I pause not to ask if any of these charges are correct or not:  grant them accuracy in every statement, nay more, admit that they were eminently calculated to stir up the feelings of the colonists, and to inflame that spirit which was requisite to make their struggle for independence justifiable and successful, and that they were therefore called for by the emergencies of the day;—­but nearly eighty years have rolled over since that Declaration was penned; there is no success sought for now which renders such appeals necessary, and surely it is not for the purpose of justifying their rebellion that they are made.  Where then is the good to be derived from such declarations?  Is there any misgiving in the Republic as to sentiments of patriotism or pluck?  Surely none.  But who can help seeing the evil to which they lead?  These annual recapitulations of old grievances, buried beneath nearly a century, must tend to excite hostile feelings towards England.  Conceive for one moment France reading annually a declaration of independence from British arms on the anniversary of their recapture of Calais, and engrossing in that document every injustice or atrocity which the English perpetrated during their rule; not to mention the undignified nature of such a course, who can doubt that it would be pre-eminently calculated to generate those hostile feelings which it is the bounden duty of all civilized States to allay?  In short, what does it so much resemble as the system by which, in barbarous days long since past, the Highland clans used to perpetuate their feuds.  If a Christian community cannot glory in and commemorate national independence without such adjuncts, such a ceremony would, in my humble opinion, be more honoured in the breach than in the observance.

Among other pernicious influences, I should mention that the Irish celebrate the battle of the Boyne annually in order to prevent their national angry passions from subsiding.  Not the least curious features in these same Paddies is the fact that, while cursing England for her treatment of Ireland, they all unite as one man in favour of Slavery.  Mr. Mitchell, the escaped convict, is said to have expressed his opinion that a plantation on the Alabama river with fifty sleek slaves, was the beau ideal of a terrestrial paradise.  If he be a bachelor, and still entertain the same sentiments, I would recommend him to take “The stewardess of the Lady Franklin” as the sharer of his joys.

With regard to the orations pronounced, the one I heard at Geneseo had nothing that struck me as in any way lending itself to those feelings I have so freely censured; but it is not always so.  I have before me now an epitome of a speech made by the Honourable D.S.  Dickenson, at Syracuse, on July 4th, 1853.  Being an honourable, it is not unfair to suppose him—­mind, I say to suppose him—­a man of superior attainment, selected by a well-educated people.  The epitome is headed “Vigorous Discussion and Patriotic