I CANNOT but mingle my re­gret with yours, Fellow Citi­zens, that the expectations you have indulged, of entertain­ment, from the ingenuity of a Gentleman ^* of distinguished abilities, and high official respectability, to whom an early appli­cation was made to address you publicly on this occasion, are disappointed. The disappoint­ment cannot be removed: It must be patient­ly borne. It is some consolation to me, that, while I appear as a substitute, your expecta­tions [Page 4] will be formed on a lower scale, and that I shall have an equitable claim, upon an uncommon portion of your candor. The little dexterity, which will appear, in the man­agement of subjects, to which it would be un­pardonable not to direct your attention, will be venial in one, who is trammeled by pro­fessional pursuits, public indeed; but fereign, and confined.

We are assembled, on this anniversary fes­tival, my Countrymen, to commemorate the memorable epoch of the Birth of our Nation. The fourth of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy six, was the day of the Political Nativity of the United States of America. It was then, that we emerged from the minuteness, and depend­ence, of a colonial existence, to the majesty of a consolidated, and formidable Nation. It was then, that we took our rank, as one, a­mong the independent sovereignties of the world. For our will to be FREE; our public and solemn declaration that we would be so, a declaration, founded in principle, the effect of necessity, and utterly irrevocable, was, un­der God, the guarantee of our freedom. We [Page 5] entered not upon a work, which we meant pusillanimously to abandon. Our energy we determined should be effectual, or that, like the Greeks at Thermopylae, we would leave no triumph in the hands of our oppres­sors. In this resolution, we have not been frustrated, and the present day completes two and twenty years of our national existence.

As this is the most solemn, and the most general political festival of our country, as it is the great day of the United States of Amer­ica, a day of peculiar gladness, which we cel­ebrate with the ardor of extensive hilarity, it seems requisite to be sure of its propriety, and to possess a confidence, if such a confidence may be rationally indulged, that there are no considerations whatever, which the adversa­ries, or the semipatriotic friends of our Inde­pendence, and of our National Government, can justifiably allege, to obscure its splendor, or damp its joys. No wise man will aban­don himself to an indecent hilarity, founded on an immoral, and indefensible basis. He will yield himself to the government of rea­son; and proceed no farther, than he feels himself supported by her indubitable decisions.

[Page 6]Have we, then, reason to glory in the events, which this day celebrates, or have we not? Do the rise, the progress, the local effects, and extensive political consequences of our inde­pendent national existence, justify the public celebrity we give to this Anniversary? Are we acting like children, pleased with their toys, and playful with the instrument which is to correct them; or like men of solid sense, pleased with a solid advantage, and capable of submitting, unblushingly, their conduct to the narrowest scrutiny?

Revolutions, it must be confessed, are not always justifiable, or prudent. They are oft­en incumbered with complicated sufferings, and not unfrequently terminate in accumu­lated wretchedness. And the spirit of revolu­tionism seems to be now the political, and moral mania of the day. We must take care of our creed, then, in this respect. Much reverence is unquestionably due to prescrip­tion. And in taking down a vast building, we have reason to proceed cautiously, lest we be overwhelmed in its fall. Yet, neither pre­scription on the one hand, nor the hazard of revolution on the other, will justify ignomin­ious [Page 7] forbearance, under notorious, and insup­portable abuses.

