L" €^"^0 ^^< < cc 'CC : cc ?flcc:c :- .( dl'cf €•< ■«u d'isc dl..' n .-; d.C/ cc- ^dCCCd^^' ^c <^. <-.(<, -r^c:, cM'c: ■ ■.,,Cc"C . -VCKC: t G'CC <_ C«< C c Atignst 2d, 1876. ) Ordered, That the Committee on Printing be and hereby are instmcted forthwith to have printed in pamphlet form 300 copies of the oration delivered by Hon. Charles Francis Adams, before the citizens of Taunton, on the 4th of July last, and that said Committee have printed therewith such other matter pertaining to the Centennial celebration as the Committee on celebration deems expedient. In Common Council, Concurred. August 3d, 1876. Approved by the Ma} or. True Copy — Attest : J. M. CUSHMAN, City Clerk. THE PROGRESS OF LIBERTY. I SALUTE you, my fellow countrymen, with a cheer of wel- come on this joyous day, when forty millions of human voices rise up with one accord to heaven, in grateful benisons for the mercies showered on three successive generations of the race, by the Great Disposer of events, during the hundred years that have passed away. Yet far be it from us to glory in this anniversary festival with any spirit of ostentation, as if assum- ing to be the very elect of God's creatures. Let us rather join in humble but earnest supplication for the continuance of that support from aloft by reason of which a small and weak and scattered band have been permitted so to grow into strength as now to command a recognized position among the leading powers of the earth. Less than three centuries since, the European explorer first set his foot on these northern shores, with a view to occupa- tion. He found a primitive race aspiring scarcely higher than to the common enjoyment of animal existence, and slow to respond to any nobler call. How long they had continued in the same condition there was little evidence to determine. But enough has been since gathered to justify the belief that advance never could have been one of their attributes. With- out forecast, and insensible to ambition, after long experience and earnest effort to elevate them, the experiment of civiliz- ation must be admitted to have failed. The North American Indian never could have improved the state he was in when first found here. He must be regarded merely as the symbol of continuous negation, of the everlasting rotation of the present, not profiting by the experience of the past, and feebly sensible of the possibilities of the future. The European had at last come in upon him, and the scene began at once to change. The magnificence of nature pre- sented to his view, to which the native had been blind, at once stimulated his passion to develop its advantages by cul- ture, and ere long the wilderness began to blossom as the rose. The hum of industry was heard to echo in every valley, and it ascended every mountain. A new people had appear- ed, animated by a spirit which enlisted labor without stint and directed it in channels of beauty and of use. With eyes steadily fixed upon the future, and their sturdy sinews braced to the immediate task, there is no cause for wonder that the sparse but earnest adventurers who first set foot on the soil of the new continent, should in the steady progress of time, have made good the aspirations with which they began, of founding a future happy home for ever increasing millions of their -race. Between two such forces, the American Indian, who dwells only in the present, and the European pioneer, who fixes his gaze so steadily on the future, the issue of a struggle could end only in one way. Whilst the one goes on dwindling even to the prospect of ultimate extinction, the other spreads peace and happiness among numbers increasing over the continent with a rapidity never before equalled in the records of civilization. But here it seems as if I catch a sound of rebuke from afar in another quarter of the globe. " Come now," says the hoary denizen of ancient Africa, " this assurance on the part of a new people like you is altogether intolerable. You, of a race starting only as if yesterday, with youi- infant civiliza- tion, what nonsense to pride yourself on your petty labors, when you have not an idea of the magnitude of the works and the magnificence of the results obtained from them in our fertile regions by a population refined long and long and long before you and your boasted new continent were even dreamed of in the march of mankind. Just come over here to the land of Egypt, flowing with milk and honey. Cast a glance at our temples and pyramids, at our lakes and rivers, and even our tombs, erected so long since tliat nobody can tell when. Observe the masterly skill displayed in secur- ing durability, calling for a corresponding contribution* of skilled labor from myriads of workmen to complete them. Consider further that even that holy book, which you your- selves esteem as embodying the highest conception of the Deity, and lessons of morals continually taught among you to this day, had its origin substantially from here, Remem- ber that all this happened before the development of the boast- ed Greek and Roman cultivation, and be modest with preten- sions for your land of yesterday, of any peculiar merit for your aspirations to advance mankind. To all of which interjection of my African prompter I make but a short reply. By his own showing lie appeals on- ly to what was ages ago, and not to what now is. What are the imperishable monuments constructed so long since, but memorials of an obsolete antiquity, to be gazed upon by the wandering traveler as examples never to be copied ? If once devoted to special forms of Divine worship, the faith that an- imated the structures has not simply lost its vitality, but has been