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 MB. COLMAN'S ORATION, 
 
 JULir 4, lezs. 
 
 .•irz-fr^rff/^fy 
 
AN 
 
 ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED IN SALEM, JULY 4, 1826, 
 
 AT THE REQUEST OF THE TOWN, 
 
 OXr THE COMPZ.STZOIT OF A UAItT CENTVIIV 
 
 SINCE THE 
 
 DECLARATIOlk OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 BY HENRY COLMAN. 
 
 Published at the request of the Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 SALEM: 
 
 PRINTED BY WARWICK PALFRAY, JTfN. 
 1826. 
 

 ^^t ^ I 
 
 H 
 
ORATION. 
 
 FELLOW- CITIZENS, 
 
 It is with unfeigned diffidence and a perfect 
 reliance upon your candor, that I appear on this occa- 
 sion to speak of the origin, the conduct, and the results 
 of the great event, which this day commemorates. 
 
 There is a wonderful sublimity in nature ; but there 
 is a moral sublimity in human history still more affect- 
 ing. The lofty mountain, pillaring the arch of heaven ; 
 the majestic river, bursting from the unsearched forest, 
 and traversing a continent in its resistless march ; the 
 boundless ocean, swelling and frowning in its anger ; 
 the volcano, shooting up its flames upon the darkness 
 of midnight, and pouring down its sides its torrents 
 of liquid fire; the immeasurable expanse of heaven, 
 peopled with worlds, that no imagination can number, 
 are objects which overwhelm the mind. 
 
 There is a moral sublimity which surpasses this» 
 The fearless navigator, setting out upon an untried 
 
ocean for the discovery of new worlds; the hero, 
 pressing forward to lead the forlorn hope ; the martyr 
 at the stake, pouring out his prayers of forgiveness for 
 his murderers, and lifting up his praises to God, while 
 the flames are blazing around him ; and the patriot, 
 sensitive only to the honor, and proffering his life for 
 the service of his country, swell the heart with emo- 
 tions of a higher character. 
 
 This day commemorates an event, which combines 
 the highest attributes of what is sublime in moral con- 
 duct. It will be cherished by every philanthropist 
 and every grateful American in devout remembrance. 
 There stands the simple and affecting memorial of this 
 great event, upborne by the same hands which sus- 
 tained it in that trying period ; " WE APPEAL TO 
 HEAVEN."* 
 
 The Declaration of American Independence is an 
 event not always represented in its true character. It 
 was not the mere ebullition of passion, the kindling of 
 those fires in the human breast, which require only to 
 be moved to become inflamed. It was too serious an 
 act to be charged to the account of passion. Nor was 
 it a mere paroxysm or struggle of men driven to des- 
 peration, who rise in their frenzy to break their chains 
 over the heads of their oppressors. There were indeed 
 tyranny and oppression ; yet they were not so exorbi- 
 tant, but that many wise and good men, many true 
 friends to their country, considered the measures of 
 the British Government towards her Colonies as mat • 
 
 ♦ Alluding to the inscription on the revolutionary banner, borne on this 
 occasion by some of the eoldiers of the American Army. 
 
fers of perfect right on her part ; and maintained that 
 no evils existed on the other side, which a peaceftd ne- 
 gotiation might not remedy. It was not the setting 
 up of some new theory of poHtical rights ; a mere 
 illusion of the imagination, by which whole com- 
 munities have been betrayed, like a meteor, that se- 
 duces the benighted traveller. The men of that 
 period were not easily led astray by their imagina- 
 tions. The interests at stake were much too im- 
 portant for them to trust themselves upon any doubt- 
 ful speculations. They had not then to learn the 
 principles of civil liberty. Their ancestors, who plant- 
 ed themselves in this wild land, brought with them, 
 and transmitted as an heir-loom to their descendants, 
 a spirit of freedom as healthy andelastick as the air of 
 the ocean, which bore these pilgrims upon its waves. 
 The Declaration of Independence was founded in no 
 mercenary, ambitious, or sordid calculation ; stirred 
 up by no criminal passion nor resentment, by no views 
 of aggrandizement, no wanton rebellion against au- 
 thority. It was a measure originating in motives of 
 duty. It was the fearless avowal of the first princi- 
 ples of political liberty. It was a magnanimous as- 
 sumption of the right of self-government. It was a 
 determination to be free, made in the most deliberate 
 manner ; and from purposes as disinterested as any by 
 which human nature is ever actuated. It was not 
 more actual oppression under which they suffered, 
 than a wise forecast of oppression to which they were 
 exposed ; and against which they resolved to close the 
 door as its foot first touched the threshold. It was 
 taking a stand in vindication of rights and liberties, 
 which are dear to man : but the last, which an abso- 
 
