hallowed anniversary of that Day which proclaimed us a Free, Sovereign, and Independent People, prostrate ourselves before Him in whose hands are the destinies of Nations; and adore that Providence, which in a da k and eventful hour, led us safely through a perilous revolution, and enabled us in infancy to triumph over an antient and powerful nation. May we, on every return of this auspicious day, swear at the Altar of Liberty, that we will live true to those principles which gave birth to our Independence :-That we will remember with gratitude, and bless with our latest breath, the Sages, the Patriots, and the Warriors, who conceived and effected that glorious Revolution which gave us a name and a standing anong the nations of the Earth, and which freed us from a Tyrant who sought "to bind us in all cases whatsoever."

A

That all men are born free and equal; that they have the right to worship their Creator according to the dictates of their own consciences, and that governments were instituted for the benefit of the governed, are axioms which are not called in question in this country, altho' practically contradicted by all other nations. firm conviction of the truth of these maxims, and a fixed determination not to submit the modes of their belief to the regulations of the government, induced our ancestors to quit the fertile coasts of Britain, endeared to them as the place of their birth and the abode of their friends.Rather than sacrifice their integrity and bend to the mandates of arbitrary power, they tore asunder the ties of society, friendship and country; they abandoned their comfortable homes, in the dead of winter, and after traversing the tempestuous ocean, settled on the barren coast of Cape Cod. In a land of strangers, in a country of uncivilized barbarians, who sought every opportunity to sacrifice them to their cannibal appetites, our pious forefathers erected the Temple of Liberty.

The same spirited oppos:tion to oppression which induced our ancestors to quit their pleasant homes and settle in a savage wilderness, descended uncontaminated and undiminished to their children, and discovered itself

in opposing the arbitrary edicts of the mother country. After the French war, in the middle of the last century, in which these provinces had exerted their utmost efforts to advance the projects of the mother country, instead of rewarding them like a kind parent with her favor for their exertions, she sought without their consent "to bind then, in all cases whatsoever." That spirit of liberty which had descended undiminished from sire to son, revolted at this arbitrary and oppressive proceeding. After the cup of reconciliation was exhausted, after humble petition on petition, and remonstrance after remonstrance was treated with contumely and contempt, the sages of the revolution, on the 4th of July, 1776, published to the world the Manifesto of Independence. This monument of human virtue, wisdom and valor, like its immortal author, the Sage of Monticello, and its illustrious defender, the Warrior of Mount-Vernon, will be regarded with veneration by the remotest ages. This Declaration, like a decree of Omnipotence, fired every bosom and nerved every arm. America rose in the majesty of her strength-she endured fatigue, want, and miseryshe fought, she bled, and she conquered.

Our first duty, fellow citizens, on the return of this eventful day is to pay the tribute of our gratitude to the God of Battles, and the instruments of his providence in accomplishing the revolution. Let it not be said that the subject is trite and uninteresting. To those who venerate liberty, who prize the boon bought with the best blood of the country, the subject can never cease to be interesting, the repetition of the deeds of valor of that time can never prove tedious. The bosom that beats with a single pulse of affection for the rights of man will always throb with renewed pleasure at the recital of the valor that won our liberties-and the eye of every patriot will yield the ready tear of commisseration at the tale of persevering toil and suffering virtue by which our revolution was accomplished. Those to whom our freedom is hateful will receive no pleasure from the recital of the deeds of the revolution. Those who would have defeated its success will feel no commisseration for the suffer

