-—Music by the Band.

5th.-:—-Oration by CHAS. A. DAVISON, Esq., of Wattnong

Villa.

6th.—Music by the Band.

The celebration Was Wound up by an elegant display
of fireworks; the Whole proceedings being happily ter-

minated Without any accident to mar the festivities of ’

the day. One of the most interesting incidents of the

occasion Was the presence of Mr. J. O. L., a survivor of"

the revolutionary struggle (of 1848).

ORATION.

FELLOW Crrrznus of Castle Gordon, Lilacs, Burnham Wood, and
Wattriorig, and Gentlemen and Ladies-—-~or rather, I should
say, Ladies anti Gren.tlemeu~—-—of this most enliglitened and
patriotic audience :

Tlllfs is the anniversary of a nation’s freedom! This is the
Fourth of July. On this day, eighty-three years ago, the
A1nerica.n eagle plumed his wings for a ga—lo1-ious flight. As-
cending frorn his eyric on Plymouth Rock, the bird 0’ freedom
soared, on untiring pinion, high in the empyreau, and there,
poised. in the S11lilllgl‘1tOl‘ his native l1eav"eus,gave ‘forth that
Sl11'l€:l{ for i'reed.om, whose reverberations, 1'esounding from the
rock-hound coast of the Pacific on the west, to the Pil,grir11~soil
of New England on the east, and from the Aurora Borealis of
the north, to the Savaunas of the south, awoke the responsive
sympathies of a continent, and struck. the hey note of that im-
mortal anthem, which today swells the nation---

“ Hail Columbia, happy land,
Plenty of water, and plenty of sand l”

Fellow Citizens I That screech of the bird o’ freedom, caused
the tyrant George the;Third to tremble in his boots, and awoke
the growls of his celebrated lion, and then:and there began that
contest, immortal in history, when the aforesaid eagle, with his
followers encouraging of him, and the aforesaid lion, with his
followers ericoui-aging" of him, engaged in long and fierce con-
test for the supremacy. Need I speak to this enliglitened
audience, of that memorable onset, when the proud American
bird, descendixig from the higher 1*egio11 of sunliglit in which it

had bathed, flappecl his wings, and planted his talons in the

 British lion , and made him. forever to crouch subrnissively at his

 

6

feet. That scene is forever classic in story, and is hallowed
in song and in verse. Oh I what a day was that, when, to leave
the impressive figure We have employed, the American army
unfolded to the Winds and free breezes of heaven, that ga—lorious
standard over allwhose ample folds,wez'e emblazoned in living
light, those Words, “ E PZur2'Z>zrs Z7mm2:,” which, being in—
terpreted, signify, “ 'Who’sfAfeard I” I That, my fellow citizens,
was afree fight, not in the ignoble sense in which that expres-

sion is sometimes employed by men of grovelliiig ideas, and

foreign extraction, but in the higher meaning, of which that
contest itself was significant——-—a fight to be free. The burst of
glor 7, fellow citizens, which then dawned upon our happy land
still gilds and irradiates it. -

But I need not trespass upon your time and patience, by
reciting the story of the Revolution. In the hearts of every
one of you, are enshrined, I doubt not, the memories of that
hour and that day, when

“ Columhia’s sons to glory :m)se.”

Let it sufiice, that through the gallant struggle of our fathers,
and grandfathers, and I may also add, our gmr2«cZm,0Me;r=s——
for, as it has been appropriately put, where would have been the
“Pilgrim Fathers,” if it had not been for the I’ilgri1n gmmZ-
777.01‘/ae7'=s———I say, through their struggles, the chains which hound
us hand and foot to the British throne, were snapped asunder,
and no Vulcan has ever yet heen found among the myrmidons
of tyranny of suficient power to forge them again.

Fellow citizens, While I thus speak of that glorious period of
our country’s history, our hearts instinctively turn back to the
heroes of the fight. We have as yet lingering among us, a few
survivors of the ever-memorable contest ; and it is animating to
our patriotism, and inspiring to our feelings, to see before ‘us at

this hour, a survivor of that immortal era. He will now be ,

addressed in pathetic strains. I
Venerable mam ! It’ev0Zuz5z'09zcz.7°_y /2e7°0 I in the language of the

 

immortal Webste1', “ you have come down to us from a former- 

generation.” Many are the scars which you are supposed to
wear upon your pe1‘sQI1,, as the 1T1~‘€l,1'1‘”>~TS Of lllflt blaody contest, to.