There were those, who, when the language of Independence was assumed; when the doc­trine of subjection was about to be publicly and authoritatively abjured; when the HAN­COCKS, the ADAMSES, the SHERMANS, the FRANKLINS, and the RUTLEDGES of our country, stepped forward, with the intrepidi­ty of veterans, and hazarded their heads, by signing the instrument of our eternal separa­tion from the English government, shrunk back from the imaginary gulf, into which they supposed us to be plunging. Holden by pre­possessions in favor of the then mother coun­try, or trembling at the most distant sound of a drum, they preferred inglorious ease, in the bed of unresisting submission, to the hon­or of counteracting the machinations of Des­pots, and giving birth to an independent, and flourishing Republic. There are those, at the present day, who think, that our situation would have been more eligible, had we re­mained mere colonies. And there are, per­haps, a few, who are yet of the opinion, that our revolution was the infringement of com­pacts, [Page 8] which ought never to have been bro­ken. If moral principle have been prostrat­ed, we admit, that we ought to proceed hesi­tatingly, in exalting this day into the supreme festivity of our nation. But, what compact existed; where is it to be found; in what page of what book is it printed, or written; by what law of Nature, of Nations, or of God, is it supported, which bound us unre­sistingly to endure to be judged, in questions of property and life; to have modes of gov­ernment imposed; officers and troops quar­tered upon us; to have our commerce shackled in every direction; and to be taxed, to any amount, without our consent; in connection with a government, too, partly elective, and wholly so in a department, which extends a control over the national finances? By what compact were we bound unresistingly to see our principal maritime places blockaded; ships of war hovering on our coasts, to hold us in terror; our flourishing towns, and de­fenceless villages, reduced to ashes; our citi­zens unhoused, and slaughtered; the savages excited to sound the war whoop around our frontiers; in short, to be tied down, hands [Page 9] and feet, and pressed to a political death, un­der the weight of a government, with respect to us at least, absolutely arbitrary, and fla­grantly cruel? Had the original appointments of Nature, and the radical principles of Liber­ty, the most familiar of which is, the doctrine, that power originates with the people, and is subject to their modification, ever been so com­pletely reversed, as that a territory so remote­ly situated, so extensive, so evidently destined to a future uncontrollable greatness, the nur­sery of an independent yeomanry, wholly un­acquainted with the monopolies of the feudal vassalage, should be holden, by any moral bond, to yield to such unbounded aggressions? Do not the waves of the Atlantic, the varie­ties of our climate, the productions of our soil, the strata of our mountains, and our un­measurable forests, presenting the amplest materials of an immense future opulence, and a perfect national security, proclaim, even in the ears of infancy itself, a different language? If resistance here, then, were unlawful, it must always be unlawful; and to indulge a thought of opposition to the most perfect despotism, must ever be a crime. On this [Page 10] principle, the long repudiated doctrine of passive obedience and nonresistance, the dar­ling doctrine of high churchmen, and polit­ical bigots, is incontrovertibly established: Nay, is established beyond its original pre­tensions.

But we were children. Be it so. Is it a violation of filial duty to escape the clutches of despotic, and cruel fathers?

With respect to those who doubt the poli­cy, or public utility of our Independence in fact, it might be sufficient to ask, whether it be better to be a child or a man; an appren­tice, or a master; a pupil, or an adept in all knowledge; a slave, who has his task set, and his pint of rice given him, or the irresponsi­ble manager of an extensive property? To what a strange political incredulity are these men subject? By what kind of political arith­metic do they calculate? To appreciate the utility of our National Independence duly, we must not look through the jaundiced eye of prejudice, or of foreign attachments; but, with the clear vision of unbiassed, and exten­sive observation, we must justly estimate the progress of arbitrary power, when unresist­ingly [Page 11] admitted; its effects on the body politic, in cramping every effort of genius, discour­aging enterprise, and exhausting the springs of public prosperity; we must look at facts, as they exist in regions of absolute colonial dependence; we must review all the past pa­ges of our own political history, during the period which has elapsed since the declaration of our Independence; consider the unparal­leled increase of our population, our com­merce, and our improvements in arts, and learning, the incomparably excellent nature of our political institutions, and the spirit of enterprise, which is diffused even to the ex­tremities of our country; and with the eye of all the prophecy we possess, which may be somewhat conjectural, but considerably cer­tain, at least probable, plunge into far dis­tant periods, and see a growing prosperity, correspondent to what we have already ex­perienced.

