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THE FORTY-SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 kM^m^m tw^wmwmm, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 Wxt iFire Bcvartmcnt 
 
 «F THE 
 
 CITY OF NEW-YORK, 
 
 JULY 4, 1823. 
 
 BY CHARLES P CLINCH; 
 
 A MEMBER. 
 
 POBLISHED BY REQ,UEST OF THE COMMITTEE OF ARRAIfGEMENTS. 
 
 ■7 • 
 
 / 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 R. fa W. Si G. BARTOW, 250 PEARL-STREET. 
 
 Cfray & BuDce, Printer." ' 
 
l>2 3 
 
 Firemen's Hall, July 9th, 1823. 
 At a meeting of the Firemen's Committee of Arrangements for celebrating 
 the forty-seventh Anniversary of American Independence, 
 
 " Resolved,W\a.t a copy of the oration, pronounced by Mr. Charles P. Clinch, 
 before the Firemen of the City of New- York, in the Market-street Church, on 
 the 4th inst., be requested for publication." 
 
 Extract from the minutes. 
 
 IJZZIAH WENMAN, Chairman. 
 NIEL GRAY, Secretary. 
 
ORATION. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens — 
 
 We have assembled to celebrate the birth-day ot 
 our national Independence — to rejoice in the nativi- 
 ty of our country's sovereignty — to exhibit to the 
 world the grateful and proud remembrance in whicli 
 we hold that auspicious day, when these United 
 States of America assumed, never to relinquish, a 
 name and character, separate and distinct among 
 the nations of the earth : — separate as the eastern 
 and western hemispheres, — distinct as the governing 
 principles of liberty and slavery ! 
 
 What, fellow-citizens, on this occasion ought to 
 be the feelings of our hearts, and the subject of our 
 mind's contemplation ? — How shall we rightly dis- 
 charge our duty as patriots and freemen on this anni- 
 versary of our political birth ? 
 
 Fellow-citizens ! we can only prove that we justly 
 prize the signal interposition of divine Providence, 
 manifested in the happy termination of our revolu- 
 tionary struggle, by correctly appreciating the rights 
 and privileges we enjoy as members of this repub- 
 lic; — by keeping in the holiest sanctuary of our 
 hearts, the venerated memory, the godlike estimation 
 of our heroic forefathers, those prominent instru- 
 ments, in the hand of heaven, in effecting the great 
 work of American Independence ; — by contrasting 
 our own with the governments and institutions of 
 other nations, cherishing the difference in favour of 
 our superiority, and by lifting our hearts in thank- 
 fulness for the full and exceeding measure of peace^ 
 
prosperity, and happiness, which has fallen to the lot 
 of our beloved country. 
 
 Let us then, fellow-citizens, engage in those 
 contemplations which will teach us to value our 
 national benefits, and awaken our gratitude for the 
 blessings we individually enjoy ! Let us pursue that 
 thought, which leads through what we might have 
 been to what we are, — looking back to those em- 
 phatic times which tried men's souls, — to the gloomy 
 period of seventeen hundred and seventy-five, when 
 the clouds of oppression which had long darkened 
 the horizon, closed above our heads, blackening the 
 blue sky of American Freedom ! Happy for us they 
 did so ! — Happy are we fellow-citizens, that the feel- 
 ings of our then esteemed mother country toward 
 America were insulting in the extreme, her conduct 
 oppressive beyond example ; — happy for us that the 
 cloven foot of tyranny was thus early disclosed, be- 
 fore our interests, affections, and prejudices were 
 more intimately entwined with those of our trans- 
 atlantic brethren— -before habit, education, and the 
 example of our fathers had taught us to receive as a 
 serious thing, that weakest and most absurd of all 
 pretended obligations — allegiance to hereditary 
 power !— -before these shackles of the mind, growing 
 with our growth, and strengthening with our strength, 
 had become of sufficient magnitude to bow our necks 
 to the yoke, they were burst asunder at the ap- 
 proach of more galling fetters ; — had the assault 
 upon our liberties been reserved for a later day, the 
 strengthened influence of the mental bonds I have 
 mentioned, might have prevented successful resist- 
 ance. — What have I said } Fellow-citizens, I recall 
 the sentiment ! the spirit of Independence, 
 
 " Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye !" 
 
 was inherent in the bosoms of our fathers ! — it 
 walked with them in fellowship in the forest's shade — 
 thevheld communion with it in the mountain breeze — 
 
it was a boon from heaven ! which knew no death, 
 no restriction, save from the hand of its Creator! — - 
 handed down in its original purity from generation 
 to generation, whenever human means had endea- 
 voured to prison its free thoughts, it would have at 
 once resolved itself on public action — 
 
 " Its power resistless and its will command !" 
 
 What but the heaven-born confidence of exalted 
 and virtuous minds could have supported the heroes 
 of our revolution in the persevering pursuit of their 
 immortalizing vocation? — what but might of soul 
 could have prompted and sustained resistance to the 
 matchless force which the enemies of American 
 liberty arrayed against it ? Look at the then exist- 
 ing state of our country ! Our fathers feeling toward 
 the people of Great Britain as toward children of 
 the same parent — to the government bowing with 
 dignified submission, as to the executive of the laws 
 which controlled them, they raised their voices 
 more in sorrow than in anger at the first approach 
 of oppression. Yet still the fiend advanced ! Fellow- 
 citizens ! these were stirring times ! Inexperienced 
 in the art of war, unprovided with munitions, unpre- 
 pared with means, aware of the felon fate which 
 awaited their lives, heart sick at the stigma which 
 would attach itelf to their characters in case of un- 
 successful opposition, yet still the sacred fire of free- 
 dom burning on the anointed altar of every patriot 
 heart, and every sword and soul obeying its inspir- 
 ing summons to arms, our fathers, supported by 
 that power which did not leave them nor forsake 
 them, dared in the presence of majesty to wear the 
 port of freemen, and waking the battle cry of liberty, 
 flung forth her banners to the breeze of heaven ! 
 Scowling dark and fierce the tempest of a monarch's 
 vengeance came upon them ! but as the cloud 
 of the midnight storm gives added lustre to the 
 
lightning's flash, so the darkness ot" oppression ho- 
 vering over our land displayed the electric light ot 
 liberty's spirit throughout an awakened continent ! 
 
 Then, indeed, hke a band of brothers joined, our 
 gallant fathers bared their bosoms to the storm ! 
 they knew not, they cared not what was their chance 
 of success! they looked not abroad for succour! 
 each patriot brought into the field a stout heart and 
 a ready hand, and felt that his brother did tiie same 
 — local restrictions and religious dissensions were 
 remembered no more, swayf^d by one mind they 
 arrayed themselves for conflict, they knew no alter- 
 native, they sought none! The demon of slavery 
 had his foot on the threshold, he must be beaten 
 back, or enter the sacred asylum of home, by 
 trampling on the mangled corse of the husband and 
 the father! With unexampled fideiiiy, patience, 
 and perseverance they engaged in a seven years' vi ar 
 of unparalleled privation in defence of their rights! 
 of our rights, fellow citizens ! of the rights of millions, 
 yet unborn ! for us, for them, they fought, and bled, and 
 died ! — for posterity all their days of battle and their 
 nights of danger were encountered ! for the welfare 
 of generations yet to come, they wandered from the 
 heaven of their family firesides and parted from kin- 
 dred and friends ! they gave themselves a sacrifice 
 that the patrimony of liberty and independence 
 might descend to us and to our children for ever ! — 
 Fellow-citizens, lives their one who claims this land 
 of the graves of such heroes for his birth place, 
 who looking back upon the heroic deeds of the 
 patriots and martyrs of our revolution, finds not his 
 heart kindling within him at the contemplation of 
 the beauty of virtue, and offering up on the shrine 
 of gratitude and enthusiastic admiration each selfish 
 thought, as a tribute to the devotion of our fathers 
 in the cause of liberty and justice? — No! fellow- 
 citizens, there can be none " with soul so dead" as 
 
nottoiieel his '^ bosom rise'' at the meiiiory of such 
 chastened heroism. Time with his eternal hps 
 will tell to the latest ages of posterity the conduct 
 of our ancestors ; their example will live a star of 
 glory in the west, shedding the light of wisdom and 
 of virtue upon a contemplating world! 
 
