WE are once more assembled, my friends, to commem­orate the Birth day of the United States, and to mingle our feli­citations upon the return of this Anniversary of American Inde­pendence. With cordial satisfaction I congratulate my fellow-citizens, on the joyful occasion, and am happy in the belief, that every one who hears me, with equal cordiality reciprocates the congratulation.

IT is a delightful employment to rejoice with them who re­joice; to look around us, while our own hearts are glowing with pleasure, and behold others also smiling and pleased. In such a situation, the mind that is not dead to the finest sensibilities of our nature, indulges a most animating sympathy of joy. Emo­tions of this kind are naturally inspired by our present meeting. As I look round upon the audience, whom I have the honor to address, I see and feel the truth of the remark. The proper bu­siness of this holyday of Freedom is to be grateful and happy.—Whoever extends his ideas beyond the narrow circle of self, and takes an interest in the concerns of his fellows, must derive an ad­ditional happiness from the consideration, that the same cause, which has influenced us to join in a public rejoicing in this place, likewise assembles our brethren in many other towns, through­out all the States in the Union; so that it may be truly said, the whole continent resounds with a unanimous voice of celebration.

THERE is a peculiar propriety in observing this as a festival sacred to Liberty and the rights of man. Nineteen years have now revolved, since the Gordian-knot of our colonial connection with Great-Britain was severed by the monumental Declaration of Independence; and a Nation was born in a day. Though this event has been the standing theme of the Poet's song, and the an­nual subject of congratulatory Orations in most of our populous towns; though it has been amply celebrated by the statesman, [Page 6] the historian and the moralist, and repeated by the school-boy in his daily lessons, till its praises are familiar to every tongue, from pratling infancy to garrulous old age, from the pauper who begs in the streets, to the magistrate who governs the State or pre­sides over the Nation; it is yet so interesting in itself and so im­portant in its consequences, that it can never be exhausted, till social happiness shall cease to be a darling object of mankind.—The contemplation of it, however frequently reiterated, cannot fail to excite our pride as patriots and men, and our religious gratitude to the "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." With­out the imputation of weakness, we may glory in the thought, that America has set the world a leading example of Revolutions in favour of rational liberty and elective representative govern­ment. Already has its influence extended beyond this hemis­phere. Events, which astonish the boldest minds, and confound all former reasonings and calculations, are still in a train of rap­id succession; and Omniscience only can foretell what a few more years will unfold. Of all these mighty changes the American Revolution appears to have been the grand primum mobile, and the immortal Fourth of July was the crisis of that Revolution. Next to the creation of the world and the introduction of the Christian religion, we are now celebrating the most memorable era, probably, that stands upon the records of time.

AT the request of your Committee of arrangements, I appear in this place, not to amuse you with new or fanciful ideas. The occasion, on which we are met, though grateful to every heart of sensibility, is too familiar to admit of novelty & far too noble to comport with the levities of a playful imagination. Neither shall I be expected to undertake a review of the origin, the principles or progress of the Revolution, or to record the merits of the pat­riots and heroes, who were the great actors in those eventful scenes. To attempt that, would encroach upon the province of the historian. Nor, on the other hand, shall I invite the audi­ence to follow me, on fancy's airy wings, into the long tracts of future times, to contemplate in vision the ideal golden age of the Poet, or the expected Millennium of the pious Divine. However useful it may often be to look back and gather wisdom from the experience of years that are gone; however gratifying it might now be, to look forward, and by anticipation enjoy the probable happiness of unborn millions, who will hereafter people the im­mense regions of these States, from the Atlantic to the Missisippi, from the frozen confines of Canada, to the burning sands of Flor­ida. [Page 7] the object of our present address requires no assistance from the instructive past, no embellishment from the uncertain future. I have simply to remind you of the natural and political advanta­ges, which our country now actually enjoys. For instead of ar­guments, we may fortunately recur to facts. Instead of fictions, we are furnished with living realities. The visible prosperity and happiness of the American Republic, contrasted with the cir­cumstances of other nations, will therefore furnish the topics of our Oration.

