THE spirit of this auspicious morn disdains an affected consciousness of mental inability. The Genius of Independence frowns with contempt on the mean cant of pitiful apology. Indulge me, there­fore, as a native, free born American, to wave the fashionable modes of address, on these public occa­sions. The orator of the hour, whom partial friend­ship has appointed, neither deprecates censure in the language of servility, nor seeks for applause by the arts of adulation.

This honored, thrice honored day completes the nineteenth anniversary of our political freedom: it constitutes an august era in the annals of time, well worthy of being held in perpetual remembrance to the latest generations: it founds an illustrious epocha in the history of man, highly meriting most grateful inscription, on the living tablet of the rap­tured heart. Momentous indeed, were the causes which impelled America, to pronounce the sovereign fiat of eternal separation from Great-Britain: all im­portant are the consequences that have resulted there­from, [Page] to the interests of United Columbia; and more than astonishing, is the glorious revolution, which our independence has already produced in Europe. But whilst we are preparing to contemplate those inter­esting scenes that croud on the eye of recollection, yet animated by the light of intellectual life, is it possible for us to forget the mighty toils of our illus­trious progenitors? Progenitors ennobled by the innate dignity of godlike virtue, and rendered immortal from heroic deeds of patriotic worth. Shall upstart pride unfeelingly say, to their sainted forms, avaunt? Or wanton levity forbid their hallowed gaze upon "the feast of reason and the flow of soul?" Rather, let filial gratitude give honorable place to these ancient worthies, and respectfully rising up, pronounce them blessed forever. The broad top-stone on the dome of freedom is indubitably ours: the present generation brought it forth amid the morning shout of rising millions, crying liberty, li­berty, before it: but the adamant of which it is composed, was hewn from that rock rooted pillar, on whose base, our renowned predecessors poured libations of philanthrophic blood. The materials for the temple were collected by the virtuous dead. The handy work of ages past has been completed by the meritorious living. Our fathers laid a founda­tion for the building, in the wilderness of old: we their sons have finished the noblest edifice on earth, and superadded a magnificent capital.

That philosophy which makes a rest at secondary causes, and implicatively denies the agency of di­vine providence in nature, is only a refined species of literary atheism. Every national revolution made to revolve on a similar axis, is fashioned by the hand of political infidelity. The light within light of the chariot by the river Chebar, withdraws from the center of its opaque body, and in the same ratio [Page 7] that the self moved wheels roll rapid on, the glow­ing car emits darkness visible. The first settlement of this country has been attributed to an ardent love for civil liberty, mingled with a spirit of rest­less discontent, and fostered by visions of ideal in­dependence; but the warmest attachment to legis­lative immunities, the strongest influence from tur­bulent passion, and the remote prospect of future so­vereignty, if combining all their powers together, would have been totally inefficient, to accomplish the Herculean labors of elder time. The glorious, the godlike toil of early days demanded principles of a nobler nature, and energies of a sublimer or­der. It was the violated rights of conscience, trem­blingly alive unto Jehovah, which colonized this howling, desert waste. It was religion that in­spired the sons of faith with caelestial fortitude, and caused the barren wild to blossom before the daugh­ters of hope. A persecuting Herod, jealous of regal power, winged the knowledge of christianity be­yond the Roman Eagle's most expanded flight. A bi­gotted Laud, inebriate with pontifical pride, spread the triumphs of the gospel to the western bourne of day; and both were made use of in the mysterious oeconomy of Heaven, by Him who educeth good from ill, to eventually subserve the adorable purpo­ses of Prince Messiah, against whom, they vainly rose in impious arms.

