‘ I ,5; ‘ “ 1.‘ ~» h:‘,2,:‘ ‘¢. n‘ m -: 3) ‘ 415% ‘gm ,5 , ‘ ‘ A M» u: “u %' % * \ ~ ‘ . » V . 3' / W -H ‘. ‘ ‘ta 3;)!‘ yr ‘ " " ) Msv/:17; M » ‘ .w‘ " V1. ORATION DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS OF CHARLESTOWN FIFTY-SECON.D ANNIVERSARY OF TIIE % wenzlarattou of the Jmuepmthrmtce 013‘ THE UNITED STATES OF‘ AMERICA. BY EDWARD EVERETT. l CHARLESTOWN : wI~I1a:xLnorr AND RAYMOND. BOSTON: IIILLIARD, amuz, LITTLE AND jvvrnxcxzsw. 18338. DISTRICT OF 1\IASSACHUSET'T‘S,« T0 WIT: p % District Cleo-It’s Oflicci BE it remembered, that on the tenth day of July, A. D. 1828, and in the fifty third year of the Independence of the United States of America, Wheildon 6; Roy- mend, of the said District, have deposited in this office, the title of a book, the a i right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:-— “ An oration delivered» before the Citizens of Charlestown, on the fifty-second, anniversary of the Declaration of the Independence of the United States of Amer- ticu. By Edward Everett.” In conformity to theAct of the Congress of the United States, entitieti, “ An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, anti hooks, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein men- tioned,” and also to an Act.,‘eI11.it1ed, “ An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled, ‘An .A'ct“for’ the encouragement oftlearning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and hooks, to the authors and proprietors of such copies‘ during the times therein mentioned 3’ and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints.” . JNO. W. DAVIS, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. t :2;-mrtnrcswoxvrrz p From the Aurora Press--Wheildon and Raymonri. Charlestowoz, July *7’, 1828. —A'r a meeting of the Committee of Arrangements for the cele- dhration of the Fourth of July, it was Voted, That Dr ABRAHAM R. THOMPSON, and Mr DAVID DEV» ENS he a. Committee to present to the Hone. EDWARD EVERETT, the thanks of this Committee, in behalf of their fellow-citizens, for“ the Omvrxom delivered by him, on the recent anniversary of our National Independence, and to request a copy of the same for the Press. Attest—-- t WILLIAM W. WHEILDON, secretary.‘ ORATION. FELLOW-CITIZENS‘: 'I‘1~1n event, Wliich We commemorate, is all important, not merely in our own annals, but in those of mankind. The sententious English poet has declared, that ‘ ‘the proper study of mankind is man,” and of all inquiries, which have for their object the temporal concerns of our nature, unquestionably the history of our fellow beings is among the most interesting. But not allthe chapters of . human history are alike‘ important. The ‘annals of our race have been filled up with incidents, which concern not, or at least ought not to concern the great companyof mankind. History, as it has often been Written, is the gene- alogy of princes,~—--«the field-book of conquerors,--m and the fortunes of our fellow men have been treated, only so far as they have been affected by the influence of the great masters and de- stroyers of the race. Such history is, I will not say a Worthlessstudy, for it is necessary for ns 6 to know the dark side, as well as the bright side of our condition. But it is a melancholy and heartless study,‘ which fills the bosom of the philanthropist and the friend of liberty with sorrow. But the History of Liberty,-—---the history of men struggling to be” free,—--the history of men who have acquired, and are exercising their freedom,-——--the history of those great movements in the world, by which liberty has been estab- lished, difliftsed, and perpetuated, formasubject, which i we cannot contemplate too. closely,----to which we cannot cling too‘ fondly. This is the real history of man,-—-of the human family,--of rational, immortal beings. A . i This theme is one ,--——-the free of all climes and nations, are themselves Cb people. Their annals are the history of f'reedom. Those who fell vic- tims to their principles, in the civil convulsions of the short-lived republics of Greece, or who sunk beneath the power of her invading foes; those who shed their blood for liberty amidst the ruins of the Romain republic; the victims of Austrian tyranny in Switzerland, and of Span- ish tyranny in Holland; the solitary champions or the united bands of high-minded and patriotic men, who have, in any region or age, struggled and suffered in this“ great Vcause, belong to that 7 ranomn on THE FREE, whose fortunes and pro-— gfress are the most noble theme which man can t contemplate. The theme belongs to us. We inhabit a country, which has been signalized in the great history of freedom. We live under institutions, more favorable to its diffusion, than any which the World has elsewhere known. A succession of incidents, of rare curiosity and almost mysteri- ous connexion, has marked out America as the great theatre of political reform. Many circum- stances stand recorded in our annals, connected with the assertion of human rights, which, were we not familiar with them, would fill even our own. minds with amazeinent. A The theme belongs to the day. Weicelebratep the return of the day, on which -‘ our separate national existence was declared; the day when the momentous‘ experiment was commenced, by which the World, and posterity, and We our» selves were to be taught, how far a nation of men can be trusted with self-government,-~l1oW far life, and liberty, an.d property are safe,»-- and the progress of social improvement secure, under the influence of laws, made by those who are to obey the laws; the day, when, for the first time in the World, a numerous people was ushered into thefamily of nations, organized on mu‘: 8 the principle of the political equality of all the citizens. Let us then, fellow-citizens, devote the time which has been set apart for this portion of the duties of the day, to a hasty review of the his- tory of Liberty, especially to a contemplation of some of those astonishing incidents, which pre- ceded, accompanied, orhave