Ezra C. Hatton 4th of July Oration
12/18/2007
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Erza C. Hatton’s 4th of July Oration1
Published in the Pontiac Weekly Gazette, Vol. 18, No. 30,
Friday, July 26, 1861
Fourth of July Oration
[Correspondence]
FARMINGTON, July 4, 1861.
[Dr. E. C. Hatten. – Sir – The committee of arrangements requests me, as its chairman, to
solicit a copy of the address delivered by you to-day, for publication. I hope you will
comply with this request.
Yours truly,
S. P. LYON, Chairman
FARMINGTON, July 5th.
SERVIS P. LYON, Esq., Ch’n. &c.
Your note of last evening has been received. The address was hastily prepared, and not
intended for publication: if, however, the committee consider it worthy, the copy is at
your service.
I am, &c.
Fourth of July Oration
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: - As my eye passes over this assemblage of
intelligence, and discovers these men of age, men whose heads are silvered by the snows
of sixty winters; and who in their various relations to society, have borne their banners to
victory on many a well-fought field; I almost shrink from the impossibility of the task
which your generous partiality has called me to perform – but when I remember that we
are in the midst of hallow and hallowing associations – that the guardian genius of a bygone
age is now hovering around, and a spirit from the sleeping ashes of our fallen sages
and heroes, is now stirring into newness of life all the patriotism that dwells among us, it
nerves us to the task.
Aside from the extraordinary and fearful crisis through which our nation is passing, one
having no parallel in its past history; the sacred memories of the day, and the vast
concourse of citizens present, are of themselves sufficient to excite ennobling aspirations
and patriotic emotions: - those instruments, too, attuned to music’s melting fall, and make
1 It is unclear exactly where this oration was delivered, whether in the village of Farmington or in Pontiac.
The text is transcribed from original newspaper clippings. The transcription is verbatim as published with
original spelling and punctuation. Some text was missing or illegible. Quotations in the oration have been
cited, when known.
Ezra C. Hatton 4th of July Oration
12/18/2007
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the pulse beat in quicker time, and remind us that this is Freedom’s anniversary jubilee –
the political Sabbath of the American nation.
There is magnanimity, a moral sublimity which attach to the observance of this day,
under circumstance less extraordinary than the present. It is the commencement of no
dynasty – the birth-day of no military chieftain, riding in his triumphal car into power
over the rights of prostrate subjects – nor of no crowned despot, erecting his throne on the
peace of families destroyed, on disenfranchised rights, or discovered communities – it is
[text missing/illegible]. Unlike the return of those epochs and events which characterize
other times and other nations, whose remembrance is handed down only by the stern
exactions of law, or by force of unwrought bigotry - we, requiring no Draconium code of
law, no monarch’s manifesto, but in the dignity of unfettered men – in the sublime
majority of untrammeled minds, we hail with rapturous delight the approach and
celebrate with becoming feelings and appropriate devices, the birth-day of a mighty
nation.
Let us rejoice, then, fellow citizens, that this is no unmeaning ceremony – let us make it
worthy the proud event it is intended to commemorate. Let us rejoice, that the American
people are equal to their sublime trust and exacted responsibilities – that they work out
the great problem of their destiny that man is “capable of self-government.” Let them
rise superior to annulled constitutions and broken compacts – baptized anew in the holy
faith of a sublime mission – foreclaiming to an admiring world, the triumph of their godgiven
principles, a government born of, and belonging to the people. Let us hasten the
time when we can inscribe our banners that we have re-planted the tree of Liberty – that
sectional distinctions are obliterated forever – when all from the Lakes to the Gulf – from
the Orient to the Occident – from him who greets the sun in his coming off the Atlantic’s
wave, to him who snuffs the mountain breeze, or breathes the balmy air of the broad
Pacific, shall keep step to the music of a re-established American Union.
