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At-a meeting; oficlie Debating Club in Newburyport, held at théii’
room Wednesday evening July 4., 1821 :--—-

roted, That the thanks of the Club be presented to
Mt‘. CALEB CUSHING for his patriotic and elegant Oration, this day de-
livered before the citizens of Newb1'1ryport; and that I-Ion. William B.‘
Banister, Mr. ‘Whittinglmm Gilman and Hon. Ebenezer Moseley be a
Committee to communicate the same, and requesta copy for publication.

Attest, V
HENRY JOHNSON, Sec”-3;.

Ho

n—-u.u——u...

.7517". CDQLEB CUSIIING.

Sm,

WE herewitli tmnsmit you a copy of the vote of the Debati«ng“H
Club, in this town, of which you are a member, and in behalf of the ‘

Club, solicit your compliance with the request therein coutainecl.
7'VitIz. respect, Sir,
your most O;Ab’t Sa7"u’ts  %
‘WILLIAM 13'. BANISTER,

WH1'I‘TINGI~IAM GILMAN,+ A

EBENEZER MOSELEY.

J\"ct‘nrZ2'z.zl7*g/390rt, J zely 5, 1821.. '

o ism. xvm. B. Emma, A i
" Mr. ‘W. GrII.l\IAN,

I-Ion. EBENEZER MOSELEI.

GENTL EJPIEJV‘,

Please to signify to the Debating‘ Club my com»?
plianoe with their request, as the readiest way in which I can express?» Vi
my gr*atitude for their favorable opinion of my oration ; and be so good‘ k

as to accept my acknowledgments for your own politeness.
W"z'th great respect,
‘  am;
V Gentlemen ‘ 2 V
your m~o:':c‘. obedient semianig

“ %  CUSHlNG.

% €2‘«_s.r.imLIDc+1§:, July Qtli, 185231.

 
AN ORATION, 8:0.

FELLO IV CITIZENS‘ :

lI'I‘_ll1as been Qustomlary, on thisl occasion, to cliscuss

illc poli.tic}al 1'.)]"lI‘l(1.l}_‘)l(3S ancl Llissplay tllml Supc1*i0rity of our

;;foVe1'1a2r1i1c211t, or to spam]: of 1;l;1e blleeasings wllic-l1 we mtnjoy

in our co1:nn71011 co1l‘1n.try, wl“l1oe;e natgilonal l):irtl1 the ssolem-
nitic-rs of tlm (lay me clcmignecl to com111emor21tQ. To

cle_pm‘t from a CZOLITSCB, vvl1i«:.l1 uninter1*upt0d usage linas

now sanct;iom:ed, would ssa'v0:r of a. presumption alilsze for»-

eign to my feelixlgs and unW0r1;l1y of the audience» ltlmt

honors me Witl!1 its pI‘eS€3l'lC€._, And the usage is built up-«
on the soundest reasons. N otl;;1ing is more surely ﬁtted
to invigorate the spirit of patriotisnl in our breasts, than
the 1'etu1‘n of an 2m1‘1iversa1*y festival, which, like the PI.‘G.‘3.:-'

cant, may fI‘eSl1(-311 our zrecollections of the perssecution to A

wl1:ic:l1 0111‘ forefatl1er:'s were subjectecl in tl1eir nativq

4.

land, of their escape from civil and ecclesiastical th1‘al‘-wt
dom, and of the generous enthusiasm in the cause of res
ligion, virtue, and freedom, which animated all their ex-t
ertions and accomplished their ﬁnal emancipation.

