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ORATION 
 
 DELIVEEED BEFORE 
 
 THE ENOSINIAN SOCIETY 
 
 OLUMBIAN COLLEGE, D. C, 
 
 JULY 4th, 1835- 
 
 BY FREE BI AN G. BROWN, 
 
 A MKMBEB OF SAID SOCIETY. 
 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY ; 
 Printed by Benjamin Ilomaus. 
 
 1835. 
 

 College Hill, July 9th, 1835. 
 
 Dear Sir: The Committee of Arrangements for the 4th of July, are in- 
 structed to tender you the thanks of the Enosinian Society for the very in- 
 teresting and appropriate Oration delivered on the Anniversary of AmericaFi 
 Independence, and to solicit a copy for publication. 
 
 With much respect, 
 
 We are yours, &c. 
 WM. CAREY CRANE, > 
 SOLON LINDSLEY, S Committee. 
 
 JAMES BENNETT GIBBS, ^ 
 Mk. Freeman G. Brown. 
 
 Columbian College, D. C, July 12th, 1835. 
 
 Gentlemen: You have done me the honor to request a copy of the ad- 
 dress delivered on the Anniversary of our National Independence, and you 
 will please accept my thanks for this additional token of your regard. If you 
 think its appearance from the press will in any manner farther the cause of 
 true patriotism, it is at your disposal. 
 
 Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 F. G. brown. 
 Messrs. Wm. Carey Crane, ^ 
 
 Solon Lindsley, > Committee. 
 
 James Bennett Gibbs, J 
 
ORATION. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens : The American yields to the people 
 tcf no nation in warm and elevated patriotism. He was not 
 born in the court of kings, nor has he inherited a liberal 
 patrimony ; he was driven an exile from the home of his an- 
 cestors ; he was cast upon a rock-bound coast and friendless 
 shore, where he conversed with famine and pestilence ; he 
 has been familiar with the yell and tomahawk of the savage ; 
 and nurtured amid the flames and roar of the battle-field. 
 His fathers have been sacrificed upon the altar of freedom, 
 and his country is bound about his heart with an inseparable 
 cord. The first flowings of his infant veins are animated 
 with the magic notes of independence. The first breathings 
 of his youthful soul are prayers of devotion for the interests 
 of his land, and his sweetest task is in rehearsing its praises. 
 
 With feelings like these, we have greeted the returning 
 morn which has ushered in ovir National Jubilee. Yes ! the 
 Sabbath of our Liberty has come and millions are in waiting 
 to pay their homage. Among this vast number, we are 
 permitted to form a portion. Welcome, then, fellow-citizens, 
 to the shades of this peaceful grove. You have retired from 
 the anxieties and bustle of life, to join with us in celebrating 
 this public festival — -with us, a youthful band, who, in con- 
 formity to a usage established by the Alumnii, and preserved 
 by the associates of our honored alma mater, have convened 
 in this quiet manner to talk over the incidents and state of 
 our country, as those who are about to step upon the stage 
 of manhood. You will bear in mind that our efforts on this 
 occasion are the efforts of juvenile minds, untutored in the 
 knowledge and ability of the orator, and be to us in the lan- 
 guage of the poet, " nostris en'oribus indulgete, et nostris 
 virtutibus valde benigne.^^ 
 
 Shall we improve the few moments allotted us by dwelling 
 upon the advantages which the great charter of our liberties 
 guarantees to us ? Shall wc comment or reflect upon its high 
 
practical results in the establishment of our civil, political^ 
 and religious institutions ? No ! the comparative excellence 
 of our Government, overflov^ring as it is with the most glow- 
 ing and lovely display for the pencil of the painter, and the 
 enchanting powers of the poet ; this shall not be the subject 
 of our theme. Confident as we are that our political organ- 
 ization will be sustained by posterity, it will be suffi- 
 cient that they write the history of those truths which we so 
 highly appreciate, and which we so often delight to eulogize. 
 Or shall we take you back to those dark and frightful daySy 
 when a few feeble colonies were hunted and butchered by a 
 numberless and inhuman foe ? Shall we ruffle your peace- 
 ful bosoms by depicting the scenes of blood and conflagra- 
 tion which marked the footsteps of our cruel enemy ? Shall 
 we awake again the long-hushed cries of helpless orphans 
 and bereaved widows ascending to heaven for vengeance 
 upon the author of their woes ? No ! Those who were once 
 our enemies are now our friends ; they have entwined the 
 laurel branch about our flag and given us the emblem of 
 peace : as christians then, as philanthropists, we should never 
 wish to disturb the hatchet which has been formally buried 
 under the tree of peace. We should show to them and to 
 the world that magnanimity and loftiness of soul, which bear 
 such fortunes without undue elation and with becoming mo- 
 desty. 
 
