ORATION,

DELIVERED JULY THE FOURTH, 1810,
AT THE
REQUEST OF THE SELECTMEN or BLOSTON,
ON THE

FEELINGS, MANNERS, AND PRINCIPLES;

THAT PRODUCED

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

I I U I I I I O I 9 I I I 0 I U I I C I I O I I 0 Ia

« « u n I : u I Q v n n - u a a a . v . ~ 4 I - : v .

5‘ Quis porn‘), przaeter periculum horridi et ignoti maris,” Britannia “ xr*elict:’i,"’

% Columbiam “ peteret? infomaem tearvis,

aspemm coalo, tristem cultu aspec-
mque, ‘N151 sx PATRIA. sun”

Tac. ale mar. G'e3"m.‘

BOSTON”:
FROM THE PRESS OF JOHN ELIOT, JUN.

V3810,

VOTE or T1112 TOWN.

AT a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of
BOSTON, duly qualified and legally warned, in public}; town-meeting“, as-
sembled at Faneuil Hall, the 4th day of July, A. D. 1810-—

On motion, voted, That the Selectmen be, and hereby are appointed, a com»
mittee to Wait on ALEXANDER TOWNSEND, Esq. in the name of the
town, and thank him for the elegant and spirited oration, this day delivered
by him at the request of the town, upon the anniversary of Anierican Inde-
pendence, in which were considered the feelings, manners, and principles,
which produced the great national event; and to request of him a copy
for the press.

,./itteszfg, THOMAS CLARK, Town Clerk. V

ORATION.

THIS day commemorates the birth of a
nation. Is it a day of pride or humiliation ; of sorrow
or joy ‘? Better never be born than live disgraced. If
our character be no longer honour; if our sovereignty
be the sport of the world ; if a foreign minister be suf-
fered Without resentment to declare War in our names ;,
if our vessels are burnt Without resistance ; if there be
no safety for our commerce, but in flight ; the spirit of
our declaration of independence has fled ; and its letter
remains, an exanimate relic, only to reproach us with
the extent of our loss. A ii

That this is not our condition, the patriot, almost
against the evidence of his senses, is bound to believe.
Thick clouds may involve the country ; but they are
not impervious to the sunbeam of independence,
Which, this morning, revives her to hope.

The grandeur and importance of a structure can
alone be completely realized, by comprehending the
depths, to which its foundations are sunk. The feel»
ings, manners, and principles, from which indepen-
dence sprang, have therefore always constituted the
hallowed theme, to which this occasion is sacred, and
will always form the subject of delightful contempla-
tion, till the occasion he no more.

4::

If our national career will admit one day of rest ;
if We are not in the descent of a precipice so steep,
that We dare not look back; if it be yet in our power
to make even a momentary stand, the contemplation
of the feelings, manners, and principles, that led the
fathers to independence, may possibly arrest the sons
in their progress to degradation. ‘

t The division of the causes, that produce the free-:~
dom of a nation, into feelings, manners, and principles,
is no arbitrary division. Feelings put the body‘ in
motion ;» manners give that motion force ; and with;
out principles both would be fruitless. A i it

These or feelings, manners, and principles were the
central fires, that animatecl the political system‘ of
America from the first moment the God of nature
called it into being. It Was their combined influence
first prompted the resolution in minds, with Whom to
resolve was to execute, of exploring another world.
It was their energy made the primitive pilgrim dare
the horrours of the ocean and the howl of the 'Wlld€1"-
ness ; that nerved the arm of the vvooclman in his at»
tempt to make that “ wilderness blossom like the rose.”

ltrust, I shall readily be pardoned by a New Eng.-
land audience in confining what remarks I may sug-.
gest principally to the New England states. As these
were leaders in the war of the revolution, they may
not unfairly be considered as having produced the
event We this day celebrate. a A  

The first colonists to this country are generally

,ls:novvn to have been, many of them, men of liberal

13:’

3

minds and elevated standing. A 1~emna_m; of their
party ; some of the brightest ornaments, that adorned
the age, Were actually arrested on the point of embark-
ation by a British order in council.*l~" Archbishop
Laud, strange instance of blindness to the future /riyzdm
lg given ! was thus enabled to keep at home, some of
the very individuals, that were to be afterwards instru-
mental in bringing his head to the block. But for this
order in council, HAMPDEN might himself have slum.-
bered ‘FinglorioL1s” beneath the sod of an American.
Wilderness ; CROMWELL been “ guiltless of his coun-
t1*y’s blood 3” and not left in fragments that column of
royalty, vvhich had risen in splendour and tnaignificence
from the labour of ages.

Every feeling, that gives dignity to man ; that stim-
ulates toimproveinent or excites to glory, is roused
into action and enterprise by the hope of independence“
It is with nationsgas with individuals ; subjection takes

away half their Worth. Hence colonial establishments»

never were reniarkable for literary distinction. It was
not as colonies of Phenicians and Trojans, that Greece
and Rome gave the world sciences and arts as Well as

laws. Man is said to be “ the ‘disciple of that which

surrounds him ;” and in the midst of .desolation is
desolate. The mind seems not merely to sympathize,
but to be absolutely identified with the condition

*‘ Hume, vol. ti, p. 21.25. 1\:'Iatlier’s Hist. New Eng. 1300}; 1.. Huteli. l}l’lst.
Mass. Bay’, Vol.1, p. 4.1.22. Hampden, Cromwell, Pym, the Pelhams, Lords
Brook, Sayand Seal, Sir Artliur I-Iazlerig and others. See too Eur. Se-tt. in
Ainerieat Pym and others were concerned in Laud’s impeachment.

