Kirk, Edward N.
Oration,
Albany, 1836.

4I6JL

^^fmMe,^^imi^i^^fm:^0ijtfin:t^is Colbnyl

D

ORATION

OP THE
RET. EDITARD N. KIRK,
DELIVERED JULY 4, 1836,
AT THE REQUEST OF THE COMMITTEES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL,
CIVIP SOCIETIES, MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS, &C.

ALBANY:
PRINTED BY L, G. liQFFMAN.
. J836.

By a joint request of the Corporation, and the Civic and Military Associations -
of Albany, the foUowing Address was delivered. At a subsequent meeting of the
CorRoration, their Committee were ordered to request a copy for publication, as
fexpressed in the following note. Albany, Jub/Xith, 1836. '„'
To Ret. E. N. Kirk,
Dear Sir— It gives me great pleasure to inform you, that at a meeting, of '
the Common Council of this City, on Monday last, a resolution was unanimously
adopted, authorising the Committee appointed by them to make arrangements for
celebrating the late Anniversary of our National Independence, to request from.
you for publication, a copy of the Oration delivered by you on that occasion.
With great respect I am,
Your obedient servant,
JAMES GIBBONS,
In behalf of the Committee..
Albany, July 20th, 1836.
To Alderman James Gieboks,
Dear Sir — I am happy in the opportunity of expressing through you to the
gentlemen whom you represent, and to my fellow-citizens, my strong affection and
gratitude for their kind reception of my honest but unpretending efforts to utter
salutary warnings and counsels. It has endeared them to my heart, and greatly
encouraged me to consecrate every power to the good of our much loved country.
With high esteem, Your friend,
E. N. KIRK.

ORATIOIV.

FELLOW-CITIZENS,
You have shewn, in selecting your speaker ; that this
day gives prominence to all that is Aifnerican, and merges
every other distinction. You have exhibited a generous con
fidence in giving this platform to one who has n'ever disguised
his personal sentiments on any of the exciting topics of the
day. If that confidence is betrayed, it must be a sin of igno
rance ; the heart shall give it no sanction. » I greet Americans
this day. We meet on the broad ground of our political
brotherhood. And while we survey our common inheritance,
our common history, our common dangers and duties ; let the
bands of that brotherhood bind our hearts more and more
closely. My wish is, neither to advocate nor to oppose the
measures and principles of any party ; but to confirm us to
gether in the belief and the love of those great principles
which we hold from our fathers and from the magna charta of
our rights.
A prophecy was proudly uttered in Europe by a thousand
tongues, when they first saw our constitution. Such a go
vernment, said they, opens the door too wide for those agita
tions and revolutions which are the indispensable instruments
¦rr » '
of ambition. They saidr.— you have swung loose from the re
straints of monarchy, only to plunge into the, anarchies of de-

mocracy. My friends ; will that prophecy be verified ? If
so; we have lost morethan we have gained. If so; let the
voice of praise and thanksgiving no more salute the returns
of this day. Oh no ;. better were it, that we had nev&ft
thrown ourselves from under the despotic dominion of George
III. ; better have lived under the shadowing wing of his stand
ing army, than to have in their extremes those very principles
which in their medium are our glory, and our blessing. De
mocracy run mad — ^Republican institutions in the hands of a
people ¦^ho have sunk fi-om the pure inspirations of patriotism,
to the grovellings of selfishness — shall it ever be ?
Ameiicans,'it becomes us this day, to take a sober view of
our condition in its relations to the past and the future. Let
us begin to put away the declamations vyhich befitted our na
tional and personal infancy. It was natural, at first, to make
this a day of " pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bon
fires and illuminations from one end of the continent to the
other ;" a day of social mirth and enthusiastic congratulations.
It was natural to make the loud roar of cannon give utterance
to feelings which language was too poor to tell. It was natu
ral for the men who had just returned from the horrors of a
dangerous, toilsome and doubtful war, flushed with victory and
amazed at their own success, to make their anniversary speeches
consist of eulogiums on oirrTieroes, reproaches of Great Brit
ain, and even undiscriminating congratulations and hopes.
But these themes must gradually give way, like the toys of
childhood, to the ttiore sober and pra'ctical topics which the
all-reveahng hand of time is exposing to our view. Yet I
mean not that the past should be forgotten. There are many
reasons why we should do as the Jewish fathers were com
manded by God to do; when their children inquired what

they meant by the festivities of the fas^ov^r. TJiiea the events
of their national deliverance ^vere to be narrated ; that the
memory pf , God's goodness might never perigh from the na-
tii)n. There is, an expression in the remarka,ble letter writ
ten by John Adams on the 5th of, July, 1776, which sbe^s
the propriety of still recounting the deeds of " the Revglu-
tion." He says — this day ought ever '? to be commemorated
as the; Day of Delfvekance, by solemn acts of devotipn to
Almi^ty God." And these acts of devotion, to. he intelli
gent, must be founded upon a knowledge of the facts of that de
liverance. There are also moral features of our history,. which
should encourage our friends, and instruct our enemies. In
this view I will select one aspect of that history, as it appears
^Ipf promise for the future.
,,vy^et us go back somewhere for a starting point, in the
troubled winter of 1760, and run hastily .to the present day.
This, in fact, commences the first period of distinctively
American history. For ten or twelve; years, the colonies had
been developing energies and resources which attracted the
sagacious eye; of Lord Chatham.
About that time commenced the period of discussion and
excitements in which the minds of men were rapidly open
ing to the dawniijg Hght of civil freedom. In that period,
none of the features of the revolution were yet seen ; but then
were actually iformed that oneness of purpose and union of
heart, which. afterward so characterized the " time that tried
men's souls." We find the second period commencing inthe
spring of '76, when on Chsirlestown Heights, at Lexington and
Concord, the volcano burst from its long confinement, and
dashed its destructive elements against the colonial govern
ment, and the armed power of the home government. Be-