To this desirable consummation, a few well-defined propositions are necessary, which I
shall make the subject of a portion of my remarks, [text illegible] this national and
interesting occasion:
And 1st, There let us proclaim this great fact – in language too plain and emphatic to be
misunderstood, that this nation must forever remain, the great controlling power of this
Continent.
2nd, That we will enforce at all hazards, and at whatever cost, as a primary condition of
our being, that European powers shall under no pretense, interfere with the political
affairs of this nation.
3d, That the doctrine of secession, under whatever guize or phase, shall be put under the
iron heel of an indignant people - and that the political and territorial integrity of this
nation, must and shall be maintained forever.
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4th, That the malign influence which has inaugurated the present stupendous rebellion
against the government, must, by Constitutional provision, or otherwise, be placed
beyond the power of doing further mischief.
And 5th, That no terms shall be with rebel states, which do not recognize and embody the
principle laid down in these propositions.
That glorious Declaration, which has been so eloquently read in your hearing to-day,
embodies, in general terms, the principles of these propositions – providing as it does the
basis of a more extended sphere of political action – and by placing the relations of men
to each other, on a new and broader platform – and that instrument is so essentially
national, and held in such dear remembrance by all classes of our citizens that he is not
yet born, who would presume to criticize its wisdom, or find fault with its terms. Did I
say it embodied the pith of these propositions? It does, by recognizing at once, the right
to do, and the right to prevent – having the question of ability to perform with us who
acknowledges the correctness of its positions. It does, too, by acknowledging all the
great principles among men which flow from a Christian standard of morals – and
teaches man that the duty of obedience to the government is founded upon a covenant of
mutual respect for each individual of our race.
It was the pride and glory [illegible] states, that in the instrument of their first association,
they solemnly proclaimed these truths to be self-evident, and announced them as the first
principles of their Union and Independence. Something, indeed, approximating toward
these conditions was shadowed forth in the ancient Grecian republics; but that such were
inextinguishable rights of all mankind, had never been proclaimed as the only rightful
foundations of human association and government, until that Declaration laid it down as
the corner stone of the North American Union. It was the finding of the philosophers
stone in paving the way to man’s political redemption – a discovery in the combined
science of morals and politics – an electric spark emitted as it were from the great
fountain of eternal light, seen only at the instant of its emission, but to be felt through all
coming time.
That Declaration, has performed its work and performed it well, and it is now the
common property of the world; we must look to it for a solution or our own natural
misfortunes, the oppressed nations discover in it the beacon-light of their own
deliverance, and if the glorious principles it inculcates now fail, the popular power, and
the right of self-government will take its flight to an eternal world, only to be known no
more, only in Grecian and Roman story.
The hope which must light the pathway of success to a practical and permanent
realization of these self-evident elementary principles, must find lodgment in our own
bosoms. Our nation is passing a fearsome ordeal; shall the virtue and firmness of the
people prove as “the refiners fine,” in asserting its majesty and re-establishing its order?
Does every heart present to-day, throb to the music of our beloved Union? Do all our
home influences tend in the right direction? – for remember! every community, in its
own local identity, must depend more upon a standard of morals and patriotism of its own
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creation dully answering the ends of its own existence, for the proper regulation of its
own internal peace and safety, than upon the prestige of a glittering soldier, the awards of
courts, the feats of legislative bodies, or the proclamations of executive chiefs; strongly
inculcating in its own sacred breast, the eternal and conservative principles of truth, right,
and justice; which alone can give respectability and stability to its existence, and
permanence safety and grandeur to the State.
These are necessary conditions, and the mode of their tangible enforcement, if we would
secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessing intended for our use, by our
revolutionary sires. They left us, without respect to locality or section, the fruits of their
immortal toil, a great bond-woren of identical associations, which we must make eternal.
Let our national compact yet be made to meet these modal ends, that the nation may
become a partnership of heart that shall never be silent, a bond of brotherhood of eternal
force; glorying in the possession of a common past, and hopeful of the fruits of a
common future.
