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Glowers, William J.
An Oration ...
Hempstead, 183?

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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1943

AN

ORATION

, DELIVEUED BY
'OrXLIiIAM J. CLOWES, ESQ*
OF HEMP STEAD,
ON
THE FOURTH OP JULY, X832.
HEMPSTEAD:
PRINTED BY
WXLI.XAIMC HUTCBINSOIO-.

1833.

4o8k

CORRESPONDENCE. HEMPSTEAD, August 1st, 1832.
TO WM, J. CLOWES, Esq,
Dear Sir — Having been requested by the
General Committee of Arrangements to request a copy
of your excellent Oration for publication, we have the
pleasure to inform you that arrangements have been
made for the same : and we beg the favor of a copy at
as early a date as may suit your convenience.
We have the honor to be,
Very respectfully yours,
B. F. THOMPSON, ESQ,.
GILBERT RAYNER Jr.
OLIVER J. DENTON,
JOHN CURTIS,
ALANSON SEAMAN,
EDWIN WEBB,
Committee of Arrangement,

HEMPSTEAD, Aug. 1st, 1832.
Gentlemen — In complying with your request to pre
pare a copy of the remarks offered by me on the Anni
versary of our Independence for publication, I do so
with the assurance that the limited opportunity which
has been afforded me of doing justice to the day and the
occasion, will scarcely render them worthy of the cus
tomary compliment extended to the "Orator ofthe Day."
As, however, arrangements liav« been made for their
publication, and the request has been kindly repeated,
I do not consider myself at liberty, imperfect as they are,
to withhold them from your disposal.
Respectfully, I remain
Your obedient servant.
WM. J. CLOWES.
To THE Committee or Aerangemjikt.

ORATIOXiT.
FELLOW CITIZENS:—
Having assembled together for the avowed
object of taking a part in the accustomed exercises of
the Anniversary of our Independence, it might be con
sidered as altogether unnecessary to offer any observa
tions in relation to the propriety or expediency of the
course which we, in common with a great proportion of
our fellow-citizens have thought proper to adopt, — but
as there may be individuals, actuated perhaps by the pu
rest motives, that look upon the celebration of the day
as a piece of formal pageantry calculated rather to en
courage riot and confusion, than to promote sentiments
of patriotism and love of country, it may be appropriate
to adduce a few reasons for our having arrived at a differ
ent conclusion. That a, proper degree of national pride
should at all times be encouraged, no one we presume
•will be inclined to deny ; like a generous ambition in
private life, it excites an embodied, people, by acts of
grandeur and beneficence to aspire to the highest pinna
cle of glory and honor, and to maintain the high and
lofty station to which they may a,ttain by a jealous and
cautious vigilance which suffers not the lustre of their
name to be impaired or diminished. 'Twas this predom
inating spirit in the Roman state that sprea4 her arms
and arts over the ancient world and caused the humblest
of lier citizens, though a solitary wanderer arnong.the
most barbarous people, to be received with attention
and respect. And to what cau$e, other than the effect of
patriotism, evinced from the earliestiperiod of our exist
ence as a natipn to the present day, shall we attribute the
increasing deference paid to the Amencan character in

[ 6 ]
the persons of our citizens who may be induced by busi
ness or curiosity to visit the kingdoms of the European
world ?
It should then be our duty to cherish this spiritin our
hearts and to inculcate its precepts upon all who surround
us ; and can this be done in a raanner more effectual than
by appropriating a day for the purpose of calling to
mind the causes which led to the publication of the in
strument which has just been read to us, and the glorious
events which succeeded its adoption? How barren
would be the practice of the duties inculcated by mo
rality and religion if no portion of oui time was set apart
wherein to appreciate and esteem them. Immersed in
the cares of business, without a regular remission from
toil, the mind contracted within the narrow limits of its
daily reflections, sinks into listless indifference to the
world around, or seeks for excitement in the degrading
pursuits of avarice or sensuality : — the seventh of our
lives has therefore, in pursuance of the divine example,
been devoted by the municipal regulations of Christian
countries to pramote the growth of virtue and inspire a
sacred regard for the injunctions of our holy reli-
ligion. Shall then the duties which follow next in train
be considered as occupying too great a portion of our
time, if one day of each year is devoted to their exclu
sive consideration ? Apart from Christian duty, what
can be more delightful to a truly philanthropic mind, than
to see an assembly of people laying aside their distract
ing cares and daily toils, uniting in anthems of praise
and aspirations of gratitude to the giver of all good and
the author of all their blessings ; and would not the same
pleasing sensations recur in witnessing the same people
assembled at yearly intervals uniting in a tribute of grate
ful veneration to the authors, under heaven, of their po
litical existence and prosperity? Like the Sabbath of
¦the week, on this day the Sabbath ofthe year, we should
lay aside all the agitations of party zeal and all views of
party aggrandizement. Our minds should be devoted to