9"I

0

aroundsit. As that is civilized, so is this; both of

them are rude together; where that is humble, this is A

seldom seen to aspire. Our fathers were not born in
the deserts they came to subdue. They were dis-
ciples of other scenes, the improvements of which
they hoped to transport hither without the corruptions.
They brought with them the feelings those scenes had

i inspired gt feelings, that prompted them to act, on their
ifirst landing, as if conscious they were then founding

national character; as if mindful of the long line of

illustrious descendants, that were to look ‘ up to them,

for examples ; as if responsible for the reputation of a

  new World.

‘With such feelings colonial dependence could not
long be tolerable. The first immigrants were from a
party, that Werepronounced by an English observe1*,=l~‘
who could “look quite through the deeds of men,”
to have before been “impregnated with a high spirit
of liberty,” and to have a strong tendency to repub-

lican government. It Was hardly to be expected, that 4

men had fled from religious bondage only to submit to
civil ; that the indignation, which flashed against re-.
straint in one case, would not soon fire them in the
other; that it was the modification of a principle, for
which their homes Were abandoned, not the principle
itself; that a love   of liberty, which no “ variety of
untried being” could appal, beings too familiar to be
formidable were suddenly to intimidate. They felt,
that rights were no properties’ of soil ;. that themselves

were theisarne in America as in Britain ; that their sons

"“‘ BURKE.

7

should be born to the same latitude of freedom; that -

no badge of servitude should repress in them the ardour

  of ambition or check the aspirations of genius; that a

continent was not to be marched by mind in shackles :

that souls were to be ripened under Western suns ; and t

that freedom, the most pure and perfect, was the only
element,_ through which the influence of their beams
could fairly be felt.

Patriotism in them Was thus in some degree neees—
sarily blended with paternal affection. They had one
duty to their country and children, and were alike

fathers to both.

The feelings, inspired by the scenes they had left,
must have received new life from those, to which they
were introduced. The ocean they had passed ; and
land was before them equally boundless. It was the
solitude of nature worshipping God. They beheld
every Where objects of grandeur; tmighty rivers ,
ocean lalres ;, mountains, Whose heads were invisible.
It seemed to bea land, where the boldness of nature
was to abash timidity or expand it into kindred great»-
ness. Forests waved their proud heads in the skies ;
and to men, that evinced clependent, sordid spirits,
every look. from the unchartered libertine, that inhab-
ited them, would have been a tacit, but eloquent re:
proof upon their vaunted civilization. A A

But the most important sentiment, that gave hardi-—

p hood to their character, was the mere result of their
personal exertions. Remote from the parent coun;

try; with little support _from it b but what their oven.

8

fortunes had yielded ; cherished by persecution ;
they could not but have felt, that i labour in the soil

gave far more irightto exclusive sovereignty over it,‘

than accidental discovery or any technicaltitle what-4
ever. They looked upon forests prostrate ; and felt
proud of this proof of dominion. While their hearts

swelled at the prospect, there was no logic could con- ‘
vince them, that the hand, that cleared, was not of it-

self competent to defend, the land.

Enthusiasm was among the feelings, that first en;  

listed in thecause of independence and continued in
the service to the last. Religion was indeed the point,
to which it tended in the outset ; but it gave; "every
thing a tendency to that point. It contemplated civil
violations as religious outrages. It fervently adored a
Being, that willed the happiness of man; and of course
willed civil establishments, by which alone that happi-

“ness could best be effected. Oppression it would

therefore resist as impiety, and hostility to such estab-L
lishments as hostility to heaven. It was thus our
fathers adorned their doctrine. Any other profession
would have debased the worshipper in the temple

A The puritan might thus take the patriot to the altar

vvithout profanation. Liberty was seen to lean upon

religion; their common pedestal, the platform of the-

church ; a sight, Well worthy the birth of an empire !~
This attempt to ascribe the feelings, that eventually

produced independence,i to an origin so remote, it is ’

h0P€da Will not be deemed visionary. It is no sug-
gestion of fancy, that can be mistaken for the tale ‘of

9    
fact. i It ie the narrative of hiatory merely; That
these feelings existed on the first settlement of the
eountry is beyond the power of seeptieisn1 to doubt

‘The primitive adventurers, when they had no express.

authority to meet an emergence, did not pause and
retraverse the ocean for an appendix to a royal charter,

They took the law from the occasion, and let the act‘

justify itself. Instance the 9* unauthorized establish-
ment, Within the first few years, of a legislative body ;.
of courts of probate and admiralty ; and the daring to
inflict, without authority from home, even capital pum-
isehments. They were in a new world, fruitful of new

necessities, that required and created new hearts.

