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AN 
 
 ORATION, 
 
 PROHOUirCED 
 
 m f ucs s?®ssssii m swa^'^e asiSi 
 
 REQUEST OF THE INHABITANTS OP THE CITY OP BOSTON, 
 
 IN COMMEMORATION Of 
 
 THE ANNIVERSARY 
 
 17i^^mM!L !!lQ)if il?!^ll?(SSl< 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN C. GRAY, ESQ. 
 
 PRINTED AT THE REQUEST OP THE CITY OP BOST^ 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CHARLES CALLENDEB, 
 
 No. 25, School Street. 
 

 CITY OF BOSTOX. 
 
 In Common Council, July 8, 1S22. 
 ORDERED, That the Mayor and Aldermea be and they hereby are 
 requested to present the thanks of the City of Boston, to John C. Gray, 
 Esq. for the elegant and spirited oration, delivered by him on the fourth of 
 July, at the request of the City upon the anniversary of American Indepen- 
 dence, and to request a copy for the press. . 
 
 Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 WM. PRESCOTT, President 
 In the board of Aldermen, July 8, 1822. 
 Read and concurred. 
 
 JOHN PHILLIPS, Maif<yr. 
 A true copy 
 Attest, 
 
 S. F. McCLEARY, Cifi/ Clerk- 
 
FELLOW CITIZENS, 
 
 -l-T Would be unnecessary as well as impracticable to enu- 
 merate the auspicious circumstances, under which we now 
 meet together. You have already expressed your sense of 
 them most unanimously and unequivocally by the usual 
 rejoicings of this day ; in public and in private, by military 
 and by religious ceremonies, your steps are thronged by a 
 cheerful multitude, the current of business stands still, and 
 joy and gratitude are proclaimed by exery tongue and 
 reflected in every face. Our national prosperity is not a 
 subject, upon which you need to be either informed or ex- 
 cited, and all, that I could say to display it, would be little 
 else than a repetition of the sentiments of every one who 
 hears me. But it is not solely for the purpose of exulta- 
 tion that we are here assembled. You have considered 
 this as a proper occasion, not merely for innocent enjoy- 
 ment, but for sober reflection. You have recollected that 
 on this day, if ever, we must be naturally and forcibly led 
 to think of our ancestors and of posterity, to investigate 
 the causes which conduced to the establishment of our na- 
 tional happiness, and the formation of our national char- 
 
acter, and to ask \vhat are the means within our reach 
 for increasing the one and improving the other. The 
 practice of assembling annually for the consideration of 
 subjects like these has been established among us by long 
 custom, and might be defended if necessary on the sound- 
 est principles of reason. The beneficial effects, which it 
 is calculated to produce both on our understandings and 
 feelings, though difficult to define, are real and important. 
 "We meet together as members of one community j our at- 
 tention is diverted from those points, upon which we hon- 
 estly differ, to those on which we must warmly unite ; we 
 are reminded of objects, which we have a common and 
 equal interest in pursuing, however we may disagree as 
 to the best means of procuring them ; the spell, which is 
 too often thrown over the most liberal minds by the spirit 
 of party, is interrupted and dissolved, and we are prepar- 
 ed to return to our ordinary political duties, not perhaps 
 with less difference of opinion, but with clearer views, 
 with more dispassionate judgments, with more generous 
 feelings. The anniversary of our independence will we 
 trust be ever an occasion of universal gladness to all 
 parts of our spreading empire ; but this return of it, my 
 friends, is rendered peculiarly interesting to us, by a cir- 
 cumstance which has occurred since we last met together, 
 which has probably already suggested itself to your reflec- 
 tions, and which it would be doing injustice to your feel- 
 ings to pass over in silence. A thorough alteration in our 
 municipal government is an event, which, as it has hap- 
 pened but once, and as it was undertaken and conducted 
 with the most mature deliberation, will probably not again 
 recur. . Like those important changes which sometimes 
 take place in the life of an individual, it seems to break 
 
