GIass_ t.i-^L<c 
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AH 
 
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 PEONOONCED AT SPRINGFIEtD, MASS, ON THE 
 
 FOURTH OF JULY, 1823, 
 
 FORTY SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE DECLARATION OF 
 
 JLSimS@M m2S)!S^M!S)M(§& 
 
 BY EDWARD D. BANGS, Es.*. 
 
 ♦VBLISHED EY REQUEST OF THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD : 
 A. G. TANNATT, PRINTER, 
 1823. 
 
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 1^1^ p 
 
 V 1 
 
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DEEP was the gloom which overspread the nations, 
 when liberty first dawned upon the western world. Its 
 morning beams are now difiusing light and life over the 
 fair fields of OMr happy land; and soon will its meridian 
 splendour shine abroad upon the earth, crowning every hill- 
 top with its radiance, and filling every valley with gladness. 
 The events of the revolution — its momentous causes and 
 consequences — the consummation of our national independ- 
 ence — the triun)ph of the rights of man over those who 
 pretended that man had no rights but what he derived from 
 them — these are themes that can never tire. When they 
 cease to be interesting to an American audience, even if re- 
 hearsed by the lips of dulness itself, we may conclude that 
 the spirit of freedom is about forsaking us forever. With 
 what pride and pleasure, fellow-citizens, should you recur 
 to the history of those times, when our beloved country ex- 
 hibited a brighter display of the moral and intellectual ca- 
 pacities of human nature than the world had ever before 
 witnessed. Too long has our attention been turned to men 
 and scenes of other climes. Too long have we gazed upon 
 the tempestuous ocean of European politics, watching witK 
 breathless anxiety the heaving of the mighty billows, which, 
 at every swell, engulphed a slate or inundated an empire. 
 At first, it seems insipid to withdraw our eyes from this 
 dreadful but sublime spectacle, and survey the " calm sur- 
 face of the sumtner's sea" which washes our own shores. 
 
6 
 
 Yet the patriot aiid philanthropist will find at home a much 
 Mioie delightful subject of contemplation, and, in reality, 
 one more truly magnificent. 
 
 Look at the history of America from the discovery of 
 Columbus to the present day, and in the retrospect with 
 what grand reflections does the mind dilate ; and what 
 boundless and glorious prospects open on the view as we 
 extend it into futurity t What are the evanescent revolu- 
 tions of the European governments, with all the noise they 
 have occasioned in the world, compared with the march of 
 civilization on this immense conlinent, advancing with gi- 
 j^ixntic steps from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, and 
 reaching with a colossal stride almost from the North to the 
 South Pole? The one is but the transient turbulence of a 
 iempest — the other is like the revolving of the spheres, silent 
 but stupendous. 
 
 How insignificant in their consequences are the changes 
 and commoiions which have convulsed Europe, and which, 
 auer all, result only in the overthrow of one dynasty to 
 make room for another, or the transfer of a set of slaves 
 from one master to another — compared with the magnitude 
 of the event we are celebrating ; whose efiects, important as 
 we even now feel them to be, cannot be estimated in all 
 Uieir greatness, till the lapse of ages has peopled the vast 
 regions of America with countless millions of freemen! I 
 do not intend any profane allusion, when I say, that the A- 
 nmrican revolution was the redemption of mankind from a 
 stale of political degradation and depravity. The world 
 is not yet prepared to receive its blessings, but future gen- 
 erations will embrace lliem with joy and gratitude. In the 
 mcanlime, we may well be proud that ours was the chosen 
 land where the great work of reformation was appointed to 
 begin. Here was the standard of the true faith first planted. 
 Here did its few but fearless disciples uphold it against the 
 might of the oppressor. And hence wilPit extend its tri- 
 \iui|)hs, till it waves in every sea and over every clime. 
 
 Are we disappointed that the progress of republicanism 
 has not kept pace with the swiftness of our anticipations ^ 
 A little reflection will convince us that we have more cause 
 for encouragement than despondency. I believe it to be a 
 part of the grand system by wiiich God governs the world, 
 that the obstacles to the march of reason should be gradu- 
 ally overcome j and that it should advance slowly, but 
 
7 
 
 steadily, and surely, to a final victory over prejudice and 
 error. Much is already done. Even in the old world, re- 
 publican principles animate the breasts of thousands. The 
 smothered flame cannot always be suppressed. It will 
 burst forth in a general conflagration ; and the monuments 
 of bigotry and ignorance, the institutions of priestcraft, and 
 the thrones of despots, will be consumed like stubble. 
 