Let us at this critical juncture of our Nation’s history, remember that our own State has
high and responsible duties to perform. Her association in the galaxy of States, must not
interpreted merely for own benefit, but as a means of exalting civil liberty high above
anarchy and despotism. Will she perform the mission to this high calling worthy her
exacted ability? Success in the struggle in which we are engaged is not for the present
alone, it will cast its blessings into the lap of the future. “It will give the world the
benefit of institutions and laws extending their restraints and protection overall, yet so
kindly like air we breathe, their presence does not shackle or their weight oppress.”2
I offer you these thoughts, fellow citizens, in support of these propositions. If there is a
single utterance embraced in them that does not meet the entire approbation of my friends
to-day, I must plead that the fault lies in the illogical political teaching of our heretofore
considered sublime Declaration, and that after all, Thomas Jefferson was but a mere
dreamer, and that hid much boasted declaration of the rights of man, is but a flimsy cheat.
But, right or wrong, we tear the veil from the mysterious future, and open to your view
the great fact, that we hold within our mighty grasp the majestic wand of physical
superiority, and that we foresees the will to dare and the power to do; in dictating the
terms of our own destiny.
Let us look for a moment at this fraternal strife – this conflict of ideas – this war of moral
antagonisms – its like is not to be found in the entire history of the civilized world. A
brutal and corrupt Jewish populace clamored for the blood of the pure Redeemer, which
the Roman government would have gladly spared, is the only parallel in enormity with
this unnatural crime. The destruction of this government for so slight and trivial a cause,
is a climax in cruelty which no language is adequate to express, no stretch o imagination
to measure, no condition of mind to comprehend. Shall this stupendous crime succeed?
Will you allow the destruction of your inheritance? You have a government the most
congenial to man and his prosperity of any ever devised by human wisdom, - a country,
too, blooming as a thing of life – suitable for the abode of arts, of science and of liberty –
2 Origin of quotation unknown.
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and worthy only of a people who hold the foremost rank in the march of civilization, and
the rights of man. This splendid heritage [illegible] shall be stricken from that banner;
our Union must and shall remain, one and indivisible. We claim Washington as the
father or our common country – Jefferson as the author, and Adams as the expounder of
our declaration. Our fathers fought on the same field, toiled in the same cabinet, wrought
one glorious revolution, and bequeathed to us one common legacy, and that legacy was
the Union. We are one in our history, one in our statesmen, one in our language, and one
in all the underlying monuments of our greatness.
Amid the dazzling splendors of this festive scene, these festoons of flowers and display
of taste, this beautiful bower, too, built by Almighty hands, -
These clustering maples in whose shade
Bright beings their fairy revels hold –
The day has touched, with yielding hand,
And tinged their leafy tops with gold,3
adding to the fullness of our enjoyment, let us not be mindful of those who have gone
from our midst to the fields of strife. They have left the endearments of home, and the
society of loved ones, to roll back the dark tide which threatens to engulf us. Let us built
to them, to-day, a temple in our own affections, and continue to worship at the holy
shrine till, from their efforts, Liberty and Order sit enthroned on the restored fragments of
a once more unbroken Union.
Let me remind you, too, fellow citizens, of the importance of proper attention to the
education of our youth – those to whose hands will soon be resigned the destinies of this
nation. Knowledge is power – virtue is action. Virtue and intelligence, like the dews of
heaven, must distill upon all their genial influences, or corruption, like a blighting
mildew, will breathe its contagion through the length and breadth of our State. And to
my fair hearers I would say, you have an important duty to perform. With you is lodged
the safety of the moral and political man – “As the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined”4 –
impressions made by you on the youthful mind, will be the substance of society’s quality,
when this day and its brilliant gayeties shall be thrown into the dusty receptacle of the
past. You hold in your hands, for the use of the future, that gift of heaven committed to
your charge. Will you perform faithfully the duties attendant upon this high trust?
“The world was sad – the garden was a wild.