With respect to what is past we have more than conjecture. We have indubitable fact. On a general estimate of the progress of our national affairs, during the two and twenty years which have elapsed, it will appear, that [Page 12] public prosperity has been in fact advancing, with an accelerated speed, exceeding the most sanguine predictions of our warmest political calculators. We have exhibited a phenome­non, which the world never saw, a nation deliberately constructing, adopting, and exe­cuting, under singular auspices, without blood, almost without the quarrel of words, a form of government, fraught with wisdom, and administered with firmness. We have moved forward, with our swords in one direction, and under the guidance of one Captain. We have followed HIM with blessings, into the retirements of a tranquil old age, and have at­tached ourselves, save a few restless partizans, with equal zeal, and confidence, to his ven­erable successor. This is the past.

And what is the future? Here, I am sensi­ble, political enthusiasm has sometimes soar­ed, till it became dizzy. But, unless our divisions, our cowardice, or our libertinism obscure it, what hinders, but that the eye of political faith terminate in a prospect of un­bounded, and irradiated glory, as the triumph­ant sequel of our national struggles? What else can intercept the foresight of future cit­ies [Page 13] rising, with unequalled grandeur, to view, superb monuments of human art and indus­try erected, distant forests converted into fruitful fields, rivers meeting rivers by navi­gable canals, and our innumerable ships, wav­ing their striped pendents over all oceans, and in every district of the globe? What else can prevent our seeing, beforehand, future uni­versities founded, and amply endowed; fu­ture WASHINGTONS rising to defend; future ADAMSES to illuminate their country; and a genuine and rational Christianity, rising su­perior to malignity, and sophism, to moral­ize, and felicitate the whole?

Let none talk, then, of its having been better for us to have remained mere colonies. Let us spurn such narrow, and inglorious con­ceptions. Feeling that we ARE, let us resolve that we WILL BE a Nation, and never lose sight of the moment which gave us birth, nor of the illustrious characters, who led the way, in the adventurous flight, from the wing of delusive protection, to soaring on our own pinions, as we pleased.

But see, say the lukewarm advocates, or mere spectators of our Independence; see [Page 14] whither you are now posting. See how the more prudent calculations of the wiser sort are about to be realized. See how you have been tortured by one nation, and are now the mere sport and plaything of another. Observe your commerce broken, your nation­al dignity precipitated down to the deepest degradation, and your country like to be as­sailed by the irresistible phalanxes of an all conquering Republic. Observe to what your revolution has given birth, in the massacres of revolution upon revolution in Europe, and the collision of parties, the increase of corrup­tion, and the blast of calumniating faction, in the United States themselves.

We should be unwilling to admit, from these suggestions, a conclusion dishonorable to our Independence, or extensively so to our country; nor shall we, without the most sub­stantial evidence. We deny, that we gave example, or furnished patronage, to that end­less ringing of changes, which is heard on the other side of the Atlantic; or to that restless spirit of faction, which pollutes the streams of our own public prosperity. It was not pride, impatient of a rational obedience; it [Page 15] was not delight in blood; it was not infidel aversions, or unbounded libertinism, which impelled us to take our stand, and retain it. It was the principle of self preservation. It was the genuine love of our country, taking such a step with reluctance, and counteracting a thousand opposite attachments. It was cru­el necessity. And are the factious among ourselves, the demagogues of a party, or the retailers of their infidelity, and calumny; are these the legitimate children of our country, as an independent, and consolidated Republic? No. They are a spurious offspring. Like mushrooms, they have a recent, and unsolid existence. The proper course of our nation­al energy will make them fade, and wither, like the leaves in autumn.

