'^^® llloxs ; ■ to) ®#@x» ■vz.-'r/?. to-c-r/-; vi-c^ fe^Hsxd 'cr'z.'cS'i & ! AN ORATION, DELIVERED BY THE HONORABLE WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL, •Judge of the Supreme Court of New York, FEBRUARY 23d, 1852, AT METROPOLITAN HALL, NEW YORK CITY, ON THE OCCASION OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTH DAY OF ©rto of Unite* Americana. NEW YORK : Hi R. PIERCY, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER. 1852. mm hiHUHLii Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 http://archive.org/details/orationdeliveredOOcamp ORATION, DELIVERED BY THE HONORABLE WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL, JUDGE OP THE SUPERIOR COXTET OF NEW YOKE. FEBRUARY 23d, 1852, AT METROPOLITAN HALL, NEW YOKK CITY, ON THE OCCASION OF THE CELEBEATION OF THE BIETH DAY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, BY ORDER OF UNITED AMERICANS. NEW YOEK: H. E. PIEECY, BOOK AND JOB PEINTEE. 1852. CORRESPONDENCE. New York, March 12th, 1852. HON. WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL, Dear Sir axd Brother, At a Regular Session of the Chancery 0. IT. A., State of New York, held on the 1st inst., the undersigned were appointed to solicit (for publication) a copy of the Oration pronounced by you before the Order, at Metropolitan Hall, on the occasion of the celebration of the one hundred and twentieth Anniversary of the birth-day of the immortal WASfflNGTON! In making this request, the undersigned deem it unnecessary to urge any reason for your compliance other than the unanimous approval with which your sentiments were received on that occasion, as well as the desire of Brethren generally to preserve a copy of the Oration in their families. Truly and fraternally, Yours, C. GOODRICH BOYCE, ) thos. r. Whitney, > Committee, MINARD LAFEVERj ) C. Goodrich Botce, Thos. R. Whitxet, Minard Lafevee, Esqs. Gentlemen, I am in the receipt of your kind letter of the 19th inst., and send herewith pursuant to your request, a copy of the Address delivered by me before the Order of United Americans, on the 23d of last month. Please present my thanks to the Order for the patient hearing and the cordial recep- tion which they gave me on that occasion, with my warmest wishes for their success in their patriotic labors, and receive for yourselves the grateful acknowledgments of Your Friend and Brother, New Yoi% March 23d, 1852. WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL. ORATION My Fellow-Citizens — Members of the Order of United Americans: I greet you with a brother's greeting, on this Anniversary of the birthday of Washington. We have all turned aside from our customary la- bors, to pay a tribute of respect to the memory of him, to whom, more than to any other individual under the providence of God, our republic, this the great republic of modern times, owes its existence and its prosperity. To all, then, who gather here to worship with us around the altar of our common country, to all who feel the beatings of patriotic American hearts in their bosom, I, in the name of the United Americans, and as their representative on this occasion, give a cordial welcome. One hundred and twenty years have passed since George Washington was born — years which have been fruitful in great events — years in which more changes have been wrought — more revolutions in government effected — more improvements in arts and sciences made, than in any similar period since the world began. The year 1732 may be considered by all Americans, as a memorable one. In that year, the charter of the last of the old thirteen colonies of England, the •Colony of Georgia, was granted. Its planting originated in motives honora- ble to our nature, and the distinguished leader and founder of the colony, Gen. James Ogelthorpe, was a soldier and a statesman. With him came to America John and Charles Wesley, the first of that great Christian denomination the Methodists, who from that time to the present have done so much for the promo- tion of religion in this Western world. During one hundred and twenty -five years previous, the planting of the colonies had been going forward, commencing with Virginia, in 1607 — followed by New York in 1612, by Massachusetts in 1620, and by the other colonies at different intervals down to 1732. At that, time the whole population of Virginia did not exceed sixty thousand ; that, of New York was about the same ; South Carolina had only twelve thousand. 4 ORATION. The whole population of the thirteen colonies did not probably exceed half a million — less than the present population of our own noble city. But the charter for the last colony had been granted ; George Washing- ton was born in the same year, and the first act in the great drama of Ame- rican history closed, and the curtain fell to rise on new and stirring scenes. Spain had possessed herself of the greater part of South America, and of the West India islands, while France — the great antagonistic power of Eng- land — had planted her colonies in various parts of North America. In Canada, in the valley of the great West, and on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the subjects of the French Monarch had found a home ; and if the flag of Eng- land — the Cross of St. George — floated on the shores of the Atlantic from Massachusetts to Georgia, the banner of France — the Lily of the Bourbon — waved upon the banks of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. The occupation of different portions of America by the three great Euro- pean powers — England France and Spain — the desire of each to monopolize the trade of their respective colonies, and the attempts of each to evade the commercial restrictions of the others, tended to increase the feelings of jea- lous}' and hostility which had