THE GLORIOUS EPOCH.

AN ORATION BY HON. B. K. ELLIOTT,

DELIVERED AT THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, AT INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JULY 4TH, 1876.

MY COUNTRYMEN: Other nations and other people celebrate the anniversaries of great events, but Americans only of all the nations of the world celebrate that which commemorates the birth of national freedom and the security of the right of selfgovernment. A nation of freemen greet this day. This day, of all the marked and memorable days in the calendar of time alone presents the great spectacle of freemen gathering together to celebrate the anniversary of their liberty and of their national existence. The prophetic words of one of the great men of one hundred years ago have for a century been fulfilled; for one hundred years" this day has been kept as the great anniversary of the nation." But it is more than the anniversary of our national existence and of American freedom; it is the anniversary of the birth of civil and religious liberty. It marks an epoch-and a glorious one-in the history of all mankind. The tones of the bell which a hundred years ago rang out proclaiming "liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof" swept across the Atlantic, from the new world to the old, awakening there a slumbering spirit yet to be kindled into brighter and more constant glow. All Europe felt the influence, England profited by the lesson of the Revolution, and there now no laws crush religious liberty and no Puritan or Pilgrim flees from persecution. All the countries of Europe have been benefited by the influence of American liberty; even Russia, despotic Russia, has been touched by the influence "of this so potent spell."

All mankind have an interest in the event which this day and this vast assembly commemorate. The sublime principles which found form in the immortal instrument just read, affect not only

one nation or one race, but all nations and all races. That declaration gave cause for rejoicing to many nations, and it shall be a source of good to generations yet unborn. Its influence is not confined to one country, it extends to all countries; its influence is not narrowed to one age, it will reach all ages. Well may the great body of the people of all nations join with us in this day's rejoicing. And many do. Many voices and many hearts in other lands than ours give this day glad and grateful greeting.

One hundred years of civil and religious liberty. Exalting reflection! For a century an independent nation; for one hundred years a free people. America presents this day to the world a people who, for a century, have exercised the right of self-government. Prosperous and progressive has been the career of our Republic under the government of the people by the people. Among all the nations of the world no parallel can be found. In liberty excelling all, in prosperity advancing more rapidly, in enlightenment and civilization in its noblest form, surpassing all. Republics in name there have been, but republics in little else but name. Unlike all others, ours has been and is a republic in substance and reality. Our people are free in matters of religion and conscience, free in matters of government. Not, indeed, the absolute liberty which lives in unlicensed passions or unrestrained desires, and dies in anarchy, but liberty regulated and protected by law. Protected and secured by laws originating not with law-makers claiming the prerogative because of the accident of birth, but by laws established by themselves.

Ours is that firm form of liberty, liberty secured by law, which alone is worth the high estate of free-born men.

A mighty people with grateful hearts rise up to welcome this day; a people coming from many lands and representing many nationalities. This day joining in one purpose, uniting in one common cause are men "native here and to the manor born, and men from the blood of warring Europe sprung." Diverse in creeds, various in nationalities, but united in one thought, the love of liberty, and breathing one prayer, that for the perpetuity of our government. This day joins in one common bond with

us men from Germany-land of great-minded, big-souled men ; from Ireland-"famous in poetry and in song;" from France, land of the generous and the brave. Ah, France! France! name ever dear to Americans! Ally, benefactor and friend in

the dark hours of the direst distress! Welcome to our shores and to our hearts, ye sons of our ancient allies. The memories of the days when the illustrious of your land joined arms with the noble of ours, live in the hearts of the Frenchmen of the present. We behold the evidence in the pageant you have presented in honor of this day. Lafayette! Rochambeau! How closely are these glorious names interwoven with the loved and honored of our own land. Linked with the beloved of our own country their memories shall never perish while American liberty endures. The men of Europe who come to the Western World, moved by the desire for freedom, and impressed with the importance of the preservation of our government, shall find a hearty welcome and happy homes. Hail, all hail, ye seekers of liberty! The purpose which animates those who seek our shores is a noble one, and they are true men

"Men, my brothers, men, the workers, ever reaping something new;
Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,

And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."