Come, let us repair with solemnized step to the brow of you promontory, whose adamantine arch hangs dreadful over ocean, and wait in retrospec­tive idea, the arrival of our venerable ancestors. Upborne on the bosom of the faithless deep, their fragile skiff has ploughed the watery realm, for more than sixty days. Amid the war of contending ele­ments, the roar of embattled winds, and the dash of tempestuous waves, they ride unhurt. At length, [Page 8] the ark of religious liberty and of civil freedom rests before the Ararat of this late discovered world, and fathers, mothers, babes prepare to land. What vast variety of untried wretchedness, what painful scenes of bitterest sufferance throng inhospitable shores, and bid to the wearied, weather beaten Ar­gonauts an unsocial welcome! Emerging from the forest's deep recess, see warlike hordes of savages rush on; their quiver is an open tomb; their fea­thered shafts the messengers of fate; behind them, prowls the hungry tenant of the wood, impatient for his prey; before them, glides the crested ser­pent armed with deleterious fangs. Even nature seems arrayed in robes of wrath. Stern winter mounts the pinnions of the northern gale, and binds the vegetable tribes in iron bands. Gaunt famine slowly creeps athwart the waste, and marks the liv­ing for her future own. Pale sickness hovers round the wild, and shakes distemper from her feverish robe. Grim death, relentless wields the burnished scythe and sweeps destruction's desolating besom round. One half are numbered as the victims of these po­tent foes: they sink beneath the tawny Sachem's nervous arm, bow to the chilling rigors of the stor­my clime, or faint and perish for the lack of bread. Say, can the Israel of this western wilderness sustain such complicated ills, bravely resolve to enter on the promised land, nor cast one longing, lingering look on Egypt left behind? Yes! verily, they did. Collected in themselves the few survivors stood, unmoved by approaching danger, and strong in re­liance on the arm Omnipotent, smiled at the King of terrors. Not the invenomed arrow that smote un­seen, the yell terrific of the painted warrior, nor the dread rider on the pale horse, appalled their daunt­less courage. Firmly they persevered, nobly they conquered, greatly they triumphed, and rose from every fall, like the fabled son of Antaeus, in reno­vated [Page 9] vigor. Soon did the dark haunts of barbaric cruelty assume the polished tints of civilized life. Social institutions gave confidence to hardy enter­prize. Wise systems of policy secured the unaliena­ble rights of man. Purity of morals strengthened the family compact, and genuine piety imparted her divinest energies. Thousands and tens of thousands heard the goodly report: their souls, already wearied with the murders of Europe, panted for repose: these stretched the strong pinion of the raven who returned no more, and yet, they entered as doves, at the windows of a second ark: from thence migratory flocks continually spread them­selves abroad: the rustling of their wings was heard in every part of this wide extended continent: on the cloud capped summit of the lofty mound, or along the windings of the humbler vale, they built the incubating nest secure for ages yet to come, and in the short period of one hundred and fifty years, po­pulated an immense territory of one thousand five hundred miles in length, and upwards of three hundred in breadth. Christianity is incompatible with hatred: it magnanimously forgives: it gene­rously forgets. The uplifted scourge of civil tyran­ny, the flaming sword of religious intolerance and the torturing rack of unhallowed zeal, were re­membered no more. A father's naked inhumanity was covered by filial affection, with the broad mantle of caelestial charity; and the meek children of an austere step dame, preferred her genuine interests, above the chiefest joys of independence. To that very power which had exiled our first pa­rents from the paradise of Europe, they fondly looked up for future protection, and virtually pledg­ed constitutional allegiance, so long as the cherubi­mic sword of law should wave around the tree of liberty. At the same moment, greatly daring to resolve that no laws should be made or imposed [Page 10] upon them, but according to the free liberties of the free born subjects of the state and kingdom of Great-Britain. Royal charters established this de­clarative act, asserting the rights of man. The seal imperial of Albion confirmed the majestic veto of freedom, fixing a decided negative on despotic en­croachments. Nearly a century and a half elapsed in the mutual confidence of harmonious intercourse, and if a transient cloud overshadowed the political horizon for a moment, it as instantly vanished before the illuminating sun of rational discussion. Recipro­cal interchange of kind offices heightened common friendship into fervent love, and sublimated fond af­fection, to almost, religious veneration. How oft did America jeopard her life on the high places of the field, and ward the descending blow aimed at a father's head! While the heroes of the elder world pressed onward to defend Britannia's favorite child, nor returned back their glittering swords empty, from the death of fallen invaders. The treasures of the mother country and her infant colo­nies, formed one family purse, ever open to the warlike exigencies of the threatening hour, and the exports from England, with the returns of America added more to the commerce of the former, in sixty-eight years, than she had gained from an uni­verse beside, in nearly seventeen centuries. Thus ten­derly connected by the most endearing sympathies of blood, the undivided fellowship of the protestant re­ligion, and all the cementing bonds of one common interest, they both, at once commanded the admira­tion, and excited the envy of the world: their most formidable enemies felt the inefficacy of contending with irresistible power, and the laws of stern necessi­ty imposed humiliating tranquility on jealous foes. But scarce had the tempest of battle died gently away, or the rainbow of peace bounded the triumphs of the desolating flood, when distant hemispheres [Page 11] were suddenly involved in partial obscuration, and cloud on cloud condensing total darkness, quenched the light of social amity. Hear, the tidings, O earth, and be astonished! Hear it, ye nations, and tremble! The demon of avarice whispered on the ear of a profligate and abandoned ministry, that il­limited opulence pervaded every corner of America, and the ruthless fiend of despotism armed illegal power to seize the Hesperian fruit. From one iniquitous plan of lawless taxation, they pressed on to another still more abhorrent of right. The honest recompense of toiling industry was rendered precarious. The property of the subject wrested from him without personal or virtual consent, and life itself threatened by the Dionysian sword impen­dent. Eleven long years, patient forbearance turned the cheek to the smiter, and breathed the mild language of, "Sirs, why do ye this wrong?" In vain, did the united wisdom of America, concentred in a general Congress, superior to the Amphictyonic council of Greece; superior to Rome's august Senate in the meridian glories of her republic, petition, re­monstrate and appeal; plead the sacred authority of written prescription; reason from the Magna Charta of Great-Britain, or urge the unsurrendered rights of social compact. Placemen, pensioners and hungry court parasites turned away the royal ear abhorrent; closed the eye of the monarch against the blaze of conviction, and steeled the heart of a Brunswick to the cries of immutable justice. Not the eloquence of a Chatham rivetting attention; not the lightnings of a Barré, flashing truth itself; not the thunders of a then independent Burke, blasting the minnions of royalty, nor the combined efforts of an illustrious band of virtuous peers and unbought commoners, roused the sleeping nation to a sense of the dangerous precipice on which tottering liberty stood trembling; nor convinced awide awake, venal [Page 12] mojority, that the gulph of remediless ruin yawned varacious, beneath the slippery foot of empire, sliding down the summit of imperial grandeur. Even Franklin, who arrested the fires of heaven in mid career, who rent the sceptre from the tyrant's grasp, plead for the rights of his native country un­noticed; and the paltry hireling of an insolent privy council, poured unmerited contempt on the incon­testable data of the political Newton. Unconditional subjection was demanded at the point of the bayonet. The myrmidons of ministerial vengeance swept resist­less to enforce degrading submission; and on the ever memorable nineteenth of April 1775, General Gage let slip the dogs of war, for the plains of Lex­ington, and cried to the Cerberean brood of havoc, speed. The wounds received on that day, were felt as an electric shock, vibrating through and through America. Every nerve in the one body of the con­tinent was feelingly alive to sensibility of pain. The dying groans of expiring freemen woke the of­fended majesty of injured fellow man, to sleep no more. As yet, averse to imbrue the crimsoning hand in fraternal blood; as yet, actuated by principles of filial affection; as yet, governed by sentiments of long cherished loyalty, Congress made one last, one generous effort, to repress the future waste of life, to hush the whirlwind of the passions kindling into rage, and smooth the rising billows of destructive conflict, foaming to the skies.

