ADDRESSES AXD MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
CENTENNIAL ADDRESS. 
WHAT THE AGE OWES TO AMERICA. 
BY HON. WM. M. EVARTS. 
[Dtlivered at Philadelphia July 4, 187*3.] 
The event which to-day we commemorate supplies its own reflec¬ 
tions and enthusiasms and brings its own plaudits. They do not at 
all hang on the voice of the speaker, nor do they greatly depend 
upon the contacts and associations of the place. The Declaration 
of American Independence was, when it occurred, a capital trans¬ 
action in human affairs; as such it has kept its place in history; as 
such it will maintain itself while human interest in human institu¬ 
tions shall endure. The scene and the actors, for their profound 
impression upon the world, at the time and ever since, have owed 
nothing to dramatic effects, nothing to epical exaggerations. To 
the eye there was nothing wonderful, or vast, or splendid, or pa¬ 
thetic in the movement or the display. Imagination or art can give 
no sensible grace or decoration Lq the persons, the place, or the per¬ 
formance which made up the business of that day. The worth and 
force that belong to the agents and the action rest wholly on the 
wisdom, the courage, and the faith that formed and executed the 
great design, and the potency and permanence of its operation 
upon the affairs of the world which, as foreseen and legitimate con¬ 
sequences, followed. The dignity of the act is the deliberate, cir¬ 
cumspect, open and serene performance by these men in the clear 
light of day, and by a concurrent purpose, of a civic duty, which 