Freemen salute this day and honor its associations with feelings of lofty pride and heartfelt gratitude. Proud of our country and her institutions, grateful to the God of nations, and to the men who were His instruments in securing the great blessings which are our most glorious heritage, the voices of all good men should, even as the voices of many waters, blend in anthems of thanksgiving and praise. It is just, it is eminently just, that we this day render grateful tribute and sincere homage to the memories of the great men of the early years of the historie century just closed. Men pure, brave, just men, always

"God's most potent instruments

In working out pure intente."

Other nations have owed their origin to love of war, to ambition, and to thirst for power. Other nations have been founded to advance the fortunes of military chieftains, or to promote the

desire of selfish ambition. Ours alone owes its birth to a pure and exalted spirit of liberty. No unhallowed, no sordid, no debasing influences were present at the creation of our nation. The spirit of liberty crossed the Atlantic with the Pilgrim fathers; it was nurtured by pure and lofty hearts in the wilderness of the new and then almost unknown world. It grew with the country's increasing years; and of that spirit was the noble form of American government conceived and born. God favored America.

How chaste, how pure the source from which your great Republic springs. The men of this generation-the men of all coming time-will realize the truth of the Puritan preacher's utterance made more than two hundred years ago, that "God sifted a whole nation that he might send a choice grain over into this wilderness." Little did the humble preacher of Dorchester dream of the vast, the immense harvests of which that grain contained the germ. The germ of liberty found congenial soil upon the rocky and sterile coast of New England. They who came flying from Britain's shore brought with them the spirit which found broad domain in the vast extent of the new world, and where, by the blessing of God, it shall ever remain, pervading, animating, and vivifying a mighty people.

For more than one hundred years the colonists, retaining their religious liberty, yet rendered loyal allegiance to the mother country; throughout all these years, however, cherishing and fostering the spirit of liberty, "eternal spirit of the chainless mind."

At length, in the fullness of time, came the men of 1776, heroes in courage, sages in wisdom, ; in their lives and characters pure and stainless. Illustrious men! Nations of the old world have had their chieftains, their leaders, their philosophers eminent in wisdom and brave in action, but only America has had chieftains and leaders who to all other virtues added pure and incorruptible patriotism, untainted by selfinterest and untarnished by sordid ambition.

In honoring this day we honor the founders of our Republic; not alone our Nation's benefactors, but benefactors of all mankind. "The whole earth is the sepulchre of illustrious men,"

was said of old. The whole earth is the tomb of America's illustrious dead, and their monuments the grateful remembrance of men which shall perish only with the death of time. Often and often have the words of praise been spoken of the founders of the Republic, and I but repeat what has many, many times been better said. But it is fit that we this day think and speak of the patriot sages and soldiers heroes of the Revolution. It would be base ingratitude to omit to speak of them. Let this day, and every recurring anniversary of our independence, find their names and deeds fresh and strong in the memory and gratitude of our people. It is just, it is fitting that throughout all the years of our coming history, as often as the anniversary of our independence shall recur, words of praise should be spoken of those who gave to us the day we celebrate and the cause for our rejoicing. Not, indeed, that eulogy is needed, not that; not that, for each advancing step of time shall add new luster to their names. Each step in man's elevation shall freshen and make more sacred their memories.

"The past, with all its glories, its elevating and ennobling memories, is secure." A stable, a beneficent and a free government, is ours. The future concerns us most. Narrow, indeed, the mind, selfish and dead the heart that cares not for future. Vain and fruitless the struggles and sufferings of the brave men who gave up home, comfort and lives for their country, if advancing generations shall be careless of their country's future.

A vast domain is ours. Greater, grander or fairer the sun in all his rounds looks not down upon. Never to man was given a territory so great as ours, never upon a nation were nature's gifts so lavishly bestowed. The wealth of earth rewards the labor of the miner, the fertile soil and genial climate give to the tiller of the soil bounteous reward, the waters of rushing streams furnish power to the ponderous wheels of our great manufactories, the immense fields of fuel, the uncounted acres of coal will supply for myriads of ages the wants of the steam engine, that mighty agency of progress. Our broad and deep rivers bear our products to the ocean, and the sails of our ships, whitening the