They assumed the right of self.-taxation ; e.eertecl the
creative power of sovereigns in acts of incorporation»;

and went so far as soon to dispute the Very oath of l

allegiance. These feelings then exiasted, however they
may have slumbered at i.11tervals‘ ; new Frencli wars

divert them; now other evente eoxidnet thenit toil”

harmless and without sh-ock.. But the electrilet fluid is
inetchaulstible‘; The principle remained latent ; till at
length the body, dreadfully cltarged, burst in» explo»
sion from the parent stock. a ~

Whoa will deny tl1einflL1ence of manners in pro-
dtieing independence to nations ? Who does not
‘lie-tow, that where vice seemed to have doubled its

evil by regaining “ all its g;ros»snese,°’ liberty lost all

its charm ? How much more po‘werfnll.y must that

‘  Miiiotls Eemfitxitafion of thé‘HisitorL@‘ of Masaael’nisettsT',,  16. ii

2

10

charm fascinate, where vice is kept by simplicity at

awful distance? Nations are but the aggregates of?

individuals. To these manners give, not only dignity
of character, but frequently the Worth, that makes that
character deserved. Manners and feelings reciprocate
oflices of kindness. Refined feelings naturally express
themselves in liberal manners ; and liberal manners

s will at length inevitably produce refined feelings. a Little

indeed can he have observed liumaniuature; who has

not perceived, how t them practice I of comity, forced at
"first, will yet » in times create the genuine benignity,
ll whence it naturally flows ‘;  howl elevated deportment,
A assumedinthe beginning, ends at last in the real sense
A of honour, to which it was originally but the hollow

pretension. The habit becomes a second nature and

conquers the first. Virtue takes advantage of the

homage, that is paid her in hypocrisy, and makes. the
half Way worshipper completely convert.  Our fathers
however knew neither force nor“ «assumption. y lNo
simulation disgraced their character. t “Strong in
honesty,” they were open as day and bold as the shores
that welcomed them. Witlt them was no constraint ;
every thing was natural; every thing spontaneous.
Their manners were simple as their hearts were pure.
Listen to their own Words ! They tell you “ that they

were enured to the difliculties of a strange landy;p”*i

that, bound together for the good of the whole, it was
~ not theirtmanner to be discouraged by “ small things”
or made morbidly desirous of home by “small dis-

V ”“ 1 Hutch. p. 12. Words from their application to the Virginia Company.

ll

contents.” _ No small things had they to discourage
them; no small discontents to drive them back, Hard-
ly had they landed when half their number was no
more. The first six months thus thinned their band.
“ The path of ” ocean led “ but to the grave.” A I pass
Without notice the mighty hunter of the woods, harm.-
less to the horrors, with which fancy had peopled thern.
It was not the savage; nor the desert ; nor death
a l Nothing could deter. The enlightened colonist
was fixed. The country had the something infinite
and immense,'*' which is calculated so powerfully to
strikethe imagination. He looked; and every where
around him was a vastness of view his faculties would
in vain dilate to comprehend. The voice of nature
seemed to cry, S

T “ Oh, how canst thou renounce and hope to be forgiven 2°’?

 

T He was cheered with the sight, in the distant vista of

time, of new glories rising for the founder of empire.
The vision was delightful. It inspired confidence and

A enkindled hope.“

u The nature of our fathers’ situation; was peculiarly
favourable for creating and continuing this fairness of
manners. a They had fled to a distance vast enough to
keep them ‘‘ unspotted from the world.” ' The rnediu
ocrityof their condition had‘ a, happy effect. The sin-

gleness of their pursuit cemented their union. Our T
A fathers or Worsliipped God; not tnammon. Their. em-«
ploy for support; cornmeree, at first among tl'l€1‘I1-

*“ " I should here have introduced Cioero’siwords, “ aliquid irnrnensurn infirm.

T itumque,” but that just, attlxis place. I did not dare talk, in a dead lang'i1lage.:p-‘"5

1%

selves; agrieulture ; fishery, emphatically “ another
kind of agriculture,” when confined to the coasts; all
were peculiarly calculated to produce patriot manners.

The extreme importance of these on the first eolo-.

tnization of the country has not been overlooked. 5‘ Ex.-

act and sober maiiners,” We are told by foreign au.
thority,* proved at that time a substitute for proper

subordination and regular government. It was indeed

an adinirable substitute. * It was the law in their hearts
when they had no llavvr beside.   i In . to considerirlg this
simplicity, let us not however rrnistake its character.
There was then no a pastoral simplicity piping upon
American plains in idle employment. t It was a sim-
plicity, partly the result of Wants; partly of virtues ;
but mostly of passions, thelbest evidence of the purity
of which Was the purity of the means, by which alone

r they could be gratified. l at It was a simplicity without

its iusualoyrbarbarity. It had grownup with 12116; revival
of learning. It was kindled by allcient fires- It was
the simplicity of enlightened minds ; the plainness,
that best polished greatness.” It united English re.-
fiI1€1J;l€11l'. with American hardihood; so that what in
the new World was simple, the old world had prevented
from ever being rude. . .
To show the force of these manners in subsequent

periods of yfour history, it can hardly be necessary to

point tothe epoch, when, for ya otwelnemonth, you were
without government; -had neither judge nor enectitive
officer ;. andyet exhibited to  the astonishing
speetacle of order inranarehy, he   A A A

*' Burk.e’s lfluropean Settlements in Amerim.

V‘
M?’
I,‘ 
.. , ,, .