AND do freemen really need to be reminded of these things? Can they ever forget them, or cease to keep them constantly in view? Forgive the assertion. However surprising it may, at the first glance, appear, it is nevertheless emphatically true, that they are often the most insensible of the benefits of liberty, and the least grateful for its bestowment, who are favoured with the fairest portion of the heavenly gift. We learn the worth of en­joyments, not so much by their possession, as by the want of them. This truth is equally applicable to the natural, the moral and the political world. Can he, who has never experienced the languor of sickness, justly estimate the value of health? Is the pampered Dives, cloathed in purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day, as good a judge of the comforts of food and raiment, as the mendicant Lazarus? Who, think you, could most feelingly describe the luxury of breathing fresh air, of beholding the light of the sun and moving without restraint from place to place, as convenience or inclination dictates? Not he surely, who from his cradle has been uninterruptedly accustomed to these enjoyments until by the force of habit they appear natu­ral and necessary: but the wretch, who is entombed in a dun­geon, and whose companions are gloom and despair; whose soli­tary employment, "from morn to night, from night again to lingering morn," is to count the tardy moments, as they pass, to wish and wait, to brood in silence over his own reflections, and sharpen the sting of present misery by the remembrance of better days.

IF then you wish to be truly informed of the riches of those blessings, which we are met to celebrate, go ask the trembling Asiatic, who shrinks beneath the lash of an unfeeling Despot. He dares not even call his person his own. He tills and sows; but not for himself. Some Nabob of his own country, or some rapacious foreigner, a Clive perhaps or a Hastings, reaps the fruits of his labour. With desponding reluctance he half performs [Page 8] his daily task, that his master, whose only right is power, and whose only law his sovereign will and pleasure, may be dandled in the lap of luxury and sleep upon a bed of down; if indeed he can "give sleep to his eyes or slumber to his eyelids," while con­science, that Promethean vulture, is preying upon his soul. At home the petty monarch exacts a degree of worship from his fawning domestics. When he ventures abroad, for health or pleasure, see him reclined at his ease upon a silken Palanquin, supported by the wearied limbs of fellow men, men entitled, by nature, equally with himself, to the rights of freemen, but by the arbitrary distinctions of despotism degraded to the rank of mere beasts of burden, not as a punishment for crimes which they have committed, but because they have not, what we scarce­ly realize to be a blessing, the protection of equal laws. Com­pare such a government with ours, and learn to set an estimate upon the political happiness, which on a day like this ought to inspire us with the warmest gratitude.

OR if Asia be too remote, to bring home these truths to our bosoms, cast a glance over the various states of Europe and Africa, from the beastly Hottentots of the South, to the stupid Laplanders of the North. Ask our brethren enslaved at Algiers, who are fastened to the Gallies, like the benches, on which they sit, or the oars which they ply; whose bitter lot it is to labour without the least expectation of reward, to be bastinadoed and insulted in a foreign land, to sigh for recollected pleasures, but to experi­ence that sickness of the heart, which arises from hope deferred. What would they give to be sharers with us in this Anniversary? I trust in God their year of Jubilee is approaching. They have at least a hope of redemption; but thousands and millions, yes far the most numerous part of the human race, are bound in hope­less slavery. Inquire of the dejected Turk, whether he is not, any day, liable to be seized, imprisoned, tortured, or put to death in secret, without so much as the formality of a trial. Ap­ply to the hardy Russian for instruction. He will tell you, that when his Empress, or her favourite, is pleased to pronounce the word, he must relinquish his house and lands, and what is inex­pressibly more painful, must bid adieu to his beloved family, and be sacrificed, he knows not why perhaps, to the inhuman knout, or banished for life to the comfortless regions of Siberia. The strongest inducement to industry is the security of our acquisitions; and personal safety gives the highest relish to every enjoyment.—To both of these boons he is a stranger. What satisfaction can he [Page 9] take in acquiring or possessing property, which is liable, any mo­ment, to be wrested from him, against his will and without the judgment of law? What enjoyment can he have of life itself, while he knows it depends upon the passion, the prejudice or the mere caprice of an individual, who feels all the intoxication of abso­lute power?