followed, the settle- ment of America, and the establishment of our institutions ;, and which plainly indicate a g;eneral tendency and co-operation of A things, toward the erection,7in this country,, of the A great monitorials school of r liuman freedom. A A i V t A A We hear much in our early days of theliberty of Greece and Rome;---—~a_great and complicated subject, which this is not the time nor the placeito attempt to disentangle. True it is, that We find, in the annals of both these nations, sbright exam- ples of public Virtue;--—-the record of faithful friends of their fellow men,-—-—~of strenuous foes of oppression at home or abroad;----and admirable precedents of popular strength. But _we no- ..W‘f‘j1]-e.r_‘e‘_‘..' find in them the account of at populous country,l blessed "VVll3l1".l11S;l1lt11tl0I_1Sr_ securing the enjoyment and transmission of regulated liberty. freedom, as in most other things, the ancient nations,, while they made, surprisingly near 'ap-- proarchesfto thetruth,_yet for Wants of some one 9 . great and essential principle or instrument, came utterly short of it, in practice. They had pro- found and elegant scholars, but for want of the art of printing, they could not send information out among the people, where alone it is of great use, in reference to human happiness. Some of them velitured boldly to sea, and possessed an aptitude for commerce, yet for want of the mariner’ s compass, they could not navigate distant oceans, but crept for ages aloxig the shores of the Medi- terranean. In freedom, they established popular institutions in single cities, but for Want of the representative principle, they could not e:x.tend these institutions over a large and populous country. But, a large and populous country, generally spealrinpg, can alone possess strength enough for self?-«defence, this Want t was yfactal. The rfreest of their cities, accordingl.y, fell a prey, sooner or later, to the invading army, either of a foreign tyrant or of a domestic traitor. In this Way, liberty made no firm progress in the ancient states. a It was a speculatioii of the philosopher and an experiinent of the patriot; but not a natural state of society. The patriots of Greece and Rome had indeed succeeded in en» liglitening the public mind, on one of the cardi- nal points of freedom, the necessity of an elected czxzccutire. The name and the oflice of a Icing,‘ ea r-M 10 Were long esteemed not only soinething to be re- jectecl, but something rude and uncivilized, be- longing to savage nations, ignorant of the rights of man, as understood in cultivated states. The Word tyrcm t, which originally meant no more than m.0ncM-ch, was soon made, by the Greeks, synon- imous with oppressor and despot, as it has con- tinued ever since. When the first Caesar made his encroachments on the liberties of Rome, the patriots even of that age, didboast that they had i T l“heardl their fatherssay, d id ii i t “ There was la Brutus once, that would have-lbrooked, “ The eternal devil, to keep his state in Rome, v “ As easily as a King.” So deeply rootedvvas this horror of the very name of kiiig in the bosom of the Romans, that under their worst tyrants, and in the darkest days, the forms A of the republic were preserved. There was no name, 111’1CleI' Nero and Caligula, for the oflice of monarcli. The individual who filled the office was called Caesar and Augustus, after the first and second of the line. lThe Word emperor, implied no more than general. The oflFi-- ces of consul and tribune were kept up 5 although. if the choice did not fall, as it frequently did, on the emperor, it was conferred on his favorite oflicer, andsometimes on his favorite horse, The senatecontinued to meet and affected to ldelibe- 11 rate; and in short, the empire began and con- tinued a pure military despotism, engrafted by a sort of permanent usurpation, on the forms and names of the ancient republic. The spirit in- deed of. liberty had long since ceased to animate these ancient forms; and when the barbarous tribes of Central Asia and Northern Europe burst i11to the Roman Empire, they swept away the poor remnant of these forms, and established upon their ruins, the system of feudal monarchy, from which all the modern kingdoms are . de- scended. i Efforts were made, in the middle ages, by the petty republics of Italy, to regain the in- herent rights, which a long prescription had twrested from them. But the remedy of bloody civil wars between neighboring cities, was plain- ly more disastrous than the disease of subjection. T The struggles of freedom, in these little states, resulted much as they had done in Greece; ex~ hibiting brilliant; examples of individual character and short intervals of public prosperity, but no permanent progress in the organization of ‘liberal institutions. a A ‘ : , At length anew era seemed to begin. The art of printing was discovered. The capture of Constantinople, bythe Turks, drove the learned christians of that city into Italy, and letters re-y vived. A general agitation of public sentiment, lit in Various parts of Europe, ended in the reii-—‘ gions reformation. A spirit of adventure had awakened in the maritime nationss, and projects of remote discovery were started; and the signs of lthe times seemed to angur a great political regeneration. But, as if to blast this hope in its bud; as if to counterbalance at once the opera- tion of these springs of improvement E. as if to secure the perrnanenee of the political slavery, VVl1lC}l‘eXi'SlL{ed in every country of thatpart of the globe, at the moment when it 'VVa§S ymost threatened the last blow at the same e*rti1neFwas given to;tl1eremaining power of theGreat Bar- ons,--t11e sole check on the despotism of the monarch which the feudal system provided; and a new institution was firmly established in Europe, prompt,‘ eifieient and terrible in its operation, beyond anytliing which the modern World had seen,--—-In mean the system of standing armies 3-—-- in other Words, a military force, organized and paid to support the Icing on his throne, and re-- tain the peopleyin theirrsnbjeotion. A X From this moment, the fate of freedom in Enropewas sealecl. Something :might be hoped r from the i amelioration of manners, in softening away the more barbarous parts of politiealdes~ potism. But nothing was to beexpeeted, in the V formr of liberal institutions, founded on principle. 