THE transactions which caused this day to be celebrated in this country, are so inter­resting in themselves, so sublime in their nature, and so pleasing to every American, that the imperfections of the speaker may in some measure be absorbed by the brilliancy of the subject.

THE Fourth of JULY, 1776, will ever be an illustrious epoch in the history of man, as on that day, the declaration of our Independence was made, and tyranny in this country received the FIAT of expul­sion. It is a day, which is tenderly embraced by every heart that has ever felt the dignifying and con­soling throb of liberty, and pleasing to every mind that has not been fettered by the shackles of tyran­ny, or hampered by the clogs of superstition. And we, my fellow citizens, are assembled to recal to our minds, those interesting events, which produced and established this our Independence, and to testify our sense of gratitude to that DIVINE BEING, by whose influence we have obtained this glorious ob­ject.

[Page 6]IT is a truth verified by the experience of all ages, that PUBLIC VIRTUE has invariably led to empire and national happiness. And it is equally true, that Luxury or Public Vice, has always sapped the foun­dation of civil society, and led nations to ruin and destruction.

THE political body, by an uninterrupted series of success, may, like the human frame, arrive at such a degree of health, as will border upon disease, and become so corpulent, that it is a burthen to itself. Then will the circulation of power cease, the sinews of government relax, the veins of justice be contami­nated, and the disease pervade every part of the system. The people in this situation, become selfish, lawless, rapacious, and effeminate, contemning all civil and military order and discipline. This is manifest to every one, who consults the page of history. There we find, that a band of virtuous, hardy Persians, conquer­ed the unwieldy empire of Assyria, when intoxicated and debilitated by Luxury. Then again, in process of time, the all powerful Persian monarchy caught the same dreadful disease, and fell a prey to the magnani­mous Greeks. The Grecian empire in her turn ex­perienced the same fate, and yielded to the victorious Romans.

ROME sprang from the smallest beginnings, and by the frugality, fortitude, and patriotism of her sons, ar­rived at the highest state of national aggrandizement.

[Page 7]BUT when she had conquered the world, and there were none that could resist her arms, the glorious flame of emulation ceased to exist; she sunk into an inactive security and corruption, like a torrent, bore down every barrier of justice. Every virtue was wafted down the stream of dissipation, and in a short time was lost in the ocean of ignorance, superstition and bar­barity.

THE Roman world was in this situation when a herd of barbarians from the savage wilds of the north of Europe, overwhelmed the enfeebled empire, and spread desolation and carnage in every quarter. At her fall, the whole world was affected by the shock, and the powers of the human mind were bur­ied in its ruins. Every art and science, and every virtuous principle were totally neglected. The Priests had monopolized all the little learning of the age, and employed it to the base purpose of aggrandizing their order. The exorbitant power of the church of Rome, had swallowed up almost every ecclesiastical priviledge. There continually issued from that cor­rupted source, swarms of Monks, who were employ­ed as missionaries to propagate those congenial doc­tines; the ignorance of the people, and the infallibility of the Pope. Filled with rage at the appearance of every novelty, these Monks, excommunicated reason and anathematized common sense, because they justly dreaded their effects.

IN this vacancy of the human mind the feudal [Page 8] system of government was introduced into Europe, which degraded the naturally dignified mind of man, to the level of the brute creation. In fine, it appears that there was an universal combination between Kings, Priests, and Nobles, to insult and enslave hu­manity. This reign of ignorance and barbarity continued in its full extent until towards the close of the eleventh century of the Christian Aera, when a gleam of scientific light began to shine upon the world, which increased gradually, until the four­teenth; when a most noble spring was given to the human mind, by the invention of the mariners compass. By this, navigation, which had before been circumscribed within very narrow bounds, was now confined only by the limits of the globe. An inter­prisiing spirit then began to pervade almost every na­tion in Europe, and Christopher Columbus, in the year, 1492, in the search of a North West passage to the East-Indies, discovered this great continent of America. This is an event, which if we consider its influence upon the manners, arts, sciences, com­merce and population of the world, must rank its discoverer, among the greatest benefactors of mankind.

