An oration; pronounced in Princeton, Massachusetts, on the anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1799. By Joseph Russell, A.M.

An oration; pronounced in Princeton, Massachusetts, on the anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1799. By Joseph Russell, A.M.

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Title page

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AN ORATION.

[Page]

AN ORATION.

THIS DAY, my FELLOW CITIZENS, completes the Twentythird year of AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. On this memorable day, AMERICA was severed from the British empire, and three millions of people liberated from foreign domination, and raised to a level with the independent sovereignties on the globe. On this day, the thirteen UNITED STATES▪ by their Delegates in General Congress assembled, after appealing to Heaven for the rectitude of their cause, signed the instrument of separation from Britain, and pledged their estates, reputation and lives, to support their declaration of rights, and defend the liberties of their suffering country.

[Page]THANKS to that band of PATRIOTS for their wisdom and firmness amid the dark and gloomy scenes which followed in quick succession. When Britain threatened; when fleets and armies crossed the wide Atlantic, in confident expectation that the colonies would fall an easy sacrifice to their victorious arms; and when, in several instances, our own armies were greatly reduced, and our political prospects darkened, by repeated losses and embarrassments, our civil Fathers stood, like a rock in the midst of the sea, firm and unmoved, and bore the waves of opposition without dismay. Let their memory be forever dear to every American; and may future generations rise up and call them blessed.

PRECIOUS are the privileges! invaluable the rights and freedom which we enjoy! We welcome the day—we hail the auspicious morn, when liberty first dawned upon these western shores—when the chains of tyranny were broken asunder—and a nation of freemen born in the world. May our minds gladden at the thought, as this anniversary [Page] reminds us, that we are the free citizens of an independent nation, that our laws are formed by men of our own choosing, that all power originates in the people, that our Constitutions of government can be altered whenever the people please, and that we are under obligation to obey no superior power but that of the GREAT SUPREME.

IN most parts of the world, the government is the government of men. The will of one man, or the interest and caprice of a few, constitute the law, by which the people are governed. Here the government is that of laws, framed by the united wisdom, and enacted by the voluntary consent of the people, with a view to their common good. Our government, therefore, is as free in its principles, and as mild in its operations as it can be, and have energy sufficient to render it effectual.

THE happiness of a people depends much on their improvement of their rights and privileges. The greatest blessings bestowed by Providence on men may be perverted [Page] to their misery. Liberty well understood and well improved, is an invaluable privilege, a pearl of great price, and will always be conducive to the happiness of a people. But, if they are ignorant of its principles, and ignorant of its use and design; and, in addition, inclined to counteract its principles, it will inevitably prove a curse. Witness the wretched situation of Ireland and France. When the people of France threw off the chains of tyranny, they expected to be free from all the restraints of law, and to have liberty to pursue, every man his own private inclination. The nation in general have acted on this principle. And what has been the effect? The whole country, ever since the revolution, has been filled with cruelties unparalleled in history, and with the most unwarrantable invasion upon private property and safety. The same error has existed and produced disturbance in some parts of our own country. The emigrants from Europe, now settled in this country, made no distinction between tyranny and the restraints [Page]of law—between a mild, rational liberty and libertinism or licentiousness in the extreme. With this error they crossed the ocean, settled down in the southern States, and when called to submit to government were immediately exasperated and hurried into arms.

LIBERTY, in the extreme, becomes the worst of tyranny. There must be restraint and power in the hands of some, or there can be no order, no safety in society. True liberty consists, not in having no government, not in a destitution of all law, but in our having an equal voice in the formation and execution of the laws, according as they effect our persons and property. On this principle there is among individuals a reciprocation of right and power. By every individual some rights are relinquished and as many acquired. As much as we are obliged to serve others, so much we are sure to be, directly, or indirectly, served by them. This forms a spacious level on which all the members of society are naturally equal.

[Page]IT is true, as property naturally gives power to the owner, the unequal distribution of property, which we must always expect in every country, will, in many instances, destroy this equal, reciprocal influence in society. To prevent this evil, without introducing a greater, is a task too great for the human genius. The attempt has been repeatedly made, but without success. Trade of every kind must regulate itself. From the great diversity in the abilities of men, some will rise, and others fall; some will be rich, and others poor. And that government is most perfect which encourages best an improvement in all those arts, labors, and sciences, which have for their object the advancement of human felicity. And with that government we ought to be satisfied—submitting to all its restraints from a fixed principle, that laws are made not for individuals but for community, and that private interest must always yield to the general good.

