'¦<¦

fl!

«

B" -
F4

3,

*i»*.

AN

>I1a l a. ': ¦¦. ,.

IN CELEBRATION OF

AVaURXGAK X&ra&PENDSIVCi:,

PRONOUNCED AT NATICK, JULY 5, 1824,

before tlie

OFFICEllP OF THE REGIMENT OE MILITIA,

Comprising the towns of

ATICK, FRA.MINGHAM, HOPKINTON,

H01jL[STON AND SHERBUE.N.

BY JOHN BAILEY.

BETiHAM:
H. & W. H. Xl.U  FBINTBES.

Natick, July 5, 1824.
John Bailby, Esft.
SIR — The undersigned Committee of Arrangements chosen by the
town of Natick for the celebration of our National Independence, having
heard with much pleasure the patriotic, appropriate and eloquent Oration
delivered by you this day, tender you their most cordial thanks for the
same, and request a copy for the press.
Elijah Perry, Chester Adams,
Samuel Fisk, Calvin Shepard,
Ebenezer Whitney, William Farriss,
William Stone,
Cwnmittee of Arrangements.

Canton, July 6, 1824.
Gentlemen,
I have the honor to submit to your disposal a copy of the Oration
delivered at your request yesterday.
Very respectfully, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant,
JOHN BAILEY.
Messrs. Elijah Perry, Chester Adams,
Samuel Fisk, Calvin Shepard,
Eben. Whitney, William Farriss,
William Stone, Committee of Arrangements.

FELLOW-CITIZENS, We have assembled to commemorate that signal
act of our fathers, which declared us an independent
nation. Independence they resolved to possess, and
to defend. But why did they so resolve ? Was in
dependence their sole and ultimate aim? They saw
France independent. Was it the corrupt monarchy
of polished France, that they aimed to establish ?
They saw Turkey independent? Was it the iron
despotism of the semi-savage Turk, that they aimed
to establish? No. They sought independence, for
the sake of liberty. A nation may be independent,
and yet the great mass of the nation be slaves. And
on the other hand, a people may constitute a depen
dent colony, and yet, by a rare dispensation of Prov
idence, be practically freemen. Our fathers were
freemen ; saving some few reservations of royalty ;
and saving the abuses, to which those reservations
gave origin.
It was these abuses of royal reservations, which
led our fathers to independence. Abuses came, and
lingered. When one abuse yielded to remonstrance,.
another assumed its place. A long succession of
these abuses at last brought home to our fathers this

deep conviction, that if they would enjoy liberty, they
must first be independent. And independence was
declared, for the sake of liberty.
They fought long r and they conquered. Heav
en gave them independence; and gave them, too, the
far richer gift of liberty. It is th;s double boon,
which makes doubly dear to our hearts the event
which we this day commemorate; and which has
given to our country the fairest page in the history of
nations. Other nations have enjoyed independence :
but their independence has been solely the indepen
dence of their masters. The great nations of north
ern and eastern and southern Europe, a few years
since, paid homage to the one great nation of the
continent. Tbey have since thrown off this depen
dence. But are they free P Let the groans and blood
of their incarcerated and murdered patriots answer.
This day, fellow-citizens, brings with it great
and sacred duties. Let us not for a moment suppose,
that thoughtless idleness, or excessive indulgence, is
the claim of this anniversary. It has nobler claims.
Our duties, on this day, are two.
Our first duty is gratitude ; gratitude to our pat
riot fathers, and gratitude to Heaven. To cherish
feelings of gratitude to those who have been our ben
efactors, is the heavenliest exercise of man on earth.
If we look around us, to find some eminent monstc,
i( some chosen curse" ofhis species, we can look no
where with more certainty of success, than to that
man, if man we may call him, who is unsusceptible of
gratitude, and who coldly lacerates those arms, which
"have once been stretched out to his perilous relief.

