July 4,1898

Ostriches shut out by clergy... Manager Cawston of the Ostrich Farm hadmade plans for an extensive display in the parade, but a Methodist parsonmisunderstood what he was advertising and had him arrested. Whileexplanations were being made to guard the parade started.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Great preparations had been made for a fitting celebration of the NationalHoliday, and the early morning found all means of transportation to theexposition grounds crowded by the anxious throngs which came early, many ofthem from adjoining states, to see for the first time the exposition, and itsoon became evident that this was to be the day of largest attendance on theexposition grounds.

The program planned included a paraade of the Midway features under the commandof General Manager Clarkson. At 10 o'clock the parade marched through theavenues on the bluff tract headed by the Exposition Guards and the ExpositionBand; Frank C. Bostock, with numerous aides commanded no less than fivedivisions, including nearly all of the Exposition Midway attractions and manynovelty features, and was reviewed by the Exposition Officials, thedistinguished guests and speakers of the day, from the Music Pavillion.

After the parade the exercises of the day were held from the Music Pavilion,and consisted of the following program:

Music by Fourth Regiment Band of Sioux City, Iowa, after which an interestinginnovation occurred by the announcement by President Wattles of the receipt ofa telegam stating that General Shafter had demanded unconditional surrender ofthe Spanish troops of Santiago.
Prayer was then offered by Rev. T.J. Mackey. The Exposition Chorus sang"America". The Declaration of Independence was read by Hon. John C. Wharton,and the orator of the day, Hon. James M. Beck, was then introduced and spoke asfollows:

"AS AN EAGLE STIRRETH UP HER NEST".

My Fellow Countrymen:

From the city of the Declaration of Independence where Henry spoke, Jeffersonwrote, Franklin counseled, Adams debated, Morris administered, and Washingtonunsheathed his sword, within whose walls is Germantown, and near to whose gatesare Brandywine and Valley Forge, I bring you a fraternal greeting. Philadelphia felicitates Omaha. Pennsylvania salutes Nebraska and her sistersof the Great West. They congratulate you on this imposing pageant of art andindustry, representing the resources of a section, over which, when the greatDeclaration was given to the world, the banner of Spain floated in triumph. Its marvelous growth, under free institutions is a vindication beyond the powerof mere words, of those sublime truths, to which our fathers gave undyingexpression one hundred and twenty-two years ago to-day.

In the contrasts of history can be often seen the divine purpose, which runsthrough the ages. When La Salle, in 1682, traversed the Mississippi, and,standing at its mouth, claimed the vast territory which it drained for hisroyal master, and named it in his honor "Louisiana", the grand monarque waseven then constructing in the insolence of his unbridled power, and on a scaleof imperial magnificence, the palace of Versailles. Its splashing fountains,endless chambers of crystal, flowery parterres, and gorgeous frescoesproclaimed the power of the so-called "Sun King", whose "l'Etat c'est Moi", wasthe extreme of regal despotism. Later, this Trans-Mississippi region, afterlanguishing beneath the yoke of the Spanish Bourbons, became part of Napoleon'sdream of universal empire. It is an inspiring reflection that the hand, whichdrafted the Declaration of Independence, rescued this vast empire form the irongrasp of the modern Caesar, and dedicated it to free institutions forever more. Vanished is the power of the "Sun King," Spanish Bourbon, and thegranite-souled Emperor. The tyranny which created that wonderful apotheosis ofpersonal absolutism, the palace of Versailles, has been swept away by thedynamic force of democratic ideas, and today in this region, once believed tobe a desert, but now the home of twenty-two millions of freemen, the peoplehave erected these splendid palaces of triumphant democracy.