 

 

  

 

7

which I have alluded. Many are the scores, 1ikewise,Which
you doubtless sufi"ered in that memorable contest. That was a
time which emphatically tried men’s souls, and We doubt not
that your soles were Well tried Whenever thefoe appeared.
Before the presence of the enemy you ever manifested amost
7°etirz'92g disposition, and it may be said of you, sir, that you
ever turned your 6650.76 upon the toes of your country. In that
dark and perilous hour, when danger seemed especially immi-
nent, We rejoice to bear testimony to those almost superhuman
energies, by vvliich you rapidly widened the distance between
yourself and their aclvaiiciiig lnarch. The wound which you
then received in your /teal, near your “ Well tried soles,” long
remained unhealed. War, sir, is said to be the “ 2./,Ztf2.777'2.co rcttdo
reg~zm2..” The Wound which you received in the Revolutionary
contest, may appropriately be regarded as a specimen of that
reasoning ct yuosz‘erior'eI. In every contest for the spoils of 'V'l(3~
tor +, you were ever in the thickest of the figl.lt, and While you
avoided those st1*ug_2;gles where danger was involved, and into
which others rashly rushed, your conduct is, no doubt, ustly
attributable to those passive virtues of caution and prudence
which the world liave learned so little to estimate and regard.

Venerable hero I the inonumental brass shall proclaim to our
coming ancestors your valour and heroism.

And now", felloW~citizens, let us turn from the past, and for
a inoment, contemplate the present greatness and _.g-lo1'y of our
country, and that Wonderful p1‘cug1°ess which she has made in
all the arts and pursuits which adorn and embellish civilized
life—-—such a survey is eminently appropriate to the day We
celebrate. It is my deligl.1tful oflice to inform you, that but a
few years since, and where you now stand, the Indian of VVatt-
nong roamed, and the beasts of the forest dug their holes
unscared. But cast your eyes now about you, and behold the
proudposition we occupy aniong the nationalities of the earth.
Like Montl3lanc among the mountains, We stand above them
all, without a peer, and without a rival. VVe have outstrip-
ped the nations of the past, and dimmed the lustre of their
renown, by the resplendent effulgetice of our ,greatness; and
yet, with all our superiority, andlsurpassing glory, we have ever

preserved unimpaired our native and .1'eti1*i11g modesty ;—--—this

  
 
   

 

e 8

grace, like a regal diadem, adorn and crowns all our other vir-
ties. Once a year, on the return of this proud anniversary, by
a violent and convulsive effort, let us break over the restraints
of our excessive diffidence, and speak in fitting strains of our-
selves. i

‘What nation can compare with us in military prowess.
Look at our standing army, the right arm of our strength, and
“over the left,” our navy--—--where is the power, nay, where are
the combined powers, to cope with them. ‘When once, like the
dynasties of the old world, these bulwarks of the national
defence, have been placed upon a “war footing,” and ‘‘mo--
bilized,” how will those dynasties, and their efiete sovereigns
quake with terror, and how before the cohorts of our embattled
legions, will the armies of Europe vanish like mists before the
morning sun, or an audience when a collection is about to be
taken! Look: at the brilliant and illustrious achieveinents of
our naval marine. Need I refer to the memorable bombard-
ment and capture of Grreytown. VVhere was the navy of Albion
then? Once England styled herself the “ mistress of the seas.”
It was her proud boast that the sun, as he walked the heavens,
never set upon her dorninions; and, that

“ Her march was o’er the mountain wave,
Her home was on the deep.”