THE case of the Russians in this respect is not materially dif­ferent from that of other countries of Europe, who claim a dis­tinguished rank in the scale of civilization. Consult the regi­mented subjects of Austria and Prussia, who are unfeelingly torn from the embraces of their parents, their wives, their children, and all the tender endearments of domestic life, and forced into the service of a royal swindler; there taught to acknowledge no duty but that of implicit obedience, no moral obligation except the word of command; compelled to shut their eyes upon the light of information, to stop their ears and harden their hearts against the voice of nature and the melting cries of distress; form­ed into the machinery of modern discipline, instructed with blows, & governed by the whip; and without consulting the principles of religion or the oracle of conscience within them, whether the war they are engaged in is just or the reverse, whether it is direct­ed against their real friends or enemies; without even the wretch­ed privilege of complaining, whenever the order is announced, they must march to the field of battle, and have the honour of shed­ding their blood—for what? To defend their personal liberties and rights? Unhappy mortals! they have none to defend. To protect their families, their relatives and friends? Those, alas! are not the objects of royal protection. Is it to avenge the wrongs of an injured or insulted country? No, but to gratify a thankless tyrant's whim. Think of such a despotism, ye who are disaffected with our free governments, if there are any such with­in the walls of this assembly; think a moment of the state of soci­ety, which necessarily attends it; then lay your hands upon your hearts and calmly ask yourselves, if your murmurs ought not to be turned to acclamations, and your opposition converted into af­fectionate attachment. A simple view of the state of other na­tions is a whole volume of the noblest panegyric upon our own.

ARE further examples of comparison needed, to impress these sentiments upon our hearts? Then turn your eyes, my friends, to devoted Poland, that land of slavery and tears, now bleeding at every vein, her strength exhausted, her late blooming hopes all withered, her spirits crushed beneath the iron rod of [Page 10] oppression, her liberties prostrate in the dust, her cities pillaged, her territories partitioned, and her peasants bought and sold, like cattle, by an accursed triumvirate of tyrants. Who, that loves mankind, and wishes for the promotion of general happiness, can forbear to drop a sympathetic tear over the miseries of that wretched people? Who can refrain from execrating their op­pressors? But I forget myself. This is a day of rejoicing, and why should we dwell on gloomy themes? Shall I apologize for addressing sentiments of condolence to an assembly purposely con­vened for congratulation and festivity? My own feelings answer, no. To sympathize with those, who are panting for the same ennobling freedom, which is the subject of our present celebration, will not surely be thought unreasonable, even amidst the festive scenes of the day. On the contrary, it will operate, with all the magic of contrast, to enliven our gratitude and elevate our joy. Had our efforts, like theirs, been overpowered by superior force, we should have been, what they now are. The immortal WASH­INGTON himself, instead of presiding over four millions of freemen, by repeated unanimous elections, with such unrivalled glory to himself and his constituents, would have been subjected to as ig­nominious treatment, as his Pupil KOSCIUSKO. Some of you who compose this audience, knew that gallant soldier, that champion of liberty, that practical friend to the rights of man. He was your companion in arms, your brother in those perilous "times which tried men's souls." You can testify with what zeal he fought the battles of our country by your side; how ardently he aspired to promote the emancipation of the oppressed in all quar­ters of the world. The friends of mankind were ready to hail him the Washington of regenerated Poland. But the scene is re­versed. Since his exertions can no longer sustain the sinking cause of Liberty in his native land; since he has lived to see his country's fairest hopes expire; could he now but ascend out of his dungeon and fly upon the wings of a wish, how soon would he revisit these shores, where rejoicing millions remember his ser­vices, and would gladly reward them! Generous but unfortunate man! Unhappy nation of Poles, who have struggled in vain for their rights; who have only tasted enough of the sweets of free­dom, to be completely sensible of their loss! Could they like us, this day assemble, in their various towns, to celebrate the triumphs of liberty and the blessed effects of a Government in­stituted by themselves and administered by magistrates of their own choice, according to an established constitution and impar­tial [Page 11] laws; how would they exult with joy! The voice of univer­sal congratulation would be heard in all their borders. They would need no monitor, but their own hearts, to assist them in recollecting the great event of their emancipation, nor any other Orator to express their mutual felicitations.

