the body politic is similar to that of a rushing torrent through a long-stagnating pool of water, cleansing and purifying it. But what if the rushing torrent should never come? What if the waters of the stagnant pool should be left undisturbed, to thicken with accumulated putridity, to breed malarial vapors, and contaminate all the air around it with noxious offensiveness, without ever receiving a purifying visitation from the heaven or the earth! Would not the ardent midsummer sun, angered at the poisoner of his medium of radiation, bring the power of his irresistible shafts to bear upon it, evaporating and dispersing in noisome atoms, drying up its foul bed, and covering it over with a crop of the rankest weeds? It is fortunate for our Republic that the mass of intelligent, patriotic citizens do occasionally, even though spasmodically, wake up to the necessity of cleansing and purifying the stagnating pool of politics; but what if, at some period in the coming century, they should neglect to awaken from one of their sleeps of apathy and indifference, and the foul stagnation should be left to thicken and putrify, without ever receiving a cleansing visitation from the heaven or the earth! Would not the sun of Destiny, angered at the noisome offense, evaporate its elements, and fill its place upon the earth with rankest weeds? This-this my fellow countrymen, is the most solemn danger to our national future-this possibility that, at some time, those of the people who have the most direct interest in the proper and honorable administration of public affairs will fall into such a deep stupor of political indifference that they will awaken, if ever at all, only to see their Republic in irretrievable ruins, and themselves the helpless slaves of an usurper or a conqueror! If there is one warning that should be sounded abroad over all this free and broad land, more loudly and emphatically than all others, it is this: If they would preserve their liberties and maintain their national integrity, let all citizens of intelligence and patriotic feeling participate actively and earnestly in all political movements, hold in check the over-presumptuous, everselfish arts and devices of demagogism, and keep the reins of government, both local and general, in their own strong hands.

All the American people ought to be active politicians. They ought to study political principles, systems and economies, and the science of statesmanship, with the same interest with which in the

schools they study mathematics and the practical sciences. In a Republic, where the individual interests and personal liberty of every man are dependent upon the efficient administration of the government, politics is as much a part of the citizen's business as is the pursuit by which he earns his daily bread. Taxation, protection of individual and popular rights, and private as well as public security are matters of politics, and therefore of vital concern to every man. The citizens are the sovereigns-they, in their aggregate capacity, are the possessors and rulers of the land. To understand how to rule wisely should be their ambition, and this they cannot understand unless they study politics, familiarizing themselves with the principles of Government, the spirit and letter of the organic laws, and the causes and effects of political action. Unless the mass of intelligent citizens do become politicians, we will be governed by an oligarchy, consisting of an irresponsible class of men, who will make politics their business-they will be the governing class-and class government in a Republic would in time degenerate into as obnoxious and burdensome a system as would be an absolute dictatorship, towards which it would gradually tend, and in which, if permitted to have uninterrupted sway, it would ultimately culminate.

Other dangers there are in our pathway into the now veiled future, which are equally deserving of sober thought. Among these is that aggressive phase in our human nature-we will call it unreasoning selfishness-which tends to the assumption of excessive license on the one hand and to bigoted intolerance on the other. I mean that repulsive, anti-republican manifestation of supreme self-assertion which, in one extreme, develops itself in communism, and, in the other, in persecution for opinion's sake. These, if suffered to gain power, would in time eventuate in legalized piracy and plunder on the one hand, or legalized tyranny on the other, both being equally in conflict with the spirit and harmonious existence of popular government. Being a heterogeneous people, with a variety of tastes, creeds, customs, prejudices and interests, we must, if we would continue to live together in peace and harmony, be exceedingly tolerant towards each other in matters of opinion, and exceedingly respectful of each other's personal rights and prerogatives as citizens who stand on an equality under the law.

Then, too, we must carefully cherish our peculiar system of free schools and guard it against encroachment from sectarian agencies or other influences which would seek to transform it into an instrumentality of bigotry, factious ambition, social disorder or political mischief. More depends upon our schools, their faithful maintenance and their efficient management, for the future of this Republic, than upon all other agencies and influences combined. Popular intelligence is the rock upon which our national structure rests, and so long as the youth of each generation-the poor man's as well as the rich man's children-shall freely enjoy the advantages of liberal education, the nation will have its strongest possible guaranty of continued life, and popular liberty an impregnable safeguard.

In conclusion, it may reasonably be anticipated by the patriotic citizen of this grand Republic whose peculiar privilege it is this day to witness the close of the first and the dawning of a second century of national existence, that there will be a glorious future as there has been a glorious past; that our posterity will be as faithful to their sacred trust as we have been and as our forefathers have been; that those who will follow us as the possessors of this priceless inheritance of national blessings, will appreciate it as we do-that they will be thoughtful patriots, true and faithful citizens, moral and intelligent men. Let us, in the earnestness of our patriotic devotion, in the fulness of our hopeful and trustful hearts, pray to Him who is the Supreme Ruler of Nations that they may be so, and that centuries after our poor dust shall have mingled with that of the patriots, the heroes, and the statesmen of America's eventful history, the Republic of the United States, free and independent, will still maintain, with ever-increasing luster, its proud place among the nations of the earth.

AMERICA AND JUDAISM.

AN ADDRESS BY REV. N. I. BENSON, D. D.

DELIVERED At the Jewish TEMPLE, JACKSON, MISS., JULY 4, 1876.

WHEN the hoary hand of time passed the hour of midnight in the preceding day, America had passed a century, and entered upon a new one; and in consequence the same enthusiastic millions of people inhabiting its free soil and enjoying the liberty and energy's reward sent forth to the King of all kings, Ruler of all nations, a thanksgiving which was appropriate for past dispensations, and an earnest solicitation for future grace. The enthusiasm manifested to-day by America's children is one of no idle clamor or noisy shouting-it is the voice of the people, acknowledging the gifts of their divine Ruler. If anything in the wide world should call forth a national, and in fact, a universal enthusiasm, it is the celebration of this anniversary, in which a grateful people can behold the realization of what were but hopes, one hundred years ago. The grievances stated by a suffering people in the Declaration of Independence, one of which alone were sufficient to impede the progress and cultivation of any class of people, when the freedom of speech was not tolerated, when the chains of despotism were around their necks, when the yoke of oppression by the tyrannical laws of an unscrupulous tyrant, as the then King of Great Britain was, where the germs of greatness could not be developed, -then I say it was a time to revolt and throw off the yoke of oppression, and to endeavor to show to that tyrannical monarch, that man has no master, save one, their Creator. And they rallied! they harmonized! and with one unanimous voice the representatives of 40,000.000 people proclaimed themselves free and independent. With one unanimous struggle they threw off the yoke of despotism, and laid before the world their pent-up grievances which gave cause to their revolt. And they succeeded! and what, my

friends, think you was the cause of their success? Perhaps you may think it was physical strength which produced these wonders! Oh no! for we are well aware that the English army outnumbered the Americans vastly in equipments, in regularity, in military tactics and manœuvres. What then was the secret spring of success? Ah, my friends, it was right against might! Yes, my friends, America had a most noble ally right in its ranks; that ally was right arrayed against might; and thank God, in this instance, right won the day. Behold, was it not Providential during the war, where a handful of ragged men drives out from its soil a well regulated army! Yes, my friends, it was the hand of God, and America is much likened to my beloved creed Judaism. For behold, were we not slaves in Egypt under a tyrannical Pharoah, and by the goodness of the Almighty God, He sent unto us Moses, who carried out the word of God according to revelation. Even so was America in bondage to Britain's despotic monarch, and God hearing the voice of the oppressed, sent unto you George Washington, America's Moses, who, inspired by God, led the ragged and suffering men entrusted to him by Congress, to the field of glory and triumph; and as the children of Israel went out of the land of Egypt unto perpetual liberty, and finally entered into the promised land in glory and triumph, even so did Washington by his patriotism finally and eventually conquer his opponents, and America became the beacon of perpetual liberty, the wonder of the world, a land which we may indeed call the land of milk and honey.

In no country is labor so highly respected, and so well remunerated as in the United States; and in none therefore are the laboring class so happy, and we may add enlightened. No restrictions are laid on industry; political privileges are extended to all, and the humblest citizen may raise himself to the proudest position in the Republic.

Our mechanics have brought a high degree of ingenuity as well as skill to their work; and through, their means America has become justly famous for her inventions and improvements. Among a host of things that might be mentioned, it is undeniable that the best locks, life-boats, printing presses and agricultural implements, come from America.

The labor of building up the resources of a new country has as