One“ other peculiarity -- in the ma11nersofioura11oes«
torsl merits Suggestion. It is that discreetness A of de-
meanour,~ which promotes, by concealing, its end;
which evinces firmness by disclaiming effrontery ;
which is cool in threat, that it may prove collected in
execution. Hence the uniform respcctfulness and dig-.
nified circumspection of their deportment to Britain,
till the crisis had come, when it was not their business
to rail, but fight. They exhibited the front of for-
titude, whose features are settled and firm ; not the
transient distortions of anger or the momentary marks
of convulsive rage. They had nothing of the bully
or bravado in their nature. A Theirs was not that verbal
valour, that “keeps the promise to the ear" it rnust
“ break to the hope.” They were rather ambitious
of doing more than they would say. Posterity was
Welcome to the glory of saying more than it could do.

It was this trait in their character, that did so much

to disarm revolution of horrour, They followed na..

ture; who suffers not the ocean to rise inter anger
yvitliout the knowledge and ability to stay its Wave;-t
Who never broke up a fountain of the deep Without

power to direct the course of the flood and at pleasure

put an end to the deluge. Our revolution was Conn
paratively mild. The people were saved from thern-
selves. Men without fear had seldom less cause for

. reproach. Riot robbed glory of scarcely a life. Not

a drop of the blood, that was to be poured out for lib-
erty, could be spared for licentiousness. Little mob
violence disgraced our proceedings. The din of arms

14

could not drown the voice of law. Men, hurrying on
to liberty, still stopped to do homage to justice. The
Fifth of March, 17 70, while it did much to establish
our independence, did more to prove We were worthy
of it. i The very T ‘soldiers, viewed in_ the most odious
light, as members of a standing army, quartered upon
us in time of peace ; Whose firing upon the populace
produced death and liberty; Were, almost immediate-
ly, by that populace and for that firing, solemnly, de-
liberately, andrighteously, AcQ_Urr'rE;o or MURDER 

My friends, this is the greatest glory in our history ;.

the brightest gem in our national diadem. 7 Brutes
have passions. - Men should govern them. We have
another instance. In the temple of justice a voice
was afterwards heard ; “ I WILL THIS DAY DIE
SOLDIER on SIT JUDGE ;” and thus was suddenly
expressed What since, thank God, has proved a per-
manent feature of the New England judiciary.

The principles, that give freedom to a nation, apply,
some to ascertaining its rights andsome to enforcing
them. As to instruction in the former, this people had
certainly signal advantages. They had originated in a
country, Where jurisprudence had risen to such a

height of A perfection, as to exemplify the moral sub-

lime. ‘ They had opportunities of observing around
them different colonies settled in succession, one of

rvvphichi had PE NN ‘for a lavvgiver, and another had

Ltovc They brought to the question, that finally

“‘ The modelifor the constitution of Maryland  been furnished by the
fainotts JOHN TLQCKE. See‘ Burke’s Eur._Sett. in America. t

15

divided each of the countries, minds as conipetent
toldiscuss and decide, as can reasonably be expected
to coexist in any civil community. Their decision
it becomes not use to revise. They concluded; and
were ready to be called out to support the conclusion,
It is suflicient that they thought the war just. . It was
a War, that WASHINGTON pcoulcl lead; and . a mind,

conscientious as GREENE’s, could support.

But We are not to suppose, that the laying on a . tax
emancipated a continent, how much soever it A may
have contributed to accelerate the event.” i This would
be against that rule in philosophy, which requires
effects to be solved by competent causes. The truth
is, America was of age to be free and determined to

be in fact independent. The attempt it to keep liter

rnucli longer in restraint, even had no effort at iinpost
been made, Wouid have been as preposterous, as to
keep manhood in leading strings. Wlien the child has
strength to go alone, the arms of the mother must be
content to give _p it up. The principle, ~ that l31“Oi{€3,0I17.tV-
bands, was growth; a principle as inexplicable, as

how the plant vegetates or life is sustained.

a But though taxation served only to accelerate inde»
pendence, yetas it wasone of those questions, which
might naturally be expected to arise between a parent.
country and its colony, it was foretold as the point, on

  which we should one day divide. or this the Abbe

. Du Bos in the reign of Queen Anne seems to ha‘ve.

heen distinctly awarefilt The right of impost by a

 See Note ('a__?‘

16

parliament of Britain upon. Atnericain subjects was
denied so early as the time of Charles the second, and

occasioned a rupture between him and the Marquis l

of Halifaxfit This fact may account for subsequent
prophecies. , .

N o matter how correct may be the principles, from
which a nation deduces its rights ;. no matter with what
mathematical certainty the conclusions may follow;
unless it have the power to enforce these conclusions,
the labour of demonstration had better be saved. Con-e
stitutedas is human nature, people owe liberty only to
power. Whatever constitutes this power is then to

independence a principle in the strict sense of the

term, being what precedes as a cause, not what follows
as a consequence. Of the constituents of power our
fathers had many. They had indeed little of what
Tacitus called the sinews of war ; but they had pruw
dence to make the most of that little. They had pru»
dence; but it was the prudence, that saves by spencl.-
ing; not that sordid, pitiful penuriousness, whose very
saving is extravagance. It was not that bastard econ-
omy ; that rickety bantling, that has an eye for the
money’s worth, but is blind to the worth of every
thing else. They knew there was a pearl above price.
It was the jewel of their souls ; of which they thought
not the less, because to preserve it would take 1110116.}?
from their pockets. A A

"”" SeevBarillon"’sdespatehes to Louis XIV. under dates of Dec. 7, I3, and £1,
1684i. The principles of the doctrine,_ that led Americans to independence,
are asserted under Charles Ilby the counsel for Hampden” in their client’s
eelebratecl trial.

