CITY OF BOSTON. In Common Council, July 21, 1859. ORDERED: That the thanks of the City Council be, and they hereby are presented to GEORGE SUMNER, Esq., for the eloquent Oration by him delivered before the Municipal Authorities on the occasion of the Celebration of the Eighty-Third Anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence, and that a copy of said Oration be requested for publication. INTRODUCTION. THE Fourth Day of July, the anniversary of American Independence, is a day which, by the common consent of common patriotism, has come to be celebrated, both as a great civil occasion, and as a holiday of the people. If, in the latter aspect, it can be said that succeeding years enhance the magnitude of the festival, as the people multiply, and as, with the most complete enthusiasm and universal spirit of national love, by ceasing from labor and abandoning themselves to festivity and demonstrative pleasure, Americans, born and adopted, testify the sincerity of their devotion to the Country, it is not less true that in the extent of our civil celebrations there is a steady increase, embracing in their scope, as they often do, large schemes of popular holiday amusement. As these transactions grow in dignity and importance, faithful records of them become more and more desirable; and in placing the contents of this volume in a comparatively durable form, the Municipal body manifests its consideration, not only of the present interest of these documents, but also of their future value, as the ineffaceable tidemarks in the book of history which shall indicate to coming generations the strength and progress of republican institutions. |