hold the veteran armies of Great Britain, under the guidance
of the ablest generals of Europe, masters of our strong holds ;
her powerful navy hanging upon all our coasts, and penetra
ting our rivers. The colonial army was poorly equipped,
poorly armed, poorly fed, and poorly paid. The country was
filled with those, who fi-om principle, or cowardice, or merce
nary motives, strengthened the British cause. The Indians,
too. Were hovering upon all our borders, themselves sufiicient-
ly numerous and cruel to give uncommon horror to that day
of distress and darkness. Mark that as the second period, in
which the intellect of this infant nation was absorbed in the
single interest of self-defence and the defence of human rights.
Let those who hold us in unfair contrast vdth European na
tions, and in contempt, because our social elevation and na
tional literature are immature, throw themselves back in ima
gination, sixty years ; and as they march along the line of
American history, learn this, — when our countrymen under
take to grapple with difficulties, they do it, and do it effectu
ally. If they undertake to make an efficient agriculture, suf
ficient for the basis of a grovdng commerce, froia. the rocky
soil of New-England, they do it. If they undertake to re
pel the aggressions of a despotic prince, backed by a power
ful cabinet and army, they pledge themselves, their hves, their
fortunes, and their sacred honor ; and then they do it. When
that work is finished, and a new set of difficulties arise, then,
true to the maxim — one thing at a time, and do it well ; they
give ^hemselves to the task of forming a new government, a
government adapted to the circumstances of a people occu
pying almost a continent, isolated from the old institutions ot
Europe, and from all its corrupt political and religious esta
blishments. In this crisis, our fathers made a fuller exhibi-

9
tion of moral subUmity than in the former. That might have
been done and endured by a people possessed of merely phy
sical hardihood. But this displayed the highest exercise of
intellect and self control. France, South America and Greece,
went through scenes like our revolution. But neither of them
could abide the test of that second, unsettled state of society,
which foUows a successful revolution. None of them was
prepared for institutions as free as ours. At that time, our
fathers were called upon to decide in theory against the doc
trines of the world — what are the true limits of personal in
dependence and civil subjection. Without a model, they
were to form the institutions which should suit a present popu
lation of thirteen states and three million citizens ; and be
adapted also to the wants and circumstances of fifty sov-
reign states, and three hundred million people. Let me in
quire — did they not do this well? If we had not a Milton nor
a Bacon ; had we not a Hamilton, a Madison, a Jefferson, an
Adams ; nay, a galaxy in the department of political litera
ture ? Our finances were embarrassed, and all but hopeless.
Then, there was found a Morris, whose financial labors and
talepts, place him ia a niche of fame, unblushing by the side
of Pitt and Neckar. And the great body of the people' too, dis
played uncommon magnanimity. Was ever a people sud
denly released from all the restraints of their accustomed go
vernment, animated with recent victoi-y, divided in sentiment
and in local interest ; was ever such a people turned so easi
ly and quickly from the bustle of war, to the calm pursuits of
peace ? All over the land, north and south, east and west, see
them beating their swords into ploughshares, their spears into
pruning hooks. See them at once faithful to the great repub
lican principle of submission, to the majority, calmly accept-
2

10
ing, despite of their difference of judgment, the form of go
vernment adopted by their representatives. It is one of the
sublimest portions of American history, to see the whole na
tion, citizens and soldiers quietly submitting after full discusi-
sion, to their oWn chosen constitution and laws. See our
Washington retiring to the comparative obscurity of a farm.
Not less remarkable is the history of our foreign affairs. It
was wonderful that this infant republic should so soon com
mand the respect of every civilized court in Europe ; and ob
tain by its able diplomacy, a reciprocation of commercial
rights and privileges. After the formation of the federal con
stitution, the fourth period commences ; characterized as the
season for reducing to practice, what before was only theory ;
the season of commercial enterprise, of adopting a system of
practical political economy, adapted to our peculiar situation.
Masters of the noblest section of the earth's surface, the best
fitted by its extent and resources to sustain a mighty nation,
fitted for a highly intellectual nation, from the leisure afford
ed by the facilities for cultivation, construction and transpor
tation ; owners of a territory stretching from ocean to ocean,
from the great chain of lakes to tlie Gulf of Mexico ; it was
demanded of us, that we should bend our energies to those in
ternal improvements, which, by shortening the distance be
tween human bodies, strengthen the chords that bind human
hearts. These two were the important objects which then
employed the ablest minds. The one has secured a series of
parliamentary discussions, judicial decisions, presidential mes
sages, and other state documents, which England's fii-st states
men have magnanimously commended. The complica
ted rights of citizens and of states, the ownership of property,
the extent and limits of political obligations are becoming

