The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 63, 4 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 1876.

Tub Foarth of Jftly !!—One hundred yeafs ago to-ttay ! What rapid strides the march of civilization has made witlun that centttry, and how great the changes in the world's history since then and now. At that ttmeRoRERTFtn/ros ha 1 no! developed his scheme which was afterwards to hand his name down to poaterit", and it was not ontiJ a quarter of a centnn- later that the first steamboat under his etiarge made her trial trip on the Htulson. Railroads had not been thought of, the wonderful effects of electricity were still in the womb of time, and photography was a science «n----known. A hundred years ago to-day, and in that far-off land, where millions tivj celebrating the Centenary of the Declaration of their Independence, millions are now peacefully lacated where, at that time, none but the foot of the Red Man had ever trod. On the loth of May, 1776, Congress assumed the Independence of the States, bnt it was not until some weeks after that the Declaration was publicly made, and as many years before their hard-

foughUbr liberty was won. Since then, the rise of the Republic has been unprecedented in the history of empires. From a handful of colonists, Bubject to the nod and beck of a governing power alike ignorant of their wants and unmindful of their necessities, .they liave become a free nation, with a population exceeding that of their masters, and a power sufficient to command respect. What a contrast between the celebration of to-day and that of a hundred years since. Then the gauntlet of defiance was thrown down, with a determination that, come what might, the bonds which had pressed so heavily should be borne no longer! To-day, thousands upon thousands have assembled in tiie Quaker City to commemorate the struggle which gained freedom, and a fitting commemoration is that exhibition of the blessings of peace and prosperity. From all quarters of the globe have representatives of not only the people, but their products, been sent; and the silken fabrics, the work of the darkskinned Hisdostanee, may be seen beside the wintry fura from Russian America ; and the art of the denizens of " Greenland's icy mountains " peer with the work of the Austral greater Britain of the South. Wmmßb whole aspect of Continental a threatening look, which bodes a coming contest in the Old World, the sky above the New displays not a cloud ; and while the Home Powers are massing their men and means for objects of defence, if not for destruction, peace reigns supreme from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Alle" gliany to the Rocky Mountains, from the Empire City in the east to the golden mines of California in the extreme west, the shouts of jubilation ascend to heaven today. Strangers flock from afar—from the north and south, from the east and •west— to lay their tribute at the shrine of peace, and its twin-sister prosperity. Such is the glorious prospect with which the second century of America's Independence is us'ierud in. Let tis hope that each succeeding Centenary will chronicle a like advancement in civilsation, development, and all that tends to make a nation great and glorious.