Reluctantly goaded to magnanimous resistance, sternly impelled to adopt the prima ratio Regum, our [Page 13] political fathers rallied round the altars of their country; lodged an affecting appeal to the Righte­ous Judge of the whole earth, and sounded the animating clarion of self defence: their dauntless con­stituents, the free born sons of free born sires, heard the awful summons to the field, and obeyed the awakening mandate of freedom with cheerful alacri­ty. Veteran [...] the battle from afar. Rising youth felt the glow of manly valour. The thunder­ing of the captains, the neighing of the war steed, and the shout of armies, were ravishing as the music of the spheres. Liberty or death, was the impassion­ed cry of the moment, and wafted on the gales of heaven, it flew with the velocity of sound, to the bourne of the continent. Bear witness to these truths, ye glorified spirits of the patriot dead, who on the clouded heights of mount Breed, ruled the vol­lied storm of fate. Attest the language of reality, thou proto martyr in the cause of philanthrophy, immortal Warren, "who lived like Hambden, and like Sydney died:" nor be thou absent, bold Montgomery, hero of the north, whose verdant laurels were gathered on the plains of Abraham, fast by the kindred tomb of conquering, dying Wolfe. From this hour, pregnant with the fate of unborn myriads, all hope of accommodation vanished. The day was marked too deep in the red calendar of war, with conflagration and the sword. The Rubicon was passed. Britain had seen Pharsalia. Henceforward, Bellona lashed on her fiery coursers with redoubled swiftness. Fell discord forged harsh thunders, loud responding to the brazen trumpet's tone. Death smote his gorgon shield terrific, clashing on the din of rattling arms. Brothers rose vindictive against brethren. The adverse parent and the hostile child met frowning. The meekest charities of life enkindled into wrath. The very milk of human kindness turned to invete­rate gall. But why attempt to paint the moral mis­chiefs [Page 14] of war? They furnish a melancholy theme, too melancholy for this joyous day. No strength of speech describes the embittered woes of kindred strife, for when the cause is forever suspended, the heart rending effect too frequently remains, and even amid the choral songs of fraternized man, on this auspicious hour, some poisonous drops by the infernal adder shed, still mantle in the golden bowl of bliss. Here then, we give a generous [...] all the wounded sensibilities of time; nor make a lon­ger pause where nature's self recoils. Rather let us press forward where the unfurled standard of liber­ty points the path, and follow the varying fortunes of America through the hard contested field of bat­tle, until independence crowned her glorious efforts with complete success, and peace seated freedom on the top of a rock, above the smiles, above the frowns of kings.

Inexpert in the horrid science of systematic mur­der; unfurnished with the dreadful apparatus of mili­tary death; embarrassed by the want of competent internal resources, destitute of friendly assistance from the belligerent powers of Europe; and deficient in silver or gold, the essential vis vitae of war, America greatly rose to meet the advancing Goliah of nations, and hurled the gauntlet of defiance at the most po­tent enemy on the terraqueous globe; an enemy, whose garments had been rolled in blood from the days of Caesar; an enemy whose mighty men had been clothed in the scarlet of the slain from the morn of imperial existence; an enemy, whose un­conquered armies had carried terror beyond the pil­lars of Hercules; an enemy, whose invincible navies had winged the laws of conquest to either pole; an enemy, whose credit commanded the monied inter­est of an universe, pouring riches into full exche­quers, and stranger still to tell, and harder to believe, [Page 15] whose opulence bought whole hecatombs of fellow men to colonize the land of death. What is there god­like and heroic, which liberty cannot effect? Who shall set a limit to the triumphs of freedom? What tyrant chain the energy of public virtue? If con­fident in the justice of their cause, and consequently perfect in the bond of their union, there is nothing, humanly speaking, impossible unto them. Such was the confidence of these devoted colonies. Such was the union of a proscribed confederation. America, in the humble character of the greatly oppressed, could look up to the throne of the Most Highest, and reverentially wait for his crowning blessing on the means of self defence; whilst darting her eagle eye from the orient chambers of light, to the shroud­ing billows of the western main, she saw a decided majority of her gallant sons, clothed in the whole ar­mour of conscious rectitude, and panting to signalize Spartan valour in behalf of all that was dear. Ser­vitude or death, were the bitter cups which Great-Britain had mingled in the frenzied hour of politi­cal distraction. To have drank the deleterious draught of the envenomed bowl; to have quaffed the dregs of slavery, in hope to ward the stroke of dissolution, would have been the avowed commission of high treason deliberately levelled, at the present, the future majesty of man; and finally, the nefarious deed must have been accompanied, by a dastardly, base attempt at voluntary national suicide. Indig­nant public spirit scorned to reason on either dread alternative. Self love, "the essence of the social frame," spurned at the former, and dashed the latter on the ground. Not the fame of British victories blazoned in the armorial bearings of a thousand ge­nerations; not the experience of her generals train­ed in the school of Frederic, falsely called the great; not the discipline of her armies, secretly moved by some invisible automaton; not the terrors of the Hes­sian [Page 16] name trumpeted as individual Alexander's, nor Até hot from hell, perched on the savage Biped's nod­ding plume, induced a momentary pause. The spe­cious language of pretended conciliation; the pro­mises of a court grown grey in duplicity; the se­ductive arts of golden bribery, and regal smiles, fair fraught with blooming honors, led not to the hesi­tance of a dubious second. In the council of the Union, on the field of glory, Columbia's guardian genius was ever present. Liberty in person took charge of this new found world: around the plains of Lexington she spread the covering wing; on the pale cheek of Warren imprinted her smile caelestial; twined a chaplet of glory for the dying Montgo­mery; rode onward with Lee to the burning wastes of the south; and inspired the bosom of Moultrie with more than mortal bravery. Her eye ever brilliant and unclouded, marked the path of wanton desolation as she passed, and engraved on the marble of indelible infamy, as with a pen of iron, the ever­lasting record of Gothic barbarity. She saw a per­fidious Dunmore arm the Ethiopian against his mas­ter's life: read the orders of Campbell, for loosing the sons of Altamaha: kenned the mandate to Carlton, awakening the northern Sachem: and be­held Charlestown, Falmouth and Norfolk ascend in flame, to the pitying skies. Famine, sword, fire stood before her in all their horrors: death, ra­pine, rape, frowned on her view. One hundred ships of war were encircling her coasts, from the waves of Piscataqua, to the floods of St. Croix. Forty thousand Britons and seventeen thousand Hessians stood on tip-toe, to spring the mine of fate, and whelm her most favored residence, the future asylum of persecuted man, in awful, undistin­guished ruin: one interesting moment, on the banks of the Schuylkill, deliberative, she paused: Then laying the right hand impressive on her high beating [Page 17] heart, majestically raised the left towards heaven, and slowly poizing the trump of freedom, in mid air, blew the blast of Independence with Archangelic energy, shook the throne of tyranny to the center of its base, and roused the nations of Europe from the Lethean slumber of ages.