11
more and more fully understood. We are rapidly clearing
the soil of this vast territory, dividing its ownership among
our millions of independent citizens, rich and poor. We have
^ow the most perfect and widely extended facilities of navi
gation and land carriage, natural and artificial, begun or
in progress, that is known in the world ; binding the extremes
of our land to the centre, by canals and rail roads. This de
partment of national enterprise moves with almost the rapid
ity of magic. Let me ask, have we done this well ? We be
gan the republican confederacy embarrassed in our finances.
We have, in little more than half a century, established our
credit around the globe,* placed our government out of debt,
and drawn the capital of Europe here to aid in accomplish
ing our vast systems of internal improvement. Have we then
gone so successfully through the varied scenes and duties of
four periods ; have we done all well that pertained to our ne
cessities ; if God has smiled upon us in all the past, is it ex
travagant to anticipate the same in the future ? if it shall ap
pear best to make the next a period of education and of the
cultivation of science and literature ; what shall hinder our
doing that well too ? When we were in war, God gave us a
Washington ; when we needed a government, we had as no
ble a congress of statesmen as ever controlled the destinies
of a nation. Pardon me, if these statements appear extrava
gant. They are honestly believed. When we came to the
arts of peace ; one of us plucked the thunderbolt from heaven,
* It is said, in conversation, that one of the most able and wealthy financiers of
Europe, has declared, he would, since the great fire in our metropolis, trust
the merchants of New- York, more readily than any others in the world.

12
and gave it to his child for a plaything. It was he, of whom
France has beautifully said,
" Coelo rapuit fulmenque sceptrum tyrannis."
He wrested the thunderbolt from heaven, and the sceptre from tyrants.
One of us threw away the oars and sails of fifty centunes,
and taught our ships to plough our mighty rivers and lakes
against wind and current. When we wanted sound heads
and honest hearts to manage our diplomacy, and play an even
hand with the trained disciples of the Machiavelian School ;
we received them from a benignant Providence. Let our
many friends in Europe rejoice with us in the benignity of
that Providence. If we have enemies ; let them contemplate
facts with an impartial eye. We have been a wonderful peo
ple ; and we may yet be greater, and better, and happier,
than we have been, and than all others have been before us.
Providence has done every thing for us, and promises to do
every thing. I have spoken of the prophecies of om- enemies.
Those prophecies are not to be treated with contempt ; for,
on certain conditions, they will be fulfilled ; and their non-
fulfilment is equally conditional. They have erred in judging
of our government in the abstract, and as adapted to their
population. And equally erroneous must be our prophecies,
if they are founded upon merely the abstract view of these
institutions. There is unquestionably much vain boasting of
them, and vain confidence in them, as well as in ourselves.
What is a republican government ? It is an instrument ad
mirably contrived for the promotion of human happiness.
But an instrument always implies an agent. And a good in
strument loses all its value, by being in bad hands. What is
there, for instance, in our admirable judiciary system, if our

13
judges become corrupt? What is the value of trial by jury,
if juries are composed of men who disregard the sanctions of
an oath ; or if our court-rooms are to become the scenes of
p6pular clamor and brow-beating? What is the right of
speech and opinion, or the freedom of the press, if mobs are
to become legislature, judiciary and executive, and to be se
cretly sanctioned by men who ought to be ashamed, and are
ashamed of their connexion with them ; if men who stand
high, and cry — "the constitution, the constitution," will thus stab
it in its vital parts ? What is the elective franchise, and the
tmiversal right of suffrage, if the greater part of the people
have either not intelligence enough to judge the merits of
candidates, or patriotism and virtue enough to resist the bribes
of demagogues? They are only the stake for which the
more skilful play the game of intrigue, fraud and falsehood.
They only tend to bring into office men who will pander to
their vices and confirm their blindness and prejudices, to se
cure their support. Let me repeat it ; you are possessed of
the most perfect political institutions that man ever enjoyed ;
institutions, under whose influence may be trained the noblest
people the earth has ever sustained. But there is no magic
in these institutions. They are, after all, dead instruments.
Like the best tempered sword, useless in unskilful hands ;
mighty when wielded by the valiant hand of the trained.
There are two elements of national greatness. A good con
stitution is the first. A people who will use it aright, is the
other. The one was consummated by the labors of our fa
thers, vindicated by their sword, and bequeathed to their pos
terity, a monument of the highest human glory. But have
we now, and shall we have hereafter the second element of
pohtical elevation ? This appears to me the subject of deep-

14
est interest to this nation-— the formation of a national char
acter. In that we shall doubtless unanimously agree. Whe
ther we shall also agree as to the features of that character,
and the means of forming it, remains to be seen. There aae
certain great principles which must be established and adop
ted, and practised by this whole country, to secure the per
petuity of our government. I shall frankly state my own
views, without forcing them improperly upon others ; satis
fied with the privilege of suggesting them to such an assembly,
and on such an occasion.
A numerical majority determines every thing in this coun
try. If that majority are capable of exercising proper vigi
lance, and if they are patriotic enough to exercise it, and to
see that the constitution and laws are rightly administered ;
the most sanguine need ask no more. But if the bare nume
rical majority who can swear citizenship, are sunk either in
intelligence or virtue, too low for this ; we are wrecked, in
evitably lost ; the day star of hope sets in the east ; the cause
of human freedom is sold into the hands of some despot ; and
he the worst of despots, a republican king, who will kindly
take the crown at the urgent hands of a people who confess
that they cannot govern themselves. Probably few have held
this fact vividly before theii- minds — no matter who may now
fill your offices ; your judges may each be a Mansfield or a
Marshall ; your President a Van Buren or a Harrison ; your
present legislators like the congress of '76 ; it all furnishes no
security, if a bare majority of votes can be found, who will
sacrifice our country for the bribes or the entreaties of the ba
sest demagogues. With this fact vividly in view ; let us look
at another. We have made a bold experiment. Our arms
are opened to the world. We have said to its every inhabi-