13 The ancient and the modern forms of political servitude were thus combined. A The Roman emperors, as I have hinted, maintained them- selves simply by military force, _ in nominal ac- cordance vvith the forms of the republic. Their . power, (to speak in modern terms), was no part of the constitution even of their own times. The feudal sovereigns possessed a constitutional pre—- cedence in the state, which, after the diffusion of cliristianity, they claimed by the grace of God; but their power, in point of fact, was circumscribed by that of their brother barons. With the firm establishment of standing arinies, was consummatecl a system of avowed despot-—s ism, transcending all forms of the popular will, existing by divine right, unbalanced byanyef- fectual check in the state, and upheld by milita-— ry power. It needs but a glance at the state of Europe, in the beginning of the sixteenth cen- tury, to see, that, notwithstanding the revival and cliflhsion of letters, the progress of the refor- mation, and the improvement of manners, the tone of the people, in the most enlightened coun- tries, was more abject than it had been since the dayskof the Caesars. England was certainly not the least free of all thecountries in Europe, but who can patiently listen to the language with wliich Henry the VIII. cliides, and Elizabeth I-41: scolds the lords and cornrnons of the Parliament’ of Great Britain. All hope of liberty then seemed lost; in Europe all hope was lost. A disastrous turn had been given to the general rnovernent of things; and in the disclosure of the .fatal secret of standing armies, the future political servitude of man was apparently decided. But a change is destined to come over the face of thirigs, as romantic in its origin, as it is vvonderfill in its progress. All is not lost 3, on V the contrary all is saved, at the moment, when all seemed involved in ruin. Let me just allude to the incidents, connected with this change, as they have lately been described, by an accom-~ plished countryman, now beyond theseafl‘ l l About half a league from the little sea-port of Palos, in the province of Andalusia, in Spain, stands a convent dedicated to St Mary. Some- time inthe year 14.86, a poor Way-faring stran- ger,vacco1npaniedby a small boy, lnakes his ap-~ ‘ pearance, on fo0t,ii at the gate of this convent, and begs of the portera little bread and water for his child. This friendless stranger is COLUMBUS. i Bro11gl'1t up in the hardy pursuit of a mariner, 'W’ll;l11’.lO other relaxation from its toils, but that *Irving*s Life of Columbus. A‘ 1 l i_ 3 . 15 of an occasional service in the fleets of his native country, with the burden of fifty years upon his frame, the unprotected foreigner makes his suit to the haughty sovereigns of Portugal and Spain. He tells them, that the broad flat earth on which We tread, is round ;--———he proposes, with What seems a sacrilegious hand, to lift the veil which had hung, from the creation of the World, over the floods of the ocean ;——-——l1e promises, by a Western course, to reach the eastern shores of Asia,-----the region of gold, and diamonds, and spices; to extend the sovereignty of christian kings over realms and nations hitherto unap- proached and unknown ;-—---and ultimately to per- form a new crusade to the holy land, and ransom the sepulchre of our Saviour, with the new found gold of the east. _ A r a Who shall believe the chimerical l pretension '2 The learned» men examine it, and pronounce it futile. The royal pilots have ascertained by their own experience, that it is groundless. The priesthood have considered it, and have pro- nounced that sentence so terrific Where the in- quisition reigns, that it is a wicked heresy ;----the common sense, and popular feeling of men, have been roused. first into disdainful and then into in»- dignant exercise, toward a project, Which, by a strange new chimera, represented one half of 16 lllillllillltl VV£lll{l11g with their feet toward the other half. Such is the reception which his proposal meets. For a long time, the great cause of hu- manity, depending on the discovery of these fair continents, is involved in the fortitude, persever- ance, and spirit of the solitary stranger, already past the time of life, when the pulse of adVen—- ture heats full and high. xv If he sink beneath the iridiilerence of the great, the sneers of the wise, the enmityof the mass, and the persecution of a host of adversaries, high and. low, and give up the fruitless and thankless pursuit of his noble vision, what a hope for mankind is blasted! But he does not sink. He shakes off his paltry ene-- inies, as the lion shakes the dew-drops from his inane. That consciousness of motive and of strength, which always supports the man who is Worthy to he supported, sustains him in his hour of trial; and at length, after years of exw peetatioii, importunity, and hope deferred, he launches forth upon the unknown deep, to dis-- cover a new 'WO1"l.