To perpetuate in the minds of American freemen, the principles upon which their republic is founded, was the original object of this anniversary celebra­tion. To commemorate in joyful but sol­emn festivity, the day which added the name of America to the catalogue of nations, is a custom which was not adopted by a mere thirst for empty parade, and noisy hilarity; but was dictated by the suggestions of de­liberate wisdom, and which has descended to us, sanctioned by the venerable practice of our political founders. They early saw, with a foresight alas too prophetic! that the time might e'er long arrive, when the principles which they had so nobly defend­ed, would become unfashionable, when the privileges which they had so dearly purcha­sed, would be trifled with, and when the wrongs and oppressions which they had [Page 6] struggled with, would be buried in the grave of forgetfulness; that a people who had lost the remembrance of their primeval vir­tues, and trampled upon the ashes of their forefathers, must e'er long forget them­selves, and be forgotten by the government of their choice.

That by a frequent commemoration of the events of this day, our minds might be familiarized to contemplate the principles for which it is sacred, has it long been de­voted to the important purpose for which we are now assembled.

To those who have been conversant in the trying scenes which our beloved coun­try has once experienced, and who by their meritorious exertions established that glo­rious declaration of freedom, sovereignty, and independence, upon which were embar­ked "the lives, the fortunes and the sacred honor" of America, it would ill become him who now addresses you to offer the lessons of admonition or instruction. But to those of us my friends, who have risen up to en­joy the privileges which have been purcha­sed for us, and to participate in the blessings which have been bequeathed us, it may be useful to retrace the ground which has been trodden before us, and to review the prin­ciples [Page 7] which have been established for our instruction.

It is not the object at this time to re­hearse the historical progress of the Amer­ican revolution, or to recapitulate the steps, by which a nation patient of injury, though sensible of injustice, desirous of con­ciliation, yet determined to be free, was driv­en from one stage of suffering to another, 'till they arrived at that point where for­bearance would avail them no longer, and their duty commanded them to resist. The events and the measures which reduced the good people of America to this solemn and trying situation are now well known to the world, and familiar to each member of this assembly. It is sufficient to declare the causes of their conduct in the heart-felt lan­guage which they then adopted. "That the history of the king of Great-Britain, was a history of repeated injuries and usur­pations, all having in direct object the estab­lishment of an absolute tyranny over these states, that in every stage of these oppres­sions, they petitioned for redress in the most humble terms, their repeated petitions were answered only by repeated injuries; and that a prince whose character was thus marked by every act which might define a tyrant, was unfit to be the rules of a free [Page 8] people."^* Such were the injuries they sus­tained, and such the virtuous cause, for the support of which, relying only upon heaven and themselves, they closed in the last and solemn appeal; and what was the result of this seemingly unequal conflict, between a nation proud of their military resources, and flushed with their feats of prowess; and a nation just emerging from the cradle of infancy, and diffident of her means, is a question which every American can answer with a glow of honest pride, while with a heart of expansive philanthropy he ex­claims.

To the memory of those patriotic wor­thies, whose lives have for our lakes been offered up on the altar of Independence; and to those, who after a loss of every thing but their honor in her service, their coun­try has rewarded with promises and with scars, we would fain offer that poor tribute of remembrance which must be at the best but so very inadequate to their merits. But their names and their deeds, how they fought and how they fell, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of Columbia, and inscribed on the register of immortali­ty? [Page 9] Let us their sons imitate the virtues which they practised, and attend diligently to the principles which for our instruction they have here left on long record.

We have heard my friends, and our fath­ers have told us, in the impressive words which have just been read. "That all men are created equal. That they have certain unalienable rights. That all legitimate gov­ernments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed; who have a right when those governments fall from their original prin­ciples, to alter and to abolish them; that to throw off such governments, and to provide new guards for their future security, is not only their right but their duty."^* Here then are we taught in their fullest extent, those doctrines of "Liberty and Equality" which have of late become the subject of modern derision and ridicule; That doctrine of the universal sovereignty of the people, for which those who have now the hardihood to main­tain it, have, from a high authority, been branded as enemies of the human race: and here is preached in solemn and explicit terms, that principle, which has been de­nounced as the harbinger of confusion, li­centiousness and bloodshed; the right, nay [Page 10] the duty of resistance and insurrection, against governments whose progress to despotism and oppression can be arrested by no other alterna­tive.

