Excerpt from An Oration

Ou this day, too, it becomes us as dependants on that providence in which our parents trusted, to remem ber him in whose hands are the destinies of nations. This is the day of our national passover, on which the God of our fathers watched over and spared our people from the scourge of a foreign and exasperated foe, prepared the way for final delivery from a foreign yoke, and gave us a name and a place among the na tions of the earth. It is fitting, then, now to go up to his holy habitation and offer in his temple the sacri fice of pious thanksgiving and praise for all the good things Which this day's action have so profusely scat tered over our fair inheritance, and bow down and worship before him. Permit me, then, this duty paid, to call your attention to subjects connected with this solemn occasion. I propose to investigate the causes and character of this signal revolution, to trace its ef fect, actual and prospective, upon the old world, and finally, the change which it has already produced and is destined still to work in the political condition of this continent, and its influences on the moral and intellectual features of this people, Which are to con stitute the peculiarities of the national character of the citizens of the United States of America, and I trust the picture, true to nature, will inspire us with a love and veneration for the institutions of but country, and a firm determination to preserve, pro teet and defend them, and to this resolve to pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor, as ourb' This day has too often been desecrated by pour ing forth the phials of political wrath and exasperat ing the ferocity of party animosities. The American people have too often exhibited the revolting specta cle of converting?r the temple into an arena for secta rian strife, and the birthday of national freedom into an occasion for mutual reproaches and vituperation. The day, the place are suited to other and higher themes. The American Revolution is the instru ment by which Providence is accomplishing the des tinies of the world. Its practical results are just be ginning to dawn upon the astonished View of states men and philosophers, and I fear that in attempting to direct your minds forward to the light, it is destin cd to pour upon the whole face of the earth, I may be reproached with an imagination unchastened by the rigid restraints of cautious prophecy, yet I Will endeavor so to lay my foundations in solid truth with such materials as well established facts afford, that by reasoning from what has been to what may fairly be expected, you will find however gorgeous, however grand and ennoblingr the future looms in this morning of our national existence, its noon of glory is Within the hopes of rational and sound anticipation.

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