But where was England’s valor then, or the prowess of her
navy ?-—--where’! and echo, in thrilling tones, thunders forth the
answer, “ conflunctufucated.” What, my fellow—citizens, were
the fights of Salamis or Actium, to that of Grreytown, when

before the valor of our marine, the greasers, and their British

defenders retired in dismay! And vrhose heart does not beat
responsive to the mention of Paraguay, and that immortal
squadron of canal and tow boats, whose very presence in the
waters of that recusant land, or the presence of those of
themiwhich succeeded in getting there, made the wily Lopez
tremble. It would be unpardonable here, fellovwcitizens, to
withhold the meed of praise from him, the “illustrious Bowlin,” ,
who wreathed the stern visage of war with the gentler grace of A
diplomacy, andiwho, hugging to his embrace the Dictator of ,
Paraguay, compelled him to disgorge, True, indeed, some by

 

 
 

9

miserable economists have grumbled because the glorious
enterprise to which I have alluded, cost the trifling sum of ten

. millions of dollars, and ask in complaining terms, what has been

 

gained by all this outlay of treasure? Why, fellow-citizens, did
we not compel Lopez to fork over ten 25/zoascmci dollars, and
what if he did voluntarily offer to do this before our noble
squadron was embarked. Miserable enemies of the true great-
ness of their country! Cannot they peceive that our national
honor was involved, and that it was far more glorious to con1~
pel the abject submission, than to accept the voluntary tribute
of an offending nation I

But, f'ellow~citizens, I must pass over the glory of our arms,
as well as the names of our great military heroes, such as Cush-
ing, Pillow and Quattlebum and their ilustrious achievements;
of these I had intended te speak in fitting terms and of their
culminating fame, before which the historic grandeur of Alex-
ander, Oaesar, and Napoleon is fading away.

But I cannot forget that “peace hath her victories no less re-
nowned than war.” And in the arts of peace, how triumphant,
grand, glorious, wonderful, sublime and magnificent has been
our progress. I might speak of the department of domestic
manui’actures—-—what nation can surpass us in peg-soled boots,
wooden nutmeg or bass-wood pumplziu seeds. I might speak
of the finer arts of painting and of sculpture, in which we
have transcended the highest renown of’ the Grecian and Roman
schools. Wliat nation can surpass us in that artistic mingling of
brilliant and gorgeous colors which can be seen in our steam-

boats ice;clream saloons barber’ssho DS and brown stone fronts .
7 7 3

and which is so appalling to foreigners accustomed only to
the tame and subdued style of the schools. I might also speak
of the department of architecture ;---l1ow we have risen glori-
ousiy above the ancient rules which fetterecl and trammelled
this art, so that you can now find in any portion of our country
the Doric, Corinthian, Ionic and Grecian all mingled and com-

bined thus seclurincr their united beauties instead of allowing‘
9 ca . 5 :3

them to dwell apart in solitary isolation. I I ‘
Butll cannot forbear in closing, to refer to one department of
our progress, which I know will awakenthe sympathies of this

  

. crowd. I refer to that of agriculture, and its related one of her-

10‘

ticulture. In this, in the language of the poet, we may be said to
“proceed the entire swine” ; or in the more emphatic laiiguage

of Gen. Taylor, to surpass the “ World and the rest of inanlzincl.” ,

This in fact is our chief success. Let me take you, fellow»-
citizen, in imagination to yonder enclosure, in wliichwe have
so often been led by the sweet blandishments of the noble pro-
prietor ;—--—,—there behold realized before your astonished vision the
beauty and fertility of the Hesperides, ay of

‘ Araby, sweet isle of the blest.’

See those esculents, reminding one of the sunny isle of Erin
and its staple commodity; see that corn waving, golden and
graceful ; see those beans, the pride of the nation, second alone
to that delicious fruit, the cabbage. But I forbear--—-you must
see for yourselves, and it is a matter ofprofound congratiilation,
that you can do it. The enclosure of that terrestial paradise
moves on easy hinges, and is ever readily opened by the gener-
ous and gifted proprietor at the sliglitest suggestion, and, often
I may add, Without it. Wloiat emotions of patriotic fervor thrilled
our souls, when at early break; of day, we once saw a miserable
and dej ecteclf'7u'r7°'z79W* su1'veyi1ig the beauty of that scene ; Wliat
jealousy must have rankled within his wretched bosom when
he reflected on the barren Waste and sterile regiions he had left
behind him in Eiiglaricl. No wonder that his form has never
again been seen among us, or even that no tidings have ever
reached us concerning his fate. I:Iovv painful to refleet,,,that a

suicidal purpose may there have entered within his saddened

heart. And yet, 1ny fellow»-citizens, this fair and delightful spot
is but a specimen of what our noble country presents on every
hand, and What, is in fact in adjoining parts greatly surpassed.

