AN

ORATION,

DELIVERED JULY 4, 13322.,

BEFORE THE

CITY COUNCIL

AND

INHABITANTS 013‘ BOSTON.

BY JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. %

BOSTON:

JOHN H. EA.S'.1‘BURN....CI‘TY PRINTER.

~-»-.—«........................... ........+..........._.._.._... ...... ._........,.__..

MDCCCXXXII.

CITY OF BOSTON.

 In Common Council, July 4,1832.

Ordered, Tlaatithe Mayor and Aldermen be requested to present
the thanks of the City Council to J OSIAH QUINCY, Jun. Esq. for
the eloquent and spirited oration delivered by him, at their request,
upon the Anniversary of American Inclependence, and to request
a copy for the press.

Sent up for Concurrence.

JOHN P. BIGELOW, President.

In the Board of ./Elldermen, July 5, 1832.

Read and Concurred.

CHARLES WELLS, Mayor.

A true Copy--Atr".rEs'r,
S. F. M’CLiEARY, City Clerk.

ORATION.

FIFTY-SIX years have now elapsed, fellow citizens,
since it was “ solemnly published and declared, that
these United Colonies were, and of right ought to be
free and independent States.” From that period, to
the present, the recurrence of this day has called for
a yearly tribute to the valor, disinterestedness and
patriotism of our ‘Fathers; and has, on former oc-
casions, summoned the eloquent of our land to con-—
sider the feelings, manners and principles, which led
to the Revolution; and to deduce from them sen-
timents calculated to awaken patriotism and ex-
cite to duty. The labourers have, indeed, been nu-
merous. They have reaped and gleaned, but the
soil is not exhausted; and he, who, on this day, seeks
in the history of the past, for the spirit which should
actuate the present, will ﬁnd the ﬁeld again White
to the harvest.

They who first addressed their countrymen on this
occasion, spoke to an incensed and a jealous people,
whose wounds were yet open, and Whose fears were
yet alive; who saw in each movement of Great

w"

4

Britain, an intent to renew her dominion. The war
had ceased, the tempest had blown over, but the
swell of the political ocean showed the strength ol
the blast that had swept its bosom.

Our position is changed. Our strength forbids
fears from any thing external. “The strong man
armed, keepeth his house, and his goods are at
peace.” The feelings connected with our Revolu-
tion need no longer be resorted to, as topics of" tem-~
porary or national excitement. It is not 1'iecessa1*y
for the honor of our Fathers, that we keep forever
alive the hostility that glowed in their bosoms. It
is a nobler praise to them, and a higher duty for us,
to study their history, and to learn how to suffer‘ and
how to act from their example.

The ostensible cause of the American Revolution
was the tyranny of the British Administration, and
the love of liberty in the American people. But
the philosophic observer will ﬁnd its germs implanted
in the nature of man, and in the relations that then
existed between Great Britain and her colonies.

The permanency of a great empire, its peace, its
prosperity, all require harmonyamong its niemb¢~rs.
Such harmony can only subsist where there exists a
community of interest, a common sense of the ad-
vantages of union, and a reciprocity of feeling and
affection. Time, distance, and the unexampled in-
;-crease of wealthand numbers among the colonists
had destroyed, or greatly weakened these, long be»
fore the Revolution. That event was the conclu-
sion,---the last act of a drama which had been for
nearly two centuries in progress.

5

There was a community of interest; but it Was
not strong, and it was one which every succeeding
year had a necessary tendency to diminish. The
country was settled by men who ﬂed from oppression
in England. They felt, indeed, like children, but like
children disinherited and disowned. All the associ—
ations with their country, all the advantages they de-
rived from her protection, were in their View lighter
than the dust of the balance, when Weighed against
their liberties or their rights. Great Britain consi-
dered that she derived some strength from the num—-
bers of the colonists, and some Wealth from the mo-
nopoly of their trade. But there was no deep or vi-
tal source of attachment. What existed arose from
the hope of the future, rather than from the actual
enjoyment of the present. The crown ofﬁces were
not lucrative, and certainly were no sinecures, and
the sterile shores of our country presented no El
Dorado, where her sons could amass wealth in a mo»-
ment. .