buried in oblivion. What are the catacombs but futile efforts to perpetuate mere matter after the living prin- ciple has vanished away ? Why not have applied what they cost to advance the condition of the rising generations ? How about the sacred book to which you refer ? Does it not record an account of an emigration of an industrious and conscientious people compelled to fly by reason of the recklessness of an igno- rant ruler V And how has it been ever since ? Although con- ceded by nature one of the most favored regions of the earth, the general tendency has been far from indicating a corres- ponding degree of prosperity. Even the splendid memorials of long past ages testify by the solitude around them only to the folly of indulging in vain aspirations. The conclusion then to be drawn from such a spectacle is not a vision of life but of death, not of hope but of despair. ^ 8 Lo ! I have presented to you in this picture the three types of humanity as exemplified in the social systems of the world. •Whilst the African represents the past, and the Indian clings only to the present, it is left to the European and his congener in America persistently to follow in the future the great object of the advancement of mankind. 1. The retrograde. 2. The stationary, o. The advance. Which is it to be with us ? We can only judge of the future by what it has been in the past. Is there or is there not a peculiar element, not found in either of the other races, which has shown so much vigor in the American during the past century as to give him a fair right to count upon large improvement in time to come ? I confidently answer for him that there is. That element is his devotion to the principle of liberty. " Do you ask me where to find it in words ? Turn we then at once to the immortal scroll ever fastened into the solemni- ties of this our great anniversary. There lies imbedded in a brief sentence, more of living and pervading force than could have ever been applied to secure permanence to all the vast monuments of Egypt or the world. We all know it well, but still I repeat it : " We know these truths to be self-evident : 1. That all men are created equal. 2. That they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights. 3. That among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." I have considered these significant words as vested with a virtue so subtile as certain ultimately to penetrate the abodes of mankind all over the world. But I separate them alto- gether from the solemn charges against King George, which immediately follow in the Declaration. These may have been just or they may not. In the long interval of time which has passed, ample opportunity has been given to examine the al- legations with more calmness than when they were just made. 9 May I venture to express a modest doubt whether the Sov- ereign was in reality such a cruel tyrant as he is painted, and whether the ministers were so malignantly deaf to the appeals of colonial consanguinity as readers of this day may be led, from the language used, to infer. The passage of a hundred years ought to inspire calmness in revising all judicial decis- ions in history. Let us, above all, be sure that we are right. May I be permitted to express an humble belief, that the grave errors of both sovereign, ministers and people, were not so much rooted in a spirit of wilful and passionate tyr- anny, as of supercilious indifference ; the same errors I might add, which have marked the policy of that nation in later times down to a comparatively recent date. A very little show of sympathy, a ready ear to listen to alleged grievances, perhaps graceful concessions made in season, a disposition to look at colonists rather as brethren than as servants to squeeze something out of; in short, fellowship and not haughtiness might have kept our affections as Englishmen perhaps down to this day. The true grievance was the treat- ment of the colonies as a burden instead of a blessing : an object out of which to get as much and to which to give as little as possible. Least of all was there any conception of cultivating common affections and a common interest. The consequence of the mistake thus made was not only the grad- ual and steady alienation of the people, but to teach them hab- its of self-reliance. Then came at last the appeal to brute force — and all was over. Such seems to be the true cause of the breach, and not so much wilful tyranny. And it appears, m my opinion at least, quite as justifiable a cause for the separation, as any or all of the more vehement accusa- tions so elaborately accumulated in the great Declaration of 1776. Passing from this digression, let me resume the considera- tion of the effect of the adoption of the great seminal princi- ple which I have already pointed out as the pillar of fiire illu- minating the whole of our later path as an independent peo- ple. That this light has been no mere flashy, flickering, or 10 uncertain guide, but steadily directing us toward the attain- ments of new and great results, beneficial not more immedi- ately to ourselves than incidentally to the progress of the other nations of the world, it will be the object of this address to explain. LET us REVIEW THE CENTURY. The motto shall be excelsior. And first of all appears as a powerful influence of the new doctrine of freedom, though indirectly applied, the coopera- tion with us in our struggle of the Sovereign Louis the Six- teenth, and the sympathy of the people of France. This topic would of itself suflfice for an address, but I have so much more to say relative to ourselves as a directing power that I must content myself with simply