ELEVATED to the rank of an independent nation, and holding an honorable station [Page] among the sovereign States on the earth, we have now an extensive and fertile country to defend, an admirable constitution of government to support, and persons, families and estates to protect, against foreign invasion on the one hand, and internal faction and disturbance on the other. Nations, like individuals, are always an object of ambition or envy, in the view of some, according as they are affluent, or happy. In consequence of this, they are ever exposed to the pride of learning, the obstinacy of ignorance, the intrigue of faction, the violence of power, and the rage of lust and prejudice. The eye of malice is continually searching for some vulnerable part, where a mortal blow may be levelled at the vitals of society. Innumerable are the devices of political intrigue to effect the ruin of the devoted nation. The blackest designs are often clothed in the specious garb of perfect cordiality, and unsuspecting innocence abused, as a medium for insuring the most deadly poison.

[Page]THIS remark derives a striking illustration from the conduct of that perfidious nation whom we all, without a suspicion of treachery, were too ready to embrace as our cordial friends. With strong professions of the warmest friendship, they reached out to us a helping hand for our defence against the armies of Britain, while with fixed purpose, so far as Frenchmen are capable of it, they were busily pursuing an infernal plan to wrest from us our independence, to destroy our national dignity, and to reduce us to the same contemptible level on which Holland, Switzerland and Italy are at the present day. This was the design, this the work of Frenchmen, at a time when our united prayers were ascending, from the altar of a sincere and grateful heart, to Heaven in their behalf; and that their kindnesses, which we, in the overflowings of gratitude, considered too important for us, ever to repay, might receive from above an adequate reward. Thank GOD their treachery is discovered, and their villainy brought forth to light, to the astonishment of the world, [Page] and the shame and confusion of wickedness itself.

AMERICANS! we are under no obligation to the French. We owe them not a farthing. For the money and military stores which we received from them, during our war with Britain, we have made remittances to the full amount. We owe them not the least gratitude. They never sought our happiness—they never wished us to be independent. Private emolument, the ruin of Britain, and the extension of their own influence into these states, was their governing and only motive. Judge then, my Fellow Countrymen, if we are under any obligation to aid them in their war, to give them our trade, or to seek their friendship and interest to the displeasure and injury of other nations.

AMERICANS are on the West—Frenchmen on the East side the Atlantic. There let them live, and there may they be happy! We neither desire nor need any immediate connexion with them or with Britons. By bitter experience we have found the [Page] tender mercies of both to be cruelty. We cannot confide in the friendship or faith of either. We ought to be fortified on every side against the influences of both. And it can never be safe for America to be connected with either of them by any treaty but that of commerce.

IN forming treaties, we ought ever to act in character, as a sovereign state, with a view to the benefit of our own commerce, without consulting the inclination of any other nation. To a treaty of commerce, lately formed with Britain, it has been objected—"It will displease the French."— And are WE to ask the French what nations we shall treat with, and upon what terms? On the other hand▪ shall the British dictate what treaties we must form with France? The answer in either case is equally positive, NO. We are not to be influenced, or controled, by any power on the globe. To admit the agency of any foreign nation would be a sacrifice of our independence— a prostration of our national dignity.

[Page]WITHOUT consulting the French, our Envoy to the Court of Britain formed, and our Executive, by the advice of the Senate, ratified a treaty with that power, which, in their opinion, was the best that, in the then existing circumstances, could be obtained. In this affair they used the powers given them by the Constitution. They acted the part of able, independent men, and merited the approbation of their Country. And may our supreme Executive ever be equally firm and impartial, and never be influenced by a desire of pleasing, or a fear of offending, foreign nations, any further than the public interest requires.

THE internal resources of the United States are so ample, that, if well improved, they will enable us to support this decided character, on the political theatre of the world. Separated as we are from every powerful nation, by an intervening ocean of three thousand miles in extent, and having no immediate connexion with them, we need never be entangled in the intricate policies and interwoven interests of European courts. [Page] But, should a war be inevitable, our enemies must contend amid insuperable embarrassments, and from the greatness of the expense attending the prosecution of a war at a vast distance from home, and the impracticability of affording seasonable supplies, their operations must, in a short time, inevitably fail.