This want of a community of interest naturally
destroyed a common sense of the advantages of
union. Great Britain looked upon the colonies as on
children who received far more from her patronage
than they repaid by their revenue. And the colo-
nists learned, that an emancipation from the tutelage
of the parent state would give them a standing
among nations, and open a wider ﬁeld for their in-
dustry, and a nobler theatre for their ambition. They
were unwilling hastily to snap asunder the connex-
ion, but many thought. that their ultimate Welfare

might be promoted by the measure.

6

The want of a community of interest, and a com-
mon sense of the advantages of union, were not in
their case supplied by that reciprocity of feeling and
association whose invisible bonds are stronger than
those of adamant. The colonists were Englishmen:
or the descendants of Englishmen, but they were
Englishmen who left their country to escape from mo»
narchidal and ecclesiastical tyranny. The blood of
the Puritans, of the friends of I—lampden and
Cromwell, swelled in their veins. They wanted
those associations with the regal glories of England,
which would havehallowed and rendered tolerable
their sufferings under a monarch. The chivalry of
the lion-hearted Richard, the victories of the Fifth
Henry awoke no romantic interest in their bosoms.
They looked through the halo that time had thrown
round them, and saw brute courage and tyrannical
power, where the loyal Briton saw only the image
of his country’s greatness.

If there was no cement to their union in the asso-—
ciations of early history, there was still less in the
more recent successes of England. They took no
part in the triumphs of lV.la.rlborough. They receiv-
ed no share in the glories of Wolfe. And though
they poured out their blood freely on the frontiers,
at Ticonderoga, a.nd Louisburg, yet it was English

forces and English commanders, who received the

praise. The labour was ours, the laurel was given
to another. Our ancestors felt that, like brave men,
they had played their part for their ﬁresides and their
homes; but their all was too little to be observed
among the greater glories of their parent state, and
they became attached to the soil they defended, ra'—-

7

ther than to the government under which they
served. , V

The modes of communication between the parent
state and the colonies, had a natural tendency to di-
minish the feeling of any community of interest,
common sense of the advantages of union, or reci-
procity of feeling, and to produce false views of mo-
tives, mistaken opinions of power, and contradictory
notions of interest. A VI

The colonists saw in their harbours the ﬂeets of
the then mistress of the ocean; they were crossed in
their paths by the splendid trappings of her army.
But the commander's of those ﬂeets, and the officers
of that army looked upon, and treated them, rather
as dependants than as equals. They felt as though
they represented the country they served, and their
aristocratic manners had no tendency to create a
feelirig of affection on our part.

The effects of this medium of communication
were not conﬁned to this side of the Atlantic. It
was the representations of her military and naval of-
ﬁcers that taught Great Britain to look upon the co-
lonists as on an unthanltful, rebellious and disorderly
race, who had the inclination, but not the power or
courage for resistance. The master spirits of the
age in vain combated their assertions. In vain did
Burke and Chatham prove from history, from eXpe--
rience, from the nature of man, that the struggles of
a great people for liberty Were irresistible. Their
eloquence had no effect. An officer offered to march
through America with three regiments, and they were
ansvvered.

O
U

It is in circumstances such as these, that the phi-
losophic historian ﬁnds the causes of the American
Revolution. It is in the Want of those bonds of in-
terest and affection which have held, and which now
hold nations together, under far more trying cir-
cumstances. The immediate cause was compara-
tively triﬂing. It produced effects which neither
party anticipated, by acting upon feelings, of the
power of which, both were unconscious. The Stamp
Act, the Duty on Tea, and the oppressive measures
that followed, only accelerated what would certainly
have come without them. A For a century and a half
the explosive materials had been accumulating, and
needed but a spark to rend asunder an empire.

Such is the history of the past; what lessons does
it suggest for the future? The people of the United
States are again the inhabitants of a great empire.
It depends on the men who shall successively occupy
this territory to decide whether its prosperity and
greatness shall be transmitted to their descendants,
and uninterrupted happiness shall realize the hopes of
their patriotic sires.

The responsibilities of this people are great, per»-
Inanent, and universal; not to themselves, not to
their children, not to their country merely, but to
human nature and the human race. Should the
United States follow the fate of all former republics,--
from dissension to anarchy, from anarchy to military
sway, and from military sway to despotism,----What
hope will there be of a confederated union, among
free and independent states hereafter. How, and

  9

T where, can such a union be effected under more fa-

vorable auspices P

‘ But What cause for alarm P’ cry the indifferent and
the indolent. ‘Our prosperity is unrivalled. The
sounds of dangerhave always been heard, but they
have hitherto produced no ruin.’ But a feeling of
security is not always a proof of safety. The hus-
bandman on the side of Etna sees the smoke over
his head, hears the rumbling beneath his feet, but he
has witnessed no eruption, he trusts that the conflict-
ing elements will neutralize one another, and that
the volcano, for his day at least, will remain tranquil.
But Nature is true to herself. The materials mul-
tiply; and in the midst of his fancied security, the
labours and hopes of his life are laid prostrate in an
instant.