IN the year after the discovery, the Pope of Rome, with his usual generosity, in giving those things which do not belong to him, granted this ex­tensive country to the king and queen of Spain.

THIS grant was made, not because there were no inhabitants here, but because they were heathens, [Page 9] and in his opinion, deserved not the protection of heaven. "The superstition of that age regarded the Deity as the partial God of christians and not as the common father of mankind." But truth, reason, and philosophy, have long since exploded those illiberal principles, and substituted more noble ideas of the rights of man, and of the obligations of morality. These rights and obligations, without doubt, are not restricted to particular sects of religion; but, like the universal influence of the Sun, extend▪ equally to Jews and Mahometans, to Christians and Heathens.

Notwithstanding this noble present of the Pope to the king of Spain, Henry 7th, who then filled the English throne, commissioned Sebastion Cabot, who discovered and took possession of a great part of North America, in the name of the King of England. Eng­land was then just emerging from the horrors of a civil war, which had almost wasted the kingdom. And for the space of a century afterwards, no permanent settlement was effected in North America, various had been attempts to settle this part of our land, but none succeeded until a band of men, who braving every danger, fled for an asylum to these Western wilds, from the hard persecuting hand of a bigoted tyrant. This little colony, without any assistance from the mother country had to struggle with every obstacle and surmount every difficulty, which nature and their enemies could interpose. From them have descended the many thousands who now inhabit these Northern States.

[Page 10]After this, colonies were planted in various parts of the land. But England afforded us no other assist­ance, than her partial protection, and in return for that, she required the exclusive monopoly of our commerce. In this connection we remained for nearly a century and an half, rising fast in the scale of im­portance; until the close of a glorious war in 1763, wherein Britain by our assistance, acquired an extent of territory from her competitors, France and Spain, equal in dimensions to several of the kingdoms of Europe. From the river Missisippi in the south, to the unknown frozen regions of the north; the British standard was displayed. Her arms were victorious in every quarter of the globe, and her flag rode tri­umphant in every sea. Thus situated, she arrogated to herself the title of the mistress of the ocean; and had she encreased her treasury, as amply as she had her vanity, she would have well deserved that title, but unfortunately for her the ratio was the reverse, and at the close of the war she found herself 150 millions sterling in debt.

POWER, like all other human things has its bounds. The mightiest empire must soon dissolve and crum­ble into dust. There is a barrier which it cannot pass. The British empire had now arrived at that state of corpulency and to that pitch of venality, that she must either lop off some of her members or the whole body would perish.

[Page 11]IN this alarming state, her corrupt ministry snatch­ing at every expedient which might sustain the fal­ling credit of the national finances, started the idea of taxing America by act of Parliament. This mea­sure as soon as communicated, received the sanction of the greatest part of the kingdom.

The people of England with respect to the situation of America, were very ignorant. They considered us as a pack of tame, ignorant outcasts from the so­ciety of Europe, and not as fellow subjects, entitled to the same privileges with themselves, and judged us as proper objects, on whom they might impose their burdens. Therefore, as a preparatory step, they produced an act by which we were to pay a duty upon all stamped paper.

But the Americans were an enlightened virtuous people, and their distance from the mother country had produced opinions among them highly favourable to liberty. A space of three thousand miles separated them, "seas rolled, and months elapsed, between orders and their executions." A people thus situated, felt the restraints of power much less than those who were immediately within its reach. The natural situa­tion of the country likewise contributed to nourish the seeds of freedom. The inhabitants were dispers­ed through a wide extensive territory agreeably di­versified with hills and vales, with lofty mountains and parthless deserts, which are the native seats of freedom and the sacred ramparts of liberty. We had no kings, [Page 12] nobles nor prelates to curb the aspiring minds of our sons, but each one was strongly impressed with an idea, that all men were born free and equal, and that their property could not be taken from them, but by their consent, or that of their representatives.