AS it will be difficult for our enemies to invade with success, so on the other hand, it will be easy for us to defend our borders. A country, like ours, intersected by innumerable rivers, and covered with hills, valleys, woods and morasses, forms a natural barrier against the progress of an enemy. Our country abounds with provisions of every kind, and with materials for shipbuilding, fortification, gunpowder, swords, bayonets, and small arms of every description. The American Shipbuilders, Engineers and artists, are equal to any in Europe. Fortifications, and the manufactory of gunpowder, cannon, and other warlike implements, are carried on rapidly in many parts of the country. In the course of [Page] two years, we have equipped nine frigates, and a larger number of smaller vessels of war, for the defence of our maritime towns and cities, and the protection of our foreign trade. The regular forces in the United States exceed five hundred thousand; the greatest part of which, are well equipped, and can be called into active service whenever occasion may require.

TO every true American it must be peculiarly grateful to behold, as we pass from Hampshire on the north, to Georgia on the south, five millions of strong, healthy, and well enlightened people, very generally united in their resolution to defend their country's rights, and to hazard their lives in defen [...] of her constitution and independence. The general voice of America is—"We are determined to be free. Our country and constitution we are able to defend. And, if the violence and aggression of our enemies should render it necessary for us to enter again on the field of battle, we will go determined to conquer or die. Refering our cause to the [Page] court of Heaven, and trusting in the GOD of armies for success, we will spend the last drop of blood in the glorious cause, and if we die, it shall be our consolation that, we die fighting for our country."

WHEN this is the sentiment and spirit of a people, inhabiting a country enriched by every production necessary for their support and defence, what may we not expect from their united exertions! And with an ADAMS, the great political luminary of the age, to stand at the helm of government, and direct in the cabinet of state; and, with a magnanimous WASHINGTON, the pride of America and wonder of the world, to head our armies and conduct them on the field of battle, we may bid defiance to every earthly power.

WERE the colonies, when they had no arms, no military stores, no disciplined army, no government, able to oppose the armies of Britain, when in their zenith of glory? And may we not be animated to stand firm in our own defence now we are well supplied with arms and military stores, [Page] now we have well disciplined forces, officers and men inured to war, and a vigorous government which can command the assistance of every state and employ the whole strength of the nation for the public safety? Let Americans retain the patriotism and firmness of seventysix and they have nothing to fear!

OUR preservation and prosperity as a nation, depend, under GOD, upon the support of our confederation. United we are truly a powerful nation—divided we are weak. United we shall certainly stand—divided we shall certainly fall. The glorious issue of our war with Britain, proves what a small community can do when the members of it go hand in hand. To this we must ascribe it, that the citizens of Syracuse opposed the Athenians with success; that a few states in the Netherlands withstood for thirty years the whole force of the Spanish monarchy and finally gained their liberty; and that the inhabitants of Switzerland emancipated themselves from the tyranny of Austria and supported their independence

[Page]IT is most ardently to be wished that all the citizens of America, let them live in the North or South, on the East or West side the Allegany, would consider one another as BROTHERS, and the several states members of one political whole. For this end would it not be adviseable to avoid in private conversation and in all public proceedings, every thing that looks like party, and speak and act as though we neither knew nor admitted the existence of parties, discordant opinions▪ oppositions of interest, or clashing prejudices to prevail, in any part of the United States? Let the names Jacobin, Democrat, Frenchman and United Irishman, as applied to our own citizens, be buried in eternal oblivion; and let us recognize all orders and classes of men by the honorable title of AMERICANS! From the happy crisis in our political prospects, the party to which these opprobrious epithets have been applied are sinking fast from public view; and if we do not contribute to their reanimation, by trumping their importance, will, soon, be buried forever [Page] from our sight. Party spirit lives by opposition. Sectaries in politics, as in religion, always increase in consequence▪ the more they are opposed. Let them alone, cease to speak concerning them, still be guarded against them, and they will die of themselves.

CONSIDERING the several states as members of one political body, nothing which effects the other states is to be considered by us as foreign or unimportant. If they suffer, we suffer; if they are prospered, we have reason to rejoice. Though a member only is wounded, the whole body feels the pain. When poison is communicated to the most distant part it sickens the whole constitution. A consideration that the other states have separate governments, and laws, customs, and institutions in some respects different from our's is no reason why we should consider them as foreign. They have united with us in forming and adopting a constitution the most perfect in theory and equal in practise ever produced by man. The business of the government established [Page] by this constitution is to provide for the peace, safety and prosperity of the whole; their laws are binding on every state and they sustain the same relation to every one. Our government, therefore, is the same. And as our government is the same, we of consequence, have one common interest and one character to support. Having sworn obedience to the general government, we are bound by solemn oath to seek the prosperity of the whole confederacy; and, in doing that, we establish for ourselves the surest barrier, and lay the most permanent foundation for lasting felicity.