But scarce had the assenting voice of exulting millions ratified the high decree of independence, or the raptured eye of patriotism gazed on her vir­gin form for one extasied moment, when the bursting tempest of ten fold war poured impetuous on. Dis­appointed ambition summoned unforgiving ven­geance to the contest. Who did not tremble for the holy fire so late enkindled on the altars of Co­lumbia? Who felt not for the safety of the priest­hood ministering before the hallowed flame, a flame more pure than Persia's purest fires, though borrowed from the lamp of day, inscribed to the Lord of light, and fed by all the aromatic odors of the east? These were the times that tried men's souls. Monarchial indignation had not worne a form so furious since the proud Chaldean maddened on the plains of Durah. Patriots and heroes were purified in a burning fiery furnace, heat seven times hotter than ministerial wrath had ever heat it: they came forth unhurt: no change of principle could pass upon them; and yet, how intense were the sufferings of the tortur­ing [Page 18] moment! Here, Britain's invincible phalanx moved resistless in front. There, Brunswick's im­penetrable column closed a guarded rear. The armies of liberty were borne headlong before the rushing torrent. Rout followed ruin wild. Disas­ter hung upon defeat. Victory abandoned the eagle of America and hovered on the rampant lion's crest. New-York, York-Island, forts Washington and Lee successively fell. Rhode-Island was taken. The Achilles of Columbia made prisoner. Canada re­covered, and the Jerseys abandoned to pillage, mur­der, rape, and all the plagues of diabolic warfare. The wounded, gasping on the field, imploring quar­ter, was denied the boon. The captive drank the cup of poison, ministered as medicine to the faint­ing soul, and breathed his last in agonies. The weep­ing female, yet an infant, mourned her violated chas­tity, and wept for life, the vile attempt of ruffian power. The father, shielding virgin modesty, was stabbed. The mother, clasping virtue to her bosom, met the bayonet's keen point. Bones hearsed in death were scattered to the winds of heaven. The tomb's dark vail that hid the sleeping fair, was rent in twain. Temples devote to God, Lyceums dedi­cate to science, and the muses still retreat, were wan­tonly profaned, trampled in the dust, or changed in­to midnight brothels and lascivious haunts. Hea­vens! What a catalogue! One half remains untold. A nation's penitence sincere for ages; an empire's tears for centuries to come can never wash away such stains. "Accusing spirits who flew to hea­ven's high chancery, wept as they delivered in the sum of guilt. Recording angels were forbidden to drop a tear, and blot out even one iota." Verily, verily, as ye have done unto others, it shall be re­compensed unto you again. The bolt of moral re­tribution may for a time be suspended on high; but accumulating vengeance by lengthened delay, it [Page 19] shall eventually fall with an increased momentum, and whelm the guilty with a sudden, with a fatal blow. Britannia! Thou art weighed in the bal­ance of eternal justice, and Tekel is written upon all thy walls. The scourge of nations is found wanting of humanity.

At this melancholy period, the deficit of an effi­cient, permanent Continental army was most sensibly felt. As the term of individual enlistment expired, the soldier sought his native home; and few could be prevailed upon to tarry beyond the definite hour of service. Even Washington, the illustrious command­er of the conquered, conquering armies of his country, for one moment suffered the burning shame of almost to­tal dereliction. Resolute, he wheeled his proud spirit­ed courser in front of an advancing foe, and while all the generous passions harrowed up his mighty soul, appeared to wait an honorable death from some friendly, adverse bayonet. Is there a bosom in this assembly that does not beat to arms, at the painful idea of a Washington's being necessitated to immo­late his precious life, before the deserted shrine of public honor? Even female sensibility presses the delicate hand involuntary on her side, searches in the affecting impress of the second for the manly sword, and feelingly demands of her throbbing heart, where was I at that awful crisis? Hear it, O America and rejoice, Washington lives. Some confidential friend, whose name deserves the brightest niche in the pantheon of worthies, turns the obedient war horse round, and saves the godlike charge he bore, "the soul of peace, the conquering arm of war," from an untimely fate. Superior in every other moment of his life, to the impressions of adverse for­tune, and only stamped as man in the passing instant of agonized feelings, the Epaminondas of the new world, triumphs at Trenton, conquers at Princeton, [Page 20] and at the head of seventeen hundred continentals, circumscribes as many thousands, within the narrow line himself had drawn.