recalling to your minds what France tvas in 1778, when governed by an absolute monarch cooperating witli us in establishing our principle, but solely for the motive of depressing Great Britain, and what she is in this our centennial year, an independent republic ; after long and severe tribulation, at last deliberately ranging her- self as a disciple of our school, frankly recognizing the force of our sovereign law. Our struggle for freedom had been some time over, when the arduous task of restoring order by the cooperation of the whole sense of the people in organizing an effective form of government, the first experiment of the kind in history, was crowned by the simultaneous selection by that people of a true hero who, having proved himself an eminent leader and trus- ty guide, through the perils of a seven years' conflict, was called to labor with even greater glory as a successful guide of liberty towai'd the arts of peace. Looking from this point of time in the year 1789, when an original experiment, tlie latest and most deliberate ever at- tempted, was on the verge of trial, it now becomes my duty to pass in review the chief results which have been secur- 11 ed by it to the human race during the past century. Has it suc- ceeded or has it failed ? Above all, what has it done directly and indirectly in expanding the influence of its great doctrine of liberty, not merely at home, but over the wide surface of sea and land — nay, the great globe itself. Washington was President, but he had not had time to col- lect together his cabinet and distribute his work when events occurred which demanded instant attention. Without wait- ing for the advent of Jefferson, whom he had chosen as his aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs, he drew with his own hand certain papers of instructions which he commit- ted to the charge of Mr. Gouverneur Morris, then about to sail for Great Britain, with directions promptly to confer with the British Minister thereon. Mr. Morris went out and ac- cordingly communicated at once with the Foreign Secretary, the Duke of Leeds. The object was to negotiate a treaty of commerce, a very necessary measure at the time, but which was soon put aside by another and much more embarrassing difficulty. It had been immediately reported to Mr. Morris that several persons claiming to be American citizens, when walking in the streets of London, suspecting no guile, had been, after the fashion of that day, pounced upon by a press gang and put on board of British vessels to serve as seamen, whether they would or no. Here was the beginning of a question of personal freedom, started out of the earth at once which no American agent could venture to trifle with. Although without special instructions, Mr. Morris did not hesitate a moment to submit the grievance to the consideration of the Minister. That dig- nitary contented himself with an evasive answer, and the plea of the difficulty of distinguishing between citizens speak- ing the same language ; and such became the standing pre- text for the seizure of Americans for many years. The act itself, looked at in our present hght, seems to have been bru- tal enough even when applied to subjects. How much more intolerable when invading the liberty of men having thrown off all allegiance to the crown. I doubt whether many of you will believe me when I tell you how many Americans underwent this 12 kind of slavery. It appears from the official papers that in 1798, 651 persons were recorded as in this condition. Eight years later the I'ctnrn is increased to 2,27o, and the year af- ter it amounted to 4,22'.>. The most flagrant act of all was the later seizure of several men on board of the Chesapeake, an American vessel of war, by a formal order of an Admiral of a British frigate on the coast. The ultimate consequence of the equivocating course of Great Britain was that this grievance proved the chief cause of the war of 1812. If ever there was a question of liberty under the definition of 1776, it seems to have been this, and the successive Presi- dents who were in office during the period, though tliem- selves natives and citizens of a region little liable to suffer from the apprehended evil, were not the less energetic and determined on that account in mainlaining the right. On the other hand, this case is not without its lesson of the danger of infatuation in politics when we find that the resentment for these attacks upon liberty burned with far the most qualified ardor in the region where the population most fre- quented the seas. The singular spectacle then presented itself of the perseverance of those eminent statesmen in upholding, even at the cost of war, the rights of that portion of their brethren farthest removed from their own homesteads which were free from danger ; while many habitants of the coast were absolutely exhausting all the vials of their wrath upon the same distinguished statesmen for laboring even at the cost of war to secure the safety on land and water, of persons actually their nearest neighbors and friends. The result you all know, was the war, waged under the cry of " free trade and sailors rights." A severe trial, but abundantly rewarded, by the security gained for liberty. From the date of the peace with Great Britain down to the present hour no cause of complaint has occurred for the impressment of a single American citizen. No dilhculty in distinguishing citizenship has been experienced even tiiougli 13 little change has been made in the use of the language common to both nations. In short, no more men have been taken whether on land or on the ocean, by force, on any pretense whatever. Singularly