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Excerpt from An Oration, Delivered Before the Democrats of Washington County, at Montpelier, on the 4th of July, 1839 The public commemmoration of great and momentous events in the history of nations and of men, has been practised from the remotest antiquity. It is the most obvious and effectual means of preserving, among succeeding generations, the remembrance of such events and of the good which was obtained, or the evil which was averted by them. Nothing can so effectually keep alive and embody the spirit of the times in which the event transpired, as the frequent celebration of its anniversary, and the recounting of the scenes with which it was attended. When a nation whose history has been marked by some signal deliverance from danger or destruction, either wholly neglects to commemmorate that deliverance by public rejoicings and thanksgivings, or suffers it to be signalized with unmeaning and inappropriate displays, it needs no prophet to divine that the spirit of freedom hath departed from the hearts of its citizens. But when the festival of a nation's birth or rescue from captivity, or oppression, is celebrated with generous enthusiasm - with appropriate demonstrations of gratitude and joy, and with the spirit of those who wrought out the deliverance, we need not fear for the perpetuation of its liberties or the patriotism of its people. It is a lively recollection of the blessings which such deliverance brought with it, and a filial remembrance of the virtues and daring of those who achieved it, that kindle into a flame in the public festivity, and mark the existence and power of the father's spirit in the bosom of the son. If, then, the event which a nation is called upon to celebrate with public rejoicings and honors, is one which should be hallowed in the memories and reverenced in the hearts of its citizens, it is but a dictate of duty, as well as an impulse of patriotism, to signalize its return with the homage of the intellect and the soul, and make it the jubilee of reason and truth. To this end, on the present occasion, we should make all our faculties of thought and emotion subservient to the contemplation of the great events and principles connected with our revolutionary history. Every demonstration of respect and every manifestation of joy - the pageantry and show - the thunder of the artillery - the thrilling of the music - the voice of adoration and prayer - the power of reason and the appeal of passion - the blandishments of beauty and the thousand sympathies and influences which fill our bosoms and crowd upon our minds, should all be made instrumental in exciting in our bosoms a deeper reverence for the illustrious dead, a holier love for the liberties they purchased for us, and a more unalterable determination to transmit them to posterity untarnished and undiminished. The event which we this day celebrate is one which stands upon the page of history, for its grandeur and its glory without a parallel. Its grandeur is not that of battle and blood and its glory is not the glory of victory. But its grandeur consists in its being identified with the interests and happiness of the human race; and its glory consists in its being the triumph of right over power. The celebration of the anniversary of the 4th of July 1776 is one in which not Americans or American institutions alone, have an interest, but one in which civilization, humanity and the world, should be sharer. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com