We can reverently thank the Ruler of Nations, by Whose ordinanace the Republiccame into being and to serve Whose wise purposes it continues to exist, thatupon no preceding anniversary has our country exercised so wide an influenceamong the nations of the earth, or used it for any loftier or nobler purpose. The Republic is in arms today, not because it loves peace less, but because itloves justice more. Never did nation make war with a less selfish purpose. The American people, until patience had ceased to be a virtue, sympathized withtheir noble President in the wish that this cup of bitterness might be sparedour lips. No lust of military glory or territorial aggrandizement inspired ouraction. We had been slow to believe the oft-repeated stories of mediaevalbarbarities in Cuba, and our traditional policy was opposed to intervention inthe domestic affairs of another Power. A certain spirit of noblesse obligerestrained us from striking a weaker foe even in a just cause. It was notuntil a daughter of Nebraska had died in Cuban waters, and her husband, itshonored Senator, had, in a speech of great eloquence and yet greater pathos,given us "the true and sensible avouch of his own eyes", that our pacificpurposes gave place to the passionate indignation of freemen, that the spiritof the Crusaders swept through our veins, and the cry "God wills it", was heardon every hand. We then took a high resolve in the spirit of our fathers, thatour blood should be as dust and our treasure as water to stop this barbarityforever. We have thus disproved the libel against the American character, thatour aims are purely material, and that our unequaled growth in wealth haschoked the finer sensibilities of the soul. Let those who heard unheeded themoan of Cretan and the death rattle of the Armenian, and yet taunted us withthe blind worship of wealth, forever hold their peace. We have vindicated therights of humanity and shown that there is one nation, whose conscience is notdead, and of whom it cannot be truly said that the "age of chivalry is gone andone of calculators and economists has succeeded. We are moved by his spirit,who a generation ago believed that the elemental demands of justice rose higherthan mere form, precedent, or convention. Though dead, John Brown yetspeaketh, and "his soul is marching on." The old bell, which more than acentury ago rang out our freedom, though mute to the ear of flesh, is stillgrandly proclaiming, even to the islands of the sea, "liberty throughout allthe land and unto all the inhabitants thereof."

As we meet this morning, we can give especial thanks for the swift andtriumphant vindication of our cause. With the proud fleet of Cerveraannihilated and Santiago doomed, the vulture of Spanish oppression liesprostrate under the talons of the eagle. Again the great Declaration, whosebasic principle is the political equality of the individual, has been justifiedin the splendid manhood and invincible bravery of our soldiers and sailors. With fear and trembling many awaited the dawn of this day, lest our brave sonsat Santiago, facing a hidden and powerful foe under conditions of unparalleleddifficulty, should be betrayed into disaster by their very confidence. Butfear is past and only the songs of triumph are now heard throughout the land. The citizen soldiery of the Republic, at whose martial prowess superciliousforeign critics sneered, have again given immortal proof to the world that "ourflag is still there."

Our rejoicing, however, may well be tempered today by the appreciation of thetremendous responsibilities, which by no wish or purpose of ours are suddenlydevolved upon us. Dewey's genius and valor not unworthy of a land which gavePaul Jones, Greble, Bainbridge, Decatur, Porter, and Farragut to history - haveblazed the path to victory and have confronted the American people with aresponsibility more momentous and pregnant with future consequences than hasever weighed upon our nation on any national anniversary since the Civil War. That involved our existence, this may define our position and relations to therest of the world. To give back the conquered territory to Spain may be tosubject a weak and helpless people to its vindictive revenge; to give thesevarious possessions in two hemispheres to their own people may be to make themthe prey for the powers of Europe, whose selfish greed for territory is nowfinding expression in China; for us to surrender these conquered islands to anyother nation is to incur the enmity of the rest, and perhaps involvedcivilization in a war, which might wrap the world in its devouring flame, andyet, - to permanently annex them to the Republic is to cross a greater Rubiconthan that at whose brink even Caesar halted, and with consequences scarcelyless momentous. Jefferson's words to James Monroe, which inspired the MonroeDoctrine, may well be recalled as applicable to the present crisis in ournational life. "The question," said he, "is the most momentous, which has everbeen offered to my contemplation since that of independence; that made us anation, this sets our compass and points the course which we are to steerthrough the ocean of time opening on us."
Is the Western Hemisphere large enough for the influence and progress of theAmerican people, or must we surrender, commercially and politically, our policyof isolation and claim an influence which shall be as limitless as the world isround? The Atlantic coast was our cradle, lusty youth found us on the banks ofthe Mississippi, vigorous maturity has brought us to the Pacific. What of thatmomentous morrow - the twentieth century? Are we, like Alexander, to stop atthe margin of the sea and mourn that it forever bars our further progress, orare we, like the inspired pilot of Genoa, to launch the bark of our nationaldestiny into an unknown sea, in search of new and untried routes to nationalprosperity?