These brilliant actions roused the genius of Co­lumbia from the languors of despondence, induced by having bled at every pore; rekindled the mar­tial ardors of America nearly extinct throughout on inundated Continent, and prepared the United States for the threatened severities of the spring campaign, when the very soul of ancient chivalry, the courteous knight in Britain's wild romance, promised to dance the ladies into gilded chains, and coaxe the gentlemen to hug those fetters which his masters forged; or whelm the fair beneath the tomahawk's descending weight, and pour on vile rebellion's crest the storm of savage ire. Burgoyne! proud boasting, playful chief! Rest thou awhile on Hudson's flowery banks, and with thee rest thy pompous proclamation, penned by some fairy sprite of Rudar's isle. The matchless prowess of thine arm, and the attic eloquence of thy tongue are im­potent as the magic spell of Areskoui, or the mid­night incantation of the Indian auruspex. Not Fra­zer's gallant intrepidity, Ackland's daring valor, nor Rhaidhaschel's impassioned bravery; not the military boast of Albion, Hesse Cassel's strength in war, nor Abonaquie's giant brood shall save the laurel with­ering on thy brow. New-Hampshire's, hardy, hon­orable yeomen, breathing of that spirit which M'Cla­ry breathed at Warren's side, brave as those troops a Cilley and a Dearborne led on Monmouth's plains, and dauntless as her earlier sons who fell with gallant Wiswal, or with daring Lovewel fought, shall bound the fancied conquests of the dying Baum, and hold a British army in the toils which Stark first spread, till Gates and Lincoln sweep the encircling compass round, and sternly say, no farther shalt thou come.

[Page 21]Till this moment, every power in Europe had poized the scale of neutrality. Burgoyne's descend­ing weight, descending with ten thousand troops, preponderated the balance. Howe's partial victory at the forks of Brandywine, the subsequent loss of Philadelphia, with the final captures of Mud Island and Red Bank, the conflagration of Esopus, and the divided honors of Germantown, no longer shed a malignant influence on the American character at foreign courts. These sinister events were justly regarded as the casualties of the hour, and not as the effects of national imbecility, or the want of martial spirit; and at the dawn of the ensuing year, France concluded a treaty of amity and alliance with the United States, witnessing the sincerity of her professions, by the speedy equipment of a strong squadron, with proportionable land forces, destined for active service in America. The zealous, though unsuccessful efforts of the Comte D'Estaing, from whose venerable temples the demon of jealousy rent the chaplet of nautical glory; and against whom in-auspicious elements fought in their courses; de­serve to be remembered with national gratitude to the latest period of time: while the more fortunate exertions of the Counts de Grasse and Rochambeau, in conjunction with the armies of the Union, com­manded by the one Generalissimo of America, must call forth the warmest eulogy of kindred spirits, at present on the theatre of achieved blessings, and en­sure the animated applauses of the remotest posterity, until in the nervous language of the celebrated J. M. Sewall, "the moon veils her rays, and the sun lose his path way in heaven." The capitulation of York-town, and the surrender of Lord Cornwallis with his whole army, amply compensated for every pain­ful event, and added a brilliance to every pleasing circumstance which preceded this glorious termina­tion of an eight years war. A victory of so impor­tant [Page 22] a nature freshened the verdure of those laurels which his Excellency gained at Monmouth; threw a radiance round the tomb of Pulaski, who fell before Savannah; covered the capture of Charleston, on whose untenable ramparts Lincoln smiled at famine, restored to Gates the wreath of ancient fame, borne away from Camden, by a flying militia; perfumed the bed of honor, where the Baron de Kalb reposed on eleven wounds; encircled the head of Greene with brighter rays of triumph at Guildford and Eu­taw; and almost obliterated the remembrance of Fairfield, Norwalk, and Bedford burnt; with a great part of the Jersies ravaged a second time. Virginia made a mart of military plunder; the Carolinas over­run by systematic thieves; and the garrison at fort Griswold inhumanly massacred by an infamous parri­cide, who robbed his country, murdered her sons in cold blood, and basely deserted his friend, the all ac­complished, still regretted Andrè.