15
tant — no matter what your views of liberty and government
and duty ; only come among us and become a citizen. It mat-
ters not though you have no interest in the soil, nor any other
l(S!Pal interest, no family, no property, no feelings in common
with us ; though you be a refugee from justice ; nay, though
you have just eluded the hands of the executioner. It mat
ters not what are your moral principles, what your connex
ion with foreign institutions ; nor what your secret commis
sion from them ; come in among us, and you shall have an
equal voice in determining the political destiny of this country.
Your vote may affect the property and business of the coun
try most seriously ; and though you have neither property
nor business; your vote shall go as far as that of the most
deeply interested in property and trade. Nay, we go farther.
We say to the despots of the continent ; organize your mea
sures, and transport your men no matter who, nor what they
are ; empty your prisons and poor-houses, and swear every
minion upon your altar ; bind his heart and conscience to your
own cherished tyranny, and then send him here ; and he shall
scarcely have landed, before we will seat him in the places
of political power, by giving him as much control of the gov
ernment through the ballot-box, as our best and most enlight
ened have. Now understand me, fellow-citizens ; I am not
complaining ; for I never shrink from carrying out my prin
ciples to their legitimate extent. I am a true republican, and
know no way to be one, but by admitting universal suffrage ;
and requiring of a man nothing but the act of naturalization to
constitute him a voter. Yet I say — ^it is a bold experiment.
It is fraught with dangers ; and those dangers ought to be sur
veyed with an anxious eye. The majority, in this country,
must be made and kept sufficiently intelligent and virtuous to

IS.
preserve republican institutions. If they are not men of prin
ciple ; they will not require their rulers to be such. If not
well instructed, they are incompetent to judge the conduct of
their rulers. Now, what shall we do to secure this great ei?i^ ?
* ....
How can we guard our country^ and its beloved institutions
from those very dangers which are incidental to their pecu
liar excellence. Perhaps some regard all this as a display of
exceeding sensitiveness, discovering danger where none ex
ists. If what has been already hinted, is not sufficient to ex
cite alarm, then I point to other facts. There is constantly
an imagined or real collision of interests between North and
South, which has already severed the chord of union so that a
single strand held the fragments together. The great subject
of slave holding and the slave traffic must enlist strong feel
ings which nothing but uncommon discretion can keep from a
fatal collision. There is danger in the fact, that those most
unprepared for freedom have a powerful tendency toward li
centiousness. There yet may arise great difficulties from the
conflicting constructions of the constitution in reference to the
several limits of the powers of the three great branches of
government, legislature, judiciary and executive. There is
danger from the fact that the Chief Magistrate cem be re-elect
ed, while his power over the funds and oflices of government,
and over congressional bills is all but absolute. Tliis feature
of our constitution may yet shake this government to its foun
dation. But I am not competent to expatiate upon most of
these, so as fully to show you what evils may arise from them.
It is sufficient to have mentioned them here, and to urge them
upon abler advocates, as topics on which they should en
lighten our citizens. I know not but I might shew you that
our government has a tendency to give a hotbed stimulus to

17
some of the bad passions of the heart, and especially, to the
excessive love of power. Ifa, Cataline chooses to use the
principle of universal suffrage ; we have given him full oppor-
^ity to play on the people, and in fact, have rather tempted
him to do it. But it comes more within the scope of my pro
fessional duties to have noticed another source of danger.
And to that I will request your more minute attention. And
I here repeat the oft uttered cry, there is danger of a union
of church and state. I believe it fully and painfully. But be
assured, fellow citizens, it is not from any existing religious
denomination. It is perfectly unreasonable to suppose that
any one of these will ever outnumber the others combined to
gether with each other and with those who belong to no reli-
gious denomination. And yet, until they can do so, they can
not become an " established religion." No ; but our dan
ger lies in these general principles. No government ever did.
or ever can exist over a widely extended and heterogeneous
population, without the aid of a true or a false religion. That
religion must either be interwoven with the government, or it
must exert its saving influence by its own internal power.
And the sum of our argument shall be — that you are not to
decide, whether there shall be any religion in the country and
actually influencing the governing and governed ; for a reli
gion the people will have. The heart will ache and sigh and
stretch forth its hand until some religion comes to its succor.
You can do many wonderful things ; but this is beyond your
power. But what you may and must decide, is — whether
that religion shall be Christianity, sustained by the choice of
the citizens, and acting on them independently of the govern
ment ; or a false and debasing religion made the instrument
of political domination. It can be demonstrated that this re-
3

public owes its glory, in a great measure, to Christianity. The
germ of much that is noble and lovely and invaluable to us,
was once contained on board the May Flower, among the band
of pilgrims, and transplanted to the cold, barren rocks of Ply
mouth. Christianity nurtured and watched and reared it
there. And that hallowed influence is still the strong, con
servative principle that holds us together. But a powerful
interest is enlisted to destroy the influence of Christianity.
There is a bold and reckless spirit of atheism and anti-christi-
anity among us. It resembles, and in part springs from that
which saturated the mind of France during the deceitful calm
and prosperity of the period immediately preceding her fren
zied revolution. It comes to our young men, full of flattery
and with the semblance of independent thought ; while it is
as perfect a system of dogmatism and creed-teaching and
credulity as ever was practised by Druid priests or Moham
medan teachers. It comes to them at a time when the cords
of moral government drawn by the hands of Christianity, are
most unwelcome in their restraints upon the passions ; and it
proclaims — liberty from such a thraldom. It is hailed and
sanctioned and promulgated chiefly by foreigners who are
strangers to our religion and to the spirit of our politicd in
stitutions. None hails this birth day of Columbia with a gladder heart
than your speaker. Who can but rejoice to see a barque
freighted with the magna charta of human rights and with
the dearest human hopes, manned by the sons of freedom,
wafted by the prosperous gales of heaven, over a smooth and
smiling sea; who can behold.it without joy and gratitude?
Sixty years ago this day, it was launched amid storms, and in
one of the darkest nights of time. For more than five years