 Since neither of the aforementioned topics are those of our 
 choice, shall we dwell upon the virtues of those who were 
 engaged in these struggles for our freedom, and have left to 
 us lasting proofs of their valor upon the plains of Lexing- 
 ton, the heights of Bunker Hill, Saratoga or York Town ? 
 No ! their fame is written in the hearts of their countrymen, 
 and the latest generation will be familiar with their deeds j 
 though they be traced upon no showy monument. Peace, 
 then, to the ashes of the soldiers of the revolution ! Peace 
 to the decaying relics of our venerated fathers ! while we 
 would not forget their virtues, we would rejoice in hope that 
 their heroic spirits blaze around the throne of God, and there 
 bask in the sunshine of eternal bliss. 
 
 Passing over, then, a review of these topics, let it be our 
 object not so much to delineate the attracting features of our 
 wide-spread field of happiness, as to light upon spots wild 
 and uncultivated. Others have sketched their glowing pic- 
 tures of the present age in the onward march of mechanism, 
 of invention, of experiment, of enterprize, of moral chemis- 
 try, of concentration, &c., and especially can this spirit be 
 
said to prevail among the American people ; they aim to 
 strip science of its intricacies and to adapt their investiga- 
 tions to the great and noble pursuits of life. Nor are they 
 satisfied with present acquirements, but are pushing on their 
 inquiries, and steadily and perseveringly striving to reduce 
 the whole world of matter and mind to general principles, 
 easy to be understood by all. And such is the restless spirit 
 for improvement now apparent throughout our land, that we 
 may rest confident that our countrymen will never cease 
 their zeal in extending the dominion of science over the laws 
 of nature. Our country is fast advancing in population ; our 
 Atlantic cities are daily crowded with immense numbers 
 from abroad. The tide of emigration is rolling onward to- 
 ward the mighty West, darkening the extended prairie and 
 causing the wilderness to smile. The genius of America 
 is unfolding her scroll that we may catch a view of our fu- 
 ture glory. How often have statesmen of all nations, cast- 
 ing their eyes over this country, and viewing peaceful vil- 
 lages, magnificent cities, and extended territories, powerful 
 fleets, and vast wealth, felt their whole souls overwhelmed 
 in anticipation of the sublime spectacle that must one day 
 burst upon the vision of the world. 
 
 But, fellow-citizens ! can you be ignorant that, notwith- 
 standing all these indications of happiness and prosperity, 
 there are evils in operation through the whole length and 
 breadth of our Union that threaten to blight these fair hopes, 
 and convert the joyous exclamations of statesmen into long 
 and bitter wailing ? There are such evils, and it will be our 
 design to point them out and suggest suitable correctives. 
 We wish to speak oi facts : with the leaves of a sybil we 
 have nothing to do. To flatter our vanity and lull us to sleep, 
 when threatning clouds o'erhang our heads, is by no means 
 the duty of one who makes his country his theme. 
 
 It is a matter of comparatively small consequence that we 
 be zealous and critical in finding out whether every minutiae 
 in politics are strictly orthodox, and then whether they be 
 entertained and practically obeyed. Very few are the go- 
 vernments which have sunk on account of having imbibed 
 wrong ideas of civil codes necessary to their prosperity. 
 Industry, frugality, and virtue, when combined, have done 
 more to cement and strengthen a republic than all the deep 
 and profound investigations in the science of politics. There 
 is nothing wonderfully mysterious in framing laws competent 
 to advance a community ; the most necessary impulsive forces 
 lie not within the range or right of legislation. These are 
 
correct dispositions and feelings, moral sentiments, and habits 
 of men. And in the same degree that they are destitute of 
 these qualifications, in the same proportion will they be un- 
 governable, and they may arrive at that state where human 
 wisdom can never reach them. All the projects and philan- 
 thropy of statesmen cannot reclaim or open before them a 
 happy road to honor. Under other and better circumstances 
 it is an easy task to make laws for nations. Men possess 
 within themselves the principles of vitality or destruction. 
 The perpetuity of governmeiuL depends upon the virtues 
 at their fire-sides, and in their social intercourse with each 
 other. Ask the greatest of the fallen republics to tell you 
 the rock on which they suffered shipwreck, and their reply 
 would be, that it was not so much the misconceptions of 
 suitable legislative enactments as the inordinate desires of 
 those who composed the people. They would tell you that 
 the teinperance of Sparta was the safest bulwark that ever 
 surrounded a city. They would tell you that fortifications, 
 however lofty and seemingly impregnable, will not give se- 
 curity when effeminacy and vice reign within. That it is 
 far easier to undermine piles of rock, than to shake the vir- 
 tue and sobriety of a people. They would tell you that 
 when a people are stupified by voluptuousness, standing 
 armies are weak agents in repelling hostile invaders. They 
 would tell you that the laws of Lycurgus nourished the 
 strongest sinew that ever hurled a javelin, and cultivated a 
 brazen fortitude that could endure any hardships and face 
 any foe. The record of the effects of luxury in the history 
 of our race is appalling to humanity, as it is disgraceful to 
 rational creatures. The motto of the epicure, " live, while 
 you live .'" seems to have been adopted as a just sentiment, 
 and sensual gratification has been most eagerly sought as the 
 only end for which man was created. And what has been 
 the consequence ? Human life has been diminished from an 
 age to a fleeting day. The manly, the athletic form has 
 dwindled into a mere dwarf; the stern visage and lofty brow 
 have lost their befitting peculiarity. And even since our. 
 own settlement as a people this change may be seen. Had 
 not our fathers possessed an iron constitution, they never 
 could have endured the many fatigues and exposures which 
 fell to their lot in their long campaigns in the pursuit of free- 
 dom. Had they not lived in and courted danger, they must 
 inevitably have been overcome by the superior military force 
 of their enemies. Had they been reared upon the lap of 
 luxury, tasted the grapes of every vine, and been fed upon 
 