Even if those same arms are now exerted in deadly
hostility to us, still, to a generous bosom, the recol
lection that they were once the instruments of our sal
vation, palsies our enmity, and inclines us, in the
pleasing recollection of their original kindness, to
forget their present hostility. But where their whole
office has been one of kindness, of danger, and of sac
rifice, to feel no emotion of gratitude, is to have ob
literated the last trace of man.
How then can we recount the steps of the patri
ots of '76. and not feel the debt we owe to their vir
tue and their sufferings ? They did not meet, as we
now meet, with gaiety, and unconcern, and the cheer
of the festive board. They met with death in their
eye Toil was their companion by day : and their
mortal weapons were their pillow by night. Had
they homes, and families, and friends? They bid
them a hurried farewell. Had they paths of busy
pursuit, whose daily traverse gave support to the lit
tle circle where their hearts still lingered ? These,
too, were suddenly closed ; and that little circle was
left, far away, clinging to the protection of heaven.
These were some of their sacrifices^ where blood
made do part of the free-will offering. But, was
blood refused, when blood was demanded? It was
fiot refused. It flowed freely, even to that of the
heart. Their lives, with their fortunes, were plight
ed on their "sacred honor:" and the pledge was
faithfully redeemed. Gratitude for such deeds, and
such blood, is the ceaseless duty of an American citi
zen. On this day, especially, this vestal flame should
glow with peculiar lustre. It should kindle to in-

tensity, at the recollection how much was endured,
and how much was achieved, by that unshrinking
band, the most of whom now sleep in the dust, leav
ing to us the rich legacy of independence and liberty.
Some few remain. Here and there, a hoary head is
yet erect, to witness the fresh, and luxnrient, and
still spreading branches, of that magnificent tree,
which their own hands planted. Honor, and felicity,
and the gratitude of millions, attend their declining
years. To Heaven, also, is due our eternal gratitude ;
both for independence, so successfully established,
and for that liberty, without which even indepen
dence would be scarcely a blessing. It pleased Hea
ven so to fix the destinies of our fore-fathers, through
the whole period of their colonial noviciate, that the
principles of freedom and self-government had be
come a part of the moral texture of their character.
Education, and habits of political enquiry, were al
most universal ; and gave the colonists that character
of calculation and foresight, without which a free gov
ernment is the being of a day. That the colonists
of '76 were thus trained, not only to discern and as
sert their rights, but to practise that most difficult of
arts, the art of self-government, is a just theme of
gratitude to Heaven.
Not less so is the fact, that Heaven gave and
preserved to our country a man, who, had his career
closed with the closing scenes of the revolution, would
have lost half its worth. That man was Washing
ton. Great and useful indeed was his career of the
revolution. But perhaps still more so was that of his

subsequent life. It is true, our independence was
acknowledged : the discomfited enemy had quit our
fields and our waters : we were left free to govern
ourselves. It is also true, that we had been trained
to freedom, to circumspection, and to self-govern
ment. But we were thirteen independent republics ;
each with its peculiar interests, prejudices, and hab
its ; and each too weak to sustain itself unconnected,
yet sufficiently strong to give annoyance to its neigh
bor. What charm had power to harmonize these el
ements, and combine them into one consistent whole?
The name of Washington was that charm. It is
melancholy to imagine, what ages of division, and
contention, and bloodshed, might have afflicted this
country, under different auspices. But Washington
remained : the patriot of unrivalled wisdom, and of
unyielding integrity, still lived : and under his ban
ner these disjointed communities rallied, and found
union, and strength, and peace. For this secoiid do
nation of Washington to our country, gratitude to
Heaven is our plainest duty.
But gratitude, fellow-citizens, is not the only
duty of this day. One other high duty is indispensa
ble ; the duty of cherishing, most sacredly, the spirit
of independence and of liberty. We owe this to our
selves, to our fathers, and to posterity : we owe it to
the whole family ol man. Washington has said —
" The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, aud
the destiny of the republican model of government,
are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally,
staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of
the American people." Fellow -citizens, what shame