ing valor that atchieved it. Let us, fellow citizens, walk in fancy over the hallowed ground, consecrated by the blood of Patriotism. We first see our raw and undisciplined militia, fired by a holy zeal for liberty on the plains of Lexington and the sacred Hill of Bunker, almost destitute of arms and ammunition, immolating to Liberty the veteran troops of Britain. We next behold our yeomanry destitute of every thing but a sacred zeal for their country in the middle and southern states, braving and triumphing over climate, tempest, toil, suffering and hunger, defeating and making prisoners the finest troops of the most powerful nation in Europe. View with me the horrors of the prisonships and hospitals. See cruelty presiding over suffering virtue; your countrymen crowded in pestiferous hulks, their food bread overrun with vermin, their drink the noisome bilgewater, putrified and poisoned. Amidst this complicated misery, persons feeling one human weakness, might have been expected for a single cup of pure water to have renounced their country. But these Patriots, over whose memory we now ask the tear of pity, of gratitude and commiseration, altho' by renouncing a country engaged in a doubtful struggle, they might have secured themseves immediate relief from these sufferings, and restoration to liberty and the comforts of life-yet we see them revolting from a thought against their country as the blackest treason, and expiring in agonies rather than one moment to deny her. Can we look at such valor without pity and pride? Shall we lightly esteem what was purchased at so high a price? NoSainted Spirits of our departed countrymen, we will not be insensible to the inestimable blessings your heroism has procured for us. Smile benignantly from the Throne of Valor on high on our country, rendered free by your exertion. Be its Guardian Angels still. Hover over this temple, consecrated to your valor. Protect our country from foreign foes and domestic conspirators. May its liberties be transmitted to the latest period of time. May that valor and love of liberty which have

distinguished you, our fathers, be conspicuous in the lives and actions of your sons.

After the invincible bravery of the heroes of the revolution had compelled Great Britain to acknowledge our Independence, an event memorable and singular in its nature occurred--Thirteen independent governments met by common consent and framed a federal government, by which each state gave to the common head some of the most essential branches of its sovereignty. This confederation proving inefficient, they again met, and formed a new government. After the establishment of the present Constitution, another event as singular in its nature, and as honorable to the people of this country, occurred. Washington, the father of our country, the hero who had led our armies through toil to victory, and had occupied that post at which jealousy and envy hurl all their weapons, was unanimously elected President.Wonderful people! In other nations trivial alterations in the government or the election of a chief magistrate have. uniformly produced war, revolution and bloodshed.

After the first Presidential term Washington was again unanimously re-elected. Had he consented to stand a third time as candidate, he would unquestionably have been re-elected with the same unanimity, so convinced were the people of the purity of his motives, notwithstanding some measures had been adopted really prejudicial to the country, through the influence, the intrigues, and indefatigable exertions of executive advisers. But tired with the incessant intrigues which had in some instances eluded his detection and mislead him; seeing the efforts to produce a jeolousy of the Southern States, and convinced of the injury resulting from that treaty, to which he had with so much reluctance given his signature, he determined to withdraw from office. This determination, he announced in an Address to the people of the United States. In this invaluable legacy, with that magnanimity which disdains to defend its own measures, when convinced that those measures are injurious, he thus condemns this treaty: Have with foreign nations, "as little political connection as possible. So far

ing valor that atchieved it. Let us, fellow citizens, walk in fancy over the hallowed ground, consecrated by the blood of Patriotism. We first see our raw and undisciplined militia, fired by a holy zeal for liberty on the plains of Lexington and the sacred Hill of Bunker, almost destitute of arms and ammunition, immolating to Liberty the veteran troops of Britain. We next behold our yeomanry destitute of every thing but a sacred zeal for their country in the middle and southern states, braving and triumphing over climate, tempest, toil, suffering and hunger, defeating and making prisoners the finest troops of the most powerful nation in Europe. View with me the horrors of the prisonships and hospitals. See cruelty presiding over suffering virtue; your countrymen crowded in pestiferous hulks, their food bread overrun with vermin, their drink the noisome bilgewater, putrified and poisoned. Amidst this complicated misery, persons feeling one human weakness, might have been expected for a single cup of pure water to have renounced their country. But these Patriots, over whose memory we now ask the tear of pity, of gratitude and commiseration, altho' by renouncing a country engaged in a doubtful struggle, they might have secured themseves immediate relief from these sufferings, and restoration to liberty and the comforts of life—yet we see them revolting from a thought against their country as the blackest treason, and expiring in agonies rather than one moment to deny her. Can we look at such valor without pity and pride? Shall we lightly esteem what was purchased at so high a price? NoSainted Spirits of our departed countrymen, we will not be insensible to the inestimable blessings your heroism has procured for us. Smile benignantly from the Throne of Valor on high on our country, rendered free by your exertion. Be its Guardian Angels still. Hover over this temple, consecrated to your valor. Protect our country from foreign foes and domestic conspirators. May its liberties be transmitted to the latest period of time. May that valor and love of liberty which have