And however harsh, however daring and disorderly, these positions may now sound in the ears of some, be assured they are drawn from that memorable instrument, the declaration of American Independence; and I would repeat it, that these supposed dangerous doctrines, of an original and in­nate equality of man, of sovereignty of the people, and of the rights of resistance and insurrection to usurped powers, are no "weeds of French growth," no invention of "modern philosophers and system mongers," as some would have us believe: they are none of the late invented machines, made to pull down all the religions and govern­ments of Europe on the heads of their in­habitants, and which have lately been hatch­ed up in the fancies of a disordered brain. No, fellow citizens, they are the cool un­sophisticated conclusions of the honest sages of America; it is declared by them, not only as a self-evident, but as a primary ar­ticle of their creed, that all men are created equal; equal, not in bodily stature, not in the noble faculties of the mind, or the finer feelings of the heart; but equal in their [Page 11] claims to those invaluable blessings, which a beneficent being has bestowed upon his common family with an impartial hand, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I have been thus particular in bringing up to the view of my fellow-citizens, a re­membrance of the principles which have just been recapitulated; because they ap­pear, by many, to have been either entire­ly forgotten, or remembered but as "the tales of yesterday;" and, because, strange to tell! that amongst a people who were the first to sanction them by their adoption, and to defend them by their blood, it has become in the short period of twenty three years, an unpopular, I had almost said a dangerous attempt to proclaim and support them, yet here they stand; written on the page of American history, and to be erased only by a destruction of those solemn re­cords on which they are enrolled.

Such then being some of the principles, on the maintenance of which as our fathers declared, depend the freedom and happi­ness of our country, let us look at some of those measures which they deemed infrac­tions thereof; infractions, not of a trifling and a transient nature, but such as impel­ed them to that last alternative, resistance; and to embark themselves on the boisterous [Page 12] sea of a revolution, a state which has been well described as the "worst of all possible evils, except that confirmed establishment of tyranny and oppression, for which there is no other cure."

Amongst other grievances suffered by America from the hand of an usurping power, and which were deemed too intol­erable for freemen to endure, the following stand conspicuous; impeding by unjust and impolitic measures, the encreasing wealth and population of these states, and for that purpose, "obstructing the laws for the nat­uralization of foreigners, and refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither; erecting a multitude of new offices, and sending hither swarms of officers to harrass the people, and eat out their sub­stance; affecting to render the military in­dependent of and superior to the civil pow­er. Keeping amongst us in times of peace standing armies, without the consent of our legislature, and imposing taxes upon us without our consent."^* From these multi­plied oppressions [...] making off the tyranny of [...] government, by whom they [...]; and under those of them to [...] expo­sed, merely [...] as dependent [Page 13] colonies, we are in no danger of again fal­ling, so long as we retain that independent station, to which "nature and nature's God" has entitled us. But amongst the black catalogue of abuses which we then sustained from a foreign power, are there not some of them, which are sins so easily besetting all established governments, that against the repetition of them by our own, there is even now no security, but in the caution, the spir­it, and the unceasing vigilance of the people?

Had we even at this time, a government who were capable of forgetting the hand that formed them, and neglecting the true interests of their country; might they not check our rising greatness, and impede the natural increase of our numbers and resour­ces, by "obstructing the laws for the natural­ization of foreigners," under specious pre­texts of national security, and ideal and ex­aggerated causes of alarm; passing others subjecting the friendless alien to hard and unusual punishments, founded upon unjust suspicions, and malicious accusations; de­nying him the common rights of hospitali­ty, and the impartial benefits of justice and humanity? might not such a government, like the devouring lion from whose fangs we have escaped, "erect a multitude of new offices, and send out amongst us swarms of of­ficers [Page 14] to barrass the people and eat out their substance? for that purpose waging foolish and needless wars; taking occasion there­by to create extensive military and naval establishments; imposing unnecessary and extravagant taxes; buying up the virtue and independence of the people, and mul­tiplying the adherents of administration, by the temptations of office emoluments, pla­ces and patronage? might not such a gov­ernment in some good measure "render the military independent of, and superior to the civil power," by frequently calling them forth to suppress pretended insurrections, purposely created and artfully fomented, by impolitic measures, irritating denuncia­tions and insolent threats; and if not en­couraging, at least not taking care to cor­rect and discountenance their indecent out­rages, and lawless enormities on the person and property of the unoffending citizen? might they not virtually suppress the ines­timable "freedom of speech and of the press," under the insidious pretences, of checking licentiousness, falshood and ca­lumny; by laws partially framed, and un­fairly executed, licensing in the partizans of administration the most scandalous calum­nies, and impudent libels▪ and suppressing under the name of sedition, the remonstran­ces [Page 15] which could not be silenced by argu­ment? and thus proceed, in their works of despotism and injustice, without fear and without shame, by shutting up the avenues of public opinion, expostulation and com­plaint? and hedged in with this system of defence, might they not "in times of peace, keep up amongst us standing armies," if not without the formal consent of our legisla­ture, at least without the free and unbiassed consent of the people.

