A '-Y % W'V""7.§u _b—i§1x PROF. SANBORN’S ORATION. VLULY 4, 1851. ' ‘A...\ """""w- .-. » »--»-ac.-.-«.-.-‘.,‘.‘..u-««.wmv-q.m~“ v -.~um.‘.“..‘ .‘ .. . r - AN T. O H N B U R V TH, J U L ii‘ 0 U R T E31; 1851. BY EDWIN D. SANBORNy T911033‘. 81:0. IN fI)AR/1.‘. COLL.EGI1}, HANOVER, N. H. avoawq. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. -...-o....—.-a...-........ HANOVER: PRINTED AT THE DARTMOUTH PRESS. JU"LY,1851. ORATION. l5‘EtLLow CITIZENS, ALLOW me to express the hope, that the interruption of our festivities, today, by the inclement weather, may not be permitted to sad.den your spirits nor chill the ardor of your patriotism. For, in this very disappointment we find abun- dant cause for mutual congratulation. ‘We ought to thank God that he gives 11$ “ rain from heaven and fruitful seasons;” and, that he visits the thirsty earth, with refreshing showers, watering the ridges thereof f:t'lT)l1I’1Cl€lDlly, and crowning the year with his goodness, so that, “ the little hills rejoice on every side, and the pastures are clothed with flocks; the val- lies are also covered over with corn,” and the whole land smiles with peace and plenty. An eastern 1"Il.()I1€tI'Cl'1 once commanded his vizier to furnish a motto, for his sigitet, that should always be appropriate, both in prosperity and adversity. The rninister gave him this sentence: “ This too shall pass away.” Though our sky be overcast, it will not always be so. The sun yet remains, and, behind the clouds, he walks in bright- ness and glory; and, on to—morrow’s dawn, will bathe the the earth again in golden light. “ The darkest day (Live till to~morrow) will have pass’d away.” The present occasion calls for happy hearts and smiling faces. It is consecrated to love of country and ofhome. Pa- triotism springs from the hearth and is nearly allied to the domestic aflectiorts. Next to “ sweet: home,” our country claims our love. God. has made it our duty and our pleas» at ure to cherish those who are bound to us by the ties of affinity and blood. The infant learns to love the face that first greeted his dawning consciousness with a sweet smile. The voice that first soothed his childish sorrows lingers in his memory in after years. He early learns to venerate the manly form of the father whose arm guided his tottering steps, whose speech moulded his lisping accents, and whose counsels planted, in his soul, the seeds of practical wisdom. From that quiet domestic circle, that; rocked his infant cradle, his affections pass to the house that sheltered him, to the flock that supplied him with attire, and to the field that yielded him bread. By the same power of association, he learns to em- brace his country in his ertpanded heart. Love is the very essence of patriotism. Purified from mere selfish elements, it is one of the most exalted virtues that can adorn and enno— ble the soul of man. The selfish and unsyrnpathizing tell us that love of country is the oflspring of human weak- ness. Incapable of noble and generous sentiments them- selves, they would fain pluck the brightest star from the fir- mament of social life, and extinguish its radiance in their own dead sea of selfishness. The good and the wise, in all ages, have ever been most ready to acknowledge the claims of this virtue, because they have felt its inspiration in their own souls. Philosophy has bowed and worshiped. at its shrine. Oratory has delighted to embalrn the memory of the patriot, and poetry has twined its fairest. laurels for his brow. The successful struggles of patriotism cause the dull, cold record of the past to glow with joy, while its defeats shroud the world’s history in melancholy gloom. The captive and the exile pine, with wasting home-sifckness, when they think of the land that gave them birth. The heart of the traveller almost dies within him when he utters that. touching farewel,l._, “ My native land, good night.” The pen of Inspiration has hallowed this virtue by record- ing the plaintive elegies of Jucl.al1’s captives, as they wept by the rivers of Babylon, and, by bidding us————-“ ‘Weep not for the dead, neither hernoatt hiing hut weep sore for him. who 13 goeth away, for ho shall l't*3l,‘L1'l‘l(l no n1o1'o nor see his native country.” the :sorrow of long prot1':r1otedo :~3epa1'ation from home, is surpossocl only by the bitterness of death, so the jov that springs froml 21 welcorrm l;'€;“.l11l‘.l1 has no pool‘ in the realms. oflove. “ Breatlles there tlw. mrrxzm, with soul so clear}, VVho never to himselfh:1.th Si-1lf.l—--— This is my own, xny nallsive l:.m«:l ! Whose l1e::u~t l:l:l.li.l'a ne'er witllin him l31m'1eol, As homo l;llS l?