v^^ ^^-^^^ 'h. " air* aV ^d» V**"^-*\^^^ ^■''.To' .0- I'i' c o " o V .1 '^oV^ ♦ . Pilgrims had perished, without whose cloud, ol'teu and almost obviously thrown about him, our Wash- ington had died upon the scaffold : whose Eye marks out a course for the examples of human kind, surrounds them with a felicity of circumstances' that may stimulate successive emulation, and ac- commodates their destinies to the grandeur of the designs for which He moulded their characters. Let us see in it the assurance, that while we cherish' the principles upon which, under his Divine appro- bation, this newly risen empire was founded, He will still make himself known to us, and stay us with his staff, and comfort us with his countenance. It is singular that the dieaths of so many of the most distinguiished founders of our independence should have taken place at periods which they would", perhaps, themselves have selected as most felicitous. Franklin lived to see the establishment? of his philosophy, and of his country — he saw, too, the effulgent morning of Gallic freedom, of which he had also been the distinguished pioneer, and' died undisturbed by a glimpse of the disaster^ which there ensued upon the departure from his sage principles and precepts. Washington, after a race of unequalled glory, died at the head, again, of the American armies, having seen successfully) maintained that proclamation of neutrality upon which he believed the salvation of his country had dependedj and into which he had thrown the whole weight of his august character. Adams and Jeffer- son, with the sagacity of statesmen, might desire a 2 10 long experiment — such they have enjoyed. Blest with a patriarchal length of days, which seemed, in their persons, to connect posterity with antiquity, witnessing the undisturbed operations of the prin- ciples of a free government upon a generation en- tirely new, and over populous regions whose whole history is subsequent to their establishment, they have departed satisfied and assured ; leaving us experienced and not inglorious in our own applica- tion of those principles : While the very shouts that ascended with them to the skies, were repeat- ing to them the convictions of their own hearts, that the foundations of the American empire are firm as the rocky bases of the Alleghanies, its resources exhaustless as the floods of the Missis- sippi, On this occasion you do not expect, nor would time permit me to ofTer a detailed account of even the most important events in the lives of these illustrious dead. But, indeed, what need have we of biographical details } The history of the age in which they lived is their biography. Their genius and their characters are stamped, with an indelible impression, upon the monuments and imperishable institutions of that age : — an age pregnant with im- provement — big with unexampled events — in com- parison with which the commotions of the Grecian Commonwealths and the conflicts of the Roman World, when estimated by the canons of legitimate glory, shrink into insignificance : — an age not usher- ed in by earthquakes, nor foreshown by portents in 11 the skies — but prepared and announced by prodi- gies of more significant augury — by the birth of a race of men whose souls seemed filled with a larger portion of that divine force which should fit them for its great occasions — while the magnitude and exigencies of those occasions would, with recipro- cal agency, add strength and hardihood to the characters called to grapple with them. Till a late period, even after provocation had in some instances roused resistance, most of the colonists still loved to consider England, like the Palestine of dispersed Israel, the home of their origin and of their possible return. This relique of pious affection, and the negligent provision of learn- ed institutions here, made it a common desire of fathers to send the sons of their hopes home to En- gland for education. Happily, neither Adams nor Jefferson were subjected to this transportation. They had but one home, and it was here. Their undivided hearts knew but one country, and it was this. The stamina of their souls, as well as of their frames, were purely and wholly American. From infancy, their bosoms inhaled health and freedom among the hills, the streams and forests of their na- tive land. Receiving academical honours, the one at Harvard, the other at William and Mary — exer- cising the native resources and activity which dis- tinguish minds destined to control or enlighten other minds, they overcame all the obstacles to knowledge, and were each, at an early age, among the most learned of their day. 12 The descent of Adams was direct from the Pilgrim stock : and if spirits have inheritable qualities, he surely was an instance. Those original and unbend- ing traits which marked that high souled race for daring enterprise and searching trial — their uncon- querable perseverance — their simple grandeur, self- supplied and self-upheld — their undaunted reliance upon internal resource and never failing Providence, were his. They might be distinctly traced as sour- ces of his greatness and of his various