19
that storm raged almost unceasingly. But the day at last
broke in calm and heavenly brightness. Clouds have some
times darkened it since. But to-day there sails on no Waters
a Jovelier thing than the Republic. Hardy and happy are
her crew. Rich, rich is her treasure. Solemn is her trust.
Humanity has commissioned her to preserve and defend its
dearest earthly interests. But from the " look-out" to which
you have to-day appointed me, I see the breakers. Amid the
noise of your business and mirth you cannot hear them ; from
the places of your daily avocations you cannot see them.
But, called upon to exercise special and far-reaching thought
on this subject; commissioned to the "round-top," felloW-
citizens, I must be faithful to the trust. Breakers — roar-
ING, RAGING breakers ! Scc thcro the wrecks of human
governments. Mark too that friendly light which a be
nignant God has placed amid the fearful scene. If you be
lieve not, come up hither. Do you see that wreck splendid
in its fragments? It was once the pride of the Pharaohs.
There is Babylon's glory. There the nation whom neither
philosophy, nor refinement, nor the arts could steer from the
fatal reef. Blessed with the counsels of Solon, Socrates, Aris
totle, Lycurgus ; mighty in arms, unrivalled in genius for po
etry and statuary and architecture ; there she hes with many
a noble column, shattered yet beautiful.
" Once proud in freedom, still in ruin fair,
Thy fate, O Greece hath been unmatched in glory and despair."
Look, look all along the foaming waters. And do you
mark that our helm is set to that very point. We may not
hve to feel the dreadful shock which will make this very
sphere tremble. But if it does come ; this nation will fall

20
like a world from its orbit. Its dashings will be horrible as if
the ribs of earth were starting and crashing. The dying throes
of this nation will be the convulsive agonies of a giant. Ask
old Time — what cast down those nations in their pride and
strength ? He answers ; the personal depravity of the go
verning, whether they were monarchs, the aristocracy or the
people. The pride, the ambition, the avarice, the hcentious-
ness ; in a word, the immorahty of man has been the com
mon conqueror and destroyer of nations. And it is truly
wonderful that the nations have not long since tumed froni
devouring one another, to make a common attack upon this
their common foe. These communities were once confident-
of permanent prosperity. Each in its turn, said, I sit queen
of the nations, and none shall disturb me. They trusted by
turns, in learning, wealth and military power. But it failed
them all. There is one principle, which with all their wis
dom they had never learned ; — that God administers his right
eous retributions to nations in this world. And this principle
has not yet sufficiently filled the mind of this country. What
can the power of a nation avail it, when the Lord of hosts
clothes himself in judgment, and comes down upon the vdngs
of the wind, accompanied by ten thousand thousand of his
mighty angels to make inquisition for blood ? Read the dread
ful prophecies against these great nations of antiquity, and
then turn to the records of history and learn the first lesson
of political science ; that the fear of the Lord is the begin
ning of wisdom. Where are the nations of antiquity ? Gone
— dashed in pieces as a potter's' vessel. Babylon and Jeru
salem were secured by the strongest defences known in an
cient times. Alexander lifted the empire of Macedon to the
highest point of power. The Roman empire had no fears

21
when she looked from the Caesar to the weak and crouching
tribes which had yet escaped her sword. " Once the Pope
could stamp his foot, and all Europe awoke and rushed to
arms. He held the world in vassalage. He sat as God in
the temple of God. But the arm of his political power is
palsied." And these other nations have all passed away.
Once the Corsican sceptre made the world tremble. Now
the hand that wielded it, is "dust and ashes." His day had
come, his cup was full. The heavens contended with him,
his proud heart was shaken, and he became an easy prey to
the allied armies. His dynasty fell with him ; and the 'mili
tary power of France became comparatively the contempt
of Europe. From amid these wrecks and ruins of human
pride and human institutions, which verify his word, the
venerable Seer lifts up his voice — " Thus saith the Lord ; let
not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his rich
es. But let him that glorieth, glory in this — that he under-
standeth and knoweth me ; that I am the Lord, which exer
cise loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth,
for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." To clothe his
sentiments in modern phraseology, man and nations have no
sufficient ground of confidence, but in the proper influences
of that gospel of mercy by which God governs them that
trust and serve him. "Be wise now therefore, O ye princes ;
be instructed ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with
fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be
angry, and ye perish from the way, while his wrath is kin
dled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in
Him." Here I am probably at issue with some of my audience. I

22
am sorry to be so ; and on a point of less magnitude, would
not this day have introduced a controverted sentiment. But
if this people are to become atheists or if they are to reject
Christianity, let them do so in fair view of both sides of the,
question ; and then, having done my dut}', and throwing my
self back on my personal hopes as a christain, I abandon my
country. Is it asked ; why do you introduce the subject of
of religion this day ? My reply is — that if now on abstract
consideration, I were about] abandoning Christianity, I would,
in honor and in gratitude, lift here a monument, and write
upon it my country's deep indebtedness to Christianity, that
happiest delusion which had ever been imposed upon man.
My reply is— that man's political relations can never separate
him from the moral government of God. It is a false view
of man as he ever has been, and as he is, to suppose that his
political happiness can be enduring, while his religious obliga
tions are disregarded. I plead not this day, as a sectarian,
as a teacher nor as a professor of the christian religion. I
speak as a man and a patriot. With my firm belief, that our
country is lost, as soon as Christianity has failed to control us
as individuals, or at least, the moral majority of us ; I must
be indulged thus to speak. Is it asked — what are you plead
ing for ; a state-religion ; Christianity embodied in the govem
ment and sanctioned by it? No, I abhor such unholy amal
gamation; root, trunk and fruit. What then do you want?
I want to speak of our danger. I wish no legislation on the
subject of religion, no civil penalties for religious opinions, no
hindrance of discussion by speech or the press. Let religious
or political heresy be preached any where and by any one ;
let the most extravagant sentiments on any subject be preached
by man or woman, any where and by any one ; if no con-