 It is true, that to the superficial observer the prospect is 
 dark and forbidding, and only a few faint gleams of light 
 break through the gloom. The friends of liberty have once 
 and again struggled in vain. They are still borne down 
 by the hand of tyranny. The minions of arbitrary power 
 are now employed in rivetting the chains of vassalage up- 
 on those who flattered themselves that they had shaken 
 them oft' forever. They will not sufler a great and gener- 
 ous people to support a government founded on the will of 
 the many in opposition to the usurpations of the few. Un- 
 happy Spain ! Would to God that thy own sons did not de- 
 ceive and betray thee — that disaftection did not corrupt thy 
 life blood and palsy thy right arm ! Didst thou present the 
 same unbroken front before which the legions of Napoleon 
 retired in discomfiture, not all the forces which the Holy 
 Alliance could marshal against thee, would break down the 
 adamantine wall. But we viill not despair. The invader 
 may be defeated — the blow he strikes may recoil on his own 
 head — he may be entangled in his own devices — he may 
 find too late for his safety, " that he who sows the wind wiU 
 reap the whirlwind!" Whatever may be the result, we will 
 NOT DESPAIR ! The night will pass — the morning will come. 
 And the longer and darker the night, the more bright and 
 ■welcome will be the dawn. The reign of oppression must 
 terminate. The progress of knowledge is irresistible ; and 
 tyrants can no more arrest its course than they can roll 
 back the waters of the Mississippi. When the human mind 
 shall be enlightened, mankind will be delivered from their 
 thraldom. 
 
 The example of America has not been lost upon the 
 tvorld. The older nations who witness the operation of our 
 democratic system, will have, in the successful experiment 
 we are making, a lesson of wisdom constantly before their 
 eyes, and to which every day will give increased authority. 
 With us is deposited a sacred trust for the benefit of the 
 whole human race. Upon the test we are making of the 
 
eflkiency and durability of a republican form of govern- 
 ment, not only the happiness of ourselves and of our poster- 
 ity depends, but the welfare of generations to come in the 
 remotest regions of the globe is suspended on the issue. 
 Such being our awful responsibility, may we so acquit our- 
 selves, that the blessings and not the curses of those who 
 shall succeed us may rest upon our memories ! 
 
 And are we free from danger ? Are we secure against that 
 fate which has overtaken every other empire ? Will our lib- 
 erties which now seem founded on a rock survive the rav- 
 ages of time, the collisions which they must undergo in our 
 intercourse with foreign nations, and that " canker at the 
 root" the progress of luxury and vice among ourselves ? Do 
 we properly estimate the worth of our blessings and watch 
 over them with that vigilance and solicitude with which so 
 invaluable a treasure should be guarded ? Triumphing in 
 our deliverance from slavery and our escape from perils, 
 and glorying in our might, are we not too confident, too 
 self-secure ? Let the history of other nations, and let our 
 own short history give the answer. Faction, the hydra to 
 which so many states have been the prey, has already rear- 
 ed among us its detested form. We have more than once 
 witnessed the operation of that party madness which in- 
 flames the passions, perverts the understanding, shuts the 
 eyes to the light of truth, closes the ears against the voice 
 of reason, and fills the imagination with a thousand false 
 alarms. Under the influence of this phrenzy, we have seen 
 doctrines advocated and measures pursued, which have af- 
 terwards produced in their authors the bitter fruits of re- 
 pentance. At a crisis when the united energies of the coun- 
 try were demanded to vindicate her rights, her strength has 
 been paralyzed by internal opposition. The passions of 
 the ignorant and the prejudiced were successfully addressed ; 
 unfounded jealousies were excited; every measure, even of 
 self-defence, was denounced and resisted ; unauthorized com- 
 binations were formed; and that war, which at length " ter- 
 minated with so much glory to the nation," had well nigh 
 terminated in the prostration of the government and tive 
 separation of the stales. Tlie recurrence of such scenes as 
 these, is the evil most to be apprehended by the citizens of a 
 free state. The convulsions of faction, if often renewed or 
 long continued, will eiv), as they ever have done, in the 
 
destruction of liberiy. The people will prefer despotism to 
 anarchy. 
 