Thus closed the most momentous contest, which had ever summoned warlike legions to the field. On the part of America, it was not the lust of domin­ion; a wish for the extension of commerce; or the fever of increasing, yet unsated cupidity, which beamed as the motto of her hostile banners, or was heard in the shrill tone of her defiant clarions: she nobly contended for liberty, the grand birth-right of human nature: she drew her unfleshed falchion in the cause of illimited philanthropy: the three­fold energies of public spirit, virtue and persever­ance were proud to follow in her train: heaven graciously rewarded her magnanimous efforts with complete success, exceeding sanguine expectation; established her independence by the return of an early peace; necessitated the recognition of her sovereignty from the nations of Europe, and ren­dered her no less respectable abroad, than secure at home. At this delightful period of our transito­ry [Page 23] retrospect, on mighty labors and on countless toils, the heroe's noblest monument, the patriot's richest meed, it becomes us to make a heart-felt pause, most gratefully to acknowledge our mani­fold obligations, unto Almighty GOD, whose right [...] was so often made bare for our temporal sal­vation. To him, we are indebted for that spirit of wisdom which distinguished the supreme council of Amreica; for the remarkable union that pervaded so immense a body as three millions of people; for the astonishing patience, fortitude and bravery, ex­hibited by the troops of the continent; for the final friendly disposition of France, Spain and Holland; and above all for the continued preservation of one inestimable life, no less essential to the future well being of his country in peace, than the strength of battle in the day of war; "his head a senate, and his arm an host". And here, what praises are due to the magnanimous commander in chief of our armies, who scarcely ever had a permanent and effective corps to second his designs; who frequently was obliged to borrow money for immediate public exigence on his own personal credit; who was often impelled to raise temporary supplies by extraordinary impress, which his soul abhorred; who was followed to vic­tory by a few faithful Continentals, shivering in De­cember for the want of a blanket, and marking the footsteps of conquest in the dripping blood of free­men, empurpling wintry snows! The monumental co­lumn of enduring brass; the luminous record of the historic page and the animated pathos of eloquence, with the mellifluous strains of poesy, are incompe­tent to preserve the memory of his illustrious a­chievements, and fail in their attempt to deleniate his godlike character. The human bosom forms the liv­ing archive in which his virtues are feelingly depo­sited; his deathless deeds are inscribed on the tablet of the heart, by the pencil of gratitude, and the name [Page 24] of Washington shall live in the memory of man, un­til the stars of American glory quit the radiant sphere of heaven, and waste their evening fires in lighting nature's final tomb. Nor are the patriot forces of the Union less deserving of the impassioned Io paean, breathing fervent thanks for meritorious service. Principles of honor nerved the officers to incredible valor and unparallelled sufferings; taught them to seek the post of danger, insensible to fear, and forbade their retreat from the embowelled mine, charged with sudden death; a noble spirit of generous emulation governed their conduct; the united band of Masonic brothers started together for the self same prize of independence, and no one outstripped anoth­er in the course of glory. All personal considerations of a selfish nature appear to have been swallowed up in the most ardent amor patriae. The endearing charms of domestic felicity, the sweet converse of the wedded fair, the lovely prattle of the beauteous babe, were cheerfully resigned at their country's call; and even the paternal feelings, the conjugal sensibilities, and the friendly affections, exerted their attractive influence in vain, when America shouted for the battle, and cried to arms, to arms. Animated by the glorious exemplar of their adored chieftain, they towered above the height of human excellence, and having risen to the achmè of caelestial virtue, the fruit of immortality is their high reward; they shall live forever.

An equal, if not superior magnanimity, distin­guished the regular troops of America, and pervaded the inferior grades of military life, whose lot for­bade the animating influence of refined sensibilities, and damped the elevating hope of preferment above subaltern rank. A strong moral sense of duty, uni­ted with an invincible love for their country, co-blended the character of the passive citizen, with [Page 25] that of the active soldier. Even in the hour of fren­zied desperation, when poverty, nakedness and fa­mine severely experienced in the camps, and bitter­ly felt by suffering kindred charities at home, imperi­ously necessitated them for a moment to shoulder their arms and wheel to the right about, they unanimous­ly spurned at the golden lures of Sir Henry Clin­ton, and delivered up his secret emissaries to instan­taneous punishment. Men actuated by such inde­pendence of soul, so patient in the most trying scenes, so incorrupt▪ in the day of temptation, are superior to all the satellites of despotism, between the van of Nimrod on the plains of Babel, and the rear of combined tyranny desolating Europe; their virtues are recorded by a heaven taught Humphreys in the [...] numbers of his fraternal page: their sufferings have been eternized by an indepen­dent Madison, in the living pathos of Demosthenian eloquence: and the noblest panegyric of the patri­ot army is comprised in this laconic sentence, these troops were worthy of a Washington's command.

Is it possible for imagination in her boldest flight, to conceive of ought on earth, which can impress a more radiant lustre on those luminous rays that al­ready [Page 26] encircle the laurelled brows of the illustrious chieftain, and his brave compeers in fame? What virtue herself almost despaired of, Washington great­ly effected. His voluntary resignation of the mo­mentous powers with which his country had invest­ed him, accompanied by a silent retreat to the phi­losophic [...]des of Mount-Vernon, and followed by his paternal legacy to the infant States, imposed an eternal seal on the lip of detraction, and flushed the pale cheek of envy with a deepening crimson. E­very officer felt emulous to [...] his General's exam­ple, though far removed from [...] august original. Even the common soldiers caught the flame of pa­triotism, and having conquered the foes of America, obtained the noblest triumph over themselves; whilst the whole army, as "if to [...] forgetful­ness a prey, their pleasing▪ anxious [...] life resign­ed, left the loved precincts of the tented field, nor cast one longing look, except on peace." Father of Columbia! friend to the human race! [...] thou for a moment from the toils of war. Virtual like thine, are destined to fill an ever active round. It is yet a very little while, and Madison shall rouse the ancient confederation to contemplate their own imbecility. A new constitution, rising as a Phae­nix, from the ashes of the old, imprints the fea­tures of youth on the aspect of decay, and gives a nervous tone to the paralized public body, hence­forward impassive of dissolution. Lo the voice of the people, that voice which Washington himself obeys, gratefully intrudes upon his beloved retreat: the united suffrages of accordant millions call forth his salvatory powers a second time: he is seated su­preme at the head of the federal government, and guided by the polar star of the constitution, the momentary variation of the political magnet shall never alter his steady course. America, how im­mense are thy obligations to the first, the best of [Page 27] men! are the nations of the elder world sinking in the whirlpool of war? does restless ambition urge the United States within the vortex? he lifts aloft the balance of impartial neutrality and forbids the suspended scale to incline. Is the trump of rebellion blown? [...] lawless anarchy unfurled her standard? his invaluable life is hazarded in the restoration of order. Faction feels apalled at [...] approach. The demon of confusion hides the head, abashed. How pleasing the task to amplify this transient sketch! but modest [...] the attempt as too arduous.