Well may we, my fellow countrymen, in this great crisis of our national life,remember the beginning of the Republic and the teachings of our fathers. Suchremembrance is not merely a grateful tribute to the dead, but will help usdischarge our duty to the unborn. Let us, then, in the spirit of the great lawgiver and leader of an oppressed people.

"Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations."As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroadher wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings."So the Lord alone did lead him and there and was no strange God with him."

This very striking metaphor of Moses suggests a great truth in connection withour development as a nation, that it has never been permitted to remain longwithin the nest of any traditional policy. There is a natural conservatism inthe Anglo-Saxon race, and a distrust and dread of innovation. It has ever beenslow to leave the beaten paths of the fathers. Nor need this be deprecated,for it ensures a reasonable continuity of policy. Every great step forward hasbeen due, not to the leadership of our great men, nor to any conscious anddeliberate purpose of the people, but wholly to a divine guidance, which,working through the force of unforeseen circumstances, and a certainunconscious intuitive impulse of the masses, has destroyed the nest oftradition and thrust us as young eagles into the void. The great actors of therevolutionary epic had their traditions, and an ancestry in which they gloried,and yet were forced by the logic of events to disregard both. Theirtraditional policy was loyalty to the King, hatred of France, with whom theyhad contested for the possession of North America, pride in the English Empire,and disinclination towards any union between themselves. When the Revolutionbroke out nothing was further from their purpose than separation from England. Said John Adams: "There was not a moment during the Revolution when I wouldnot have given everything I possessed for a restoration to the state of thingsbefore the contest began, provided we could have had a sufficient security forits continuance." Dr. Franklin, the most trusted, sagacious, and far-seeingstatesman of his generation, said before the battle for a separation, or a hintthat such a thing would be advantageous to America." Mr. Jay said: "Duringthe course of my life, and until the second petition of Congress in 1775, Inever had heard an American of any class, or of any description, express a wishfor the independence of the Colonies." The author of the Declaration ofIndependence said: "It has always been, and still is, my opinion and beliefthat our country was prompted and impelled to independence by necessity, not bychoice. I never heard a whisper, before the commencement of hostilities, of adisposition to separate from Great Britain." Washington in 1774, denounced as"malevolent falsehoods" the assertions that "There is any intention in theAmerican colonies to set up for independent States." In 1776 he wrote: When Itook command of the army I abhorred the idea of independence; now I amconvinced nothing else will save us."

"Building better than they knew" - as all master builders of a nation - ourfathers were led, by impulses which they could not appreciate or understand, todisregard every tradition which they held dear, to renounce allegiance to theKing, separate from the great English Empire, make formal alliance with theirhated enemy, France, and create a union of which each had been but too jealous.

The Constitution of the United States was not the deliberate wish of thepeople, but was created by their necessities; it met no one's entire approval,was only adopted after bitter debates of four months duration, and was theresult of a compromise begotten by the stern and pressing necessities of thesituation. Only a choice between chaos and a Constitution induced the jarring,discordant and jealous States to surrender any portion of their sovereignty,and yet this Constitution, in its present form the child of no brain and thecreation of no wish, is the admiration of the world, and has been pronounced bythe noblest and most scholarly statesman of our time, whose death we even nowmourn, to have been the most perfect ever struck off by the brain and purposeof man at a given time.