Oceans are not required to divide the i-nterests of
nations, nor to create discords among a people. The
dangers of a great confederacy are from Within, and
the more therefore to be dreaded. External pres-
sure vvould give solidity to the arch of union. It
would bring its parts more closely into connexion.
But when there is nothing external to unite it, the
cohesion of its cement must constitute its strength.
On what then does the ﬁrmness of this political ce-
ment depend? How is it to be strengthened, per-
petuated, and made imperishable?

From the records of the past, We have seen that
the Want of a sense of common interest, the absence
of a reciprocity. of feeling, the jealousies that na-
turally spring from ignorance, and Want of intercourse

  among the parts of a great empire, were the remote

2

10

but efﬁcient causes of one revolution. What in for-
mer days dissolved amonarchy may in our ovvn,dis—
member a republic.

And What are the signs of the times? Do We not
hear, even on the ﬂoor of Congress, of incompat-
ibilities of interests,-—-of sectional rivalries,--—-«of cal-
culations of the value of the Union,—--—~of conventions,
and nulliﬁcation P And do these portend nothing to
be dreaded? Read the legacy left us by the father
of our country.

“ The unity of government,” says he, “ is a main
pillar in the ediﬁce of your real independence, the
support of your tranquillity at home, of your peace
abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that
very liberty which you so highly prize. It is of in-
ﬁnite moment that you should properly estimate the
immense value of your national union to your collec-
tive and individual happiness. That you should che-
rish a cordial, habitual and immoveable attachment
to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of
it as the palladium of your political safety and pro-

sperity, vvatching for its preservation With jealous

anxiety, discountenancing Whatever may suggest even
a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and
indignantly ﬁovvning ‘upon the ﬁrst dawning of every
attempt to alienate any portion of our country from
the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties Which now
link together the various parts.”

Will it be said that the blessings of union are eX-
aggerated by the greatest of patriots, and of men;
that it possesses no such essential advantages, and
separation no such terriﬁc dangers 5° Let reason be

ll

consulted. Let experience answer. Let the ‘Voice
of history be heard. ,

Suppose the times, some sanguine spirits so com-
placently anticipate, come. Suppose the union gone,
and every State independent. What a conﬂict of
interest,—---what an excitement of passion,--what
an accumulation of animosity among rival, powerful
and discordant nations!

I-laving almost identically the same interests, they
must pursue them in the same track. Our rivalries
would not be conﬁned to our native shores. We
should ﬁnd each other in every climate and on every
sea. Our sons might take the wings of the morning
and fly into the uttermost parts of the earth, but
wherever they went, they would ﬁnd the bitterness

of fraternal competition, and jealousy, and fear, and

hostile i"eeli.ng. This would follow them among the
ice-mountains of the pole, and under the burning
heats of the equator.

Nor would this feeling be permitted to grow cold
or inactive. Foreign nations would foment and
quicken it. They would increase their inﬂuence by
increasing our dissensions. The hostile powers of
the old world would take sides with the hostile pow-—
ers of the new, and America would again become
the battle-ground of Europe. What an alteration
would this make in the scenery of our fair country,
and in the habits, the manners, and the happiness of
our citizens 1 Every height would be crowned Witha
fortress,-—--every frontier bristle with bayonets! Our
young men would be called from their avocations to
defend their ﬁresides. Our old men would be drag-