been engendered by their frequent wars and rivalries. The war known in America as the first French War, was commenced by France against England, in 1744, and closed with the peace of Aix la Chapelle in 1748. In this war, the American Colonists were actively engaged, especially those of New England, whose hardy sons bore a conspicuous part in the capture from France of the city and fortress of Louisburgh. After de- scribing this siege, Mr. Bancroft remarks that "the strongest fortress of North America capitulated to an army of undisciplined New England mechanics, farmers and fishermen." In this war George Washington took no part. His occupation and his fu- ture career are thus graphically sketched by the eloquent historian to whom I have just referred: " Thus after long years of strife, of repose and of strife renewed, England and France solemnly agreed to be at peace. The treaties of Aix la Chapelle had been negotiated by the ablest statesmen of Europe in the splendid forms of Monarchical diplomacy. They believed themselves the arbiters of mankind — the pacificators of the world — reconstructing the colonial system on a basis which should endure for ages ; confirming the peace of Europe by the nice ad- ORATION. 5 _ justment of material force. At the very time of the Congress of Aix la Cha- pelle, the woods of Virginia sheltered the youthful George Washington, the son of a widow. Born by the side of the Potomac, beneath the roof of a [^Westmoreland farmer, almost from infancy, his lot has been the lot of an or- phan. Ko academy had welcomed him to its shades ; no college crowned him with its honors — to read, to write, to cipher, these had been his degrees in knowledge. And now at sixteen years of age, in quest of an honest main- tenance, encountering intolerable toil, cheered onward by being able to write to a school-boy friend : ' Dear Kichard, a doubloon is my constant gain every- day, and sometimes six pistoles ' — himself his own cook, having no spit but a forked stick, no plate but a large chip, roaming over gpurs of the AUeganies and along the banks of the Shenandoah ; alive to nature, and sometimes ^spending the best of the day in admiring the trees and richness of the land; among skin-clad savages, with their scalps and rattles, or uncouth emigrants,' that would never speak English ; rarely sleeping in a be d, holding a bearskin a splendid couch ; glad of a resting place for the night upon a little hay, straw or fodder, and often camping in the forest, where the place nearest the fire was a happy luxury, this stripling surveyor in the woods, with no companion but his unlettered associates, and no implements of science but his compass and • chain, contrasted strangely with the imperial magnificence of the Congress of Aix la Chapelle. And yet God had selected not Kaunitz nor Newcastle, not a monarch of the House of Hapsburgh, nor of Hanover, but the Virginia stripling to give an impulse to human affairs, and so far as events can depend on an individual, had placed the rights and destinies of countless millions in the keeping of the widow's son." But the peace negotiated at Aix la Chapelle, with so much pomp, was not of great duration. Again the war between England and France was resumed, and now America was destined to be the principal battle field. France was endeavoring by a chain of military posts to connect Canada with the Gulf of Mexico, and to maintain undisputed dominion over the great valley of the Mississippi. The question now to be decided was that of supremacy upon this Continent. Armies pursued their way up rivers and over morasses, and plunged into the wilderness where before the daring hunter or the wild Indian liad alone made their home. The Englishman and the Anglo-American fought -side by side against Frenchmen and the colonists of France, and the blood of ORATION. all mingled together at Ticonderoga, on the heights of Abraham around the walls of Quebec, and on the banks of the Monongahela. When this war ter- minated, the banner of France went down in North America, and from the polar regions of the North, to Florida on the South, and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, the meteor flag of England floated in triumph and alone. In 1763, the end of the last French War, the curtain fell at the close of the second act in the great drama of American history — and it fell to rise on scenes of momentous interest not only to the then British Colonies of North America, but as we believe to the whole European race. The triumph of England over France on this continent had been purchased at great expense. Though the war was not begun or prosecuted for the especial benefit of the American Colonies, yet it was alleged that the result would be of advantage to them, and that they ought to sustain their portion of the expense. The first proposition to tax the colonies was answered by the passage of the celebrated Stamp Act. This act was repealed only to be fol- lowed by others ; the English government asserting their right to tax the colo- nies, and our fathers from the outset sternly and manfully denying that right. The war of the revolution followed. The Declaration of Independence was made, proclaiming the right of man to self-government. The colonies were triumphant, and in 1783, just twenty years from the close of the second French war, the flag of England went down over all the country south of the St. Law- rence, and the stars and the stripes floated upon the land and the sea, and the United States took rank among the nations of the earth. But though independence was acknowledged, the government can hardly be said to have been fairly organized till 1789, when our present noble Constitution went into operation, with George Washington unanimously elected the first President. That Constitution commences with this sublime and ever to be remembered declaration : " We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,... establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence,., promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Let every American study and consider this declaration. With the govern- ment organized under this Constitution, the curtain rose upon the last great ORATION. 