And are not the public arrangements of our government, under its recent administra­tions, capable of a fair and honorable vindi­cation? The United States have been so far from furnishing an example of disturbing the order of the world, that ours has been uni­formly the suffering, and the pacific lot. We have been merely the objects of aggression; aggression, indeed, which would have provok­ed [Page 16] any other sovereignty on earth to a violent retaliation. We have been spoiled of our property, when pursuing a fair, and neutral commerce. The very power from which we revolted, in a moment of temporary success, groundlessly indignant at our partialities for the French nation, then struggling for liber­ty; partialities which we confess as general, and fervent, but righteous; broke in upon our honest trade, and ingloriously stripped us of the earnings of our toil, and enterprise. But, extensive as these violations of our prop­erty were, though resolvedly tenacious of the rights and dignity of an independent govern­ment, we did not immediately gird on the sword of vengeance, as the Madisons, the Gileses, and Livingstons of the country, would have had us done. We did not, without the more moderate means of negociation, rush at once, and precipitately, into the ocean of carnage. With greater wisdom, and more dispassionate policy, we first talked with our oppressor. We demanded indemnity, and ob­tained it. Our differences we settled, by a bloodless accommodation, and an amicable adjustment. Some, instead of imputing to us [Page 17] an excessive sensibility, insist that, in this in­stance, we dishonored ourselves, by servile concessions. To them we answer, that, if to act the part of firmness, mingled with mode­ration, be to be dishonored, we were dishon­ored. Let the lovers of an English war take that side of the question, if they choose it. Facts, which no reasoning can overthrow, amply vindicate, at once, our morality, and our policy.

Short, alas, much too short, was the inter­val of our repose. No sooner had we repel­led the attacks, which were made on us on the one hand; than we were assailed, with more intolerable, and ungrateful annoyance, on the other. The French Republic, to whom we had been so warmly, and so gener­ously partial, even in days when her struggle was most convulsive; when her political fate hung in the poize of excessive danger, rather than of uncertainty; when she had not even put herself into the posture of an orderly ex­istence; a Republic, which has heretofore taken us by the hand, with expressions of pe­culiar fraternity; which has ordered our col­ors to hang suspended in the very chamber of [Page 18] her Legislative Assembly; and which has so frequently given us the vows of eternal al­liance; forgetting her vows, and her friend­ship, proud with recent victory, and vaunting in the preeminence of her martial glory, has made inroads upon us, of the most perni­cious, and flagrant nature. She has not on­ly committed the most predatory ravages on our commerce, but maltreated the persons of our countrymen, and contemplated the entire excision of our government. Relinquishing, totally, her first ostensible; and, as I imagine, real object, LIBERTY; and, in her internal agitations, having jostled out, or exterminat­ed, her men of moderation, and virtue; her Fayettes, and her Barthelemys; exalted, al­most to madness, by libertine sentiments, and accumulated power, she has become, not on­ly to others, but to us, the haughty aggressor. Sporting with the first principles of justice; insatiable, beyond all decency; not ashamed to rank herself with the most ferocious bar­barians on earth; and, while she talks of fra­ternity and liberty, really respecting nothing but the ultima ratio regum; she pushes aside all, who stand in the way of her omnipotent [Page 19] will. Holding half Europe, which she has revolutionized, but miserably exhausted, un­der the terrors of her vindictive arm, she is now exerting her utmost efforts, directly or indirectly, to overwhelm her most formidable rival. The island of Great Britain, she would, if possible, precipitate to the lowest abyss of the ocean. And, exasperated that we are even on terms of peace, and commerce, with this her hated foe, she is ready to exterminate us also.

I am not an adept in political tactics; and it would not comport with the nature of the present business, were I able, to descend to a discussion of the points in dispute, between France, and the United States. Several com­plaints, as the ground of displeasure, have been brought forward, by the French Minis­ters. But, were they well founded; could they be substantiated by incontestible proofs, would they all be equal to the single, sor­did, contemptible, revolutionizing act of A­det, in his appeal to the people of the U­nited States; spreading among them combus­tible materials, and in a moment of popular wavering, on purpose to burn down the fair [Page 20] edifice of our country's liberty; aiming, while generously fostered in the bosom of the country, utterly to subvert its most invalua­ble interests? But these complaints, it ap­pears to me, and I think the opinion will be supported by the suffrages of all men of can­dor, have been shewn, by Mr. Pickering, Mr. Harper, and our Envoys to the French Re­public, to have no foundation. Our escape from war, by the treaty of London, which has made such noise on each side of the At­lantic, has been drawn into view, as peculiar­ly offensive, and as the principal, and justi­fying reason of French depredations. Go, says the haughty Directory, a body of des­pots, now the concentration of all authority in France, and as ambitious, and imperious, as Louis the XIVth, at least; go, and undo the contracts, into which you have entered, without advising with us, with the cabinet of St. James's, and then we will talk with you. But not a word before. What, then! are we amenable, in the management of our pub­lic interests, to the Directory of France? Have we no right to negociate terms of securi­ty, and commerce, without the consent of this [Page 21] domineering Republic? Must our diplomatic transactions be subjected to her scrutiny, before they can go into effect? May we not be at peace with a formidable nation, without her permission? Then let us bow down our necks under the yoke patiently. Let us submit to be rocked in the cradle, or turned out of it, just as her Ladyship pleases. But let us no longer talk of being an independent nation.