the continuity of our existence ; our attention is irresisti- 
 bly arrested for a season, and directed to the serious con- 
 sideration of our past and our actual condition. To at- 
 tempt even the slightest abstract of the eventful history of 
 Boston is a task, which, however interesting, would oblige 
 me to trespass on your patience, far beyond the proper 
 limits of this occasion, and I shall merely select a few facts, 
 which appear to indicate more fully and correctly than 
 any others, the general course of our fortunes from the be- 
 ginning of the last century, to this moment. One hun- 
 dred years ago, Boston contained 1 8,000 souls. From that 
 time till the year 1790 its growth was slow and inconsid- 
 erable, and its population remained nearly stationary. 
 Since this last period, the number of its citizens has been 
 regularly augmented one third in every ten years ; and 
 from 1810 to 1820, not only the relative, but the absolute 
 increase of the county of Suffolk, exceeded that of any 
 other in the state. The accumulation of property in Bos- 
 ton has been more than proportioned to the multiplication 
 of its inhabitants. True, our prosperity has not been un- 
 interrupted or unmingled ; but our embarrassments have 
 been shared by the rest of our country, and greatly 
 exceeded at all times, and never more than at present, 
 by those of every other capital in the union. We cannot 
 open our eyes, without beholding the most unequivocal 
 monuments of the general success, which has crowned the 
 industry and economy of our citizens. Their honestly ac- 
 quired wealth is continually rising round us, not only in 
 comfortable dwellings, but in magnificent and useful works 
 not more conducive to the interests of the projectors than 
 to the advantage and honour of the City ; and what is still 
 more, in splendid edifices for the celebration of public 
 
worship, and the I'elief of disease and poverty. We can 
 hardly give a stronger proof of our prosperity, than hy 
 stating that it surpassed even the expectations of the saga- 
 cious and enlightened politicians, who formed our state 
 constitution, and was in fact the sole occasion of those 
 difficulties, which led to the summoning of our late Con- 
 vention. It is a cause of no inconsiderable gratification, 
 that the contemplation of the magnitude and beauty of our 
 city, leads to none of those melancholy reflections, which 
 arise in exploring the more splendid capitals of the East- 
 ern continent. Their monuments of art, glorious as they 
 are, are generally the fruits of despotism or superstition, 
 the sure indications of general suffering, the incontestible 
 proofs that the comfort of the whole people has been sac- 
 rificed to the decoration of the metropolis. 
 
 " When verging to decline, their splendours rise, 
 Their Vistas strike, their Palaces surprise." 
 
 The embellishments of this place, on the other hand, are 
 principally the result of private enterprise and liberality, 
 the symptoms not of distress and decline, but of the gen- 
 eral prosperity of the capital, the state, and the union. I 
 have said thus much of the increase of our city, not to in- 
 dulge or excite an idle vanity, but for the purpose of lead- 
 ing your attention to the causes, by which this increase 
 has been promoted and accelerated. Such a subject will, 
 I trust, not be considered as altogether inappropriate to 
 this great national festival, since many of those causes are 
 manifestly of a general nature, and have operated alike on 
 us, and on our whole country. Much of our success is 
 doubtless owing to external circumstances, and particular- 
 ly to the condition of the European world, during the late 
 
protracted and doubtful war. But what rendered the ope- 
 ration of these circumstances uniformly and highly favor- 
 able, what enabled us to improve our unequalled opportu- 
 nities ? It would be doing a flagrant injustice to our early 
 ancestors, to forget that our actual prosperity arises prima- 
 rily from causes which existed before the revolution, 
 though their operation was for a long time lessened and 
 retarded by adverse circumstances. We owe the princi- 
 ples, feelings, and habits which have enabled us to acquire 
 and preserve what we possess, in a great degreee, to their 
 virtuous example and their wise institutions. I shall touch 
 for a moment on a few of the most peculiar of these, those 
 of a political, literary, military nature. That the will 
 of the people is the only just foundation of government, 
 and that all rulers are their delegates, were considered by 
 our fathers, in common with every man of liberal views, 
 as self-evident axioms. With them, however, these were 
 something more than mere abstract jjropositions, wliich 
 like maxims on the origin of law or of property, serve 
 only to exercise the ingenuity of studious theorists. — The 
 popular form of internal government, imperfect and re- 
 stricted as it was, which we enjoyed in our colonial co)i- 
 dition, may perhaps be considered as the principal source 
 of our whole republican system. By their frequent elec- 
 tions, the people were reminded of their equal rights, 
 and common interests ; they were admonished that the 
 praise or blame of those legislative measures, which were 
 sanctioned by their approbation or acquiescence, mast 
 rest upon themselves, and excited to an incessant and anx- 
 ious inspection of the conduct of their representatives. 
 The whole country was reduced to one vast seminary of 
 political instruction, and those principles of knowledge 
 