It is time that we contemplate the important con­sequences which have resulted to America, from the acknowledgment and confirmation of her indepen­dence. Her territorial property, guaranteed, by the treaty of 1783, includes a diversified variety of cli­mate, combining the salutiferous extremes of nor­thern cold, with the fructifying heats of the sultry south. Almost every [...] production which is common to Europe, and many that are indigenous to this quarter [...] the globe have opened an exten­sive field for the genius of cultivation, where science may rove unfettered in [...] flowery researches, or virgin nature, "snatch's gr [...]e beyond the reach of art." Commerce no longer shackled by jealous re­straint, spreads her snow white pinions to every gale of heaven; now combats with the tempest brood­ing round the pole, or wings her dauntless way, amid the lightnings of the east. New resources of na­tional opulence are daily unfolding; and private en­terprise has met an abundant reward. Even, the spoliations of mercantile interest, have not been [Page 28] without their public utility. The meritorious class of immediate sufferers, are very far from hav­ing been the most clamorous for hostile reprisals; and the amiable spirit of pacific accommodation, which they generally preferred to the horrors of a continental war, will reflect the highest honor on the great body of American merchants, when the vox et preterea nihil of uninterested passion is forever silenced. Partial evils are inseparable from a state of warfare. The reciprocal jealousies of belligerent powers, only intent on doing the utmost possible mis­chief to each other, frequently induce both to leap the barriers of right, and unoffending neutrality is the innocent victim of either triumphant party. Happy, thrice happy the people, who calmly weigh their real interests in the even scale of reason, and for a while suffer individual wrong with patience, deeming it vastly preferable to universal ill. The population of the union claims our next attention▪ America, in the language of an ancient writer, may be styled the forge of the human race, and [...] by the continual influx of emigrants, who are driven from their native homes, to seek repose beneath our shadowy pinions, must finally arrive at that infinity of numbers, which will baffle the powers of a census. The State of New-York in 1756 contained 83,233 inhabitants; in 1777 no less than [...]48,124; an in­crease of nearly two for one, in fifteen years. Some parts of New-England have exceeded this ratio, and the peopling of Vermont, Kentucky, the Western Territory, and the government south of the Ohio, almost surpasses credibility. The first of these States was a pathless desart at the dawn of the late contest. It now embosoms upwards of one hundred thousand inhabitants. The second had scarcely been explored by the hunter in 1775. At present, it boasts more men than Georgia, Delaware or Rhode-Island; and the settlements north and south of [Page 29] the Ohio, have been, if possible, more rapid in population than the two last pillars of the Federal Dome.

What an astonishing scene presents to the philo­sophic eye! what a delightful prospect opens on the philanthropic mind! already we see in beauteous vision, the yet untrodden wilderness, penetrated by the daring sons of bold adventure; behold the illi­mited morass yield to the strong arm of hardy agri­culture, and even those immense forests beyond the western plains, which are the secret haunts of Mam­moth, become the future abodes of social life; while the humanizing arts know no boundaries but the distant horizon; and literature closes her splendid career that commenced at the portals of day, by il­luminating the windows of the setting sun. At the same moment let us indulge the pleasing hope, that the inestimable blessings of our federal government, and the dignified spirit of Washington's patriotic ad­ministration, holding the olive branch of peace in his right hand, as the most valuable offering to sur­rounding nations; and grasping the untarnished sword of empire with his left, in awful memento, that America is sovereign, independent and free, may shed their benignest influence on every rising republic, added to the increasing political family; and the clustering stars of the consolidated union, eventually form one unclouded galaxy of federate glory▪ shining brighter and brighter to the perfect day of universal freedom.

Neither have the effects of our independence been less perceptible in Europe, than visible in America. It was a spark from the altar flame of liberty on this side of the Atlantic, which alight on the pinnacle of despotism in France, and reduced the immense fabric to ashes, in the twinkling of an eye. Then, the [Page 30] guarded recesses of tyranny, which had been invio­late for one hundred and seventy years, were pene­trated by the majesty of man. The dread asylum of clerical domination was overturned by the spirit of freedom. The impregnable castles of a haughty noblesse were levelled in the dust of ruin. A mer­cenary band of foreign Janizaries, armed against the people, was completely annihilated. An intolerant system of oppressive taxation, lightened from the bending shoulders of crouching subjects. Infernal lettres de cachet, the midnight death warrant of domestic happiness, forever suspended. The armo­rial trappings of ancestral pride torn in pieces: and the sanctuary of lawless power uprooted from its sanguinary base. Happy, happy indeed should we be, to close the portrait here, and give to [...]allic ani­mation, the best applauses of a sister spirit. But the tragical excesses of independent [...], the vile auto­matons of anarchy, arrest our praise. The iron r [...]in of self created clubs, controlling law, calls forth ab­horrence. The horrid despotism of the bloody Robespierre commands our detestation. The unme­rited proscription of the brave Fayette excites the indignant thrill; and on the scaffold of Louis XVI, only known to us, in the character of a greatly needed, much loved friend, humanity turns pale, and friendship weeps. How solemn is the lecture read by France! How awful the memento of our first ally! To us, to us, her millions cry with trum­pet tongue, "preserve the checks and balances of duly constituted powers: and let not liberty verge to licentiousness." More they would say, mark other rocks, and point to different gulfs; but tears of sensibility prevent. Her moderates mourn ten thousand lawless murders.

The revolution in Poland, conducted by the gallant Kosciusko, the pupil of the immortal Washington, [Page 31] was a consequen [...], flowing from the struggles of A­merica, and the abolition of African slavery, with the diminution of [...] powers, and the suspen­sion of the question by torture, are scyons from the parent tree of the west. To the first of these noble efforts in behalf of man, the proud Autocratix of ac­cused despotism, whose throne is based on the quiver­ing limbs of mangled victims, has imperiously set an everlasting seal. May the latter be eternally pros­pered, and Ethiopia soon stretch out her hands, fil­led with blessings from heaven above, and from earth beneath; while civil tyranny and religious bigotry shall weep deserted palaces, and mourn abandoned altars. To [...] up all in a few words, the increa­sing light of knowledge, accompanied by virtue, animated [...] freedom, and supported by fortitude, must eventually progress, like the widely diffused rays of yen caelestial luminary, under these whole heavens; and finally, in the vast expansion of the family of earth, political servitude, bending of the neck obsequious; or prostrate, kneeling in the dirt to diadems, shall be abolished by the native Majesty of the image of a GOD, rising in defence of its in­sulted dignity, and known no more at all, from age to age, world without end, henceforth, forever.