SOME objector may perhaps inquire why we confine our at­tention to monarchies, and extinguished Republics, in drawing the contrast in favour of the United States. To obviate this objection and make a fair estimate upon the subject, let us take a cursory survey of France, the boasted land of triumphant republicanism. Both the friends and enemies of the French agree, that they have performed a series of political miracles, astonishing and unparal­leled in the history of the world. They have pulled down the motly fabrick of ancient institutions, and torn up the very foun­dations of their former religion and government. Twenty-four millions, possessing unbounded resources, with arms in their hands and the enthusiasm of Liberty in their hearts, have proved abso­lutely irresistable. The combined powers, who, in violation of the laws of nations, madly and wickedly undertook to prescribe a form of government to the French, have been defeated, routed and nearly dissipated before them. While their armies have been gathering laurels in every direction; while they have been ad­ding cities and provinces to the number of their Departments, what has been the state of their internal government? The histo­ry of their antecedent circumstances furnishes a reason, if not an apology, for some of their measures. They had not, like the American people, been accustomed to assemble peaceably in small corporations authorized and regulated by law, to decide upon questions of local police, acquiring thereby the double benefit of information upon political subjects, and a habit of temperate dis­cussion, and thus serving an easy apprenticeship to the higher em­ployments of legislation. They had not been trained up, in ear­ly life, at free schools, where the children of the poor and the rich are admitted on equal terms, and governed indiscriminately by the same discipline; where the whole mass of citizens are fur­nished with competent educations for common business, and pre­pared to acquire still higher degrees of learning at academies, col­leges & universities, as well as from books, pamphlets, newspapers and other periodical publications, in which every subject of poli­tics is proposed and discussed in a manner adapted to general com­prehension. They had not enjoyed the instructions of evangelical teachers, freely elected by the several religious societies, for their [Page 12] piety, their learning & purity of life, and maintained by their hear­ers [...] the sacred function of inculcating, by their public preaching and personal examples, the mild, the benevolent, the civilizing doctrines of morality and religion. Not permitted to act in their own behalf, they had never learned to think for themselves.—Without these preparatory advantages, and under many positive disadvantages, resulting from [...] of causes, the French un­dertook the Herculean task of forming a new National Govern­ment.

AMIDST the passions inspired by the Revolution, moderation was not to be expected. The public mind, no less than that of an individual, when i [...] breaks loose from one extreme, is inclin­ed, by the momentum of its own exertions, to pass to the oppo­site, and must necessarily [...]rate awhile before it settles upon the golden mean. Their conduct is a verification of this remark. In their zeal to abolish the ecclesiastical tyranny, under which they and their fathers had groaned, they have [...] to proscribe Reli­gion and substitute the Goddess of Liberty, as the object of nation­al worship. Not contented with overturning the altars of papal superstition and demolishing the images of saints, they have im­piously canonized a Rosseau, a Voltaire and a Mirabeau, and even prostituted the honours of their Pantheon upon the popular vil­lain Marat. From the rigours of unlimited monarchy, it was natural for them to deviate into the extreme of democracy. Tho' they have not gone to the same extent, as the ancient Republics of Greece and Rome, in their democratic days; but have admitted the great modern doctrine of Representation, without which, in­deed, no community, of magnitude sufficient to be denominated a Nation, can govern themselves at all: yet they have adopted the fundamental error of a concentration of powers in a single assem­bly, possessing in itself, or by subordinate communications, the whole national authority, legislative, executive and judicial, and in effect the sovereign prerogative of modelling their own consti­tution. In the exercise of such a political omnipotence, unassisted by experience, uncontrolled by a paramount constitution, without the needful balance of a second branch deliberating by themselves and equally entitled to a negative vote, and without the check of a well constituted Executive, they have exhibited a succession of tragedies, at which the friends of Liberty in all countries blush, while her enemies exult in the acquisition of new arguments to support their favourite opinion, that Republicanism, however beautiful in theory, cannot stand the test of actual experiment.— [Page 13] Anarchy, with all its hydras, has succeeded to despotism, and produced a government not of laws, but of men, not of princi­ples, but of passions and parties. Where solitary individuals were formerly buried alive in the gloomy caverns of the Bastile, in obedience to the irresistible mandates of arbitrary princes, there unarmed prisoners have been torn to pieces by a frantic po­pulace, where the feeble authorities of the Republic looked on and wept, but [...] no power to save. Where Richelieu and Mazarine, under the old monarchy, by their ministerial intrigues, moved the wheels of the great political machine, as a mountebank behind the skreen gives motion to his puppets; there Marat and Robespierre, by their clubs and extra-constitutional juntos, have managed the national mob, and been able for a while to "ride in the whirl­wind and direct the storm;" until at last they have justly been caught in their own snares. Where the gibbet and the rack once slew its thousands, the guillotine has slain its tens of thousands. It is distressing to a benevolent mind to take a retrospective sur­vey of the struggles of parties, the tumults, reverses and convul­sions, the proscriptions, the massacres, the assassinations, the suc­cessive sacrifices of the royal family, the Girondists, the Hebert­ists, the Dantonians, the monster Robespierre and his adherents, besides the multitudes of less distinguished victims, who have been immolated on the altars of faction and personal revenge. For the honour of liberty and humanity, it is hoped that these enor­mities originated in part from temporary causes, that they are palliated by the imperious circumstances of the times, and that the true principles of rational Freedom and Government will at length prevail, to the ultimate melioration of the condition of Frenchmen. Indeed a less malignant planet has already begun to prevail. A milder and more permanent system appears to be in­troduced. But they have yet to learn the great art of self gov­ernment. What their Constitution may be, at some future day, when experience shall have corrected the errors of wild theory and mad enthusiasm, and taught them the necessity of practical checks and balances, to guard as well against popular instability, on the one hand, as the systematic encroachments of power, on the other, is a question of mere conjecture. We wish, we hope the [...] may be worthy of the glorious cause. At present, how­ever, it is undeniable that their Revolution has admitted, if not occasioned, many horrid excesses, which we never experienced in the most disheartening moments of our contest, and has produced few, very few indeed, of the inestimable blessings, which are de­rived to us from our National and State Governments.