enough, however, fifty years later, a question of parallel import suddenly sprang up which for the moment threatened to present the same nations in a position precisely reversed. A naval commander of a United States war vessel assumed the right to board a British passenger steamer cross- ing the sea on hor way home, and to seize and carry off two American citizens, just as British officers had done to us in former times. This proceeding was immediately resented, and the consequence was a new step in favor of liberty on the ocean, for the security of the civilized world. The great waters are now open to all nations, and the flag of any nation covers all who sail under it in times of peace. And Great Britain her- self, too often in days long gone by, meriting the odious title of tyrant of tlie ocean, by assuming that principle in the in- stance spoken of, and likewise by resorting to other and bet- ter means than the horrors of the press gang, has not only raised the character of her own marine, but has pledged her- self to follow in the very same path of humanity and civiliza- tion first marked out by our example. Such is the first instance of the direct effect upon human liberty of the law proclaimed a hundred years ago. I proceed to consider the second : In this year of our Lord 1876, on looking back upon the early events of the century, it seems almost impossible to be- lieve that human rights should have been then held in so much contempt on the high seas, and that by nations as despicable in character as weak in absolute force. As early as the year 1785, two American vessels following their course peaceably over the ocean were boarded by ships fitted out by the Algerines, then occupying an independent position on the Mediterranean coast. The vessels were plun- 14 dered, and tlie crew, niiinl)eriiig twciity-onc American free- men, taken to Algiers and sold for slaves. Instead of protestation and remonstrance, and fitting out vessels of war to retort upon this insolent pirate, what did the government first do ? What but to pray the assistance and intervention of such a feeble power as Sweden to help us out of our distress, and money was to be offered, not merely to ran- som the slaves, but to bribe the barbarian not to do so any more. Of course, he went to work more vigorously than ever, and his demands became more imperious and exacting. The patience of the great Powers of Europe, whom he treat- ed with little more deference, only furnished one more exam- ple of the case with which mere audacity may for a time secure advantages which will never be gained by fair dealing and good will. To an American of to-day, it is inexpressibly mortifying to review the legislation of the country on this matter at that time. It appears that so early as the year 1791, President Washington, in the third year of his service, in his speech to Congress, first called the attention of that body to the subject. On the loth of December tiie Senate referred the matter to a committee, which in due course of time reported a resolution to this effect : Resolved, That the Senate advise and consent that the President take such measures as he may think necessary for the redemption of the citizens of the United States now in captivity at Algiers, provided — (mind you) — provided the expense shall not exceed $40,000. Congress did not think of looking at the Declaration of Independence, but they passed the resolution. And what was the natural consequence ? The consular officer established by the United States in Algiers on learning the result ap- proved it, but added this significant sentence : I take the liberty to obsoi-ve that there is no doing any business of importance in this country without palming the ministry. 15 The logic of all this was, that the best way to keep our people free was to make it worth the while of this ministry to make them slaves. The natural consequence was that the cost of these opera- tions ultimately exceeded $1,000,000, and the example had set the kindred Barbary powers in an agony for a share of the plunder. In February, 1802, the gross amount of ex- penditure to pacify these pirates and man-stealers had risen to $2,500,000, a sum large enough, if properly expended on a naval force, to have cleared them out at a stroke. No wonder, then, that President Jefferson should presently begin to recur to his draft of the Declaration of Indepen- dence. Though never very friendly to the navy, he saw that freedom was at stake, hence in his annual message of 1803 he suggested fitting out a small force for the Mediterranean, in order to restrain the Tripoline cruisers, and added that the uncertain tenure of peace with several other of the Barbary powers might eventually require even a re-enforcement. So said Jefferson to Congress — but his words were not re- sponded to with promptness, and the evil went on increasing. The insolence of all the petty Barbary States only fattened by what it fed on, until the freedom of American seamen in the Mediterranean was measured anly by the sums that could be paid for their ransom. There is no more ignominious part of our history than this. Driven at last to a conviction of the impolicy of such a course President Madison, having succeeded to the chair of state, on the 23d of February sent a message to Congress recommend- ing a declaration of war. The two Houses which had become likewise convinced that money voted to that end would go further for freedom than any bribes, now responded prompt- ly to the call. A naval expedition was sent out, and on the 5th of December, nine months after his adoption of the new policy, the President had a noble opportunity of re- porting