17'

A They. had too experien”ce.A T’ French warsrihadtoezazera

cased them l i not » a little t asLiAs0ldietrs. e  So] thAatiAsorne7A A A
thern must have‘ thought, like the ralliiesiofpirtthet Rornan AA

republick, since. they had borne the _burthen and heat
of the day, they had a right to the privileges of Roman
citizens.“ a   i F    3 VA  «A A;
it From noticing the feelings, manners, and principles,
that produced the reVo1uticrn,A rour rrlin”dsA will rest,

A with melancholy pleasure, on the memory of him, in

Whom they were embodied.  His shroud turns. the
day into gloom and our joy into mourning‘. No longer
can We behold the sunbeam play round his hoary head.
Of  no onn you indeed were proud. New England,‘

-pointing tothe excellence ofi his character, as proof of
the g+loryi.A5of this birthgtenclainiedg with pride  “iexultw y
ration; ‘.‘FThisrtis my ‘son 17’. In**hirn prudencenras
ennobled by courage and couragey made eflicient from A

prudence. The glare of his glory was finely contrasted
with the soft green of ihisvirtuies. The hero in War
was equalled only by the patriot in peace. AHonour
was left £1i‘.lOSS,AAAAVVl1iCi1A most to admire ;‘ hisifirrnness
in battle or confidence in friendship. A _

The war of independence is over, and happy shall

We be? if we are yet saved from the revolution, by n

which we rrere freed.   The national struggle left us
national sen‘tin1ents l; r gratitudet to France ; antipathy
to Britain. A

Gratitude to France? what France ? the kingdom or

the empire ; the monarch or the usurper of his throne ;

3

18

the t humans Louis or the assassin of a Bourbon ‘i7*l’=

Whatever there may‘ lihavew been in theanswer at first,

that A her”  was from calculation, u not sympathy;

France has since proved herself beyond question to be
a nation Without heart; . Our obligations to French-

menf vverei cancelled with the blood it of their sove-

reign ; and the gratitude of America, with the “ Son
of St. Louis,”j; should have ascended to heaven.

4 Antipathy to Britain! What 1- Britain, our foe!

Why, this is natu1*alf§;t \“but* is“ itgnjoblei   The; generous

anditheiiiibrairt;e roeaoniy ivhile  r5fitgiht‘i lasts‘.

They shalie LhandsiiiiutheiII1toIne1‘itf?it s is "oven. Savages,

in peace, buiyjthe hatchet. Go to the Wilderness and
learn refinement E lWhat: has been the conduct of
Britain ? Has she not given you all the advantages,
more than all the advantages in commerce since the
peace; than before ‘:7 A alleyrand. tells you   she has.

W'hythen;     l  it i "  t t i 

it “‘.;  tile‘ base Itzdiang throw a pearl away,  _

v “Richer thpantall this tribe?” i t _     , A

“ England, at A the conclusion pf peace, forgot her
resentment; reopened gspeedilpy her ancienttcommuni-.
cations; and RENDERED THEM ASTILLMMORE Ac-

;'rpxvE.’s’n'* V This the French minister has told you.

Fczs est ab haste docehit A ‘What has she done since?

~ -* Duke lD’Eng-hiein. 1» See Note (6)
:}:SeeNote(c.-jv . pi 
V! »i‘'’‘ Memoir by citizen Talleyrand ! E! The impudenee of this man in hinting
in _ thisnwork the expediency ofpa French establishment here to counteract
what he conceives to be our national character, is well worth the attention of
our political watchmen and gives plausibility to the outcry of French influence.

1 9
Look  .‘.‘.‘ On .,that blade and dndgeon, gouts of: blood 1 i‘'‘
It  5‘ the voice of the nation, . A F‘ Out, damned spot 1”
It was the voice of glory. _T he outrage was horrible.
But bywhom was-it committed? By theservant of »a

friend ? Was A it good breeding to proclaim to the A

world, that your doors were barred against that friend’s
other servants, before, you knew, whether he autho-
rized jthepact ; . nay, When, as your Bresideiit avows,
you knew he did not ? But, then, the servant has since
been tried; and not sufl’e1~ed enough. iWl1at B! would
you have Englishmen do what Americans dare not ?
‘Would you have the legislative or executive there in-
terfere with the judicial? It is the glory of their juris-

prudence, as; ofjours, that wjere the world in arms, it B

would jstandunmovedt .; that did itvxbehold earth in
~nproar  chaos ejcorning again, it'wou—ld enclaim,
‘iI*‘iat jpustitiaj, ruat,,,,,,_coa1um E” B

You should rather rejoice that this isthe case. Itis

“ the tenure, by which We en hold the breath of life.

But Federalism would sell the country to Britain.