23
stitutional right of others be invaded ; you may dread it, you
may pray and preach and write against it ; but leave it oth
erwise unmolested. That is the true doctrine of civil liberty,
the glorious doctrine of the American constitution. It may
be attended with a temporary and limited evil. But Jefferson
told the whole truth in that one important sentence ; error is
never dangerous when the truth is left free to combat it. It
may do some injury. But that evil cannot be compared with
that which would flow from altering the constitution, or from
violating it by Lynch-law and " mobocracy." Deeply as I
dread the influence of religious scepticism, I more deeply
dread the spirit of persecution and bigotry which meets it
with any other than the moral weapons of truth and love.
This is not what we want. But we believe, that if Christianity
withdraws its saving influence from our land ; if the moral go
vernment of God, administered by Jesus Christ, ceases to mould
the character of the individuals who compose this nation ; if
your Sabbath is blotted out, your preachers silenced ; your
fears and hopes of immortality ridiculed ; your children train
ed, at best, under a heartless, Christless morality ; you will then
have the materials of the most fearful anarchy time has seen.
Some Caesar or Cromwell or Napoleon must seize the helm
to guide us away from the rocks and whirlpools of anarchy :
and then he may make his government like Rehoboam's ;
whose father's yoke was heavy, but his little finger was thicker
than his father's loins ; his father chastised them with whips ;
but he with scorpions. We must be a religious people, or
the time is not far distant when the last Fourth of July Ora
tion will have been delivered ; unless the tyrant of that peri
od should find and fee some miscreant parasyte, in mockery
to desecrate this consecrated day, by eulogies on the monar-

24
chy of the once republican America. You must have one of
two great principles — self-government, or the government of
force. The very soil of Columbia would refuse to sustain
the latter. And we are now making with the other, the last
experiment of civil liberty, so far as the principle is concern
ed. Every form of government by brute force has been tried.
Every thing but a govemment separated from Christianity
and yet moulded by it ; has been tried. Nothing el'se ever
yet tried by man, has secured self-government sufficient to
sustain a purely representative govemment. The private in
fluence of Christianity is then your sheet anchor. Never, oh
never venture on time's rocky and tempestuous coast without
it. Pardon me, fellow citizens, that so much of your time on
this joyous day, has been occupied with hearing this sound of
alarm. Were I speaking only for the fourth of July, I could
have moved the air with sweeter sounds, and played a softer
or a bolder melody. But I speak of and for the generations
which come yonder in the far future. They have no part in
the transactions of this day ; but their investment is yet more
vast than our's.
But you are not unwilling to hear of dangers. Dangers do
not trouble noble minds ; but form and exhibit their noblest
traits. We should be willing to believe that there are dan
gers, and to see them distinctly. In fact, many among us
are even predicting that the time of our destruction is near at
hand. But merely to appear wise, to shmg the shoulders
and predict evil, is as unmanly on the one hand, as it is on
the other to shut the ear against every friendly admonition,
and refuse to hear any other voice than that of the flatterer.
Our institutions are in danger, because they are human, and

25
partake of the imperfections of their foui^ders. But dangers
constitute a part of our disciphne. Our greatest and best
minds were brought out by difficulties encountered, and by
dangers anticipated. I have spoken of them, that they may
b|?'seen ; and that we may meet them in time.
One object ^ould then call forth the united and ardent ex
ertions of this people.
Our whole security is found informing and perpetuating a
VIRTUOUS NATIONAL CHARACTER. There are a great many
other important objects. But their importance is subordinate.
And as it is important ; it is also the noblest object to which
the energies of a nation can be directed. I repeat it, and
hold it up before my countrymen as an object worthy of the
the most ardent ambition. Let us together undertake, with
the blessing of God, to form a national character which Time
shall love to hold up as the model of unborn millions ; let
ours be a history which he shall love to write upon pur
mountain tablets of granite. Here is an object for which none
are too exalted, none too low. Here is a work in which no
nation has fully preceded us. None has ever lifted a monu
ment whose glory will vie with this. We have a constitution
and laws nearer perfection than any havg reached before ;
no^^ it only remains that that constitution and code be com- •
mitted to a people prepared to use them ; and we have at^
tained a height as stable as it is unrivalled. Egypt trusted to
her pyramids for enduring fame, Greece to her temples and
statues, Italy to her literature and paintings, France to the
record of her conquests. But none of them aimed at the
happiness of their ciljzens. The Czar of Russia made a noble
effort to civilize his subjects. Sparta framed all her laws
for the formation of a national military character. Great
4