Whatever opinion may be formed of this treaty with the Court of London; whether, on the whole, it have been a judicious, or an injudicious political measure, one thing is certain, that it cannot be the least justifica­tion of French aggressions. Because there is a specific clause, in that treaty, which utter­ly excludes its operation, in cases interfering with preexisting treaties. But, that this is not the cause of the injuries heaped on us, even in the feelings of France herself, is evi­dent, from innumerable posterior events. It is evident, from her correspondent treatment of other neutral nations. It is evident, from all her revolutionizing measures. It is evi­dent, from her policy, and her avowed prin­ciples. It is evident, from her making out [Page 22] to us the price of her friendship, and from her own wanton disrespect to the most sol­emn existing compacts. No: There is an­other cause of her depredations. And it is her rancor against England, and her determi­nation to crush the English power, united with the most insatiable thirst for self aggran­dizement. It is this diabolic, (for I can call it by no softer a name) it is this diabolic dis­position, which is interdicting all the com­merce of Europe, and draining the strength of surrounding countries. It is this, which directs her clandestine intrigues, and her pub­lic operations. And it is this, which will re­duce thee, O my country! to the most igno­minious subjection: It is this, which will bring thee to tell a tale of woe, to Venice, Genoa, Holland, and Switzerland, as thy sor­rowing sisters, unless thou hast a will to be independent, and unless Providence preserve thee.

How mild, how tolerant, how amicable, how condescending, on the other hand, has been our own government? Disliking war, reluc­tant to retalliate, fond of peace, and wishing, above all things, for the privilege of existing, [Page 23] and of reducing to the most extensive advan­tage, the legitimate powers of our country, in a fair neutrality, we have again sought indem­nity, and peace, by negociation, on a basis per­fectly accommodating. Not satisfied with am­ple discussions; with examining closely every point of pretended grievance; with waiting on the government of France in the person of one Minister; nor resenting the repulsive manner, in which he has been treated; we have sent a triumvirate of Ministers, clothed with adequate powers, and instructed to de­scend to every point of pacification, of which our national dignity can possibly admit; while, with unparalleled forbearance, we are sustaining injuries, without measure, and without redress. But, lo! what obstacles are raised to frustrate our measures, and to throw us into utter despondency, with respect, both to national redress, and repose! Our Minis­ters, forsooth, are called upon to deposit a douceur of fifty thousand pounds sterling; and to abandon to the uncertain, and proba­bly fallacious, responsibility of Holland re­scriptions, thirty millions of florins more, before the government of France will even [Page 24] deign to hear our complaints. ^* The quon­dam Bishop of Autun, the infamous Talley­rand, blushes not, openly to vindicate the aggressions of his government; and, while he dissembles a fair exterior, scruples not, by base instruments of disorganization in our own country, to practise upon the people, to attempt to separate them from their gov­ernment, and to throw them into convul­sions, and at the very moment that our ne­gociations are going forward; meditating, like Judas Iscariot, to betray, and destroy us, by the luscious embrace of the most insatiable rapacity. Here, indignity becomes insupport­able; and French policy, too infamous to be [Page 25] courted. I will proceed no farther, in a detail so wounding to the true lover of lib­erty.