8
and indignaut reproach will not be our due, if we ne
glect this sacred deposit, and suffer the spirit of inde
pendence and of liberty to be smothered and extin
guished by our indolence, ?
It is true, this indolence is in some measure en
couraged by a doctrine, which finds adherents even
in this country; that all governments are intrinsical
ly and inevitably doomed to decay — that no human
genius or human toil cau possibly stay their course.
Is then our free government thus doomed inevitably ?
Fellow-citizens, believe it not We believe, on the
contrary, that this our free republic is destined to ex
ist as perpetual as the hills.
It has been said, that government, like man, has
its youth of promise, its manhood of vigorous pros
perity, its old age of luxurious decay, and its death
of final ruin. The oak, too, has been impressed into
the service of this doctrine : and its various stages,
from the acorn to the display of scattered fragments,
have been held to preach the doom of the fairest
government on earth.
These comparisons are fallacious. No individ
ual object, whatever, can justly represent millions of
individual persons, united under a common compact.
The individual members of this community are con
stantly changing; but the community, and the com
pact, still remain. A republic is not the oak of the
forest : it is the forest itself. Oak after oak may be
destroyed; but its place is supplied by another; and
the forest suffers no waste. A republic is a genial
and cultivated farm. Indolence and neglect, doubt
less, would bring it to desolation; but, under the

9
.care and toil of the wise husbandman, it flourishes,
in verdure, and productive strength, as long as the
sun endures. But where, it is asked, are the ancient and mod
ern repub lies of Europe ? If they have all perished,
how can ive expect exemption from the common lot?
The reply is easy. Every other republic, known
to the history of the world, has been deficient in the
advantages enjo\ed by our own republic. Some
have been too small, and too weak, to resist the en
croachments of powerful adjacent nations. Some, un
der the name of republics, have been real aristocra
cies ; and therefore sure to end in tyranny. Many
have wanted that distinct distribution of powers, with
out which a republic is every moment liable, to inter
nal feuds and fatal collisions. Many have wanted
that all-important instrument for the formation of cor
rect public sentiment and public action, the press. —
And all have wanted a people at the same time
cautious, virtuous, well-informed, and habituated to
self-government. Any one of these deficiencies is sufficient to en
danger a republic. Our republic, thanks'1 lye to hea
ven, has not one. We are powerful, and distant from
other powerful nations. Our government is truly and
totally republican : its powers are exercised by the
real agents of the people. < bese powers are wisely
distributed, and" clearly defined The press here ex
ists in 'its full and salutary efficacy. And the people
of this country are cautious, viituons, well-informed,
and habituated to self-goverumen - Where then is
that danger, which hu.uau vigilance may not es
cape i

10
Due vigilance, we fully believe, will ensure to
our free government perpetual vigor. Shall we be
faithless to ourselves, and to the cause of mankind,
and refuse to exercise this vigilance ?
The two main pillars of free government are, in
telligence, and virtue ; intelligence, to understand
one's own rights ; and virtue, to respect the rights of
others. An intelligent and virtuous community, is the
genial soil of freedom. These two qualities should
have the fond and sleepless cultivation of a republic.
And the warmer should be our zeal in their cultiva
tion, since they are two, among the surest instruments
of individual, as well as national happiness. Knowl
edge and virtue make the citizen ; and they make the
man. The education of youth, is the first and most
powerful mean of securing these advantages. It is
the corner-stone of a republic. No toils, no sacrifi
ces, in the ordinary experience of life, ought to
weigh so much as the dust of the balance, against its
enjoyment. The common schools of our country, are
the stronger, fortifications of our freedom — the Gib
raltar of ou& yndependeuce We would not underval
ue our highpr seminaries of education • they are dis
tinguished ornaments of our land. Long as science
and letters retain their powers of fascination, so long
will these seminaries retain our cordial attachment.—
Bat it is to our elementary schools, that the patriot
turns the eye of deepest and inexpressible hope. It
is here, that the great mass of mind, which gives ac
tion to society, receives its texture and power. It is
here, that a nation is taught to think and to act. Do

It
we sufficiently estimate the value of this object ? Is
all done, that can be done ? Are not portions of this
mass of mind still left too shapeless, too powerless,
too uninformed ? Generous means have been provi
ded. But still the question may be asked, have these
means increased, in the same proportion as our gene
ral means have increased ? We rise in our expen
ses, from year to year, and from age to age, as fashion
bids us. Do the means of education rise, in an equal
ratio ?
Fellow-citizens, this is not an idle theme. It
enters into the very heart of our interests. It is the
foundation of all our political hopes. Let this found
ation be laid liberally and surely. Expense, here, is
economy. What is expended in obedience to fash
ion, is lost : we enjoy the momentary blaze as it con
sumes ; but all that is left is worthless ashes. But
what is expended in education, is vested in a fnud,
which yields rich and increasing profits to every suc
ceeding generation. Every child should be the child
of the state : and where the parent neglects his
charge, the state should interpose, and have thorough
ly implanted those seeds of knowledge and virtue,
and those habits of industrious pursuit, without which
the future man threatens to be the curse of his kiud.
How pleasing would be the aspect of that society, in
which a thousand idle and profitless expenses, should
be 'converted into the means of enlightened education j
and thus, while every real convenience shonld re
main to the body, knowledge, and virtue, and taste
should embellish the general mind. This would be
indeed the philosopher s stone, transmuting dross to
the purest gold.