fortunes. }i\s was all their lofty enthusiasm — their humble Jind affecting piety. His was their intrepid recti- tude of heart, above disguise, unable to comprehend its uses, impatient at witnessing, but incapable of fearing it. To all their love of science and hatred of oppression, be added intellectual vision that took in a wider horizon, an ardour for improvement that embraced the human race. It was the delight of his youth to study and compare the finest and freest forms of government which the world had yet seen reduced to practice. In the simple structure of the ancient commonwealths and in the theoreti- cally balanced forces of the British Constitution, he saw much to admire and cherish. But his mind perceived and dwelt upon a system in which liberty might more largely respire, and anarchy on the one hand, and despotism on the other, be more faithfully excluded. The works which in later years he published — his defence of the American Constitutions, a treatise admired and feared in Eu- rope for the originality and irrefutable truth of its 13 arguments — his Thoughts on Government, — his tri- umphant argument against British Impressments — indeed, all the political writings which patriotism or official duty have called from him, are replete with evidence that deep and un relaxing reflection upon the principles of Government and of human nature must have mingled with the earliest habits of his mind, shaping the very germs of youthful thought. Devoting himself to the profession of the Law, he cultivated Eloquence, both as necessary to pro- fessional success, and to the influence which he wished to employ to repel the attempts upon the rights of the Colonies. And when, at the bar, or in Fanueil Hall, his voice was raised for right, or as- sailed the cstabHshments of power, his eloquence partook of the great elements of his character : — it was bold, rapid, vehement, deep ; — studying, staying for, no ornament : — like the great cata- ract, whose rainbows are but bright drops dashed from a sweep of force which wears away rocks. With a prophet's eye he saw the dark and stormy scenes through which lay the path of his country to her bright destiny ; and feeling that his post ought to be that of decisive action, he declined the honorable station of Chief Justice of the Colony, to which at an early age he was appointed. Repre- senting the town of Boston in the provincial assem- bly for several years previous to the commence- ment of the great struggle, with all the fervour of faith and the fire of genius, he assisted to cheer and sustain his constituents for the conflict. At this pe- 14 riod an incident of his life stands out in beautiful relief, and marks a character of more than Roman firmness : It is his defence of the soldiers charged with the murder of the unhappy men who fell in what is called the Boston massacre of 1770. When Cicero was called to the defence of his friend, a man, too, of power and iniluence, from a similar charge in Rome, the clamours of a disapproving populace shook the firmness that had saved the " eternal city" — his tongue faltered, and his friend was banished. But Adams did not falter. In vain were political standing and popular favour sug- gested as motives to desist. In vain was private friendship anxious that he should avoid the . peril of his future prospects. Inflexible in ad- herence to the high principles of his profession; un- compromising upon a question of justice ; knowing that the right to a full and fair trial was one of the dearest for which his country ought to contend ; he could not listen to the voice of private friendship against the call of a great public duty. And popu- lar favour, dear as it was to his heart, and valuable for his purposes, he asked not at the expense of in- dependent principle. He spoke with the same abili- ty he had exerted for freedom. The acquittal of the prisoners was a memorable triumph of American justice. Their advocate soon regained his popu- larity with increased confidence in his manly prin- ciples. He was elected a member of the Gover- nor's council — but the Governor (Gage) paid to his patriotism and his influence a merited compliment} 15 in refusing to sanction the election. Meantime the signs of the coming times were gathering on every hand ; a beacon hght had broke forth from a sister colony : — the noise of preparation increased — the decisive blow was struck. The smoke of that blood-offering of Freedom which was to awaken na- tions to tempestuous conflict and sever more than one mighty Empire, ascended from the turf of Lex- ington. But though aflected by the deeper gloom and awful realities that had arrived, the counte- nance of Adams was seen to brighten with pride and joy, that his countrymen had faced the British fire — had returned it — had driven their assailants back to their barracks with loss and shame. Thence- forward, the theme of his thoughts and efforts was unconditional separation. The suggestion of Inde- pendence, which had been made to a member of Congress by Greene, the hero of Rhode-Island, touched the very chord of his soul which was reai dy to sound that note throughout America. When