 First in order as in character on the record of our 
 country's emancipation stands the battle of Lexing- 
 ton ! — The onset on the part of our enemies was a 
 deed of foul oppression, in the true nature of tyranny 
 unprovoked, unlooked for. Then burst forth the 
 hitherto restrained impulse of hberty, never again 
 to be enthralled !— Rushing to arms at the sound of 
 the musket's crash, our brave countrymen needing 
 no preparation but the seizure of a weapon, no ex- 
 hortation to battle but the opportunity of fighting 
 for their immunities, leaving their teams in the halt 
 furrowed tield and casting aside the implements oi 
 husbandry, they hastened to the glorious conflict, 
 where the watchword was liberty or death ! There 
 the untutored votarist of freedom and the accom- 
 plished minions of monarchy strove for ascendancy 
 
 the glorious result gave strength to the confidence^ 
 and certainty to the hopes of our fathers; and was 
 their first illustration of that ennobling truth that on 
 him whose mind is free the fetters of slavery can 
 never be imposed ! The physical force of combined 
 creation cannot subjugate that people, who united 
 in soul and sentiment, resolve 
 
 " To dig no land lor tyrants but their graves!" 
 
 Next oil the list of aggression, followed the procla- 
 mation of rebellion, denouncing the bitterest ven- 
 geance of the British king against his American sub- 
 jects, who acting from the dictation of those virtuous 
 precepts, which heaven Imd implanted in their hearts, 
 dared to peril their lives, their fortunes, and their sa- 
 cred honour, in the cause of right. Then came to 
 pass the prophetic declaration of Chatham, offered in 
 
8 
 
 vain to the British ministry, in his appeal for justice 
 to America. " The very first drop of blood that is 
 drawn, will make a wound never to be healed." It 
 did so ! and our fathers resolved to know the hand 
 that shed it, as that of a parent no more. And 
 in obedience to the prompting spirit of wisdom and 
 justice, on the.fourth of July, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy-six, they declared themselves a free, sove- 
 reign, and independent people ! Then with renewed 
 ardour, they pursued the defence of their rights, and 
 enforced the declaration of their sentiments at the 
 bayonet's point — till at the battle of Yorktown, they 
 destroyed the power which the enemies of American 
 liberty possessed in our country. Near half a centu- 
 ry has rolled away, and the nation to whom they 
 gave political existence, still maintains the charac- 
 ter which their virtues and heroism imparted ! — The 
 scion of liberty which they planted, has grown a 
 parent tree, and the wearied and oppressed of all na- 
 tions find rest and shelter beneath it. " It is alight 
 and a landmark on the cliffs of fame," 
 
 Where freedom's banner to the globe unfurled, 
 Beckons the free hearts of the boundless world .' 
 
 How often, fellow-citizens, on the anniversary of 
 this auspicious day, have we listened with delight 
 and instruction to the rehearsal of the attributes of 
 the "father of his country" — to the virtues, talents, 
 and patriotism of him who was " first in war, first in 
 peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen — " 
 the honoured agent of Almighty power — the observed 
 of all observers — WASumcTON ! But the theme is as 
 inexhaustive in its source as the unceasing flow of 
 good, which every action of his public life, served 
 to secure to his country for ever — 
 
 ^' Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale, 
 Its infinite variet3\" 
 
 We seek in vain to enhance his glory by contrast- 
 
9 
 
 ing him with the heros, patriots and sages of ancient 
 times. History affords no parallel to the " peril and 
 circumstance" of our revolution ; and of the years 
 immediately succeeding the acknowledgment of our 
 Independence. She must pause in attempted pane- 
 gyric, and rest satisfied with the emphatic declara- 
 tion " he finished the work which was given him to 
 do." 
 
