MR. SERGEANT’S ORATION
We are indebted to a friend for a copy of the Oration delivered by John Sergeant, in Independence Square, (how appropriate the place to the theme!) in the City of Philadelphia, on the 24th of July, 1826, in commemoration of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. We would that we could afford room for all these touching memorials of public gratitude—these grateful tributes of respect for public services. But that is impossible.—From the capitol to the cottage—from Independence Square to the village-green—the voice of an united People has hymned the anthem of applause and benediction to the spirits of the departed sages. There is no numbering the discourses which have been, and are to be, delivered on the occasion—much less can any extracts from them be made, sufficient to give a general idea of their merits. Nevertheless, we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of offering to our readers the opening and the closing passages of the Oration of Mr. Sergeant. In the first, we have an example of chaste but affecting narration, and in the latter an instructive inculcation of the useful purposes to which the present and future generations ought to apply the illustrious examples of public and private excellence, which the Orator had just exhibited to his hearers.—National Journal.
“Friends and Fellow Citizens: Time in its course, has produced a striking epoch in the history of our favored country; and, as if to mark with peculiar emphasis this interesting stage of our national existence, it comes to us accompanied with incidents calculated to make powerful and lasting impression. The dawn of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Independence beamed upon two venerable and illustrious citizens, to whom, under Providence, a nation acknowledged itself greatly indebted for the event which the day was set apart to commemorate. The one was the author, the other “the ablest advocate,” of that solemn assertion of right, that heroic defiance of unjust power, which, in the midst of difficulty and danger, proclaimed the determination to assume a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth, and declared to the world the cause which impelled to this decision. Both had stood by their country, with unabated ardor and unwavering fortitude, through every vicissitude of her fortune, until “the glorious day” of her final triumph crowned their labors and their sacrifices with complete success. With equal solicitude, and with equal warmth of patriotic affection, they devoted their great faculties, which had been employed in vindicating the rights of their country, to construct for her, upon deep and strong foundations, the solid edifice of social order and of civil and religious freedom.—They had both held the highest public employments, and were distinguished by the best honors the nation could confer. Arrived at an age when nature seems to demand repose, each had retired to the spot from which the public exigences had first called him—his public labors ended, his work accomplished, his beloved country prosperous and happy—there to indulge in the blessed retrospect of a well spent life, and await that period which comes to all. But not to await it in idleness or indifference. The same spirit of active benevolence, which made the meridian, of their lives resplendent with glory, continued to shed its lustre upon their evening path.—Still intent upon doing good, still devoted to the great cause of human happiness and improvement, neither of these illustrious men relaxed in his exertions. They seemed only to concentrate their energy, as age and increasing infirmity contracted the circle of action, bestowing, without ostentation, their latest efforts upon the state and neighborhood in which they resided. There, with patriarchal simplicity, they lived, the objects of a nation’s grateful remembrance and affection: the living records of a nation’s history; the charm of an age which they delighted, adorned, and instructed, by their vivid sketches of times that are past; and, as it were, the embodied spirit of the Revolution itself, in all its purity and force, diffusing its wholesome influence through the generations that have succeeded, rebuking every sinister design, and invigorating every manly and virtuous resolution.
“The Jubilee came. The great national commemoration of a nation’s birth. The fiftieth year of deliverance from foreign rule, wrought out by the exertions and sufferings and sacrifices of the patriots of the Revolution. It found these illustrious and venerable men, full of honors and full of years, animated with the proud recollection of the times in which they had borne so distinguished a part, and cheered by the beneficent and expanding influence of their patriotic labors. The eyes of a nation were turned towards them with affection and reverence. They heard the first song of triumph on that memorable day. As the voice of millions of freemen rose in sounds of gratitude and joy, they both sunk gently to rest, and their spirits departed in the midst of the swelling chorus of national enthusiasm.”
“Great are their names! Honored and revered be their memory! Associated with Washington and Franklin, their glory is a precious possession, enriching our annals, and exalting the character of our country.
“Greater is the bright example they have left us! More precious the lesson furnished by their lives for our instruction! At this affecting moment, then, when we are assembled to pay the last tribute of respect, let us seriously meditate upon our duties; let us consider, earnestly and anxiously consider, how we shall best preserve those signal blessings which have been transmitted to us—how we shall transmit them unimpaired to our posterity. This is the honor which would have been most acceptable to these illustrious men. This is an appropriate mode of commemorating the event we this day mourn. Let the truths of the Declaration of Independence, the principles of the Revolution, the principles of free Government, sink deep into our hearts, and govern all our conduct.
“National Independence has been achieved, once and forever. It can never be endangered. Time has accumulated strength with a rapidity unexampled. The thirteen colonies, almost without an union, few in numbers, feeble in means, are become, in a lapse of pity years, a nation of twenty-four States, bound together by a common Government of their own choice, with a territory doubled by peaceful acquisition, with ten millions of free inhabitants, with a commerce extending to every quarter of the world, and resources equal to every emergency of war or peace. Institutions of humanity, of science, and of literature, have been established throughout the land.—Temples have risen to him who created all things, and by whom all things are sustained, not by the commands of princes or rulers, nor by legal coercion, but from the spontaneous offerings of the human heart. Conscience is absolutely free in the broadest and most unqualified sense. Industry is free; and human action knows no greater control, than is indispensable to the preservation of rational liberty.
“What is our duty? To understand, and to appreciate the value of these signal blessings, and, with all our might and strength to endeavor to perpetuate them. To take care that the great sources from which they flow be not obstructed by selfish passion, nor polluted by lawless ambition, nor destroyed by intemperate violence. To rise to the full perception of the great truth, ‘that Governments are instituted among men to secure human rights, deriving their authority from the consent of the governed,’ and that, with a knowledge of our own rights, must be united the same just regard for the rights of others, and pure affection for our country, which dwelt in the hearts of the Fathers of the Revolution.
“In conclusion, allow me to remind you, that with all their doings was mingled a spirit of unaffected piety. In adversity, they humbled themselves before Him, whose power is almighty, and whose goodness is infinite. In prosperity they gave Him the thanks. In His aid, invoked upon their arms and counsels, with sincerity of heart, was their reliance and their hope. Let us also be thankful for the mercies which, as a nation, we have so largely experienced, and as often as we gratefully remember those illustrious men to whom we are indebted, let us not forget that their efforts must have been unavailing, and that our hopes are vain, unless approved by Him; and in humble reliance upon His favor, let us implore His continued blessing upon our beloved country.”