all was ripe for the august act he with salutary sa- gacity, yielded to a distinguished delegate from the great state of Virginia, Richard Henry Lee, the honour of proposing it in Congress. He seconded the motion. He made it his province to see that it should pass. During the twenty-four days that it was pending, he urged it with his resistless elo- quence and commanding influence, in public debate, in private conversation, strengthening the boldest, encouraging the cautious, disarming the dark and gloomy period of its terrors, pourtraying the hope?!; 1& the supports, the splendouis thai must ensue. No mind was more deeply impressed with the magni- tude of the measure, its consequences upon other nations, its titles to everlasting commemoration in our own. Aware of what it would cost to maintain it, looking, undismayed, through the dark and troubled means, his eye was intensely fixed, with the confi- dence of inspiration, upon the glorious end. His political sagacity and science, his powers of per- suasion, his enthusiastic activity marked him as a proper instrument to acquire for his country the sympathy of the good, the aid and alliance of the great. For her he traversed the Atlantic as one of thoee illustrious commissioners who appeared in Europe, the heralds to the old world of the resplen- dent constellation which had risen in the horizon of the new. To that constellation he directed the eyes of philosophers and statesmen, as to the light and hope and promise of the universe. The lead- ing courts of Europe felt and acknowledged his elo- quence. In the alliance of France he but assisted — that of Holland was his sole work. But the joy of his soul was full, when, with his associates, he signed the provisional and definitive treaties with Great Britain, by which peace was restored to his country with an unconditional recognition of its in- dependent rights. He was the first American who, ceasing to be a subject, spoke to the head of the British Empire as the representative of an equal nation. In that court where his name had been de- nounced as a rebel, face to face with majesty, in a IT conversation worthy the dignity of the situation, he received from the British King an acknowledge- ment of his upright and patriotic sentiments, with a pledge of respect for the nation that trusted him. The honours which his countrymen successively in the fulness of time conferred upon him, proved the depth of their affection and their estimate of his wisdom: — honours, by the side of which the splen- dours of courts and coronets and crowns, brighten- ing the crests of their accidental possessors, fade like the tapers of a revel in the beams of morning. The world has as yet prepared no station of digni- ty for the illustrious of our race that can compare with the Presidency of this great, free, intelligent nation ; — none that supposes so much acknowledged greatness of mind, so pure and tried an integrity, :30 many public services and benefactions. Yet this fortunate man, living to repeat his high fortunes in the person of an illustrious and affectionate descend- ant, may be said twice to have enjoyed, with equally vivid perception, tUis supreme dignity; and proba- bly the latter enjoyment has been fraught with more pure and unalloyed delight than the former. He has felt the tide of honour flowing back to him from his posterity, and lived to inherit glory from his heir. The imagination can hardly rest upon an object of sublimer interest than an American President, re- tired from his high station, to participate, with the perfect equality of a citizen, in the private conse- quences of the events he has caused or controlled, 3 1^ (Consecrated by the associations of departed power and tested worth, he stands amongst his fellow men the noble image of republican simplicity, suggesting to the imagination all that is grand in act or sublime- ly delightful in repose. Such was the Sage who madie the shades of Quincy the scene of his continued usefulness, and the resort of a reverential pilgrim- age of his countrymen. The fervour of his mind and heart was still poured forth in benefactions. Blest with the means of good, he did not spare the tise. His munificence stimulated public improve- ilierits and aided in the erection of temples to his God. His private charity, prompted and directed by the pure precepts of Christianity, sought out and relieved the children of distress. Gratified by the continued testimonials of his fellow citizens, whom he regarded and affectionately blessed, rather as his children, — nominated for Governor of his na- tive state, and elected to preside over the counsels that reformed her constitution, he yet declined to participate again in political action. Not that his mind had lost the excitements of patriotic interest: Those who visited him nearly at the termination of his course*, found him still ready to kindle at the spirit-stirring themes of the revolution — still cher- ishing his primeval fire under the snows of time. But he had witnessed the stability of his country's glory; — he had contributed his great and illustrious shai*e of human action ; — he humbly believed