To those, who make this charge, Federalismscoms to

reply. She would have a uniott with Britain only so
far as there is a union, in nature. She would have only
the identity of pursuits, that results from identity of
interests. Britain, it has been demonstrated, could
exist independent of commerce ;*<" she would have

4' Soc "‘ Britain. independent of commcrccifi’ a very alflc ‘pamphlet, “ only

not equal” to the pamphlets of Baring and ‘Walsh. The writ;er’s aim seems
not to he to exhort to any diminution or discontinuance of cotmnercc; but

merely to increase national confidence by this view of national. reeoumr-s 3 to

20

land enough for support ; but she is surrounded by

A sea. Ainerica has an extentyof Aland almost immeaa

surable ; A but she has an‘eAqual-Ainfinitude of coast. The
language of nature is then the same to A you ll both.
The handof heaven designed you aliAke_fo1'theA double
character of an agricultural grand comniercial people.

I shall ‘pass without anotioeis the acts A of ind_Aignity- on
the oneside t and forbearanceon tl1eother.; the settle-i

A sment, from which We hoped Aqlt-1TA_rCdI_nIl'A1€I'C€ would
again whiten. the sea ;  only obssrvilisiiof ith«i7S.’.2. that

  th-éuslis nob1a1*f1e»restsri1P<>Ii British: government
foridisavoywingii a iSettlement‘A in A director in violation A as , to

  them. 0fiiiIiSt1‘u0ti0fiSths most iplailll andmlsquivocal:

so none onghtfto rest upon ours for 'entering.into it.
I pass Without notice the rupture «of thelast negotia-
tion; and the Hotspurs, gthat bluster bloody and ,_tAhun-
der, A If there be real courage in the cabinet, all yet
may AbeAWell..i A  «     A
This western continent, from the beginning, has
exhibited a strange kind of “ Comedy of Errors” for
theinstruction of men. A Mistakeshave been so overrul-

A ed as to produce equal benefit with the wisest designs.
 Columbus, seeking to Adiscovera new passage to the

East Indies by the West, discovered; England, think.
ingto restrain religion by law, peopled ; and, thinking
to enslave by unrepresented taxatio11, freed, .America.
A blunder discovered _.;y a blunder peopled” ; _ a blunder

show, thati if ‘eve1é;i11.ithei providence of heaven, nihielii lxeaven avert ll they
should be d.riven tortl1isl,e:§;Atti_e1i1ity, there  still t-‘oust-1A1t>1d for Englishmeniupon

Englislh ground. * A,. A AA

21

rnade independent ; A and may tliegenit1siof..1‘ate adniin.
ijstrationsb=et the blu‘nder‘.that is to guide itto. gloryl M

l  Let the: moral: or allthis makeup usrenounce ~ pride 

not Wisdom. 1 Let us not be emboldened in eirrour.

Let us not think We have aprivilege to mistake or irn-
mnnity to ; blunder. Let us not impiously. pchallenge

y Providence bysins, that cryto heaven.  VVC are come.
there not to try experiments or sport Witli .SY‘ttem,s". _ i A
7 lworld   is given us with this injunction ; “ Adorn that,

landtftliefine rain. tilt * 

to which you are born l” Let us look at the vvorlét,
as we r conternplate the authiorr; with holy fear. Let us
innovate no violent changes. Let us imitate nature,
who operates by slow and imperceptible degrees and
bringsttlieoakfronyi the acorn only bythe gentle dew

Classical literature has, continually delighteclto hover

  cover your land. She hasplayed before your eyesthe
portraits of your heroes. r She has shown you the
V inaii,-3? “above a1lyGreel~:,-above all t Roman A fame ;’i’

to whom was given, what was denied Archimecles, a
new world, on wliieli to stand and move the old.i She
has shovvn. you your Hannibals and Scipios, thunrler—.
bolts of Wat‘ ; your Lycurguswaiid Solon ; a I’I{‘3‘1"Cl1lC“1S._.‘.%
that coultl drag Cacus from his den ; and Monticello has
turned her out a hero, Whom We have beheld run tvith
aflriglit from every lbillovv of ocean, as clidiricliillcs
from every wave of Scarnander. p

But this is no time for sport. I forget, that I 2113}

playing with chains. From. the establishment of our

'” ‘3C‘e ”.\T¢;1te u’__)

22

federal constitution parties have grown. l Still this is i

all in its favour. It is proof, that the interest we take
in it is lively. We have had our patriots and preroga-
tive men; our Whigs and tories ; and have now our
self. styled federalists and self-styled republicans. To-l

gether with the rest of the ‘country they divide your own A

commonwealth. ~ Both sides here number in their
ranks the honest and enlightened. T We boast a man ,
who needed no fall from power to canofnize-his virtues ;
‘i a -“nlan? of l i letters  of l manners »t00~?l‘;’7lllil‘it11e uifruits of
whose l mind ~1ia.vei, rein thelEast andthe West, been melt-4
lowed Tinto rich ripeness under both suns. A May God
speed ‘ours republicl: ; anclnot letlher last act of justice
be toreeal1* Cicero !  t A t l , l «t
Such, however, is the agitated state of party ; its
moo11—strucl< wave so sinks and swells ,2? its sudden and
‘unlocked for storms so beat and buffet 5 that many of
the first heads in the country have thought ofiice but
the Sinope in this tempestuous Euixine ; and he,»who
dwells remote in easy lindependence, whose shades re.-
fresh with the inspiring influence of departed spirits ;
when disturbed in retirement by the obtrusive sugges-
tion, that they A have condemned him to be banished
from Sinope‘, may coolly reply, i in the Words of the
Cynie,e “ Audll condemn them to live in Sinope’y’,.}  , "
Party rage will probably soon Work out its ownzsal..
vation,*though with fear and trembling; *5 iLetyus*istrive
to turn‘liitltoi good use.‘  Let us take‘ the hint pfrpom‘ the
ehymistg, who canelextraet seine-{yii*tue ltfrom every thing

 nature. Political alchyinyl lnever was the sin of an”