IS
Joined with education, we should cherish most
assiduously a free press, it is not surprising that
the ancient republics, destitute of this Argus of free
dom, were subject to constant paroxysms of popular
delusion, and constant plots of wreckless ambition ;
terminating only with the termination of liberty it
self. In a republic, the free press is the political sun,
whose" rays penetrate the inmost chambers of intrigue,
and exhibit its authors in the broad face of day. Ex
tinguish this sun, and political night overshadows
the land.Next to intelligence and virtue, general habits of
industry and economy are important to be cherished
in a free community. Indolence and extravagance
teud, not only to individual and national poverty, but
to the subversion of freedom itself. They tend to
destroy personal independence ; which is the surest
support of liberty and national independence.
Perhaps, in this country, less danger is to be ap
prehended from the want of industry, than from the
want of economy. Habits of profuse expense are too
easily acquired, and too reluctantly dismissed. Their
tendency is, to create dependence and subserviency
in their possessor. Where these habits have become
fixt, the means of gratification must be bad, be the
sacrifice what it may. But where a rational econ
omy prevails, there is a spirit of personal indepen
dence, an impatience of dictation, a sternness of re
publican virtue.
Individual economy should be cherished by
means of national economy. There is a species of
national economy, which is in truth wastefulness. —

13
When an essential public object is to be attained, it
is a false economy to refuse the means. When the
human body is disordered, to provide the best medi
cines, and the best skill, is true economy. The same
is wise in the body politic. The best men, and the
best measures, are the best economy.
But there is a profusion in public expense, which
yields a profusion of public mischief. The nominal
loss from the national treasury, is the least of the at
tendant evils. The mighty mischief is found in the
consequent habits of private extravagar ce, and grow
ing venality ; beginning with the most influential
class of citizens, and diffusing deadly venom through
all the grades of society.
In place of this, those citizens, who are exalted to
the front rank of power and influence, ought to be ex
amples of economy to the whole nation. This would
eminently tend to encourage private economy ; to
check liabits of luxury and venality ; and to preserve
the purity of the state.
But it is not sufficient, that industry and econ
omy should prevail. Every branch of useful, in
dustry should, also, have its just and equal encour
agement. Almost as well might industry cease to ex
ist, as be loaded with oppressive burdens, and see its
profits voraciously devoured, either by enormous tax*
ation, or by that structure of society, which dooms
the toils of the many, to be converted to the benefit
of the few.
The state of society most favorable to a perfect
free government, would be that in which all are intel
ligent, all virtuous, all industrious and frugal ; and

14
in which property is equally distributed through the
community. This would be Utopia. But the im
perfection of human affairs forbids this consummation.
Our aim should be, to attain as near as may be to this
point. All branches of industry, therefore, should meet
with protection and reward, in proportion to the la
bor and skill they demand, and to their usefulness to
the public. In Europe, it is melancholy to remark
how completely this principle is prostrated. There,
those pursuits are the least profitable to the agent,
which are both the most toilsome, and the most use
ful to society ; while those pursuits, which are almost
useless to society, are surrounded with ease, and af
fluence, and luxury. The poor man toils from morn
ing to night, and is still poor : the lordly proprietor
passes his life in indolence and pleasure, and yet in
creases in wealth. The one scarcely obtains the
coarsest comforts of life ; while the other expends in
one day, more than his industrious tenant enjoys
through his whole year of toil. And yet it is the ten
ant who supports them both.
Such a system is a perversion of right. Fortu
nate it is for this country that the European system
is not ours. We wish we could say, that we find in
this country no approach to that system.
Our abolition of the right of primogeniture, and
our law of general suffrage, are two powerful barri
ers against this pernicious system. The equal inher
itance of estates, counteracts, in a great degree, the
political evil of overgrown wealth. A man may amass
immense wealth ; but the third generation hears of it

