THE anniversary which is this day cele­brated by the American people, is no less powerful in its effects, than it is important in its nature and principle. The recognition of that grand thought, the recollection of that immortal sentiment, which gave birth to a change so essential to the dignity and charac­ter of man, will become one of the most effec­tual means of giving to the cause of liberty a durable triumph, and of annihilating the des­potism of antiquity. The celebration of this day, is not intended as a business of festivity alone; it includes the resuscitation of some of the finest feelings that ever warmed the human heart—of some of the noblest sentiments, that in any age have emanated from the mind of man.

Posterity which took no active part in the accomplishment of this great event, can feel its weight only by the recital of its history, by the development of its principles, by the mag­nitude of its effects.

Impressions made upon the human mind, ei­ther by interesting facts, or important princi­ples, are durable in their consequences; they mould the moral temperament of intelligent [Page 4] life; they inspire the heart with a justifiable enthusiasm; they impel the mind to discard er­ror and venerate truth, and to form individual conduct upon the basis of eternal justice. The subject in this point of view is doubly interest­ing; for while it does justice to the imminent virtues of revolutionary characters, it animates, it exalts, and inspires with a love of genuine republicanism, the juvenile mind throughout the American country.

Cold hearted, misanthropic, or tyrannical men have endeavoured to cast a gloom over the subject, to envelope it in clouds of awful mystery, and tarnish its purity, its glory and excellence by prophetic maledictions, the ob­ject of which is destruction to the sentiment of equal right and the total subversion of liberty throughout the globe. If there be in nature a single human being who merits universal ex­ecration, it is that wretch, finished in wicked­ness, who deliberately contends for bond­age interminable, and whose aggregate facul­ties are devoted to the accomplishment of such fatal and malignant design—He is a monster in human shape whom posterity will reject—whom they will renounce with the most point­ed asseverations, that such specimen of moral deformity certainly never disgraced a race of intellectual agents.

The enemies of liberty in every country have employed the same detestable argument for the purpose of perpetuating the depotism [Page 5] of antiquity. Innovations it is said are dan­gerous and destructive; the institutions of for­mer ages have been sanctioned by time and authority—they have been venerated by our ancestors—they have been respected by wise and great men, and a desire to subvert them is indicative only of a restless and turbulent spi­rit, whose element is the confused and disor­dered state of the moral world. Innovations it is said are dangerous and destructive, it ought not to be considered harsh or severe, to declare that such objection can be attributed to no other source than ignorance or tyranny. To what do we owe the present state of human im­provement? to what causes shall we ascribe na­tional dignity and happiness so far as they have already been realized in any country? what is it that has the elevated enjoyments of civilized life—to purity of thought, sublimity of con­ception, strength of mind, extension of science, love of justice, augmentation of felicity, and that combination of circumstances, that dis­cernable connection of cause and effect, which has already mitigated his sufferings, and im­proved his character—to what are all these ef­fects to be attributed? they are not the requests of despotism, for despotism is obdurate and in­flexible—they are not the effects of any regu­lar system, whose operation has been unbroken under the cruel reign of ancient tyranny—they are not the effect of any kind of benevolent plans, which have been generated in the coun­cils [Page 6] of church or state—no, they are results to be ascribed to sources entirely different; they are effects exhibited by unfortunate man, strug­gling under the pressure of innumerable mis­fortunes, and powerfully contending against the accumulated evils of his existence; they are the results of suffering humanity, rising in all the awfulness of just resentment against its oppressors. These oppressors, these tyrants of antiquity had destined the human race to a state of hopeless bondage; they had organized a system of moral and political wickedness, which had nearly accomplished what was in­cluded in the tyrannical wish of the execrable Galigula, for mankind seemed to have but one neck, on which the compound despotism of the earth had set its foot, and swore upon the alter of vengeance that efforts and energies should hence forth be unavailing.

But necessity is the mother of invention, and nature in many cases exerts a preternatural strength, productive of the most astonishing ef­fects. This has been literally true in the great work of human improvement; the warfare has been unequalled—it was the intellect of man rising against the despotism of the globe—it was the fire of human genius that burst upon the world, that proclaimed liberty to the hu­man race, science to man, justice to nations, and immortality to the venerable cause of truth. It is however the character of power to believe itself invulnerable and eternal; [Page 7] this foolish but abominable dogma, became one of the most powerful causes of the overthrow of ancient institutions. The intellectual ener­gy of individuals, had been secretly preparing, for a long time, the means by which the world was to be emancipated from slavery; but these philanthropists were objects of the most viru­lent persecution—they were called innovaters, disorganisers and enemies to the venerable in­stitutions of antiquity.