his peace was made with heaven— and with patient hope he waited for heaveil's will to be done upon his decaying body. The will of heaven has been done. 19 The mind of Jefferson, was a rare combination of mild, but great and useful qualities. With a heart deeply susceptible to the happiness and misery of his species, he early devoted himself to the studies that might empower his mind to ameliorate the one and advance the other. Philanthropy and Philoso- phy were the benign powers upon whose altars he sacrificed with youthful ardour; and Patriotism and Politics were, in his regard, but included por- tions of those great leading principles of his soul. In the silence of solitary study, aided by few and imperfect lights, his capacious mind loved to inves- tigate the wonderful works of the Creator, to range through the history of man in all his revolutions and relations, to master his secret springs of action and the sources of his good and evil. Eloquence was his, yet not so much of the tongue as of the pen. He uttered to the eye his high toned thoughts, through the medium of a style remarkable lor the elegance, the rich flow of music and beauty, the inspiring loftiness, of its expression. But just arri- ved to the age of manhood he was seated in the legislature of Virginia; and the great alterations in the institutions of that state, changing them to a more purely republican character, are principally attri- butable to him. Summoned from these favourite and congenial labours of legislation, by the agita- tions of the country, and the call of Patriotism for the choicest taleots of tlie land, his exertions, his animated appeals, were adequate to the occasion. With a reputation already matured, he entered the continental congress one year previous to the agita-^ lion of that momentous question which has em* balmed his name with its own immortality. Un- practised in debate, but prompt, fertile and judicious in the committee room, his salutary vigour was felt at the springs of action. When we look back upon the great transactions of these times, the mind must be impressed with gratitude for the very differences and oppositions of character, talent^ sentiment and education, which combined in one enthusiasm of purpose, and were adapted by those differetjces to each distinct part in the one sublime whole. The committee appointed to announce to the world, with becoming dignity, the principles and motives upon which a new nation, that should. be among the mightiest, was to advance into the order of empires, were Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Livingston. When will the world again see such a combination of talent and charac- ter discussing such a theme ? It is one of those sublimities which nature produces perfect, and but once ! This committee selected Adams and Jefferson for the draught of a Declaration. Each of these magnanimously preferred the other for the task — but Adams prevailed with the Chairman, the master of so felicitous a pen — and Jefferson per- formed it. Charmed with his production, the committee without altering a word reported it to Congress. There, besides some minor alterations, two of its eloquent passages were omitted. One from prudent deference to the feelings of the South 21 —the other probably for brevity. The first is that indignant clause in which the introduction, by Great Britain, of African Slavery into the colonies is assigned as one of the oppressions exercised upon this country. Singular as it may seem, this Native of Virginia, rising above the prejudices that surrounded him, and generously alive to the suffer- ings of man, of whatever complexion, under what- ever pretext, was the first known writer in the English language who denounced the African Slave trade as a piratical warfare against human nature : and by inserting the sentiment in the Declara- tion of Independence, he would have sanctioned it among the original principles of our government. Happily he lived to see it adopted by the Legislature of the Union, in that statute which pronounces this detestable traffic piracy. The other passage omit- ted contains that proud but pathetic allusion to what might have been the British Empire, but for the infatuation of the rulers and people of England ; "We might have been a free and a great people " together ; but a communication of grandeur and " freedom, it seems, is below their dignity. Be it " so, since they will have it. The road to happi- " ness and to glory is open to us too. We will " climb it apart from them, and acquiesce in the "necessity which denounces our eternal separa- " tion." With little other variation, and subscribed by the heroic men who had already avowed its sentiments and called for its production, this noble state paper went to the world as it came from the 22 hands of its author : and it remains, for the adraira-- tion of ages, a majestic monument of the truths of I freedom and of nature — of intrepid self-devotioQi! — of high-souled honour, pledged and redeemed ini its support : on which the oppressed of every chmej may read their rights, and the virtues which willl render them triumphant. When the South was