Nor has this truth been less marked in our own time and generation. TheEmancipation Proclamation clearly violated the traditional policy of ourcountry, which recognized the existence of slavery. Jefferson's sterndenunciation of the slave trade, which he had inserted in the first draft ofthe great Declaration, was stricken out by Congress, and the Constitutionitself distinctly recognized the existence of this baleful domesticinstitution. Its destruction was not due to the conscious and deliberatepurpose of any statesman. Lincoln at the beginning of his administrationdistinctly disclaimed any purpose to interfere with it, and it was not untilthe blood, which had been shed from Bull Run to Antietam, cried as from theground that again the nest of tradition was destroyed and the eagle essayed anew and nobler flight. No one recognized this more clearly than did the greatwar President, and in his second inaugural he plainly voiced his belief thatnot only the removal of slavery but the Civil War itself had come by no humanwisdom, but by a divine judgment.

The same momentous fact is true today. Once again the nation feels amysterious and puissant impulse. It has ever been the traditional policy ofthe Republic not to interfere in the domestic affairs of a friendly Power, andthe Monroe Doctrine distinctly disclaimed any intention to interfere withexisting colonial dependencies in America of European Powers, but as Lexingtoninflamed a continent and created a new nation, as Fort Sumter rudely shatteredour dream of peace and compelled us to remove by the sword the running sore ofslavery, the explosion of the Maine and the cruelties to the Cuban people havecompelled us to discard our traditional and valued policy of non-interference,and directly interfere with the domestic affairs of another nation.

We need not regret the transitory influence of the past. Blind adherence totradition is not the highest patriotism, but is a form of intellectual slaverynot worthy of a free and progressive people. An assumption that the teachingsof our fathers expressed the finality of political wisdom is contradicted bythe uniform experience of mankind. I yield to no one in my reverential respectfor the founders of this Republic. No Government has had greater men, andHistory can be searched in vain for any loftier lives or wiser minds thanWashington and Franklin, Jefferson and Hamilton, Madison and Monroe. Theeloquent judgment of the elder Chatham has received the considerate approval ofmankind, when, speaking of the first Continental Congress, he said, "I mustdeclare and vow that in all my reading and study- and I have read Thucydidesand have studied and admired the master States of the world- that for solidityof reason, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under such acomplication of circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preferenceto the General Congress at Philadelphia." Nevertheless the Almighty neverintended that wisdom should die either with one man, one generation, one race,one century, or one epoch. Least of any people should America doubt the"increasing purpose" of the ages and the widening of thought "with the processof the suns."

Because our fathers thought that the stage coach was adequate to their needs,shall we abandon the locomotive? The old wooden battleships, such as the "BonHomme Richard" and the "Constitution", won imperishable laurels for theAmerican Navy, but shall we therefore place these obsolete sailing vessels inconflict with modern steel battleships? Because the Continentals defendedBunker Hill and achieved the crowning triumph of Yorktown with flint-lockmuskets, shall we discard the repeating rifle? If Franklin impressed hispersonality upon the world with a hand-press, shall we less avail ourselves ofthose throbbing engines which make possible the modern newspaper? Our fathersrecognized that wise nations, as wise individuals, change their minds whenoccasion justifies, but fools never. Let us not ascribe to them aninfallibility which they do not claim for themselves. Democracy acknowledgesno living sovereign, much less those who are said to "rule us form their urns." The decadence of Spain, which has cost her the empire of the world, and nowbrought her to the verge of final ruin, is due to her "inordinate tenacity ofold opinions, old beliefs, and hold habits," which Buckle finds to be herpredominant national characteristic. He adds: "By encouraging the notion thatall the truths most important to know are already known, they repress thoseaspirations and dull that generous confidence in the future without whichnothing really great can be achieved. A people who regard the past with toowistful an eye will never bestir themselves to help the onward progress. Tothem antiquity is wisdom, and every improvement is a dangerous innovation." The nation which has most consistently and continuously followed the worship ofancestry is China, and as a result it is today the helpless prey of otherPowers, although in numbers and resources it is potentially the most powerfulon the earth.