to the same bodies a triumphant justification of his 16 measure. The gallant Decatur had established tlie law of free- dom in this quarter forever. Mr. Madison tells the story in these words : I have the satisfaction to communicate to you the success- ful termination of the war. The squadron in advance on that service under Commodore Decatur lost not a moment after its arrival in the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of the enemy then cruising in that sea, and succeeded in captur- ing two of his ships. The high character of the American commander was brilliantly sustained on the occasion, who brought his own ship into close action with that of his adver- sary. Having prepared the Avay by this demonstration of American skill and prowess, he hastened to the port of Al- giers, where peace was promptly yielded to his victorious force. In the terms stipulated, the right and honor of the United States were particularly consulted by a perpetual re- linquishment by the Dey of all pretence of tribute from them. The Dey subsequently betrayed his inclination to break the treaty, and ventured to demand a renewal of the annual tribute which had been so weakly yielded ; but the hour had passed for listening to feeble counsels. The final answer was a declaration that the United States preferred war to tribute, and freedom to slavery. They therefore insisted upon the observation of the treaty, which abolished forever the right to tribute or to the enslaving of American citizens. There never has been since a question about the navi- gation of the Mediterranean, free from all danger of the loss of personal freedom. It is due to the Government of Great Britain to add that, following up this example. Lord Exmouth with his fleet at last put a final stop to all further pretenses of these barbarians to annoy the navigation of that sea. France has since occupied the kingdom of Algiers, and the abolition of slavery there was one of its early decrees. Thus has happened the liberation of that superb region of the world, the nursery of more of its civilization than any other, from all further danger of relapsing into barbarism. And Ameri- ca may fairly claim the credit of having initiated in modern times the law of personal freedom over the surface of that ■classical sea. I have now done with the second example of the progress of the great principle enunciated in the celebrated scroll set forth a hundred years ago. America had contributed greatly to this result, but a moment was rapidly approaching when her agency was to be invoked in a region much nearer home. The younger generations now coming into active life will doubtless be astonished to learn that not much more than a half a century ago there still survived a class of men har- bored in the West Indies, successors of the bold buccaneers who, in the seventeenth century, became the terror to the navigation of those seas. They will wonder still more when I tell them that both ships and men were not only harbored in some ports of the United States, but were actually fitted out with a view to the plunder that might be levied upon the legitimate trade pursued by their own countrymen as well as people of all other nations, in and around the islands of the Caribbean Sea. That I am not exaggerating in this state- ment, I shall show by merely reading to you a short extract from a report made by a committee of the House of Repre- sentatives of the United States in the year 1821. " The extent," it says, " to which the system of plunder is carried in the West India seas and Gulf of Mexico is truly alarming, and calls imperiously for the prompt and efficient interposition of the General Government. Some fresh in- stance of the atrocity with which the pirates infesting these seas carry on their depredations, accompanied, too, by the INDISCRIMINATE MASSACRE OF THE DEFENCELESS AND UNOFFEND- ING, is brought by almost every mail — so that the intercourse between the northern and southern sections of the Union is almost cut off." My friends, this picture, painted from an official source, dates back little more than fifty years ago ! Could we believe 18 it as possible that liberty and life guaranteed by our solemn declaration of 1776 should have been found so insecure in our own immediate neighborhood, at a time, too, when we were boasting in thousands of orations, on this our anniversary, of the great progress we had made in securing both against vio- lence ? And the worst of it all was that some even of our own countrymen should have been suspected of being privy to such raids. I shall touch this matter no further than to say that not long afterward adequate preparations were made to remove this pestilent annoyance, and to re-estal^lish perfect freedom all over these waters. This work was so effec- tively performed in 1824, that from that time to this personal liberty has been as secure there as in any other best protect- ed part of the globe. Such is my third example of the practical advance of hu- man freedom under the trumpet call made one hundred years ago. I come now to a fourth and more stupendous measure fol- lowing that call. The world-wide famous author of it had not been slow to grasp the conception that the abolition of all trade in slaves must absolutely follow as a corollary from his general principle. The strongest proof of it is found in the original draft of his paper, wherein he directly charged it as one of the greatest grievances inflicted upon liberty by the King, that he had countenanced the trade. The passage is one of the finest in the paper, and deserves to be repeated to-day. It is in these words : He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and