About the Book
Excerpt from An Oration on the Pleasures and Advantages of Knowledge, and the Necessity of Moral, as Well as Mental Cultivation, to Individual Excellence and National Prosperity: Delivered Before the Literary Societies of the University of Georgia, August 3d, 1837 And, as very little more than a century has elapsed, since the erection of Goorgia into a seperate territory, it might have been curious. Had our time, permitted, to have reeviewd some of the prominent events that have transpired. Within that period, upon the broad arena ofthe civilized world. I might have traced the progress of our own country, from its colonial condition to the adop tion ofthe existing federal constitution, and sketched the history ofthat admi rable instrument, through all those difficulties, foreign and domestic, which, by trying, have confirmed its strength. I might have shown the prodigious in fluence which the free principles of our republican institutions have exerted, in difl'using a knowledge ofthe rights of man, and enkindling a becoming dispo sitiou to assert them in other portions of the globe. I might have adverted to the appalling scenes of the French Revolution, which, born as it was of the spirit of liberty, consumed liberty itself - ia its dreadful fires, and to 3 these pro tracted and sanguinary wars, of which that memorable drama was the or igin. I might have depicted the career of that extraordinary man, who dis. Posed of crowns and kingdoms at his pleasure. But who, after having risen from obscurity to the throne of almost universal empire, died an exile, upon a solitary rock; the world ofwaters around which was strikingly emblematical of his former greatness and unbounded fame, whilst the peeular loneliness of his prison-house, in the very midst of ocean, exemplified still'more forcibly the utter-desolation ofhis fortunes. I might have adverted, also, to another Revo lution ofa still more recent date, in France, by which the freedom ofthe Press was nubly established on the ruins of despotism, and republican principles engrafted on the monarchy of that beauteous, gallant, and regenerated land. I might have alluded to the persevering efforts, and final victory of Ireland, in the sacred cause of civil liberty and religious toleration, and to the remarka ble advances made by England herself, the great enemy of Irish freedom, not only in the extension ofthe elective franchise. But in various other particulars essentially connected with popular rights. I might have directed your atten tion to the great mother country of republics - classic, unhappy, and degraded Greece - who rose, like a meteor, from the grave of ages, but who, after ia numerable feats of unavailing valor. And the heroic endurance of unutterable woes, sunk again, like a Pleiad from the skies, never more to shine amongst. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