lute government consents to yield ; and for objects ot 
 public concern for which no sacrifice can be too great. 
 It was made in an hour of extreme peril ; under cir- 
 cumstances most inauspicious to their success ; by 
 men, who felt that on this measure every thing was 
 put at hazard ; but upon whose minds fear never cast 
 its shadow ; who saw that they were then kindling a 
 fire in which they themselves might be consumed, and 
 from which they could not come out unhurt ; but who 
 thought little of their own personal safety, if Only their 
 purposes might be accomplished. These purposes 
 were accomplished. The expense was great ; the en- 
 terprise arduous ; but the objects were fully attained, 
 and the pledge completely redeemed. 
 
 II. I shall not tax your forbearance by enlarging 
 on the conduct of that war. Every child is familiar 
 with its history. There are those, who hear me, who 
 can say they were a part of it ; here and there a vet- 
 eran of the revolution is seen like a straggling tree, 
 which the storms of half a century have not overturn- 
 ed, to show the noble growth of those times. On the 
 part of the Americans, the war was prosecuted in a 
 manner consistent with its just purposes. It was a 
 war, whose highest honor did not consist in its success ; 
 nor in the bravery and address with which it was con- 
 ducted ; but above all, in the purity of principle in 
 which it originated, and which regulated its close and 
 its consequences ; a purity of principle, which shone 
 with a brightness proportioned to the exigencies of the 
 occasion. I am unwilling to speak of the conduct of 
 the parent country when standmg in the relation of an 
 enemy, because it would be matter of regret, if any 
 
unkind emotions should disturb the satisfactions of this 
 day. Individual and national resentments are unwor- 
 thy of generous minds. But it would be ungrateful to 
 pass over the conduct of our own countrymen ; or to 
 fail to hold them up as an example to their posterity 
 and the world. 
 
 Through an alternation of extraordinary successes 
 and defeats, amidst severe privations and hardships, 
 under losses and disasters, which would have over- 
 whelmed ordinary minds, they persevered with an un- 
 wavering courage. The soldiers of that period were 
 ijien to whom war was an unaccustomed employment; 
 who were summoned from the peaceful arts and pur- 
 isuits of life ; and who took up arms not with the spirit 
 of mercenaries ; but with the determination of men, 
 who felt that the cause in which they contended, was 
 the cause of human rights ; and they for whom they 
 contended were their parents, their wives, and their 
 children. As we have said, on the part of the Ameri- 
 cans the conduct of the war corresponded to the views 
 with which it was undertaken. It was with them a 
 war unstained by crime. It was not exasperated nor 
 dishonored, by the cruelties, rapine, and treachery, 
 which usually mark the progress of armies. When 
 independence was achieved, these citizen soldiers, who 
 at that moment had the liberties of the country within 
 their grasp, and were tempted to seize them by the 
 most seductive motives, which ordinarily address them- 
 selves to the minds of men, presented an example of 
 moderation which has never been surpassed. Having 
 accomplished their great objects, they promptly laid 
 down their arms ; and though unrewarded and penny- 
 less, they returned quietly to their homes. They left 
 
8 
 
 the field of bitter conflict, satisfied with the compensa- 
 tion, which none but men of their character know how 
 to appretiate, the vindication of their country's rights, 
 the security of her independence, and the prospect of 
 her happiness. 
 