‘c»ohm w'lnom;~.o ho fi:‘£)I"1ll“|%I9 U1:zw<.epl;, un'l'1o z1c‘>1'1hsolh11toly from from alloy. -~«--~—-----~—-~wv»~~ “' Nihil owl: uh omni ‘ l l m't:.<:l 1-,"(:?‘:“iJ.t.“‘i’l‘lr,R.q, l Tho .T¢:::w.€a VVG31i'€3t film a::h.<;:>:f:-rm: pmxplo of (ilocl. Boi.ng thus ti distinguished they became proud, presumptuous and oppress- ive. They vainly thought that: the sun of'i'i.ghteousz'1ess would shine only upon Palestine, and gave over the whole Gentile World not merely to the rm-cone-mtrufecl mercies, but to the se- vereszjztclgments of Jehovah. The Jews were not peculiar in this respect. in all past ages, those nations that have been most highly favored of Heaven, have been most intolerant and oppressive. Tlteir benevolence was limited by the national domains. The Greelrs, al"tet' achieving their liberty, refused to share it with others. They guarded, with jealousy, the rights of citizens and never permitted aliens to enjoy them. Though they spent their lives in the land and obeyed all its laws, they were regarded strangers. The Athenians nev- er suilered foreign residents to acquire landed property, and subjected them to burdensome irn positions in trade. The Romans, in their palmiest days, before every thing became venal, at the Capital, we:re eqttally reluctant: to tolerate for- eigt"1er's or cotiler upon them the rights of eitirzens. They for»- bade tnarriage =.vit’l1 i’oreigners and pronounced the man who would consent to live, in a distant land, a disgraced husband with a barbarian spouse, nnvvoi'thy oi'tli1e liiornan name. The modern Chinese, and the Er2,g’*Z'i.rlt, too, do not allow aliens to hold real estate, and they snbjeczt their l'or'e;i.;_:gti residents to civil disabilities. So, all nations, lll-LC the Greels: generals, that fought at Salamis, claim for tlternselves respectively, the prize of victory and the privileges oi'pre~er'ninence. Each peo- ple deems itsell’ the especial favorite of Heaven ; others are mere out-side barbarians. Here some one may ask, are the Americans excepted from this general law of national vanity and selfwigliteoitsnesis? i’erha_ps not; yet: T trust that we have made some advances in toleration and liberality beyond our predecessors and contemporaries. Butt, hold, says the Englishtnan. You are an upstart race, witli no hereditary honors; no ancestral titles. Yeti are a nation of boasters, living on borrowed capital, inheriting all tlie. vices of the old world, with all the rudeness and barbarism of the new. Your history is unvvritten. The hoary past disovvns you ; the glo- }--«_v I rious present awaits your it"i:at.t.111'ity."“‘ That the American peo- ple liave faults, it would be folly to deny ; but this is not the place, 1101' is this the occasion to enunierate them. I would not mar the joyonsness of this festivity with one melancholy thought. I hold that is our duty to he e‘7l.68"I:f7l.tl, /z.o_;oefttl and happy, at all tiines. Yes, it is our duty to be happy. An inspired Apostle bids us “rejoice ever more ;” and, I do not forget that we are bound, also, to “ rejoice witlt trembling.” But there are times, in our history, when it is befitting a free people to recount their l)l€3SSlI1g$, that they may call forth gratitude to the Grliver. A “ Tlieii, for the lhliric ofiny inind, "l‘is mair to mirth tlinu grief inclinetl : I rather choose to lutigli at folly Then show dislike by melancholy ; "Well judgiitg, zi. sour and ll0tll.‘\"y litce is not the truest 11’lt?tl‘l>L’ of p;1':;icc.” Besides, there are croel«:crs eiicinggjli 21lil'E3£{tCl_Y in our land. They are almost: .nnrnerous heir protot.ypes in eiicient "* The follotviirig extract is from the “ Lontlcn Titties,” the accredited or- gen of the EI1f3‘ll5:3lf1 p;o'verni:t1ent: end the most widely oirculatecl journal in the British Ihnpire, l1t'tVl11g :31. daily issue of t35,()0() copies. It is :1 part of ti critique upon Americiin contributions to the “ g;;irei:it lli3.“i«;liihition.” “ It" the A1nerieen.s (lo exeitze ti. smile, it is hy their pirctensioris. VVhen~ ever they come out of‘ their own pi:-ovincc rit'i:'ttgp;c.: