But witness the miracle which electricity works for us. What is done to-day in Liverpool up to two o'clock p. m. is known here in Montgomery at ten o'clock a. m. of to-day! Not only seemingly the sun has stood still; but the great clock of Old Time has seemed to turn back its pounderous wheels four hours! Wonderful power of prophecy which, through Franklin's "live thunder," then enables us, at ten o'clock this morning, to know and tell what transpires at Liverpool this evening!

On the fourth of July, a hundred years ago, South Carolina united her voice with that of New Hampshire, and the whole thirteen States, all of the East, all of the North and all of the then South, united their voices in proclaiming independence; and thus mingled their blood on many a hard-fought field, in maintaining it.

George Washington, a son of the South, the chief military commander of the whole, marched through a wilderness of dangers to crown his grand triumph at Yorktown. And he, by the voice of mankind, was the "first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen."

In the Convention of States of 1787, the men of the North, the East, the West and the South, united in framing the " magna charta " of our liberty and Union!

The 4th of July is therefore, by all the sacred memories of the past; by the remembrances of common sufferings and common dangers; and by the common hopes, a brighter future. Our Fourth of July, the Declaration of Independence, is our Declaration of Independence. The Constitution is our Constitution, and the Union, the child of the Constitution, is our Union ! And we can utter with sincere hearts the words of the great Webster, "Union and liberty now and forever, one and inseparable ! " In former days on the 4th day of July the hoarse voice of party was still. We made it our national holiday, The trials, the triumphs, and the glories of our common ancestry were the themes of our discourse, and thousands of tongues grew eloquent over the valor of our revolutionary soldiers and the wisdom of our revolutionary fathers. If in the bitterness of party strife ought had been said to offend, on the 4th of July, that "charity which thinketh no evil" covered with its broad mantle of forgiveness the wrongs of the past.

It is true, that for the last fifteen years, the 4th of July has not been commemorated as of yore in the South. We seemed to have forgotten the prophetic words of John Adams, written in July 1776, that it (the day) "ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn act of devotion to Almighty God, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore."

It was the late contest between the two great sections of the Union, begun in 1861 and ended in 1865, which suspended our celebration of the 4th of July. This contest has, in its principles and purposes, been greatly misunderstood in the North, and even amongst our own people. It never was the purpose of the South, in commencing that fearful contest, to destroy the principles of free government embodied in the Constitution of the United States. Quite the reverse was the purpose. It was not to destroy but to preserve this great charter of liberty from what was supposed to be an attack on some of its vital principles, that the South commenced that contest. The Constitution which the Confederate States made for their own government, and which they struggled to maintain for four long years, shows that the South was not the less a lover of liberty, because she sought to separate from the North.

But the contest was ended by the overthrow of the Confederate cause and power; and we of the South, I trust, with becoming fortitude and dignity, have acquiesced in the results of that contest. And whilst we may have thought that harsh treatment has been extended to us, in the 11 years of peace, since the war ended; still, now that the strife and din of war are hushed, and the exacerbations engendered have, by the mellowing influences of time, ceased to agitate our bosoms, we are and have been ready to renew our faith to the Constitution, and to the Union which is the offspring of the Constitution.

This is the Centennial of our National Independence. Let it be as well our National jubilee. If anyone complains of us for the past few years let him remember, that when the storm on the ocean arises, shuts out the sunlight of heaven and covers with its blackness the whole horizon; moved by the wind the billows ride mountain high on the surface of the sea, and with fury lash the

shore.

The storm may end; the clouds which darkened the sky may all be gone; the wind's hollow sound may be silent; the sunshine, in all its beauty and magnificence, may reappear; and yet for hours, may be for days, the waves, the children of the storm, may still lash the shore.

Here in the city of Montgomery, where the Confederate States were born, and where their President was inaugurated, amid the booming of cannon and the shouts of the excited populace-Confederate cannon, before the rising of the morning sun, salute the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence.

And now, if it is permitted by Providence for the spirits of the great and good to revisit earth, the scene of their former strifes and glories, we may fondly suppose that on this day the spirits of our revolutionary fathers are hovering over us. And right here in their presence, and in the presence of the Heavenly Host, may the God of Nations forgive all our national and individual sins.

Indulge me one moment longer, fellow-citizens. Imagine that some one of us—it may be some bright-eyed boy-could witness our next Centennial anniversary, the celebration of the 4th of July, 1976. What a spectacle would ravish his sight! The beatific vision of St. John on the Isle of Patmos was scarcely more enrapturing, than this spectacle would be!

If our people be true to the Constitution; if good will and internal peace prevail; if science continue its giant stride; if God be our God, and we be His people; judging the future by the past, the States composing the American Union will be multiplied to one hundred States; the population will be increased from forty to four hundred millions; our territory will extend to the Isthmus of Panama from the frozen lakes of the North; railroads, like a network, will connect all parts of this vast country, and intelligence will flash along innumerable telegraph wires from State to State, from city to city and from village to village! The school-house and the church will adorn every hill and beautify every valley! And these four hundred millions of people from one hundred free, separate, independent, and co-equal States, protected by the same Federal Constitution, speaking the same language, worshipping the same God, will unite their voices in anthems of praise and adoration to the Ruler of the Universe, and of gratitude to the patriots.

of two hundred years ago, for the blessings of American freedom.

And then, when one hundred stars shall be emblazoned on our national flag, these four hundred millions of people may turn, as we to-day turn, and apostrophize that flag as the ensign of a great Confederate Republic.

"When Freedom, from her mountain height

Unfurled her banner to the air,

She tore the azure robe of Night,

And set those stars of glory there!
Flag of the free heart's only home!
By angel hands to valor given !
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,

And all thy hues were born in Heaven!
Forever float that standard sheet!

Breathes there a foe who dare oppose us,
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us."

THE NATION'S BIRTHDAY.

AN ORATION BY HON. GEO. F. TALBOT.

DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, AT PORTLAND, me., JULY 4, 1876.

FELLOW-CITIZENS,-We have arrived at a solemn epoch in our country's life. The centuries bring to nations, what the years do to individuals, their birthdays. So transient are our single lives, so miserably inadequate to the toils and pains and exhausting arts by which we acquire wealth, reputation and power, are the fleeting years allowed to us for their use and enjoyment, that we can only give zest to our activities and dignity to our employments by devoting them to the work of providing a better fortune for our families. But the family succumbs sooner or later to the inevitable alternation of death and life, and distributes its envied accumulations of property, character and genius to men of other name and lineage. In contemplating the grand millenniums, which are the lifetime of nations, in pouring our rill of thought into the general intelligence, in contributing upright lives to swell the aggregate of the public virtue, we forget our petty deaths in the immortality of our race, and make our humble employments noble, in that they help to make our country greater, and the world more in accord with the aspirations of the soul. With minds enlarged by such contemplation, we lose our individuality in the deathless career of our country. All her history seems to enter into our experience, and in her growth and glory, our hopes and sympathies bring to us the consciousness of immortality.

One great goal is reached. A rounded century of nationality lies behind us, and a common sentiment summons a great and united people to contemplate its history. It naturally divides itself into two periods of peril, and one of prosperity. From 1776 to 1789 we were occupied with the weary war, by which Independ