On such a day We do, We must feel elated, when we
contemplate a ﬂourishing people spread out over that re---,
gion, where, but two hundred years ago, the savage was
launching his canoe upon our then silent Waters, or hunting
his prey through the shades of one immense Wilderness.

i Wlllcll ainong us but ought to exult, who reflects, that he

dwells in the only free country on earth, and the only
country over which the paralysing sway of‘ military des-

potism is not stretched forth ;-----Wl1O reﬂects, that on this -

day,America burst the shackles, which other nations are
now strivingin imitation of her to throw off, and rose up
the free and the happy, the asylum of the unfortunate
and the home of the brave? Certainly if at any time

we have cause to be peculiarly A‘|yltI:t1T.)1’eSS@Cil with the sen»
timents of our country’sglory, it is now 3- t and A jusitl.yitl1e1?e:ii
fore may it been eztpected of every thing said on this occaw ,
sion, that it should he devoted and consecrated to the
memory of the revolution. But concerning a subject,
which the most powerful iminds have thoroughly inves-«.

tigated, and on which the mosteloquent lips have spol~:en,_
it would he vain or me to thin}: of oﬂieringy any thing nae W

‘toyou, who have listened, onlilie occasions, to those who

were the ornaments of ourhar and our senate, and have
had PA}-?.SC‘>NS, K1No,JlAcKsoN, r Anams, for your companions
and fello7vv~tyownsmen.t I have therefore chosen for nay
topic the “revolutionary convulsions, lvvhich are at the
present tiineagitating the vvltole of Europe ;e~—--~—a topic,

V denee.

74'
A.

which this day naturally suggests to our eo1iside1*atiom
hecause on this day was the ‘banner of constitutional lib-we
erty originally planted” and unfurled in America, and its
striped and starry ensiglisﬂurng abroad to ﬂoat over our
mountains, our forests, and our tsavannahs, and serve as
the everlasting standard and rallying-point of indepen-«

If We compare the political institutions of Europe and
America, we shall immediately «perceive them to be es-

sentially diflerent. Our institutions grow out of a sue-«  

cessful attempt toembody the doctrines of a rational and
enlightenedphilosophy in governments, Whose only founa-.
dation is the will of the people as declared and recorded
in Written constitutions. The political institutions of~Eu—s
rope on the contrary are feudal in their nature and oria
gir1,paI'taking~, in a greater or less degree, of the rude
eharacter of the barbarous age in Wl1l(:l_"1 they sprung up,
and Wlriolly depending fori their S‘l11‘)p01*‘t‘1,IpOI11)1'lIlClplGS.,
to which lorig~eontiri1ted sullie;t'au:1ee rather than positive
consent, or intrinsic rigliit, has imparted autl1or.ity.. This
cliﬂierenee it is, wliich accounts“ for the happy and peaees
f1tt1tileondi‘tit)n ol'Aine.rie:;1, and the «ilist:1.u*har1ceswith Wl']i<3l1_
Europe is agitatetl. For the history oli1noderr1Etn'opo
 littlie else than a history ol" the st1‘i1ggles of nianliincl
ito (lisenthral theinselves liwoni the intolerable slavery of

. the feudal instiitutions. The crusades began the Work

(lbf CI1f'I‘al'lCl1ltS43II1(5I1lL by eoiisuiiiing the riches and shalting;
the power of the rnilitary‘ barons. ATl1e inventiton of
printing and the revival of letters followed to scatter the
‘seeds of improvement lll1l‘0lL'lgl1l all ra:nli;s of society. The
‘diseoveryof the New ‘World and of aypassage to the Ilia

6

 dies suoceeding,enlarged the boundaries of coriiiifxereial «a

yeinterpriiie. Finally came the .Reformation a11d..gav*e

free scope to the progress of enlightened views of gov-

ernment. As knowledge advanced, the cause of free-

dom continually Went. on gaining new st1‘ength, as the
people divested. tllemselves of one badge of serv'itude
after another, until at last the American Revolution

~brol~:.e out and exliibited the first example of a people of

European descent completely delivered from every rel»
it: of the feudal institutions.