THEREFORE, when the proceedings of the British parliament reached America, the people were struck with astonishment. With silent wonder they viewed the impending storm, and for some time beheld the sun of liberty fitting without the least opposition. But by degrees reason assumed her accustomed seat, the hid­den sparks of patriotism began to collect, and the political atmosphere was in a short time, so charged with the pure electric combustibles of liberty, that the cloud soon burst. A flame was lighted, which caught from heart to heart, until the whole continent was wrapped in one general conflagration. The Stamp Act was resisted in so spirited a manner, that it was soon repealed. But the vile plan of taxing us was not relin­quished; and the British parliament enacted "that they had a right to bind us in all cases whatsoever". What insulting language was this to Americans? Three mil­lion of men arose, and indignantly rejected the prof­fered slavery. They with one heart and with one voice declared, that "they had rather die freemen than live slaves."

IT is impossible for those of us, who compose the younger part of this assembly, and who had then scarcely entered the door of existence, to conceive [Page 13] the pitch of enthusiasm to which the American mind was at that day wrought up. When every private consideration and local prejudice was sacrificed upon the altar of freedom. It is, my young companions, from our venerable fathers that we are to receive the information. It is from those, who, to their eternal honor be it spoken, when this our native town was poluted with the blood thirsty troops of George the third, first dared to draw the sword of freedom, which was not sheathed until America was severed from the British empire. With scarcely any of those fatal in­struments which man has contrived to combat man, and undisciplined in the military art, our heroic sires, invigorated by that sacred fire, which nothing can withstand, encountered the warlike slaves of a powerful monarch, and compelled them to hide their narrowly escaped heads, behind the walls of yonder metropolis.

ALTHOUGH many of our townsmen, who were then conspicuous actors, and among them the gallant commander of the ^* day, have since been translat­ed, we trust, to brighter realms, where they are now receiving the rewards due to their merits. Yet their re­nowned deeds are indelibly recorded in the memories of their offsspring, where they shall continue to the latest period of our existence. To shew that we have [Page 14] not degenerated from their virtues, let us, like Hannibal of old, grasp the horns of the altar of liberty, and sware by their precious memories, that we will never be at peace with slavery; that, whenever our country demands us, we will rise, and to the last drop of our blood defend her privileges.

AT the commencement of hostilities, few antici­pated the event, which we this day commemorate, scarcely any wished for a separation from the parent state, all we asked for was the repeal of that system of oppression with which we were so ignominiously loaded. But when our hopes were blasted; when we were declared out of her protection, and the relent­less savage of the wilderness, was let loose upon our defenceless countrymen, and bribed to murder their wives and children; and when foreign hirelings were transported here to complete the work of human butchery; then did our patriots in Congress, with a fortitude that all succeeding ages shall admire, declare us to be Free, Sovereign and Independent States.

THIS declaration was the pole star which guided America through every surrounding danger, which animated her councils, consecrated her banners, im­pelled her sons to battle, captured the armies of her enemies, and finally erected the fair fabric of Liberty, Independence and Peace.

TO recount the many gallant actions which were performed; the hardships sustained, and the dangers [Page 15] encountered in the course of the contest; and to enu­merate the many heroes who fought and bled for their country, would be as impossible as to number the stars in the firmament. Indeed, since the creation of the heavenly orbs, there never has been a more noble cause, for which men could contend. To their praise, historians will write, poets will sing, and fame in all future time will sound her trump.

THE events which have occured since the revolu­tion are fresh in every mind. The relaxed situation of the body politic after such violent exertions; the inserrec­tion in this state; the total want of energy in our fed­eral government, and the peaceful adoption of a new constitution; form no inconsiderable part of our na­tional history. Already do we perceive the good effects of this system. Already has the tottering edifice of public faith been rectified, the sword of im­partial justice been unsheathed, and commerce has raised her drooping head, to a pitch above the most sanguine expectations. Although our political horizon is at present a little clouded with the fogs, which have arisen from the turbid state of the eastern hemisphere▪ and although the dogs of war have, for some time past, growled at us from a distance, yet we doubt not that these obstructions to our happiness will soon be re­moved; and peace still continue to diffuse its pro­lific influence upon our land. In the mean time, let [Page 16] us not be unprepared for war. Let the militia, that bulwark of our Republic, ever stand in readiness; then no power on earth will ever dare to insult us, and we shall forever enjoy the smiles of peace. Under its plastic hand, and in a land where freedom condescends to reside: what may we not anticipate? Should we here give scope to fancy, we might easily figure to ourselves the future magnif­icence of the American empire; we could paint the rapidly approaching time when our extensive lakes shall be shadowed with sails; when vessels shall be wafted in canals through every part of the land; when our rivers shall be loaded, and our ports filled with the richest produce of foreign climes; and when America shall be considered as the emporium of the earth.

