the like, I admit. A review of the rise and progress of this system of public indebtedness will show that it was from such beginnings that this mischief has sprung. But it is to be borne in mind, that posterity will have its own peculiar pressing needs too; and, if it is to be weighed down with the whole of our accumulated debts and interest, we must be very thankful that we are not our own grandchildren; certain it is, that they will hardly rise up and call us blessed.

Fellow-citizens, your orator for this day, who for half a century has exercised his right of suffrage in this State, always conscientiously, if not always wisely, had purposed to urge you to rouse yourselves from your lethargy, and shake off the apathy into which you seem to have fallen in relation to your political duties and obligations. Every privilege which we enjoy in this world carries with it a corresponding obligation to use it wisely; and in this matter of determining who shall rule, and how they shall rule, rest assured that the maxim applies, that from him who hath not improved that which has been given to him shall be taken even that which he hath.

But the events which have transpired during the last few weeks have given me a renewed confidence in the people of these United States.

On the one hand, the gentlemen at Washington, who seemed to have forgotten that they were sent there to legislate for the interests of the country, its advancement and prosperity, and not to select a presidential candidate, have received a signal rebuke. On the other hand, those

who had prospered in financial rings and nefarious cabals. have been taught that their power and influence are incompetent to destroy the popular favor of one who has independently and firmly put his heel on their iniquities. These signs bid us hope that we shall soon breathe a more healthy atmosphere. Believe me, fellow-citizens, if every man, of every shade of opinion, will be true to his duty as an American citizen, truth, honor, and good government will be maintained.

Spirits of the heroes, the patriots, the sages, of the Revolutionary days, look down upon us while we render an account of the trust which you reposed in us, the stewardship which you committed into our hands. The strip along the Atlantic now extends from ocean to ocean, filled with the homes of a prosperous, happy, free people. The Constitution framed by your wisdom and forethought we hold still unimpaired. It has shown to the world that you had embodied in it powers to maintain itself through a storm and peril of gigantic proportions. We have amazed the statesmen of the old forms of government by our capacity to preserve law and order by an army of mere citizen soldiery, and have still more astonished them by the spectacle of vast armies, at the close of a long contest, instantly and quietly retiring to their avocations as citizens. We have proved, and are still proving, that our national pecuniary obligations shall all, all, be fully and honorably met and discharged. The inventive genius of our age has done more for the prosperity, comfort, and happiness of the human race, than had been accomplished in many pre

ceding centuries. Our flag commands respect wherever it floats; and yet we have exhibited the truly pacific spectacle of submitting questions to arbitration which in former ages would have plunged the contending nations into the horrors of bloody war.

In the midst of our direst necessities, and while reeling like sunstruck men under the effects of our civil contest, we warned one of the most powerful monarchs of Europe that we would not permit foreign troops to control the destinies of any country on this continent; and the soldiers. of France vanished from the Mexican borders.

Religious toleration, philanthropy, institutions of charity and of learning and science, libraries, and tribunals of justice, all the instrumentalities which make men better and happier, live at every man's door; and, last and not least, thanks be to God! throughout the length and breadth of our land there is no such being breathes as a slave.

My friends, we need not be ashamed of our record. There may be upon some of its pages spots and stains: so there are on the sun. But the most of the leaves are emblazoned with the record of duties well done in God's service.

Of those who are now present, not one will see the sun. of another centennial.

Young men! We have carried the ark of the covenant of human progress, which our fathers (a people chosen of God, as were the Jews of old) had given to our keeping, steadily onward. We bore it through the Red Sea, - red with the blood of our bravest and our best. Into your

hands we now commit it. See to it that you manfully sustain the burden; for the eye of the Most High is upon you.

At the close of the oration, Miss JENNIE M. PATRICK sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," the audience rising, and joining in the chorus:

The following poem was then read by J. L. ORDWAY, Esq., of Newton.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS.

1776-1876.

THY Voice, O Liberty! this day is heard

In every breeze that sweeps o'er land or sea:

It murmurs with the rill, it sings with blithesome bird

In notes of glad and glorious harmony;

It speaks from shore to shore

In ocean's solemn and unceasing roar;

And now it loudly calls

In the deep monotone of waterfalls.

Thy presence everywhere around

Makes each familiar spot seem holy ground;

And scenes and tones scarce viewed and heard before

Now thrill and move us with unwonted power.

Thou comest with the glow of summer-time,

The rich luxuriance of fragrant flowers,
When the rejoicing year is in its prime,
To bless this festal day of ours

Upon its annual round;

But ne'er as now did benisons abound;

Ne'er was thy gracious presence felt so near;
And never knew we that thou wast so dear.

And now upon the threshold of the century
That separates the years which have gone by
From the unfathomable mystery

That veils the future from each mortal eye,

We stand, and, looking back

Along the yearly milestones of the track,

Survey the scenes of early strife

In which the nation had its life,

And ponder long and well

On what that lingering gaze may tell,

And learn what this the fourth day of July,

And this a hundredth anniversary,

May teach above all other days,

Save those devoted to the Maker's praise,

And save that festal day that comes with winter's cold.
But the heart warms as we that day remember;
And, though the north wind sweep through leafless wold,
We gladly hail the chill and drear December;
For then was born the mighty Conqueror,
Whose bloodless victories shall never cease;
Who sent a sword to wage perpetual war,

And yet is evermore the Prince of peace.

For that which is the day of days,

Let men their glad rejoicings raise

While strength and breath shall last to utter praise.

The memories of old, the thoughts that stir

All hearts to-day, need no interpreter.