This view of things seems to me to issue in the conclusion, that we ought to refer the origin of our calamities, to the perverseness of our adversaries, and not to any departure from prudence, or duty, in our own political arrangements; and that we may, and ought, notwithstanding, to celebrate the birth of our Nation, and rally round the standards of our national government, this day, without blush­ing. Our Independence, in its origin, in its operations, and in its effects, stands com­pletely exonerated, may I not say? from ev­ery imputation. That our government, or its administrations, are without an error, we do not contend. But, its adversaries, from without, and from within, may be challeng­ed to produce a notorious evil in either.

Let us, then, Fellow Citizens, caress our national Independence; and resolve with joined hands, and solemn appeals to almigh­ty protection, that we will not part with it. Have we not reason to value it as highly, as when we fought on the plains of Sara­toga? [Page 26] And are we not summoned to be as solicitous to wrest it out of the hands of French, as of English Despots?

We have now arrived, my Countrymen, to an awful, a most interesting, a most seri­ous crisis. Defeated in our attempts to ne­gociate an accommodation with the French government, we seem to be left, or, at least, to be rapidly approximating, to the only al­ternative of war. It appears, that all our patriotism, our wisdom, and our valor, are to be summoned to a most serious trial. It ap­pears, that we are to be reduced to the neces­sity, either of resigning our Independence, or of consenting to defend it. Which shall we choose? With such a precious object in view, on the security of which the felicity of un­born millions so intimately depends; the dear purchase of years of public suffering; for which WARREN, MONTGOMERY, MER­CER, and thousands of our intrepid country­men, have bled; and for which the bosom of female tenderness has so often heaved with maternal, and conjugal sighs; what is our du­ty? Is there one person in this house, is there one person in all New England, or through­out [Page 27] the whole extent of the United States, who will hesitate what decision to make? Is there one individual to be found, who will ignominiously withhold his property, or his life, when so vast, and so solemn an interest is depending?

Permit me here to recite to you a passage, from an eminent Civilian. ^* "The law of GOD no less enjoins a whole nation, to take care of their preservation, than it does pri­vate men. It is, therefore, just, that they should employ force against those, who, de­claring themselves their enemies, violate the law of sociability towards them, refuse them their due, seek to deprive them of their ad­vantages, and even to destroy them. It is, therefore, for the good of society, that peo­ple should be able to repress the malice, and efforts of those, who subvert the foundations of it; otherways the human species would become the victims of robbery, and licen­tiousness; for the right of making war, is, properly speaking, the most powerful means of maintaining peace. Hence, it is certain, [Page 28] that the sovereign, in whose hands the inter­est of the whole society is lodged, has a right to make war; but, if it be so, we must, of course, allow him the right of employing the several means for that end. In a word, we must grant him the power of levying troops, and obliging them to perform the most dan­gerous duties, even at the peril of their lives. And the obligation under which subjects are, in this respect, is so rigorous, and strong, that, strictly speaking, no man can be ex­empted from taking up arms, when his coun­try calls upon him for his assistance; and his refusal would be a just reason not to tolerate such a person any longer in the society."

Having taken this review of the past; having vindicated the attachments you ought still, and with as great zeal as ever, to enter­tain for your Independence, and for your Country; and pointed you to that station of valorous, and determined resistance, which you are bound to take; permit me, now, though I can claim no preeminence in wis­dom, to solicit your attention to a few in­teresting, practical, and prudential principles, which are intimately connected with our du­ty, [Page 29] and our safety, as individuals, and as a community.

A resolute defence of our national rights, against the unbounded violences of France, by resorting to arms, when regularly sum­moned by the voice of our government, by no means comprehends all that we have to do, as good citizens. There are, in connec­tion with this, other points of duty, which the pressure of circumstances renders equally indispensable, and obligatory.

