H. the foundation of Rome, mistress of the world, the day on which a band ndaries of the infant rered through each succeeded, within their extended o had spread the blessings Com seven little hills on the ns and the wildest deserts, ay when a few bold and where they could establish heir own privileges, by a ves. The festival was not h marked all the other days o slaughtered victims stained atrails were examined by the As offered to propitiate the dibirthday of Rome; but the flowers, the people ight closed the solemding villages, and the and enlivened by dancens of that proud repubrit of independence, and he laws they had made of that day. After the heir descendants dwelt with when the Roman people they successfully guarded the ecret or the open ambition of formed to elevate the wealthy or lar rights. The spirits yet unessons of patriots who had cherfreedom; to deeds where life was Thos. H. Benton, of Missouri, John Tipton, of Indiana, REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS. Robert T. Lytle, of Ohio, William Allen, of Ohio, George R. Gilmer, of Georgia, Judge G. W. Campbell, of Tenn. Gov. Wm. Findlay, of Pa.. Mr. Pope, of Va. Mr. Sibley, of Mass. Commodore Chas. Stewart, Col. Wm. Duane, of Pa. Dr. Wilmer Worthington, of Pa. SPEECH. MORE than eight hundred years after the foundation of Rome, a Grecian traveller, visiting the vast mistress of the world, found her citizens assembled to celebrate the day on which a band of shepherds had first traced the boundaries of the infant republic. The festival had been kept sacred through each succeeding age. The people who then embraced, within their extended empire, all the nations of the earth; who had spread the blessings of commerce, civilization and the arts from seven little hills on the shores of the Tiber, to the remotest oceans and the wildest deserts, cherished, with sacred regard, the day when a few bold and oppressed husbandmen sought a refuge where they could establish their own institutions, and protect their own privileges, by a social compact framed among themselves. The festival was not established with the bloody rites which marked all the other days consecrated by public celebrations; no slaughtered victims stained the altars of the gods; no smoking entrails were examined by the priesthood; nothing that had life was offered to propitiate the divinities who had watched over the birthday of Rome; but the ministers were crowned with chaplets of flowers, the people brought offerings of early fruits, and as night closed the solemnity, the streets of the city, the surrounding villages, and the rural abodes were lighted up by bonfires and enlivened by dancing and song. Year after year, the citizens of that proud republic-their breasts imbued with the spirit of independence, and their rights as freemen guarded by the laws they had madesacredly cherished the remembrance of that day. After the ancient energy was departed, even their descendants dwelt with conscious satisfaction on the period when the Roman people exerted their own majesty; when they successfully guarded the republican institutions against the secret or the open ambition of designing men, and from factions formed to elevate the wealthy or the proud upon the ruin of popular rights. The spirits yet uncorrupted loved to recur to the lessons of patriots who had cherished the genuine principles of freedom; to deeds where life was held a trifling sacrifice if national honor was at stake; to laws and institutions calculated to preserve the direct and practical interference of the people, in all the measures connected with their own welfare. It was not until the remembrance of these things passed away, that the spirit of the republic was gone, and the liberties of its citizens were overthrown. It was not until immense wealth was gradually accumulated in the hands of comparatively few; till privileged associations of individuals took advantage of their powers and position to assume an influence never intended to be conferred; till the silent and stealthy but sure and rapid march of intrigue, of selfishness and ambition had penetrated into the very centre of popular rights-that the republic was found only to be a name, and the people in reality nothing but instruments or slaves. Then indeed these festivities became but an idle ceremony-idle to the thoughtless, but to those whose bosoms the love of country yet warmed, the painful emblem of a freedom that existed no more-the sad proof, that if a people would guard their own power in the government of themselves, they must watch, daily and nightly, the inroads of corruption and ambition, and tear from them, before it becomes familiar to their eyes, the mask they are always ready to assume. The annual feast, which marks the birth of their republic, must not be celebrated alone with the symbols of joy--with assemblages of those who merely recall the memory of the past; but it must bring together the people to weigh well the principles on which their institutions have been formed, to review the gradual progress of events, and see whether, under any specious pretext, they have been perverted or abused; to dwell on the actual position of their affairs, and to decide whether they preserve, not merely in name, but in positive and practical efficiency, all the benefits which their forefathers intended to secure when they laid the corner stone of the republic. We are here assembled, fellow citizens, after fifty-eight years have passed away, to celebrate the birthday of our republic. As the Romans did, we hail it with joy; we hang over us the emblems of festivity and peace; we surround the names of its founders with chaplets of flowers; and we hold their deeds and memories in warm and grateful remembrance. It would be a task fraught with pleasure-our hearts would respond to it-to celebrate their actions, to repeat the sacred traditions of their personal sacrifices and their public zeal. Beneath the shades of this grove we might dwell upon the past, recall to ourselves how our |