t ^ 1
associations arising from the perusal of the^'grand char
ter of our liberties ; and after a view of these interest
ing recollections will expand over the wide circle of du
ties we owe to ourselves and our country. Nor do we
consider it politic, unless unusual reasons intervene, and
it can be carried, on without engaging in riot and dissi
pation, to change the established mode of carrying on
the proceedings of the day. To a reflecting and inqui
ring mind, endowed with all the strength of philosophic
research, the glories of the early period of our country's
history will stand in as bold relief as if their recital was
accompanied with all the pageantry of military pomp —
but with the young and ardent, with nothing unusual to
excite the admiration, the exercises of the day would be
too apt to pass off with listless inattention. The prat
tling infant, whose morning slumbers are broken by the
rattling peals of cannon that usher in the morning of
our independence, whose eye and ear throughout the day
are gratified with sights and sounds that excite his won
der and admiration, will naturally inquire why this day
is so distinguished above all others of the year f — and
his expanding mind, in gratifying his curiosity, will have
received the first lesson of his country's history. At
each successive celebration, incentives to further knowl
edge are presented, and long before he can take upon
himself the duties of a citizen or raise an arm in her
defence, his soul becomes imbued with sentiments of
patriotism which time can never efface : nor is the bene
fit alone imparted to the young and rising generation. —
Diverted from our ordinary reflections by the inspiring
strains of martial music and enlivening appearance of
our citizen soldiery, our minds enter with enthusiasm
upon subjects of national interest and national prospe
rity : erase this day from the list of those we are bound
to honor,, or suffer it to pass in a cold formal and unim
passioned manner, and we strike at once at the genius ,
of patriotism, and overthrow the superstructuie upon
which is founded the love of country and respect for her

[ 8 ]
institutions. Cold must be the heart of tbat man, who,
after a day lijke this, can turn to his pillow without being
warmed into sentiments of more devoted attachment to
the land of his birth, and without feeling elevated in the
scale of moral greatness from the patriotic bearing and
conduct of his countrymen.
The most interesting part of our reflections will doubt
less be conducted with a review of our historical reminis-
ciences. It is needless, however, to enter into the slight
est detail o(, them, as upon the heart of every true Ame
rican a picture iof their glory is too visibly impressed-to
require any embellishment from the aid of description
or the powers of language. The causes which led to
our separate existence as a nation have been again re
cited to us, and the language vvhich spoke the sentiments
pf three millions of freemen, though familiar to our earS)
as if heard for the thousandth' time in our lives, appears
coqnected with this occasion as bursting upon us with
a^l its original vigour of indignant remonstrance, and its
ei^thusiastic ardor of impassioned feeling; We see be
fore our imagination an assembly of individuals without
regard to personal consequences, solemnly deliber-ating
upon measures that;placed upon their heads the mostaw-
fpl responsibility ; the accumulated power of Great Bri-
tf(ij^, whose navy carried its flag- triumphant over every
sea, whose armies.had been victorious upon every shore,
was .no doubt compared with the scattered population
and limited resources which their our country possess
ed to meet. the coming contest; — but they knew that
they cQuldirelyupon that which was of more efflcacy
than all the mercenary aid which the wealth; of the In
dies, could purchase. They relied upon-tlie unconquer
able spirit of liberty which.pervaded the land; and urged
them : in the face of a hostile army approaching our
shoresjiflushed with victory and confident of success, to
declarp these colonies free and independent states : and
tbeiblood;that flowed thrxiugh seven long years, showed
thaUheyjhad not Teckoned un vain; Through every