(l., under thepatronage of Fer- dinand and Isabella. The patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella !:—-—-- Let us dwell for a inoinent on the auspices under whioli our country was brought to light. a The 'pa.t1fo11age of Ferdinand and Isabella la a Yes, 17 doubtless, they have fitted out aiconvoy, Worthy A the noble temper of the man, and the gallantry of his project. ‘Convinced at length, that it is no A daydream of are heated visionary, the fortunate sovereigns of Castilee and Arragon, returning fromtheir triumph over the last of the Moors, and putting avictorious close to a War of seven centuries’ duration, have no doubtprepared an expedition of Well appointed magnificence, to go out upon this splendid search for other Worlds. They have made ready, no doubt, their proudest galleon, to waft the heroic adventurer upon his path of glory, with a Whole armada of kindred spirits, to share his toils and honors. Alas, from his ancient resort of Palos, which he first approached as ea mendicant,-—---i11i three frail barks, of which two «Were rwithout decks,--—the great discoverer of Arn‘eri’ I] f In this way, WhatrSv0B%V$;‘§i,~~~’W35Srarlfiially valuable in European ,:,rharavctcr,\the» resoluawie industry of one the! inventive skill and curious arts of another, the lofty enterprise of anotl1er,~——-the courage, conscience, principle, self-denialfrof all, vverewinnovved out, by the policy of the prevailing goverlnnents, little knowing whatthey did, * as a precious seed, wlierewith to plant the soil of America. By this singular coincidence of extents, our beloved country was constituted, the great A asylum of suffering virtue and oppressed human-« ity, It conlcl now no longer be said-was it was 22 of the Roman Empire,——--that lnankind were shut up, as if in a vast prison--house, from whence there was no escape. The political and ecclesi- astical oppressors of the world, allowed their per- secution to find a limit, at the shores of the At- lantic. They scarce ever attempted to pursue their victims beyond its protecting waters. It is plai11 that, in this way alone, ehe design of Prov- idence could be accomplislied, which provided for the erection of one Catholic school of free- dom, in the western hemisphere. For it must not bea freedom of i too sectional and peculiar a cast. On it the stock of the English civilization, as the general basis, were to be engraftecl the laiiguages, the arts, and the tastes of the other civilized na- tions. A tie of co11sangninity must connect the members of every family of Europe, With some portion of our happy land; so that in all their trials and disasters, they ma.y look safely beyond the ocean, for a refuge. The victims of power, of intolerance, of War, of disaster, in every other part of the world, must feel, that they may find a kindred home, Within our limits. Kings, dwhom the perilous convulsions of the day have shakerli from their thrones, must find a safe re- treat; andthe needy emigrant must at least not fail of his bread and Water, lvvere it only for the sake of tlie great divrscoverer, who was himself 23 obliged to beg them. On this corner stonethe templeof our freedom was laid from the first; it " For here the exile met, from every climc, “ And spoke in friendship, every distant tongue 3 l ’ “ Men, from the blood of warring Europe sprung, “ Were here divided by the running brook.” This peculiarity of our population, which some have thought a misfortune, his in reality one of the happiest features of the American character- Without it, there would have been no obvious means of introducing a new school of civilization into the World. Had we been the unmixed de-J scendants of any one nation of Europe, We should have retained a moral and intellectual dependence on that nation, even after the dissolution of our political connexion should have taken place. ; It was suflicient for the great it purposes A in view, that the earliest settlements were made by men, ‘ . Wh had‘ fought the {battles of libertyin England, pp and who brought with them the .1'l1di1T1e.1.'1l'.S i of a constitutional freedom, , to a region, where no deep-rooted prescriptions would prevent theirde-L J velopement. l Instead of marring; the sylnmetryr of our social system, it is oneof its most attrac- tive and beautiful peculiarities, that, with the prominent qualities of the Anglo-Saxon,cl.1a1'ac— ter, inherited from the Eng'lis11 settlers, We have an adinixture of ahnost everything that is valua-~t i .‘3«+1v ble in the character of most of the other states of Europe.‘ " \ Such was the first preparation for the great political reform, of which America was to be the theatre. The colonies of England,——-g--of a coun- try, where the sanctity of laws and the constitu- tion is profess edly recognized,----the North Amer- ican colonies, were protected, from the first, against the introduction of the unmitigated dies»- potism, which prevailed in the Spanish settle» inents 3-—--the continuance of which, down to the mornent of their late revolt, prevented theeduca- tion of those provinces, in the exercise of political rights; and, inthat way, has thrown them into the revolution, inexperienced and unprepared,--~—-—- v victims, some of them, of a domestic anarchy, scarcely less g1*ievous than the foreig11 yoke they have thrown off". VVh:ile, however, the settlers of America b1*ouglr1t with them the principles and feelings~—~tl'ie political habits and temper-——whicl1 defied the ~encroach1nents of arbitrary power, and made it necessary, when they were to be oppress- ed,-—-—-that they should be oppressed a under the forms of law; it was a necessary consequence r of the state of’ tl"1ings,~+--a result perhaps of l the very nature of ‘at colonial govern1nent,-———-that they should be thrown into a position of controversy with; the mother country; and thus become fa- 25 Iniliar with the Whole energetic doctrine and dis- cipline of resistance. This formed and hardened the temper of the colonists, and trained them up to a spirit, meet for the conflict of separation. 