Ever honored fathers of New-Hampshire, respect­ed inhabitants of Portsmouth, and beloved fellow-citizens of the United States!

The improvement of the august subject, which has engaged the most candid attention, rests with yourselves. As members of the federate family, be ye persuaded, that the strength of the body po­litic, depends upon the harmony of its constituent parts. The spirit of extreme equality, and of ration­al liberty are diametrical opposites. Suffer not the best possible form of general government, which has been ratified by the unanimous suffrage of mil­lions, to be overturned from its base, by the demon of popular jealousy, whose right hand is armed with the sword of civil war, and whose left wields the disguised sceptre of infernal tyranny. As indivi­duals, remember the lessons of piety, religion and morality, impressed by the dying lips of your ven­erable forefathers, and inscribe their sacred admoni­tions, not on the phylacteries of a specious freedom, flowing to the loosened gales of pestiferous anarchy, but on the inmost recesses of the grateful heart, ani­mated by unfeigned devotion to GOD, the giver of those inestimable blessings, which you liberally en­joy; and warm with fervent love for fellow man, the fraternal participant in bounteous good. Set laudable examples of frugality, economy and indus­try. The sons of indolence are ever active in evil. Discountenance luxury, dissipation and pleasure; [Page 33] they are enervating Genii, inimical to the interests of a pure democracy. Athens strongly corroborates this momentous truth: her voluptuous spirit trem­bled more at the annihilation of festive sports, than at the threatened destruction of the ancient repub­lic.: Philip was not regarded as the enemy of liber­ty, but feared as the foe of pleasure; and she passed a law, which rendered it death, to convert those monies that were destined for the support of a the­atre, to the salvation of a sinking state. The Ba­ron Montesquieu has justly observed that virtue in a republic is a most simple thing: it is a love for the laws: an innate amor patriae: a sensation, and not a consequent of acquired knowledge: a sensa­tion that may be felt by the lowest, as well as by the highest person in the commonwealth. Retrace the astonishing efficacy of this principle in the late arduous contest, and again reduce its wonder work­ing energies to vital practise. America has passed the boundaries of morn: the rays of her glory are almost vertical. Every effort of the union, and of individuals ought to be combined in causing the sun of empire to stand still, that it may not haste to go down; and nothing can effectuate this, ex­cept the potent arm of primitive simplicity, temper­ance and sobriety puts on strength as in ancient days, and retards the otherways descending chariot, whirling from the zenith of glory, to the nadir of declension. A celebrated writer has remarked that immoral action is the last efficient in the dissolution of republics. Trivial carelessness, slight faults, dan­gerous examples, small seeds of corruption and what­ever does not openly violate, but secretly elude the laws; whatever does not boldly subvert their pow­er, but insensibly weakens their force, are the un­seen moles of empire, working under cover, till the walls of beauty and the gates of praise, sapped to their foundation, tumble headlong of themselves, [Page 34] and fill the opening ditch of desolation with the mutilated fragments of ruined grandeur.

Stand, therefore, on the watch towers of virtue in the day time, nor leave the temple of public morals unguarded for a moment. Inculcate rever­ence, respect and obedience to the powers that are: they have been elected by the united voice of in­corrupt freemen; and if any one individual should prove unworthy of future trust, remember that he is amenable to the great body of the people; and not to a petit tribunal, composed of a few designing characters, who snatch the balance and the rod from the only legal constituent, the sole annihila­ting power. Be diffident of those restless spirits who delight in foreign war, or foment internal com­motions. America has nothing to gain, if victory fol­lowed her standard to Europe; and every thing to lose, should her own household rise up as homebred foes. Learn from the example of a thousand ages, confirmed by the voice of Solomon himself, that vir­tue alone exalteth a nation, whilst vice uproots he­roic states, and lays them low, to rise no more. Bend the whole force of education to avert such awful change. That confidence which the union reposed in the general government during the late war, imparted the strength of the arm to the ex­tremities of the foot, and braced the whole body erect against the raging tempest. This confidence, if insensibly weakened, must affect every part of the complicate system, and at length will induce a rapid consumption of those vital energies that are essen­tial to the health of the political frame. The watch­ful assiduity of nursing fathers, the unwearied solici­tude of public ministers, and the invigorating aid of private citizens, are all invoked in behalf of the best interests of the mighty whole; while the last, the tenderest, the most pathetic appeal is lodged to fe­male [Page 35] worth, the constituted primal guardian angel of this immense confederation.

To you, my respected, honored friends, society confides the all important charge of early discipline. The opening mind is daily fashioned by your plastic powers. The future man is but the image of his first preceptress. Conscientiously discharge the glo­rious task assigned. Religiously fulfil the noblest duty in the sphere of life. Your animating smiles supported the desponding spirit of the war worn hero. Your soothing accents roused the dying confidence of patriots yielding to the storm. America well plea­sed with the past, resigns her present, future hope to the gentle influence of your refined examples; to the instructive lore of virtue's fairest precepts; and on this day, the birth day of empire, commits the children of the federal republic in solemn trust to the lovely daughters of Columbia. May heaven and earth united, give that plaudit to your meritorious toils, which woman has deserved in every age; and both pronounce, without one voice dissenting from the eulogy divine, "faithful and good, well done."