_ E Ov 0(0 I $3 2R THE AS DELIVERED, ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1832, 56th ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, BY DR. CHRISTOPHER CARLETON RIOE Orator of the Day, HONORARY MEMBER OP THE " PAINTERS' ASSOCIATION ;" IN THE BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH, DELANCY CORNER OP CHRYSTIE-STREET, BEFORE THE SEVERAL CIVIC SOCIETIES IN NEW-YORK. " PUXCHRtfM EST REIPUBLICE BENKEACERE ETIAM BENEDICERE HAUD ABSURDUM EST." SALLUST. PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OP THE OENERAL DELEGATION. PRINTED BY E. CONRAD, NEW-TORK, 1832. COPY-RIGHT SECURED. Class E "2/ ?6 Book Jik CopyrightN : ? 3£ 7< COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. THE % \^' > AS DELIVERED, ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, 1832, 56th ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, BY DR. CHRISTOPHER CARLETON RICE, Orator of the Day, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE " PAINTERS 1 ASSOCIATION ;" IN THE BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH, DELANCY CORNER OF CHRYSTIE-STREET, BEFORE THE SEVERAL CIVIC SOCIETIES IN NEW-YORK. " PCLCHRUM EST REIPUBLICJE BENEFACERE ETIAM BENEDICERE HAUE ABSURDUM EST." -SALLCST. PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE GENERAL DELEGATION* PRINTED BYE CONRAD, NEW-YORK, 1832. COPY-RIGHT SECURED* New- York, \2thJuly, 1832. Dr. Christopher C. Rice, SIR At a meeting of the " Painters' Association." held pursu- ant to public notice, and also in behalf of the General Delegation and Com- mittee of Arrangements for celebrating the 56th Anniversary of American Independence, it was unanimously resolved, " That the unfeigned thanks of this Association, and that of the General Delegation, be presented to Dr. Chkistopher C. Rice, for his able and eloquent Oration, delivered before the several Civic Societies, in the Bethel Baptist Church, Delancy-Street, New-York, on the 4th inst. and that a Copy of said Oration be respectfully requested for publication." By order of the Committee of Arrangements, Thos. YV. Pooley, Richard Bennett, YVm. B. Errickson, George Darlington- Thomas C. Hurlick. The Reply. Delancy-Street, July 13*7* 1832. Gentlemen, Your very polite note is now before me ; in it you request a Copy of my Oration. Allow me to say, that while I duly reciprocate your kind manifestation of esteem, I herewith enclose it for your disposal ; resting as- sured, that the hand of philanthropy will in some measure shield its inele- gance, when submitted to that candour which received it on the day of our '■' Anniversary." YVilh sentiments of sincerity, I am, Gentlemen, most respectfully, yours' CHRISTOPHER C. RICE. Messrs. Thos. W. Pooley. Richard Bennett. Wm. B. Errickson, George Darlington, Thomas C. Hurlick. Southern Disti L.S.i Southern District of New-York, to wit : Be it Remembered, That on the sixteenth day of July, An- no Domini 183-2. George Darlington, of the said District, hath deposited in this Office the title of a Hook, the title of which is in the words following, to icit : Oral ion as delivered on the fourth of July. 1832, 56lh Anniversary of American Independence, by Dr. Christopher Carlrton Rice. Orator of the Day. honorary member of the Painters' Association, in the Bethel Baptist Church, Delan- cy corner of Ch ystir-Strc-t, before the several Civic Societies in XeivYork. — " Pnlchrum est RrpublicaiBenefacere ctiam Benediccre haud absurdum est." — Sallust. Published at the request of the general delegation ; the right whereof he claims as proprietor. In conformity with an Act of Congress, entitled "an Act to amend the several Acts respecting Copy-Rights. Fred. J. Betts, Clerh of the Southern District of New-York. ORATION. FELLOW CITIZENS, The Anniversary of our National Independence again re- turns. Its pleasing reminiscenses and associations, assail with renovated vigor, the citadel of our warmest affection. Its at- tendant buoyancy holds the brightest spot on the waste of our memory, collecting as if the aggregate ebullitions of filial pa- triotism, gushing pure and fervid from the font of " amor pa- trice" or love of country, which springs up in every soil, and is naturalized in ever}' clime — 'tis indigenous to none — 'tis essen- tial to all, as by its influence we recognize a much loved link — a tie which connects the individual and his country, into a unity of existence. Its spell endears to the swarthy Arab, his sandy desert ; its charm casts around the heart of the roaming savage a sweet resuscitative, as he wanders through his forest " trail." — It sends the manly tear of natioual affection coursing down the bronzed and war hacked cheek of the steel clad soldier, when after years of distance from his home, he bends forward as his extatic ear catches the soft cadence of some mellow song