[Page 14] YET the French rejoice with rapture in their acquisitions.—And shall we, my friends, shall we Americans, be less grateful, for the very reasons, which ought to double our gratitude? In spite of philosophy, such is the constitution of human nature, that objects, which have once become familiar to common observation, lose much of the impression, which they are naturally calculated to make, when accompanied by the never-failing char [...] of novelty. Why else are we not struck with admiration, every time we open our eyes upon the beauties of nature, with which we are constant-surrounded? And why else, with equal propriety it may be ask­ed, why else are we not filled with transport, when we contem­plate the unequalled happiness of our country? The real truth is, we have numberless privileges both civil and sacred, unknown to any other people under heaven, which we have enjoyed so long and to such a degree of perfection, that we hardly perceive them to be the fruits of good government. Our Bills of Rights, which contain enumerations of some of them, are even viewed by cer­tain persons among us, as unnecessary declarations of self-evident maxims and rights which nobody controverts. Many of these immunities may be traced to the first period of our national exist­ence. The origin of Independent America was no less honourable than auspicious. The first settlements were effected by emigrants, who fled from the flames of persecution & the oppressors' scourge, to enjoy the rights of conscience at a distance from the usurpa­tions of the old world. They left Europe at a time when the en­lightened few were beginning to be sensible of that complicated tyranny, which had for ages held mankind in bondage. The in­tellectual faculties had been shamefully enslaved by a system of phi­losophical despotism invented by Aristotle, and propagated by the school-men. On the foundation of general ignorance, the Romish Ecclesiastics had erected a throne of superstition, before which not humble vassals only, but titled nobles and sceptered kings, were obliged to fall down and worship. At the same time, the Feudal system had bound Europe fast in a political servitude, the most deep-rooted and permanent ever devised by the will of man, the consequences of which, incorporated with their various constitu­tions and laws, remain to this day, monumental proofs of the degeneracy of those times and the force of inveterate customs.—From this three-fold lethargy the minds of men had begun to awake, when our adventurous ancestors crossed the Atlantic, and planted in the wilderness of America the seeds of those civil, reli­gious and literary institutions, which have blessed their descend­ants, [Page 15] for more than a century and a half, with industry, frugali­ty, temperance, knowledge, morals, arts of peace, resources for war, the genuine principles of equality, liberty and government, and the religion of God. It is true the American genius was shackled, during the state of colonial pupilage, which preceded the revolution. The mother country, as we then fondly called Great-Britain, was perfectly idolized. Under her superintend­ing controul, we even imported our learning, our laws, our cus­toms, our manners, and our very fashions. Arts and manufac­tures, in this then infant land, were restrained by statutes, which we had no voice in making. Our trade was monopolised, and consequently checked. At length the British Parliament, in the career of their folly, arrogated a right to tax us without our con­sent, and to bind us by law in all cases whatever. This wanton claim of power led to a crisis in the relative situation of the two countries, and hastened on the event, which we are now celebra­ting. We appealed to the God of armies, and assumed a rank among Independent nations. The Colonies united in the common cause, renovated their respective constitutions, and adopted a hasty plan of general government. Formed amidst the confusion of arms, the articles of Confederation were calculated for the meridian of a Revolution. They were designed for a nation of patriots and heroes, inspired with a disinterested enthusiasm and superior to the influence of selfish passions. To such men, at such a crisis, a recommendation of Congress was a sufficient law, with­out any compulsory sanction. So long as a sense of common dan­ger was the spring of action, that Government of advice, unsup­ported by the strong arm of coertion and destitute of the resources of revenue, answered the valuable purposes intended by its form­ers. Considering the circumstances, under which it originated, it was indeed a great attainment. But as zeal is a short lived passion, and patriotism requires too great sacrifices to be a steady principle of operation, when the inspiration of the war ceased, the Confederation became a rope of sand. The requisitions of Congress were treated with neglect, and their authority dwin­dled into insignificance. An alarming insurrection broke out in one of the States, and symptoms of disunion and general disor­ganization appeared.

