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AN ORATION.

THE citizens of America celebrate that day which gave birth to their liberties. The recollection of this event, replete with consequences so beneficial to mankind, swells every heart with joy, and fills every tongue with praise. We celebrate not the sanguinary exploits of a tyrant to subjugate and enslave millions of his fellow-creatures; we celebrate neither the birth nor the coronation of that phantom styled a king ;-but the resurrection of liberty, the emancipation of mankind, the regeneration of the world. These are the sources of our joy, these the causes of our triumph. We pay no homage at the tomb of kings, to sublime our feelings-we trace no line of illustrious ancestors, to support our dignity-we recur to no usages sanctioned by the authority of the great to protect our rejoicings;-no, we love liberty, we glory in the rights of men, we glory in independence. On whatever part of God's creation a human form pines under chains, there Americans drop their tears.

A dark cloud once shaded this beautiful quarter of the globe Consternation for a while agitated the hearts of the inhabitants. War desolated our fields, and buried our vales in blood. But the day-spring from on high soon opened upon us its glittering portals. The Angel of Liberty descending, dropped on WASHINGTON's brow the wreath of victory, and stamped on American freedom the seal of omnipotence. The darkness is past, and the

true light now shines, to enliven and rejoice mankind. We tread a new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness, and view a new heaven, flaming with inextinguishable stars. Our feet will no more descend into the vale of oppressions. Our shoulders will no more bend under the weight of a foreign domination, as cruel as it was unjust. Well may we rejoice at the return of this glorious anniversary; a day dear to every American-a day to be had in everlasting remembrance-a day whose light circulates joy through the hearts of all republicans, and terror through the hearts of all tyrants.

Liberty is the birthright of man. It is coeval with his existence. It is a privilege wrought into his constitution, accommodated to his situation, and proclaimed his own by the concurrent voice of nature and reason. Who shall rob man of this privilege? It was given him by the Almighty. Man, though made free, was made to be governed by laws. These however cannot be obligatory, unless founded in reason and justice. Liberty consists not in exemption from the control of laws, but in acting according to laws; laws just and equal, established by the unanimous consent of the community.

While uncivilized man roams through the wilderness, he enjoys the liberty of nature. His bed is the earth, his canopy the sky. Uncontrolled by the force of human institutions, and unacquainted with those delicate obligations which render men slaves in the social state, he acknowledges no power but that of his own arm, and submits to no decision but that of his own will. But no sooner does the necessity of mutual relief and protection involve him in the relations of civil society, than his liberty assumes a new form; better accommodated to his capacity, because more limited; more useful, because subjected to the laws of order. This new situation of man originates a multiplicity of rights, obligations and duties. To secure him in the peaceful and inviolate enjoyment of the first, to stimulate and compel him to the punctual and invariable performance of the last, these are the highest objects of civil government. That system of administration under whose operation these objects. are most expeditiously obtained, and most permanently secured must be deemed the most perfect. The more effectually the

persons of men are guarded from injury, and their property from unjust spoliation, the less will they be liable to contention, more happy at home, more happy abroad; more humane, just and benevolent; more industrious, wealthy, virtuous and enlightened. What then must be our opinion of that system of politics adopted and pursued by the founders of all despotic monarchies? What incomparable lessons of wisdom would they inculcate upon us? They teach us, by their doctrine and practice, that millions are created for the use and pleasure of an individual, who is amenable to no human tribunal; who can infringe the rights, dispose of the property and destroy the lives of his subjects. Sentiments these, which sap the foundation of that great political maxim, that the safety and happiness of the community are the highest ends of civil government. Had mankind known, that there was but one being in the universe of sufficient wisdom and goodness to be invested with unlimited power, they never would have submitted to dominion founded in usurpation, supported by cruelty, and administered by injustice. The first object of men in the career of ambition, is to render themselves independent; the second to subject and oppress others. Monarchical governments, however limited, have never secured to the people the enjoyment of their rights. A crown, it has been said, is too splendid a price to be conferred on merit. If so, surely it is too splendid a price to glitter on the head of arrogance, or hereditary folly. The ambition of kings has never known any limits. Dazzled by the splendor of crowns, and infatuated by the possession of supreme power; flattered on every side by the servile compliance of courtiers, and deluded into a belief that the determinations of their own wills ought to be inviolable laws of conduct for their subjects, they have fancied themselves the vicegerents of God, born and designed for no end but the exercise of unbounded authority. Rapacious of wealth, and ambitious of power, they have never failed to encroach on those intermediate authorities constituted by the people, and designed by them as an impregnable barrier against regal invasion.

Aristocratical governments, though they may be more favorable than monarchical to the peace and security of the people,

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