We must not as a people permit the past to fetter the present. That wayretrogression lies, and our duty as a nation is to be determined by thepresent, not by past conditions. We cannot even stand still. We must moveonward. From civilization we derive inestimable rights, to her we oweimmeasurable duties, and to shirk these is cowardice and moral death. Nonation can live to itself, even if it would. The economic developments of thenineteenth century have produced a solidarity of humanity, which no racialprejudice or international hatred can destroy. Each nation is its brother'skeeper, and the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. If this beso, no nation owes a great duty to civilization to be potential in the councilsof the world than the United States. For it to skulk and shirk behind theselfish policy of isolation and to abdicate a destined world supremacy, wouldbe the colossal crime of history. God has given us the power, woe be unto usif we do not use it. The stern but just law, which has governed the nations inall history, is that he alone shall have, who uses. Its ethical sanction isfound in that parable of the talents, in which the Great Teacher laid down themoral law that no man or nation has an indefeasible title to property, thatall is holden of God, and tenure depends upon rightful use. From Spain, asfrom an unprofitable and slothful servant, are about to be taken colonies whichshe has failed to develop in harmony with modern progress. Let our people,instead of questioning the law, remember that we too shall perish when we ceaseto develop the talents committed to our charge. Of every rotten tree theeternal inquiry of the Great Woodman is heard, "Why cumbereth it the ground?"

In discussing any questions, therefore, which may result from the present warwith Spain, let us not give undue or conclusive value to the opinions of thepast. The conditions under which we must act are essentially different fromthose which existed in our father's time, and the poet of democracy saidnothing more worthy of remembrance by us a people than that-

"New occasions teach new duties; time makes ancient good uncouth; They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreastof truth."

Steam and electricity have destroyed our "distant and detached position," ofwhich Washington spoke in the immortal Farewell Address, and upon which hepredicated in the infancy of the Republic a policy of isolation. Then we werethe weakest Power in the world, today we are the strongest. Then we were threemillions in number, scattered over three hundred thousand square miles ofterritory, today we are seventy-five millions of people, inhabiting a continentfrom ocean to ocean, fronting the Orient and the Occident, and possessed ofresources which are inexhaustible. Then we were almost exclusively anagricultural country, today we are the greatest agricultural, mining, andmanufacturing nation of the globe, and second only to England in commercialprestige. Then it required five weeks to visit or communicate with Europe, andthe Atlantic Ocean seemed a natural barrier, today we can flash a messagearound the world in a few hours, and can learn of its affairs almost as theyoccur. The citizen of New York can today reach London with more facility thanthe first President could leave Mount Vernon and proceed to Philadelphia. When, therefore, Washington, at a time when the great European Powers had beenthrown by the French Revolution into a state of chaos, advised the infantRepublic, newest among nations and weakest in credit, numbers and resources, toavoid any interference in the affairs of the greater world beyond the seas,lest as a lamb it should be devoured by a pack of wolves, he counseled, as healways did, with a wisdom unimpeachable; but those who would forever keep theRepublic in her swaddling clothes, and who for this purpose invoke the greatname of Washington, should first convince us that if he were the President ofthe most powerful nation in the world he would advise it to yield precedence tolesser and weaker Powers. Would he not feel that this Colossus among nationsshould not lisp in the language of its infancy, but should say with St. Paul,"When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as achild, but when I became a man I put away childish things."

Out nation is today feeling that instinct of expansion, which is thepredominant characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is bred in our bone andcourses with our lifeblood, and the statesmen of our day must take it intoaccount and endeavor to wisely control it. There is with us, as with our greatmother empire, a national instinct for territorial growth, "so powerful andaccurate, that statesmen of every school, willing or unwilling, have foundthemselves carried along by a tendency which no individuality can resist orgreatly modify." We could as hopefully bid the Mississippi cease its flowtoward the sea, or the Missouri to remain chained within its rocky sources, asto prevent the onward movement of this great, proud, generous, and aggressivepeople. This was true of the day of our weakness, it is true in this, the dayof our strength.