becoming the troubled! theatre of war in which our Greene was to exhibitt the triumphs of Genius over Fortune, Virginia,, mindful of the exalted services of Jefferson, electedl him to succeed Patrick Henry as her Governor;; her confidence was not misplaced : in the darkest! period of the Southern war, she was repaid by thej resources of his mind and the constancy of his> heart. But the mind of this great man still found^ time to cultivate science, and to make that science* subservient to his country's honour. His notes oai Virginia advanced the literary reputation of Ameri- ca, and by triumphant argument and eloquence, and science, with which Europe was enriched and! instructed, refuted her calumny against the animal productions of the new world. Besides the greati concern of civil liberty, his thoughts were bent! upon the establishment of perfect liberty in th«i affairs of religion. He revolted from the absurdi- ties as well as the cruelties of that bigotry which,, whether by tortures or disqualifications, would mould the spirit of one man by the faith of another; Emulating the great example of Roger Williams,, he drew up that clear and eloquent declaration osfi 23 religious freedom which, in 1786, was enacted by the Legislature of Virginia : and with little varia- tion it became the form in which our own state has chosen to clothe that glorious principle which she was the first to practice and proclaim to the world. Former examples may justify the remark that republics are ungrateful — but this republic has shewn herself an exception to all the maxims that derogate from the beauty of freedom. To her pubhc serv ants she has not been, she will not be, ungrateful — nor did she forget the many titles of this distinguished individual to her respect and gratitude. In all the gradations of her public trusts, from the time he appeared her minister in France, till he relinquished the executive sway over her enlarged territory, she continued to repay with confidence the philanthropy and zeal with which he laboured for human happiness. When he had retired from the commotions and conflicts of political life, his benevolent activity still found objects worthy of its^mployment. The University of Virginia, reared by his auspices and exertions^ is a signal instance of his ardour for the intellectu- al advancement of the youth of his country. His own dilapidated walls witness that generous flow of hospitality and charity which drained the foun- tain while it cheered the surrounding regions. That he was left to a moment's apprehension of pecuniary distress, is a painful and humiliating I consideration. Yet it served to give to his closing eyes an afTecting proof of the reverence of his 24 countrymen, and ot the generous sjmpatliies with which they were hastening to make smooth his patriarchal pillow. But he was not left to the ministrations of human sympathy. By a sublime dispensation he has been suddenly, and with unim- paired dignity, provided for forever. To compare the respective merits of these illus- trious men, their peculiar traits of mind and heart, their points of difference and resemblance, might I be a pleasing, and, for some purposes, a profitable ' task. But neither would time now permit, nor is it I in any respect necessary for a distinct perception i of their separate and individual greatness. The 5 character of each has sufficient materials for glory;'! there needs no light of contrast, much less the illus-^ tration of the one at the expense of the other.- Had each of them died when the Declaration ofi Independence was proclaimed at the cannon'si mouth as the voice of their country, they had each,i even then, done enough for fame and gratitude.^ The great events of their respective administra-^ tions, which form so interesting a part of thei history of this and other nations, it is the provinces of history to record. We are here to mourn thei dead, to call to mind their titles to our gratitude, to acknowledge the Divine Goodness in raising up such champions of our Israel, to muse upon the adorable displays of his Providence. But it may be asked, had these great men no faults ?^ To which I may reply, were they not men ? shall we reproach the vivifying sun for the ardour of hisi J.') beams J — or explore the beautiful vault of the sky for a vapour to carp at ? To say that the characteristic principles of action which 1 have noticed might at times, though guided by pure intentions, leave Fomething for the censure of their own after judg- ments, is but to say that they possessed the qualities which constitute their greatness and our pride, subject to the laws of humanity. Had it been otherwise, our sympathies must have ceased where our worship commenced. But let such as would " Draw their frailties from their dread abode, where they alike in trembling hope repose," remember, that it is the prerogative of virtue like theirs, that the tomb, which cannot contain its glory, closes upon its imperfections forever. Heaven seems to have marked these Patriots, rom their first meeting, for a course of coincidences as unexampled as brilliant. When they first met in congress, each, in the two