8 
 
 which were implanted in early youth in the minds of all, 
 but wliich might have been effaced from those of the great- 
 er part, by an exclusive attention to their daily labours, 
 Avere kept alive and expanded by frequent reflection and 
 discussion upon subjects of the higliest general moment. 
 A profound skill in political science, was necessarily limit- 
 ed to a few, but an acquaintance with the most important 
 facts of their liistory, and leading principles of their gov- 
 ernment, was acquired almost insensibly by every citizen 
 of the colony. Sensible, however, that a representative 
 system could conduce to the happiness only of an enlight- 
 ened community, our predecessors endeavoured to secure 
 and increase the beneficial influence of their political in- 
 stitutions, by their provisions for the instruction of youth. 
 Scarcely had they acquired a scanty subsistence for them- 
 selves, and their children, when tliey laid the foundation 
 of our venerable university ; and, could all else that they 
 did be erased from our memory, this glorious monument of 
 their wisdom and piety should alone entitle them to our 
 never ceasing gratitude. They were still more remarka- 
 bly distinguished from every other community by the es- 
 tablishment of schools. That laws are nothing without 
 morals, and that these are principally the fruits of early 
 instruction, are truths which were felt in all their force, 
 by the most ancient writers of Greece, and the public ed- 
 ucation of youth is laid down by Plato, as the corner 
 stone of his perfect republic. But it was the glory of 
 our ancestors, in this as in many other respects, to reduce 
 theory to practice ; to execute those rules which had often 
 been urged by the wisest political philosophers, as vitally 
 important, and universally disregarded by governments, 
 as visionary, erroneous, or injurious.— -The beneficial ef- 
 
fects produced on the character of onr ancestors by their 
 militia system are so obvious, that very few words will be 
 necessary to display them. A high spirit of independence 
 can scarcely exist in any community, unless accompanied 
 by the consciousness, that they hold their rights by a firm- 
 er tenure, than any which can result merely from written 
 instruments ; that their liberty is secured not merely by 
 laws, but by the possession of physical force. Time would 
 fail me to dwell on the religious or judicial institutions of 
 our forefathers, or even to mention many others of scarce- 
 ly less importance. I shall therefore detain you no lon- 
 ger on this part of my subject, than merely to point out 
 the combined influence of the political, literary, and mili- 
 tary institutions which existed among us, before the revo- 
 lution, in bringing that all important struggle to a success- 
 ful issue. It was because the minds of our citizens were 
 expanded by early instruction at our public schools ; be- 
 cause, in administering their internal concerns by their 
 own representatives, they acquired a thorough knowledge 
 of their great political rights ; and because their skill in the 
 use of arms, and in the rudiments of discipline, inspired 
 them with a confidence not only in the justice but the 
 strength of their cause, that the war of 1775 was truly 
 and emphatically a war of the whole nation ; that the peo- 
 ple, instead of being the blind followers of a few illustri- 
 ous leaders, were separately and individually actuated by 
 a spirit as enlightened as it was enthusiastic, a spirit 
 which carried them through seven years of defeat, to final 
 victory, and which nothing could have quelled but utter 
 extermination. 
 