12

ged from their retirements to shed their blood in bat-
tle for their country. The habits of life, of thought,
of action, would be changed. Ingenuity would be
spent in devising new modes of destruction. lVlar-
tial valor, and military achievement would again be
synonimous with virtue, and the laurels of the con-
queror would overshadow and blight the olive-plant
of peace. The light of civilization, like the sun-
beam on the dial-plate of Hezeltiah, would go back-—
ward, and that revolution, which we this day cele-
brate as the commencement of a new era in the his-—
tory of the liberties of our country and our race, the
future patriot may be compelled to consider a greater
curse on the prospects of our species, than the tyran—~
nyof all the monarchs who have sat upon the thrones,
of Christendom. \
Interest would thus produce collision ; but sepa-
ration would bring into action other and more pow-
erful elements of evil. It would almost change our
natures. We now look with delight on our increasing
population. Every stroke of the woodman’s axe
beyond the Mississippi seems to enlarge ourdomin-
ion and augment our power. At the return of"‘every
census, the arm of our country seems strengthened
by a thousand sinews that have started into existence
since the last. But divide, and all this is changed.
Our interest and our passions will make us look upon
the increase of states, which will then be our rivals,
perhaps our enemies, with an eye of . fear. The
preservation of the balance of power, a principle that

in has desolated Europe, must then cross the Atlantic,

and bring more destruction in its train than pestilence

13

or famine. The object of each state would be to ad?-
vance the physical power of its own section and to
arrest that of all others, and instead of rejoicing at
the progress of civilization and the useful arts, of hail.-
ing, as man, the soil that is waving with plenty, of
exulting, as christians, at the numbers, who are pass-
ing with us through this good land to a better and a
happier, we shall learn to delight in every thing
that checks the progress of humanity, to prefer the
tangled forest to the smiling cornfield,-—-the howl
of the wolf and the yell of the savage, to the sound
of useful labor, the hum of the schoolhouse and the
voice of praise. 

But interest and fear and foreign intervention will
not be the only incitements to discord. Party spin-
it will give to each a fearful activity. We now com-
plain of the influence of party, of the hostility it
engenders between individuals, of the calumnies to
which it exposes the good. But what we have yet
witnessed is but the breath of the South over a bed
of violets, in comparison with the tempest that will
then ensue. The parties of small states are always
the most bitter and least scrupulous. State politics
are now in a great degree subservient to the national.
Revenue and wealth are in the hands of the general
government, and “where the carcass, is there will
the eagles be gathered together.” The extent of
our country prevents theleaders of different sections

,from coming into immediate contact. This produces
its effect on the statesman. It has still greater on
the people. Interests and topics that agitate part of
the comrnunity have no effect on the rest. The storm

14

may desolate one section while others are enjoying
serenity and sunshine. But divide, and the poison
that is diffused in the stream will be concentrated in
the goblet---tlie current is increased by the contrac-
tion of its channel.

But, of all the means of exasperating national hos»
tilities, none will compare with the possession of a
common language. Adjoining and hostile powers in
Europe clothe their thoughts in different modes of
speech, and the sarcasm of one nation falls pow-
erless on the ear of another. But on this conti-
nent the universality of our language gives the press
an unequalled power for evil or for good. In any
situation of our country, the newspaper will find its
way to every log-house in the land,aind the asser-
tion made in one state concerning another will pro»
duce rancour and lead to retaliation. The effusion
of an anonymous Writer may be considered as repre--
senting the deliberate sentiments of the section to
which he belongs, and the insect that is too small
for notice may sting the lion into fury.

Shall we be told thy any that this picture is exag-

gerated? That it is drawn from fancy, and has not

foundation in fact 5’ Let such turn to the page of the
Grecian historian and View the violence, distrust and
enmityg which arose among divided republics, and
‘among republics, that had not half of our causes for
dissension, let him reﬂect on the disorders which pro-
ceeded from faction within, and intrigue Without;
on the brutality of the party which was dominant,
and the suffering of that which was depressed. And
then let him decide Whether those who lookwwith

I5

complacency and apparently with desire,on disunion
would not ﬁnd that their present sufferings, supposing
them to betas great as their feelings represent them,
are nothing when weighed against a tithe of the mis-
eries and evils that would be produced by a dissolu-
tion of' the Union.

If then it be true that seeds of discord are scatter-
ed among states as Well as among individuals, if
circumstances will accelerate or retard their growth,
and if, like plants springing from the ﬁssures of the

deca inn‘ vvall their ﬁbres ma im ierce tibl ex and
Y e v 3’ l P Y P

until they burst asunder the ediﬁce,-———-What is the
duty of the American patriot of the present day?
It is to learn their nature, in order to check their ex-
pansion and counteract their inﬂuence.