7 .act in the historical drama of America. The results of toils and sacrifices were .now made manifest to the world. I have presented this brief outline of the history of our country for the pur- pose of enabling me more clearly and distinctly to call your attention to the - causes to which under the Providence of God our fathers were indebted for such, eminent success. Permanent free governments are not organized by chance, nor are they the results of one day's sacrifice. The individuals who, aggregated, •constitute the nation, must be trained up for free governments. It was with a great price that our fathers purchased their freedom, and enabled us to say in .■the language of the great Apostle to the Gentiles, that as for ourselves — we are free-born. From the earliest settlement of America, in all the colonies and •provinces, colonial and provincial legislatures were organized, and the great principles of English liberty were recognized and sustained. It was not, how- ever, until the controversies with France, that full scope was given for the ex- ercise of legislative powers. It was for the interest of England that her movements should be seconded with all the power of the colonies, and by all the means at their disposal. Their pride and their patriotism were appealed to, and they made large contri- butions of men and of money to carry on the wars of the mother country. The frequent assembling of legislative bodies brought the influential men of the colonies into close connection, and produced constant interchange of senti- ments and views, while at the same time the union of the troops of various provinces brought together the military men, and they were disciplined and taught by some of the best of European officers. In this way during the French wars, the whole generation to which Washington belonged, was trained up as . soldiers and statesmen. It would be easy to follow out the individuals and show how large a number of those who subsequently acted conspicuous parts, had been educated in that school. All the legislative powers and experiences of the people were brought into active requisition when the War of the Kevolution broke out. Every hamlet and precinct had its organization, and if there were not two to unite, the single man would call a meeting of himself, and pass his resolution and sign his pledge. The District, the Town Council, the County Committee, the State Legislature, 8 ORATION. the Continental Congress, carried the single individual forward, and united him in the common cause with all his fellow patriots. At the very commencement of the revolution, form was given to a republican government. I have said the men were trained up for their work. Take our illustrious man as an example. We have seen that at the close of the first French war he was a youthful surveyor amid the wild mountains and primeval forests of Western Virginia. In the second French war he was with General Braddock when he sustained such a signal defeat on the banks of the Monongahela — de- feated because he did not follow the advice of the then youthful soldier. Sub- sequently Washington was a member of the house of Burgesses of his native state — was elected a member of the first Continental Congress — made Com- mander-in-Chief — then President of the Convention which gave to us our present Constitution, and then elected to fill the office of the first President of the United States. In our State, the Schuylers, the Clintons, and other distinguished men, had been trained up both in arms in French and Indian wars, and as public men in our Provincial Legislature. The condition of the people at the period of the revolution was eminently favorable to their success. They were neither poor nor rich ; they were not driven by want to abject submission, or to extreme radicalism, nor by fear of losing great wealth to ultra conservatism. They owned a fertile soil from which they chiefly drew their subsistence, and they had hardy frames with which to cultivate it. They were enured to labor and accustomed to the use of arms from early youth. Education prevailed among all classes. The great mass of the people were religiously educated. When they declared that all men were created equal, and endowed with certain unalienable rights, they proclaimed that those rights were given to them by their Creator, and they believed it — and when they pledged themselves to support that decla- ration with their lives, their fortunes, and their honor, they did so relying "on the protection of Divine Providence." I may remark that the introduction in the Declaration of Independence of this acknowledgment of a responsibility to the Kuler and Creator of all men, was not a mere flourish, nor casually inserted. The expressions " appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions," and "with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence," are not found in? O R ATION. 