. . .Romans, prepared through silent ages for the abode of liberty, we celebrate not only the commencement of the ninetieth year of our National Independence, but our deliverance from a peril which threatened our very existence with annihilation. We celebrate the termination of a war conducted upon a scale of gigantic magnitude, and the return of blessed peace throughout all the land. On mountain and river, on forest and prairie, on the crowded marts of commerce, on the humming hives of industry, on the cultivated fields, on the unredeemed wilderness, on the palaces of the rich and the cottages of the poor, on the sea and on the land, the calm sunshine of this gracious peace pours down; blessing, rejoicing, purifying, elevating, comforting, strengthening the hearts and homes and hopes of all men. At such a time we would, indeed, incur the guilt of an immeasurable ingratitude and be rebuked by a voice from the ashes of that heathen Rome itself if our first thoughts were not th. . . Read More