 3? ,
age.   Party has   that within litselfll must counteract its

uiistchtief;  It bears the jewel in its head, which ifs,-‘\"7tl1C

A antidote to iitslvenom, ‘We shall soon learn, that it is

O

the hour of triumph, which betrays the excess, that Is
downfal to party, a This will teach to avoid that excess,
Moderation will thus commend itself a to all ; not that
spirit however, which can temporize with principles ;.
but is the spirit, that can prevent, going beyond the
bounds, which principles ~ warrant, Our rulers must
soon learn this lesson ; or our fathers will not in vain
have learned another ; that the contract between SOVE-2'
ereign and subject can be broken ;, that protection and
obedience must be lcoegual ; that merchants, wltorn.
mankind have applaudedfbrvr giving [liberty to at land by
resisting commercial.» restriction, are not» to~si1:9 down,
“ infamous , and contented,” under leofmmereial eittinc
tion. a y l ~ A
That our rulers may thus soon become self—instruct—-
ed and the nation be made pacifically to] revive,leti
every man exert his utmost ability to illumine publick
opinion. Liberty Q? is in danger. "She, calls” upon you
alllfor support.l Theclergy ;“ you enlightened minds,
who have nearly rid us of the curse of our fathers and
purified religion from fanaticism ; who show piety to
be not only duty, but the noblest prop of the rights, of
man ; you she implores to maintain inviolate that cows-
enant of glory you did so miuchi saeredly to seal ! lV.l€1"«
chants 3 you, who indemnify by arts for the luxuries
you import; she begs you to extend the tblessings of

literature, that you may thence have some right to en}-



pect the blessing of heaven 1 It was in the Augustan
age the ’Messiah arose. The fair; “ that give to“-life
“ its lustre and perfume ;i aiid We are weeds,’ without
“them ;” for whoni independence was Won ;"Wli10,*if
they give not freedom, can at least, like the tGrecian
daughter, alleviate confinement ; to you she calls, and

cannot ask in vain, that you would. promote, if _ not

union of, sentiments, What is infinitely better, union‘ of

‘ aileetionsl r Tolall l she“ makes her appealfi:  Shezprays,

thatlialli would equallytunite, »heart~r“andI1arid,, in‘ iuphol‘- :

ftreeo

 our republican liberty, like the fable&

ing lier~glory;,asrall haveraniiipnterest in her‘ cause equally '

myrtlelof fflneas, sinks its roots in blood; To agitate‘ '

it extremely‘ might disturb the repose of tour fathers;
Like Polydore, they would cry to us from the ground; 

“ That every drop, this living tree contains,
“ Is kindredlbloodand ran in. “ patriot” veins.”

Let us rally, under its branches. Its leaves are healing
to the taste. Let us rbanish jealousies of rival powers.-
Trans-atlantic geni,us_,l:o11g since predicted, when we
were one i in government with Britain, that in little more
than a century, perhaps, American taxation would be
more p1‘0:dL1CtiVe than British ; and the seat of empire
ehangefl‘ l “Wouldt to God, the prediction miglitprove.
propheeyf It yet may. Wliat is your state? “ Com.»
“' trinerce languishes and We are threatened With. a. new

 See" Vliealth of Nations. Ina fourth of July orator, this would have

been thought soaring into bomlaast. But the authority of SMITH is ample
protecrtioxi. ,

25

*4‘ debt.” Had commerce but been 1eft,.as once, to

defend itself ; government would have had money to
lend. Where now are your vessels .9 On the French
coast. They cover it nearly. Go to your cities! The
Wharves are empty for the ports of France. Fly to the
country! The thought will follow you ; and throw

“ a browner horrour o’er the woods.”

My country, rouse from your lethargy! Sleep not the
sleep of death! Wait not, till the air be vocal with the
cry, “THAT THE GAULS ans UPON Us,”*-'*’* or to
us, as the Romans, the air will be vocal in vain ! VVhat
though the French be powerful ? Look to the heights
of Bunker, where your sires fell, not in obedience to
iaws, but volunteers in support of principles! Consult
the shades of Vernon! You will there find an oracle
of no equivocal response. What though Napoleon
be great and every Goliath is not to fall from a sling 
Are Americans therefore to tremble ? We are indeed,
from the weakness of government, much unmanned.
But it is hoped, cowardice in council has not yet en-
gendered cowardioe in the field. National resources
are still left. It is not policy to despond ; never
was rnagnanimity in despair. If there be spirit enough

in the head of our union to dare to be just, the path of
glory is still open before us ; if not, What will you do 5?’

Form an alliance with France 9? Better sinh: 

once into the graves of your fathers!

 

ill‘ I.:l¥'?«‘.

