y forebodings intrude upon the festivities of this
anniversary. Serene skies and balmy breezes are not congenial to the
climate of freedom. Progressive improvement in the condition of man, is
apparently the purpose of a superintending Providence. That purpose will
not be disappointed. In no delusion of national vanity, but with a feeling
of profound gratitude to the God of our fathers, let us indulge in the
cheering hope and belief, that our country and her people have been
selected as instruments for preparing and maturing much of the good yet in
reserve for the welfare and happiness of the human race. Much good has
already been effected by the solemn proclamation of our principles--much
more by the illustration of our example. The tempest which threatens
desolation may be destined only to purify the atmosphere. It is not in
tranquil ease and enjoyment that the active energies of mankind are
displayed. Toils and dangers are trials of the soul. Doomed to the first
by his sentence at the fall, man by submission converts them into
pleasures. The last are, since the fall, the conditions of his existence.
To see them in advance, to guard against them by all the suggestions of
prudence, to meet them with the composure of unyielding resistance, and to
abide with firm resignation the final dispensation of Him who rules the
ball--these are the dictates of philosophy--these are the precepts of
religion--these are the principles and consolations of patriotism:--these
remain when all is lost--and of these is composed the spirit of
independence--the spirit embodied in that beautiful personification of the
poet, which may each of you, my countrymen, to the last hour of his life,
apply to himself,--

'Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart, and eagle eye!
Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.'

"In the course of nature, the voice which now addresses you must soon
cease to be heard upon earth. Life and all which it inherits lose their
value as it draws towards its close. But for most of you, my friends and
neighbors, long and many years of futurity are yet in store. May they be
years of freedom--years of prosperity--years of happiness, ripening for
immortality! But, were the breath which now gives utterance to my feelings
the last vital air I should draw, my expiring words to you and your
children should be, Independence and Union forever!"

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