1 On the other hand, by what I had almost call-- ed the accidental circumstance, but vvhich ought rather to be considered as a leading incident in the great, train of events, connected with the es- tablishment of constitutional freedom in this coun- try, it came to pass, that nearly all the colonies—-—-- founded as they were on the charters, granted to corporate institutions, in England, which had for their object, the pursuit of those branches of industry and trade, pertinent to a new planta-- , tion,---—--adopted a regular representative system; by vvhich,-—-—as in ordinary, civil corporations,-—-— the affairs of the community are decided by the will and voices of r its members, or those author- ized by them. It was no device ofthe parent governments, which gave us our colonial asseinm blies. »It twas no refinement of philosophical statesmen, to vvhich we are indebted for our re- publican institutions of government. They. grew up, as it were, by accident, on the simple foun- dation I have named. “A house of burgesses,” says Hutcliiiison, “broke out in Virginia, in .1620 3” and “although there was no color for it in the chartzer of Massachusetts, 3. house of 4, t 26 deputies appeared suddenly in 163%.” “Lord Say,” observes the same historian, “tempted the principal men of Massachusetts, to make themselves and their heirs, nobles and absolute governors of a new colony, but under this plan, they could find no people to follow them.” At this early period, and in this simple, un» pretending manner, was introduced to the World, that greatest discovery in political ‘science, or political practice, A a representative republican system. A ‘F The discovery, of the system of V‘ the representative republic,” says M. de Chateau- briand, “is one of the greatest political events that ever occurred.” But it is not one of the greatest, it is “the very greatest ;—-——and combined a with another principle, to which I shall present—- ly advert, and which is also the invention of the i United States, it marks an era in human things; discovery in the great science of social hap-— piness compared With Which, everything, that terininates in the temporal interests of man, sinks into insigniiicance. H n Thus then was the foundation laid, thus was the preparation commenced, of the grand politi- cal regeneration. For about a century and a half, tfliis preparation was carried on. Withoiit any of the temptations, which drew the Spanish adventurers to ‘ Mexicol and Peru, the : , colonies 27 throve almost beyond example, and in the face of neglect, contempt, and persecution. Their numbers, in the substantial middle classes of life, increased with singular rapidity. There were no prerogatives to invite an aristocracy, no vast establishments to attract the indigent.-‘- There was nothing but the rewards -of labor and the hope of freedom. But at length this hope, never adequately satis- fied, began to turn into doubt and despair. The colonies had become too important to be over- looked ;—~——tl1eir government was a prerogative too important to be left in their own hands ;-—-- and the legislation of the mother country decid- i edly assumed a form, Whicli announced to the patriots, that the hour at length had. come, when the chains of the great discoverer were to r be avenged; the suifertings of the ‘first settlers to be compensated; and the long deferred hopes of humanity were to be fulfilled. A r You need not, friends and felloVv- citizens, that I should dwell upon the incidents of the last great act in the colonial drama. This very place was the scene of some of the earliest, and the most memorable of them ;——-—their recollection is a part of the inheritance of honor, which you . have received from your fathers. In the early councils, and first struggles of the great revolu- it 28 tionary enterprize, the citizens of this place were among the most prominent. The mea- sures of resistance which were projected by the patriots of Charlestown, were opposed but by one individual. An active co»-operation existed betvveenthe political leaders in Boston and this place. The beacon light, which was kindled in the towers of Christ Church, in Boston, on the night of the eighteenth, was answered from the steeple of the church, in {Which We are now. assernbled. The intrepid messenger, vvho‘ “W38 sent forward to convey to ‘HANCOCK and ‘AD- AMS the intelligence of the approach of the Bri-B tish troops,tWas furnished with a horse, for his eventful errand, by a respected citizen of this place. At the close of the following momentous day, the British forces,———--—~the remnant of its dis- astrous events,-—--found refuge, under the shades of night, upon the heights of Charlestovvn ;--------and there, on the ever memorable seventeenth of June, that great and costly sacrifice, in the cause of freedom, was awfully consummated Withfire and blood, Your hill-tops were strevved with the illustrious dead; your peaceful homes were wrapped in devouring flames ; the fair fruits of a century and a half of civilized culture, were re-» duced to a; heap of bloody ashes;————-«and atvvo A thousand ~men,"”wo1nen, and children, turned 29 houseless upon the world. VVith the excevptioii on of the ravages of the nineteenth of April, the chalice of We and desolation, was in this man»- ner, first presented to the lips of the citizens of Charlestovvn; and they [Were called upon, at tl1at early period, totaste of its extreme bitter-— ness. Thus devoted, as it were, to the cause, it is no wonder that the spirit of the revolution should have taken possession of their bosoms, and been transmitted to their children. The American, Who, in any part of the union, could forget the scenes and the principles of the revo- tion, would thereby prove himself unworthy of the blessings, which he enjoys; but the citizen of Charlestown, who could be cold on this amo- mentous theme, must hear a voice of reproach from the Walls, which Were reared on the ashes of the seventeenth of June ;‘ a cry from the very sods of the sacred hill, where our fathers shed their blood. a l The revolution was at length accomplished. The political separation of the country from Great Britain, was effected; and it now re- mained to organize the liberty, which had been reaped on bloody fields ;—--——to establish, in the place of the government, vvhose yoke had been thrown off, a government at home, which should fulfil the great design of the revolution, and sat- 30 isfy the demands of the friends of liberty at large. What manifold perils awaited the step 9 The danger was incalculable, tliati too little or too much would be done- Smarting under the oppressions of a government, of which the resi—- dence