9 the original draft of the Declaration, they were afterwards inserted by the direct action of Congress. The Patriots of the Revolution believed with Cromwell that he who prays best will fight best, and they prayed and fought on during a seven years war. Such men may be destroyed, they cannot be conquered and subdued. The institutions under which we live were not the fruits of the American revolution alone. The germ lay farther back, and was developed and ripened by that great event. We have seen how men were trained up for that great contest, and how they were prepared to establish a government by which liberty should be regulated by law. Experience is the teacher of individuals, and says Fisher Ames, " experience is the only teacher of Nations." Nations, like individuals, must be trained up for freedom. The descendants of Abraham were the chosen people of God. Under the direction of their great leader and law-giver, they commenced that ever memorable journey towards the home of their fathers. But though they had seen the river turned into blood ; though the sea had rolled back and they had walked in its midst upon dry land: though they had beheld the cloud by* day and the pillar of lire by night, and had heard the voice of the Almiglitv speaking in the thunder, when it would seem that confidence in the future should have entirely possessed them, yet at the first temporary inconvenience they murmured and rebelled, they longed for the waters of the Nile and the flesh pots of Egypt, and desired to return to the land of bondage. How could' such a people expect to be the founders of a great nation in a distant land. Hence God suffered them to die by the way side, and a new generation of men born and educated freemen, and upon whose necks there were no marks of the Egyptian yoke, was raised up to drive out the Canaanites and to found a gov- ernment in the Land of Promise. From the time of that remarkable exodus down to the present, in all ages, and under every variety of circumstance, no people have ever been able to pass at once from despotism to freedom, and to maintain for any length of time the principles of a truly free government. The revolutionary movements in Europe at the close of the last century, and the republics which then sprung into existence confirm this view. We have seen during the past few years events occurring again on the con- 10 ORATION. tinent of Europe which may well excite our doubts as to the capacity of conti- nental nations to sustain a republican government. It happened to me to be in London four years ago this day, when the last French Revolution commenced, and when a few days thereafter Louis Philippe fled there for protection, when landing on the coast of England he might have addressed her in the language of Cardinal Wolsey before the door of the Ab- bey in the city of Leicester — " An old man broken with the storms of State, Has come to lay his weary bones among ye. Give him a little earth for charity." The French nation was aroused — Germany followed, and Italy was in a blaze — Thrones tottered and fell — Monarchs were exiled — Monarchies vanished and Republics sprung up — the people had their own destinies in their own hands, and what has been the result — let the present condition of the Continental na- tions of Europe answer. And now, as if to crown the whole, France, boasting so loudly of democracy, has by the voice of millions spoken, too, through the ballot boxes — given to one man a power scarcely exercised by the most des- potic monarchs of earth. How can we sympathize with such republicanism ? ♦How can we be expected to put faith in such revolutionists ? And yet the history of Europe in our day is but the history of our race, and he who has read history right, will not be disappointed at the result. There are causes operating in Europe which lead the majority of the people to desire a stable government. Thus the eloquent historian of England (Macaulay) referring to the great change which has taken place, since Monarchs were dethroned, and oppressive laws resisted by the uprising of the people in arms, says: "In the mean time the effect of the constant progress of wealth has been to make insurrection far more terrible to thinking men than maladministration. Immense sums have been expended on works which, if a rebellion broke out, might perish in a few hours. The mass of moveable wealth collected in the shops and warehouses of London alone exceed five hundred fold that which the whole island contained in the days of the Plantagenets, and if the govern- ment were subverted by physical force, all this moveable wealth would be ex- posed to imminent risk of spoliation and destruction. Still greater would be the risk to public credit on which thousands of families directly depend for ORATION". 11 subsistence, and with which the credit of the whole commercial world is insepa- rably connected. It is no exaggeration to say that a civil war of a week on English ground would now produce disasters which would be felt from the Hoangho to the Missouri, and of which the traces would be discernable at the distance of a century. In such a state of society resistance must be regarded as a cure more desperate than almost any malady which can afflict the State." TThat is true of England is to a certain extent true of France, and in the statements of the Englisn historian may be found some of the causes of the triumph of Louis Napoleon. France too has a great public credit, and she is emphatically a nation of property holders. Those who have something, far outnumber those who have nothing. Men were afraid of the fierce and radi- cal spirits which sought to rule, and like a vast pendulum, they swung from one extreme to the other. The great difficulty arises from their want of prac- tical knowledge of the working of republican institutions. There is no want of theorists, but they require that training which fits men for a government like ours. An absolute monarchy where all laws are made by the monarch, and an un- restricted democracy where all laws are enacted directly by the people, are both simple forms of government and easily understood. A republican gov- ernment on the contrary, like ours, is of the most complicated character. It can be understood