 Surveying all things with a quiet intelligence which 
 spoke wise and irresistihle resolution, and a mind ca- 
 pable of drawing speedy and correct conclusions, 
 and of acting at once upon its determinations, no 
 contingency was unprovided for, no advantage was 
 suffered to pass unheeded. Throughout the vary- 
 ing history of our revolution, his heart was single to 
 the welfare of his country, his eye ever watching 
 over her for good. The confidence and affection of 
 his countrymen, knew no change ! the contempla- 
 tion of his virtues was the cherisher of their hopes ; 
 they lost not sight of its influence until that glorious 
 reality, their everlasting freedom^ was secured. 
 
 Never lived the man whom his compatriots, and 
 the world so delighted to honour ! the chastened vir- 
 tue, the benevolent goodness, the exalted integrity 
 of his character, demanded and received justice and 
 admiration from his enemies, and none are more tru- 
 ly aware of his greatness, than the nation from whose 
 unhallowed designs, he protected his infant coun- 
 try. First in war, he led her armies to victory, or 
 brought them with unparalleled ingenuity, from the 
 unsuccessful field, to strike in the cause of liberty, 
 on another and a better day; possessed of unequalled 
 address, his wisdom ever acted the assistant to his 
 bravery ; and his abilities as a soldier, was a con- 
 stant theme for admiration in the camp of his foes. 
 First in peace, the exalted estimation of his country- 
 men in regard to his powers of mind, burst forth with 
 enthusiastic delight, to proclaim him the first Chief 
 
io 
 
 Magistrate of the Union, after the adoption of the fe- 
 deral constitution. Here again he had difficulties to 
 overcome, and abilities to display, second only to 
 those which brought his country out of bondage. 
 But assured of his own integrity and firmness, and 
 confiding in the blessing of heaven for its all wise 
 direction, and assembling around him that patriotic 
 phalanx, Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox, Randolph, Jay, 
 he advanced to meet the threatening danger. His 
 wisdom, and courage produced a result of unexam- 
 pled success — our national concerns soon " floated 
 on the full tide of successful experiment," and respect 
 abroad, quiet at home, prosperity and happiness 
 flowed from the measures of his administration ! 
 First in the hearts of his countrymen, how shall we 
 exemplify this truth ? all expressive silence may 
 best declare its existence ; — " more eloquent than 
 words" the bounding impulse of gratitude in every 
 patriot bosom proclaims it; while the bowing of the 
 heart, in meek and lowly reverence, at the contem- 
 plation of his virtues declares the divinity of his good- 
 ness ; and the continued aspirations of a nation's love, 
 ask his reward from heaven. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, it becomes us to inquire, how far 
 have we walked in the paths and precepts of the im- 
 mortal patriots of our revolution ? how far have we, 
 in latter days, shown ourselves worthy of the glori- 
 ous legacy, bequeathed us in their example ? — let 
 our devotion to the liberties of our country, and our 
 maintenance of her rights declare ! — In the late re- 
 newed struggle for the support of our immunities, 
 the spirit of " seventy-six" was again enkindled in 
 every American bosom ; the pollution of the enemy's 
 footstep was washed with his blood from our soil, 
 
 " And Liberty walk'd like a God on the waves." 
 
 Emblazoned for ever on the records of fame, stand 
 the names of Jackson, Brown, Scott, and Croghan : 
 
11 
 
 of Hull, Decatur, Jones, Brainbridge, Perry, Mac- 
 donough ! and from the cherished grave. Pike, 
 Covington, Lawrence, Ludlow, Burrows, and the 
 remaining martyrs who have 
 
 sunk to rest 
 
 With all their country's wishes blest," 
 
 Speak in a voice more emphatic than the deep toned 
 thunder. But the rude storm of war has passed 
 away ! the song of peace in our land, and the cha- 
 racter of our country sails unblemished on the tide 
 of Time. 
 
 Yet ever ready at the call of justice; ever active- 
 ly attentive to the petitioning voice of suffering hu- 
 manity ; behold our countrymen going forth to battle 
 in her cause, and braving death at the hands of the 
 pirate miscreants who lately infested the West Indian 
 seas, — behold, and give a tribute to the fate of Allen. 
 