was remote, and’ the spirit alien to their feelings, there wvas great danger, that the colo- nies, in the act of declaring themselves sovereign and independent states, would push to an ex- treme the prerogative of their separate inde-~ r pendence, and refuse to admit any authority, beyond the limits of r the particular common- wealths which they severally constituted. On the other hand, achieving their independence beneath the banners of the continental army, as- cribing, and justly, no small portion of their success, to the personal qualities of the beloved Father of his Country, there was danger not less eminent, thatthose, who perceived the evils of the opposite extreme, would be inclined to confer too much strength on one general govern- ment ;and would, perhaps, even fancy the ne- cessity of investing the hero of the revolution, in , form,vvith that sovereign power, which his per-an fsonal ascendancy gave him in the hearts of his country. —:Stuch and so critical was the alterna- tive, which the organfipzation of the new ‘govern- ment presented, and iron the successful issue of 31 which, the entire benefit of this great movement inhuman affairs, was to depend. A . . . i The first effort to solve the great problem, was made in the progress of the revolution, and was without success. The articles of confede- ration verged to the extreme of an union too weak fbr its great purposes; and the moment the pressure of the war was withdrawn, the in- adequacy of this first project of a government was felt. The United States found themselves overwhelmed with debt, without the means of paying it. Rich in the materials of an extensive commerce, they found their ports crowded with . foreign ships, and themselves without the power to‘ raise a revenue. Abounding in all the elc-\ ments of national wealth, they wanted resourcies, to defray the ordinaryexpensesof , government. . . Fora moment, . -and to the hasty. observer,a thisalastaeifort for the establishment of freedom, had failed. N 0 fruit had sprung from this lavish expenditure of treasure and blood. We had changed the powerful protection of the mother country, into a cold and jealous amity, if not into a slumbering hostility. The oppressive princi- ples, against which our fathers had struggled, were succeeded by more oppressive realities. The burden of the British navigation--act was removed, but it was followed by the l1"Ilp0SSTlbll,- 32 ity of protecting our shipping, by a navigation«— law of our own. A state of general prosperity, existing before the revolution, was succeededby universal ei:l1austion ;—----and a high and indignant tone of militant patriotism, into universal des- W pondency. , s It reinained then to give its last great effect to all that had been done, since the discovery of America, to establish the cause of liberty in the Western hemisphere, and by anothersrnore delib- erate effort, to organize a government, bywhich, not yonly, the present evils, under which the country was suiferiiig, should be i remedied, but the final design of Providence should be fulfilled. Such was the task, VV'l1lC11.de"VOl;Ve(1OD. the coun- cil of sages, who assembled at Philadelphia, on the second Monday of May, 1787, of which, General Washington was elected President, and over whose debates your tovvnsnian, Mr Gor- ham, presided, as chairman of I'3i16,CO1’I1II1ltt6f3,0f the whole, during the discussion of the plan of the federal constitution. ‘ i ’ i i The very first step to be taken, was one of pain and regret. The old confederation was to begiven up. A What misgivings and grief must not T,hl'S_1)1“ell1T1lfl&1‘y sacrifice have occasioned to the patriotic nieinbers of the convention I a They rvvere attached, and with reason, to its siInp1en1a«- 33 jesty. a It was Weak then, but it had been strong enough to carry the colonies through the storms of the revolution. Some of the great men, who led up the forlorn hope of their country, in the hour of her dearest peril, had died in itsdefence. Its banner over ‘us had been not love alone, but triumph and joy.‘ Could not a little inefliciency be pardoned to a Union, with which France had made an alliance, and England had made peace? Could the proposed new government do more or better things than this had done’! And above all, vvhen the flag of the old thirteen was struck, which had never been struck in battle, who i could give assurance, that the hearts of the peo- ple could be rallied to another banner ? = l Such were the misgivings of some of the great men of that day,----the Henrys,the Gerrys, and other eminent anti-federalists, to whose scruples, it is time that a justice should, be done. a They vverethe sagacious misgivings of wise men, the just forebodings of bravemen ; who were deter-- mined not to defraud posterity of the blessings, for which they had all suffered, and for which some of them had fought. The members of that convention, in going about the great work before them, deliberately laid aside the means, by which all preceding le-- gislators, had aimed to acgcomplish. a. like ".vor1<*:.; 1*’ tr. ) 34: In founding a strong and eflicient governlnent, and-~ equate -to the raising up of a powerful and pros-» perous people, their first step was, to reject the institutions to which other governments traced their strength and prosperity. The World had settled down into the sad beliefl that a heredi» tary monarch was necessary to give strength to the executive. The iramers of our constitution provided for an elective chief magistrate, chosen every four years. Every other country had been betrayedya into the admission of t a .;listinvcti0n of ranks in society, under the absurd impression, that vprivwilegedsorders are necessary to the permanence of the social system. The framers of our consti- tution, established everything, on the pure natu- ral basis of an uniform equality of the elective franchise, to be exercised by all the citizens, at fixed and short intervals. In other countries, it had been thought necessary to constitute some one