[ 9 5
portion of the contest, either in the darkest hours of
misfortune and adversity, when to human view there ap
peared no hand but the hand of God to save them, or
when victory seemed for a while to perch upon their ban
ners alike anxious for their independence, they suffered
nothing to intermit their exertions until they saw it es
tablished beyond possibility of relapse or fear of decay.
Other nati'ons had showed to the world that they could
overcome the myrmidons' of despotism, but ours afford
ed the first illustrious examples of victory oyer thern-
selves : — burying all causes of discgrd, actuated by a
common desire to perpetuate their freedom, they prepa
red to hand it down unimpaired to the latest posterity. —
The existing confederacy, after the war of the revolu
tion, proved inadequate to the task for which it was de
signed, and these United States were fast dwindhng into
separate sovereignties unconnected by any bond of union
equal to public exigency : the efforts of patriotism, no
less active in time of peace than in the dangers of war,
were directed towards the formation of a system thai
should secure respect abroad and confidence at home. —
The constitution under which we live, proved the result
of these efforts, and has showed the wisdom of its projec-
' tors by the steadjii course inwhichour country, under its
influence, ha^ marched forward in the path of happiness
and prosperity: which has enabled us again- with more
enlarged resources to meet the giant power of Britain,
and to preserve our commerce unimpaired ft om her ag
gressions, as well as from the attacks of fhe other pow
ers of Europe who niight have been led by her example
to oppose and oppress it. By the splendour of our vic
tories acquired during our revolutionary contest by un
disciplined youth over the veteran soldiery of Britain,
and by the no less glorious success acquired by our army
and 'navy during the second war with the same pow
er, our military character stands covered with unfading
laurels. In our civil relations and in the cultivation of
¦i-n arts that tend to the happiness and welfare of a neo-

[ 10 ]
pie rather than their glory and renown, we stand on the
page of history without a parellel, and on the wide world
without a rival.
But our time should not be spent alone in the conte"^"
plation of national grandeur, or in felicitating ourselv^^
on the excellency of our public institutions. The duty
of patriotism is a duty of constant exercise and unwea
ried effort. Like the Athenians of old, regardless of
present dangers, let us nol trust for safety to the merits
of ancestral fame while an insidious enemy is at our
gates : the mantle of glory which surrounds the authors
of our independence will not cover in its, folds all who
are partarkers of its blessings ; the bright career of those
illustrious individuals has attracted towards us the eyes
of admiring Europe, — and if we fail to pursue the path
of honor which they point out for our example — if we
retrograde in the glorious course in which they led,
upon our heads will be the contempt of nations ; upon
our honor will rest a stain too deep for time to efface. It
should become our duty upon an occasion of this inte
resting nature, to look around the political horizon to
see if any dark clouds of dissension and gloom are ri-
sing-to overspread our land, lest the storm of discord
aild confusion suddenly burst over our devoted heads
before we suspect any danger or prepare for its approach.
Araong the various topics of national interest that de
mand nur most serious consideration, none are of more
importance to our liberty and prosperity than the union
of the states in all the vigor and efficacy with which it
has existed since the adoption ofthe nevv constitution
until the present period. Heretofore every attempt that
has been raade to alienate the affections of one part of
the country from the other, or encourage measures that
might have a tendency to disunion, have been promptly
repelled by the indignation of public opinion. During the
course of fifty years, measures have been entered into
in our national councils bearing, as was considered,.