26
Britain, and especially Scotland, have deserved well of man
kind for their efforts to enlighten and elevate the mass of
their people. But Prussia stands yet unrivalled in this no
blest enterprize of governments and men. Prussia has be
gun to dig, not in the quarries of marble, but of mind. Lie
is rearing, not castles nor coliseums, but a nation of enlightened
and christianized men. And it is not among the least of France's
honors that she -has placed herself at the feet of this pioneer
nation, to learn the art of educating as well as -governing her
citizens. It is true, many of our citizens have long reflected
and intensely felt on this subject. Some honorable efforts
are now in successful operation. But as a nation, w^e have
never been aroused to it. If I mistake not our citizens ; it
only needs to be held up through the length and breadth of this
land, and there will be but one heart and judgment. I know,
my countrymen will love to belong to one great political par
ty which shall not separate them from one another in senti
ment or action, and whose title shall be synonymous with —
American. Oh, could I this day consult the mighty dead ;
did the spirits of our pilgrim fathers in the north and the
south hover over this assembly; were the martyrs of liberty
here ; were the patriotic and brave men of the revolution
here; I would ask, without fear, their sanction. Yes, by the
mercy of God, I can appeal to the living, to this little frag
ment of that noble generation.* To you I tm-n ; for j'our
presence Here seems to give reality to our history, and to
transport us back, where we are surrounded by that wonder
ful race of men. O yes ; to you I appeal ; you have toiled
and wept and prayed over this country, when it was strug
gling doubtfully for an independent existence. But now your
*AUudin«r to tHo foiir revolutionarv heroes oresent.

27
work is done ; your political Sabbath is come. You have
entered into your political rest, and your works do follow
you. To us is bequeathed the work and the responsibility.
Slur's was the stern work of war. Our's are the employ
ments of peace. And now tell us— have we lost your noble
spirit— have I not pointed the right course to your children,
when I have urged them to form a noble and a homogeneous
national chasacter? Fathers, is not this the top-stone ofyour
loved edifice ? Is not this the consummation ofyour toils and
sacrifices ; shall we not hereby prove ourselves worthy ol
our ancestry?
Perhaps it is not an honorable tax upon your kindness and
patience, to detain your attention while I expand this topic
into a statement of the specific steps for accomplishing this
great object. If I may be allowed ; they shall be briefly laid
in your view. I begin with
1. Piety. If pagan Cicero or Socrates were harangueing
his countrymen;"; he would say more than this. I should
be ashamed as a christian, to say less. Here we must begin.
The very necessities of man's nature as a moral and religious
being demand this. It is but cheating him, to talk of his po
litical blessings, if you deprive him of all the redeeming
and sustaining influences of true religion. Irreligion and im
morality are self-destructioii. But more than this, as has been
remarked ; there are certain influences of the moral govern
ment of God and of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which must be
blended in their operations upon man, to make him a fit sub
ject of a free government. There is not, and cannot be a suf
ficiently powerful hold upon the hopes, fears and consciences
of the mass, even for political purposes, from any other source.
Piety must be the first element in national character ; for God

28
sits upon his throne in the heavens, and visits upon the com
bined nation the sins of individual members. Go, laugh at
the lightning, and defy its stroke ; "but mock not, provoke not
the righteous Judge of men and angels. We need piety ^
patriots ; for the arm of God has ever been this nation's bul
wark, and ever must be. To look for his help, then ; we must
possess that piety which pleases him, and which prays to him.
Yes, if the men of this nation are ashamed to pray, or hate to
pray, God will let us fall. The despiser of prayer is he who
would cut the cords that bind us to the throne of God's mer
cy, and let us drift, the sport of winds and waves. The pie
ty that will save us, must consist of a deep sense of indebted
ness to God for the past, and of dependence upon him for the
future : and a deep sense of responsibility to him. All clas
ses must feel this, and especially men of influence, and pre
eminently the conductors of the public press. Our piety must
embrace justice to our neighbors, justice to nations, fidehty in
fulfilling promises, and the scrupulous observance of treaties.
The institutions of Christianity must be cherished ; the Sab
bath of God must be a day of corporeal rest, and of mental
elevation above the business and pleasures of this world.
There must be an ascendancy of the intellect and conscience
over the animal propensities, and of the benevolent over the
selfishfeelings. Let another feature of our national character be,
2. Love of the constitution, enlightened and ardent. Our
fathers loved it, because it is a good theory. We love it, be
cause it is the very instrument of our prosperity and happi
ness. Let us form a great party composed of every citizen
of the United States ; every member of which shall study
and stand by the constitution. We will allow room enough
for diversity of sentiment in the construction of that instru-

29
ment; but in all its plain, clear points, we will know but one
party ; and that party shall be dearer to us than any minor
one with which we are united on particular points of con-
wfruction and policy. Let us regard the constitution as a so
lemn covenant between each and all the fourteen million in
habitants of this land, which no one can honestly violate with
out the consent of the whole. No temporary expediency, no
important end to be immediately secured, must justify, for an
instant any infringement of its sacred principles. I speak of
an intelhgent attachment to it ; for no other is of any value.
We ought to understand the true limits of the powers of the
state and federal governments, the delicate boundary line be
tween personal freedom and civil subordination. The unbi
assed administration of justice, civil and criminal ; the right
of^^ersonal liberty and of trial by jury ; the inabihty of the
same citizens or^f any self-constituted tribunal to become
law-makers, judges, jury and executioners; the freedom of
opinion, discusMn and publication ; these are points sacredly
shielded, and rights solemnly guaranteed by the constitution.
But they have all been trampled under foot, with the tyrant's
plea of necessity. If this is pursued a httle further ; we are
ruined. We must be protected by law in the discussion of
any subject in this country, or we must abandon the constitu
tion. And then" I admit, that at the same time we ought to
give the world a model of the manly, courteous, candid and
skillful discussion of difficult and dehcate subjects.
We have another means of forming national character,
which I cannot now state at [^any length proportionate to its
importance. It is,
3. National Education. Not that it appears desu-able for
the general government to form a system ; but rather that it

