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distinctly and unequivocally as does the rising of the sun 

 or the going down of the same. To the United States, 

 the American Republic, is it given of all nations to so 

 date the hour of its birth as to celebrate its Centennial 

 Anniversary. To us alone belongs that one initial event 

 in history, so important, so accepted, so recognized, as to 

 fix the time when a nation was born, and mark the hour 

 when all the career of greatness began. Can this be said 

 of any other? The significance and promise of the Dec- 

 laration of our Independence, crowned with the accom- 

 plishment of the first century of national life, constitute 

 a chapter in history which entitles us to the admiration of 

 the world, and gives entire propriety to an international 

 jubilee on our own soil. Summon before you the other 

 nations of the earth, and where in all their annals will 

 you find an event like this? Shall England be called on 

 to celebrate the invasion of William the Conqueror, or 

 the beheading of Charles I, or the restoration, as events 

 out of which her very existence sprang? Shall France 

 be expected to fix her International Exhibition upon the 

 centennial year of the great revolution, or upon the pro- 

 mulgation of the Code Napoleon, or upon the return of 

 the Bourbon, as the date of her national power and glory? 

 The event is ours and ours alone ; and we may never 

 grow weary of contemplating that "brilliant and happy 

 moment," when full armed the American people sprang 

 into existence, and gave promise of what a hundred years 

 might bring forth. I call this a surprise in history. It 

 was a surprise to those who witnessed the event, it is a 

 surprise to us who contemplate it. Not readily has its 

 full significance been understood even by ourselves. By 

 long-continued and persistent endeavor alone, have our 

 minds been brought to a thorough understanding of the 

 true intent and meaning of an international interchange 