If, among the causes of disunion, are the Want of a.
due sense of our present advantages, let every lover
of his country kindle in his own bosom, and excite
in the hosoms of others, a lively sentiment of the par»
ticulars in vvhieh these advantages consist. If an un-
friendly feeling be cultivated in one part of the Union
towards any other, let the inhabitants of that other
he Watchful not to give countenance to such jeal-
ousies nor color to such suspicions,---let every man
eradicate them from his own breast, and by example
and precept endeavor to remove them from the breasts
of others. i

Different states must, from the nature of things, be

placed indifferent circumstances of prosperity. These
differences will be often attributed, and sometimes
directly traced to the unequal operation of equal
rules. In such cases, let it always be remembered

16

that human ingenuity cannot frame laws that will act
in the same manner under different circumstances,
and let itbe the endeavour of each, Whether North or
South, East or West, to understand the rights and
relations of others, and always, as far as possible,
yield something of its own claims to their real, if not
to their imagined interests. Let the continu-
ance of the Union be considered as paramount to eve»
ry thing else, and let all so urge their respective pre-
tensions and so limit their reciprocal claims as to nar--
row the ground of controversy and avoid the principle
of collision‘. Let the christian rule of doing to oth--
ers . as We would that they should in change of cir--
cumstances do to us, predominate, and sectional preju-
dice, Which like the morning mist distorts and mag-
niﬁes the object it shrouds, shall Vanish before the sun
of truth and the Warmth of fraternal affection. A spir-
it of concession and mutual accommodation is the
only one that can continue the Union or our happi-
ness under it. Any thing short of this Will he insuf-
ﬁcient. EXt€I‘118.l compliments and formal civilities
are but putting the hands right on the dial-plate and
neglecting the movement of“ the Wheels. It is gild-
ing the dome, to strengthen the foundation.

In this connexion, there are considerations that
come to the bosom and press upon our hearts the du-
ties of this section of the country. A

It is our happy lot to live in a land where there is
no slavery. Not our virtue, but our fortune and our
climate have given us this distinct.ion.

it  In another, and in this respect less happy portion

of our country, this curse has been entailed upon its

l people, their misfortune and not their fault.

17

A With us the question of emancipation may be dis-
cussed without exciting a fear or awakening an anx-
iety. With them—-—‘‘ the alarm bell never tolls for ﬁre
but the mother clasps her infant closer to her bosom.”
Discussion of the question is of the deepest and most
awful import, not to be thought of without self dis-
trust or spoken of ‘without a profound sense of re-—
sponsibility. , i

If as philanthrophists, we feel for the condition of
the slave, both as philanthropists and citizens we
ought to reflect on that of the master. The former
is bound to us by the tie of a common nature,--w
the latter is bound to us by that tie and by the addi-
tional one of social intercourse and constitutional ob-
ligation. Amidst our anxieties and endeavours to
relieve the servitude of the one, let us never be un-
mindful of what we owe to the other. Let us re-
member that all schemes of emancipation must be
prospectivewall extensive reforms gradual. That to
give political privileges to a. man whose habits,
knowledge and education have not ﬁtted him to en»

joy them, is but to open the cell of the maniac and

arm him for the destruction of others and of himself.

Is it wonderful that the manner in which this ques-
tion has sometimes been treated here, should have
produced excitement and caused jealousies entirely
incompatible with that reciprocal affection and mu-
tual conﬁdence, which is the bond of states as well
as of individuals? Cordiality will not return in a
moment, but remove the disturbing force, and the mag-

net will in time point to its cynosnre again.


'9)

18

It is not hovvever by avoiding subjects Whiclr natur-
ally irritate, that the lover of hiscountry can alone pro~
mote the union of these states ; he can do it more
effectually by bringing the inhabitants of distant
states into more immediate contact. liy facilitating
intercourse, acquaintance will be augmented, dif-—
ferent sections will become more intimate, and the
opportunity will be diminished for designing men
“ to acquire inﬂuence in particular districts by mis-
representing the opinions and aims of others,” against
which Washington warns us, as one of the most ef—
‘ficient expedients of‘ party...

In this view, the lover of his country must rejoice
at the facilities of intercourse that have arisen With-
in a few years, l bringing into proximity distant
sections of our vast republic. When Fulton chain-
ed to the oar an agent as invisible and more
powerful than the genius of the Arabian tale, he
gave to the merchant an auxiliary in the acquisition
of Wealth, and to the man of leisure a facility in the
pursuit of amusement. But the patriot will consid-
er his invention as productive of a higher good, as
being the means of binding together states, and of

strengthening the mutual affection of this increasing

people.