Galileo asserted the sphericity of the earth, and he fell a victim to the resentment of su­perstition—the clergy laid their pious and ho­ly hands upon this innovating philosophy [...] threw him into prison, and [...] in the world that the earth was flat and not of a globular figure—ignorance and superstition joined the general cry, and the beautiful sys­tem of nature was most dreadfully distorted by the incontrovertible argument of authority.

After a lapse however of many years, super­stition consented to restore the earth to its globular form, and nature in this respect was once more set right. Political philosophers and philanthropists; who first bad the courage▪ to call in question the divinity of monarchy, experienced similar persecutions, and to the charges brought against them there seemed to be no end. When the justice and political utility of revolutions were first asserted, their abettors were considered, in they view of mon­archy, as beings whose existence ought to he [Page 8] immediately sacrificed to the preservation of order and good government, This opinion, so fatal to the improvement of the human race, is still advocated in our own country.

In the commencement of the American re­volution, bold, righteous, and unqualified asser­tions were made against the principles and the existence of monarchy; it was considered as a species of government unjust and detestable, and its advocates the enemies of the human race. We have lived, however, to witness the most evident marks of attachment to this kind of government, by some American citizens, [...] not inconsiderable agents in the re­volutionary war.

The mortal blow given to the ancient des­potism of France, has been a subject of lament­ation among some of the most zealous friends of order and good government in the United States. Plans have been conceived, and at­tempts have been made, to establish a most in­timate connection between this country and the dying monarchy of Britain, but the suc­cess of these iniquitous efforts, it is to be hop­ed, [...] terminated, and the republican spirit of seventy-six about to revive in the western world. The revolution in America, and the revolution in France, are two of the most im­portant national events that history ever re­corded!. They are events whose moral, scien­tific, and political effects cannot be calculated. It is however conjectured, by some citizens of [Page 9] upright intentions, that the glory of these re­volutions will soon fade away, and the politi­cal world take a retrogade motion towards ig­norance, monarchy, and war. An opinion of this kind, may perhaps result from a constitu­tional temperament, to which no censure ought, to be attached; but it is an opinion most strong­ly opposed by the argument of facts, and the scientific predicament of the world.

Three centuries ago, timidity and apprehen­sion might have been well attached to [...] reasoning on this subject; but the art of print­ing, the press is the grand instrument, it [...] lever by which to raise the world in an incal­culable height. The [...] understanding diffusing through [...] the infinite variety of its [...] of antiquity must and [...] upon the altar of truth and human [...] society did not possess an instrument [...] [...] ­kind, working with such vast mechanical [...] ­er, the liberty of society, and the science [...] man, would no doubt, be considered in part, as chimeras of the imagination, to [...] substantial reality could ever be attached. It has been [...] for the human [...] that despotism did not perceive [...] to which science was [...] late to prevent the fall.

The press in the hands of [...] [...] ­losophy, has wrought [...] but very [...] effects in the political would it has the [...] [Page 10] of attacking error, and undermining tyranny, while its operation is unknown and undisco­vered. The monarchies of the ancient hemi­sphere, have always believed, that it was force only by which they could defend their exist­ence, and that force alone colud subvert it.—Armies and military pomp, abundance of war­like stores, and savage ferocity—these were the instruments of preserving their glory, these the only means of rendering durable these privi­leged systems, which held in dreadful bondage the mass of mankind, while a few individuals elevated themselves upon the ruin of every thing valuable in the character of man. Sci­ence [...] at their folly, and the conscious security in which they reposed—the propheti­cally pointed to an aera of human history, in which the wicked glory of these corrupt insti­tutions of antiquity, should fade away before the blazing torch of liberty, and the effulgent light, which should one day beam upon the world, from the meridian sun of reason, whose rays were to be conducted by the liberty of the press, through the darkest abodes of intellectual existence.