These are the tracks in which all estab­lished governments, unchecked by the vi­gilance, spirit and intelligence of the peo­ple, are prone to run; and from which my fellow citizens, without those salutary re­straints, it were folly to suppose that our's would be exempt. Whether in its past ad­ministration, there are already discoverable any symptoms of such a declension from first principles; whether it has sought to establish its measures, by a system of ter­ror, compulsion and alarm; rather than upon the broad basis of the people's affec­tions; whether its organization has been laid, in principles of frugality, moderation, and virtue; or in the principles of profli­gacy, imprudence and venality, are ques­tions, on which those who must feel their effects, have a right freely to judge; and [Page 16] the result of that opinion, they have a right as freely to declare. For to what purpose do we boast of freedom of opinion, when the expression of it is curtailed by the terrors of the law; and how shall we form a just estimation of the characters of public ser­vants, which are protected from scrutiny, by penalties, imprisonment and disgrace?

But whatever terrors to check the exer­cise of free enquiry may be held out by men in power, whatever menaces may be used by their adherents, let us not be intimida­ted. The sacred instrument which we have established as the safeguard of our rights, has declared in terms too explicit to be frittered a way by the little arts of sophistry, or the paltry shifts of time-serving expedi­ency, that public measures require no oth­er defence than their own justice and pro­priety; and that the only protection to which the characters of your rulers are en­titled, is a conviction of their virtue, wis­dom, and integrity amongst the people.

Strong therefore in the ground, which the wisdom of our excellent constitution has authorized us to take; and confident that to no laws abridging "the freedom of speech or of the press," can submission ever be lawfully enforced; it might be [Page 17] useful and proper in this place, to compare with that standard by which alone they are to be judged, some of those measures of administration, which have excited in the minds of our countrymen the most alarm­ing apprehensions, and inflicted on the feelings of the American people, a wound which it may be difficult hereafter to heal: and from this enquiry we ought not to be deterred by any considerations of unmanly fear, false delicacy, or mistaken views of propriety. For by a man who now holds the highest post of honor which the voice of his country can bestow, we were but a few years since exhorted, in words which he cannot recall, nor we forget, "not to be in­timidated by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom, whatever may be warrant­ed by the laws of our country, nor suffer our­selves to be wheedled out of our liberties by any pretences of politeness, delicacy or decency; for these, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice. ^*"

[Page 18] If, fellow citizens, the measures of gov­ernment be capable of a fair justification, they have certainly nothing to apprehend from scrutiny and examination; and it they are not able to stand the test of enqui­ry, who will say that we shall not be told of it in language, plain, audible and undis­guised. But upon this investigation, were the talents of the speaker competent, the time to which we are limited would not al­low us to enter: It is sufficient for the pre­sent occasion, if we can be brought to feel that we have precious privileges at stake, and to know that we have a right to defend them.

It has not been unforeseen, that some of the foregoing sentiments may be thought too bold, insubordinate and licentious for the present times; that the matter may be esteemed dangerous, and the manner im­prudent, and that thereby offences to ma­ny may come, yet "to the law and to the tes­timony" to the declarations of our public re­cords, to the truth of history, and to the knowledge of your own hearts may I appeal for the fact, that they were once the popular topics of American declamation; that they have been proclaimed with zeal by her pa­triots, and heard by her citizens with ap­probation. But "a generation who knew [Page 19] not Joseph hath arisen," in another country, a mighty revolution hath happened; an event in its principles, its operation, and its consequences, greater probably than the world ever saw.

