The town of Hamilton was laid out by Israel Ludlow in December, 1794, and was first called Fairfield. The early inhabitants-so tradition says-were chiefly soldiers who had been attached to Wayne's army, and remained there at the close of the campaign. It is said that active military life had unfitted them for pioneer work, and even led some to dissipation. This may be explained, however, by the fact that fever and ague prevailed to a great extent, and that the use of intoxicating liquors, medicinally prescribed, could not be "shaken off."

The first legislature which assembled under the new constitution commenced its first session at Chillicothe, on Tuesday, March 1, 1803, and on the twenty-fourth day of the same month passed an act for the division of the counties of Hamilton and Ross. The county of Butler was organized under this act, and on the tenth day of May, 1803, the associate judges of the court of common pleas of Butler county met for the purpose of organizing the county. The first regular term of the court of common pleas of Butler county began on Tuesday, July 12, 1803, and the first term of the supreme court for Butler county was opened on the eleventh day of October, 1803.

This grand old county had not then been educated up to the modern system of taxation, and subscriptions to the amount of fifteen hundred dollars were received in "money, whisky, grain, stone, lime, brick, timber, mechanical work, labor and hauling," for the erection of a suitable place for the sitting of the court, and a more secure place for the confinement of prisoners.

In 1804, under the administration of Thomas Jefferson, a postoffice was established at Hamilton, and this was the only mail route in the interior of all the Miami

country. There was then no postoffice west of the Miami river.

The county of Butler to-day may well challenge comparison with any county in Ohio in the number of its broad acres, in the character of its soil and timber, in its churches and institutions for orphaned children, in the relief which its hands extend to the needy, and in the charity which it offers to the unfortunate, in its homes where comfort and culture and happy children make welcome the guest, in its influences for morality and good citizenship, and in the speedy and impartial administration of justice.

Of the sons of the Miami valley, either by birth or adoption, two have filled the presidential chair, ten have been governors of Ohio, nine have been United States senators, one has been chief justice, and two have been associate justices of the supreme court of the United States; some have sat on the supreme bench of Ohio, others have been members of the most important committees in congress, and largely directed the legislation of the country; many were gallant soldiers in the war of 1812, and more rendered patriotic service on every battlefield in the war for the Union.

On this anniversary of our independence, we reverently do honor to the memory of the gallant Butler and those who fell with him on that day of dreadful disaster on St. Clair battlefield, to the memory of those tried and heroic men who followed Anthony Wayne and perished at last at the Fallen Timbers, to the memory of those patriotic spirits who heard the thunder of Perry's gun and defended the honor of their country against British domination in the War of 1812, to the memory of those who carried the flag on the fields of Mexico and planted the banner of the Republic

on the Halls of the Montezumas, to the memory of those hardy pioneers who protected the frontiers and saved defenseless settlements from the tomahawk and scalping knife, to the memory of every man whether on land or on sea who has lifted up his hand for his country.

Who can predict the future of the Republic? Who can estimate that which is beyond? Men of the Miami valley, men of Ohio, men, in a higher and nobler sense, of the United States of America, this is our country, our home, our sign among the peoples of the earth.

Let us, then, with gratitude for the past and with hope and confidence for the future, do all that within us lies to magnify American citizenship and advance the interests of the Republic. Let us in the spirit of a generous magnanimity invoke the benediction of the Most High for all parts of our common country, so that all things may be ordered and settled upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations.

MEXICAN WAR: CAUSES AND RESULTS

In the year 1800, Latour d'Auvergne, a descendant of Turrenne, fell on the field of battle. He had joined the French army in the place of his son, and so exemplary was his conduct, that he was named "the first grenadier of France." Napoleon directed that the heart of Latour d'Auvergne, who fell at the battle of Neubourg, should continue to be carried ostensibly by the quarter-master sergeant of the grenadier company of the forty-sixth, in which he served. His name was preserved on the roll, and when called the corporal of the guard to which he had belonged answered: "Dead on the field of honor."

We stand to-day in the presence of the veteran soldiers and sailors of the Mexican war, who went out to maintain the honor of the American flag, whose achievements have enriched the history of their country, and who returned to share the benefits of the government which they defended on distant battlefields. We bespeak for them for all time the affection and respect of their countrymen. The trust confided was faithfully fulfilled, and the flag which they carried was not dishonored on a single field.

They did not all return. Some fell in the charges at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, under Taylor, before even the declaration of war with Mexico; some in the storming of Monterey, on the very streets of

Delivered Before the National Association of the Veteran Soldiers and Sailors of the Mexican War, at the Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, Ohio, September 15, 1881.

the city; some in the desperate and bloody conflict at Buena Vista, amidst the roar of the artillery of Bragg and Washington and Sherman; some under the walls of the strong castle of San Juan d'Ulloa, under Scott; some went down to death at Cerro Gordo before their eyes could see the unfurling of the stars and stripes by Worth on the slopes of the mountains; some perished by disease and camp fever before even their comrades from the lofty summits of the great Cordilleras looked down upon the glorious panorama of lakes and cities and plains, and homes and villages in the grand valley of Mexico; some fell under the embattled walls of Cherubusco, under Twiggs; some gave up their lives in the attack at Contreras, under Persifer F. Smith; some were slain by the guns of the proud Chepultepec; many, after privations of camp and wounds from battle, died before their eyes could be gladdened by the flag of their country floating in triumph from the national palace of the haughty city of Montezumas, which told of the conquest of the Mexican empire.

They are dead on the field of honor, and a great Republic, mighty in its perfect unity, guards with tender care the memory of those who lifted up their hands, whether on land or on sea, for their country and for the honor of the flag.

Thirty-four years ago yesterday at ten o'clock in the morning, the army of the United States, under General Winfield Scott, entered the city of Mexico, and on the grand plaza raised the flag of the United States and took formal possession of the Mexican empire. Santa Anna made some effort to regain lost power, but before the close of October he was an exile, and sought safety in flight to the shores of the Gulf of