the fruits of every zone, they never could have looked fa- 
 mine in the face and bade defiance to hunger and cold. In 
 this instance of peril, their temperance and simple regimen 
 were more to them than multitudes of disciplined troops, 
 and their sobriety both wrought and wielded their weapons. 
 But it needs no sapient mind to discover that the cities which 
 were founded by them, a hardy and weather-beaten race, 
 whose countenances glowed with the vigor of health long 
 after four-score years had passed over their heads, now exhi- 
 bit a puny stock debilitated by the least exposure or physical 
 effort, while the sunken eye, pale cheek, and languid gait 
 exhibit the thousands which death is annually slaying upon 
 the altar of fashion and extravagance. As a necessary con- 
 sequence of this more than raging epidemic, debility of in- 
 tellect follows. Luxury retards mental exercise, enfeebles 
 the powers of the understanding, dissipates the imagination, 
 and shuts up the gates of the soul. A greater part of the 
 books that crowd our " circulating libraries" have been writ- 
 ten under the influence of a morbid and sickly mind — a mind 
 devoid of clearness of perception and wanting in full and 
 vigorous exercise. How many are there among us of all 
 ages and sexes who plunge headlong into the current of po- 
 pular taste, and are fascinated more by the tale of some bravo, 
 midnight assassin, sick-brained lover, or sea fairy, than by 
 the solid and polishing works of moral science and history. 
 They have become mentally intoxicated, and of course de- 
 manded an aliment corresponding to the state of their souls. 
 How many among the great mass of young men in our coun- 
 try that would sooner covet and earn a fame for the author- 
 ship of some popular novel, than even for a discovery in 
 natural or intellectual philosophy ! And how many a fair 
 dame that would sooner blush to own her ignorance of cer- 
 tain stories of fiction, than the branches of geology, chemis- 
 try and botany ! Is our highest delight always to be found 
 in perusing the productions of a vicious heart ? Is the say- 
 ing true which has been asserted with so much confidence 
 both among ourselves and abroad, that we can encourage no 
 literary or scientific work unless it be exotic ; that Americans 
 will read every thing in which they are caricatured, but no- 
 thing that gives a fair and correct portrait of themselves and 
 their country ? If this last assertion be true, foreign emissa- 
 ries rightly understand our character in gratifying their own 
 selfish, niggardly spirit. Another Basil Hall, Trollope, or 
 Kemble, may visit our shores, partake of our hospitalities 
 and civilities, and finally gull their benefactors by selling 
 
8 
 
 them their shameless books. The giants in intellect and 
 physical frame who flourished in by-gone days, and whose 
 labors were so highly apjireciated, who carried us through 
 our revolution, bearing aloft OA^er every obstacle and through 
 every danger, and finally placing our Government on the 
 pillars which now uphold it, were not of this degenerate 
 school. The secret of their success lay simply in their phy- 
 sical strength and moral training, by which they were able 
 to labor long and perseveringly in the mines of science and 
 the great business of active life. 
 
 I have hinted that literature takes its complexion from the 
 state of the public mind. If a sickly taste characterizes the 
 people, they call into use a corresponding kind of literature, 
 and so the reverse. Thus too with arts, no new inventions 
 are made while the powers of genius are weakened by the 
 infirmities of dissipation, or chilled by the neglect of a com- 
 munity devoted to luxury. But industry and manual labor 
 are too generally looked upon as compulsive, arising from 
 misfortune, and held as becoming only the lowest class of 
 society. Hence many in order to acquire a livelihood, with- 
 out the disgrace which themselves and others aflix to labor, 
 seek for offices and titles of distinction, both at the expense 
 of health and emolument. How many are the parents who 
 send their sons to colleges, and give them a profession in 
 order that they may flourish with a " degree," when they 
 would figure far better at the anvil or plough. Is this the 
 way to rear up the temple of liberty and give a symmetry 
 to its every part ! Away, then, with the idea that industry 
 and the operative arts are a reproach. Every man, though 
 he be as rich as Croesus, is bound by the laws of God to be 
 actively engaged in some employment. And so far from 
 the mechanic and laborer being useless in the erection and 
 preservation of our Union, they are its bone and muscle, its 
 'pride in the eye of the political economist, without whom 
 this national fabric must fall to ruins. 
 