and administered only by an intelligent people. Its aim is to secure liberty, regulated by law — to protect the person, the property, and the character of the citizen — to redress grievances either of the whole people or of any portion of them, or of the individual by peaceable remedies — it pro- claims the equality of all men before the law — it says to every one, pursue your own fortune as you please, subject to those restraints necessary for the protection of your neighbor. To accomplish these purposes the power of him who governs and the rights of him who is governed, are fixed by constitutions and laws : while the diffe- rent departments in the government are regulated so as to operate as checks, the one upon the other. These fixed constitutions and laws can be changed only by the will of the majority, distinctly expressed by their own voice or that of their representatives. I have endeavored to show that our fathers had with their power to obtain 12 OK ATI OX. their independence, the requisite knowledge, virtue and experience to frame our complicated form of government, and to put it into full and successful ope- ration, and that it has been owing to a want of this training which they enjoyed that other nations have not succeeded, when they have endeavored to imitate our example. Let us now return after this long digression to Washington and the Con- stitution. The Constitution of the United States went into operation in 1789, at a time when the whole of Europe was becoming convulsed by the throes of the first French Revolution. Fortunately that Constitution had provided that the foreign relations of the country should be regulated by the President. u The establishment of Justice, in the intercourse between the nation and foreign powers was thus pre-eminently committed to the custody of one man ; but that man was George Washington." Of his general administration there is not time to speak, and I shall content myself with giving a brief summary in the language of John Quincy Adams in his celebrated address in 1839. at the close of the first half century from the time of the adoption of the constitution. It was my good fortune to sit near the venerable patriot and statesman on that occasion, and to listen to the words as they fell from the lips of the " old man eloquent." Thus he says, speaking of the Constitution : — " The first element of its longevity was undoubtedly to be found in itself, but we may without superstition or fanatacism believe that a superintending Providence had adapted to the character and principles of this institution those of the man. by whom it was first to be administered. To fill a throne was neither his ambition nor his vocation. He had no descendants to whom a throne could have been transmitted had it existed. He was placed by the una- nimous voice of his country at the head of that government which they had substituted for a throne, and his eye looking to futurity was intent upon secur- ing to after ages not a throne for a seat to his own descendants, but an im- moveable seat upon which the descendants of his country might sit in peace, and freedom and happiness, if so it please heaven, to the end of time." And yet his administration was not free from difficulties, and it required all his firmness to guide the new ship of state, amid the contending elements around it. Thus Mr. Adams speaks of his success. Again he adds — " In eight years of a turbulent and tempestous administration, Washington had settled ORATION. 13 ■upon firm foundations the practical execution of the Constitution of the United States. — In the midst of the most appalling obstacles, through the bitterest in- ternal dissensions, and the most formidable combinations of foreign antipathies and cabals, he had subdued all opposition to the Constitution itself; had averted all dangers of European war ; had redeemed the captive children of his country from Algiers; had reduced by chastisement and conciliated by kindness the most hostile Indian tribes ; had restored the credit of the nation and redeemed their reputation for fidelity to the performance of their obligations: had pro- vided for the total extinguishment of the public debt: had settled the Union upon the immoveable foundation of principle, and had drawn around his head for the admiration and emulation of after times, a brighter blaze of glory than, had ever encircled the brows of hero, or statesman, patriot or sage." It was when the administration of Washington was drawing to its close, when after forty-five years spent in the service of his country, when in the eve- ning of his days in his own affecting language, he expected soon to be consigned to the mansions of rest, that he issued that ever memorable farewell address to his countrymen — that address which in the words of the late Chief Justice Jay, " was to be read in this country and in foreign countries, and intended for the present and future generations''. "While addressed to the people collectively, and containing advice and warning to the nation, in its relations with foreign States, it at the same time presents in clear and manly outlines, the duties, and the responsibilities, of the individual American Citizen. The importance of pre- serving the Union of these States — the free and harmonious intercourse among all the members — the avoiding of sectional jealousies — the baneful effects of party spirit — are all urged upon the consideration of his countrymen with that sincerity and earnestness, which their importance demands. As you read, it seems as if Washing-ton had before him when he wrote, the condition of our country at the present time. But let us pass and refer to some of those views which are more particularly applicable to us as individuals. And first, allow me to call attention to