 The world has never seen a brighter example of 
 magnanimity than was given under these circumstances 
 by the leader of the revolutionary army. I would not 
 presume to detract from the merits of this matchless 
 man, whose fame is imperishable, and can no more be 
 tarnished by any current opinions of the present day, 
 than the light of the sun can be extinguished by any 
 passing cloud, which should perchance intercept him 
 from our sight ; but it would be a dishonor to the mem- 
 ory of Washington, to do injustice to the brave men 
 associated with him. Washington was himself but a 
 sample of the heroes of the revolution ; and while all 
 are prompt to accord to him the honor of being first 
 among them, it is no derogation from his merit to say 
 that he was first among equals. The leaders in this 
 struggle, the founders of our Republick, were men of 
 the highest cast of character. Nobler spirits, braver, 
 more generous, more disinterested men, shed their lus- 
 tre upon no portion of human history. Actuated by 
 a pure patriotism, and guided by principles of duty, 
 they went boldly on through scenes of the darkest trial 
 and the severest service, until Heaven crowned their 
 efforts with complete success. 
 
 Youthful Americans ! What an honor and privilege 
 to be able to say of such men, ' they were our fathers ;' 
 and who, a year since, witnessed the affecting specta- 
 
9 
 
 cle, and was not conscious of emotions unknown be- 
 fore, when he saw the fragments of this band of he^. 
 roes, crippled with wounds and blanched by the frost 
 of years, listening to the tale of their country's glory- 
 in strains of Roman eloquence, where they had read 
 the tale of their country's wrongs in letters of fire, or 
 heard it in the thunders of war; and in the unclouded 
 prospect of her prosperity, now poured forth their tears^ 
 of exultation in the same field, where in vindication of 
 her rights they had poured out their blood.* 
 
 The brave men of the revolution, were men who 
 feared God, but knew no other fear. Actuated by a 
 high sense of duty, they rested upon the approbation 
 of their own hearts as an ample reward for their toils. 
 They were worthy of the pilgrims from whom they 
 claimed their origin ; of those men to whose pre-emi- 
 nent virtue the highest tribute which we can render, is 
 not undeserved. Brave and pious men ! who saw the 
 hand of God, beckoning them as he did the ancient 
 people of Israel, out of a land of captivity ; and who 
 did not hesitate to follow the impulse, though it open- 
 ed a passage through a sea of blood. They knew that 
 " God could provide for them a table In the wilder- 
 ness ;" and when they were cast with their wives and 
 children defenceless upon this savage shore, they felt 
 neither repining nor dismay ; since here at least they 
 had obtained the great object which they sought, their 
 religious liberty ; and here, with no other temple than 
 the broad expanse, and no other altar than the rocks of 
 the desert, they were free to worship God according 
 to the unfettered dictates of conscience. They were 
 
 * Alluding to the commemoration of the Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1825, 
 
10 
 
 men born for their times ; and capable of accomplish- 
 ing any enterprise, which their religious convictions 
 approved. 
 
 III. Such are the characteristic traits of the history 
 of our revolution. Let us glance in the last place at 
 its results. It is fifty years this day, perhaps this hour, 
 since the great act was performed, which gave birth 
 to our nation. No event more noble adorns the an- 
 nals of societ3^ An unprotected assembly of delegates 
 from a ^ew feeble and disjointed Colonies, deliberately 
 asserting in their full extent the highest rights which 
 man in his social state can claim ; pledging for their 
 support their fortunes, their lives, and, what is dearer 
 to such men, their honor ; cutting asunder at a single 
 blow the ties which bound them to the country of their 
 fathers' sepulchres ; standing up in defiance of the 
 most po^^ erful empire, which then swayed a sceptre on 
 the globe ; in the midst of a darkness most intense, 
 and under the bursting of a storm, which threatened to 
 crush them by its violence, calmly laying the corner- 
 stone of a fabric of civil liberty, whose just and beau- 
 tiful proportions, and whose magnificent elevation 
 seemed then present to their minds, constitute a scene 
 in human history, to which poetry, painting and elo- 
 quence in their combined power can do only partial 
 justice ; and which an exalted mind must contemplate 
 with an enthusiastic admiration. 
 