IS
only ; while another family has risen to a similar
height, only to meet a similar fall. Thus, in our
country, great riches, like the waves of the ocean, are
constantly changing their position; and, by the
change, preserve in purity the element of our politi
cal rights. While our law of general suffrage comes
in to aid the beneficent system, and guard it from de
cay. ,
If then, fellow-citizens, we would faithfully dis
charge the second great duty of this day, and cherish
in our bosoms the spirit of independence and liberty,
we most resolve to cherish unceasingly those princi
ples, which alone will make our independence and
liberty immortal. We must espouse with zeal the
cause of knowledge and virtue ; and for this purpose
foster, with unyielding fondness, the means of moral
and general education, and the freedom of the press.
We must cherish general habits of industry and econ
omy, both public and private : we must labor to give
to every species of useful industry its just reward ;
and, in aid of this object, adhere to our laws of equal
inheritance and of general suffrage. Let these prin
ciples be vigorously cherished ; and no domestic foe,
no internal convulsion or stratagem, will have power
to subvert that independence and that liberty, which
were established by the wisdom and virtue and valor
of our fathers.
But, is all our danger domestic? Have we no
fear of foreign power, by which so many other repub
lics have perished ?
A recent cloud has risen, in the eastern horizon,
which presents an ominous aspect. The great pow-

16
ers of continental Europe have formed a league, and
have called it holy. And what are the objects of this
Holy Alliance? Events have most amply establish
ed the point, that its leading object is, to destroy, as
far as possible, representative government— all gov
ernment in which the people have predominant in
fluence. It is a combination or conspiracy of sove
reigns, to assist each other in keeping their people in
forcible subjection. And what are the means, em
ployed for this holy purpose ? They are perfidy and
force. That force is one of their means, the late lamen
table history of Naples and Spain is conclusive proof.
Is it doubted that perfidy is also one ? Let us look
at some of their acts, in the infancy of their "holy"
life, before the bayonet had secured its full control,
and while the holy actors must be supposed to have
paid some anxious regard to public opinion.
In 1814, Napoleon had abandoned Russia, re
treated through Poland and Germany, and thrown
himself within his own territories The allies were
crowding into France. They entered Paris. On
the 31st of March, Alexander, in the name of the
allies, issued a proclamation to the French nation, in
which they expressly declared, that they " guarantee
the constitution, which the French nation shall give
itself;" and invited the Senate of France to appoint
a provisional government for the purpose of fram
ing one. The senate accordingly appointed a pro
visional government. This government framed a
constitution, and submitted it to the senate ; and the
senate confirmed it. Here was a constitution, formed

17
by the French nation, in the express mode pointed
out by the allies, themselves. Their faith was there
fore solemnly pledged to its executioti. What was
the issue? Louis was at that time in England. He has
tened across the channel, to take possession «»f the
estates, which a twenty years' suit in the chancery of
war had decreed him. The constitution was presen
ted to him, for his oath of support. He looked at it;
and informed the liege people of France, that it was
a good constitution — -a very good one, in it's bases ; —
but that he could give them a better.
This constitution, formed and adopted by the
representatives of the nation, and guaranteed on the
faith of the allies, was thrown aside ; and another
emanating from his own " especial grace, certain
knowledge, and mere motion," was kindly given to
his loving subjects — a constitution wbich has been
since moulded, and remoulded, into still fitter forms
of despotism. Where was now the plighted faith of these
« magnanimous" allies ? They had solemnly guar
anteed the rejected constitution. Louis was the crea-'
ture of their own bayonets -the same bavonets which
were still pointed at the bosom of the French nation.
Every thing was at their nod. We ask again, where
was now there plighted faith? Tt was torpid as the
grave. Not a murmur, not a motit was found, to
give indication that less than total dissolution was its
fate. More than this. The funeral procession was
actually formed ; the lifeless body of departed faith
was lodged in the tomb ; the stone was rolled against.
3