 The American Republic is not exposed to the same dan- 
 gers, because not liable to the same temptations with other 
 empires. We have no rival neighbors to provoke our jeal- 
 ousy. We are not confined within narrow limits and 
 tempted to enlarge our territory by conquest. Oiir wars 
 must commonly be wars of self-defence, and will not give 
 sufficient scope for the ambition of conquerors. But we 
 are exposed to dangers of a different nature, and we have 
 narrowly escaped from them. Let us take warning from 
 experience, and " indignantly frown upon the first dawning 
 of any attempt" to divide a people who can have but one 
 interest and one common cause. 
 
 There is no surer safeguard against the mischiefs to 
 which popular governments are liable, than an inflexible 
 adherence to that fundamental principle of every democra- 
 cy, whether pure or mixed, that the majority must govern. 
 If we depart from this unerring rule confusion will inevita- 
 bl}; ensue. When the will of the people is unequivocally 
 expressed, it must be cheerfully obeyed. It is the duty of 
 the minority to acquiesce, if not in silence, yet without fac- 
 tious resistance. This doctrine is an essential part of the 
 republican creed. By constantly maintaining it, and by 
 practically adopting the maxims of political equality, re- 
 publicanism has obtained and will preserve its ascendency. 
 It is indeed the cause of the people, and will prevail as long 
 as the people know and value their own privileges. 
 
 It is one of the most gratifying circumstances attending 
 the triumph of the republican party, that their political an- 
 tagonists are compelled by the force of public sentiment to 
 avow principles which they once denounced us Jacobinical. 
 We hear nothing now about the ^^ mob^^ and the ^^ swinish 
 multitude.''^ The federal leaders profess the utmost defer- 
 ence for popular opinion, and a sacred regard to the equal 
 rights of all classes of citizens. I' pretend not to decide on 
 the sincerity of these declarations ; by their fruits we must 
 judge them. 
 
 How cheering are the reflections of those republicans 
 who have remained steadfast from the beginning. Their 
 confidence in the discrimination, consistency and firmness, 
 of the people has been justified. Their promises and pre- 
 dictions have been fulfilled ; and the ill-omened prophecies 
 2 
 
10 
 
 of those who foretold all manner of evil from ihe triumph of 
 democracy have been completely falsified. The constitu- 
 lion still exists in its original purity and efficiency. Peace 
 and order prevail where anarchy and discord were to have 
 their " perfect work." V^e still live under the proteelion 
 of equal laws, instead of being subjected to the caprice of 
 an ignorant populace whose will, we were told, was hence- 
 forth to be the only law. Courts of justice are still open to 
 judge between man and man, where the guillotine was to 
 be erected to execute the vengeance of an infuriated multi- 
 tude. Our religion still blesses us with its holy institutions 
 and influences ; nor are its altars yet dea)olished, nor its 
 temples desecrated by infidelity, which it was pretended 
 was in strict alliance with republicanism ] 
 
 Experience, fellow-republicans, has tried the integrity of 
 your principles, and has proved that they are adapted to 
 every condition and exigency of the state, to times of diffi- 
 culty and danger as well as to those of calmness and secu- 
 rity. They have passed an ordeal which nothing unsound 
 could have endured. They have withstood a shock which 
 would have levelled them with the dust, had they not been 
 founded on the immutable basis of truth. Thanks to 
 Heaven ! You did not desert your country in her utmost 
 need— you were faithful among the faithless. At a period 
 when, in Massachusetts at least, every friend of the govern- 
 ment was proscribed and persecuted, you remained " un- 
 moved, unseduced, unterrified." You did not fear to raise 
 your voice in defence of a just and necessary war, amid the 
 clamours of faction. The God of battles heard you, and 
 your prayers were answered. 
 
