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since ceased to be the property of any country or of any

age.

The Vice-President and Senate; the Heads of Departments; the Judiciary; the Authorities of the City and District; the officers of the army and navy and marines, from many a field and many a flood of earlier and of later fame; veterans of the line and volunteers, fresh from the scenes of trial and of triumph, with swords already wreathed with myrtles, which every patriot prays may prove as unfading as the laurels with which their brows are bound; all are here, eager to attest their reverence for the memory of one, whom statesmen and soldiers have conspired in pronouncing to have been first alike in peace and in war.

The Representatives of the People are here; and it is only as their organ that I have felt it incumbent on me, in the midst of cares and duties which would have formed an ample apology for declining any other service, to say a few words on this occasion. Coming here in no official capacity, I yet feel that I bring with me the sanction, not merely of the Representatives of the people, but of the people themselves, for all that I can say, and for much more than I can say, in honor of Washington.

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And, indeed, the People themselves are here, in masses such as never before were seen within the shadows of the Capitol, a cloud of witnesses, to bring their own heartfelt testimony to the occasion. From all the States of the Union; from all political parties; from all professions and occupations; men of all sorts and conditions, and those before whom men of all sorts and conditions bow, as lending the chief ornament and grace to every scene of life, People,- as individual citizens, and in every variety of association, military and masonic, moral, collegiate, and charitable, Rechabites and Red Men, Sons of Temperance and Firemen, United Brothers and Odd Fellows, the People have come up this day to the temple-gates of a common and glorious republic, to fraternize with each other in a fresh act of homage to the memory of the man, who was, and is, and will for ever be, "first in the hearts of his country

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men." Welcome, welcome, Americans, all! "The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity (I borrow the words of Washington himself), must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations."

Nor can I feel, fellow-citizens, that I have yet made mention of all who are with us at this hour. Which of us does not realize that unseen witnesses are around us? Think ye that the little band, whose feeble forms are spared to bless our sight once more, are all of the army of Washington, who are uniting with us in this tribute of reverence for his memory? Think ye that the patriot-soldiers or the patriot-statesmen, who stood around him in war and in peace, are altogether absent from a scene like this? Adams and Jefferson, joint authors of the Declaration, by whose lives and deaths this day has been doubly hallowed; Hamilton and Madison, joint framers of the Constitution, present, visibly present, in the venerated persons of those nearest and dearest to them in life; Marshall, under whose auspices the work before us was projected, and whose classic pen had already constructed a monument to his illustrious compeer and friend more durable than marble or granite; Knox, Lincoln, and Green; Franklin, Jay, Pickering, and Morris; Schuyler and Putnam, Stark and Prescott, Sumter and Marion, Steuben, Kosciusko, and Lafayette; companions, counsellors, supporters, friends, followers of Washington, all, all: we hail them from their orbs on high, and feel that we do them no wrong in counting them among the gratified witnesses of this occasion!

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But it is the precise epoch at which we have arrived in the world's history, and in our own history, which imparts to this occasion an interest and an importance which cannot easily be over-estimated.

I can make but the merest allusion to the mighty movements which have recently taken place on the continent of Europe; where events, which would have given character to an age, have been crowded within the changes of a

moon.

Interesting, intensely interesting, as these events have been to all who have witnessed them, they have been tenfold more interesting to Americans. We see in them the influence of our own institutions. We behold in them the results of our own example. We recognize them as the spontaneous germination and growth of seeds which have been wafted over the ocean, for half a century past, from our own original Liberty Tree.

The distinguished writer of the Declaration which made this day memorable, was full of apprehensions as to the influence of the Old World upon the New. He even wished, on one occasion, that "an ocean of fire" might roll between America and Europe, to cut off and consume those serpent fascinations and seductions which were to corrupt, if not to strangle outright, our infant freedom in its cradle.

Doubtless these were no idle fears at the time. Doubtless there are dangers still, which might almost seem to have justified such a wish. But it is plain that the currents of political influence thus far have run deepest and strongest in the opposite direction. The influence of the New World upon the Old is the great moral of the events of the day.

Mr. Jefferson's "ocean of fire" has, indeed, been almost realized. A tremendous enginery has covered the sea with smoke and flame. The fiery dragon has ceased to be a fable. The inspired description of Leviathan is fulfilled to the letter: "Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot; he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment."

But the Saint George of modern civilization and science, instead of slaying the dragon, has subdued him to the yoke, and broken him in to the service of mankind. The ocean of fire has only facilitated the intercourse which it was invoked to destroy. And the result is before the world.

New modes of communication; regular and more rapid interchanges of information and opinion; freer and more frequent comparisons of principles, of institutions, and of conditions, have at length brought the political systems of the two continents into conflict; and prostrate thrones and reeling empires this day bear witness to the shock!

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Yes, fellow-citizens (if I may be allowed the figure), the great upward and downward trains on the track of human freedom have at last come into collision! It is too early as yet for any one to pronounce upon the precise consequences of the encounter. But we can see at a glance what engines have been shattered, and what engineers have been dashed from their seats. We can see, too, that the great American-built locomotive "Liberty" still holds on its course, unimpeded and unimpaired; gathering strength as it goes; developing new energies to meet new exigencies; and bearing along its imperial train of twenty millions of people with a speed which knows no parallel.

Nor can we fail to observe that men are everywhere beginning to examine the model of this mighty engine, and that not a few have already begun to copy its construction and to imitate its machinery. The great doctrines of our own Revolution, that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness;" these fundamental maxims of the rights of man are proclaimed as emphatically this day in Paris, as they were seventy-two years ago this day in Philadelphia.

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And not in Paris alone. The whole civilized world re

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sounds with American opinions and American principles. Every vale is vocal with them. Every mountain has found a tongue for them.

"Sonitum toto Germania cœlo

Audiit, et insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes."

Everywhere the people are heard calling their rulers to account, and holding them to a just responsibility. Everywhere the cry is raised for the elective franchise, the trial by jury, the freedom of the press, written constitutions, representative systems, republican forms.

In some cases, most fortunately, the rulers themselves have not escaped some seasonable symptoms of the pervading fervor for freedom, and have nobly anticipated the demands of their subjects. To the sovereign Pontiff of the Roman States in particular belongs the honor of having led the way in the great movement of the day; and no American will withhold from him a cordial tribute of respect and admiration for whatever he has done or designed for the regeneration of Italy. Glorious indeed, on the page of history will be the name of Pius IX., if the rise of another Rome shall be traced to his wise and liberal policy. Yet not less truly glorious, if his own authority should date its decline to his noble refusal to lend his apostolical sanction to a war of conquest.

For Italy, however, and for France, and for the whole European world alike, a great work still remains. A rational, practical, enduring liberty cannot be acquired in a paroxysm, cannot be established by a proclamation. It is our own history proves that it is not

not

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"The hasty product of a day,

But the well-ripened fruit of wise delay."

The redress of a few crying grievances; the reform of a few glaring abuses; the banishment of a minister; the burning of a throne; the overthrow of a dynasty, - these are but scanty preparations for the mighty undertaking upon which they have entered. New systems are to be con

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