were not permitted to become acquainted with the gospel, because it declares all men to be brothers. On the contrary, these miserables have now their own fireplaces, are free to choose their own masters, to secure their own homesteads; the rights of their marriages and families are as sacred as those of the white population; schools are thrown open for the education of their children; they enjoy the right of free speech, and have the right of suffrage in the public affairs. Fellow-citizens! Some millions of these ireedmen, to-day, celebrate with us, their independence: what a day of joy, what a jubilee is it to them!

GENERAL PROSPERITY.

Prosperity has grown also for us from that war. The inveterated, cancerous sore which was spreading more and more in the limbs of the Union was finally eradicated; the stain uf our Constitution, namely, the legality of slavery, is blotted out. Peace is re-established, prosperi y returns, commerce gains a new soaring, thou sands of new emigrants rush to our States and replace the citizens who in the war were lost, the springs of industry flow again, new ones are opened, and the Union regained, in the foreign countries, glory and respect.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE YET?

"Thus, nothing is left to be done more by us, citizens of a freeState.?" No, fellow-citizens, it is not all accomplished, there is no stopping in the life of nations; we cught to advance with the age. Ours is a state of culture in which the mental and material forces should be more and more developed, the citizens should rise to higher degrees of civilization; the ideas of Right and Morality should be realized more and more perfectly; existing defects ought to be progressively abolished.

Permit me, only for the sake of example, to mention here some of the latter ones.

True, the slaves of the Southern States became free, but how many of them are still starving in misery, while their old oppressors revel in abundance, and remained the owners of all estates, the legal claims of which they

the rebels-had lost. The colored men will never be happy without landed property, and still, as we heard say to-day, God gave ALL men the right to pursue happiness.

MORE JUSTICE IS WANTED.

Are the laws of justice always strictly administered? Are murders committed by public justice in our country unprecedented? Jefferson Davis was the ringleader, the chief of the rebels; thousands of our captives, with his knowledge and approbation, were deprived of their lives in Andersonville, in Salisbury, in the Libby Prison, many by refined cruelty; he was very likely also privy to the infamous conspiracy of the murderers who shortened violently Lincoln's life: and see, after this arrant knave, at great expenses, had been captured, and for two years, lavishly fed and regaled, he is set free and a Horace Greely, a leader of the radical press, even gives bail for the monster.

RELATION BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR.

The increase of pauperism is another defect of our States, principally in the populous cities of the East. We cannot gainsay that the relation between capital and labor often hurts the principles of humanity. While some rich capitalists waste life in idleness, their workmen, who sweat by their toilsome labor, suffer from want and distress.

MORE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

The general Constitution, and the particular one of

our State, warrant religious liberty; still, how does this warrant harmonize with the Sabbatarian laws of all States, and in particular with those which lately were issued in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, by which the workman is forbidden to enjoy on Suudays, public amusement, or to strengthen his weary limbs by a refreshing draught.

But be this enough in regard to the shady parts of our public life! In conclusion, allow me to submit to your attention some suggestions how to remedy these defects.

REMEDIES OF THE DEFECTS. PROGRESS OF CULTURE. FREE

SPEECH.

In the United States, the people are the sovereigns; we make our own laws, and are governed by them. Most excellent. But let us be careful that this sovereign never grows blind or is carried away by passions; for, only in case that this does not happen, the old proverb is valid: "Vox populi vox Dei," (the voice of the people is the voice of God). For this reason, the people should not remain in its present degree of culture, nor be fossilized, but improve and enlarge its knowledge, generally, and especially in the sphere of public life.

Free speech and the public press, in particular, should subserve for this purpose: their rights should be protected and maintained.

But in order to attain this aim, nothing is more necessary, than some reforms in our public schools, and as I was myself occupied as a teacher most part of my life, I may be well entitled to give, on this subject, my

vote.!

REFORMS IN THE SCHOOLS.

In our schools many useful objects, e. g., reading, writing, arithmetic and geography, are taught, indeed:

but frequently religious prejudices, too, are inoculated in youth; especially, their intellect is captivated by a blind faith in authority, no difference if they are habituated to follow blindfold the authority of a man or of a book. If children, trained in this way, are grown up, they turn often puppets in politics, who can easily be led by their supreme magistrates, may they are called presidents, emperors or kings, and who sell their votes to the highest bidders.

In our schools, the principles of sound morals, the mutual rights and duties of men should also be taught and more capable pupils be acquainted with the fundamental parts of our Constitution. It is most fair that they are instructed in the history of the country; still they should learn also the history of other free people, who, as in Greece, and Rome, and, in modern times, in England and France, exerted themselves for freedom.

OUR RESOLUTIONS.

Fellow-citizens! May this festival inspire you with love for liberty and independence! Let us follow the footsteps of the fathers of the republic. Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Lafayette, and other men of the revolution, resembling them, ought to be our models. Three millions of Americans undertook the combat against the powerful England, and won the victory. Must such examples not shame the reactionary politicians, partisans, and time-servers of our age?

Remember, to-day, the combattants who perished in the last war! The ladies of Louisville lately decorated their graves with fresh wreaths. Let us raise to our dear dead, monuments in our hearts, resolving, to lay, like them, if necessary, every sacrifice on the altar

of our country.

Let us take care of the best education of our children; not only the hope of our old age, but the future of our country depends upon them; according as we educate or spoil them, also the time to come will be shaped for glory or for infamy, for happiness or ruin. Let us love our children and families, but more the welfare of our State than our families, and more the prosperity of the Union than the happiness of the single States. Let us be more than Democrats, more than Republicans, more than Union men: let us be patriots, sound in mind, strong in achievements. Let it be our watchword: independence in politics, social questions and religion, forever!

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL WANTS.

1. SOCIAL WANTS.

The word "socialism" means social wants in its broadest sense, a more thorough and harmonious disposition in all social relations of mankind; but in the usual sense they understand by it the theory of reforms by which property, industry, and other sources of livelihood are to be reorganized, in the State, for the benefit of all its members. It cannot be disputed that, especially in the European States, an illimited inequality of possession of the citizens takes place. While the lowest classes suffer from bitter want, the higher ones live in abundance and revel in profusion. Therefore, so many revolutions shake, there, like volcanoes, the tranquility of those countries; revolutions by which the lowest elements of civil society give, like accumulated fuel burning in flames, forcible and devastating vent. The revolutions in 1848 were most part, of the social kind. The last insurrection of workmen in Paris, in 1871, which