AT this gloomy period, the Americans performed the great­est national act ever accomplished by any people ancient or mod­ern. The federal Constitution introduced a new order of things. As soon as its operations commenced, the impending gloom was [Page 16] dissipated; our palsied commerce was restored to health and vig­our; public credit arose from the dead; Government was re­spected, and the people were happy.

CONSTITUTIONAL questions had undergone every possible dis­cussion, in conversation, and innumerable free publications from the Press, as well as in the deliberative Conventions, expressly holden for that purpose. But as perfection is not to be found on this side heaven; as in politics, no less than philosophy, theory must yield to experiment; as the art of government is practical and progressive; as it is beyond the utmost scope of human sa­gacity to foresee the precise operation of every clause, and is therefore impossible to devise at once all the checks necessary to prevent the abuse of delegated power; as the manners and cir­cumstances of a people also gradually change and require corres­pondent changes in their forms of government; for these reasons the United States and some of the particular States have wisely provided constitutional modes of amendment. The object of these provisions is to steer the vessel of State in safety between Scylla and Charibdis; to shun the evils of hasty innovations, on one side, and the obstinate inveteracy of long continued errors, on the oth­er; to introduce seasonable improvements, and counteract the effects of human fallibility by the verifying test of experience; to effect all this, without disturbing the settled course of things or hazarding the public tranquility by popular commotions. A number of amendments have accordingly been already introduced, in the mode prescribed, without the least symptom of a ferment or any dangerous consequences. With this principle of self-cor­rection and improvement, the Federal Constitution promises to survive those contentions of parties, which always have existed and doubtless will continue to exist, till man shall be divested of his selfish nature, and which have overwhelmed other governments in factions, convulsions and sanguinary revolutions.

BUT though they, who create, can destroy; though a people may lawfully reform or annul their Constitution, when and how they please; that is a prerogative, which ought never to be usurped by an ordinary legislature; lest their alterations, instead of being founded upon the broad basis of general principles, should be adapted to the temporary exigencies of parties. The Consti­tution of France, we have seen, is in a state of fluctuation, which renders it little more than a mere pretence. That of Great-Brit­ain, however extolled by some writers, as concentring the practi­cal wisdom of ages, may be changed, as it has been repeatedly [Page 17] and essentially, by Parliament, without any new authority de­rived from the people. It is therefore, in the true Republican sense, unworthy of the sacred name of a Constitution. It is an unascertained, indefinite something, by turns the great Diana of the patriot and the peer, alternately worshipped and discarded, both by administration and opposition. But in America, a Con­stitution is defined and inviolable. Our Representatives cannot prolong their duration from one to three and from three to seven years. In other important respects there is a wide difference in our favour. Neither our chief magistrates, nor the Senatorial branch of our Legislatures, hold their offices by hereditary descent, which, instead of rewarding merit with promotion, treats wise men and fools, honest men and knaves, as equally entitled to pub­lic confidence, or rather gives the preference to folly and vice, by removing from those who are born to office, many of the incen­tives to exertion and many restraints, which are the useful guar­dians of virtue. All our rulers proceed from the people, either by immediate election, or by appointment from those who are thus elected; and no one is exalted above responsibility. Our gov­ernments admit no political distinctions, but such as are the re­sult of personal acquisition. We are not burthened with sinecure offices, which in monarchies are doubly convenient, as establish­ments for needy favourites and means of increasing the monarch's or the minister's patronage. Though public worship is here or­dained by law, not only for purposes which relate to eternity, but as one efficacious method of instructing, reforming and melio­rating the citizens, every one has an undisturbed enjoyment of the rights of conscience. No Dissenters are here tithed for the support of a national church, while they have the additional ex­pence of paying their own clergy. We have no Birminghams, no Manchesters or Sheffields, large, populous towns, containing a hundred thousand inhabitants, excluded from the darling privi­lege of Representation. We have no Old Sarums or Newtons, corporations owned by single individuals, each possessing a right to send two members to the popular branch of the Legislature. Our representation is founded upon the just principles of equality, and is proportionate to taxation. Men of fortune, living in our capitals, cannot procure themselves to be elected in obscure coun­try places, where they are known only by their agents and their largesses. With great propriety our elections are confined to Re­sidents, who being daily seen in the usual occupations of life, will [Page 18] generally possess a similarity of sentiments with their constituents, or at least such as they approve.