'(

In this age, therefore, the universal demand of the

people of Europe is to have their freedom guaranteed

to them by constitutions, Their demand is opposed on-
ly by those few in number, the kings, nobles, prelates

and aristocracy, who, feyelingj their privileges to be in-

compatible with popular right, are “ anxious to stop the

t tide of innovation and reform, because they themselves

must be the first to be swept away in its progress. But

i as‘ well might they hope, witl1iXerXeis, to chain the 

as i think their usurped immunities and empty titles can
“withstand the triumphant career of improvement. Re»-
itigion has revealed that all men are descended from a

yoommon stock and destined, to the same end, and she has

eommanded them to be free. The press, vainly as ty-

ranny has endeavored to destroy its influence, the press A

has been proclaiming to them, Witli its thousand tongues,
the sacred principles of’ justice and humanity. And if
tliere be any upon Whose heart religion has no or hold,

any ”Wl101I'1 the winged emissaries of the press have failw

ed to~«1'each.,--naturel herself has engraven and stamped

‘t1}:).f.)§E1l_.;lt'l.£*‘l.tf' souls the charter of freedom, ﬁlling tlle veins


of the peaearitwith blood as pure aSitl‘1Ei't which mane
tles in the brow of the noble, and maintaining their es»
quality Withla Voice, which is it'resietil3le, because the

"Voice of nature is the Voice of nett1.1re’e God.

Wllat expedient then shall the eetablishecl govern-'~
tnents of Europe e1‘nploy to arrest the rapid 3.(l.V3.1'lCC***
ment of liberal p1‘inciples? Will they put their triust in
the blind respectfwitli Vvvhicli lnalnkilicl have been lack»
customed to I‘¢E3git1“('.lSl1p01"i01‘ birth? They might have
done this in the clerk ages, when the vessel was but lit»
tle raisetlin eethnation above the brute beasts in Whose
cornpany he tilled the soil; but centuries are since gone
by, and the opp1"‘eessed etntlj the eoppressor have descentl~
ed. to the tomb together, Wltere their remains are rnoul-
(ilering and coI'1'u.pti1ig into the same ut1di,sti1”1gL1:i.shable
dust. So mpriciotts end cl‘mng°eel)le  ibrtune tliet the
'v7e:1.-_y“,n2t,1nee of the l1e1,1gl'ttyl,o1‘de OfOl:l1‘O1‘iTiII1t3F3i are pin...
 only he i other li11g‘l't“i'R2:i(~3i”i‘£tI1t.:l‘ diecaying treieortle of the
l1ieto1*ie.n, their mce extinct, their tittles transferred to

the upetert courtier of yesterday, and their palaces bew-

corhe the benq11et.irxg-«hall lI1iWl’1lCl'1 the posterity of their
tneenesést sslle'Veiin1a.y now be iI't3V€3lliI)g as geily and arro-
geritly es ever they did it: the proudest nionients of their
glory. i b  M  t . V

But. tlie ,p1'ogrtees '”ét'I1£l7C0I1SeC1u€*I1Civ£3S of the French
Revolution gave M5 the ﬁniel1i11g etI'olte to the extrelvagarit
claims of noble birth in Eu1*oepe.mWho, tlttatti saw Lewis

XVI. the centre of the nioet '1'11ag‘l'1lﬁC€‘I1t court, perliapsz,

in the World, could lieve lmagl11€Ciltl.1iat the royefl. splenclor
he "Was invested With, liken the brigl‘1tneee which liglite
tip the eyes of the (lying, was only; the harbinger of his»

8

‘O‘V‘ei"£l1Zt‘OW, as in India the widow is arrayed in her 'I‘lcl1:.::;
est nuptial garments to be prepared for imnaolation 
the funeral pile, and that in a few years he would be
insulted, dethroned, ifm._prisoned and beheaded on the
scaffold, amid the soofl"-s and derision of an exasperated
populace? Yet such was the ‘fate of this prince, in a
country, too, Where respect for rank Was the higltest,
Whose kings had long enjoyed despotic power, and been

approached by their subjects with a submissiveness little»

short of adoration.-——-—If you believe that royalty, after
being thus trampled underfoot by the very drags of the
people, can be purified from its degradation so that its
ensigns should resume again their Wonted l1oli.11ess, follow"

the eourse of the revolution, and you will find all the -

distinctions of society uprooted before it, as the statoliest
trees of the ‘forest; and the meanest weed it shelters are
borne away together by the sweep sofa motulntainutorm
rent. Wlteiiyryyou , see eyeryyy _ family, of exalted , rank  in
France, the Bourbons, the Montmorencies, the Riche-~

lieus, all who could boast aline of disti11guisl1ed ancestry,
driven into banishment and spreading theitale of their