The first effort of the newly recognized Republic was to acquire territory. When at the close of the Revolution our peace commissioners met in Paris, theproblem arose as to the true boundaries of the new nation. We have solemnlyconvenanted with France that we would not sign any treaty of peace with Englandunless our ally concurred. France insisted that the vast area between therivers, which flowed into the Atlantic, and the Mississippi, was Spanishterritory. Our commissioners felt that our national destiny justified a claimto the east bank of the Mississippi, and they so far "stooped to conquer" as tosecretly execute without the knowledge or concurrence of France, a treaty withEngland, which gave us the territory to the Father of Waters. Congress atfirst was disposed to condemn this act of their commissioners, and disclaim theterritory beyond the Alleghenies, which were felt by many to be the boundarieswhich Nature had set to the advance of the Republic. The most radical agreedthat the Mississippi was our true boundary, and yet the commercial necessity ofits free navigation caused our fathers, a few years later, to reverse thisnarrow conception of their national destiny, and constrained as sincere andlofty a statesman as Jefferson to sacrifice his cherished theories as to theconstitutional powers of the Federal government by purchasing on his ownresponsibility, and without the authority of either the Constitution or ofCongress, this great empire between the Mississippi and the Pacific. A greatparty vainly opposed the purchase of this region, and in so doing, destroyedonly itself. Speaking in one of its thirty great opulent cities, at anExposition which represents the resources of its twenty-two millions offreemen, let me quote the words of Senator White spoken on the floor of theSenate in 1803. He said: "But as to Louisiana, this new, immense, unboundedworld, if it should ever be incorporated into this Union which I have no ideacan be done, but by altering the Constitution, I believe it will be thegreatest curse that could at present befall us. It may be productive ofinnumerable evils, and especially one that I even fear to look upon." And thenhe added, "Gentlemen on all sides, with very few exceptions agree that thesettlement of this country will be highly injurious and dangerous to the UnitedStates. * * * We have already territory enough, and when I contemplate theevils that may arise to these states from this intended corporation ofLouisiana into the Union, I would rather see it given to France, to Spain or toany other nation of the earth, upon the mere condition that no citizen of theUnited States should ever settle within its limits, than to see the territory,sold for $100,000,000, and we retain the sovereignty."

The opposition to the acquisition of Louisiana was repeated in the matter ofthe disputed territory of Oregon, which an influential Senator said was "notworth a pinch of snuff," and but for Whitman's perilous journey across theContinent, would have been forever lost to the Union; but the impulse of ourpeople towards expansion triumphed in the matter of Louisiana and Oregon, asalso in that of Texas, California and Alaska, and today our territorialpossessions stretch so far into the Pacific, that the sum which casts its lastrays upon the farthest Aleutian Island is already illumining the rocky coast ofMaine. San Francisco, once our western limit, is now but midway between oureastern and western possessions, and the shores of Puget Sound, originally ourmost northern frontier, are now more than a thousand miles south of that finalshore, which stretches toward the Pole and into the Arctic Ocean.

I would not be understood as arguing in favor of the annexation of any of theislands, of which we have taken possession for the purposes of the war, orindeed of any policy of indiscriminate territorial acquisition. These arequestions about which men of equal intelligence and patriotism may reasonablydiffer, and both the limitations and the proprieties of the occasion forbidtheir discussion. I have been protesting, however, against the tyranny oftradition, intellectual slavery, which compels obedience to past ideals, andthe assumption that there should be any policy which forbids the furtherexpansion of the republic.