[ 11 ]
with peculiar hardship upon the trade and commerce of
the northern and eastern states ; yet, they have been
borne without threats of secession, or hope of ameliora
tion, except by an appeal to the judgment and justice of
their country. The convention held at Hartfor-d near
the close of the second war of our independence, may
be considered an exception to this reraark — but even if
we impute to that assembly the, treasonable designs with
which they have been charged, the general burst of pa
triotic indignation from the people of that section of the
country whose wrongs they proposed to redress, and
whose grievances they attempted to relieve, will ever
efface the stain from their shores. The projectors of that
convention repel the charge which has been made against
them ; but in how favourable a view soever their motives
may be held, the feelings of a sectional nature that orga
nized the meeting, formed in theraselves, the germs of
disunion, and tended to embarrass the operations ofthe
constituted authorities of the country at a period when
the active co-operation of every citizen was required for
her protection and defence. But thanks to the guardian
genius of our country's destiny, the bolt, whether prOr
ceeding frora the efforts of malignant faction or the ef
fects of misguided zeal, fell harmless at the feet of our
national union ; — and the result proved the more grate
ful to the true patriot, as it gave him reason to suppose
that all efforts of a like nature would, by the voice of
public sentiment, be promptly rejected and repelled. —
But who could imagine that in the course of a few short
years, that where the greatest abhorrence for the impu
ted charges we have alluded to appeared to prevail —
where the efforts of patriotism had been uniformly en
couraged with the generous devotion of chivalrous en
thusiasm ; Where the , sacrifices of blood and treasure
for the common cause, ', she wed how deeply they felt
the principles by which they ^ professed to be actua-.
ted — that there should be found the first hot-bed of ma-,
lignaiit faction— that there the first attempt to destroy

r 12 ]
the palladium of our liberties should receive its first en
couragement and support ?
If the principles to which we allude, had been advan
ced in the conclave of midnight conspirators — had they
been encouraged by men of desperate fortunes
and more desperate principles ; — we could have ho
ped that the frown of public virtue would have prevent
ed any open act of treason or rebellion: had they pro
ceeded from ebullitions of passion flowing from minds
Wrought up into a pitch of exciteraent by the repetitidn
of what they considered the wrongs under which they
labored, time and reflection would have remedied the
evil, and lips that avowed disunion, would be the first to
discourage the effect of their rash expressions. But the
: materials from which we may expect opposition to thc
established constitution of the country, are composed of
; firmer ingredients. We see men adorned with all the
graces of civilized life, holding places in their own state
and in the national councils of the highest trust and
most important bearing, advancing opinions, thatif per
sisted in, raust destroy the fairest fabric of our independ
ence and cause the blood and efforts of those departed
worthies, whose merits we are asserabled to celebrate,
to be offered in vain.
In such a state of affairs, we have serious cause for ap
prehension and alarm ; and the efforts of patriotism re
quire on the one hand to be guided with firmness and
energy, and on the other with caution and deliberation.
Fearful alike of encouraging opposition by pursuing
measures of concession, and of rendering an appeal to
arms irresistible by coercive means, we find in our situ
ation the agitating influence of the different modes of
action: let us meet the crisis with decision, and like the
authors of our independence, let us not shrink from our
duty because it is fearful and appalhng. Trusting to tbe
harmony of action which the Creator has infused in all
his works, let us not scan the stars of heaven for causes
of„destr«ction, nor the progress of the destroying pes-

[ 13 ]
tilence absorb our thoughts or fill us with unmanly ter
ror. Death is the lot of all — whether his winged shafts
fall 'thick and fast around us and we perish with thou
sands of our countrvraen, or fall by thp common acci
dents of life, or in the ordinaiy course of disease his
footsteps overtake us in our way — let us not suffer by
the horrors of anticipation keener pangs than we should
realize in his awful presence, but calmly pursue our du
ties as citizens and men, whatever may be the afiliction
with which Providence may visit our land.
The progress of intestine confusion and civil war
should strike our minds with greater horror and dismay
than the progress of the destroying angel, though he
comes with all the terrors that have borne him over the
eastern world. In the history of mankind, a slight
view of the annals of France will convince us ofthe
truth of our assertion, and warn us by the beacon lights
of her experience against the shoals of error upon which
her liberty had been nearly wrecked. Let imagination
picture for a moment the awful appearance which her
capital but of late presented — her houses no longer re--
sounding with mirth and inspiring gaiety, are filled
¦with the groans of the dying and lamentations for the
dead — the rattling wheels of carriages are indeed heard
in her streets, not employed in wheeling the votary of
pleasure from one amusement to another, but in hurr}'ing
the lifeless body of some unfortunate sufferer to his last
abode. Instead of the crowds that fill her walks with
countenances beaming with pleasure and gaiety, we see
a few whose hurried footsteps and agitated looks, mark
the terror and dismay which reign within, them:— the
cemetaries of the dead appear to rival in numbers the
..mansions of the living — and the solemn stillness that
rpigns around mark the presence of the angel of death.
France too has bje/l at every pore from the calamities of
war ; -the bones of her bravest youth are whitening on
the shores of every quarter of the globe, and twice has
her warlike spirit seen the banners of her enemies float