10 
 
 I now turn from those causes of the prosperity of 
 our city and country which existed previous to the 
 event we this day commemorate, to those which have 
 since arisen. The first and greatest was our independence 
 itself. It was this that freed us from the impendent hor- 
 rors of Arbitrary power. It was this that opened those 
 channels of industry, from which we had been inexorably 
 debarred by the jealousy of the mother country ; and it 
 was this more especially, that struck off the shackles from 
 our commerce, and enabled her to spread her snowy pin- 
 ions, in every region of the globe. To recommend your 
 independence to your care would be equally idle and pre- 
 sumptuous. Such recommendations indeed could scarcely 
 be necessary, till they became unavailing. The love of 
 liberty, in any people worthy to enjoy it, is a feeling like 
 the love of life in an individual, which no reasoning or 
 persuasion can either increase or impair. Yet our eman- 
 cipation would be at best a doubtful boon, had it not been 
 succeeded by the establishment of our national govern- 
 ment. To this therefore we may point as the next cause 
 in order, though scarcely inferior in efficacy of our public 
 prosperity. No sooner was the independence of our 
 States acknowledged, than the coalition, which had been 
 instantaneously formed between them by a community of 
 objects, of dangers, and of sufferings, began to relax its 
 hold, and was vanishing as rapidly, as it arose. It was 
 indispensably requisite to perpetuatd their friendship, by 
 establishing a sovereignty, which, springing from the Avill 
 of the United people, should be accountable to them alone, 
 by creating a power which should be like 
 
 "The glorious planet Sol 
 In noble eminence enthroned and sphered 
 
11 
 
 Amid the other, whose medicinable eye 
 Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil 
 And posts like the comiaandment of a king 
 Sans check to good and bad." 
 
 Our national government is indeed, as observed 
 on another subject by an eloquent English writer, 
 « The Sun of our system, the soul of our political world, 
 the source of light, life and motion and genial warmth 
 and plastic energy." Never may we forget that the sev- 
 erance of our union is the only human means, which can 
 arrest the march of our greatness j that, should it ever hap- 
 pen, all the goodness of Providence will " prove ill in us 
 and work but malice," and the convulsions, which must then 
 agitate our whole country, will be dreadful in proportion 
 to its previous prosperity. Let it be our peculiar care, 
 to prevent any tendency to an end so lamentable, by a 
 careful detection and strenuous resistance of local prejudi- 
 ces. 
 
 These are by far the most dangerous, because the most 
 lasting of all. Party divisions on mere political ques- 
 tions, are generally limited in their duration, and can 
 scarcely long survive, when those questions lose their in- 
 terest by the fluctuation of circumstances. Hence the 
 lines of demarcation, which such divisions create, are per- 
 petually changing, from the want of permanent landmarks. 
 Not so with local jealousies. They run with the land, 
 they strike into the soil, and when once deeply planted, 
 all hopes of removing them are utterly chimerical. To 
 " impress the forest, bid the tree unfix its earth-bound 
 root," were not a more desperate attempt. 
 
12 
 
 If those geographical distinctions are to he dreaded, 
 which might destroy the harmony of our national union, 
 how much more those,which might tend to array one por- 
 tion of our own state against the other. May not only 
 the name, but the very imagination of a difference be- 
 tween the interests of Town and Country, if indeed an 
 idea so absurd can ever have prevailed, soon be utterly 
 forgotten. It cannot be, my friends, that our honestly ac- 
 quired prosperity should excite any undue jealousy among 
 our industrious and well informed yeomanry. Should 
 such a feeling enter their minds for a single moment, the 
 recollections, which this day naturally excites, must be 
 alone sufficient to suppress and expel it. They cannot fail 
 to remember, that they ^re the children of those, who, 
 when Boston was singled out as the foremost object of 
 ministerial vengeance, and when every temptation was 
 held forth to them to build their fortunes on her ruin, 
 were anxious not only to relieve but to share her distres- 
 ses; were ever prepared, by the sacrifice of their property 
 and their lives, to bear witness to the great and eternal 
 truth, that the prosperity or suffering of one member is 
 that of the whole community. 
 