what he considers the foundation stone of a republican government. ''Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, reli- gion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of hu- man happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens." 14 O RATION. Well lias the poet said — " He is a freeman whom the truth makes free. 1 ' He who cherishes the faith made manifest in that revelation which the Creator has given to the creature : he who takes for his standard the lofty morality which it teaches, cannot fail to be a good citizen. If apples of gold should be set in pictures of silver, to please the eye, let this great truth, taught by the Father of his Country, be written on the memo- ries of the American people, so that it may be had in everlasting remembrance. Having said that both reason and experience forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle, and that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government, he adds on the subject of Education : "Promote then as an object of primary importance Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. — In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened". In some of the earl)' messages of Washington he recommended the establish- ment of a National University where the youth of the country might be edu- cated, to become statesmen and fitted for the various duties of civil life, and also a Military Academy where young men might be trained up in the profession of soldiers. The institution at West Point, whose graduates have ennobled the character of the officers of the American Army, was early recommended by the first President. The cause of general education has found warm supporters from the time of Washington to the present, in most of the States of the Union. In several of them and especially in our own Empire State, provision is made for the free education of every child. The laws which compel the appli- cation of one man's property for the education of another man's children are based upon broad principles. — -They assume that in a government where all the people rule — all the j)eople should be educated — that property, liberty and life are render- ed more secure — and that in order that the republic shall suffer no harm through the ignorance of the citizen, all shall have the means of education within their read), literally without money and without price. How far it is consistent with this great and noble principle to throw into the body politic, and clothe with power a great mass of mind often entirely uneducated, I leave for others to determine. ORATIOX. 15 But it is not alone in the education of the schools that the American citizen should be trained. A man may be a scholar, and yet be a slave — wanting that independence of character, that individuality, that self-reliance, and that practi- cal knowledge which lit men to be partakers in the government of a great country. The elector who casts his vote, at a general election in the United States, discharges a high and responsible duty. He is called upon oftentimes to pass upon questions, which involve the foreign interests and relations of the country, and which according as they are settled, may make for the weal or the woe of present and future generations. He is called to decide questions affecting all the great industrial pursuits — the mercantile, mechanical, manufac- turing and agricultural interests of the country. In his own state, he is, under the constitution, literallv a sovereign, having in one sense unlimited control over all the interests which legislation can reach. Should not he who is called upon to discharge such duties, be educated and qualified ? Does it not require some knowledge and some experience, to be able to judge rightly upon all these momentous questions ? It is said that Fools rush in where Angels fear to t^ead. ,,, And yet it is true that every man born in this country, and availing himself of the ordinary advantages afforded him, can and ought to qualify himself as an elector. The duty of citizenship is cast upon him by his birth. It is not a matter of choice, and he cannot rid himself of the obligations. He is bound to see to it that the republic suffers no harm. ** Eternal vigilance." it is said. 11 is the price of liberty." It is the price which every man in this country must pay for being tree born. No man ought to say that he does not know what measure is right, or what policy ought to be pursued, or that he distrusts^all men and all measures, and therefore will not exercise his right of suffrage. Such A eourse may be proper in the subject of a despot, but does not become a free- man. As a good citizen, he is in mv judgment bound to examine for himself^ and make up his own mind, and then go forward, fearlessly and independently, in the discharge of his duty. When everv man intelligently expresses his opinion, you realize the true theory of a republic. Then if the citizens are trained up. and fitted by education — and if they recognize* the teaching of Washington, that religion and morality are the true supports of a government, there need be no fear of our eminent success as a nation. The 16 ORATION. views of Washington in reference to the agitating topics of the day, are well understood. In his address, he asks — "Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? " Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humour or caprice?" The heart of a freeman beats when he listens to the stories of wrongs, and op- pressions, with which earth is filled; and it is natural that he should be impa- tient to aid in the redress of those wrongs, and to let the oppressed go free. — But we must remember that we are the trustees, of a precious trust, "the bless- ings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity'' given