political eegntre, toward which all politicalpower should tend, and at which, in the last resort, it should be exercised, The framers of the consti- tution devised a scheme of confederate and re»- presentative a sovereign republics, united on a happy distribution of powers, Which, reserving t tolilthe separate states all the political functions, essential to the public peace and private justice, ----—-bestowecl upon the general government, those 35 and those only, required for the service i of the Whole. » . lThus was completed the great revolutionary movement ; thus was perfected that mature or-r ganization ‘of a free system, destined to stand forever asrthe examplar of popular government. Thus was discharged the duty of our fathers to themselves, to the country, to the World. The example thus set up, in the eyes of the nations, was instantly and Widely felt. It Was immediately made visible to sagacious observers, that a constitutional age had begun. It was in the nature of things, that, where the former evil existled in its most inveterate form, the ‘reaction should also be the most violent. Hence the dread- ful excesses, that marked the progress of the Frencli revolution, and fora while, almost made a theiname of liberty odious. But it is] not less in the nature of things, that, when the most indispu- table and enviable political blessingsstand illus- trated before the vvorld,-----not merely in specu- lation and in theory, but in living practice and bright example,»---theinations of theearth, in pro»- portion as they have eyes to see, and earsto hear, and hands to grasp, should insist on imitating the example. Imitate it they have, and imitate they Will. France clung to the hope of constitu- tional liberty tlirough thirty years of appalling 36 tribulation, and now enjoys the freest Constitu- tion in Europe. Spain, Portugal, the two Ital.-~ ian Kingdoms, and several of the German States have entered on the same path. Their progress has been and must be various ; modified by cir- cumstances ; by the interests and passions of Governments and men, and in some cases seem» ingly arrested. But tlieir march is as sure as fate. If we believe at all in the political revival of Europe, there canbe no really retrograde move- ment in this cause, and that which seems so, in the ‘revolutions of government, is like those of the heavenly bodies, a part of their eternal orbit. There can be no retreat, for the. great exam- plar rnuststand, to convince the hesitating na-~ tions, under every reverse, that the reform they strive at, is practicable, is real, is within their reach. Institutions may fluctuate; they may be pushed onward, as theyvvere in France, to a premature simplicity, and fall back to a simili- tudeof the ancient forms. But there is an ele- ment of popular strength abroad in the world, stronger than forms and institutions, and daily growing in power, A public opinion of a new kind has arisen among men,-——-—--the opinion of the eivilized world. Springing into existence on the shoresof our own continent, it has grown with our growthand strengthened with our strength 3 87 till now, this moral giant, like that of the an- cient poet, marches along the earth and across the ocean,=but his front is among thestars. The course of the day ‘does not Weary, nor the dark-— ness of night arrest him- He grasps the pillars of the temple Where oppression sits enthroned, not groping and benighted, like the strong man of old, to be crushed himself beneath the fall 3 but trampling, in his strength, on its massy ruins. r Under the influence, I might almost say the unaided influence, of public opinion, formed and nourished by our example, three Wonderful rev- olutions have broken out in a generation. That of France, not yet consummated, has left that country, (Which it found in a condition scarcely better than Turkey), in the possession of the blessings of a representative constitutional,‘gov- ernment. Another revolution has emancipated the "American possessions of Spain, by an almost unassisted action of moral causes. Nothing but the strong sense of the age, that a government lik;e that of Ferdinand ought not tosubsist, over regions like those which stretch to the South of us, on the continent, could have sufliced to bring about their emancipation, against all the obstacles, "Wl1iCl1 the state of society among them, opposes at present, to regulated liberty and safe independ-~ ence. “When Mr Canning said of the einancipa- 38 tion of these States, that “He had called into my existence a new World in the West,” he spoke V as wisely as the artist, who, having tipped the forks of a conductor With silver, should boast that he had created the lightning, which it callsdovvn firom the clouds. But the greatest triumph of public opinion is the revolution of Greece. The spontaneous sense of the frie11ds of liberty at home and abroad,----Witliout armies, without navies, without concert, and acting only throughthe simple channels of ordinary co1nmu- nication, principally the press, has rallied the governments of Europe to this ancient and favor- ed soil of freedom. Pledged to remain at peace, they have been driven, by the force of public sen- timent, into the War. Leagued against the cause revolution, as such, theyhave been compelled to send their armies and navies, to fight the battles of revolt.i Dignifying the barbarous oppressor of christian, Greece, with the title of “ ancient and v faithful ally,” they have been constrained, by the outraged feeling of the civilized world, to burn up, in time of peace, the navy of their ally, with all his antiquity and all his fidelity 5 and to cast the broad shield of the Holy Allianceover a young and turbulent republic. i ’ '1‘his bright prospect may be clouded in; the powers, of Europe, which have reluctantly taken, 39 may speedily abandon the field. Some inglorions composition may yet save the Ottoman empire from dissolution, at the sacrifice of the liberty of Greece, and the power of Europe- iBut such are not the indications of