ple are at this hour, in the loftiest
sense of the expression, fellow-citizens of a common country. Some
of us, through the mists of half a century, distinctly recall
the earnest tones in which Mr. Lincoln in public speech uttered
the words, 'My fellow-citizens.' Truly the magical words
'fellow-citizens' never fail to touch a responsive chord in the
patriotic heart. Was it the gifted Prentiss who at a critical
moment of our history exclaimed:

"'For whether upon the Sabine or the St. John's; standing in
the shadow of Bunker Hill or amid the ruins of Jamestown; near
the great northern lakes or within the sound of the Father of
Waters flowing unvexed to the sea; in the crowded mart of the
great metropolis or upon the western verge of the continent,
where the restless tide of emigration is stayed only by the
ocean--everywhere upon this broad domain, thank God, I can still
say "fellow-citizens"!'

"Let us pause for a moment and briefly note some of the marvellous
results wrought out by the toil, strife, and sacrifice of the
century whose close we commemorate. The Year of Our Lord 1809 was
one of large place in history. The author of the Declaration of
Independence was upon the eve of final retirement from public place,
and the Presidential term of James Madison just beginning, when in
a log cabin near the western verge of civilization the eyes of
Abraham Lincoln first opened upon the world. The vast area
stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean was under
the dominion of Spain. Two decades only had passed since the
establishment of the United States Government under the Federal
Constitution, and the inauguration of Washington as its first
President. Lewis and Clark had but recently returned from the now
historic expedition to the Columbia and the Oregon,--an expedition
fraught with momentous consequences to the oncoming generations of
the Republic. Only five years had passed since President Jefferson
had purchased, for fifteen millions of dollars from Napoleon
Bonaparte, the Louisiana country, extending from the Gulf of Mexico
to the frozen lakes, out of which were to be carved sixteen
magnificent States to become enduring parts of the American
Republic. From the early Colonial settlements that fringed the
Atlantic, a tide of hardy emigration was setting in to the westward,
and, regardless of privation or danger, laying the sure foundation
of future commonwealths. Four States only had been admi