And, first: Does it not behove us, and es­pecially at this crisis, when the spirit of in­trigue is so insinuating, when faction is so daring, and convulsions are so frequent, to extend the eye of the most unremitted vigi­lance, over our established, and fortunate Constitution of Government? The absolute necessity of a judicious, and permanent form of government, usually denominated a Con­stitution, as the grand bulwark of Liberty, is among the radical principles of a rational jurisprudence. A constitution of govern­ment, is the primitive consent of the people, in the mode of their political existence; and is, therefore, the cream of freedom. Being [Page 30] the concentration of their authority, which, in a free government, is paramount to all other, nay, the comprehension of all author­ity; it determines the limits of all public transactions, is the basis of all law, and a constant check against every act of usurpa­tion. It is the anchor of the political vessel, without which, she is liable to be driven, convulsed, and overwhelmed in the billows of faction. A government, without a con­stitution, must be a despotism. It must be a government of the existing supreme power; whether in the hands of one, or of many, is of no moment; and not a government of law. It must exclude all system, and confidence; and is, therefore, destructive of the very ob­ject it professes to pursue, the happiness of the people. A constitution, on the other hand, to which all posterior laws are reduci­ble; and which holds all departments, and officers, and even the legislative assembly it­self, under a wholesome control; which, therefore, is the supreme voice of the people, ever pronouncing, "Hitherto shall ye come, and no farther," as it is the guarantee of the public freedom, is the spring of public con­fidence. [Page 31] It consolidates the society, instead of rending it asunder; and gives that pecu­liar energy to public measures, which expe­rience of happiness, and an unwavering con­fidence, only, can inspire.

The smallest acquaintance with the Eng­lish history will obtrude on the mind, from a thousand incontestible facts, the evidence of this political theory. In the English govern­ment, through its whole progress, preroga­tive has been restrained, and the rights of the Commons, which constitute what public lib­erty exists, have been secured, almost only, by establishing, or resorting to, confessed, and permanent principles, of the nature of a con­stitution. Hither, I imagine, we are to trace the peculiar wisdom of our own country, which has determined, that the very first step towards government, is the deliberate, and voluntary establishment of a form of govern­ment. The excellency of that particular con­stitution, which has become the bond of our civil connections, experience hath demon­strated, beyond cavilling. This is our chief national glory, and the predictive oracle of our future greatness. We may depend upon [Page 32] it, therefore, that the enemies of our happi­ness, foreign and domestic, will level all their machinations to destroy it. And need I ob­serve, that symptoms of designs, of this na­ture, have actually existed? Have we not been witnesses to the most flagitious attempts, to break through the outworks, and gradual­ly to undermine the foundations, of this bul­wark of our security? So long as this is pre­served inviolate, my Fellow Citizens, we are safe; but, the moment this is wrested from us, we are undone. Let us, then, fasten the eye of peculiar jealousy on the man, who in­sidiously directs his cunning, or his eloquence, against this palladium of our public liberties. Let us consider, what freedom a foreign na­tion has used with exterior governments. Let us consider the crafty nature of her policy; how artfully, but destructively, its poison is transfused; and stand abreast, by pru­dence, as well as by valor, of her enormous ambition.

Again: Doth it not behove us to rid our­selves, entirely, of all corruptive foreign in­fluence; of all groundless predilection for, or antipathy against, this nation, or the other? [Page 33] It is unimaginable, what extensive, and per­nicious effects, these principles have wrought, in this country. Their consequences have been extremely mischievous. Antipathy, on one occasion, came near to precipitating the United States, needlessly, and irretrievably, into a destructive implication in the struggles of Europe. And a groundless partiality is now disposed to resign, without the least de­fence, the public liberties. Foreign influence has detached multitudes from a proper ad­herence to the rights of their country; and some it has seduced to a traitorous imitation of an Arnold. Nor is this influence confin­ed to public measures, and direct corruption; but it diffuses itself, with a malignant conta­gion, into all the ramifications of society. It issues in a servile adoption of foreign prin­ciples, and manners. It lays us open to intrigue, and to a dissociating power. It pollutes our religion, and our honor; and subjects us to an inundation of imported follies. It bows us down, from the erect posture of honest, and independent Ameri­cans, to the cringing meanness of slaves. We should be benevolent, Fellow Citizens, to [Page 34] all the world; but be the tools, and dupes of no part of it.