 1 will not dwell on the conduct of those infatuated men 
 who, to gratify their party resentments, would have surren- 
 dered the nation to the mercy of its enemies. It is painful 
 to revert to that pernicious policy which then directed the 
 councils of Massachusetts ; which arrayed her in hostility 
 to the union; squandered her treasures in maintaining aii 
 attitude of defiance against the constitutional requisitions of 
 the government ; and brought upon her a reproach from 
 which she is now striving to redeem herself. In alluding 
 to these unhappy circumstances, 1 hope that my motives 
 and feelings will not be misapprehended — " I speak more 
 in pity than in anger;" nor should the subject have drawn 
 from me a single remark, had it not been forced on my at- 
 
H 
 
 tention by llie language of those who formerly exercisea a 
 commanding influence over the public mind. We hear 
 them vindicating the course pursued by the predominant 
 party in New-England during those days of delusion and 
 disorder. We see them assailing our venerable Chief Ma- 
 gistrate with the most unsparing invective, because he ex- 
 pressed his honest indignation in terms not quite courteous 
 enough for the nice ears of sensibility ! Instead of mani- 
 festing signs of repentance, we behold them glorying in 
 their own shame. The attempt of these disappointed men 
 to "pluck up their drowned honor by the locks" ought to 
 be stamped with general reprobation. And 1 deem it an 
 imperative duty to join my feeble voice to the verdict ol 
 condemnation which an indignant people has pronounced 
 against those measures and their abettors. 
 
 The progress and termination of the late war are sub- 
 jects of exultation to every patriot, While commemorating 
 the triumph of liberty in thej^rs^ struggle for independence, 
 we cannot pass by in silence the conflict we have so recent- 
 ly sustained in defence of what our fathers won. These 
 events are fresh in our recollection. They make part of 
 our experience; they are, therefore, deeply interesting to 
 our feelings. Was the war unnecessary .'* Is it unnecessary 
 to defend our pockets or our throats from the midnight rob- 
 ber .'* Abused, despised, brow-beaten, trampled upon — were 
 we to lie down patiently under the accumulating load of 
 insult and injury.'' No indeed! Some sparks of our fa- 
 thers' spirit still lived in the breasts of their descendants. — 
 We used reason and argument with the haughty invaders 
 of our rights — they derided them. We tried remonstrance 
 — they spurned it ! We ventured to utter menaces — they 
 laughed at them I We drew the sword — and we found it 
 the most effectual negotiator I 
 
 Compare our situation now with what it was before our 
 appeal to arms, and how striking is the contrast ! Then, 
 our character was almost at the lowest possible degree of 
 abasement. We were regarded as a nation of poltrons, 
 without the spirit to resent insult, or the power to resist ag- 
 gression. The American flag was no longer a protection 
 to the vessel over which it waved. American citizenship 
 was no longer a security for the persons of our seamen. — 
 Our commerce was plundered upon every sea, and the pit- 
 tance which remained, we were tauntingly told, was held 
 
12 
 
 merely by siifl'erance. Nothing seemed wanting to com- 
 plete our degradation, but to be stripped of our nominal 
 independence. jYow, wherever the flag of stripes and stars 
 is displayed, it is hailed with admiration, and greeted with 
 welcome. We occupy a place among the nations to which 
 the ambition of the patriot hardly dared to aspire. Our 
 wrongs are redressed; our rights respected; our impressed 
 seamen released; our commerce emancipated from its 
 shackles. 
 
 And how is the scene changed at home ! Then, we were 
 divided and distracted, jealous of each other, and doubtful 
 even of our combined strength ; ashamed that we had sub- 
 iTiitled so long, yet shrinking from an encounter with the 
 dreaded foe. JVoiy, disaffection has ceased to impede the 
 operations of government. The clamours of party are, for 
 a season at least, hushed. We are confident in our own 
 ability and resources, and may regard other nations with- 
 out fear or envy. Should the discordant voice of faction 
 again interrupt our harmony, fomenting discontent and 
 plotting mischief, we may confide in the proof furnished 
 by experience that the cause of the country, if it is the 
 cause of justice, will finally prevail. 
 -True, it has cost us toil to reach the eminence on which 
 we stand and survey the dangers we have passed — and it 
 lias cost us blood to achieve the victories which will form 
 the key-stone to the triumphal arch of the nation's glory. — 
 But it is one of the wise ordinances of Pro'vidence in his 
 dealings with man, that what is valuable in possession 
 should be difficult of acquisition ; and we feel assured, that 
 however great the sacrifice vshich it became necessary for 
 lis to make, it was sanctioned by the cause in v.hich we 
 were engaged. The boon which Heaven has granted to 
 lis is doubly precious because sealed with the blood of the 
 hrave. When we consider the price paid for it, we shall 
 value it the more highly, and guard it more asiduously. 
 