 '' The young, the beautiful, the brave," 
 who hastening to redress the wrongs of his fellows, 
 fell a victim to his enthusiastic gallantry in the dis- 
 charge of his duty. 
 
 '' Pride of his country's banded chivalry," 
 his character has been portrayed to, us by a highly 
 gifted, and distinguished bard of our own, in a strain 
 which might have created the hero it sung ! the coup- 
 let which should be inscribed to his memory, on eve- 
 ry patriot heart, tells with all the eloquence of truth, 
 the consistency of his virtue in life and death — 
 
 " He lived as mothers wish their sons to live, 
 He died as fathers wish their sons to die !" 
 
 Turning aside from the contemplation of our be- 
 loved home of liberty and peace, we behold France 
 in her first attempt to shake off the thraldom of "le- 
 gitimate" slavery, looking not to the Giver of every 
 good and perfect gift, but losing sight of the glori- 
 ous attributes of freedom, which are justice and 
 virtue, and giving herself ud to all the unrestrained 
 
12 
 
 licentiousness of which the human heart is capable ! 
 We behold Napoleon Bonaparte, grasping the slack- 
 ened reins of government, directing its course aright, 
 and with the blessing of Divine Providence, bring- 
 ing good out of evil — we behold him in his march of 
 mind, changing, 
 
 "As withtlie stroke of the enchanter's wand," 
 the political state of Europe, which had so long 
 lain dormant with all its imperfections on its head — 
 we behold* him the worker of improvements, the au- 
 thor of human benefits over which the stagnant in- 
 tellect of legitimate sovereigns had slumbered for 
 ages, the meliorator of the condition of mankindo 
 The crowned heads of Europe were, in consequence, 
 combined against him, and the miscreant panders of 
 their purposes, filled the world with misrepresenta- 
 tion and falsehood, in relation to his character. 
 Blessed be heaven! the radiance of truth has burst 
 through the clouds and darkness with which envy, 
 malice, and fear had overshadowed it, and man with 
 the glorious light of knowledge beaming in his mind 
 has become accountable before the judgment seat 
 of God for the estimation in which he holds him ! 
 
 No need, fellow-citizens, to review his character 
 or to recount his deeds ; the history of his life and 
 the motives of his actions are open before us ; but 
 we will pause for a moment in the pleasing contem- 
 plation of the homage he has done to virtue, of the 
 just and complimentary tribute he has paid to our 
 national character, to his own discernment, and to 
 the chastity of his ambition in his declaration that, 
 had America been his sphere of action, he would 
 have walked in the path and precepts of our Wash- 
 ington ! The existence of such a sentiment in the 
 breast of Napoleon demands, and should receive 
 from us, fellow-citizens, an acknowledgment and 
 consideration surpassed only by that with which its 
 practical illustration would have been ennobled ! 
 
13 
 
 Deceived by the exalted character of his own 
 nature into a belief of the magnanimity of Great 
 Britain, he surrendered himself her prisoner — she 
 made him the prisoner of that tyrant junto, who like 
 the arch enemy of mankind, assuming the appear- 
 ance of an angel of light, have stolen an attribute of 
 the deity and called themselves holy — the Holy 
 Alliance ! Yes ! 
 
 *'Like the baseless fabric of a vision" — 
 
 it was indeed a vision! the misplaced confidence 
 of Napoleon in the justice of England melted into 
 thin air : that nobility of soul, in whose existence 
 he had implicit belief, because he felt a power with- 
 in himself capable of executing its dictates, lived 
 not where he sought it ! Europe ! the page of thy 
 history is for ever defiled by the record that he acted 
 from an exalted confidence in the magnanimity of 
 his enemies, and died the victim of his error. 
 
