republic in Italy, between the Appenines, the Po, and the Adriatic. We are told the territory of this state is only about forty miles in circumference, and its population about seven thousand. The republic was founded more. than fourteen hundred years ago, on moral principles, industry and equality; and has preserved its liberty and independence amidst all the wars and discords which have raged around it. Bonaparte respected it and sent an embassy to express his sentiments of friendship and fraternity. It is governed by a captain regent, chosen every six months by the representatives of the people, sixty-six in number, who are also chosen every six months by the people. The taxes are light, the farm-houses are neat, the fields well cultivated, and on all sides are seen comfort and peace-the happy effects of morality, simplicity, liberty and justice. The visitor was received by some of the intelligent citizens, in the most hospitable and affectionate manner; they were delighted with him because he was an American. They professed a profound attachment for our country, and look to it as the preserver of their own pure principles; they were intimately acquainted with our institutions and affairs, and had a library well furnished with books and pamphlets relating to America. "Such is the beautiful description of that ancient little republic. Who can contemplate it without emotions of the deepest interest? Bonaparte, it seems, in the days of his triumph and glory,-overturning monarchies and dethroning kings,-paid homage to it. Of his motives in so doing we refrain to speak,-but leave this, with all his actions, to be passed upon by posterity. Would that any motives could have recently induced the chief Northern Powers of Europe to spare the small republic of Cracow, the last semblance of liberty in poor liberty-loving Poland. But no; even this dim star could not be suffered longer to shine within its own little orbit, but must be made to deck the diadem of imperial Austria. We here also refrain from comment, and will leave this deed and these actors, as we have done with Napoleon, to the judgment of those who are to come after us. And, to return for a moment to that little green spot, hemmed in by the mountains and rivers of Italy,-happy as that community of San Marino is represented to be, it is but a miniature picture of our vast republic. Would that all Europe could now be placed in a like happy condition with that small republic. And the day will come when monarchs shall be made to lay down their crowns-when all men shall be allowed to acquire an interest in the earth created for their use, and make choice of their own rulers. Until that time shall come we see nothing which promises essentially to change the existing state of things,-sovereigns and nobility rioting in all the excesses of wealth and luxury, and subjects dying of starvation! "There is a peculiar fitness in the selection of this day to do this first work in the erection of our edifice. It is designed as the place in which the citizens of the town shall assemble from year to year, and from time to time, to exercise the rights and to enjoy the privileges which have been secured to them at an immense sacrifice of blood and treasure. It is also designed as the place where the youth of the town may receive that instruction which is necessary to enable them rightly to perform the high duties of citizens of a great republic. Such is the character of our building. On this stone, then, let it rise -let it ever be maintained-let it be the temple of our town, dedicated to knowledge and to freedom. We trust in God it may endure; that after ages may witness in it the principles proclaimed by their forefathers, and cherished by us of the present day. May it forever stand, the living emblem of true glory ;-based as it is on the rock of eternal truth and justice—the rights of man. "The pilgrim of liberty, should fortune chance to cast him upon the borders of this humble village, may come into it. Perchance it may kindle up new fires in his sinking soul, and thus shed a gleam of light and hope on far-off ages and far-distant lands. Youth, manhood, old age-all will feel its influence and rejoice in its existence. Youth will come up here in pursuit of instruction, and his young heart will beat at the thought that the day is not distant, when, in the adjoining hall, he must act the part of a free citizen. Manhood will hither come, to give efficacy to the principles and enjoy the blessings won by the valor of his forefathers. Old age, too, will come tottering hither; and thus evince, even to the last, his devotion to the right of self-government. "We have made allusion to the early days of our town. It was mainly taken from the original territory of Groton, and incorporated as a district by the name of Shirley, A. D. 1752. In the year 1765 an addition was made to the district by the annexation of territory more than half a mile in width, adjoining Lancaster, which had previously belonged to the township of Stow, from which circumstance it has been called "Stow Leg." In the year 1786, the district was fully enfranchised and made a town by a general law, which applied to all districts incorporated before the year 1777. And it would seem that it must have been made a town at an earlier day, for throughout the whole Revolutionary war, it exercised the rights, in all respects, of a town. "It is difficult to trace the precise time when the first settlements were made. Various untoward causes operated to interrupt all settlements, and slow progress must have been made within our limits, down to the period of incorporation. Since that time population and improvement have rapidly advanced. We speak, not particularly of this place, but of our whole country. Then our entire population was about two millions; now about twenty-two millions; and this increase has chiefly been made since the close of the war of the Revolution-within about sixty years. "We live in an age and in a land of improvementsimprovements, not only in the arts and sciences, but in all the practical uses and purposes of life. Witness the steam ship, and steam railroad,-striding sea and land in every direction, threatening soon to cross the continent, and extend westward to India,-moving almost with the rapidity of the winds of heaven. How surprising! yes, how wonderful!-we have been wont to hear falling from the lips of everybody. But the days of wonder soon pass away, and so it is with this; a journey of a day, which formerly occupied weeks, and a freight train of fifty or a hundred cars, are now common every-day affairs, and looked upon with cool composure, bordering almost on indifference. And the next we shall know, the table of wonderment will be turned, and everybody will begin to wonder why the cars and steamers move so slowly-why they need be two hours in going forty miles,—say from here to Boston,-and ten or twelve hours from Boston to New York, and twelve days in crossing the Atlantic. "Such is the character of the human mind-always on the stretch for more. And, happily, it is so ordered, that to the power of genius and the advances of intellect, there is no end. And so, age after age will roll on-improvement upon improvement will follow; and in their train will come increase of numbers, increase of wealth, increase of necessities-new tastes, new fashions, new inventions, love of change-and we know not what ;and revolutions in the affairs of society and of governments may come; and fires and floods, and whirlwinds and earthquakes may take place, and disturb the face of art and of nature. And by some of those passions or changes these heavings of earth or heaven-by some of these causes, the structure we are about to erect, with its numberless renewals, may come to an end, and this corner-stone be laid bare. Then will be brought to light the deposits we this day make therein. Here opens to us a new source of wonder, and a new field for the imagination. What will be the character and what the condition of that age, who can tell? Perhaps the language of this paper will be to them an unknown tongue-even more rude and barbarous than that of the savage tribes of this age is considered by us. But we trust some lover of things curious and rare-some one deep in black-letter and antiquarian research-may be found who will be able to pick it all out, and translate it into their own polished idiom. They will see what we now say of the wonderful improvements of this age—of the railroad and steamship, the magnetic telegraph, etc. And do you marvel at what we now tell you?-that they will probably laugh it all to scorn, that such will then be the improvements in all the facilities of business and modes of communication and transport by land and water that the steamship and railroad and telegraph will all be thrown aside as by-gone affairs, and considered in the same light as the vessels of Columbus, as the old stage-coach and post-rider, and the saddle and the pillion are considered by us at the present day? And moreover the San-Marino republics,—those perfect little paradises on earth-may then cover the whole globe. "But again, instead of this state and condition of things, it may be that, then, letters and the arts will here. be lost and unknown-that civilization, with all its refinements and blessings, will be banished from the land; and the red man again left to roam and rule throughout the western hemisphere. to us. "But we will leave what may be and return to what is. And here we are sure of one truth, solemn and important We are free citizens of a happy republic. It is truly a goodly heritage. It stands forth the beacon-light of liberty to all men and nations of the earth. It is in the political world what the advent of the Messiah was in the moral world,-As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' This republic, fellow-citizens, is in our hands. It imposes on us high duty. Let us resolve, in the face of Heaven and of men, we will perform it. [Signed] "L. M. PARKER, Building Committee. |