[ 14 ]
over the walls of her capital. So great a portion of her
population have been engaged in the pursuits of ambi
tion, that famine has often visited the land where nature
has spread her choicest blessings ; but suffering as shehas
done by the dispensations of Providence, they fall into
insignificance compared 'with the miseries produced by
the intemperance of her political zeal and the errors of
her misguided liberty. Without a rival in the arts that
promote the happiness and improve the taste of civilized
life ; so averse to human suffering as to prohibit its ap
pearance in their public spectacles; fond of war, and
the pursuits of ambition that pursued its conquests with
out a stain upon its humanity, the honor of the French
people stood unimpaired and untarnished up to the tirae
of her most eventful era. The sun of the revolution
which shed over the world the splendour of its rays and
cheered the hearts of desponding patriotism in every
part of the gjoble, soon set in a sea of confusion
and' bloOdi The streets of her metropolis, from which
but a few days since the progress of the destroying pes
tilence swept thousands into eternity, then presented
scenes of more unmixed suffering and intolerable an
guish — scenes which humanity will blush to describe
and imagination fail to pourtray ;- — let him who seeks
fdr causes why a people fell at once from the humanity
of civilized life to the depths of savage cruelty, find it
in the influence of civil discord and the prevalence of
national disunion. iJarnestly as we deprecate the ills
that Providence tnay show'er upon our devoted heads,
let us more fear the progress of the destroyer of our li
berties than the conibihed influence of "war, pestilence
and famine." Tlie blood of out bravest youth may steep
the soil whichj they, defended, biit others will rise to
iraitate their glorious example ; disease.may destroy our
commerce, devastate our cities, and spitlid mourning and
dismay throughout, pur land, biit in a few short years
not a trace of its footsteps will be perceived ; the mil
dew of "heaven may blight our golden hardest, and turn
for a season our verdant fields into arid wastes, but tem-

[ 15 ]
perance and privation will teach us more highly to enjoy
our ordinary blessings. These sufferings fall upon us
from the Deity, and we should submit to the rod with
meekness and with patience. But the flames of intes
tine confusion, kindled by the vilest feelings of our na
ture, when once they rage, can never be extinguished.;
the tender ties of consanguinity and aflection arc dissol
ved ; the sacred obligations of religion and morality are
destroyed — and man, the noblest work of the Creator,
instead of being adorned with the attributes of his na
ture, is sunk to a level with the beasts of the forest.
Our efforts, therefore, directed by feelings of humanity
as well as patriotism, should be unceasingly devoted to
wards the suppression of the growing evils of disaffec
tion that are rising among our brethren at the Solilh ;
actuated by the purest motives we should examine into
their causes of complaint and reasons for dissatisfaction ;
though we are met with obloquy and reproach, and our
conduct towards them compared with the aggressions of
Great Britain against the liberties of her colonies, let us
¦with the spirit pf conciliation, inquire into the evils un
der which they labour, and if any, tp relieve and redress
them. Let us urge upon their sensibility the common
ties of affinity, of ancestry, of religion, of political sen
timent which bind us together, and which will, in the
estimation of the world, always cause us to rank as the
same people, by whatever distinctions we maybe separa
ted. Let us point to the trophies of our country's vic
tories, to the authors and protectors of our national ho
nor, to the elevated station which we hold among the
nation's of the earth, and ask if the fruit of so much
toil, the effect of sO rauch glory is to be vilely cast down
and trampled under the feet of sectional interest. If
these considerations for their 'country, have not their
due influence, tell them with what pride and gratulation
the minions of despotism will hail the progress of our
^disunion — that the friends of liberty throughout the
world will be seized with hpiror and dismay to observe

