igion_ is employed as a tool against
that cause which you pronounce to be just; and therefore I may be
permitted to claim from ministers of Christ--from Protestant
clergymen--from American Protestant clergymen, that they will not only
pray for that cause, but also be watchful against that abuse of religion
for the oppression of a just cause.

You have farther stated that as American clergymen, you entertain the
conviction that a free Gospel can only be permanently enjoyed under a
free civil government. Now what is free Gospel? The trumpet of the
Gospel is of course sounded from the moral influence of the truths,
which are deposited by Divine Providence in the holy Scriptures. No
influence can be more powerful than that of the truth which God himself
has revealed, and nevertheless you say, that for permanent enjoyment of
this moral influence, the field of free civil government is necessary.
So it is. Now, let me make the application of these very truths in
respect to the moral institutions of your country. I entirely trust that
all other institutions which we know now will by and bye disappear
before the moral influence of _your_ institutions, as is proved by
the wonderful development of this country--but under one condition, that
the nations be restored to national independence: since, so long as
absolutist power rules the world, there is no place, no field _for_
the moral influence of your institutions. Precisely as the moral
influence of the Gospel cannot spread without a free civil government,
so the influence of your institutions can spread only upon the basis of
national independence, as a common benefit to every nation.

You will, I hope, generously excuse me for having answered your generous
sentiments in such a plain manner. My indisposition has given me no time
to prepare for the honour of meeting you in such a way as I would have
wished. You have given joy, consolation, and hope to my heart, and
encouragement to go on in that way which you honour with your welcome
and your sympathy; and I shall thank this your generosity in the most
effective manner, by following your advice and by further using those
exertions which have met your approbation.

* * * * *

XXXI.--ON WASHINGTON'S POLICY.

[_Speech on the Anniversary of Washington's Birthday, Cincinnati_.]

A splendid entertainment was prepared, to which six hundred persons sat
down. After the toasts many energetic speeches we