BUT it would be a trespass upon the patience of a holyday au­dience to pursue this comparison of constitutional privileges into the minuteness of detail. Other distinctions have an equal claim to attention. Our distance from Europe is a circumstance which ought not to be omitted, in enumerating the advantages of Uni­ted America. The neighbourhood of independent kingdoms is a source of endless contention. Every attentive reader of history knows that most of the wars, which for a century past, have crim­soned the European world with blood, though primarily caused by the restless ambition of kings and their ministers, have been im­mediately occasioned by territorial disputes and interferences, which exist only among jealous neighbours. Take the map of Europe, and observe the geographical relations of the several countries delineated on it; and if you recollect their histories, you cannot but be struck with the idea, that contiguous States are na­turally rivals, and consequently enemies; while those that have an alternate position, are as naturally allies and friends. Great-Britain and France have generally been actuated by a mutual, he­reditary antipathy. So have France and Austria—So likewise have Austria and Turky. Meanwhile the British and the Austrians, the French and the Turks, have felt a reciprocal propensity to unite in alliance. The Turks and Russians are mortal enemies, on the score of contiguity and interference. For the same reason, the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, although Catharine and Frederic wickedly combined, for the temporary purpose of dismembering Poland, are, from their local situation, natural ene­mies, and will in common times be moved by a spirit of repulsion; while Prussia and Turky will as naturally be inclined towards each other by a political attraction. The rule may be extended to other countries, with some exceptions, arising from family compacts and other intervening causes. Hence if any two of the great powers enter the lists, they are able, by existing treaties, by faction or the arts of negociation, to involve their whole neigh­bourhood of nations with them in one common calamity. Were we situated in the same continental vicinity, the matchless pru­dence and firmness of a WASHINGTON would be insufficient to pre­vent our being drawn into the general vortex. Standing armies, at once the bane of industry and the engines of oppression, would immediately become necessary, to guard against those of our ri­vals. Wars, with all their millions of plagues, would be fre­quent [Page 19] and inevitable. An enormous public debt, forever increas­ing, from unavoidable exigencies or the conveniences of adminis­tration, would anticipate the revenues of future years and hang a mill-stone about the neck of industry and liberty. Taxation, in all its odious British forms, would stare us in the face. These are some of the evils, which would attend a situation within the at­mosphere of European politics. But at the fortunate distance of three thousand miles, with an Ocean rolling between, we may more safely be the spectators of their jealousies, their compe­titions and intrigues, and profit by their follies, without becom­ing actors in their tragic scenes. I am happy that I can verify this observation, by a reference to the present state of our coun­try. Notwithstanding Europe is convulsed with the most formi­dable combination, and exhausted by the greatest military exer­tions, which this century has witnessed; notwithstanding our commerce has suffered considerable interruption from the depreda­tions of the belligerent powers, especially the British, who have long usurped the empire of the Ocean, and proudly assumed a right to dictate the maritime laws of nations; notwithstanding it was long suspected, and at length became undeniable, that Brit­ish influence excited to rouse and combine the savages of the wil­derness against us; notwithstanding our citizens have felt the in­dignation naturally excited by such abuses, sharpened by the ad­ditional sense of former injuries; notwithstanding a foreign Am­bassador, artfully availing himself of these impressions upon the public mind, and affecting to forget the acknowledged laws of nations, impudently presumed to interfere in our politics, by ap­pealing from the constituted authorities to the body of the people, by forming societies in imitation of the revolutionary clubs in France, by arming vessels of war in our ports, and attempting to engage headstrong individuals in acts of hostility, for the purpose of impelling us as a nation, into the sanguinary contest; not­withstanding certain characters, among ourselves, some doubtless from patriotic and others from selfish motives, impatiently cla­moured for war; yet, under the auspices of the illustrious WASH­INGTON, blessed with the approving smiles of heaven, we have hitherto escaped the contagion.