downfal through the civilized World, if you can still

doubt Whetl1e1' noble blood has lost any of ,tl1atp1'esc1'ip-

tive Veneration it had enjoyed“ for ages, What will you

say, when you jbehold an obscure soldier of ‘fortune, after
usubduing Italy, hunlbliiig Austria, and lC€l(.l.lI"lg‘ his Victo-»

rioustroops to the pyramids of Egypt and the cataracts

of the Nile, ﬁnally Inountwithout obstruction thevaoant A

throne of the Capfets, and plant his mailed heel upon the

necks of the most liigh-tlescentletl ltings in Europe?

“Si

Bloody and desolating as were these events, tliey
proved beneﬁcial in this, that they left behind them in
the minds of the people a conviction of their own might:
The monstrous ambition of Bonaparte had destroyed
kingdoms and built them up again, annihilated ancient
orders of nobility and created new ones to ﬁll their
place, made his brothers kings, and his fellow-soldiers
princes, overturned the monarchy of Spain, extirpated
the ancient aristocracy of Venice, reduced Switzerland,
Prussia, Saxony, Poland, Italy and the Netherlands to
vassalage, andonly stopped in the career to universal
empire when Europe and Asia conspired together to
crush his gigantic strength on the ﬁeld of Wate1°loo.i

The recollection of these vicissitudes has imparted
an impulse to the popular classes in Europe, which will

4 never leave them until they possess a constitutional in-

dependence. And therefore the crowned heads of Eu-s

V i:'ope,unable -anyl longer torely on therespect not men

for defence, are compelled to call in the bayonets of
domestic or foreign mercenaries ‘ to support an authority
which heaven never gave by means which A it never can

sanction.-’ But it is Well for’ us to know, what all iexpe-we

rience testiﬁes, that the prince who employs a standing
army to enslave his subjects, must himself inevitably bear

some the slave of his armies. And let England, if she ”

will, ride down the people with her proﬂigate dragoons 
let Austria march forth her half-civilized Hungarians and
Poles to subjugate Italy ;---valet Russia summon her bar-
barian hordesof Scythians from utmost Asia to dissolve
the cortes and annulthe, constitution , of Spain: unless
or)   i

to"

they can imprison the soul as Well as theibody,andi roli
back the tide of i improvement upon‘ mankind a tthousandi
years, their efforts to stiﬂeathe growth of freedom are‘
vain and impotent. V

Yes: vainly would Eiuropeandespotstenlist fortheir”

safe-guard, every mercenary band which the inﬂuence
of gold can league together: A the spirit of improvement
and freedom has gone forth among the people, and can»
notbe recalled from its glorious mission: the silent pro»-it

gress of knowledge is gradually, but irresistibly, under-iv
mining the sinking and crumbling fabric of arbitrary no

power, and fall it must,~in spite of all the efforts“ of the

servile and ambitious, who impiously endeavor to reenow

vate its departed strength, when the voice, of heaven
has a pronounced its overthrow.
Glance, for a moment, at the situation of Europe, and

do you not ﬁnd that every‘ Where the standardof reifoirini _

is lifted upon high, as the brazen serpent was raised in
the camp of the children of7Israel,l that Whoever will

gaze upon its glittering folds, and rally around it, shall i

be saved P--—-°~—-He,a1* you not the enthusiastic cry for liber--
ty re--echoed from every hill and valley in Europe, rous-»
ing its inhabitants from the deep slumber of servitude
like athrilling and awakening trumpet»-call .?4--~Wherever

. you ﬁx your eyes, are they not struck with signs of

the gathering tempest, with indications of the earthquake
coming to shake open the iron gates and hurl down the
towering battlements of that vast prison-house, with
which feudal tyranny has fondly thought to over--awe
and keep in slavery the fairest regions upon earth P

“ii

liliigland, France, Prussia, Germany, you perceive to
be animated alike by the same revolutionary spirit, rest-

iess, eager to be free, and each demanding some one of
the peculiar blessings of America, an equal representaw

tion, release from hated rulers, or a constitution_.