 Of a country thus interesting in its origin and for its 
 singular purity, disinterestedness, and courage, more 
 romantic tlian that of the fabled nations of antiquity, 
 the successful progress has been scarcely less extraordi- 
 
11 
 
 nary. No pages of political history are more brilliant 
 than those which pourtray her gradual ascent, from her 
 first glimmering above the horizon to her present noon- 
 day glory. We cannot say that her progress has been 
 unclouded. But the interruptions of her prosperity, 
 incidental to every thing human, have served only to 
 make us more sensible to her blessings, as the damps 
 and darkness of night teach us how to value the warmth 
 and light of day. The evils, which she has suffered, 
 have not been unaccompanied with the most valuable 
 compensations. 
 
 I am aware of the extreme and bitter diversity of 
 opinion which prevailed among her best citizens in re- 
 gard to the recent war, But as at this distance of time 
 we can view the subject calmly, and weigh its merits 
 with justice, candid minds, whatever may be their 
 views of its ex})ediency or management, will find it dif 
 ficult to doubt that the motives in which it originated 
 were patriotic. In a case where those persons, who 
 themselves decided the question of war, in common 
 with the rest of their countrymen, put every thing at 
 hazard ; assumed its entire responsibility ; and were ex- 
 posed alike to all its perils and calamities ; it is a severe 
 judgment that will ascribe to them purposes purely of 
 a mercenary, ambitious, or criminal character. The 
 questions at issue upon the contest were of the last im- 
 portance. The rights, which the country claimed for 
 itself, were such as it should never surrender, while it 
 presumes to call itself independent. By what means 
 they are to be secured or sought, I submit to those, to 
 whose province such decisions belong. Disastrous as 
 were many of the events of that war, it exhibited ex- 
 
12 
 
 auiples of valor, magnanimity and patriotic devotion, 
 which would do honor to the best days of the republic ; 
 and unsuccessful as it may be deemed by any in the at- 
 tainment of its avowed objects, the country came out 
 of it, bringing new trophies of an illustrious heroism, 
 and of a devotion to what many might reasonably 
 deem the cause of liberty and right, worthy of those 
 who hold alliance to the heroes of the revolution. 
 These clouds have passed away. These calamities 
 have served to impress us more deeply with the value 
 of peace, and inspired increased confidence in a form 
 of government, which has thus been proved competent 
 to sustain itself amidst trials to which it has often been 
 pronounced unequal. We stand to-day upon elevated 
 ground ; and may look back upon the course we have 
 come, with honest pride and satisfaction. 
 
 Every man feels that the felicity of our country is 
 most extraordinary. It would be vain to attempt to 
 enumerate its multiplied and wide-spread blessings ; 
 but we may confidently demand of any frank and in- 
 telligent mind, under what evil of a public or social na- 
 ture do we labor ; or of what good, ordinarily pertain- 
 ing to the most favored condition of human society, are 
 we destitute ? None can be pointed out. It may be 
 asked if we design to describe the situation of our 
 country as perfect. Perfection is applicable to nothing 
 human. From a country as yet in the greenness of 
 youth, are not to be expected the advances of ripened 
 years. It would be presumption to compare a com- 
 munity in its childhood, with countries who have 
 reached the period of mature age ; our simple and 
 humble institutions, with the rich, magnificent, and 
 
13 
 
 moss-covered establishments of the old world ; the at- 
 tainments of a people, of necessity devoted to the pui- 
 suits of active life, and dependant on their daily exer- 
 tions for their daily subsistence, with those of coun- 
 tries where the division of labor is perfect ; where 
 every facility and encouragement is given to learning ; 
 and where with all the advantages of leisure, compe- 
 tence, and patronage, men are trained to the exclusive 
 pursuit of literature, the fine arts, the mechanic arts, 
 or of intellectual or political philosophy. But as it 
 respects the means of subsistence and the comforts of 
 life, the security of person and property, the efiicient 
 and prompt administration of justice, the attainment 
 of the just rewards of honorable exertion, the means 
 of improving our condition, the general advantages of 
 education, the blessings of religious institutions, the 
 extent of civil and religious liberty, a brighter group 
 of privileges, a fairer picture of social prosperity, has 
 never risen before the delighted imagination of the 
 patriot and philanthropist. 
 