 Meanwhile let it be our particular object to remove even 
 any temptation to partial or oppressive legislation, by dif- 
 fusing just ideas of political economy. The labours of 
 Smith and of Say have at length exposed the fallacy of 
 those cumbrous and unwieldly systems, which have check- 
 ed the advancement of every country in Europe. They 
 have shewn that the great principles of Political Econo- 
 my, like those of every other science, are few and simple 
 in themselves j that it is the perverted ingenuity of men. 
 
13 
 
 which has sought out many inventions, which has distort- 
 ed what was direct, and darkened what was clear. They 
 have proved that the safest guide to the efforts of every 
 man is his own interest ; that what is best for tlie individ- 
 ual is best for the whole ; that industry, whether it guide the 
 plough, or ply the loom, or spread the sail, is alike entitled 
 to protection, to encouragement, and to respect ; that legis- 
 lative interference to assist one species of exertion, at the 
 expense of all others, is not more unjust than impolitic, 
 not more injurious to those classes of citizens, which are 
 unwarrantably restricted, than to that which is unreasona- 
 bly favoured. I shall notice as the next cause of the pros- 
 perity of Boston the flourishing state of her schools. 
 Those of our public laws which relate to the subject of ed- 
 ucation, as their operation extends to the whole state, have 
 required only such provisions for the free instruction, as 
 are within the means of towns of a moderate size. 
 
 To build on the solid foundation which these laws have 
 laid, to add the useful and ornamental to that which was 
 indispensably necessary, is wisely left to voluntary munifi- 
 cence. It may be asserted without vanity, that,in fulfilling 
 this trust, the inhabitants of Boston have not been un- 
 mindful either of its high importance, or of their own 
 cliaracter. More thsin forty thousand dollars are annually 
 expended by them for the gratuitous schooling of children, 
 and this single circumstance is perhaps that of all others in 
 our whole public conduct, on which we can reflect with 
 the warmest, and most solid gratification. It is our aim to 
 diffuse not merely elementary knowledge, but refined 
 learning. That classical education, which is in other 
 countries the highly valued privilege of the noble and the 
 opulent, is with us freely bestowed on the children of the 
 
14 
 
 poorest citizen. May no narrow or mistaken ideas of 
 economy ever lead us to withhold our liberal support 
 from institutions so truly republican, as our public semina- 
 ries. We yet owe much to the literary interests of our 
 country. Large cities are every where the nurseries of 
 elegant knowledge, and nothing will more conduce to ren- 
 der the literature of the United States worthy of their 
 political greatness, than the preservation, multiplication 
 and enlargement of classical schools. It is there, that a 
 pure taste can be formed in the very infancy of the facul- 
 ties, by an accurate acquaintance with those specimens of 
 Grecian and Roman eloquence, which the experience of 
 two thousand years has proved to be the only sure guides 
 to literary distinction. These plain truths are continually 
 gaining a firmer hold in the minds of our countrymen ; 
 we are every where becoming more and more convinced 
 of the real value of a national literature. The acute ob- 
 servation of one of our own writers, that " men of letters 
 and not a hereditary nobility are the Corinthian capital 
 of polished society," is most true, but it is not the whole 
 truth. Elegant writers, as you well know, conduce not 
 less to the strength, than to the splendour of a free coun- 
 try, and it is with literal justice that Homer has pointed 
 out "the heaven-taught poet and enchanting strain," as 
 among the first blessings of a peaceful state. Manners 
 have changed, but human nature remains the same; and 
 though the eloquent authors of modern times are not in- 
 vested with the open and public honors paid to the Sages 
 and bards of ancient days, yet their influence, while less 
 ostentatious, is far more extensive, efficient and perma- 
 nent ; their works are not recited in palaces and at feasts, 
 but transmitted by the press to the closet and the fireside ; 
 they still continue in fact, though not in name, the guardi- 
 
15 
 
 ans of public sentiment, the real lawgivers of their coun- 
 try, the moral guides of the civilized world. The culti- 
 vation of elegant literature is a duty, which we owe not 
 more to our own interests than to the memory of our 
 predecessors. It is a cause of regret, not to say complaint, 
 that their gallant achievements have as yet found no Amer- 
 ican to record them in a style worthy their excellence. 
 We have produced indeed several histories of our own 
 country ,♦ but these, though entitled for many reasons to the 
 highest respect, have been generally written by men, 
 whose numerous professional avocations prevented them 
 from doing justice to their subject or to themselves. We 
 may venture to hope, that so glaring a defect will not re- 
 main unsupplied ; that it will not long continue to be said, 
 that the most elegant account of the United States has is- 
 sued from the pen of an Italian ; that we have left it to 
 foreign hands to adorn the graves of our fathers. 
 