TO secure these prospects, we must avoid those rocks upon which the greatest empires, and the most renowned Republics have split. We must detest fac­tion and luxury with every concomitant vice; and en­courage industry, frugality, temperance, and the whole train of republican virtues. The means of know­ledge must be diffused through every part of our land, but especially to the rising generation, that the equal rights of men may be more universally understood; that those artificial feudal distinctions in society, which were produced by pride and nourished by ignorance, and have for ages past prevailed in Europe, may be totally extirpated from the American character▪ [Page 17] and no other distinctions be known but those founded in real merit. "Let us never forget, that no political happiness can exist without liberty, no liberty without morality, and no morality without religion." Im­pressed with these sentiments, there is no point of na­tional grandeur, at which we may not soon arrive.

The good effects which have arisen from the de­claration of Independence, have not been confined to us alone. In the course of the war, the king of France, wisely considering that, if the British empire should again be united, she would acquire an ascendency in the affairs of Europe, which would be dangerous to the French monarchy, to prevent this reunion, formed an alliance with the American States, and sent to our assistance a considerable body of troops. These troops, although the subjects of an absolute monarch, yet in fighting under the banners of freedom, soon learnt that liberty was a jewel of inestimable value. How to obtain it for their native country, where the thick clouds of ignorance, superstition and despotism, had long since extinguished every spark, was their grand enquiry. They searched into the principle of the obligation which bound them to their sovereign, and when they had found that it was merely ideal, that the divine right of a king was a farce invented to deceive the people, and that they were the only true source of authority, the delusion was brought to light, and they communicated the discovery to the [Page 18] nation. The natural operation of these sentiments upon the national mind, soon generated a spark of liberty, which kindling into a blaze, spread in every direction, and finally melted down the haughty gran­deur of the French monarch, to the common level of the people.

THE subsequent combination of the kings and nobles of Europe, to destroy the newly formed Re­public of France, is the most glaring insult, that hu­manity has experienced since the creation of the world. We have often heard of wars concerning territorial jurisdiction, and other points of controversy; but an instance cannot be produced in the annals of man, where a war has been commenced upon an inde­pendent nation, merely because her political notions differed from those of her neighbours. A war predi­cated upon such principles, according to the laws of eternal justice, can never succeed. No! the cause of France must and will triumph. It is the cause of the rights of men, and should all the powers on earth com­bine against her, it would only be for their own de­struction.

ALTHOUGH many things have been transacted in that country since the commencement of the revolu­tion, which do not precisely accord with the feelings of humanity, and although it appears to us, that they have, in many instances, leaped the bounds of pru­dence; yet we find from experience, that these are circumstances attending all great revolutions, they [Page 19] arise from the necessity of the case, and are in propor­tion to the obstacles to be surmounted..

THE present age is big with events. Little did you think, my countrymen, when opposition was made to British arms in this town, that it was the opening of a scene, that it was the dawn of that philosophy, which has since traversed the wide Atlantic, landed upon the shores of Europe, borne down the huge pile of despotism in France, and bids fair to enundate the whole world. The princes and nobles of the earth must soon fall. The animating ray of reason has ex­posed their impositions, and they can live no longer upon the miseries of the people. The present contest is the last gasp of expiring tyranny. We doubt not that we are upon the eve of that long predicted pe­riod, when the instruments of war shall be converted into instruments of peace; when the sword shall be beaten into the ploughshare, and the spear into the pruning-hook; when nation shall no more rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; when kings shall lie down with their subjects, and nobles with their slaves: and peace and harmony shall reign triumphant throughout the terraqueous globe.