1 t

18
it ; and the seal was ritnally affixed— by the treaty
of Paris, of November 1816, between these same
guaranteeing allies. In this treaty, the " constitu
tional charter," thus granted by Louis, was formally
ratified by the allies, to the exclusion of that constitu
tion, which they had solemnly guaranteed. Their
faith was violated — palpably— in open day — without
a mask, violated. And France, at this moment, yet
sighing and bleeding for her lost liberties, still makes
her daily appeal to the justice of Heaven, against the
perfidious authors of her past, and present, and still
expected sufferings.
Again. Louis, in his proclamation of May 2d
1813, says, that the allies gave him the "most sol
emn assurances that they would not interfere in the
internal government" of France. How were these
<' most solemn assurances" kept? In less than three
months lrom this time, France was divided into mili
tary governments, and military governors appointed
in them, by these same solemnly assuring allies.
They also informed Louis, distinctly, that if he did
not disband his army, the army of France, they would
do it for him; and that thet> had 300,000 men on the
Loire to do it, if he did not. That such was the
fact, we have the open avowal, an avowal made with
pride, in the British Parliament, by the British Min
ister of Foreign Affairs.
It would be idle to say, in defence, that these in
terferences of the allies, were interferences in what
bad some connection, directly or indirectly, with the
foreign relations of France. The whole internal gov
ernment of a nation has some connection, directly or

19
indirectly, with its foreign relations. To say that the
allies intended this construction, is to say that they
intended to declare to Louis— We give you the
most solemn assurances, that we will not interfere in
the internal government of France, except tchen we
please. But the allies were not playing the parts of
buffoons, in this drama. They were treating of the
rights arid happiness of nations. They gave Louis
the " most solemn assurances that they would not in
terfere in the internal government" of France. They
did interfere. Once more. In the treaty of Paris on the 11th
of April 1814, on the first abdication of Napoleon,
and bis retirement to Elba, the allies "guaranteed"
to him au annuity of two millions of francs. This
was never paid. It is true, it was not stipulated to
be paid by the allies of France, but by France itself.
But the payment was "guaranteed" by all the allies,
as one of the conditions on which Napoleon surren
dered the imperial crown of France. Their faith
was solemnly pledged: but it was wantonly violated.
We might continue to speak of violated faith;
of a promise, by solemn treaty, to preserve to France
certain territories, and its violation; of a promise to
respect private property, and its violation ; of a prom
ise to respect public property, except what related to
war, and its violation. But enough of the sickening
catalogue. It is plain, that direct, open perfidy , is
no obstacle in the progress of these holy allies, these
monarchs professing to govern themselves by the
priftciples of our holy religion. It was no obstac e,
even in the infancy of their league, when tbey ha*

so
laore to apprehend, than at present, from the power
of public opinion.
Had the>e pledges been redeemed, and their
faith preserved inviolate, it is probable that France,
at this moment, would have been comparatively
a free country — perhaps a republic. We should
not have witnessed, at this day, the exclusion
from her national councils, of that intrepid soldier
and statesman, La Fayette, the friend of Wash
ington, of liberty, of America, and of man. We
should not have witnessed the recent murderous in
vasion of Spain, for the glaring purpose of restoring
to that unhappy country her dark and bigoted and
repudiated despotism. We should not have seen, as
of late, the ruthless armies of Austria quietly suffer
ed (o invade the emancipated plains of Naples, and
crush in the dust her new-born liberties.
But perfidy has prevailed. The cloud hangs
over continental Europe, dark, and appalling, and
made more hideous by the lightning of a million of
bayonets ; — its unholy end, the destruction of popu
lar liberty ; its unholy means, perfidy and force.
Will the storm cross the Atlantic?
The republics of Southern America have nobly
achieved their independence, and established, per
haps as far as practicable, their liberty. They have
established representative governments. Hence they
are fit objects of the holy vengeance of despots. But
will the despots attempt the almost hopeless task, of
reducing these gallant republics to Spanish control?
Let them not dare attempt it; for those repub
lics stand on American ground. If Europe must