 But the greatest evil of luxury is seen among the less 
 opulent of our population. Fascinated by the life of their 
 more wealthy neighbors, and anxious to flourish in a similar 
 style and circle, and conceiving mere wealth a passport to 
 respectability, they are ready to sacrifice their all, in order 
 to obtain what will enable them to equal in splendor their 
 more opulent neighbors. Such are the legitimate conse- 
 quences of luxury. No circumstances whatever can lessen 
 its effects. It is more deadly than the pestilence which slays 
 with its unseen darts its thousands ; and more to be deplored 
 
9 
 
 than the ravages of famine or war. If then you would not 
 see science, religion, the arts, the happiness of mankind, 
 and our glory as a country blighted and buried, you must 
 turn your attention to a correction of this evil. Heaven calls 
 upon you as accountable beings, to disabuse the blessings of 
 a provident hand; the soul, its energies, its exercises, its 
 value unite in protesting against brutalizing by animal indul- 
 gences, and destroying that immortal part for the culture of 
 which, man was created and lives. This is not a subject for 
 declamation, or passing notice, it is one which bears directly 
 on all that is precious in that boon which cost our fathers 
 years of trial, and rivers of blood ; if we do not view it in all 
 its heinousness and detriment to our political institutions, it 
 will bring upon us the curses of early decay, and bury us 
 with those nations whose fluted columns and gilded temples 
 are now mouldering in ruins ! 
 
 Men are overleaping the bounds of independence, and in 
 their stride for liberty are forging their own fetters. The 
 good and virtuous are beholding with pain the general spread 
 of insurrections. The wise are asking for the magnitude 
 and boundary of this portentous evil. The peaceable are in- 
 quiring if their lives and homes shall always be placed in 
 jeopardy by the ruthless hand of an enraged populace, hur- 
 ried on to deeds of slaughter peradventure by the incendi- 
 ary movements of a mere outlaw ? The citizen is demand- 
 ing if he is always to wear about his person Aveapons to de- 
 fend himself from the attacks of a madman ? The friend oi 
 religion, if God's sanctuary is to be desecrated and wrapt in 
 conflagations ? And the sentinel of liberty, if freedom of con 
 science, speech, and action, on the great subject of politics 
 are to be restrained, and the day set apart for an expression 
 of the popular will in the selection of their rulers be violated 
 by storming the ballot-box, and falsifying the suffrages of the 
 
 American people ? Can liberty exist without law ? No ! 
 
 If we have laws let them be the guardians of our liberties, 
 and let them pursue and chastise those by whom they are 
 disregarded. Let those who are the friends of good order 
 show their willingness to abide the decision of our judiciary, 
 and let them assist our police in every possible manner in 
 bringing offenders to justice. Let this evil continue and the 
 time draws nigh (has it not already approached,) when the 
 mouths of your legislators will be silenced by those who 
 stand ready to make them pay the penalty for the free and 
 ©pen discharge of their duties. If this infamous work of dis- 
 2 
 
10 
 
 organization proceed as within the year past it has ; if this 
 tide of outrage and lawless violence still swell on, then, 
 "farewell, a long farewell, to all our greatness ! " Anarchy 
 is our lot, the sun of our liberty has set, and the historian 
 may write upon our mouldering ramparts '■'■fuit Ilium .'" 
 
 Another topic to which we would invite your attention, is 
 frenzy in party zeal. Party spirit was said, by an eloquent 
 writer, to be " the salt of our political existence," and we 
 are far from holding out an idea that parties founded on prin- 
 ciple operate otherwise than to the public good. Like 
 fair systems of competion, parties promote the cause in 
 which they are engaged, by correcting each others errors, 
 and fostering a noble emulation in public men. And so long 
 as they make it their business to search out truth, and honor- 
 ably maintain their sentiments, and with justice and good 
 feeling expose the falsities of their opponents, so long as they 
 are united not to advance men ; not to raise factions and in- 
 trigues ; not to abuse and calumniate, so long they are the 
 vital principle which flows throughout the political system, 
 and gives a healthy action to its every member. Without 
 party spirit, the interest taken by a people in their country 
 would be hardly perceivable ; no new projects would be 
 adopted for its good; a knowledge of its history, its constitu- 
 tion, its executive, legislative, and judicial powers and privi- 
 leges would be but little studied, and consequently imper- 
 fectly understood ; patriotism wovild be quenched, and an 
 apathy prevail among those who compose the nation, that 
 would sooner or later work its destruction. But while such 
 are the benefits of party spirit, " energetic, yet forbearing — 
 animated, yet tractable — warm, yet courteous," frenzy in 
 party spirit is a corrosion of the deadliest kind, it perverts 
 political schemes, powers, and privileges, which had for 
 their object the highest interests of a country, and '* visibly 
 destroys the fabric upon Avhich it feeds." This spirit has 
 stolen into the domestic apartment, and breaking up relations 
 and friendships, has entailed an odium which has descended 
 from sire to son, and from mother to daughter; it has entered 
 the house of God, committed sacrilege upon its altar, and 
 closed the book of life. The statesman has fancied a plot in 
 every action and measure of his fellow ; he has looked with 
 a jealous eye upon his coadjutors in power, and doubted the 
 motives of those, not of his party, who have in a solitary in- 
 stance acted with him ; he has sought more to identify him- 
 self with a name than to act a magnanimous, independent 
 part on the political arena, fearless of the frowns of partizans, 
 