 Amidst ihe joys of this festival, we must not forget the 
 debt of gratitude which we owe to those sages and heroes, 
 the fruit of whose labors we participate. I need not 
 enumerate the glorious catalogue. Their memories are 
 still " green in your souls." But there is one name which 
 it has been my pride, upon occasions like the present, to re- 
 peat before my fellow citizens. Your voices will respond 
 lo mine when 1 utter the name of Jeffekson. 
 
1t> 
 o 
 
 Can you hear him mentioned without mingled emotions, 
 of reverence for the greatness and goodness of his charac- 
 ter, and of indignation at the calumny which has assailed 
 him ? When 1 reflect, that his life will adorn the page of 
 American history, I feel proud for my country that she can 
 boast of such a man. But when 1 consider that on the 
 same page will be recorded the history of his enemies, that 
 it will lell to the world the shameful story of their ingrati- 
 tude—how vindictively they pursued him, not only through 
 his public career, but into the bosom of his family, and the 
 retirement of his closet ; how they misrepresented all his 
 deeds, and words, and thoughts ; how industriously they la- 
 bored in the work of his destruction, to blast his reputa- 
 lion, to destroy his influence, to undermine the monument 
 of glory which he was building for the nation, I blush that 
 so indelible a stain must rest upon any of my countrymen. 
 But, thank God, virtue has triumphed, and the fine gold 
 has come forth pure from the assay. The " tall cliff," 
 which lifted its " head above the storm," now rises before 
 us in all its grandeur, for the tempest no longer rages at its 
 base. The luminary which held its "glorious course through 
 the skies," though "clouds of detraction" gathered round 
 it, is now setting bright and unobscured, and throws its 
 milder radiance over the land which it enlightened and en- 
 livened with its day beams. It was said by an ancient 
 philosopher, that no spectacle was so pleasing to the gods, 
 as a great man struggling with adversity. And is there, 
 now, a spectacle more interesting to the world, than a great 
 and good man contending against bigotry and falsehood 
 and prejudice, and ra last shaking them off as the "lion 
 shakes the dew-drops from his mane." 
 
 The republicans of Massaciiusetts have, on this day, 
 more than common cause of gratulation. We celebrate 
 not only the revolution of 1775, but that of 1823. We 
 trust that the latter will be the means of perpetuating the 
 blessings of the former. This depends upon the use we 
 make of our power. Union and firmness, joined to pru- 
 dence and moderation, will preserve our ascendency, es- 
 tablish us in the confidence of the people, and conciliate 
 the affections of our opponents. Avoid all recrimination 
 and retaliation upon the party over whom you have tri- 
 umphed. They would be as impolitic as they would be 
 tmgencrous and ungentlemanly. In view of the vicissi- 
 
14 
 
 tudes to which, in a free state, every party is liable, it would 
 be extreme folly, as well as want of magnanimity, to insult 
 and proscribe the minority. They have the same right to 
 their opinions that we have to ours, and we have no reason 
 to doubt that the great body of them have acted honestly. 
 We are convinced that their policy has been a mistaken 
 one, but we are noi therefore bound to believe that they 
 have been influenced by corrupt motives. They started in 
 their political career with false premises, and false conclu- 
 sions have naturally followed. But time is curing the evil, 
 and proving the correctness of the maxim, that "error of 
 opinion may be safely tolerated, where reason is left free to 
 combat it." While, therefore, we continue steadfast in the 
 faith, let us cultivate that charity which suffereth long and is 
 kind, and which will be more effectual than intolerance to 
 reclaim the wandering from the error of their ways. 
 
 There is one subject, however, on which I hope you will 
 always be stern and unbending. It is one upon which I 
 have already commented in terms unpleasant to my own 
 feelings. I mean the stand taken by Massachusetts during 
 the late war. A parricidal blow w as aimed at the vital in- 
 terests, nay, at the very existence of the national confeder- 
 acy. This event should be held up as a beacon to posteri- 
 iy, to warn them against that fatal course in which the 
 madness of party was hurrying us to destruction. Never 
 suffer in your presence an attempt to justify those proceed- 
 ings, without venting your indignation in the most decided 
 language. They cannot be justified — I repeat it — they ne- 
 ver can be justified! And I am happy to say that, out of 
 Massachusetts, nobody seems inclined to make the experi- 
 ment. 
 