distant and leading provinces, had been simultaneously active in the same great cause ; each had acquired similar per- sonal influence and sustained the same representa- tive character. When they met, they seemed intuitively to understand each other, and by their frank, explicit and heroic traits of character each^ to use the very expression of Adams, " seized upon the heart '^ of the other. This hold, early and strongly taken, seems never even under the most trying occurrences to have been relinquished by either. Even when competitors they appear not to have been enemies. Together in producing the 4 20 acl of Independence ; together in the commisbion to Europe upon the return of peace ; together in the negociations there which marked out and guarded for our commerce its thousand paths around the globe; — together in the Prussian treaty, important for claiming and securing the freedom '^^ *!ie freight by the freedom of the ship; together ^ the first ad- ministration under the constitution, i ygether in the votes of electoral colleges for President and Vice President; together after their retirement in a corres- pondence of friendly reminiscences and anticipa- tions: — together in the sublime visitation of death; and together in the solemn commemorations of their country : — together honoured and together mourned. Even that great tempest which broke from Europe to agitate the remotest portions of the world — big with portents of strange and fiery as- pect ; that broke up the great deeps of the moral and political elements, shaking down the strong holds of opinion, and overwhelming the structures of time; that storm in which the friendship of Fox and Burke was wrecked forever — that, by the agitation of its waves, swept men from each other's yide before they were aware — though it threw for a time the two great lights of our hemisphere into opposite quarters of the horizon, yet did not dim the lustre of either, nor extinguish the secret warmth that each still cherished and preserved for mutual participation. It exhibit- ed them in a new and affecting position — as if horn to demonstrate the triumphant strength 27 of that noble structure which they had united to rear, under every species of trial to which it could be subjected : as if destined to prove each spring of power in the great machine, to ascertain and ex- hibit every modification of policy, that by combi- nation or selection might contribute to their coun- try's future welfare. And it may not be the least useful of the reflections awakened by their signal union in death, that their apparent differences must have flowed from the harmony of the great design for which they were created : that their successive as well as their united labours have been followed by prosperity and glory : that the judgements of short- sighted man cannot fathom the heart of his fellow, nor know how far it is enlightened and warmed by the approving smile of heaven. And if a relique of the bitterness of long past times could possibly have survived in any bosom till now, I would have said, here is the place to bury it. Let the heart that cherishes here surrender it a trophy for the two- fold tomb ; or rather, touched in that heart by the sacred light that descends in this august visitation, let the relique burn as a peace offering, and the illustrious spirits, new born in heaven, be refreshed by the sacrifice. There is another view in which the era of the trans- lation of these patriarchs is striking. It is the solemn termination of one great epoch of our Republic — it is the sublime commencement of another. From this point of elevation it throws forward the beams of a high and sacred augury over the future. The 28 years of a second Jubilee have begun their court.e Few of us may hope to see the completion of thai great circle of time : — ut it is the part of all of uA: to endeavour to render the distant day of its cole bration a day of unabated joy and pride to oui posterity. This we may do by cultivating the prin ciples, as we cherish the memories, of the illustri ous dead. This we may do by treasuring ir oin hearts the kindly feelings, the charities, the mi/tuai forbearance and the mutual encouragements to patriotism and honour, which this affecting occa- sion so emphatically suggests. And should dark ness cast its shadows across the bright career r^ our beloved country— should dangers gather aro jnd it to threaten its happiness, its glory, its indepen i dence, the fruit of so much greatness, defended by so much blood, guarded by the shades of so many sainted Patriots, protected by so much heavenly in- terposition—let us in the time of trial, look back upon the solemn auspices of our first jubilee— let us call to mind what God hath done, in life and in death, for these departed Patriarchs — let us put t ur trust in Him who gave to our fathers the triumph and the victory— and we shall triumph. 89 M i> .ON., -Ch, ^-^ .w'.. -^^^ .«J> .0-0- <6 *l*°' > V s!,!^ -^ -.^o- .^o'^ ^ '-TT', •* ^^ ^^^c,^'' %.^" ^°o ♦^-V. .<^^ ,-i' .' »«o- .0 V. "^ *V^ ^'^ *••"» A° '^ '^vr^c."^ Ai-jr^.ij2L_ WERTBOOKBINOIKO 4m .1989 ^K ft^ "^' ,-?> ':'::M if 'i', tit ;'l,;i'; '.B