li 
 
 fend despising the adulations of the ignorant. By this means, 
 instead of the offices in the gift of t'ne people being aspired to 
 by the worthy, there is a disgust for distinctions which are 
 attainable only at the expense of all that is personally dear. 
 In every government there are generally a few who are 
 mainly instrumental in swaying the public mind — whose 
 voice is law, and to whom the great mass look up as their 
 Judges and leaders. The power of such is almost without a 
 limit, and they will often turn it to their own selfish pur- 
 poses ; they will Avrap the cloak of purity about the idol of 
 their devotion, array it with decorations which charm the eye 
 of the unsuspicious, and appeal to the depraved passions for 
 shouts of applause. Now it is the policy of republicanism 
 to examine the claims of every man who is a candidate for 
 office, to sound his political principles, his moral purity, in- 
 tegrity, and intellectual power ; and it is ourdcep regret that 
 the possession of these qualifications is not more universally 
 made the criterion for preferment. It must be, or we shall 
 lose the honor of efficient counsellors. Another body of 
 men, whose influence is by no means small, are the conduc- 
 tors of our public journals. Their responsibility to their 
 country cannot be measured ; they mould to a great extent 
 the character of a people ; they make an impression upon it 
 for the better or worse. Next to the honest and enlightened 
 statesman, there is no individual more deserving the grati- 
 tude and honor of a community than a high-minded, intelli- 
 gent, and virtuous editor of a news journal ; such a man ex- 
 ercises a supervision over every branch of society, for which 
 he trims his midnight lamp, watching the liberties of his coun- 
 try ; days of pleasure come and go, but not for him. Some 
 may devise plans for the corruption of his government, and 
 to spread moral ruin over the land, but he is prompt in de- 
 tecting the off'enders and holding them up to public shame. 
 Others may indicate tokens of fear and alarm when danger 
 approaches, but he is struggling to avert the storm, and effect 
 the peace and happiness of the people ; the undeserving may 
 be commended, but he undergoes a martyrdom for the public 
 good ; the guilty is punished, the innocent protected, the un- 
 informed instructed, the meritorious introduced into notice, 
 civil and religious liberty advanced, and the citadel of free- 
 dom fortified and strengthened. But while our country is 
 blest with many such streams, that water and fertilize, it is 
 curst with an infinite number, whose nauseous and putrid 
 vapor is continually filling the atmosphere with disease and 
 death ; they are pests, and more than floating nuisances, and 
 
12 
 
 though they are issued under the sacred motto of " Liberty 
 of the Press," this should be for them no sanction. However 
 high in the estimation of a certain class such men may be, 
 and whatever the professed object of their labor, they mani- 
 fest the spirit which actuates them upon every column of 
 their periodicals — to heap their bitter invectives upon those 
 who are politically opposed to them — to brand with infamy 
 every suggestion that does not harmonize with their opi- 
 nions — to slander and abuse — to scruple the motives and ve- 
 racity of those who disagree with them — to influence the 
 suffrages of the illiterate by declaiming about aristocracies, 
 democracy, monopolies, &c. ; in one word, to effect their sel- 
 fish ends, by kindling and causing the fire of party spirit to 
 burn and rage. These, these are the incediaries which are 
 baffling the hopes, the prayers, and the toils of the patriot, 
 which are creating jealousies and divisions among the peo- 
 ple, and embittering their cup with the dregs of wo. In- 
 crease and multiply the means of weekly and daily commu- 
 nication throughout our country, let every cottage and cabin 
 be furnished with a newspaper that will give a faithful ac- 
 count of every new movement, and every important matter 
 that relates to the nation ; and let every man be thereby 
 qualified to decide u})on the just merits of every question 
 that concerns him as one of a sovereign people. But let not 
 the productions of the designing and mischievous, — the 
 thoughts and actions of the depraved, be found at the door of 
 the guileless peasant, or in the hands of the vicious and law- 
 less, to deceive and contaminate the former, and explode the 
 passions of the latter. Then there loill be, as there should 
 be, a greater confidence in rulers and in the ruled, a less de- 
 gree of distrust towards those in power, and a more liberal 
 feeling manifested towards those who guide the afftiirs of 
 State. As a people we are professedly united in one common 
 cause, the good of a Government for which our fathers poured 
 forth their blood and treasures, and in the dissemination of the 
 true doctrines of liberty. We are the children of those who 
 have collected together from various nations ; who fled from 
 tyranny oppression, and factions, to enjoy undisturbed the 
 blessings of a free and happy nation ; we are surrounded with 
 every facility to gain happiness and glory. Providence has 
 smiled upon all our efforts, and showered upon us the bounties 
 of his hand, and if we prove negligent of our trust and privi- 
 leges, the voice of our fathers will be heard from the grave 
 in terms of rebuke ; the same kind hand which has been with. 
 