or word he heard in earlier days, when the father of his childish years and the green fields of his boyhood were around him ; 'tis that same feeling which causes the American on the 4th of July, no matter whether beneath a torrid or frigid zone, or in this the land of his nativity, to revisit in person or in spirit, the " home" of" his sires, the grave of his ancestors, or the shrine which once witnessed the proudest declaration, the noblest document, and holiest " magna charta" which integrity ever framed, patriotism signed, or liberty consecrated, by " the lives, the fortunes, and the sacred honors 1 ' of a nation's " conscripti." We must acknowledge that there is in the day which com- memorates the nationalities of any people or country, a some- thing which exacts an innate and indefinable tribute of respect 4 from the philanthropist, and when that day blends the festivity of its own nationality with the hour of its freedom, as also the restoration of the rights and privileges of other nations, made conscious of them by sympathy, and urged on by example to their attainment ; so in proportion must a dignified hilarity of the occasion predominate, in as much as it possesses the flash of the gem, and also its solidity or intrinsic materiality, cognizable and appreciable, both in moral and physical properties, to the human family in general. That this " axiom" bears forcibly on the present is evident to conviction, whose impulse now bids me con- gratulate the native and adopted citizen of these " United States." A 4th of July once beheld a band of men, flinging away all considerations of danger and hazard, shaking off in one proud moment, the trammels of political servitude, holding at bay " the little tyrants of their fields," unfurling the banner of native her- editary rights, and planting it upon the unhonored grave of fo- reign aggression. The Freeman greets this day's return with all the haughty consciousness of innate worth, for though his pride is great, his benevolence is irresistible; the one knows no inferiority, the other no superiority, save that of virtue's excellence. The Pa- triot welcomes its return as the Astreari's festival of democracy and self government. The Statesman hails it as the "Zws//«//i" of regenerated policy, made sacred by the life's blood of a Hec- atomb of offerings ; and lastly- the slave, poor injured man ! in- hales as if an incense from its morn, which buoys up in fond anticipation his prostrated mental faculties ; he feels proud yet knows not why ; he feels pleased yet cannot tell how; his sus- ceptible heart at the mention of its reversion, expands; yet how to explain its action ? He can find no ministering interpreter; the historic page can give no additional impetus to his feelings; he is incompetent to its perusal. — But no matter how prostrated in acquisition by circumstances, no matter how degraded in moral relations I \ proscription, no matter how fallen in station by imagined or political inferiority, there still exists within the breast of each individual, a scintilla of Promothean extract, by whose lit 'id coruscations a light is developed, that shows through nature's mirror a countenance, on which the impress of an Al- 5 mighty hand is set, which proves him to be a son, a man whose legitimate inheritance from above, is civil and religious prerog- ative. Yes, "man is man" — who can be more? lie feels so, and sees on the distant horizon of July's 4th morn, a star of hopeful portent beaming along the vista of his murdered free- dom ; it cheers him : he forgets, forgives, and in a blaze of so- cial philanthropy exclaims, America! America! Frcedom^s 4t 1G represented ; they are misrepresented ; their interests arc sacrificed at the shrine of ambition, which uses them as stepping stones to attain office ; but most of all is because the people are not united, and 'twere as easily to establish a perma- nent representative Legislature where they are disunited, as for the Ephemeral overflowings of petty political feelings,to dissolve the " Union" of this Republic, or pluck a leaf from the chaplet, which binds these " United States'''' together into an identity of being. Look to Athens, to Palmyra, to Sparta, to Lacedemon, to Rome ; see them powerful, long as unanimity governed them ; but soon as the fiend of usurping ambition flung the torch of " Disunion'''' amongst them, they passed from the list of nations, and now live but in tradition. Union is the firm base of a Republic, and no govcrnmenl but a Republican ought, or can legislate, for the exigencies of a large or extensive country ; it is it, as you all must be aware, can only be calculated to support a national Po- lity ; nor could this, or any other Country's Executive or Legislative department, be properly managed, unless circum- BCribed in some measure bj