ilosophers and statesmen of Europe, and
that appreciation augments with the flight of years.

"With what grandeur, with what enthusiasm, should I not speak of those
generous men who erected this grand edifice by their patience, their
wisdom, and their courage!" wrote the Abbe Raynal, in 1781, when
descanting upon our Declaration. "Hancock, Franklin, and the two
Adamses, were the greatest actors in this affecting scene: but they were
not the only ones. Posterity shall know them all. Their honored names
shall be transmitted to it by a happier pen than mine. Brass and marble
shall show them to remotest ages. In beholding them shall the friend of
freedom feel his heart palpitate with joy; feel his eyes float in
delicious tears. Under the bust of one of them has been written: HE
WRESTED THUNDER FROM HEAVEN, AND THE SCEPTRE FROM TYRANTS.[3] Of the
last words of this eulogy shall all of them partake. Heroic country, my
advanced age permits me not to visit thee. Never shall I see myself
among the respectable personages of thy Areopagus; never shall I be
present at the deliberations of thy Congress. I shall die without seeing
the retreat of toleration, of manners, of laws, of virtue, and of
freedom. My ashes shall not be covered by a free and holy earth: but I
shall have desired it; and my last breath shall bear to heaven an
ejaculation for thy prosperity."

"I ask," exclaimed Mirabeau, in the tribune of the National Assembly of
France, "if the powers who have formed alliances with the States have
dared to read that manifesto, or to interrogate their consciences after
the perusal? I ask whether there be at this day one government in
Europe--the Helvetic and Batavian confederations, and the British isles
excepted, which, judged after the principles of the Declaration of
Congress on the fourth of July 1776, is not divested of its rights?" And
Napoleon, afterward alluding to the same scene, said, "The finger of God
was there!"

The fourth of July, marked by an event so momentous, is properly our
great NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY. For three-quarters of a century it has been
commemorated by orations, firing of cannon, ringing of bells, military
parades, fireworks, squibs, and bonfires; and, alas! too often the day
has been desecrated by bacchanalian revels. The deep feelings which
stirred the spirits of those who participated in the scenes of the
Revolution, on the recurrence of the anniversary, warm not the hearts of
their children. Wit