13 
 
 us in war and peace, will be uplifted to destroy our po^sefH 
 sions and lay our honor in the tomb. If then a relation so 
 near subsists between us, let it be manifest in all our words 
 and actions. Because we may differ as to the precise princi- 
 ples best adapted to increase our interests, it does not follow 
 that ill will or disingenuous feelings should be cherished in 
 our bosoms towards each other ; that we should hold those 
 who disagree with us as enemies to their country ; patriotism 
 may be as ardent and pure in that man, whose opinions are 
 erroneous, as in him who entertains correct views of govern- 
 ment ; it is an error of the head and not of the heart. We 
 have no warrant, then, to charge a man with wicked motive, 
 who advocates that which his intellect if improved would not 
 teach. Such conduct tends to gender strife, and separate 
 our affections even from our countiy, and when the crisis ar- 
 rives, where its safety demands our mutual co operation, 
 prejudices and hatred may be found created which will act 
 as barriers to our united exertions. 
 
 To the end that no catastrophe like that we have mention- 
 ed may occur — that oiir southern skies may never again be 
 overcast with the dark and frightening clouds of disunion, 
 or any portion of our hemisphere be again rent with the hur- 
 ricanes of popular clamor and excitement, let us draw tighter 
 the bands of love ; let sectional jealousies be abandoned ; let 
 us seek for those to be our rulers who are gifted with proper 
 abilities, whatever their names, their party, or wherever 
 their homes ; let us be so fumly united that those who are 
 now anxiously longing to behold our ruin, may behold in 
 the perspective terror and disappointment. Let it not be 
 our fault if our country does not flourish, and increase in 
 strength and honor to the latest generation ; let our exertions 
 be so directed that though star after star may fade from the 
 political heavens, yet the star of America shall continue to 
 shine to the close of time. 
 
 Fellow-citizens : The foundation of our posperity must be 
 laid deep in the spread of intelligence, sound morals, and 
 public order. Far be it from us to intimate that the science 
 of \\Q.Y should not be cultivated by our countrymen. We 
 would not take even a leaf from the chaplet which encircles 
 the brow of the patriot warrior. The immortal declaration 
 to which we have this morning listened, was sustained only 
 by the best blood of our country, and its great principles 
 carried through at the point of the bayonet and cannon's 
 mouth. There are crises at which we must summon up aH 
 our might in arms, stand upon the buhvarks of our liberties, 
 
14 
 
 iind oven give our lives away when our country calls for the 
 sacrifice. But we wish to overthrow the notion that military 
 prowess alone will be a sufficient safeguard to our interests. 
 
 All history Avill bear me out in the assertion, that it is not 
 the splendor of shields and swords that will give lasting 
 glory to any government— it is not the display of banners^ 
 drenched in human gore, or the chaplets of our warriors, 
 that will immortalize the American name. No ! he who 
 seeks for laurels like these, with which to garnish his coun- 
 try, seeks for leaves that will wither and fade ; for we have 
 every indication that the summer of chivalry has past, and 
 winter must entomb them, to decay and mingle with the 
 earth. The age has gone by when the names of a Caesar, or 
 Frederick, or Bonaparte, or Wellington, will be the bright- 
 est gems in the crown of a nation. As men are advancing in 
 knowledge and civilization, they are bocoming more refined 
 in their moral feelings ; humanity and love are taking the 
 places of the barbarities of the battle field, and nobler and 
 more angelic employments are engaging the ambition of the 
 world. The time has gone by, when the most enchanting 
 and lasting theme for the poet shall be the tale of massacre 
 on the plains of Troy, and when a nation's honor is to be in- 
 sulted by the domestic trifles and freaks of puerile kings. 
 Another Homer will never make an Achilles the hero of his 
 song. Another Virgil will never begin the inspiration of 
 his muse with '■^arma virumque cano^ The time is at 
 hand when we shall no longer look with sympathy upon the 
 mangled body of a Hector, or weep over the misfortunes of 
 an iEneas. Go, visit Vernon, and ask the shades of the illus- 
 trious dead, why no gorgeous marble presses his sleeping 
 remains? and I fancy you hear the voice of the hero chiding 
 you for the invidious question, in the answer, that " the spirit 
 of the Alexanders has passed away, and a reign of brotherly 
 affection is ensuing." Go to the heights of Charlestown, 
 and there ask why that grand and peering obelisk has 
 gone up so slowly ? and you have the reply, not that 
 the valor of those for whom it was designed is not justly ap- 
 preciated, or that their names have sunk into oblivion ; far, 
 very far, from this ; but it is that every trace of that scourge 
 which has set nation against nation, and brother against 
 brother, may be forgotten, and universal peace be restored to 
 all mankind. 
 