lil)erty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, cap- tivating and carrying them into slavery in another liemis- phere, or to incur miseral:tle death on their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for sup- 19 pressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain the execrable commerce. There is no passage so fine as this in the Declaration. Unfortunately it hit too hard on some interests close at home which proved strong enough to have it dropped from the final draft. But though lost there, its essence almost coeval with the first publication of Granville Sharp in England on the same subject, undoubtedly pervaded the agitation which never ceased in either country until legislation secured a final triumph. The labors of Sharp and Wilberforce, of Clarkson and Buxton, and their companions, have placed them upon an eminence of honor throughout the world. But their struggle which began in 1787, was not terminated for a period of twenty years. On the other hand, it appears in the stat- ute book in 1794, that it was enacted by the Congress of the United States : '• That no vessel shall be fitted for the purpose of carrying on any traffic in slaves to any foreign country, or for procuring from any foreign country the inhabitants thereof to be disposed of as slaves." This act was followed in due course by others, which, harmonizing with the action of foreign nations, is believed to have put an eifective and permanent stop to one of the vilest abomina- tions, as conducted on the ocean, that was ever tolerated in the records of time. But all this laborious effort had been directed only against the cruelties practiced in the transportation of negro slaves over the seas. It did not touch the question of his existing condition or of his right to be free. This brings me to the fifth and greatest of all fruits of the charter of Independence, the proclamation of liberty to the captive through a great part of the globe. The seed that had been sown broadcast over the world fell much as described in the Scripture, some of it sprouting too early as in France, and yielding none but bitter fruit, but more, after living in the ground many years, producing re- sults most propitious to the advancement of mankind. It 20 would be tedious for me to go into details describing the progress of a movement that has changed the face of civili- zation. The principle enunciated in our precious scroll has done its work in Great Britain and in France, and most of all in the immense expanse of the territories of the Autocrat of all the Russias, who of his own mere motion proclaimed that noble decree which liberated from serfdom at one stroke TWENTY-THREE MILLIONS OP THE HUMAN RACE. This Doble act will remain forever one of the grandest steps toward the ele- vation of mankind ever taken by the will of a sovereign of any race in any age. But though freely conceding the spontaneous volition of the Czar in this instance, I do not hesitate to affirm that but for the subtle essence infused into the political conscience of the age by the great Declaration of 1776, he would never have been inspired with the lofty magnanimity essential to the completion of so great a work. I come next and last to the remembrance of the fearful conflict for the complete establishment of the grand principle to which we had pledged ourselves at the very outset of our national career, and out of which we have, by the blessing of the Almighty, come safe and sound. The history is so fresh in our minds that there is no need of recalling its details, neither would I do so if there were, on a day like this conse- crated wholly to the harmony of the nation. Never was the first aspect of any contention surrounded by darker clouds ; yet viewing as we must its actual issue, at no time has there ever been more reason to rejoice in the present and look forward with confidence to a still more brilliant future. Now that the agony is over, who is there that will not admit that he is not re- lieved by the removal of the ponderous burden which weighed down our spirits in earlier days ? The great law pro- claimed at the beginning has been at last fully carried out. No more apologies for inconsistency to caviling and evil- minded objectors. No more unwelcome comparisons with the superior liberality of absolute monarchs in distant re- 21 gions of the earth. Thank God, now there is not a man who treads the soil of this broad land, void of offense, who in the eye of the law does not stand on the same level with every other man. If the memorable words of Thomas Jef- ferson, that true Apostle of Liberty, had done only this it would alone serve to carry him aloft, high up among the ben- efactors of mankind. Not America alone, but Europe and Asia, and above all Africa, nay the great globe itself, move in an orbit never so resplendent as on this very day. Let me then sum up in brief the results arrived at by the enunciation of the great law of liberty in 1776 : 1. It opened the way to the present condition of France. 