Let us equally beware of that fatal error of empires and Republics, that anation is necessarily great in proportion to its area and population. To noprinciple of public policy has history given a more uniform and emphaticcontradiction. As Mr. Lowell has beautifully said, "The greatness of a nationis weighed in scales more delicate than the balance of trade. On the maps youcan cover Athens with a pin point and Judea with a finger tip, and yet in thosemagnificent places impulses have been given which have not ceased to directcivilization." If mere numbers and area determined greatness, China would bethe greatest nation in the world, and yet greater than all Cathay was thatlittle capital of Attica, Athens, which has flamed as a torch of culture overthe ages, and lives in memory as the "City of the violet crown." Expansion isnot necessarily strength, but may involve weakness, and we should not add toour already onerous responsibilities without undoubted compensatory advantages,or unless our duty to humanity clearly requires us to take weaker nations underour fostering influence.

There is one tradition of our fathers, which we cannot too strictly respect,and whose value time cannot "wither nor custom stale." It is the spirit ofjustice, to which, by that instrument whose adoption we celebrate today, ourcountry is solemnly dedicated forevermore. The richest country in the world,though it were paved with gold, were dear enough, if purchased at the price ofthis ideal. In achieving its high destiny the Republic must therefore respectthe noble and cosmopolitan spirit in which it was formed. To appreciate it wemust comprehend the meaning and purposed of the Declaration. It is commonlybelieved that it is noteworthy in our annals, because by that instrument, andon the day on which it was proclaimed, our country severed its relations withGreat Britain. This is a mistake. The formal act of severance from GreatBritain did not occur on the Fourth of July nor by the Declaration. One June7th, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, at the instance of Virginia,introduced his three famous resolutions, the first of which was, "That theseUnited Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states,that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that thepolitical connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and oughtto be totally absolved." They were debated with great earnestness on the 8thand 10th of June, by which time it became clear that a majority of the colonieswas prepared to adopt them, but for the sake of greater unanimity, theconsideration of the question was postponed until July 1st, and the committeecomposed of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman andRobert R. Livingston, was appointed to prepare a formal declaration to theworld. On the first day of July, Congress, sitting as a committee of thewhole, resumed consideration of the question and it was passed by thecommittee. On the following day, July 2, 1776, Rodney having "come post fromthe Delaware Counties," and Pennsylvania having changed her vote, the Houseunanimously adopted the original resolution. If, therefore, the commencementof the republic is to date from the formal resolution of severance rather thanfrom the real severance, which commenced with the first Continental Congress,then on July 2nd, 1776, the United States began their separate and independentexistence. This was clearly the belief of those who participated in theproceedings, and was expressed by John Adams in his memorable letter of July3rd, 1776, to his wife, when he said, "But the day is past. The second day ofJuly, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt tobelieve that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the greatanniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance,by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. * * * You may think metransported with enthusiasm, but I am not; I am well aware of the toil andblood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, andsupport and defend these states, yet through all the gloom I can see the raysof light and glory."

What, then, was the purpose of the great Declaration, and what has given it notonly undying significance for all future time, but especial value for us today? It was this: Our fathers appreciated that their act was essentiallyrevolutionary, that it had no sanction in any code of municipal orinternational law, and that its only justification must be found in that higherlaw of the human conscience by which in the last analysis all political actsmust be judged. They therefore felt that their action required formaljustification, and it was for the purpose of satisfying the conscience ofmankind as to the justice of an act essentially revolutionized that theDeclaration of Independence was adopted on July 4th, 1776. It was not,therefore, intended for the colonists. For them a recital of their grievanceswas superfluous, for the wrongs done them were ineffaceably seared into theirmemories. Nor was the Declaration an appeal to public sentiment in England,for their "humble petition" of 1776 had been contemptuously spurned both by theKing and his subservient Parliament.