 If the thrones of despots could speak, would they say they 
 fear our military power more than the moral weapons we are 
 forging to set their subjects free ? Go ! look into the book 
 
15 
 
 of futurity, and see if the historian has given a high-wrought 
 eulogium upon our insigna of war, if he has lighted up his 
 pages with the blaze of our military achievements. No I he 
 who has declared that " swords shall be turned into pruning 
 hooks^^ will indite to the narrator sublimer subjects; Chris- 
 tian historians will then wield the pen, and no longer shall 
 the terror of arms, but moral goodness graduate the chief 
 glory of a country. What, too, are talents, when conscience 
 has no seat in the heart to govern the intellect or sway the pas- 
 sions ? What are political tenets, though grounded, as they 
 may be, in the depths of mental and civil research, and bright 
 and shining as they may otherwise appear, if the heart has 
 never been cultivated, and no healthful moral streams have 
 ever refreshed the soul ! To what may be attributed the 
 many victories of our Washington over his enemies? We 
 see him uniting the efforts of his mind with those of his 
 heart for his success. On the eve of battle, silent and alone 
 we trace his walk to some sequestered spot, and there listen 
 in imagination to his supplications unto the Supreme Power 
 to "bless his nerveless arm with might and victory, to smile 
 upon his war-worn soldiers, and awake spirit and fire in 
 every languid pulse." Such a man may well be termed a 
 Christian patriot. Place in contrast the two characters of 
 Napoleon and Washington. At the mention of the one, we 
 shudder ; at the name of (he other we rejoice ; the one is as- 
 sociated with all that is inhuman, the other with all that is 
 philanthropic ; the one seeks to gratify an insatiable ambition, 
 by deluging his country and the world in misery ; the other 
 to break the shackles of tyranny, and prepare all for a glori- 
 ous immortality. The only material difierence between 
 these two individuals lay in this — the former had no cultiva- 
 tion of heart, the latter had. He who combines goodness of 
 soul with correct views of government, is sure of success in 
 managing the ship of State. He will have the respect and 
 love of his subjects, and of course they will second his efforts ; 
 but above all he will enjoy the favor of Him who controls 
 the destinies of nations. While such a man will maintain 
 with becoming firmness the great truths of self-government 
 and the rights of his country, he will never close his ear to 
 the cries of justice. In the discharge of his duties as Chief 
 Magistrate his ultimate end will not be to obtain pillared piles, 
 or eternal pyramids to recount his praises. It is enough for 
 him if his name exists in the heart, in the affections of a 
 people whom he has made wiser and better by his adminis- 
 tration. It is sufficient for him if he can " wrap the drapery 
 
16 
 
 ©f his couch about Ixim," and lie down with the conviction 
 that he has performed the highest duties to his fellow-men, 
 and fearlessly await the reward of his Judge. Does not the 
 sense and experience of every man say, that in the hands of 
 such a person the liberties of a nation must be preserved ? 
 Elevate, then, no man to stations of such honor and trust who 
 is morally incapacitated for its duties, who would trample 
 under his feet the Revelation of Jehovah, despise the first 
 principle which governs Heaven — " love to God," and the 
 second law obligatory upon earth — " love to man." 
 
 These remarks apply with equal force and truth to those 
 whom you should select as your legislators. Look at those 
 who compose your State and general assemblies, and then 
 ask how large is their number who, from their moral disa- 
 bility, are unable to advance your happiness. Will those 
 who are themselves profligates tear down your gambling 
 houses, and demolish your haunts of iniquity ? Do you not 
 blush that such should be honored with seats where no un- 
 hallowed tongue should speak ? that vice should be mingled 
 with virtue, and that the tears and prayers of true patriotism 
 should be mocked by the sneers and chills of infidelity ! 
 