And man the hermit sighed ‘till woman smiled,”5
3 Origin of quotation unknown.
4 “Tis education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined,” - Alexander Pope
(1688-1744), Moral Essays, Epistle 1.
5 “The world was sad, the garden was a wild,
And man the hermit sigh’d—till woman smiled.” - Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), Pleasures of Hope, Part
ii, Line 37.
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Let me address a few words of hope to our adopted fellow-citizens, many of whom I see
present to-day. You have a work to do in the present extraordinary conflict. You belong
to that toiling million who are deeply interested in the success of free institutions. Then
buckle on your armor and stand for the right, until accursed treason no longer pollutes
the sainted air once breathed by a Washington, who performed so immortal a part in
preparing for you this goodly heritage. You are freemen from your own voluntary
choice, revolutionizers of your own political conditions; self emancipated from the unjust
and unequal laws of the old world, place yourselves in the front ranks of freedom in the
new. You are to all intents citizens of this great republic; to become so, you have
expended your substance, you have obeyed constitutional requirements; freedom belongs
to you from your own efforts, and the boon which its privileges confer is of your own
creation. No matter what land may have given you birth; no matter in what disastrous
battle your liberties may have been stricken down; no matter what solemnity despotism
may have claimed you as its own; the moment you touched the consecrated soil of these
States, the alter and the God sink together in the dust; you stand forth in the fullness of
mankind, redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled.
Let us then, adopted fellow-citizens, from this day forward renew our attachments to
everything bearing the honored name of America; gathering new strength for the glorious
service of the country, let us defend, with ceaseless vigilance; that national edifice whose
base is the Union – whose pillars are the Constitution and the laws, and around whose
summit play in sunlight’s liberty the rights of universal man.
But, have we no other griefs to offer up today, on the alter of endangered liberty? See
that dark spot on the western horizon. National calamities, like private misfortunes,
seldom visit their friends alone. A star of the first magnitude has been stricken from the
political firmament. A patriot, an orator, a statesman, transcendent in ability and devotion
to his country, at this dark hour of our Nation’s peril, has been gathered to his father.
“Death loves a shining mark.”6 The spirit of the great Douglas has taken its flight to the
land of rest; the nation mourns, and liberty, on her throne of clouds, has put on her
habiliments of woe. How inscrutable are the ways of Providence? – his mission is ended
– his work is done – but his noble example lives. Though the nation has lost a great link
in the chain of its strength, he has gone to a better world; and though we weep in our
darkness, we’ll weep not for him.
“Not for him, who departing leaves millions in tears;
Not for him, who has died full of honors and years;
Not for him, who ascended fame’s ladder so high;
From the round at the top, he has stepped to the sky.”7
6 “Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow.” - Edward Young (1683-1765), Night Thoughts, Night V, 1,
Line 1011.
7 “He was ‘lover and friend’ to his country, as well!
For the stars on our banner, grown suddenly dim,
Let us weep, in our darkness – but weep not for him!
Not for him – who, departing, leaves millions in tears!
Not for him – who has died full of honors and years!
Not for him – who ascended Fame’s ladder so high
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Let us, in conclusion, in behalf of our stricken nation, invoke the aid of Him who holds
the destinies of nations in His hand; let it be our prayer that the old ship of State may
weather the impending storm, and that the Stars on our Banner8 be as sure a prelude to
success as the star of Bethlehem was to the salvation of the world.
Fellow citizens, I have done. If a sentiment has been uttered to-day, not in keeping with
those great conservative principles on which our government is founded – or a thought
expressed, not consistent with those high-toned sentiments of Christian faith which
actuated its founders - attribute it, if you will, to the weakness of the head, rather than the
perverseness of the heart.
From the round at the top he stepp’d to the sky!” - Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806-1867), The Death of
Harrison. Willis was a close friend of Edgar Allan Poe and editor of the Evening Mirror that first
published Poe’s The Raven, January 29, 1845.
8 Ibid.