Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Oration Delivered by Hon. John P. Blair (President Judge Indiana District) At the Centennial Celebration of the Declaration of American Independence in the City of Altoona, Pa;, July 4, 1876: With an Appendix Embracing Programme of Exercises, Prayer by Rev. J. Curns, and a Brief Historical Sketch
We have arrived at a point in our national life where we can look backward for a hundred years over the past, and our hopes and imaginations and fond convictions may, if we choose, travel for ward for a hundred years, or many, many hundreds into the future. The future must take care of itself. It will do so if it is worthy of the great trust committed to its keeping. The past, at least, is se cure. We know what that has been. We appreciate the true signifi cance of the International Exhibition that graces and honors the Centennial year and will reach its culminating glorv in Philadel phia to-day. We understand the meaning of the spirit and feeling that pervades the popular heart. The loud acclaim that bursts from city and hamlet, from mountain and plain, attests the love and de votion of the American people for that system of government to which we are indebted for all that we are and all that we may ever expect to become.
For a hundred years we have marked the annual recurrence of this day with unusual honors. It is a legal holiday that no Ameri can ever forgets, that he cannot forget, no matter where he may be, whether in his own country, or traveling on a foreign soil in the most remote and obscure places of the earth, and the further he may be from his native land the more profoundly will his heart be stir red by its memories. We believe that it is better known and re spected by a laiger poltion of the people of the civilized earth than any othe1 memorial day, not established by divine wisdom. It is fortunate that we ha\e a great national holiday like this, full of sacred and patriotic inspirations, in the presence of which the voice of mere partisanship is hushed. Nearly all other nations have no birthday to celebrate. There 1s no specific date to mark the com mencement of their existence. Their history is, in general, one of successive invasions and destructions, and their origin, in some in stances, rests only in tradition, or is revealed in the twilight of fable. But the American nation which is peculiar in its institutions, and in the plan and theory of its government, is peculiar also in its ori gin. It has a bi1thday. Lt sprang like an athlete into the arena of nations, not with a challenge of mere physical combat, but as the champion of the fundamental principles it asserted, the peace ful development of which constitutes so bright a page in the world's history. Lts origin is well marked and defined. While we have celebrated that origin annually from the beginning, our interest in the great event, instead of diminishing, has increased, and we com memorate it to-day with a wealth and splendor of exhibition never witnessed before. We have not been selfish or exclusive in our demonstration. We have extended an invitation to other nations to come over and see what we have accomplished and to join with us as friendly competitors in the arts of peace. They have re sponded to our invitation and the first Centennial of American In dependence and popular government will now pass into history. We are gratified with the result and feel proud that the new era, ush ered on the world one'hundred years ago, has been commemorated in a manne1 worthy of the occasion.
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