OUR prosperity depends much on a general diffusion of political information. The maxim of Tyrants. "The people's ignorance is the Rulers safety" has long been exploded. Our administration shuns not the light of day nor seeks support from the gloom of ignorance. As the private citizen depends on the public magistrate, so the magistrate, in his turn, depends on the private citizen; and the more and better informed the latter, the more safe is the [Page] former. Generally speaking, if the people know what is right, they will judge right.* Let them know the principles and design of a law, and, provided the law be good, the ruler may be almost sure of their support.

IN every insurrection against good government, the majority are blinded and deceived by the artifices of a few. And experience has ever proved that, the better a people are acquainted with the nature and principles of civil liberty, the more they know of the measures of government, and of the design of particular laws, the more easily are they governed. And I will hazard the opinion, that, if political information was defused through all classes of people as it ought to be; if they were from the highest to the lowest instructed in their [Page] duty, and in the measures of government, there never would be another insurrection, nor any considerable number to join with any foreign power, in opposition to the designs of government. Some men of abandoned characters and ruined fortunes we must expect in every country—men who have no hope of promotion or emolument while things continue in peace. Men of this character we cannot hope to reclaim by increasing the fund of public information. Their knowledge and segacity render them the more dangerous members of society. But, when the public mind is thoroughly enlightened, the community will more easily discover their treacherous designs and be defended against them. General information is, therefore, a principal pillar in our political edifice. This enlarges the human genius, improves all the faculties of the soul, and gives to the mind a discernment, an understanding, and judgment adequate to all the labors and trials of life.

THAT Americans are capable of improving in all those arts and sciences, which [Page] tend to increase the wealth and alleviate the labors of man, has been abundantly proved. The contemptuous sneer of Buffon, that, America is unfavorable to strength and brilliancy of genius, has been sufficiently refuted. In philosophy she has produced a Franklin and Rittenhouse; in Poetry a Barlow and Trumbull; in Law and Policy, an Adams and Ellsworth; and in the art of war a Washington. The superiority of our artists has been acknowledged in Europe. And, in spite of every thing which can be said by Buffon and others against us, it must be granted, that America, comparing her age with that of other nations, has produced the greatest number of learned men. Greece had been settled 600 years before she produced a Homer. The Romans lived in Italy 700 years before they could boast of a Virgil, Horace and Cicero. And the English nation had existed more than 800 years before they were honored with a Bacon, Milton, Locke and Newton. But, two centuries have not yet elapsed since the first settlements [Page] were made on these western shores. Judge then if America has not been favorable to genius.

RAPID improvements have been made in agriculture since the settlement of the country. The wilderness, in many places, has been converted into a garden and the desert made to rejoice and blossom. New settlements are begun and flourishing towns rising up, where but a little time since, dwelt the tawny savage and wild beasts of the desert. Ontario's waves are now loaded with the fruits of industry, and the shores of Erie fertilized by the hand of cultivation. The Ohio now rejoices in the prosperity of her sons, and Tennessee beholds, on each side her placid stream, a flourishing people. And we may with pleasure anticipate the time as not far distant, when our settlements will be extended from the remote shores of Huron and superior to the sultry climes of Florida; and when the Missisippi shall receive the productions of a wide extended and flourishing country, and conduct them down on her swelling tide to be [Page] conveyed in ships to the most distant countries on the globe.

OUR commerce is already extensive and flourishing. Our ships now hail the remote shores of Kamtschatka, traverse the widest oceans, and encompass the globe; bringing home the manufactures of Europe, the rich productions of Asia, and the treasures of both the Indies. The American merchants and seamen, now vie with those of Europe, and, with equal dexterity and success, perform the longest voyages. May agriculture ever be the strength and support, manufactures the ornament and lustre, and commerce the emolument and aggrandizement of America. May her sons ever delight to till the soil, and to pursue with industry, the arts and labors of life, and may temperance, frugality and virtue, ever be the strength of their hearts and crown of their days.

WHILE on this day we offer our sacrifice at the altar of liberty; while we rejoice in the possession of good government, and of internal peace, health and prosperity, it becomes [Page] us to remember our suffering, bleeding brothers in Europe. On the eastern continent, nation is fighting against nation, garments are rolled in blood, and the confused noise of war, penetrates the abodes of retirement and chills the mind with horror and dismay. What scenes of cruelty are there exhibited! What perfidy and wickedness are practised! How great has been the destruction of the human species! Even now they are levying troops, increasing their armies, and sharpening their swords, as though they were beginning the war. All Europe is engaged. Hurried on by the most furious passions, they go determined to strike a last and fatal blow. We leave them with that eternal GOD, who taketh up the nations as a very little thing, and who can change their hearts, disappoint their expectations, and make all their wrath and fightings terminate in good.

