The contemplation of these facts in our history should give us great pride. From these we can learn what it is to be American citizens in the full and proper sense. They offer us example and advice. Let us ask ourselves what is American citizenship; what the position, the duties, the rewards. To be a citizen of this free land implies sovereignty; not domination over a crushed people, not the unbridled license of one against the fettered liberties of all others, but the sovereignty over self, the freedom of untrammelled utterance, the privilege of a voice in the creation of the laws which govern.

The political condition of the American citizen is anomalous, in the present condition of the world. The causes that make it thus are written in our revolution, in our constitution, in our political system. And because it is anomalous, because the American citizen is the sole representative of the principle of self-government, because to his care history has bequeathed the priceless ideas asserted and established by patriots at Athens and at Rome, because from buried ages comes the warning voice of the Forum and the Capitol, because humanity sends from the old world its wail of lamentation, should each citizen feel himself the exponent

of the system under which he lives, and so act by voice and vote as to strengthen its power for good. The position of the American citizen, then, is one of great responsibility. A Providence in history has made him a prominent figure in the world's drama. He is looked upon and envied, because he is free. He possesses every right which man can ask. It is not then merely his pleasure to enjoy his freedom and his rights, but his duty to prove them worthy of enjoyment by strengthening and defending them, by preserving their purity, and thus giving them a voice of moral strength which shall speak like the voice of prophecy to the nations of the earth.

Oh the responsibility of freedom! Do the men of America feel it? Do they properly remember, on this our Nation's great festival, the occasion and the means that gave it birth? Do they remember that they possess their liberty in trust? Do they remember that they should render it with increase to their children? Do they bear in mind that the magnitude of a blessing is a measure of responsibility? Let every man write over his hearthstone, "Where much is given, much will be required."

The sovereignty and responsibility of American citizenship involve the performance of many duties. In what spirit do we perform them? Is it with the purity of sentiment and the dignity of action which their importance requires? I leave the answer to the conscience of each citizen.

When the voice from Faneuil Hall evoked from the bosom of the times the effort for liberty, and, like the gushing waters which followed the rod of Israel's leader, it poured itself upon the land; when the fathers, after solemn prayer, made that declaration which is as immortal as the principle which it asserts; when the men of the Revolution had driven from the desecrated homes and ravaged shores of the colonies the mercenary instruments of British tyranny, and when the olive branch once more blossomed, and the Federal Union, supplanting the alliance of the colonies, had given our flag a national character, the duties of the American citizen received their inauguration, the orbit of their performance was designated. The work had begun. The weary warriors of the Revolution, the statesmen who had directed and sustained their efforts, were approaching the hour appointed for all. To their children they be

queathed their swords and their principles : to their children they bequeathed the liberty they had gained, secured by an entail which reckless folly alone can break. In their wisdom and in their great love for that liberty, they placed the responsibility for its preservation upon each citizen. Upon each citizen that responsibility remains its binding force grows stronger with time. Each year develops the resources of our continent; each day adds to the number of our people, and each moment records our national sins for their final punishment. Every man knows that the wisdom of our ancestors placed in our hands the means of redressing political wrongs. It is a privilege to be exercised with care, but fearlessly. It is a weapon against wrong, only while its purity is preserved. It is a trenchant blade whose polish and edge are so brilliant and keen, that while in honest hands it will hew down the mightiest iniquity, it will tarnish and grow dull if it be wielded in the service of corruption.

This privilege is the Elective Franchise, the proper exercise of which is the first political duty of the citizen. That it has been shamefully abused, has been made time and again to sub

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serve dishonest purposes, has been employed to subvert the constitutional sovereignty of the people, has been in some localities so degraded that men of pure and honest sentiment have pronounced it a failure, is, alas, too true. But the fact that this abuse exists, furnishes the strongest motive for those who love their country to rally to its rescue. There are honest men who do not vote, because the ballot-box has been corrupted. Are they guiltless? Do they not, by refusing to exercise a right, commit a great wrong, as well as those who pervert it to dishonest purposes?

My Countrymen, the destinies of this nation are in the ballot-box. He who does not vote, and he who votes corruptly, are alike guilty. Let those who lament the misuse of the elective franchise, yet do not attempt to preserve its standard, remember, that it furnishes its own correction. The people are honest, and it has ever been found that the corrupt are a minority. Never has there been a period in our history, when it was more essential for the people to vindicate their honesty, than at the present. A disposition has been manifested to sully the purity of our dearest rights. The unclean hand