 But I should be unjust to the occasion, if I failed to 
 dwell upon those peculiar circumstances in our politi- 
 cal condition, which mark decisively the attainment 
 of the great objects of the first settlement of the coun- 
 try, and the revolution which we commemorate. I 
 refer particularly to the civil and religious liberty 
 which are enjoyed by us ; blessings, which in the same 
 measure have fallen to the lot of no nation ; blessings, 
 for the one of which our fathers boldly met the perils 
 of the wilderness ; and for the other, the brave men of 
 a later period launched forth upon the turbid sea of 
 revolution and war. 
 
14 
 
 What they sought they found. Under the blessing 
 of God, their piety and valor have transmitted to us 
 their children this rich inheritance. We, who have 
 been trained up in the undisturbed possession of these 
 blessings, can very imperfectly estimate their value. 
 We may learn how they valued th^m, who laboring 
 under their privation or infringement, felt that for their 
 possession and security no labor was great and no sac- 
 rifice considerable. One of the earliest and strongest 
 appetites of the human soul is after God ; and an in- 
 telligent, feeling, and pious man, w^ill yield no privi- 
 lege with greater reluctance, than the freedom of recog- 
 nising his relation to God, and of performing the ser- 
 vices consonant to that relation according to the un- 
 controled dictates of his own mind-. 
 
 Civil liberty is next in value to religious liberty. 
 Personal freedom, freedom of speech and of action, as 
 far as no encroachment is made upon the peace and 
 freedom of others, the security of property, the peace- 
 able enjoyment of the fruits of honest labor and en- 
 terprise, and a fre^ choice in the appointment of those 
 to whom the necessary duties of legislation and gov- 
 ernment shall be entrusted, are the greatest goods 
 which man can ask in his social state. The enjoy- 
 ment of these blessings among us perhaps approxi- 
 mates as nearly to perfection as is compatible with the 
 human condition. 
 
 There is one circumstance in our social prosperity 
 too prominent to be overlooked, because it was made 
 by our ancestors the basis of our political institutions. 
 It is that the whole form of civil socictv amonir us re- 
 
15 
 
 cognises the natural equality of mankind; and ad- 
 mits of none of those artificial distinctions of rank, 
 or power, which are held in other countries at the ex- 
 pense of the many for the gain of a few. 
 
 One of the first positions assumed in the immortal 
 Declaration, which has this day been read, is " that all 
 men are created equal; that they are endowed by their 
 Creator with certain unalienable rights ; that among 
 these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 
 Into whatever discredit some of the sanguinary events 
 of the French Revolution may have brought the abused 
 doctrines of liberty and equality, it becomes every true 
 American to hold to them with his life in their broadest 
 extent. They are sounds which should ever be melo- 
 dious to his ear ; aiKl which can awaken in his heart 
 only responsive pulsations. They are principles bold- 
 ly asserted by the brave men of the revolution ; and the 
 men not less brave, who preceded them ; principles, 
 which when an American citizen denies, he ceases to 
 hold kindred with those imperishable names from 
 whom he claims descent ; and is unworthy to tread 
 the free soil, which gave him birth. 
 
 An American can look upon the aristocratic dis- 
 tinctions of the European governments, with all their 
 vain assumptions of ecclesiastical and royal legitimacy, 
 in no other light than as unnatural and pernicious. To 
 an independent mind, accustomed from infancy to 
 breathe the bracing air of freedom, they must be intol- 
 erable. The happiest community doubtless is that 
 where men are as nearly as possible on a level ; where 
 the poor man's rights and happiness and liberty and 
 