 There, in a far distant isle of the ocean — at once 
 his prison and his grave — alone and solitary as his 
 greatness. Napoleon Bonaparte sleeps the sleep of 
 death — the sacrifice to a policy on the part of Great 
 Britain so mean, so contracted, tlxA the insect soul 
 of the merciless minion whom she employed to work 
 her will upon him, embraced, it with avidity and 
 ease, and had room and to spare for the conception 
 of schemes of villany on his own account, private 
 and pitiful as cowardice ! While the blackness of 
 a deed like this remains upon the escutheon of En- 
 gland, her character no more shall 
 
 *' Smile in the world's approving eyes" — 
 
 It will be the detested contemplation of millions who 
 look not yet upon the light — ^let her also look to it ! 
 But Napoleon can never cease to be, though the 
 malice of his enemies is more insatiate than the 
 grave ! his brilliant example blazing to the admira- 
 tion of the world, makes him for ever himself in 
 
14 
 
 influence and authority ! The never dying fact that 
 his hand quenched the licentious flame of the revo- 
 lutionary spirit of France, and awakened in its stead 
 the genial light of liberty and justice, proves to the 
 world that the overthrow of kings and of hereditary 
 power may be effected without that rapine and blood- 
 shed, and the destruction of every thing sacred and 
 holy, which has hitherto in the estimation of virtuous 
 minds made the remedy worse than the evil, and 
 prevented the ennobling spirit of freedom from be- 
 ing nourished in many a righteous heart ! It is his 
 demonstration of this truth which is the cause of the 
 immortal hatred born to him and to his memory by 
 the Holy Alliance and their worshippers. But thank 
 Heaven, their hate is his earnest of the cherished 
 memory in which ages yet to come will hold 
 him! 
 
 France ! thy liberties — alas ! the hunters have 
 them now ! 
 
 " Yet, Freedom ! yet thy banner, torn but flying. 
 Streams like the thunder storm against the wind ; 
 Thy trumpet voice, though broken now and dying, 
 The loudest still the tempest leaves behind ?" 
 
 To Greece the spirit of her ancient days has 
 paid an angel's lingering visit. Let it dwell w ith her 
 for ever ! — and if the earth hold yet another seed 
 like that which furnished forth the being of our 
 Washington ; warmed by freedom's sun and cherish- 
 ed by the dews which justice weeps upon the man- 
 gled rights of mankind, — let it grow in giant strength ! 
 but if there live none such, oh ! let the grave send 
 back some guardian spirits to lead their country 
 in her struggle for liberty, a second time to glory's 
 pinnacle ! — 
 
 " Of the three hundred, grant but three, 
 To make anew Thermopylae !" 
 
 Behold! fellow-citizens, now on the throne of 
 France, placed there by the Holy Alliance, those 
 
16 
 
 arch enemies of the rights of man, one who, in per- 
 son and attribute, is the quintessence, of kingly legi- 
 timacy ! — Behold his armies marching into a neigh- 
 bouring territory in the insulting absence of a 
 declaration of war, and proclaiming it as their 
 purpose to restore the imagined rights of an indi- 
 vidual to the destruction of a nation's immunities ! 
 Oh sacred freedom ! implant thy spirit in the breast 
 of every Spaniard ! let their offering to thee be the 
 extermination of their invaders ! and may the echo 
 of their battle-cry awaken the genius of renovation 
 throughout the western hemisphere. 
 
 Let us, fellow-citizens, on this birth day of our 
 independence, one and all, as a tribute to the memo- 
 ry of our fathers, resolve to live stedfast in their 
 political faith, the fruit of which is the freedom and 
 happinessof our country ! — The primitive and pure 
 spirit of republicanism is in strict accordance with 
 the precepts of Christianity ! The foundation of mo- 
 rality, the rock of justice, it creates the disposi- 
 tion which requires not of our fellows that which we 
 will not bestow upon them — which does unto them as 
 we would have them do unto us ! This is the divinity 
 we worship in the dictates of freedom ! In the ex- 
 istence of such principles, slavery has no thought, 
 oppression no hope, and man discards 
 
 " The will and power to make his fellow mourn.'' 
 