the Judiciary — and thus far it has succeeded here, which, I believe, is the first experiment, and its benefits are spreading throughout he world ; which is becoming as if contagious with the example ; its beneficial philanthropy sunders the mist of narrowed views ; the time is passed, when a people, or a portion of a people, calling for assistance would be heard by unconnected individuals, with a cold neutral silence ; considering the cause and effect to be the exclusive concern of the country or people involved. But the enlarged precincts of regenerative reason shows that man, in every clime, is con- nected together by Nature's sympathy. We are all children of the same God. We are men — and that word should bury for- ever prejudice in oblivion. Religion tells us that we should as- sist each other; therefore, though we may differ in clime, in con- stitution, or occupation, our feelings for each other's welfare should concentrate, and like the triple " Shamrock" of my na- tive " Isle" they ought terminate in one stem — Civil and Reli- gious Liberty throughout the world. As men, then, on this the glorious Anniversary of our National Independence, let us hope that e\ery nation which struggles to obtain it may succeed. We have reason to hope so. We see Greece, freed from the chains 17 of Ottoman servility. France regenerated. Belgium establish- 4 ed. Portugal on the march. Hibernia is rising to shake off the ignoble meshes of subordination. She has enlisted the interest of mankind in her struggle. She has taken down her Harps, her Shamrock wreathed Harps, resolving that they be once again struck by the minstrel hands of a freeman, and again wake the bold intonations, which once rung through " Tara's Hall." Fellow Citizens, before I would close my desultory remarks, I conceive it but just to say, though I greet you on the rever- sion of this day, I must not forget it's my duty to pay a tribute of grateful remembrance to them whom virtue claims as hers. Yes, I am convinced that there are some who, though more silent actors, yet feel, with no less sincerity, the thrill of devotive aspirations in our country's behalf; those of milder tempera- ment, whose gentler mood soothes man's more rugged nature, Woman's physical power, is left to him, but over that which comes within the reach of capacity — her energies are ever awake. The miasma ot the dungeon, the storm of the ocean, the chill of the winter's blast, can add no barrier to woman's devo- tion, either personal or national, when once called into action ; 'tis ardent as the Syrian God, 'tis faithful as the Eastern Slave's devotion at the shrine of his Alia, when he comes, loaded with offerings, to the Altar. He stoops as he presents them — all his hope is, that they be received, sincerely as they are offered, never daring to hope for a return ; to them, then, I would say, on all occasions, we hope for your co-operation ; you cannot be with us upon all, but your good wishes will act as an incense vivifying our exertions for our country's prosperity. To you, my fellow Citizens, I would say, the blessings of Peace surround you ; the brightness of your fondest hopes nur- tures the young bud of your Liberty ; the advancement of your land illumines the page, the hoary annals of tradition. You Civic Societies, who have ever proved your sterling ad- herence to Republican principles — I know you will preserve it ; Preserve your principle, preserve your health, preserve yourselves for your homes, your wives, your children and your " Land." Let the gifts which you received from those who bled to obtain them, be guarded and seen in after years, and by after genera- tions ; showing, that though the sun of '76 is set, yet the twi- 18 light of its blessings remains behind it, to light around you the fond reminiscence of your inheritance ; bequeath them to your children. — Trophies may moulder. Crowns decay. Sceptres crumble — and Glory perish — but the gift of a Freeman to his child is immortal, when like a second Hannibal, he places him standing upon the altar of his God, and teaches his tender lips to say, " all the ends I'll aim at, shall be my Country's, my God's, and Freedom's." Let each annual reversion of July's Fourth be but a mirror of our mutual friendship, our peace and prosperity. Thus will Columbia's advancement prove that Usurped Power is at length become barren in discovery or nerve ; it can find no new invention to forge in its Cyclopean furnace, by which it could again incarcerate the human intellect. No. Its penal trammels, of ill-gotten sway, are burst asunder ; and the genius of Universal Emancipation exhultingly hails our native or adopted country — as she ought to be Great, glorious and free, First flower of the land And first gem ot the sea. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011783U8 6