AND while we compare our situation with theirs, let us feel grateful to that Omnipotent Being, who conducted our armies on the field of battle, and who led us on [Page] through scenes of trouble and hardship, to the enjoyment of independence and peace. As a people we have received much from him, and may we never forget to praise him for his goodness.

TO enjoy the patronage of heaven, and to have our liberties permanent, and our happiness lasting, the laws of moral obligation must be acknowledged and observed. A people, abandoned in principle and practice, must be unhappy. Vice, like a deadly consumption, enfeebles the nerves, impairs the strength, and wastes the body of society; and wherever it prevails, will, inevitably, prove fatal. To this it must be ascribed that the once mighty empires of Babylon and Persia, of Greece and Rome, are now no more. Take warning then, O America, from the calamities which have fallen on ancient nations, and avoid that fatal rock on which they were ruined! Let wisdom and knowledge, let industry and frugality, let benevolence and piety, be inscribed on all thy proceedings, and thou shalt be that happy people whose God is the LORD.

[Page]AS we contemplate our political prospects, and view the numerous sources of emolument and felicity, which concentre in America, we see nothing wanting but good morals: From the progress of vice, infidelity and atheism, we have much reason to fear. And, perhaps, we cannot, in any other way, more faithfully serve the interest of our country, than by vindicating the truth of Christianity. The mind is lost in pleasing admiration, at a prospect of the glory and beatitude with which America would rise to be chief among the nations, were all her citizens the cordial friends of the immaculate JESUS. This would heal every political division and wither the nerves of opposition. This would make our Republic durable as the hills and firm as the earth itself.

AMERICANS! Do you wish to be prosperous and happy? Then fear the GOD, and love and practise the religion of your Fathers. To enjoy their religion unmolested, they left their native country, crossed the boisterous deep, and settled down in this [Page] western world. May their descendants never undervalue those privileges for which they endured persecution, the perils of the deep, and hardships of the wilderness. Through the kindness of heaven, we are placed in a pleasant fertile land, illuminated by the religion of the glorious Savior. Let us all then bow, with one heart, at the sceptre of his government, and acknowledge King Jesus as our Lord and Sovereign. Let us walk in the light of his gospel, during our appointed time, that we may hereafter inhabit the regions of unclouded day, and be all of us forever happy in the LORD.

FINIS

Notes

*

Opposition to the tax on Houses and Lands has decreased as the people became acquainted with the reasons which Congress had for adopting that mode of taxation And it is thought that, if gentlemen of abilities, who are in a situation to know the debates of Congress, and the reasons which determine that respectable body in their legislative proceedings, would take measures to enlighten the public mind, by publishing through the United States, a fair statement of the reasons for any particular law which may give offence to some, it would procure for their laws a favorable reception in every part of the country.

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AN ORATION; PRONOUNCED IN PRINCETON, MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, JULY 4, 1799.

BY JOSEPH RUSSELL, A. M.

PRINTED AT WORCESTER: BY ISAIAH THOMAS, JUN. July—1799.

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PRINCETON, July 5, 1799.

AT a meeting at the CENTRE SCHOOL HOUSE. Voted that the Committee of yesterday's arrangement, be appointed to wait on the REV. JOSEPH RUSSELL with the thanks of this meeting for his very spirited and animated ORATION on the FOURTH DAY of JULY, and request of him a copy for the PRESS. The Committee waited upon the ORATOR for those purposes, who expressed his sense of the honor which had been done him and complied with their request.

ABIJAH HARRINGTON, Chairman.

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Title statement

An oration; pronounced in Princeton, Massachusetts, on the anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1799. By Joseph Russell, A.M.

Russell, Joseph, 1775-1861.

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Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2005-10.

ID [DLPS]

N27201

ID [TCP]

N27201

ID [STC]

Evans 36257

ID [NOTIS]

APX4774

ID [IMAGE-SET]

36257

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99021553

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 36257.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N27201)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 36257)

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Source

— An oration; pronounced in Princeton, Massachusetts, on the anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1799. By Joseph Russell, A.M., Russell, Joseph, 1775-1861..

Extent

29, [3] p. ; 23 cm. (8vo)

By Isaiah Thomas, Jun.,. Printed at Worcester [Mass.]: :: July--1799..

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