. And now in ClOSl1"lg', fellow-citizens, let me point you, for a

moment, to that sublime and magnificent prospect which opens

up before us a nation in the future. The area of freedom We
possess shall be extended until, from the northern pole . to the
southern cross, the star»-spanglcdbanner shall wave over a con-

 

tinent of freemen. Our manifest destiny is to go in and Win. it
The oppressed of other climes are fleeing from the tyranny of

the Old World, and seeking solace and refuge A here. Some of

 

11

these benighted victims of oppression are with us today.
Aliens .’ We bid you Welcome to this glorious heritage of a free
people. Herein the bosom of this noble and generous land,
find solace for the sufferings and miseries you have left behind
you. The 111nh1'ageo11s tree of liberty, with its vvide-spreading
branches, will afford you an ever grateful shade. Here rest
and abide under your own vine and currant bushes, and eat
your pork and beans, fea1‘ing; no tyrant or oppressor.

i And now, fellovv-citizens, I have discliargecl the duty which
you have clevolved upon me; but before 1‘€}S111'1’1l.1‘.lg my seat, let
me avail myself of a single moment to add a word more serious
than perhaps the occasion or the hour would s11ggest.i The
emotion of patriotisni, which has such a place in the historic
record. of this day, is one of the most eimobling of which our
nature is susceptible. It has ever held liigli rank among the
virtues of 0111'l.11_T11TlaI1liy, and in all ages has had noble illus-
trations. One of the finest of these is in the ancient his-
tory of the Jewish race, and in the liour of their Babylonish
captivity. Tl.t1ougl"1 far away from "].|-ll]-C-lI(‘3E1" the land of their na-
tivity, and the home of tlieir affections, their 1'Y1@1‘1"101'2l(3S often
turned to the city and the land of their fathers. It was their
song‘ even in the house of their 1i)llg1‘l1l1t1gQ, “If I forget thee,
0! Jerusalem, let my 1*iglit hand forget her cu1mi11gl” And
so the poet ofScotland has sung: it

“ Breathes there a inau with soul so dead,
‘Who never to himself has said,
This is my own, my native land.”

This was the sentiment which led to the American Revolu-»
tion, and animated its st.1'11ggles. The great principle underly-
ing that contest, was one which involved the honor as well as
the prosperity of the country. It was the 1*igl1t of representa-

tion consequent on taxatioii. The British Parliament undertook

 

to enforce the one without conceding the otliei‘, and by that step

sundered forever the links which bound us in colonial depends .

ency to the niother country. But let us never forget that in
that eventful hour many statesmen in the British Parliament
advocated the cause of the colonies. The noble Earl of (3113.

T thianii left a sick and dying bed, to lift his voiceoin the House of

    

 

12

Lords in favor of colonial rights, and against the injustice
threatened and being done to America by the British ministry,
and no doubt through all the long and weary struggle of the
revolution, many hearts in England beat in sympathy with us.

But it is a matter of profound and jubilant emotion, that
the ancient hostility and strife have given way to harmony and
peace. England and America stand to-day united by a stronger
than colonial tie. In the march of the nations they hold the
front rank, and are alike in sympathy and all the essentials of
an intelligent freedom. The world looks to them as the chief
b11lW€t1‘l{S of an enlightened civilization and a Protestant Christi-
anity.

Forgetful of past discord, we today recognize the common
bond which unites us. 'While We rejoice in the prosperity of
our own favored land, We also rejoice in the honorable renown
and greatness of our mother country, and with all true Britons,
would do homage to that noble Woman who Wears upon her
brow the regal coronet of the British Isles, but the lustre of
whose virtues as a wife and mother outshines by far that of
her royal diadem I

May the alliance between England and 1-‘;t1rl1e1'icz1, cemented
by a common blood, by common sympathies, and a common
ancestral faith, be ever perpetual!