John Quincy Adams, in his oration delivered July 4, 1831, said "Frederick the First of Brunswick constituted himself King of Prussia, by putting a crown upon his own head. Napoleon Bonaparte invested his brows with the crown of Lombardy, and declared himself King of Italy. The Declaration of Independence was the crown with which the people of united America, rising in gigantic stature as one man, encircled their brows, and there it remains. There, long as this globe shall be inhabited by human beings, may it remain a crown of imperishable glory.

My friends, it is a solemn truth that there is not now on earth an intelligent person who lived on the Fourth of July, 1776. We read of the heroic struggles of the Continental army; their want of discipline and poverty, and the scarcity of money with which to purchase the needed supplies, and of the many sacrifices they made in the cause to which the best men that ever lived consecrated their lives and fortunes, and all else they held dear of ease and comfort; men who set the world an example in the struggle for freedom, which they eventually established. Their Constitution and the laws they passed to put it into operation attest their wisdom and the knowledge of the needs of the people in their new condition.

My friends, in what condition will our country be one humdred years hence the fourth of July, 1976? Will the same form of government we now have be preserved? Will it afford the same protection of personal freedom, property and human rights? Will the proud banner still wave over a united and prosperous people? These are questions to be answered by succeeding generations. If they are true to the teachings and examples of our Revolutionary sires the Republic will endure. If not, then the bright, and we might say this haughty Republic will pass into history with that of Rome, and for similar causes. There can be no republic that is not founded on the virtue, intelligence, and assent of the people. Enforced government belongs to tyranny.

We have additional cause of rejoicing in the fact, that, although national encounters have cursed the world ever since nations have had an existence, there is now no war between any

nations. This is an era of peace. Even the oldest nations, including China and Japan, and others of the East, come with those of Europe to the happy centennial greeting. They bring with them, to exhibit near our own, their useful and ornamental products; all compatible with peace, and calculated to stimulate a beneficial rivalry.

Not far from where we are assembled lie the ashes of one whose character the entire world admires.

His name is seldom heard, excepting when it is uttered to desiguate the city which he founded. There was a time when it was more publicly honored than it is now; but still his memory is cherished by many patriotic hearts. Whatever may be the mutations in public affairs-whosoever may, for the time being, occupy the larger share of public attention, either as a warrior or as a statesman, the name of Washington, with its patriotic associations, will always be precious to the lover of liberty. But, alas! his teachings are too often disregarded, and we have not yet completed the monument to his memory. We may, however, without a dissenting voice, on this Centennial day, the first that we have seen, and the last that we shall ever see, recall a few words from his Farewell Address, although it was written eighty years ago. He said:

"The unity of government which constitutes us one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence; the support of your tranquillity at home, and your peace abroad; of your safety, of your prosperity of that very liberty which you so highly prize."

And the Father of his Country further advised "his friends and fellow-citizens" to "indignantly frown upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts."

He counseled "Towards the preservation of your Government and the permanency of your present happy State, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretext."

And again: "It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free govern ment. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to publie opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened."

My friends, let us cherish the heavenly principle of "Peace on earth, good will to man," and by word and example endeavor to cultivate in the hearts of those who are taking our places in the active scenes of life a love for law and liberty-a respect for the institutions of others, while preferring our own— and the enforcement of the duty of elevating the best men only to office, those who will see that the Republic suffers no detriment, for the acts of the public agent should be the reflex of the will of the constituency. A few should not plunder the many. To permit such practices is to sanction them. And let all wrongdoers be punished either by public opinion or by the criminal court, and public agents remember that the Government is for the people and not for themselves.

It was said aforetime, "Power is always stealing from the many to the few;" therefore if we would continue free we must guard against every encroachment on our liberties. And then there can be no doubt the Republic will endure, strengthened in population with the corresponding prosperity, presenting an example to the world at large for emulation, and conferring the richest blessings on the entire human race!

CENTRAL RESERVE

ADDRESS,

BY HON. DANIEL ROBERTS,

DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AT BURLINGTON, VT., JULY 4TH, 1876.

FELLOW-CITIZENS :-The citizens of Burlington have invited to this festal gathering the civil authorities of the several towns of the county, with their civic societies and all their people, and they have deputed me, in their behalf, to bid you all welcome to a participation.in the appointed doings and appropriate enjoyments of the day.

One hundred years of national life! a hundred years of liberty, guarded by constitution and law; a cycle completed this day which includes in it the first establishment of the American Union and its later vindication: the first proclamation of universal human freedom and equality, and their later crystalization in an amended constitution, and the consummation in historic fact of the self-evident truths of the Great Declara tin.

As in the first Continental Congress, on the motion of Benjamin Franklin, prayer was offered to Almighty God for guidance and strength for the great work then in hand, so now, having entered into the labors of the fathers, it is befitting the occasion that we lift up our eyes to the hills from whence cometh our help -to the good God and Father of us all-and that we offer devout praises and adoration to Him whose kind hand has led us for a hundred years as a nation, and our people always, and has brought us to this day in assured peace, confirmed unity and established liberty-for, of a truth, hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

THE CHARACTER OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF VERMONT-ITS INFLUENCE UPON POSTERITY,

AN ORATION BY HON. LUCIUS E. CHITTENDEN.

DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION AT BURLINGTON, VT., JULY 4TH, 1876.

MR. PRESIDENT AND CITIZENS OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY :—Ân apology seems out of place on such an occasion as the present. But I must excuse myself for the disappointment I am about to cause you, of which I gave your committee timely warning. From their vote and from the published accounts of the preparations for the centennial celebrations throughout the country you had the right to expect from me an address which should present the principal events of the last hundred years in your county in their proper historical succession, in accordance with the suggestion of the President of the United States and of the proprieties of the occasion. Such an address I cannot give you for several reasons. I shall mention only one. Had I been equal to the labor of gathering the facts-of collating and compressing them within the brief hour here allowed me I should then have threshed a harvest which has been gathered by others; I should have opened no new field of enquiry, contributed no new fact to the sum of historical knowledge. For be it known that among the other treasures which you have preserved are all the materials for a history of your county, and every township it comprises. So thoroughly has the field been gleaned, that no sheaf has been left for me. That centennial orator who shall stand here after another hundred years will find ready to his hand every fact, circumstance and particular in the history of Chittenden county for the first hundred years which I could have gathered had my time and industry both been unlimited. He will then, I hope, find in every township a public library, such as you have in this city. In each of them there will be new editions of the histories of