This revolution, which commenced cer­tainly upon principles congenial with our own, has, in many of its stages, been preg­nant with events highly honorable to the human character, and consolatory to the cause of freedom; and in others with catas­trophes and excesses, the most discouraging to the views of humanity, and disgraceful to the character of man.

I am sensible that the respective revolu­tions of America and of France, though founded on the same original principles, have, in their progress and their consum­mation, been marked with many, very ma­ny different features and characteristics; and it is with pleasure that any feeble at­tempts of my own are resigned, when it furnishes an opportunity of giving place to the striking picture of this subject, which has been drawn by the eloquent pen of an Erskine.

"America and France, says he, be [...] their revolutions upon the same principles, but with very different fortunes. America had no an­cient internal aristocracy, France had nothing [Page 20] else. America had to contend with England only, a contention which gave her France to protect her: France had to contend against the world. When England had exhausted and disgraced herself, America was therefore free: but France had to exhaust and disgrace the world, and in the dreadful effort has been driven to extremities, which frequently have disgraced herself. But with these accidental differences the objects were the same; discon­tent occasioned by abuses produced both revolu­tions; both governments might have continued monarchical, if corrupt power would have sub­mited to correction; they are both now repre­sentative republics, and if corruption will not yet be corrected, let her look to herself. ^*"

It is not surprising that such a revolution, so mighty in its operations, so vast in its objects▪ and so disastrous in many of its e­vents, should have produeed in the minds of men, all those passions, anxieties and alarms, which are dictated by the feelings of interest, ambition and avarice. That the kings and the nobles of the earth; the princes of power, and the lords of their brethren, should have been roused at the approach of a system which proclaimed the principles of equal rights, and prostrated at [Page 21] a blow those ideal claims to honor and sway, which their deluded vassals had been taught to reverence and adore, was natural and expected. That the extraordinary and terrific scenes which occured in its accom­plishment, should have perplexed the minds of many honest and feeling men, and have induced them to caution and diffidence, in proposing and executing apparently saluta­ry innovations in existing establishments, was perhaps proper and justifiable. But that with any considerable number of think­ing Americans, the mere excesses of a revo­lution, which was effected under circum­stances of external interference, and inter­nal difficulties which no nation ever before struggled with, should produce a horror at the very name of liberty; should induce them to regard every struggle of an op­pressed nation for its rightful freedom, as an effort of lawless and wicked rebellion; and every attempt at peaceful reformation, as "a conspiracy against all religion and gov­ernment," are circumstances unlooked for, and unaccountable. But that the dreams of disordered imaginations in Europe, should be imported here by American sanatics, and palmed upon the public as the councils of truth and soberness; that the impious ca­lumnies [Page 22] which they propagate, should be successfully enlisted under the banners of a party here, and played off upon characters whose philanthropy, disinterestedness, mod­eration, and virtue, should ever endear them to a grateful people, are facts, which will leave a deep stain upon the American char­acter, and excite in posterity a blush for the follies of their fathers. But will not the considerate citizens of our country, when they hear the very principles for which they have fought denounced as disorganizing, atheistical and impious, have the firmness to withstand the barefaced delusion? and when they see the fairest and the first of her patriots, her Franklin, and her Jeffer­son, dragged into the bloody list of preten­ded conspirators; will they not have the spirit to step boldly forth, and vindicate to the world, the names of those, who in times of unexampled trial, profligacy, and corrup­tion, have ever dared to vindicate the cause of the people?

But it is by these delusive phantoms con­jured up to bewilder and to dazzle the mind; by these systems of artificial plots, conspiracies and alarms, that the unsupecting mind of the American public has been be­guiled, and the honest virtues of their hearts contaminated & perverted. From this cause [Page 23] hath it happened, that the plain principles of their revolution have become unfashion­able, and the unvarnished language of freedom an unwelcome tale. Yet it is on that very account more eminently the duty of every faithful citizen, to remind his bre­thren of the principles upon which their re­public rests, "and whether they will hear or whether they will forbear" to point to the dangers which threaten their dissolution.

But there are periods in the affairs of na­tions, when it is not only their duty to bring to view the first principles of their rights, and to contemplate those sound maxims of policy on which their political institutions are founded; but it likewise be­hoves them, to consider well of that criti­cal and dangerous situation into which they may sometimes be driven, by circumstanc­es unfortunate and unavoidable; or by the reign of a perverse and passionate system of measures, totally inconsistent with the per­manent welfare of the state, or the exist­ence of private safety and happiness, coun­tenancing the most dangerous and destruc­tive passions in the minds of the people, and kept up by the re-action of those passions upon the government.

