THE WORE OF A CENTURY.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 55, 9 July 1879, Page 2

THE WORE OF A CENTURY.

A EBW.days ago Americans celebrated the-'arihiversary -of ; the Declaration of Independariee, and but three years ago the natiyos of that- Continent met togetlief ip?periietdate the memory .of that glorious eypnt by an Industrial Exposition which put to blush similar iiistifrution m the Old Wodd. !t£ow different the'times now from "when that sturdy, band of patriots : put thtfii* sign-manual to a document- -which was to secure to them everlasting freedom, or rob them of home, patrimony, and liberty itself. What rapid strides tUe macch of civilisation his made within that century,. and liow great the changes m- the Wbrlcf '^ history since then and now. At.tliat time Kobebx Fulton had, not developed his scheme which was afterwards to hand .h.i s name to posterity, and it was not until quarter of a century latei* that the first steamboat under his charge made her trip oa the Hudson. Railroads had not besn thought of, the wonderful effects of electricity were ill" the womb of -timej- and photogi-aphy was a science^unkiiovfß. A -hundred ydars'iagorframvthat day where millions were celebrating the Declaration of their Independence, millions are peacefully located, where at that time hone but thefgot of the Bed Man had ever trod. On the 15th of, May, 1776, Confess aisumed the Independence 'of the States, but it was not until some, weeks afterwards that the declaration . was publicly made, and as many ■years befoi*e their ' ; h'ard-f ortght-f or liß«rty j was vroii." Since then, tlie rise of the Republic has been : unprecedebtV»d m the history of .empires. From a handful of cblonists subject to the nod and beck of- a governing power, alike ignorant pf their wants arid unmindful of their necessities, they have become a free nation, with a population exceeding that of .their masters, and a power sufficient to command respect. « What a contrast between the -position of to-day' and thjen.Attiiat time the gauntlet of defiance wag thrown down, with a determination that, come what might, the bonds which had pressed so heavily, should be borne no longer ! Since then thousands upon, thpuscbnds haye assembled iv the Quaker CityY. to . - commemorate the s truggle which gained f retdom — a fitting object m .that exhibition of the blessings of peace and prosperity. Prom allquarterso'f .the G-lobe. were not only representatives of > the; people but their products ;' - and the- silken fabrics^ the work: of, the dark-skinned; Hindostanee, were seen side by side with the wintry furs'' from Russian America ;.: while the arts of the.deriizenaiof "Greenland's Jcy Mountains" yie.d with, the "work of lheAusii;al laittd, or 'the ' Grimtor Britain of. the South. While the nations of the 01(1 World were gasping to be at each others, the sky above the new displayed not a cloud ; arid, while the Home people were' massing their men and means for objects, of defence, if not for destruction, peac'V reigned supreme from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and. from, the- Alleghany to the Rocky Mountains; from the Empire City m the: East,. to the golden mines of .California m the ex-trem'9 west the shouts of 'jubilation ascended to hoavon. Strangers flocked from afar— from the xiortK and the gouthv-from the east arid the Lwest^rto .lay -^ ne i r -tnbute at the shrine ojE ! JPeace, and her twin-sist#r Prosperity".