 While the formation of an elegant national literature is 
 thus recommended to us by every motive of policy and 
 morality, the actual situation of our country presents still 
 more obvious and pressing inducements for the cultiva- 
 tion of the sciences. It is these which must as- 
 sist us to explore those rich gifts, which nature has scat- 
 tered over the forests, or buried in the mines of our vast 
 territory, and which are as yet untold, undiscovered, and 
 unsuspected. It is these which will shed new light on 
 our agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, which will 
 teach us to improve our physical resources ; arid multiply 
 our daily comforts. May those among us, whose privilege 
 it is to investigate the principles, on which all the useful 
 arts are founded, never be unmindful of the urgent wants 
 of their country ; may they ever reflect that the abstract 
 
16 
 
 sciences have never been so gloriously directed, as when 
 broiij^ht down to the practical purposes of life ; when de- 
 voted by those who think, to tlie success and safety of 
 those who toil ; when employed by Davy for the preserva- 
 tion of the miner in the depths of Earth, or by Bowditch 
 for the guidance of the adventurous mariner over the 
 pathless wilds of Ocean. — The last source of the prosperi- 
 ty of Boston which I shall mention, is the wisdom and fi- 
 delity with which its municipal concerns have been regu- 
 lated, ever since its foundation. This city was for 
 more than 190 years a pure democracy, administered in a 
 great degree by the people themselves, without the inter- 
 vention of representatives. Notwithstanding its large 
 population, yet, till within a few years, little practical in- 
 convenience was experienced from a form of government 
 which is said, with much truth, to be generally incom- 
 patible with the peace and success of a numerous and 
 compact community. 
 
 We may remark a proof, equally conclusive and gratify- 
 ing, of the efficacy of the feelings, manners, and princi- 
 ples of our ancestors, in the simple fact, that the mere 
 force of public sentiment should have so long protected us 
 from those irregularities, which can scarcely be repressed 
 in many cities of the Eastern world, by severe laws and 
 by military force. The late alteration of our town con- 
 stitution was indeed not made without opposition, or with- 
 out reluctance. It was no wonder that we should fondly 
 cling to a form of government, dear to our honest prej- 
 udices (if indeed they do not deserve a better name) alike 
 from its venerable antiquity, from its similarity to the mu- 
 nicipal institutions of our country brethren, and from a 
 