If you look at Turkey, you ﬁnd the lustre of her ores»-
cent in the Wane, and her enfeebled grasp reylaxing its
hold of those numerous conquests, which, after she had

 made them, she knew not liovv to keep but by reducing

them to a desert. Wallachia and Moldavia have re-»

volted from her twasting dominion, with a resolution

jworthy to have descended from that ancient Dacia,
which so long baffled the victorious Roman eagles; and
all Greece, by rising in arms against her inﬁdel masters,
seems about to show that she is inhabited by the pos-.»
terity of those, who conquered at Marathon, and who
(lied at Therrnopylae,   7] ,

But the *liate' condition of Spain and Portugal, and of
Italy, is most ‘peculiarly indicative of the contest between
the advocates of the rights of man on the one side, and
those of arbitrary power on the other, which is now
convulsing Eu1‘opo, A We have seen the inhabitants of
Spain, after slumbering under the stupefyinginﬂuence of
the priesthood until they had lost half of that chivalrous
and noble character for whicli they had once been illus-
trious; we have seen them rise up‘ from their deep abase-2

  ment, and, in emulation of us, establish their liberties by a
yvritten charter constitution of civil government : whilst

their colonies in South America were alsoconteuding with‘
the metropolis for freedom, excited and sustained by the

11:2:

example of our successful revolt from Great Britain. We
have seen Portugal undergoing the same changes; and
in Spain, as Well as Portugal, the royal armies themselves,
the last and only reliance of despotism, coming forward
as the ﬁrst to undertake the glorious task of emancipat-
ing their country.

The contemplation of Spain and Portugal is animat-
ing to the cause of freedom; but Italy, corrupted and
tenervated by luxury, desolated by the revengeful Wars
that France and Austria have been perpetually waging
against each other in the heart of her ricl’1est provinces,
broken down by ages of hopeless dependence, and, after

 single faint and heartless attempt to regain her inde-

pendence, garrisoned, as she now is, with the insolent
troops of a foreigntpower, and over-run, as of old, with
swarms ofrapacious Goths and Vandals from the N ortl1,--~+
is the time never to come when Italy shall be redeemed,
when the music of her slsiy shall no longer waste its di-

e vine harmony on the serivile, and Wlicnsome appointed

deliverer shall stand up on her soil with the eloquence
of her Tully to rouse and unite his countrymen, and the

soul of her first Brutus to lead them onward to Iliglit the 4

good ﬁght of freedom andto conquer?
i The lieart of the compassionate may, indeed, be wrung
by the spectacle of wretchedness, of violence and blood-

shed, Which cannot but follow the efforts of the people,
of Europe to free themselves from slavery; but shall 1
we expect the good Without the accompanying evil in-K
separable from that good? The rain of heaven, as it i

L»

,, K

descends to refresh the earth, may swell the gentle was At

13

ten-fall into a cataract, and spread outthe most tranquil
river into a deluge; the same thunder, which puriﬁes
and renovates the sky, may also blast and destroy with
its lightnings: but shall We not look to the issue, and
when the storm has passed away, consider that,‘ destruc-a
tive as it may have been, it has left all nature serene, gay,
fertilized, verdant, as on the first bright morning of crew

‘ ation P»-—--Lament we may that a” revolution cannot take

place in Europe Without violence ; but We ought not for
this reason to be content to have the dominion of ignorance
and tyranny perpetual. iWe ourselves to this day, per-
haps forever, should be groaning under the weight of
the provincial government as in times past, if our brave
ancestors had not dared the Worst ratherthan continue
slaves; if the immortal patriots of the revolution had
not pledged their ‘lives, fortunes, and sacred honor’ to
maintain the declaration of independence or to die in the
atternpt,iiand if thieyhad not persisted in maintaining it

A tl1I‘0ugl1 a long and bloody struggle with powerful foes.