THE conduct of the President, in stemming this torrent of popular infatuation, at the same time enforcing the duties and claiming the rights of neutrality, is a new display of that true magnanimity, which rises superior to opposing difficulties, and in which he probably excells all other men of the present and for­mer [Page 20] times. While we rejoice in the salutary consequences of such magnanimous efforts, it would be unpardonable to withhold the merited tribute of applause.

UNDER the same wise administration, a formidable insurrec­tion has terminated in a bloodless victory, having tried the strength of our national government, and taught Americans to cleave to it, as the rock of their political salvation.

THE Constitution of the United States has proved its excel­lence by the blessings it has diffused. If it is fair to judge of a tree by its fruit; if we are not to expect grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles; if, in short, causes can be known by the ef­fects which they produce; we may with safety, pronounce, that our political institutions are excellent. Millions of happy free­men are the witnesses of this glorious truth. Cast your eyes over the whole face of Independent America, and behold her prosperi­ty evinced by a universal smile. Population increases with a ra­pidity, which surpasses calculation. The effects of industry are every where visible. Agriculture is converting our extensive con­tinent into the vast garden of fruits and flowers, Let any one notice the improvements, in cultivation, buildings, roads, bridges, canals, stages, mails, & the whole appearance & circumstances of the country, observable in a single year, and he cannot but feel a delightful astonishment, at the progress. Manufactures are spring­ing up among us, and although rather retarded at present by the scarcity of labour and the rage for emigration▪ into new settle­ments, exhibit a flattering prospect of future success. Works of enterprize and public utility are found to succeed, beyond the most sanguine expectation. Free schools, the nurseries of com­mon learning, are encouraged and flourish. Colleges receive ad­ditional endowments. Public and private libraries are multiplied and enlarged. Newspapers, the vehicles of popular information, circulate in every town, and are read by almost every family.—Sciences, arts and useful inventions are protected and patronised. Societies are instituted for the benefit of the professions, of philo­sophy, humanity and piety. Publick worship, the source of in­calculable moral refinement, is established upon principles of the most perfect equality. A spirit of free inquiry produces incon­ceivable effects upon the progress of society towards perfection.—Our trade has indeed received a momentary check from the con­tending maritime powers; and neutral nations must never expect a complete exemption from the all-involving horrors of war.—But the genius of Commerce has already surmounted these embar­rassments. [Page 21] The federal flag is seen in the ports of every commer­cial nation. Vessels of our own construction convey the produce of our fertile fields to all quarters of the habitable globe. The ocean is covered with our sails, and the wings of every wind are swiftly wafting the riches of the world to our shores.

HAPPY, happy people! Well may we glory in the American Revolution, and the successful establishment of Union and Inde­pendence. Well may we rejoice at the prosperity of our govern­ment and the unexampled felicity of our countrymen. Well may the Fourth of July be distinguished among the days of the year, as a national festival of joy and gratitude. One of the ancients used to thank the immortal Gods, that he was an Athenian, and a co­temporary with Socrates. How much stronger reasons have we, my friends and fellow-citizens, to render daily thanks to the God of heaven, that we were born in this highly favoured land, and that we live in this fortunate age of knowledge, liberty and peace. Let us love our country, and be ambitious to promote her welfare. Let us cherish the wise institutions of our ancestors. Let us vener­ate the government, under which we enjoy such national and in­dividual happiness, and set an example of cheerful obedience to its laws. Let us be grateful for the blessings confered upon us, and devoutly pray the great parent of the universe to confirm and perpetuate them here, and extend them to the whole family of mankind.