 Brother firemen ! for the first time as a body, have 
 we on this day of our national jubilee, embraced 
 the privilege we enjoy of publicly uniting in the 
 expression of our sentiments and feelings as a free 
 people ! Next to the possession of virtue is the 
 admiration of its excellence ; so, next to the glory 
 of being engaged in the rescue of our country, is our 
 estimation of the deed ! Therefore, we have done 
 well in this first exhibition of the love and admiration 
 which we bear to the workers of our independence. 
 
It; 
 
 and ot our gratitude and pride as freemen. Let it 
 not be the last ! As citizens of this great republic, 
 the preservation of our liberties, and the faithful 
 discharge of our duty to ourselves, to each other, and 
 to posterity, is an easy and a glorious task ; effected 
 by keeping inviolate the laws, and institutions, and 
 governing principles which our fathers handed down 
 to us ! And how shall we accomplish this ? — Pre- 
 serve the fountain holy and its emanating streams 
 will be undefiled ! By bestowing the highest office 
 in the gift of the people only on him whose educa- 
 tion, precepts, and practice accord with those virtu- 
 ous and just principles of republicanism which 
 secured the blessii)g of heaven on our struggle for 
 liberty, and of whose integrity and firmness in un- 
 changing devotion to the best interests of his coun- 
 try, he even tenor of his political Hfe, has given us 
 the conviction of truth. In the language of the 
 farewell address of Washington, " the period for a new 
 election of a citizen to administer the executive government 
 of the United States is not far distant — and the time 
 actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in 
 designating the person who is to be clothed with that im- 
 portant trusty 
 
 Fellow-citizens! these words of the legacy of the 
 father of his country were not addressed to any 
 sect or to any party, bu' to each individual member 
 of the Union, of whom he was taking leave with the 
 parting advice and blessing of a parent. It is a 
 subject which comes home to " each man's business 
 and bosom," and in the just regard we pay to it, 
 each one becomes the champion of his own and his 
 brother's rights and liberties! In following the 
 dictates of Washington we can never err; — he has 
 taught us to frown indignantly upon him who would 
 create sectional distinctions amongst us, to beware 
 of that man who would attempt to enfeeble the 
 sacred ties which now link tosjether the various 
 
17 
 
 parts of our confederacy ; — let us cherish the ad- 
 vice as an admonition from heaven ! — What is the 
 relation in which an absolute monarch stands to 
 his subjects? It is, that the exercise of imperative 
 power supports the whims and interests of an indi- 
 vidual in opposition to the equal rights of millions. 
 Fellow-citizens ! in as much as sectional feelings 
 are allowed to predominate — in as much as the in- 
 terests of one portion of the community are ensured 
 protection at the expense of the others — so far do 
 we attack the fundamental principles of freedom, 
 the possession of equal rights — so far do we become 
 fit subjects for the yoke of slavery ! 
 
 It is our bounden duty to select as the supporter 
 of the constitution, and the administration of its laws, 
 a champion of equal rights — one in whose breast the 
 spirit of freedom in its simplicity and holiness is 
 inherent — one born and brought up in the school of 
 Washington, Jefferson, and Madison: — not the in- 
 tended supporter of sectional interests — not the 
 avowed patron of the army and navy — not the ex- 
 clusive friend of commerce, or of manufacturers, 
 or of internal improvements and agriculture, but 
 the firm, just, and moderate guardian and supporter 
 of the well being of the whole so far as they are 
 conducive to the welfare of the nation ! 
 
 Fellow-citizens ! insuring by our attention to the 
 subject, the election of such an one, and scrupu- 
 lously guarding against the introduction of foreign 
 habits, manners, and views of things ; and never 
 losirjg sight of the dictates of common-sense in the 
 imposing plausibility of etiquette, but relying upon 
 the goodness of Divine Providence for a continuance 
 of its blessings, let us live in the brilliant and virtuous 
 hope that the blessed sun of liberty, whose primal 
 beams have glorified our country, will, while yet in 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 its morningr honr, awaken the universal family of 
 marjki'd to a knowledge of their rights, and extend 
 its heaven born influence over an emancipated 
 world. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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