 The duties wc owe to each other, fellow republicans, are 
 perhaps more difficult to discharge than those which are 
 tlue from us to our opponents. We must preserve harmo- 
 ny among ourselves, or we shall fall more rapidly than we 
 have risen. Here lies our chief danger — upon this rock 
 all our hopes may be wrecked. It has been so in other 
 sections of liie Union ; and the same mistakes by us will 
 lead to the same mischiefs. We have seen deplorable in- 
 stances of this folly in neighboring states. No sooner ha? 
 tlie repuhiioan party acquired an undisputed supremacy, 
 than it has forfeited every advantage it had gained by un- 
 neccssarv rlisputes and divisions. Wjiat has produced ihU 
 
15 
 
 'iiuhappy result, and how shall we guard against the recur- 
 rence of the evil ? Is not jealousy our besetting sin ? Arc 
 we not too apt to condemn tliose who have acted in concert 
 with us, because they do not think on every point exactly 
 as we do? Are we not inclined to fix a standard of politi- 
 cal orthodoxy, and denounce as apostates all who fall short 
 of this mark ? Because there have been traitors in the camp, 
 our suspicions are kept constantly awake. But why should 
 we, on slight grounds, distrust those who with us have 
 borne the heat and burthen of the day, and can have no in- 
 ducement to desert us? Are not their interests the same as 
 ours ? Have not they been laboring for the same end, and 
 have not they the same stake in the issue of the contest ? — 
 No independent man will suffer himself to be deprived of 
 the liberty of thinking and expressing his thoughts freely. 
 This is his privilege, as much as it is his duty to bow with 
 deference to the will of the majority. And it is a privilege 
 which cannot be taken from him, without the grossest in- 
 justice. By the miserable policy which I have described, 
 many of our ablest men have been driven over to the ene- 
 my, or been made the instruments of scattering disaffection 
 in our own ranks. 
 
 Another error into which republicans have fallen, is their 
 neglect to bring into active service the talents in their pow- 
 er to command. For some inexplicable cause, there has 
 existed a prejudice against men of learning and genius, as 
 if they knew too much to be entrusted with the reins of gov- 
 ernment. It seems to be feared, that they will overreach 
 their more simple and unwary countrymen, and sacrifice 
 the public good to their private interests. This delusion 
 has not yet prevailed to much extent in Massachusetts, but 
 it has occasionally appeared even here. There cannot be 
 a more groundless prejudice, nor one more detrimental to 
 our cause. History will acquaint us, that in every age of 
 the world, the friends of science have been the advocates of 
 liberty, and that ignorance is the mother of despotism. — 
 Examine the present state of Europe, and you will find that 
 their universities and schools are, in general, nurseries of 
 republicanism ; and that tyrants regard with an instinctive 
 dread the progress of literature and philosophy. Survey 
 Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and tell me whether iheir 
 men of learning are not the most powerful champions of 
 ^■"<^r om — while the disciples of the old school cling for their 
 
5upport to an ignorant nobility, a bigottcd priesthood, and 
 a blind and stupid populace. 
 
 Let us, then, fellow citizens, choose as the guardians of 
 our rights those who can best appreciate their importance, 
 men of enlarged sentiments and well informed minds, of 
 whatever class, condition or profession. We may be sure 
 that the government will be safer under their guidance, than 
 in the hands of the ignorant and the narrow-minded. Let us 
 watch at every avenue against the intrusion of aristocracy. 
 But it is the aristocracy oi^ wealth or of birth alone that can 
 endanger us. An aristocracy of talent is a chimera of the 
 imagination — it never can exist where the rich and the 
 poor have equal access to the fountains of knowledge. 
 
 It is our especial duty to encourage those young men who 
 are now pressing forward in the ranks of republicanism, 
 panting with honorable ambition, and eager to distinguish 
 themselves in public life. Their aspiring hopes ought not 
 to be repressed. They will do honor to themselves and to 
 their country. 
 
 We have never celebrated the return of this anniversary 
 under circumstances more propitious than those'* which now 
 attend us. The government of every state in the Union 
 is now" administered on republican principles. We trust 
 the event will prove, that the people have chosen good rath- 
 er than evil. May the blessings we enjoy be communi- 
 cated to all the nations of the earth ! May the great cause 
 of liberty have free course and be glorified ! 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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