L i« ]
our national compact struck from its cou rse by the parra-
cidal hand of those who have raost deeply tasted of its
blessings. If considerations of national welfare and uni
versal good shall be disregarded, with mitids deeply sen
sible of the awful nature of our determination, finally
assure them, that the constitution of our country is a
legacy left us by the fathers of our independence — that
it was accomplished by their labors and their blood —
that it is a sacred deposit entrusted to our charge which
we have sworn never to yield to internal faction or ex
ternal foes — and for the accomplishment of this impe
rious duty, in the impressive language of those whose
arduous course of honor is before us, we pledge " our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
But although it may be advisable to meet the senti
ments which have been advanced in other parts of our
country unfavorable to the continuance and prosperity
of our national compact, by corresponding expressions
of zeal and attachment to its cause ; and although we
may have serious cause for alarra in the alienation of
feeling that exists between different parts of the union,
we cannot wholly divest our thoughts of the idea of the
imposing attitude in which we at present stand in rela
tion to other nations of the globe, and of the hope that
Providence, in his goodness, will interpose his aid to
stay the growing evil and promote our onward course in
the path of honor and prosperity. With such reflec
tions we can enter upon the career of our country's
glory with delight, and coraparc our resources, our pros
pects and our happiness with the world at large, witheut
sentiments of abasement or humiliation ; with feelings
perhaps too partial for our public institutions, but which
patriotism will not disapprove, although we may see no
thing over the wide field of our observation to excite
our envy or increase our emulation, let us not in the
spirit of exultation draw inviduous distinctions between
ourselves and other portions of the globe. Attachment
to a rative «nil seems an inherent principle of our nature

t 17 ]
-—the Esquimaux, buried for three fourths ofthe ycM
under the gloomy sn6ws of winter, exposed,, ,^0,^ th,e.
sufferings that cold tind" hunger can infli?it, transported'
to the fields ofthe South.will yet find.tl^e g^'eat.fst'"'
beauty in the waste'i'of snow/and mountains of ice 'ijiajj ''
bound the circle of his usual horizon- l?he'sa,me par-
tiailtle'^ tniy, in a measure, entwine themselves .around
our' hearts ; — and our opinion of our own, merits shoiild
be gathered rather froWthie judgment, of an impartia'l
world than be the fruit of our own observfition. Singu
lar as it may appear, the progress of liberal principles
throughout the world indicate the degree of respect
which is extended to our republican institutions, and
forms an infallible criterion whereby we can judge of
their efficacy and benefit. Divided as Europe is into
two great divisions, one endeavoring to meliorate the
condition of her people by a change ofthe existing state
Of afiairs, and the other, frora interested motives, as
strenuously contending to withhold all reformation or
relief, the advocates of these systeras seek in the history
and experience of mankind for arguments to establish
their respective opinions. The early stand which our
country took in the cause of liberty, the successful ope
ration of the system of self-government which our con
stitution presents, and the happiness and prosperity of
her people, have struck terror to the enemies of free
principles and have afforded encouragement to subjuga
ted man, proudly to strike off the chains with which ty
ranny would surround him. and boldly assume the rank
that has , heen ; assigned . him in the order of created
beings. Situated as we are with ifpspect tP the world,
as peaceful citizens in the discharge of our duties to Our
God, our, country, our neighbours and ourselves, by' the
influence of our example we do more to' proraote the
cause of true liberty, than if we should transp6rt our
selves in battle array to overthrow the powers of des
potism and darkness from their ancient seats. Let us
bear in mind that the eyes of the world are upon us, that-

I , 18 . . ]
ive act not alone- for ourselves, 'but the whole jhumaa,-
raCe^ — letusfcoiiltewin die; course whiph paitriotismhidfi,.
us pursWeV'aiiftid th^'itrbphies of our- victories will .beggar,''
thereS frStn every- >laftd< Happy aife the refteetiph thai .
our jiatli Ito glory-leads'^ not over i;he ; destruction .of ci
ties, thr'du^-fields of 'carnagd or scenes of des,olation,
let' us confideiitly htipe> that; alL natipns will yield to ttie
spirit of 6u^%J^aiWple; and the day we celebrate will be,
co'nslderednWl; only' as fthe birth-day of Independence. tP
AmeriiJa but to the world.

EBEATA..^ln.page 7, ;i.4thUnefrdni to'p, R)r"'excite ihe admiration,"
rend "ie:^cite the imagination."
Ill sajriel^ii^, Slf line ffoWbbttom, for " genius of patriBtism," read
" geMs liF^SaimUm.'*- T . " ' . '
InSth-page, llth.line frpm top, for " visibly impressed," read " deeply
impressed.'' '¦--¦,

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