Such it is to be feared is the situation to­wards which by a perversion of the public [Page 24] feeling, singular and unnatural, we are now rapidly verging. For popular delusion and political infatuation are distempers, of the public mind, with which most nations have been attacked at some periods of their ex­istence, like the epidemical maladies of the human body, their operation has varied with the different constitutions of the pa­tient, and the predisposing causes by which that constitution was affected. They have at one time led their enchanted subjects in­to the troubled gulf of licentiousness, and at others into the stagnant sea of despotism and oppression. It is not by force alone that liberty has been destroyed, or the charms of freedom obliterated. The most abominable systems of tyranny which have disgraced the annals of the world, have nei­ther been introduced by conquest, nor es­tablished by the sword. They have been accomplished by the gentle arts of popular delusion, and built upon the infatuated blind­ness of the multitude; who lulled into secu­rity, or driven into perversity, awake only to a prospect of their wretchedness, and to realize the consequences of their errors.

The application of these remarks to the temper of the present times, is perhaps more just than obvious, and will be felt more readily than acknowledged.

[Page 25] A perverse attachment to a party, who had rather risk the dissolution of our federal union, than be disappointed in the accom­plishment of a favorite measure; is, it is apprehended the infatuation of the present day, and the delusion by which too many are affected; to the temper, the views and the consequences of which, it were well to call the attention of considerate men.

That the mutual confederation of these United States, which was at first dictated by necessity, cemented by common calami­ty, and continued by the dictates of wisdom and expedience, had been the guarantee of our national existence, prosperity and hap­piness; that its dissolution would open the door to innumerable evils, and throw us into a state of wretchedness and confusion, were once esteemed unquestionable truths, of late however, these truths have either been weakly denied, or wickedly disregard­ed. The happy continuation of our union we have reason to fear, has not only been threatened by a series of untoward meas­ures, but its very expedience has been open­ly questioned, and its dissolution wantonly proved; how consistent with an affected at­tachment to order, and the exclusive char­acter of federalism, let the public judge! [Page 26] it becomes then important to enquire, on what principles that union is founded, by what means it has so long been preserved, and to what dangers it is now exposed.

Let it then be remembered, that the con­stitution of these states, the present bond of our union, was necessarily a system of ac­commodation; that mutual sacrifices of interest, opinion, and prejudice are it basis; that when these sacrifices are withheld, the superstructure which has been raised upon them must tumble into ruins. That these were the pillars upon which it was erected, we have the evidence of that illustrious bo­dy who gave it existence. "Thus" say they,^* "the constitution which we present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our local situation rendered indispensible."

Whatever therefore tends to sap the foun­dation of these pillars, and to sweep from under our feet this "rock of our political salvation," deserves to be guarded with cau­tion, and repressed with vigilance. And is not this, oh citizens of America, that bane­ful spirit of party with which we are infest­ed; that canker worm which embitters so­ciety, foments public discord, and private [Page 27] animosity, and infuses its poison into the cup of social enjoyment? We are at present perhaps rather diverted than alarmed at its progress; like heedless children we may sit smiling at the destructive flame we have kindled, until like them we may be swal­lowed up in the conflagration, when it has spread beyond the power of resistance. But how shall its rage be checked or its fu­ry appeased; when no station is too exalt­ed for its influence, and no office too sacred for its exercise? from the grave character who presides upon the bench of justice, to the young master who harangues at the academy, do we not hear the same unceas­ing strain of party politics, and partizan inculcations? and even that theatre, which was once devoted to the mild service of the prince of peace, is now daily shaken by the jarring notes of political discord.

To crown all, the press, that fruitful tree of good and evil; the "palladium of our rights, and the scourge of tyrants;" but at the same time the mother of dissension, and the root of all bitterness, is called in to heighten our mutual hatreds, and to in­crease the sum of our irritation. Geo­graphical divisions, and local prejudices are improved to promote dissensions, and the distant inhabitants of the un­ion [Page 28] are depicted to each other in all the black features of savage atrocity. Private reputation assaulted, individual character wantonly sported with, and public virtue on every hand branded with in amy, is a saint part of the picture which is daily pre­sented to our observation; and every pub­lic character has frequent occasion to ob­serve with Alexander, "how short is the distance between a statue and a gibbet!"