At the present period of the world, aristo­cracy and despotism of every kind, are exhi­biting a vast struggle to save themselves from endless destruction. The liberty of the press is attacked in the freest and most republican countries, and there is not at this moment a single free press upon the surface of the globe. [Page 11] Anti-republicanism has raised a hue and cry, and set on foot a crusade against the immortal­ity of reason, and the divinity of thought! The abettors of antique systems of vice, ignorance, and tyranny are continually vociferating a­gainst the liberty of the press; against the doc­trine of equal rights; against the capacity of the people to govern themselves; against the universal extension of science, and the triumph­ant reign of human reason. In our own coun­try some Liliputian efforts have been made to annihilate the glorious effects of the American revolution, but they are like to terminate in smoke, and full a sacrifice to the just resent­ment of an injured people. The [...] [...]itu­tional and arbitrary measures of the federal government, have been partially abandoned, by those who were their first abettors, and the political temperament of the high toned mon­monarchist is ameliorated, and begins to coin­cide with the republican sentiments of the great body of the people.

The shackles which have been imposed up­on the press, the unjust and unconstitutional restraints, which have been laid upon indivi­dual citizens, are destined to a state of speedy destruction, and the resuscitation of the spirit of liberty will be more splendid and triumph­ant. Persecution serves only to create friends, when the persecution is known to be unjust. No citizen of the United States, however, of an upright and enlightened mind, will contend [Page 12] for any other liberty of the press, than that which is founded on the principle of eternal justice. The individual that asserts a false­hood is criminal; the press that propagates lies and calumny is criminal also upon the same ground, and for the same reason. But in the liberty of the press, ought to be included an indisputable right to declare truth, both of a moral and political kind, and the government that punishes for the promulgation of truth, is unjust—nay more, it is probably conscious of guilt, conscious of its own wicked designs and tyrannical machinations. Whenever govern­ment attempts the suppression of free opinion, either written, spoken or printed, and is soon obliged to abandon that attempt, it is evi­dence that substantiate the wickedness as well as the folly of that government—it proves that the despotic plan was premature, that the centinel of liberty has sounded the alarm—that the people are still active and vigilant, and that they will consign to oblivion or infamy the pro­moters of such nefarious schemes.

In seventeen hundred and seventy-six, the people of the United States declared in the most spirited manner against all foreign tyran­ny or despotism whatever; in the year eigh­teen hundred, they are about to exercise the same holy right, and perform the same solemn duty against their domestic oppressors. These are two great epochs in political history; at the one was renounced forever the monarchi­cal [Page 13] powers of the ancient hemisphere; at the other we are led to hope from the increasing spirit of republicanism, that domestic plans of aristocracy will be crushed to atoms by the uni­ted energies of a free and independant nation.

France is a component part of the great sub­ject of revolutions; she has astonished the world by her genius, her efforts and national energies—the events in her history will over­whelm the most profound contemplation of the greatest philosopher! Thirty millions of peo­ple said, with an awful and tremendous voice unto ancient despotism, depart ye cursed and it was seen no more! The political changes which we have been called to contemplate, since the commencement of that important revolution, are undoubtedly connected with many deplorable events, and many treacherous and detestable actions; nor does the genuine republican, at the present moment, discover much reason to rejoice at the internal organization of the go­vernment of France; but the revolution in the aggregate, the revolution in its principal, is the object of attachment and admiration.—It is impossible to argue failure in the final is­sue, from any temporary circumstance, which in the progress of such a vast national change might have been exhibited. The best friends to France and to its revolution in this country, have more than once trembled for her exist­ance; but these clouds which covered the in­rapturing truths of futurity have been dissipa­ted, [Page 14] and the resplendant sun of liberty discover­ed to be still rising towards the true political meridian. Hope is ever augmented in pro­portion as man has been able to dissipate his fears, or to rise above his misfortunes. Pre­diction in regard to the future fate of France, would be liable to many of the objections to which prophecies have been justly exposed in every age of the world. It can be nothing more than a calculation of probability, in re­gard to future events, from what has already happened on similar occasions. It would not be difficult, however, to offer strong reasons against the retrogradation of society, from the operation of causes now existing, which per­haps no despotism, or possible current of events, can avert or destroy. The press, the extensive developement of principal, and the scientific condition of the world, form very strong bar­riers against the tenacity or encroachments of monarchy, against the perpetuity of ignorance, against the slavery of man.

