90 



EVACUATION BY THE BRITISlt. 



yard on which the fort is buih. 



But the avenging angel had not been idle. Justice, though 

 to mortal conception sometimes tardy, moves with unfaltering tread 

 and reaches the goal at the appointed hour. There comes swift 

 ridingf couriers now, from the camp of the victorious army of the patriots. 

 With trumpet sounding over all the hills and valleys, the glad words are 

 heard "Peace has come ! The armies of Washington are triumphant ! — 

 Glory to God in the highest !" If we could call from the tomb these pa- 

 triots of old and they could stand in our midst to-night, with what 

 unspeakable joy they would join in this celebration. If their souls hover 

 over us in the shadowy unseen world, may they not look wiih gratitude 

 and loving approbation upon their children who here commemorate the 

 hundreth year of their glorious victory. 



Since these events we have had a war for the preservation of the Union 

 which called forth greater armies and was waged on a vaster field; and 

 though the battles of the old Revolution may be dwarfed in comparison 

 with the gigantic military operations on land and sea which larger numbers 

 and advanced military science has made possible, yet the value ot the 

 principles which the Revolutionary Fathers' contended for, remains undim- 

 inished, and the justice of their cause, the purity of their purposes, their 

 unfaltering courage and patriotism, continue, as they ever have, to challenge 

 the admiration of mankind. 



