You know the story of the stealthy, midnight march from Boston,--the successful mission to Adams and Hancock,--the sudden fear which seized Colonel Smith, the commander of the expedition,--his call for reinforcements before he knew whether the yeomanry would fight or not, --the massacre at Lexington,--the alarm of the country,--the gathering of the minute men,--the arrival of the foe at Concord,--the division of the invading party to secure the entrance to the town,--the engagement at the Old North Bridge, where the resolutions of the county of Middlesex of August, 1774, were embodied in action,--the confusion consequent upon so serious a matter as resistance to the Parliament and Ministry of England,--the retreat of the invading party,--the hot pursuit,--the final flight,--and the electric shock which the proceedings of April 19 gave to the colonies and to Great Britain. These events were long and well remembered, and the historian cannot omit to give them importance in his view of the progress of liberty, and especially of American liberty. But my respect for your familiarity with the opening, thrilling scenes of the Revolution counsels me to omit the details, even when we remember those whose names have been made illustrious by the parts they bore. All shall live upon the just page of our own historian. But the interest which belongs to the events of that day is not more on account of the important results of the war, than from the sense of duty under which the contest was commenced. It was this conviction which made American invincible. It produced that singular and highest quality of martyrdom which endures more than the worst enemies can inflict. It was this sense of duty which gave courage to our soldiers and inspired all our families with that charity and patriotism on which the army was so dependent for clothing and the necessities of life. The sentiment was almost universal that the colonies were oppressed, that the policy of the mother country was in violation of its own principles of government, that the colonists were refused the rights and privileges of British subjects, and lastly that Great Britain was determined to introduce a commercial system purposely detrimental to colonial interests; in fine, that commerce was to be paralyzed, manufactures discouraged, and agriculture reduced to a state of vassalage. The public attention had been for many years directed to the possibility of a rupture,--none knew when or how terrible it would be. There had, however, been a long season of preparation. The courage necessary to meet the crisis was quite different from that which the mere soldier requires. In 1775 our fathers were called upon to judge of the morality of the course they were entering, not for themselves only, but for their country and for posterity.