16 
 
 property are as secure, as if entrenched by the strongest 
 bulwarks of political rank or power or wealth. That 
 condition of society is of all others to be chosen in 
 which, as among us, men become what they choose to 
 make themselves ; in w^hich elevation and authority 
 rest upon no other basis than the benefit and free choice 
 of the governed ; in which they who rule, equally 
 with them who are ruled, are amenable to their own 
 statutes ; and the highest distinctions in the community 
 are offered to every citizen, without other discrimina- 
 tion than as the honorable reward of virtue and talents. 
 Whatever tends in any other respect than as virtue and 
 talents may do it to exalt one, tends in the same de- 
 gree to depress another portion of the community. 
 Whatever makes men feel that they are in any respect 
 degraded, is likely to create a servile tem])er, which 
 chills any strong desire of intellectual or moral excel- 
 lence; or produces a mortified state of mind, which 
 withdraws some of the most powerful encouragements 
 to good conduct. In our ow n happy condition we see 
 a perfect experiment of the principles of our fathers ; 
 and to the credit of their wisdom and philanthropy 
 these principles have proved a great security of public 
 raoials, an efficient instrument of public virtue, and 
 powerful means of elevating the intellectual and politi- 
 cal character of our community. 
 
 Such are the prominent features in the prosperity of 
 our country. Such is the successful result of the glo- 
 rious enterprise, which we celebrate. I might speak 
 of her immense resources, her rapid progress in popu- 
 lation, her brilliant rising in the arts of life, her quick 
 and forward march in civilization and internal im- 
 
17 
 
 provements, her extended means of education, liei' ad- 
 vancing intelligence, her agricultural riches, her inge- 
 nious and increasing manufactures, her immense ex- 
 ports, her adventurous commerce, which, emulating 
 the birds of the air in their unrestricted migrations, 
 leaves no corner of the globe unvisited. Instead of a 
 representation of fiftj-five delegates, who signed the 
 Declaration of Independence, she numbers a Congress 
 of hundreds. Instead of a federation of thirteen colo- 
 nies, the insignia of twenty four large and thriving re- 
 publics glitter in the constellation of her spangled 
 banner. A population of three millions is quadrupled ; 
 and in place of a limited and timid commerce, her 
 ships spread their wings on every sea, and she holds a 
 maritime rank, second only to one nation on the globe. 
 From the river St. Croix, she stretches onward to 
 Mexico ; from the Atlantic, she extends her sceptre 
 to the Pacific. She follows the sun in his bright 
 track over her territory nearly the journey of a day, 
 until she finds where he hides himself in the waves of 
 the western ocean. The summits of the Alleghanies 
 have long* since been passed ; and the busy and moving 
 multitudes beyond them are scarcely less numerous 
 than those, which inhabit the hither side. The cliffs 
 of the Rocky Mountains present no barrier to the irre- 
 sistible tide of emigration. New swarms from the 
 parent hives are every where scattering themselves 
 over this vast territory, and causing the mountains and 
 valleys to resound with the hum of industry and thrift. 
 The forests of the great western world are falling in 
 the progress of cultivation ; and the beaten track of 
 civilized man is already extended from one ocean to 
 the other. The brilliant triumphs of art and genius^ 
 3 
 
18 
 
 of uuslackening activity and heroic enterprise, are ev- 
 ery where conspicuous. The shores of her great in- 
 land seas are tributary to the cities oji her eastern bor- 
 ders ; and the Lake of the Woods is compelled to 
 mingle its waters with the Atlantic's tides. Villages 
 and towns, with all the improvements of old commu- 
 nities, spring up as it were by magic ; the spires of 
 their churches are seen rising out from among the trees 
 of the forest ; and the dark places of the tangled wil- 
 derness, which have resounded only with the bowlings 
 of wild beasts, or the war-whoop of men more savage, 
 catch the joyful rays from their glittering vanes, and 
 become vocal with the praises of the true God. 
 