The destruction of all ancient republics is frequently advanced as an argument against the durable continuance of those of modern times. It ought to be perceived by the calm and independent inquirer, that the analogy does not hold, and the deduction is false. The dis­covery and application of an equitable princi­ple of representation, together with the uni­versal diffusion of knowledge, by means of the art of printing, are circumstances unknown to [Page 15] ancient republics—at least the one wholly un­known, and the other but imperfectly under­stood, and very partially applied to the social state. But the principal of equal representa­tion, and the constant augmentation of useful science, by the art of printing, form a new ground of hope to the philanthropic politician. It is impossible from the nature of the case, that either of these should ever be destroyed, they reciprocally guarantee each others exist­ence. A free representation will guard the rights of the press, and the press will diffuse that information among the people, which is necessary to preserve the right of representation. Aristocracy will no doubt obtrude its malig­nant efforts, and produce a temporary diminu­tion in the beneficial results of these two im­portant discoveries; but in the present state of society it is scarcely possible that such despotic efforts should be either durable or efficacious. Human science is extending itself into every part of the world; it has already revived the hopes of one third of the human race, and its character bears a most indubitable relation to the emancipation of the whole. The number of writers, upon subjects which include the de­velopement of the most important moral and and political principles, is constantly increa­sing—the number of those who think and speak with freedom, upon the most interesting topics, is every day becoming greater and greater; and to this source of human improvement no [Page 16] limits can be assigned—it is indefinite and in­calculable; and its moral, philosophical, and political effects upon intelligent life, will one day strike with horror the oppressors of the human race. In France, in England, and in Germany, in the United States and several other countries, the philosopher and politician has been employed, assiduously employed dur­ing the last half century, in the cause of op­pressed and unfortunate man—in the cause of truth and human happiness—in the cause of reason, nature and eternal justice. The doc­trines of former ages, the institutions of anti­quity, the cruel and the abominable tyranny of superstition, the unjust and detestible nature of monarchy, the odious combination of church and state, with all their concomitant evils and dreadful consequences; all these were consi­dered, by moral and political philosophers, as belonging to the same class of calamities; in short, that Pandora's box had been opened up­on the world, and that the character of intel­lectual existence was to be restored or acquir­ed by diversified modes of attack upon all the destructive realities and malignant phantoms of antiquity! But power intimidated intellect, and compelled it to work in silence—this com­pulsion, however, was probably favourable to the final issue of the business, the total subver­sion of a double despotism, which for many ages had held in a state of hopeless bondage, the moral and physical existence of man. The [Page 17] idea's thus conceived, and the efforts made by philosophers, for the renovation of human so­ciety, against the friends of liberty and of tho't, in the ancient hemisphere.

The illuminati in Europe have been repre­sented as a vicious combination of persons, whose object was the destruction of all the go­vernments and religions of the world. If the writers against the illuminati, mean by govern­ments the monarchies of Europe, and by reli­gion popular superstition, or systems found­ed upon the supposed existence of a mysteri­ous intercourse between beings of the earth and celestial powers, they have undoubtedly been right in this respect; for these are the kind of governments and religions, against whose existence reason and philosophy ought to direct their energies; but if they mean by governments, the establishment of a political system, upon the firm principles of social and republican justice, and by religion, the idea of simple theism, and the immortality of moral virtue; the charge is false, and their publica­tions a calumny against reason and the rights of human nature. But it is not of importance in what point of view, either superstition or monarchy may consider the efforts of enlight­ed men, for the improvement of the human species—it is the duty of him who possesses ta­lents, and has combined with them the practi­cal disposition, to benefit the world, to face all dangers, and encounter every difficulty. The [Page 18] performance of the duties which individuals owe to society, should become more faithful in proportion to the necessity of the case, and the utility of result; the state of the world, fur­nishes, therefore, a fresh stimulus to exertion, among the advocates of moral and political science. If liberty prevail throughout the globe, the necessity of human energy, in this great cause, would be diminished; and if love of moral virtue were universal, the duty of op­posing error would be proportionably lessen­ed. But calculation of action, is generally made upon ground totally different—upon principles directly opposite, and this has kept the world in flavery, ignorance, and misery.

