On arriving at the Bowery, the escort was received with shouts of "HOSANNA TO GOD AND THE LAMB!" While the Governor and suite, Patriarch and Presiding Bishops were passing down the aisle, the people cheered and shouted, "HAIL TO THE GOVERNOR OF DESERET." These being seated on the stand by the committee, the escort marched around the Bowery, singing an appropriate hymn—then down the aisle, and were seated in double rows on each side.
The assembly was called to order, and prayer offered by Apostle Erastus Snow.
Richard Ballantyne, chairman of the twenty-four young men, came to the stand, and, in a neat speech, presented the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States to Governor Young, which was received with three shouts, "MAY THEY LIVE FOREVER!" led by Governor Young.
The Declaration of Independence was then read, the brass band following with lively airs, after which the following Song of Liberty, by E. R. S. Smith, was sung by the twenty-four young ladies:
SONG OF LIBERTY.
Long, long ago, when Earth and Time
Were in the morn of life,
All joyous in their lovely prime,
With fragrant beauty rife.
All nature then in order crowned
With perfect harmony;
Luxuriant products clothed the ground,
O, there was liberty.No vail obscured the worlds on high
From those that dwelt on earth;
But in the pathway of the sky,
They journeyed back and forth.
Then God and angels talked with men,
And woman, too, was free,
For both were pure and sinless then,
In perfect liberty.The curse pursued transgression's track,
And man from God was driven,
Until the Priesthood brought him back,
To do the will of heaven.
We'll shout hosanna to the Lord,
For what is yet to be,
When earth and man will be restored
To God and liberty.We see the lighthouse brightly blaze
Far o'er the boisterous wave;
With cheering prospects thus we gaze
On hopes beyond the grave;
For woman, if submissive here
To God's divine decree,
Restored, will fill a noble sphere
In glorious liberty.The Lord has set His gracious hand,
And by His mighty power,
He led His people to this land—
Preparing for the hour;
For Earth and Time are growing old,
And soon Eternity
Will to the Saints of God unfold
CELESTIAL LIBERTY.
The singing by the young ladies performed, Elder Phineas Richards came forward in behalf of the twenty-four aged sires, and read their loyal and patriotic address, as follows:
To our honorable President and this respectable Audience:
Respected Fellow Citizens:—Permit us, the aged Fathers in Israel, to mingle our voices with yours on this interesting occasion—an occasion which is calculated to call into exercise the most acute feelings of the human heart.
The circumstance which we this day commemorate, will form a very important item in the history of succeeding ages. Two years ago this day, when President Brigham Young first entered this valley, he completed the most extraordinary expedition ever recorded in the annals of history.
There are sometimes small and seemingly trivial events in the life of man, with which every other period most naturally associates. There are circumstances in the history of nations, which seem as fulcrums, around which everything else revolves. But the period, the circumstance, the event which we now commemorate, is one with which is associated the interests of the world—the salvation of the whole human family.