Farther: Is it not a matter of infinite im­portance, that, relinquishing all personal re­sentments, and ungenerous criminations, we sink down into one formidable whole; that we make union the order of the day; and concentrate all the energies of the country, to the one great point,—the security of all? If there be those, indeed, who, against every dictate of duty; against every sentiment of fraternity; against every challenge of con­science▪ against the demands, which are thun­dered in the ears of sensibility, from the pub­lic sufferings, will persist in their determined adherence, to the schemes of a foreign gov­ernment, to the utter sacrifice of the most invaluable interests of our own, I confess, I see not how we can embrace them. They are not the less our enemies, because they walk in our streets. But, it is to be hoped, that there are few of this character. Men of the least moderation will, in this hour of danger, and distress, listen to argument, and to fact. And it is a pleasing consideration, that this is is an obvious effect of recent e­vents. [Page 35] Notwithstanding the skill of French diplomacy, it is an unquestionable truth, that, in this country, it is defeating its own purposes; and that the union of our citizens is growing, with an accelerated speed, pro­portionate to the efforts, which are made, to destroy it. As Republics are, in their na­ture, essentially democratic, union, to them, is of supreme importance. Divisions, indeed, contravene, in all cases, the very nature of society. They disarm it of the possibility of defence, exhaust its energy, inspire its ene­mies with confidence, and invite their aggres­sions. " Divide et impera," DIVIDE AND GOV­ERN, was the darling maxim, of the most artful usurper, the finest scholar, and the greatest military character, that the world ever saw. ^* A maxim, which a modern usurp­ation has evidently placed at the head of its political creed. Let us, then, feel the impor­tance of UNION; and sink down into one vast column, moving whither the call of our gov­ernment directs us, and impelled by one res­olution, THAT WE WILL LIVE INDEPEND­ENT, OR DIE.

[Page 36]Permit me to add: Is it not important, that, as friends to a deliberate, immovable patriotism, we repel, with all our influence, and with avowed detestation, that spirit of calumny, which, like Pandora's box, is scattering mischief in every direction; which loves to traduce virtue, which it cannot re­semble; and which can find consolation, on­ly in the prostration of all principle, and or­der? That our illuminated country can be extensively corrupted, by disorganizing ef­forts, however insidious; or, that the people of the United States, can ever be guilty of the enormous folly of supposing, that they, and their government, have a divided inter­est; until some total revolution be effected, I have, indeed, no idea. Equally confident I am, that,

So, as the administration of the former, did, that of the present, Supreme Executive, will, [Page 37] in its progress, completely cleanse itself from all the stains of a slanderous imputation; and appear, eventually, with unborrowed, and unpolluted purity. Yet, the calumny, which is poured forth, and most unrestrainedly, from some of the presses, in this country, is an injury, a mischief, and a pestilence, which the lovers of our country, and of virtue, can­not but repel.

Finally: Let us feel the importance of a deep respect for the infinite moral Governor of the world; cultivate an unalterable reverence for the institutions of his worship; and adopt, in our practice, that virtue, which the laws of the universe prescribe; giving full credence to the maxim of wisdom, that "Righteousness exalteth a nation; but, that sin is the re­proach of any people." Under his auspices, we may gird on the armor of a resolved self defence, and rest confident, that nothing can destroy us, but our crimes, or that divided cowardice, which is prepared to resign the most enviable enjoyments, liberty, property, conscience, yea, the last drainings of the cup of comfort, to the mandate of a merciless ty­rant. A cowardice, which, thanks to Provi­dence, [Page 38] is scarce in America; and, where it exists, is an exotic weed, not the indigenous production of our generous soil. May an opposite patriotism swell every breast! May the name of WASHINGTON make us a­shamed to retreat from the ramparts of our country's security! And, though danger may be before us, let us meet it with firmness; always remembering, that "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori;" ^* that IT IS A GLORY FOR A FREEMAN, AND A CHRISTIAN, TO DIE FOR HIS COUNTRY!