 Eloquence and poetry in their boldest visions have 
 imagined nothing more wonderful or more beautiful 
 than the progress of our country. Yet after all, her 
 truest glory and prosperity are her free institutions ! 
 Without these her other blessings would be compara- 
 tively of small value. Give us a soil as sterile and a 
 climate as inhospitable as that of the polar regions ; 
 give us poverty and cold and hunger ; give us but a 
 couch of leaves for our bed and a canopy of boughs for 
 our shelter ; and our fathers would have said, if we 
 have free institutions, we have enough. In pursuit of 
 the freedom, which has descended to us, they rode the 
 stormy billows of the ocean without alarm ; and here 
 in the wilderness, with no covering but the clear 
 heavens, and no pillow but the drifts of winter, they 
 lifted up their hearts in thanksgiving to God ; and ask- 
 ed no more of him than the liberty, which he had 
 taught them to hold as their birth-right. Be it worn 
 
19 
 
 always as the motto of the children of such men, 
 "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." 
 
 I ask leave to repeat it ; we stand to-day upon ele- 
 vated ground, and a wide prospect stretches itself out 
 before us. We look backwards, and tracing the pro- 
 gress ol half a century, we see our country rising from 
 humble beginnings to an extent of empire, which no 
 imagination could at that period have dared to antici- 
 pate. In the blessings of her present condition we see 
 an ample reward for the toils and sacrifices of the men, 
 whose sagacity laid, and whose blood cemented the 
 foundations of her felicity. We extend our views for- 
 ward ; but we attempt in vain to measure the magnifi- 
 cent destiny to which she seems advancing. 
 
 The history of the last half century in the old world 
 has been traced in the deepest characters of blood and 
 misery. The European continent presents a picture 
 of fields, whitened with the bones of millions of her 
 slaughtered sons ; of thrones overturned, and thrones 
 built up from the fragments of these fallen dominions; 
 and of terrific revolutions, which, after an expense of 
 human life and suffering, that language is inadequate 
 to describe, have often terminated not in the meliora- 
 tion of the condition of an oppressed people ; but in the 
 restoration and strengthening of time-worn and galling 
 institutions. After all her bleeding trials, and in a pe- 
 riod of the world more liberal and enlightened than 
 any which has preceded it, she has been compelled to 
 witness in silence the- combination of her sovereigns 
 under the abused name of religion, to deny to their 
 subjects the first principles of political freedom : to ex- 
 
20 
 
 tinguish the lights of education ; and to enforce by the 
 sword, doctrines of political succession and power wor- 
 thy only of the dark ages. 
 
 From a remote corner of Europe, the bright spot 
 where civil Fiberty had birth on earth, and which to 
 the classical imagination is encircled with the most 
 brilliant associations, the convulsive shrieks of men 
 struggling for existence against an iron despotism, 
 have gone up to Heaven with the flames of their pil- 
 laged cities. There in God's mercy may they at last 
 be heard and answered. May they be followed by a 
 voice of triumph and glory, which shall make the op- 
 pressors of mankind turn pale, and feel that the world 
 was not made for them alone. May this abused and 
 suffering people, whose courage and sacrifices have 
 been worthy of the best days of their ancient renown, 
 at last see every vestioe of tyranny obliterated from 
 the hallowed soil of their country. 
 
 A brighter prospect presents itself upon our own 
 continent. The light of American freedom begins to 
 be reflected from the summits of the Andes ; and their 
 luxuriant valleys are vocal with the kindred and rap- 
 turous sounds of liberty and Washington. Sister 
 Republics in a brilliant group are rising to meet us in 
 the Southern Hemisphere ; are seeking to learn of us 
 the principles of civil liberty ; and with an enthusiasm 
 that shrinks from no sacrifice, are emulating our free 
 institutions. Every generous heart beats responsive 
 to their desires, and pours out its prayers in their be- 
 half. In ages of freedom may they find at last some 
 compensation for the oppression and degradation and 
 
21 
 
 misery, to which an insatiable tyranny and a IjidooUs- 
 superstition has so long subjected them. 
 