Butiit is not by the progress of liberality that the
liatnes inf War are likely to be rekindled in Europe ; it
is rather by the ﬂagitious ambition of those monarchs,
who, unhappily for the human race, still retain power
enough to entertain projects of personal aggrandizement.
The emperor of Austria, solicitous to check the spread

of intelligence in his benighted dominions,-—-the king of t

Prussia, anxious to stifle the love of freed.o1fn, which

i even his submissive subjects have imbibed,----the czar of‘
the l Russias, the humble and paciﬁc member "of the A

Massachusetts Peace ‘Society, kindly professing to mains"

14

tain his Inyriads and myriads of troops in arms to p1*e.,»-
eerve the tranquillity of Europe, but in his heart niediw
tating the subjugation of his neighbors and craving ad»-
ditions to the unwieldy bulk of his overgrown exnpire,----—
these military despots, for their proﬂigate league, and they
alone, will deserve all our exzecrationfor the evils which
may ensue upon the endeavors of the friends of libierality
to regenerate Europe. For this Unholy Alliance does not

 contend with France, it does not threaten Spain, it does

not invade N aples or Piedmont, but it goes out to battle
_against the Whole human race, and has proclaimed a crue
eade and a war of extermination upon freedom through-~e
out the world. The struggle has ceased to be that of one
nation combating another: new it is ignorance and prejum
dice arrayed against lmowledge and reason, tyranny en~«
deavoriiigto strangleithe youthful genius of liberty in his
cradle, darkness usurping the place of light, the host 
hell niatrshalled in opposition to the bright and glorious

  iarmies ofheavoit. Ofsuch at iatruggle we cannot doubt

  the issue. ,We feel that truth is mighty and will pre-l A

rail. ‘We know that liberal principles of government
must grow up with the rapid and " irresistible diffusion of ’

improvenient, A
And what American is there, Who does not long to
see the constitutional and republican’principles ofthe
Federal Union universally disseniiniated, as the only me-,
thod of giving a stable foundation to freedom, and de-7,
livering the civilized world from the horrors of War P-?---~:Iif
the nations of Europe desire to have theirsoil cease to
n be watered with human blood, as it has continually been

'15

from the earliest records of history downto the present
hour; if they wish to have science and the arts with all
the blessings of social life ﬂourish, as theylnever yet have
done, under the genial and auspicious inﬂyuencel of uni-
‘Versal peace ;------let them unite together, like the States
of America, in a perpetual league of amity,whieh, leave-
ing the 1*igl1ts of each particular nation unimpaired, shall
have for its only ends the support of peace and the ac-
celeration of public improvement. A The great obstacle
to the establishnient of concord among, nations is the
want of any cornrnon superior to whom their difl'eren«-t
co:-3 may be referred foradjudication. Wllile men were
in a state of nature, previous to the formation of politi-
cal society, the hand of every individual must have been
turned against l'1TlE3 fellows, because they had no resource
for the arljustment of disputes, excepting violence. so
it is now with respect to nations. And as the grandest

imveggtiian 1eve:r;;~yettt iibyﬂsfﬂwtdittuipon  the human race a is.‘

1;ha,t of political societies, so there is a grander still,
which rex:naine,ii"aI1d that is the institution of a federal

union ernbracing within its ample jurisdiction all the civ--r
niliaed nations of the globe. , Then, but not before, mayo

we hope to see the hatchet buried beneath the olive-t

tree of peace, which, sending its roots broadly and deep- A

ly into the ear1;l1, shall stretch forth its branches to overw
alriadow the universe. a

is

air FELLoW.c1rIzENs or rare TOWN.-it

  A Much as I have already trepassed upon your indul»-°»'i

genes, 1 am unwilling to suffer this opportunity to go by
without adverting to the condition and prospects of Nevv-«it
buryport.   The fate of nations is a thente more pre-4
tending than the fortunes of asingle townz’ still may we

not for a’moment turn from contemplating the rise or ‘

overthrow of kingdoms to ﬁx our attention upon the”
place, where the gay hours of childhood glided tran--‘
quilly away, and whither the delightful associations of
home recall tl1e‘ heart in all its wanderings? ,