2. It brought about perfect security for liberty on the broad and narrow seas. 3. It set the example of abolishing the slave trade, which in its turn, prompted the abolition of slavery itself by Great Britain, France, Russia, and last of all, by our own country too. Standing now on this vantage ground, gained from the se- vere struggle of the past, the inquiry naturally presents itself, What have we left for us to do ? To which I will frankly answer, much. It is no part of my disposition, even on the brightest of our festival days, to deal in indiscriminate lauda- tion, or even to cast a flimsy veil over the less favorable aspects of our national position. I will not deny that many of the events that have happened since our escape from the last great peril, indicate more forcibly than I care to admit, some decline from that high standard of moral and political purity for which we have ever before been distinguished. Tlie adoration of Mammon, described by the poet as the " least erected spirit that fell From Heaven ; for e'en in Heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent " has done something to impair the glory earned by all our pre- ceding sacrifices. For myself, while sincerely mourning the mere possibility of stain touching our garments, I feel not the 22 less certainty that the heart oi' the people remains as pure as ever. One of the strongest muniments to save us from all harm it gives me pride to remind yon of, especially on this day — I mean the memory of the EXAMPLE OF WASHINGTON. Whatever misfortunes may betide us, of one thing we may be sure, that the study of that model by the rising youth of our land can never fail to create a sanative force potent enough to counteract every poisonous element in the political atmosphere. Permit me for a few moments to dwell upon this topic, for I regard it as closely intertwined with much of the success we have hitherto enjoyed as an independent people. Far be it from me to raise a visionary idol. I have lived too long to trust in mere panegyric. Fnlsome eulogy of any man raises with me only a smile. Indiscriminate laudation is equivalent to falsehood. Washington, as I understand liim was gifted with nothing ordinarily defined as genius, and he had not had o-reat advantages of education. His intellectual powers were clear, but not much above the average men of his time. What knowledge he possessed had been gained from associa- tion with others in liis long public career, rather than by study. As an actor he scarcely distinguished himself by more than one brilliant stroke ; as a writer, the greater part of his correspondence discloses nothing more than average natural good sense ; on the field of liattle his powers pale before the splendid strategy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet, notwithstanding all these deductions, the thread of his life from youth to age displays a maturity of judgment, a consistency of principle, a firmness of purpose, a steadiness of action, a discriminating wisdom and a purity of intention hardly found united to the same extent in any other instance I can recall in history. Of his entire disinterestedness in all his pecuniary relations with the public it is needless for me to 23 speak.- Who ever suspected him of a stain ? More than all and above all, he was throughout master of himself. If there be one quality more than another in his character which may exercise a useful control over the men of the present hour, it is the total disregard of self, when in the most exalted posi- tions for influence and example. In order to more fully illustrate my position, let me for one moment contrast his course with that of the great mili- tary chief I have already named. The star of Napoleon was just rising to its zenith as that of Washington passed away. In point of military genius Napoleon probably equalled if he did not exceed any person known in history. In regard to the direction of the interests of a nation he may be admitted to have held a very high place. He inspired an energy and a vigor in the veins of the French people which they sadly need- ed after the demoralizing sway of generations of Bourbon kings. With even a small modicum of the wisdom so prominent in Washington, he too might have left a people to honor his memory down to the latest times. But it was not to be. Do you ask the reason ? It is this. His motives of action always centered in self. His example gives a warning but not a guide. For when selfishness animates a ruler there is no cause of wonder if he sacrifice, without scruple, an entire generation of men as a holocaust to the great principle of evil, merely to maintain or extend his sway. Had Napoleon copied the example of Washington he might have been justly idol of all the later generations in France. For Washington to have copied the example of Napoleon would have been simply impossible. Let us, then, discarding all inferior strife, hold up to our children the example of Washington as the symbol not mere- ly of wisdom, but of purity and truth. ' -' Let us labor continually to keep the advance in civilization as it becomes us to do after the struggles of the past, so that the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which we have honorably secured, may be firmly entailed upon the ever enlarging generations of mankind. 24 And what is it, I pray you tell me, that has brought- us to the celebration of this most memorable day ? Is it not the steady cry of Excelsior up to the most elevated regions of political purity, secured to us by the memory of those who have passed before us and consecrated the very ground occu- pied by their ashes ? Glorious indeed may it be said of it in the words of the poet : What's hallow'd ground ? 'Tis what gives hirth To sacred thoughts in souls of worth — Peace ! Independence ! Truth ! go forth Earth's compass round, And your high priesthood shall make earth All Hallowed Ground. THE PROGRESS OF LIBERTY, IN A HUNDRED YEARS, AN ORATION, DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS OF TAUNTON, 4:tK July 1876. BY Charles Francis Adams. -^@/- TAUNTON, MASS.: PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF C. A. HACK & SON, 1876. '^m>s: — >. ■:>i» > ^ ■•■ ">3S> > : ^i ■ , >':«> > . ^ ^ . 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