 There is another bond of union to Which, on this

day and in this place we should recur with deep sen-—~

timents of fraternal attachment and ﬁlial gratitude.
It is to the common sufferincrs labors and sacriﬁces of
w 9

my ~~()ur'comn1on Ancestors.-,—-Citizens of Boston, descen-

dants of the founders of our republic,----you stand up--
on the spot where stood your fathers when they

19

resolved to hazard life and property for the preser-
vationof freedom ltwas while they were assem-
bled Within these Walls, that the destruction of prop-
erty took. place, which led to the Boston Port"lBill,
to the oppression of this part of the country, to the
union of the Whole, and to the ultimate emancipation
of this people. i

It is good on this day to be here. These Walls
heard the accents of Otis and Adams, which nerved
your sires to resist oppression and vindicate the lib-
erties of their country—---—These Walls received, but
could not ci_rcumscribe their outcry. It burst
these iiarrow boundaries and traversed the country
With the celerit;y of l.i,g'l1t11i.11g. The broad ridges of
the Green Mountains c:a.ug‘le1t the sound and ﬂung it
back from every elevation. It was heard in the
llighlands of the Hudson, on the shores of the Del»
aware, along; the l;)211’1l€1S of the Potomac, among the
high hills of the Santee, and vvaltened every Where
an echo that reverberated through the c.on.tinent.
The universal answer was like the rushing of many
Waters. It was the sound of brave men hurrying to
the contest, of brother marching to brothers’ aid.
It struck upon the ear of your fathers and gave them
courage for the approaching conﬂict. It told them
that though alone, they were not deserted,---that
though distant, they were not forgotten,—--that brave
hearts and strong arms would become cold and mo-
tionless, sooner than abandon them in their day of
trial. The sound swept over the country, and our
native vvarriors started from the soil, ready armed for
the conflict.

so

Nor was this all. The cry of struggling freedom
crossed the Atlantic. Brave hearts and noble spirits
came to participate in our danger. Pulaski, to pour
out his life blood in our defence. Kosciusko, to learn
on our shores how to ﬁght the battles of freedom on
his own. And more than all, the friend of our coun-
try and of man, Lafayette, in his youth, here devoted
himself to the cause of liberty, and swore that fealty
to constitutional freedom which during a long life he
has maintained, and in his old age has not forfeited.

There may be a question concerning the present
interest and the future destinies of our country-—---But
the past is secure. We are united by the same holy
recollections of our fathers’ memories. Our fathers’
graves are a common inheritance. We are united by
a common relation to the greatest and best men that
the World has produced. We are united by being
the depositaries of republican institutions, and of
civil freedom.

Citizens of Boston, you are now assembled Where
more than half a century ago your fathers stood, and
where half a century hence your children will prob--
ably stand to celebrate the glories of the American
Revolution. May the orator of that day speak of a
confederated republic, stretching from ocean to ocean,
ﬁlled with arts and civilization and Freedom. May
he speak of the fathers of the revolution as the in»-
struments of establishing and extending the bless»-t
ings of liberty over this land and over the WO1'lCl..
May he appeal to the then living Constitution of our
country, as an abiding Witness of the wisdom and
foresight of men, who framed an instrument which a

21

century ccnnld scarce improve. May he kindle the
patriotism of his heaters by pointing to the Montr-
merit that rises high over the spot where Warren fell,
and to the: ﬁelds throughout our land that were
Wet witln the blood of the victims in the cause of
Independence. But in the height of his enthusiasm,
may he pause, and testify of the men of this genera-
tion. May he say, and say truly, that they gained a
victory’ more glorious than was ever won on a tented
ﬁeld; that the men of the east, and the West,---the
mariufaeturer of the north,————the planter of the
soutl1,——-o*ve:rcarne selﬁshness, and immolated local
interest on the altar of peace and union ;--—That
dravviI1gwi;,sdoIn from the experience of the past,
and Weighing the consequences of their actions on
the future, they calmly and deliberately sacriﬁced
terrnporary -and transient Views to the permanency of
ancient Friendship ;----Tliat they transmitted unim-
paired the Constitution of the United States, the
Palladium of their own and theircount;ry’s liberty, to
their descendants, and deserved the name of the
preservers and perp etuators of the peace, liberty and
happiness ovf these states, then, and forever Onew
United---ludivisible.