17 
 
 recollection of the virtues of those ancestors, by whom it 
 was established and preserved. We were atlena^th taught 
 by a thorough experience, that the administration of our 
 town affairs in person, was rendered impracticable by our 
 overflowing population. The frequency of our town meet- 
 ings became a heavy and embarrassing burden, and a gen- 
 eral attendance upon them was utterly incompatible with 
 a proper regard to our private duties. Our ordinary mu- 
 nicipal concerns were actually managed, and our by-laws 
 enacted, by a small proportion of our whole number ; and 
 we had no alternative left but to determine whether that 
 proportion should be an ever changing assemblage, collect- 
 ed almost wholly by accident, or a body of responsible del- 
 gates chosen by the deliberate suffrages of the majority. 
 Convinced that either the municipal constitution which 
 our ancestors had left us must be changed, or that the 
 good order and good principles, which it was the sole 
 object of that constitution to cherish, must be impaired or 
 hazarded, we felt ourselves bound, by a regard not merely 
 to our own good, but to their memory, to sacrifice the 
 means to the end, and to establish, under the sanction of 
 the legislature, a government of representatives. This 
 has been framed with an accuracy and caution, which will 
 appear superfluous to none, who rightly estimate the im- 
 portance of city laws. They are those, of all others, 
 which touch us most nearly. We feel their influence ev- 
 ery hour. The neatness and beauty of our streets, our 
 public places, and public edifices ,• our general health ; the 
 quiet pursuit of our business ; the enjoyment of our inno- 
 cent recreations, our daily comforts, and nightly repose, 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 are all materially dependent on wise and well executed 
 municipal ic\^iilations. Such rcajulations, by their effect 
 upon our condition,cvontribute materially, though indirectly, 
 to the formation of our chaiacter : foi* who does not know 
 how much character is affected by situation, how forcibly 
 our minds and hearts are influenced by our j)hysical cir- 
 cumstances ? Still more may the government of every 
 city control and guide the conduct of its inhabitants, 
 by that vigilant and internal police, which checks vice at 
 its very spring, and prevents the deeper guilt, which more 
 general laws can, at best, only punish. Without such a 
 police among ourselves, the wisest enactments of our con- 
 gress or our legislature could do but little to render us a 
 flourishing and liappy municipality. This great end, we 
 devoutly trust, will be materially promoted by our new 
 form of government. But let every citizen seriously re- 
 flect, that it is still a government of the people ; and that 
 the talents and fidelity of our municipal officers can avail 
 us notlting, unless seconded by the prompt obedience and 
 liberal approbation of the inhabitants in general. What 
 indeed, let us inquire for a moment, is the origin, and 
 what the nature not only of municipal, but of all public in- 
 stitutions ? They arc valuable only as instruments for 
 promoting the happiness and virtue of the community 
 where they exist. They spring from the character of the 
 people, and are powerfully effectual in strengthening and 
 improving that character, by their reaction. Hence the 
 maxim, that forms of government are of no consequence, 
 if the people are generally virtuous, is alike illusory and 
 dangerous. But as the character of the community is 
 thejprimary source of public institutions, so it is their sole 
 
19 
 
 support, and they are either thrown by, or rendered use- 
 less, vvlien that character is vitiated by other causes. For 
 let us not forget, what, incontestible as it is, is daily over- 
 looked, that no laws can infallibly render us virtuous ; that 
 Heaven has made us free agents, and no ordinance of man 
 can change us into mere machines. Indeed it is not the 
 least excellence of our invaluable systems of government, 
 that they furnish a stronger motive than those of any oth- 
 er country to individual virtue. Public opinion is par- 
 ticularly the ruling spirit of that community, where the 
 voice of the majority is the supreme law ; and in what other 
 way can we hope to secure the purity of public opinion, 
 than by the prevalence of private integrity ? Our repub- 
 lican constitutions and laws are not upheld by the strong 
 arm of military power, or protected by the influence of he- 
 reditary rank ; to assist in their preservation is made the 
 duty and the privilege of all classes, of either sex, and 
 every age. Let us consider that it is in the power of each 
 of us to contribute something to the derangement or har- 
 mony of our political machine ; that we are all parts of 
 one stupendous whole. Whatever then be our condition, 
 whether it be ours to defend or to enlighten our fellow citi- 
 izens ; whether we be the ministers of health, of justice, or 
 of religion ; whether ours be the labour, which supplies all 
 the comforts and ornaments of life, or the capital, by 
 which that labour is stimulated and sustained, may we 
 feel that there is no sphere of action so humble or retired, 
 ,\vhich is not embraced by the all surrounding orb of social 
 duty ; that our talents should all be ultimately direct- 
 ed to the best good of a country, which dispenses equal 
 rights to every one, and recognises no claims to superior 
 
20 
 
 honors, but those of superior usefulness. May it be the 
 endeavour of each citizen to render himself worthy of the 
 happiness, which he enjoys under her impartial care; and 
 may it be her prerogative, when the bigotted admirers of 
 external splendor shall sneer at her republican simplicity, 
 and ask where are her ornaments, to answer, like Cor- 
 nelia, by pointing to her children. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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