things. The prospect is fair, that the political regeneration, which cornmenced in the West, is now going backward to resuscitate the once happy and long deserted regions of the older world. The hope is not now chimerical, that those lovely islands, the flower of the Levant,-—the shores of that re»- nowned sea, around which all the associations of antiquity are concentrated, are again to be brought back to the -sway of civilization and chris- tianity. Happilythe interest of the great powers of Europe seem to beckon them onward in the path of humanity. l,The lralfdesertedcoasts of Syriaand , Egypt, the fertile ibutalmostdesolated Archipelago, the ‘empty shores of Africa, the granary ofancient Rome, seem to offer them-- selves as a ready refuge for the crowded, starv- ing, discontented, millions of Western Europe. No natural nor, political obstacle opposes itself to their occupation. France has long cast a, wistful eye on Egypt. Napoleon derived the idea of his expedition, whicli was set down to the unchastened ambition of a revolutionary soldier, from a memoir found in the cabinet of Louis 410 XVI. England has already laid her hand, an arbitrary but a civilized and christian hand, on Malta and the Ionian Isles,and Cyprus, Rhodes and Candia must soon follow, —--—-vvhile it is not be-- yond the reach of hope, that a representative re- public may be established in Central Greece and the adjacent islands. In this Way, and with the example of What has here been do11e, to extend the reign of civilization and freedom, it is not too much to anticipate, that ymany generations will not pass, before the same vybenignant influ-— ence will revisit the awakened east, and thus fulfil, in the happiest sense, the vision of CoL—- UMBUS, by restoring a civilized population to the primitive seats of our holy faith. i Fellovv-Citizens, the eventful pages in the volume of human fortune, are opening upon us, with sublime rapidity of succession. i It is two hundred years this summer, since a few of that party, who in 1628, commenced, in Salem, the first settlement of Massachusetts, were sent by Governor Endicott, to explore the spot, where We stand. They found that one pioneer, of the name of WALFORD, had gone before them, in the march of civilization, and had planted himself among the numerous and warlilace savages in this quarter. a From them, the native lords of the soil, these first, hardy adventurers derived their -451 title to the lands, on which they settled; and by the arts of civilization and peace, opened the way for the main body» of the colonists of Mas- sachusetts, under Governor Wmrnnor, who tvvo years afterwards, by a coincidence Which you will think worth naming, arrived in Mystic River, and pitched his patriarchal tent, on Ten Hills, upon the seventeenth day of June, 1630, Massachusetts, at that moment, consisted of six huts at Salem, and one at this place. It seems but a span of time, as the mind ranges over it. A venerable individual is living, at the seat of the first settlement, Whose life covers one half of the entire period: but what a destiny has been unfolded before our country !——--What events liave crowded your annals y!--—--vvhat scenes, of tlirilling interest and eternal glory have signal-« ized the very spot Where We stand! In that unceasing march of things, Whiclia can; forward the successive generations of men to perform their part on the stage of life, we at length are summoned to appear. O.-ur fathers have passed their hour of VlSliSal3i0Il3e~w-].l0VV’ vvor-—i thily, let the growth an.d prosperity of our liappiy land, and the security of our firesides, attest. “Or if this appeal be too iweakfite mere us, let the el- oquent silence of yonder venerated 116ig‘lltS,--~1@.t the column, which is there rising in simple ma»- 4.52 jesty, recall their venerated forms, as they toiled, , in the hasty trenches, through the dreary watch-« es of that night of expectation, heaving up the sods, Where they lay in peace and in honor, ere- “the following sun had set. The turn has comertole us. The trial of adversity was theirs : the trial of prosperity is ours. Let us meet it as men Who know their duty, and prize their blessings. ‘Our position is the most enviable, the most re-~ sponsible, which men can fill. this generation does its duty, the cause of constitutional freedom is safe. If welfail :j if We fail ;-—not only do W’e~ defraud our children of theinheritance which we received i from our fathers, but We blast the hopes» of the friends of liberty throughout our continent, throughout Europe, throughout the World, to the end of time. i ‘ History is not Without her examples of hard fougllt fields, where the banner of liberty has floated triumphantly on the vvildest storm of battle. She is Without her examples of a peo- ple, by whom the dear-bought treasure has been wisely employed and safely handed down. The eyes of the world are turned for that example to us. It is related by an ancient historian,"" of that Brutus who slew Caesar, that“ he threw himself on his sword, after the disastrous battle =*~"§Deo Cassius, lib. XLVII. in fin. 43 of Phillippi, with the bitter exclamation, that he had followed virtue as a substance, but foundliiiit a name. It is not too much to say, that there are, at this moment, noble spirits in the elder World, who are anxiously Watching the march of our institutions, to learn whether liberty, as they have been told, is a mockery, a pretence, and a curse, or a blessing, for which it becomes them to ‘brave the r rack, the scaffold, and the scimitar. Let us then, as We assemble, on the birthday A of the nation, as We gather upon the green turf, once wet with precious blood, let -us devote our» selves to the sacred cause of constitutional liber- ty. Let us abjure the interests and passions, which divide the great family of American free» men. Let the rage of party spirit sleep today. i Let us resolve, that our children shall have cause j tobless the memory of their fathers, as we have cause to bless the memory of ours.