«Pb

NOTES,

(aj Du Bos was a diplomatist in the service of Louis XIV. at a period
(1711) when, “according to Hume, Queen Anne had thought of following up
her successes in Europe by an attack upon the French North American set-
tlements. A pamphlet of the Abbe, entitled, “ The interests of England ill
understood,” has the following passage. “England, which seems now in
the full tide of success, may end by getting possession of the whole American
continent; but when this great region shall come to be peopled in a great
measure at the espense of the mother country, what line of conduct will
England then pursue? Will afree communication with all the world be

permitted? and will the Amcricansbeallowed to pursue their_ own interests, l
pagzivzg no mares but those of tlzeir o-ma zlonposing, and bound by the acts ‘of

the English parliament so far only as they may think proper to adopt them,
and at liberty to give the preference to their own manufactories P” “ If the
.government of England, actuated by the only principle, which can lead to
the establishment of ’ colonies, by a desire of promoting national interests,
should think of governing as the Spanish court does and treating the people
of the colonies like conquered subjects ; rely upon it, that this fine and fertile“
country, at the distance of £3000 leagues, and peopled by men of English
minds, will not long submit ! They will have inherited too high a sense of
their rights as freeman, not to be desirous of throwing oil‘ such a yoke, and
their very rapid prosperity, their increase in wealth and numbers,‘ and their‘
improvement in every art and science will soon enable them to do so.” For

this extract the writer is happy to own his obligation to “ THE PORT ‘

FOLIO ;"’ a literary journal, that has established a character at once bril-4
liant and solid; and of‘ which it may be said, without disparagement to others,"

of which Boston is proud of one, that it cannot receive patronage beyond its 
merit. Considering how long it had been successfully supported by the eli'ort.,

of one man ; its conductor’s editorial talent; the heroism of his attempt, in
an infant country, to Zive by lz'term-y lobe-m‘ ,- we cannot but apply to him
the language of BURKE. Let us applaud him on the run ; console him in
the fall; cheer him on recover ' ; but “let him pass on, for God's sake, let
him pass on.” Happy, could this line procure him another subscriber ! A
fourth July oration would not then have been written wholly in vain.

Q u - a o I U o no

{6} 1 would not be thought by any general remark to be fora moment i

unmindful of the generous velour of La. F.A.YE'I‘ TE. But when we remem_-«
her his aid was alibi-deal before the French alliance was formed, and how the
French have treated him‘ since; as they have seen fit to consider‘ him in a
light distinct from the nation, in that light we are proud to behold him. ‘We
are no longer constrained from gratitude to this individual to think well of
the French... The reputation. of La Fayette was never without blemish;

27

and recent events have tended to augment the spots upon its disk. Perhaps
recurrence to the character he disclosed in the revolution may furnish a
clue to the labyrinth, in which fate since has involved him, and convince us,
whatever may have been his errours, that they were not those of intention.
We recollect that ‘Washington had to keep him constantly in check. He
was employed only where ardour was wanted; and the flame, that could
enlighten, was carefully watched, lest it might desolate and destroy. He
was rather a man of feeling than reason ; no politician, but an enthusiast.
I-Iis lightning required Franklin for a conductor; his wild fire VVashington
to restrain. ‘

onotlnoo-A

(0) I cannot forbear obtruding an apology for thus mutilating a most sub-
lime sentence by introducing part of it only.» When Louis XVI. bowed his head
to the block, the last human articulations he heard, were, “ E¢ifa72.t de St.
Louis, mcmtez: cm ciel .’” VV‘hen we consider the danger; so great, that the
friend, who was with him, quitted home by stealth for fear of detention ; the
nature of the occasion; a king, that never (lies, about to be beheaded ; a
mob around, more monstrous than ever made man sick at heart of his spe-
cies ; that one, the peaceful minister ofa prince of peace, should not only be
able to stand unappalled at such horrour; but should put forth every power
of his mind and make uproar produce what the utmost quiet of seclusion can-
not improve ; stands among the rare instances of moral sublimity, that adorn
the annals of man, and must; give EDGEVVORTH on earth the iniinox-tality
he looked for only in heaven.

(ti) I cannot forego the pleasure of transcribing a character from
CHARLES Fox to show how Washington laudatnr ii laudato viro. “ A char-
acter of virtues so happily tempered, and so wholly unalloyed with any vices,
as that of ‘Washington, is hardly to be found in the pages of history ; but even.
‘Washington himself might not have been able to act his most glorious of all
parts, without the existence of circumstances uncommonly favourable, and
almost peculiar to the country, which was to be the theatre of it. Virtue
like his depends not indeed upon time or place ; but although in no country
or time, would he have degraded himself into a Pisistratus, or a Cesar, 9;: a
Cromwell ; he might have shared the fate of a Cato or a De Witt ; or, like
Ludlow and Sydney, mourned in exile the lost liberties of his country.”
This character, from the first of his own party, would, I should. think, go far
to make a certain calumniating senator of the union of democratic fame hang
his head. One more esztract on this subject surely cannot tire. It is an
admirable sentence from the u7Z8?£CC€85fl&l application of some Maryland
mernorialists to the New York legislature merely for leave to sell within
this state tickets of a lottery granted by that for the purpose of erecting a
monument to the memory of our country’s saviour I I “In delineating Gen-.
eral Vvashington, the dimensions of the portrait swell insensiblybeyond the
ordinary standard of human perfection, and exhibit, not merely the dignity
of Solon or Eparninondas, but an inzposivzg, .aZt7zaug-it ten2;2e2*aze and aiatuv-'r.e?
mgzjesty, like the Apollo of Be-l\'ide.re\..”