 But the character of such men is the character of their con- 
 stituents. In general, every representative is a sample of 
 the moral, as well as the intellectual traits of those who de- 
 pute them to legislate. If the former are men addicted to 
 habits of intemperance and immorality, so are a majority of 
 the latter. If ignorance, depravity, and party rancor, distin- 
 guish the one, rest assured they will the other. Judge, 
 then, from your knowledge of the persons who occupy your 
 halls of legislation, to what extent a reformation should be 
 effected, if we would most successfully strengthen the bonds 
 and blessings of our Union. We congratulate you that the 
 means of knowledge ore increasing, that colleges and semi- 
 naries of learning are arising in various sections of our land. 
 Let such institutions be supported and multiplied. They 
 are the beacons that will light your care-worn mariners to an 
 anchorage of safety, when the political elements are enraged. 
 But while you are enthusiastic in establishing these higher 
 departments of science, and filling them with ihe sons of the 
 wealthy, neglect not those of a lower grade. 
 
 As many of the rising generation have not the resources 
 whereby to enjoy the benefits of the most desirable course of 
 education, let the noble system of Free Schools be every 
 where extended, that all may qualify themselves to discharge 
 the duties of civil life. 
 
17 
 
 Cast your eyes westward, it has been said that the present 
 century will close with a population of twenty millions in the 
 valley oi the Mississippi. Shall knowledge keep pace with this 
 vast increase of our race ? What is now the condition of its 
 inhabitants? Coming from every quarter of the globe, many 
 of them have by education the principles of absolute monar- 
 chy strongly implanted in their minds. Of a government like 
 our own, they can have no correct conception. And, yet, 
 with all these disqualifications, the whole control of this na- 
 tion will very shortly lie in their hands. Pause, then, pa- 
 triots and statesmen, })hilanthropists and christians, lovers of 
 civil and religious freedom ! Stretch your eyes from the 
 northern to the southern boundary of this favored empire, 
 look upon the plains crimsoned with the blood of your fathers, 
 see a great confederacy united by common interests, and 
 possessing within themselves every facility for wealth and 
 national honor — listen to the millions of voices which are 
 this day swelling over hill and dale in the anthems of joy. 
 Oh ! shall yon sun ever rise or set upon our country 
 in ruins ^ Shall our " solemn temples be the resort of 
 muttering monks and infidel bacchanalians '"' Shall the 
 stranger ever visit our shores, as he now visits those of 
 the once fertile and blooming Palestine, only to see the 
 wreck of human magnificence, and to gather up historic 
 relics of our past existence. But let us not indulge in 
 such gloomy forebodings. It is only for us to say that 
 such shall not be the case, and its done. It is only for us to 
 dessemminate the light of knowledge, and instil into every 
 breast the principles of morality and religion, and we shall 
 exceed our own hopes. Let me insist, above all else, upon 
 the importance of these two ingredients needful to accom- 
 plish this object. Be not deceived by supposing that " the 
 idolatry of science alone is the purifying and preserving salt 
 of the nations." The renowned Lord Brougham was in an 
 error, when he excl.'imed, in the Parliament of England, 
 " jcive the people knowledge and they will guard their rights 
 for themselves.'''' The eras of Ethiopian, Egyptian, Chinese, 
 and Grecian illumination contradict the assertion. Modern 
 times also furnish an example to the point. In the reign of 
 Louis XV^I, we see France one great school of philosophy. 
 In the language of another, " for a while the philosophers 
 rode proudly and gloriously, like Tritons, amid the waves 
 they had excited, but they had forgotten to provide the only 
 trident of sufficient p wer to control and allay the storm. 
 The very weapons they had forged in the laboratories of phi- 
 3 
 
18 
 
 losophic seclusion, were turned against themselves. Thej 
 had put the two-edged sword of knowledge into the hands 
 of maniacs, or rather demoniacs, from whose minds were ob- 
 literated every sentiment of virtue, every idea of moral ac- 
 countability. It was not ignorance that deluged France in 
 an ocean of blood, but unbaptised science. 
 
 Shun then the rocks on which others have wrecked their 
 all. Turn your attention to a speedy and thorough reforma- 
 tion in morals ; shut the flood gates of vice ; stay the progress 
 of luxury, riots, and over heated party spirit ; uproot the su- 
 perstition and crimes too prevalent among us, and sow the 
 seeds of knowledge and virtue. And, in the midst of our 
 prosperity, let us not be unmindful of Him who has thus far 
 crowned our labors with his smiles and goodness. As a na- 
 tion we must honor his name, reverence his sanctuary, con- 
 fess our sins, and be humble at his feet. We must erect an 
 altar in every heart, from which shall go up the pure in- 
 cense of prayer and praise to Almighty God, the preserver 
 and guardian of our liberties. And then, though the powers 
 of the earth be combined against us, we may still exclaim 
 wi*h heart felt satisfaction, " happy is that nation whose God 
 is the Lord." Then we shall attain an eminence from which 
 no tyrant can hurl us ; an elevation where no winds or 
 tempests can annoy us ; and while the elements may be in 
 commotion at our feet, we will sit in calm serenity, while 
 the sun of our glory penetrates and dispels the darkness that 
 shrouds the nations of the earth. 
 
i „«"!"' °^congre1^ 
 
 °011 460 197 4 
 
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