It is necessary to the thorough reformation of human society, that minds capable of aid­ing progressive improvement, should investi­gate the connection which subsists between the different species of errors, by which the world for four thousand years past, has been held in a state of barbarous and despotic subjection. The sciences, the arts, the innumerable im­provements that have imbellished human life, harmonize and form one grand system, whose effect constitutes the felicity and the dignity of intellectual existence; in the same manner, and for similar reasons, the whole groupe of ancient errors, the complicated association and appli­cation of the ideas of former institutions, pre­sent the incontrovertible necessity of analising the principles, of disorganising the system, and [Page 19] examining minutely the influence which each part has produced, and how far this influ­ence is to be condemned or applauded by rea­son. The systems of former ages, political, literary, and moral, ought to be subjected to the most scrutinizing investigation by the in­tellectual powers of man. It is probable that society would experience the most important benefits from an effort of this kind, since the present state of knowledge will scarcely furnish any strong reason against the utility of such in­quiry and decision. The political system is so full of errors, so glaringly absurd, so oppressive and despotic, that those only who are interest­ed in its unrighteous spoils and profits, will ever attempt to vindicate its absurdity. If stubborn facts did not stare us in the face, it ought to be considered as an insult in this coun­try, to offer arguments in favour of the equal rights of man; but so long as a fragment of social injustice remains, so long as error of any kind exists, it is the duty of every free citizen, to raise his voice, feeble as it is, in the cause of political liberty, and the general interests of mankind. We celebrate this day, our eman­cipation from the British monarchy—it is well, it is vastly useful and important; but have we made thorough work of the change? does no­thing remain to be done? are our constitutions perfect, and are our laws constitutional? are our political establishments consistent in them­selves, [Page 20] do the principles harmonize? have we not declared that all men are born free and equal: and is there a single state in the union, in which this important, this immutable prin­ciple of justice, is reduced to practice?

The object of the American revolution, was liberty and the augmentation of human happi­ness, The political lethargy, which has been subsequent to this revolution, has resulted from a variety of causes and among these ignorance of the principles of government, avarice, and commercial speculation are the most promi­nent and destructive. But the activity of mind, and the progress of science are the sources to which benevolence will resort, and on which it must ultimately rest its hopes, for the cure of such direful calamities.

The antagonists of political, literary, and moral improvement are, tyranny, ignorance, and superstition. Tyranny or despotism op­poses itself to the progress of political liberty, with the most ferocious and envenomed ani­mosity, with the most savage fury and unre­lenting cruelty. Ignorance abhors science and contemns its blessings; it calumniates the cha­racter of its advocates, and throws difficulties innumerable in the way of active genius, and the ardent and unremitting efforts of those be­nevolent philosophers, who have devoted them­selves to the best interests of mankind. Super­stition is the enemy of all virtue and of all truth. She is resentful and persecuting—the [Page 21] promoter of ignorance and the abettor of ty­ranny, in all ages. These powerful causes have operated most destructively upon the political happiness of nations—they have generated end­less scenes of mischief and corruption—killed the energy of thought, and tarnished the glo­ry of intellectual existence. A treatise which should specify in the clearest manner, and with the most indubitable evidence, the diversified operation of these causes upon the moral and political condition of the human race, would be one of the most valuable bequests, which an individual could leave to unhappy man, who groans incessantly under a weight of ignorance and misery. The most cursory view of the sit­uation of human society, would furnish to sen­sibility the strongest ground of lamentation, and to intellect, the most forcible motives to exertion. The principles by which the poli­tical happiness of nations is to be effected, have been partially developed by the friends of man, and partially applied to the renovation of the social state; but while this fact is perceived and admitted, it is also contended, that there is a vast field for activity in prospect, and that the theory has, in a very few instances, only realized the practical nature of the case. Des­potism has buried the world [...] and ignorance knows not the means [...] this despotism is to be removed or destroyed.—Knowledge is absolutely necessary, it will be said, to the acquisition and the durable conti­nuance [Page 22] of liberty; but if the nations of the world should wait till they are well informed before they [...] their chains, their slavery would be eternal. It is the character of des­potism to perpetuate ignorance—it abhors the light of [...]ence, and well it may, for its rays have already burnt to a cinder, one of the most powerful despotisms of antiquity. If the chains of despotism were broken, the means of culti­vating science would be established, the reign of reason would commence, republican virtue would gloriously triumph over the vices of an­cient governments, and peace, truth, and na­tional happiness become the unalienable inhe­ritance of the human race.

Anticipations of this kind cannot be consi­dered as the results of a disordered imagina­tion, or calculations in opposition to the evi­dence of facts. The enthusiastic encomiums, which have been bestowed on the golden ages of antiquity, are the dreams of folly or fanati­cism—they have no foundation in truth, and the development of useful principle, substan­tiates this assertion. When despotism and su­perstitions [...] to calumniate human reason, its energy will be considered divine, and the immortality of truth will stand upon that firm basis, [...] substantial foundation, which bids [...] to the malignant power of des­pots, [...] insane and ferocious resent­ment of ecclesiastical domination. Then will commence the absolute reign of reason, and [Page 23] the triumph of republican glo [...]. Human na­ture will concentre all its [...] and com­bine all its faculties, in augmenting the felici­ty of the world.