We have heard much in the publications of the day, of the dangers of faction, the mis­chiefs of party, and the necessity of union and concert; and we undoubtedly wish to see these factions crushed, and harmony resto­red; to one or other of these factions we most of us probably belong; and it is not less a faction, because perhaps in the gen­eral scale of American politics it happens just at this moment to predominate. There is no security that it will so continue; and had not those who have now the fortune of war in their hands, better listen to terms of accommodation? the opposite party must o'er long inevitably rise in its turn, in the general circle of vibration; and who shall answer for their moderation, or that they shall shew mercy to those, from whose hands they have not received it? it may be well for those, who contemning the voice of op­position, [Page 29] and insulting the language of re­monstrance, are determined to drive every measure which the infatuation of party can accomplish; to consider, that there is a point beyond which provocation is no longer tol­erable, and moderation itself rises into resist­ance; but political and religious bigotry are equally sanguinary and intolerant, and the deluded fanatic rather wishes to exterminate the opinion of his neighbor, than to make the smallest sacrifices of his own. Such are those of our modern politicians, who while they are railing at disaffections and divi­sions, refuse to make the most trifling sac­rifices to harmony and concord: who with the songs of union, federalism, and the con­stitution upon their tongues, are in their hearts bent upon disunion, consolidation and discord.

To your interest, your feelings, and your experience, citizens of America, might the appeal be made, for the mutual benefits, and the mutual happiness resulting from your friendly union. But it is hoped, that they are already too strongly impressed up­on your minds, to be speedily forgotten, or transiently abandoned. It is an object in­dispensibly necessary, either to the continu­ance of your internal quiet, or your securi­ty against external invasions; it has been [Page 30] cemented by your blood, and confirmed by your mutual toils; you have encountered common dangers, and common calamities, and are living witnesses of each other's for­titude, constancy, and courage.

We would appeal to those who were ear­ly in the public councils of our country, and by the co-operation of distant co-patriots conducted us to liberty and independence, if they have not found the patriotism of their southern brethren as fervent, and their attachment to the public weal as ard­ent as their own: If their courage is not as intrepid, and their fortitude as finished?—But to the undegenerate body of real Ame­rican citizens, this appeal, it is to be hoped, is needless; they are too well persuaded of the blessings of their union, speedily to for­get them, and too temperate in their deci­sions suddenly to renounce them.

No, but it is from the infuriated zeal of an elated and aspiring party, from those "Porcupines" of disorder, who scatter the quills of dissension through the land, that the dangers of our situation proceed.

Americans, of these sheep-clad wolves, who under a specious zeal for the consti­tution and the laws, are seeking to irritate and divide us, beware! From the dignified statesman in office to the paltry scribler in a [Page 31] prostituted gazette, they are all equally detestable. Observe whether public mea­sures are conducted with temperance, jus­tice dispensed with impartiality, and public preferments conferred with liberality and fairness. When these questions can be an­swered in the affirmative, then may we fondly hope that our union will be per­manent, and our liberty perpetual. But when the mild principles of toleration are swept away by party zeal, when political attachments are made the criterion of court favor, and the blessings of office reserved for family connections and dependents; then must the seeds of our dissolution be sown, and their fruit fast hastening to ma­turity.

But we have the consolation of believ­ing, that there is yet in our country a friend of virtue not easily corrupted, unit­ed to a stability not suddenly to be shaken. That we are blessed with at least some po­litical pilots, who will outride the tempo­rary storms of opinion, and conduct our vessel into the Haven of security. If how­ever, rejecting the councils of moderation, and spurning at the language of forbear­ance, we can make an oblation of our lib­erties upon the consuming altar of party; and rashly surrender that happiness which [Page 32] has been so dearly purchased; America will but add another page to the long book of human folly: and while the friend of freedom drops a despairing tear at her fate, the future historian will record; This people acquired by their valour what they wanted the virtue to preserve.

P S. IT may be proper just to observe, that some of the observations towards the close of the preceding production, and which relate particularly to the subject of the union of these states, had been published by the author in a distant part of this Commonwealth, under a fic­titious signature, some months previous to the occasion on which they were delivered in this form, and for which they were not then designed, as they had never however been made public in this part of the country, it is hoped the intro­duction of them on this occasion, will not be thought improper.