30
should be done for each state by its own government. All of
them should engage in it with system and with as much uni
formity as -possible. It should probably be here as in Prussia,
a distinct department of the state government. It should j^,
so organized as to secure the education of every child. In
one sense the government should consider the children their
property, as the Lacedemonian govemment did literally and
absolutely. If parents will educate their own children, that
exonerates the state. But as every man and child is King in
this country, we want no uneducated king. We want the
poor to have opportunities for the best education for the sta
tion in life which they shall be qualified to fill. No expendi
tures of money can be unnecessary or wasteful, that are de
manded by this object. We expend millions to erect forti
fications of mortar and stone. Let usjspend twice as nmch
to construct the bulwark of well educaraj|^ind. Libraries
furnished with the very choicest food and medicine of mind
should be accessible to every body at th^public expense.
Lyceums should open their doors to all classes. We want
schools for making enhghtened mechanics, farmers, merchants
and laborers. The constitution and an outline of the laws,
the rights and duties of citizens, the history of our nation
should be graven on every American mind. The intellect,
conscience and heart must all be educated together, and even
the body, so far as we are able to effect it. So minute ought
education to be, that we should have a nation of strong, agile,
graceful men ; to say nothing of what might be done to finish
the native elegance of the other sex. If Providence has ai-
ven man a frame capable of elegance and strength, and agili
ty ; it is for some kind and wise purpose. Let us then train
it so. And if we should bestow such care on the body, let the

31
care of mind be greater in proportion to its relative value. A
strong and enlightened public conscience, is indispensable in
tl^f country. " We want minds. that will avoid wrong because
it is"-#fohg ; or our laws are a rope of sand. All the noble
feelings of the heart which pertain to man as a member of
community, or of the domestic cir|^phould be trained. Sub
ordination to the government of tne family and of the school
room, prepares the future citizen, whether he is to be in au-
thority, or under it. The duties of parents and children and
men to men, and to God, must be taught and impressed by
precept and example. And while the public schools Eire
well sustained, let voluntary schools go on in improvement
more rapidly than the others can. Let the Sabbath Schools
be called nurseries of pat^mt Let the parents in whose bo
soms the feelings,, of' patriotism glow this day, go home and
edKalWnder ^i^rown roof, the inheritors of American h-
bertv. and thelB^ican cljfetitution.
As I look ayl^s wasting group of patriots ; (for there are
but four where I had*jiooked for ten ;) as I search for their
companions ; as I mark, that %lthough Time has been com
missioned to strengthen the republic, he is also charged to
spare none of its fathers ; my thoughts turn to the young men
of our land. I see a departure among them from the spirit
and practice of the fathers, which augurs unpropitiously. Our
independence was achieved, our institutions were formed by
the united counsels and efforts of the country. It was never
entrusted to a few. And so far as 'it is so at any time, we
become virtually an aristocratic government, whatever its
name or form. Of all classes of men who may be supposed
justifiable in such neglect, the profession to which I belong,
may be ranked first. Yet I claini no such exemption, nor al-

32
IpW myself in it. We have no right to give up this whole
matter to the few wha choose to make them,^ves statesmen ;
and who after rankingjin .one or the ,c^er lea^j^g political
party, make mere bliriaipstrun^entg of the Tesfofxis^^^^w
all our young men have. a superficial acquaindK^ Wimpoli.
tics, and are warAy en|sted,in a party. .,^wt parties i;;^
church or ^ate are an H^us upon the bo^ P^Mf ' Wj
do not want them. We^^it every man compelMCl^o:
a judgment for himself, so. far as hi8,^wers and oppBftuni-
ties allow ; and any further than he can act intelli^ntiy, not
to act all. It is an utter mistake to si^ose that we enjoy a
privilege in voting for candiiiatee in any case, wherp we are
incompetent to judge either the demands of the office, or the.
competency of the candidate. And yet this is one of -the
evils of party ; an evil to theleader and the led ; to the leader,
by inducing him to resort lo falsji|Dod, maHagement and l&sir
cunning, that hemayenlisttheiJ|Prant;instfeadj^manlyj no
ble appeal to the thinking and inteljigen^fifaiga»evit to tl^e
who commit their political thinkingajid1|^^^ibilitidHfe(Ver
hands; that'they are machin^ lAfreeaS^BblTIgentjguardi^:'
ans of their country's welfare. Let the you^^ien make them-.
selves mastersof our history and constitutio^Hpthem combine^
together to form a national characteji^ich sh^ll ^mmand the
admiration of the world. Younf men of AlU^^ ; turn your eyes
to these venerable veterans. Search thei» bosoms, ?and seethe
comminglings of painful and joyful recollections, of delightfiil
and fearful anticipations. They are just deJparting from us.
What shialll say to them? "Tell me ; will you acoomplishjthe
work so well begun, so much prospered of heaven ? Yes, ve
nerated men. Dismiss your fears. Give up your anxious
cares. NoW turn your thoughts to that bright and peae^ii
. world, where 'cares shall'no more vex you, and wher^^rbu
shall enjoy the freedoih Of the sons of Gqd ; jfvhere the foot,of
tyranny never trod. Go, go in peace- and dwell with the
Captain ofyour Salvation,; and keep an eternal jubilee. We
will guatd the republic. We will hand your sacred treasure
untarnished and unspoiled Ho your and our posterity.

YALE

"t ¦-