 What remains then, but that I call upon every son 
 and daug;hter of this happy republic, to value his bless- 
 ings as he ought, and to perform the grateful duties 
 which these blessings impose. To the brave men of 
 the revolution we owe a debt, which cannot be cancel- 
 led. There still survive to see this day, some to whom 
 this day brings associations of a nature, which no 
 others can attach to it ; and who are themselves 
 living histories of the eventful period of the revolution. 
 Venerable and privileged men ! venerable for services 
 of patriotism, which it has been the honor of few other 
 men to render ; privileged above other men, in that 
 you, who were compelled to feel your way in the 
 darkest hour of her trials, are permitted now to find 
 repose amidst the splendors of her prosperity ; and 
 while the light of life with you is declining, you see 
 her sun still mounting upwards in its full orbed glory. 
 Brave men ! whom we would cherish with the grate- 
 ful respect which your noble services claim. The gov- 
 ernment of your country has been reluctant in the pe- 
 cuniary acknowledgment of the immense debt of ser- 
 vice, which she owes you ; and to those, whom the 
 hard qualification of poverty has compelled to seek it, 
 has dealt out as a pittance of charity a small part of 
 what you might claim on the score of justice ; but it is 
 your high honor to know that it was not a pecuniary 
 compensation, which you sought. There are services 
 for which money is a worthless equivalent ; such were 
 your services ; and minds capable of the benefactions 
 which you have rendered, find the richest compensa- 
 
22 
 
 lion in the noble consciousness of fulfilled duty ; and 
 in the prospect of the good, which you have procured 
 for your descendants. Generations far distant in the 
 line of time shall learn from your example what good 
 men owe to their country and to the world ; and as 
 long as courage, disinterestedness and patriotism are 
 named among men, the memory of your services shall 
 be hallowed by the best aiTections of an admiring pos- 
 terity. 
 
 Americans ! citizens of this favored republic ! the 
 possessors of such blessings ! the descendants of such 
 men ! prove yourselves worthy of the former, by culti- 
 vating the virtues of the latter. The Carthagenian 
 general brought his child to the altar, to take an oath 
 of ceaseless vengeance against the enemies of his coun- 
 try ; come you into the presence of your fathers' God 
 to make a far better vow of duty to the memory of 
 your ancestors ; to the country, which they left as the 
 fruit of their toils ; and to the high principles of duty 
 on which they laid the broad foundations of its pros- 
 perity. Let such vows of duty swell your hearts on 
 this joyful occasion, and mingle with your thanksgiv- 
 ings to God, who stretched over your fathers the wing 
 of his protecting providence. Around our festive 
 boards let us pour out our libations with filial piety to 
 their memory ; and hold up to the grateful admiration 
 of our children a history fragrant with the savor of 
 their piety, and illuminated by the splendors of their 
 patriotism. Remaining true to their principles and 
 virtues, the prosperity of our country shall be secure ; 
 and her name shall go down unstained to distant ages. 
 She will continue to stand out as a beacon to the op- 
 
23 
 
 pressed nations of the world. The brilliancy of her 
 achievements will send their cheering light into the 
 dark places of the earth. The full tide of her glory 
 will roll on, until she has taught mankind the most 
 valuable of all political lessons ; that justice and honor 
 are the foundation of national as well as individual 
 happiness and ^ry ; that liberty and equality are the 
 natural and inalienable rights of man ; that the only 
 ends of civil government are the security, peace, im- 
 provement, and happiness of the governed ; that all the 
 liberty a g:ood man can desire, is compatible with all 
 the security a good man can need ; that the rights of 
 conscience are gifts from God, upon which no infringe- 
 ment or restraint is ever to be permitted ; and that 
 with knowledge and virtue and religious principle, 
 mankind are always competent to govern themselves. 
 
 Our earliest and our latest prayers shall go up to 
 Heaven for our country. The spirits of her just men 
 made perfect in celestial glory, are hovering over her 
 brilliant destinies. America! be free, be just, be inde- 
 pendent, be happy. America! go forward in the 
 march of true glory ; the glory of knowledge and wis- 
 dom ; of justice and freedom. May another and yet 
 another jubilee find you advancing on the unbroken 
 current of political happiness and honor. May liberty, 
 the best gift of Heaven to man in his political relations, 
 continue to be cherished by you with the warmest de- 
 votion ; and should God, in his displeasure for the in- 
 gratitude of man, see fit to recal her to her native skies, 
 may the last spot which she quits be this favored 
 country, where she has accomplished her best, her no- 
 blest triumphs. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 801 777 8 t 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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