Our fathers felt that further discussion with England was useless. Its purposewas, therefore, to solemnly challenge the justice of the world to the necessityof the separation. This is clearly shown by its noble preamble: "When, in thecourse of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve thepolitical bands which have connected them with another, * * * a decentrespect to the opinion of mankind requires that they should declare the causeswhich impel them to the separation." This paper, therefore, assumes - vainlyas it then seemed, in an age in which might was supposed to make right - thatthere was a law of right and wrong, rising higher than laws, precedents, orconventions, regulated the intercourse of nations as well as individuals. Itbelieved in moral responsibility for nations as for men, and it avowed a beliefin a great human conscience which, towering above the selfish interest ofnations and races, would approve the right and condemn the wrong. It assumedthat this approval was more to be desired than national advantage. Itestablished civilization as a judge between contending nations, with posterityas a court of last resort. It proclaimed the solidarity of humanity, andplaced it higher than the tie of nationality; it argued-not with the ethics ofa rifle or the morality of the cannon only-but with the power of theuntrammeled reason, the righteousness of the separation at the bar of History,it satisfied the reason of man by adding, "In proof of this let facts besubmitted to a candid world." Nay, it recognized that even above theconscience of mankind there was the "Ruler of Nations", by Whom all acts wouldbe finally and infalliby, judged, and therefore the great Declaration concludedby solemnly "appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude ofour intentions."

Such was the spirit, such the purpose, such the crowning glory of the noblestState paper ever drafted by the hand of man or proclaimed by any people. Itproclaimed a new principle in the history of human affairs, that not by armiesand navies alone, nor by the power of economic resources, but by the standardsof eternal justice should a nation in the fear of God determine its action. Inlike spirit was the parting precept of the Father of his Country, the "counselsof an old and affectionate friend," voiced in that immortal farewell message,which was his benediction to the people whom he loved so well:-

"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations. Cultivate peace andharmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it bethat good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free,enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation to give to mankind themaganimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exaltedjustice and benevolence."

With this spirit we need not fear to face the future. No problem to confrontus will prove too great for our solution, and no work too great for ourachievement. To faintly grasp the future of this country is to bewilder andexhaust the imagination. The past is but the "happy prologue to the swellingact of an imperial theme." Today as never before we face the world as a unitedcountry. If wounds there have been, they are healed; if causes for quarrel, ithas gone. East and west, from the Father of Waters, north and south of Masonand Dixon's Line, we are one today, my fellow countrymen, one, in the proudpossession of the glorious past, one, in a resolute purpose to meet the dutiesof the hour, and one, in an abiding faith in the future of our beloved country. Never before did her flag float as a symbol of possession over so vast adominion. Not only from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic tothe Pacific, but in those islands of the sea, where the Caribbean breaks, andin that farther archipelago, laved by the China Sea, the Star-Spangled Bannerfloats today in proudest triumph. Our boast is that of the mother empire, ofwhose teeming womb we are born that night no longer falls upon our possession,for when these joyous festivities shall have ended and they shall fade fromyonder lagoon, and when the moon shall silver with its mellow glory these nobletemples of art and industry, the sun will be flooding the harbor of Manila, andillumining that glorious flag, under which Dewey and his heroes defended thiscountry's honor. For one land, one people, one flag, and one destiny, let usreverently thank the God of our fathers. May the glory of the Republic be aslasting as the day, which shines upon her flag, and her beneficent influenceupon future generations as ceaseless as the majestic flow of the Mississippi tothe sea!_______________________

When the early afternoon papers reached the grounds bearing the news of thedestruction of Spanish Admiral Cervera's fleet and of General Shafter'sultimatum to the Spanish army in Santiago, bedlam broke loose and tremendousenthusiasm found expression in cheer after cheer. The managers of theExposition who had labored in hopes that the war might cease and that liberalpatronage might thereby be assured, now for the first time felt confident ofultimate success, and the day was one of congratulations and good will. Elaborate fireworks closed the celebration, one of the set pieces of thedisplay representing the bombardment of Cervera's fleet, creating the wildestenthusiasm. At 11 o'clock P.M. a grand colored fire illumination of the entireMidway completed the demonstration, and thus one of the great days of theExposition ended.