Admirably situated on the gentle deolivity of their
banks of the Merrimac, commanding a great extent of a

territory by means of that noble stre‘an1, inhabited by a
frugal, industrious, enterprising and pious people, N ew-‘
buryport rapidly grew up into a ﬂourishing town during
that happy period’, wl1en our country was at peace with

all the world; and, with a fortune unexampled in the

annals of commerce, freely enjoyed the carrying-trade

of four continental But, since those halcyon days of
V prosperity, maritime restrictions have come‘ to enibar-«

rass our merchants ; our most populous streets have been‘ 1
laid waste by the torch of the midnight incendiary; the
business of the smaller towns has beenabsorbed by the i: \

increase of the capital; and every path, every avenue
to wealth is become so crowded with eager competitors

A in every quarter of the globe, that they defeat their

own eﬁiortsiand mutually prevent success»

ll’?

I Ailtihouglilifroni the operation of these and other causes,
‘which litis needless to recapitulate, the business and pop»

‘nlation of the town have declined since 1810, when our

greatness had attained its height, We are not to conclude

‘that’ the town is incapable of recovering its pristine

strength. The fact is that previousto that stime our rise

«had been rapid beyond parall*el, and, when misfortune

came upon us, it did not strip us, any more than our
neighbors, of the means of future advanceitrfent; it only

“checked, if I may so spealst, the rankness and luxuriance

of our growth, and compelled us to rest content with the
slow’»land ordinary, but unfailing, methods of acquiring
opulence. V pp A A l l A

Misled by thetstriking contrast between the appear--

iance ofithe town before and since the time of its great-—

est prosperity, have we not manifested too much readi-

ness to indulge in discotiraging reflections concerning our
to-si‘tuiationt.ii°iiiii  have been peculiarly unfortunate, it is
true, in suffering so frequently and deeply by ﬁres; but i
should We not soon redeem what has been lost, if corn»-«
merce were restored to its ancient channels P»-—-——~The ere-

‘ternal situation of the town is unrivalled in beauty; the

"sides of the river continually increase in populousness;

the bar was no obstacle to the acquisition of Wealth in

:;former times, and therefore cannot be now; our meclianw

ice are as faitlifnl and intelligent as they used to be; when

:l-tliey "gained so much celelnity for the shipbuilding and
lmtvali equipments of the river Merrimac; we can man-
age idistilleries or fisheries with as much Sltilll as our
l:n(2igl1be1's; We can pui*eliase lumber as cheaply and el::;.—~

‘ll?
. 1

‘V

18

port it in as good bottoms as can any part of the coin-t

monwealtll; nor will our rnercliants or mariners yield to
those of any other sea-port in uprightness, enterprise or
information. If all these things are true,---and that they
are so who can deny ?----tliere is no. reason whatever
Why we should feel more depressed, or think our future
prospects more discouraging, than the rest of the marl»-
time towns of equal size in N ew--England.

I suggesttliese considerations, trite as they are, be-
causethe custom is but too prevalent of emigrating from
the town in consequence of a false idea that We are
peculiarly affected by the existing state of commerce.
Certainly if there is any thing whatever which has a ten»-
dency to impede. the rise of the town, it is this most un-
fortunate impression; and to those who entertain it I
would urge that they, and they alone, are creating the
very’ evil of which they complain ;---——I would say that
industry and activity are every Where industry and ac-«

tivity 3;---c-ll would entreat them, before they hastily bid

A adieu to the home of their fathers and the scene of their

early domestic attachments, to consider whether, by
uniting their efFo1'ts, they are not capable of rende1*ing
their native town as opulent, as its situation is beatltiful
and commanding.

N or can I but believe that emigration from the town

 itijU.CliCi0uS, when I look around and perceive individ-

uals, whom any town would be honored in numbering
among its inhabitants, recently become our fellow--citi-

sons. Let not ourselves be the last to be duly sensible A

cf our acltrantzagesg let us rather strive,by all the Inears

19

in our power, whether of wealth, industry, learning, in» 

genuity, inﬂuence, or whatever other means we may
possesssw-—-Iei:usVst1'ive to raise up and embellish the
town, so that hereafter it may be said of us, asof the

devout and patient sufferer of old, that after our aﬁiic-ii

tions God gave us twice as much as We had before,

.b1essi1‘1g our letter end mere than our beginning.