to our children by the will of our common ancestors, and we should see to it, that we do not peril the treasure. Our example has already done much, for the cause of freedom ; our career nas been one of unexampled success and prosperity. We have shown to the world what freemen and a free government can do. We have established our home upon the land and upon the sea. We have opened up a commerce with all nations. — On every ocean our ships are found, carrying our principles, and «our enterprise. " Whose ready sails with every wind can fly, And make a covenant with the inconstant sky, Our oaks secure as if they there took root, We tread on billows with a steady foot". I have sometimes thought that we might apply to the nation, the remarks of the late William Wirt, addressed to young men, on decision of character. — He said in substance, that he would not have them like the stream meandering through the meadow, which is turned aside *by every trifling obstacle — nor \v< »uld he have them like the mountain torrent which sweeps away every thing in its course and leaves a rocky and a dusty channel behind it — but he would have them like the ocean itself, that emblem of greatness, which in its calmest moments still heaves its resistless waters to the shore, and purifies itself by its own operation. So our country should not like the meadow brook, be turned from the path of duty, by the fear of any temporary inconvenience ; nor should she, like the mountain torrent, rush madly forward in a crusade for liberty, involving herself perhaps in wars which may leave ruin and misery in their train ; but she should ORATION. 17 be like the mighty oeean in a calm, rolling a resistless tide, sowing everywhere the seeds of freedom, as that ocean furnishes with water the clouds which spread over the whole heaven, to be distilled in the gentle dew and refreshing rain all over the earth. So for we have advanced under the teachings of Washington with great .success. It was one of the maxims of that wise man, Lord Bacon, " state super antiques vias et videte, qucenam sit via bona et recta et ambulate in ea." Stand upon vour ancient ways, and look around, and see if there be any better way, and if there be, walk in it. That is the true doctrine. Hold on to the old faith under which you and your fathers have prospered, until you are certain of embracing a better. — If you are certain of a better, then the path of duty is plain. But in determining that question we should take counsel of our judgment, rather than of our sympathies. We come now to the closing part of this memorable address, in which he savs that he is unconscious of intentional error during his administration, but sen- sible of his own defects, he beseeches the Almighty to avert the consequences of any such errors — and he adds — "I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service, with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities, will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.. — Rely- ing on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man, who views in it the native soil of him- self and his progenitors for several generations.'' \Vho has not been affected, as he has read the narrative which records the closing scenes in the eventful life of the patriarch Jacob. — He had given his farewell address to his children. — His days were numbered. " And he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my peo- ple ; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron, the pittite," for says he "there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife : there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah," and turning away from the costly mausoleums, the painted tombs, the sculptured monu- ments, the last resting places of the nobles, and monarchs, of Egypt, the thoughts of the dying patriarch went back to the home of his youth, to the spot where 18 ORATION. the ashes ol his fathers reposed, to the simple cave of Machpelah in the land of Canaan. A fervent love of country is natural to a man, who views in it his native soil, and the country of his birth, if it is worthy of his love, must always have the strongest hold upon the affections of the citizen. This love of home, and of country is natural to the human heart. It dwells in the bosom of the savage, and of the civilized man. The wild Indian feels it when he retreats towards the setting sun, because civilization has hewn down his forests, and driven its ploughshare over the graves of his ancestors. u May he love his country .as I love mine" was the blassing invoked by Kos- suth, on a child presented to him as bearing his name in western Pennsylvania. The great Hungarian leader struck the finest chord of sympathy, when he spoke of his poor down trodden fatherland. We too have a fatherland, glorious and free, and blessed be the memories of those, who have given it to us as an in- heritance. And now will you follow the advice of him, the anniversary of whose birth we this day celebrate, of him who was first in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen? Will you seek to promote the spread of religion and good morals — will you advance the cause of education among the youth, and of political education among all the people? Will you cherish and love yourselves, and teach your children to cherish and love the Institutions of our country, and our native land? then you will discharge your duties as good citizens; then posterity shall bless your memories, and your children and your children's children, shall keep this Anniversary. £x ICthrtH SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this hook Because it has heen said "Ever'thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned hook." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library