SI
groan, for a time, in military boudage, the unsearch
able will of Heaven be done. Even if Greece, emu.
lating her ancient deeds, is destined to bleed afresh
in Turkish servitude ; or, what is more probable, af
ter having repelled the last Mussulman scimetar. is
destined to wither under the blasting protection of
the holy christian allies, till she is protected from the
last ray of her blood-earned liberty ; even then, we
can only say, the unsearchable Avill of Heaveu be
done. But there let the tyrants -stop. Let American
soil be unstained by their "holy" deeds of blood.
The United States, the elder sister in the family of
American freedom, have taken their stand. They
have given a new and enlarged edition of their Dec
laration of Independence : — they have declared the
Independence of United America. Europe hears
it, and pauses. The sliug and stone of this young
David, give alarm to these giants of ruin. Will they
despise this voice of n ne millions of freemen, respon
ded by twice nine millions more ? 'I hey will not
dare despise it.
Another deep question occurs. With what eye
will these despots view our own country — our own
institutions — this radiant point of liberty — this school
of freedom, to its disciples throughout an awakening
world ? From the torch of '76 have been lighted
those numerous beacons of freedom, which have given
hope to the bosom of the philanthropist, and trouble
to the hearts of monarchs. How rapturous, in the
courts of despotism, would be the acclamation, that
this torch is at last extinguished ; that this sun,

S3
whose reflected rays had been so noxious to tyrants,
is itself obliterated ; that the starting-point of revolu
tion, has become the last triumph of its foes.
That the holy allies wish to see our liberties de
stroyed, cannot be doubted. Free representative gov
ernment is the object of their holiest hatred. Our
free institutions— respleudent thro' our virtue, our in
telligence, our free press, our untrammelled schools*
our enterprise, our rapid growth, our naval aud mili
tary glory, our unexampled prosperity — are the stan
ding reproach of despotism, and the triumphant argu
ment of freedom, in every land. The destruction of
these free institutions, must be a primary wish of the
holy alliance.
Will the unhallowed attempt to destroy them
be made ? i"o us this is a momentous question. If
it be made, we must be prepared to breast the terri
ble tempest alone. No European ally must be made
our trust. One nation of Europe, indeed, speaks of
the crimes of the holy allies, in accents congenial
with our own. But the dark policy of her govern
ment, in the recent flagrant crusade against Spain,
bids us not look across the Atlantic for aid. If the
• storm come, it comes on us. Will the storm come ?
Heaven, in its kindness, has encircled us with a
four-fold barrier.
In the first place, three thousand miles separate
us from the powers of Europe. Military operations,
conducted at such a distance from the point of prepar
ation, are expensive, complicated, and liable to be
disconcerted by a thousand unseen causes. Ineffi
ciency, therefore, comparatively, is a necessary atten
dant on such operations.

S3
In the second place, the public mind of Europe
has become so enlightened,and so elastic, that acon-
staut pressure is required, to keep it in holy subjec
tion. A small portion, only, of its population, are fit
instruments of despotism. If much of this portion
were exported to distant scenes of blood, the throne
of faithless power would tremble to its base at home.
The forces, which could be spared from the daily la
bor of domestic oppression, would scarce suffice for
foreign ad distant and gigantic conquest.
In the third place. Heaven has given us a terri
tory, vast as the half of Europe. To overrun such a
territory, would be an uneasy task ; to keep in
fixt subjection, impossible.
And in the fourth place, Heaven, in its wisdom
has permitted the powers of Europe to be at war among
themseives, till the United States have become a pow
erful nation, rich in resources, and strong in battle.
The holy myrmidons of Europe would meet their first
salute from our unconquered and unconquerable na
vy. If they should pass through this fire unhurt,
their next greeting would teach them the novel pow
er of steam -batteries. If relieved from this interrupt
tion, our line of fortresses, with our small but gallant
army, would give them further sketches of American
character. If all these impediments should fail to
impede, a million of dauntless freemeu, fresh in the
vigor of manhood, and trained to arms, would rouse
themselves to the defence of their country, their fami
lies, and their fame.
And think ye, fellow-citizens, that these sons of
freedom would fall an easy conquest ? Citizen-sol-

§4
diers, we appeal to your own bosoms : would the
conquest be easy ? No — you would buckle on your
armor to one greatand long and deadly conflict. You
would look to heaven, to your homes, and on death.
The fervid bosom and the indignant nerve of freemen,
should swell, to double tide, the blood of the vassal
invader. Foe on foe should encumber our fields, in
ghastly warning ; till the holy despots themselves,
wearied with fruitless crimes, should again acknow
ledge, that America, by the decrbe of Heaven, is
FOREVER INDEPENDENT AND FREE.

m: