Mr. Buckingham’s Address. 
These, then, are the circumstances, and I have narrated them with as much brevi 
as possible, which have led me to quit the land of my nativity, and go, with my family, 
to other shores. The motives which have induced me to prefer those of the United 
States, as the first, at least, to be visited in my course, and the objects which I hope to 
accomplish among you, still require to be explained. 
It isan opinion, not now see by me for ths first seen but long entertained, and 
frequently avowed, that A is destined, in t , to be the great centre 
of Freedom, Civilization, id ‘Religion, and thus to be the Regenerator = the World. 9 
ihe ages that are passed, we have seen the rays of science and the beams of truth firs 
the countries of the East, and then passing onward, like isi Tight of ith 
itself sdapeitad toward the West:— Chaldea giving knowledge to Egypt — Egypt 
to Greece — Greece to Rome — Rome to Iberia, Gaul, and Britain — and these three in 
succession to their respective settlements in America ;—till these last, shaking off their 
dependance, and rising in the full dignity of their united strength, asserted and secured 
their freedom, and took their place among the most enlightened and most honored 
nations of the earth. 
m that moment you have “etn = rejoicing like the sun in his course, increasing 
in population, i in commerce, in libert nae in intelligence, i in Sappeneens we — 
e have eee sheers me primeval er f the 
soil from the the Pacific, «il your ships cover every sea, 
of your nolan ning the measures of the past, and raecenten the 
prospects of the future, is looked for with interest at every court in Europe, and read 
with eager and intense attention by the humblest lover of freedom in every country in 
which it is made public. 
ing, theres ‘ore, aS you now do, a position the most favorable to national 
‘eatness, to useful influence, and to honorable renown; the vast interior of your ex- 
tensive surface embracing every variety of climate, soil, and production, and your ex- 
tended sea-coasts furnishing ports of attraction to all the world; with the Atlantic 
for your highway to Europe, and the Pacific for your approach to Asia; your 
mighty rivers, rising cities, populous villages, increasing colleges, temples of public wor- 
— and adult and infant schools; what is wanting, but time, to place you at the head 
ie and your strength, to both of which you have long since compe! to pay 
the homage that was justly due? 
‘While others, therefore, visit your shores, charged either with merchandise to sell, or 
gold and silver to buy, I venture to come among you, freighted wi g 
for your consumption, or with the precious metals for purchase or exchange. In ee 
midst, ee of all the bustle and animation that fills your crowded marts, oe 
will be room, I hope, for one who being only ~ kewinist and exp quired 
by sauce wave lin the Scriptural East, t 
to those who may have leisure and deposition to hear, and taste and Sabioation + to dnjoy, 
whatever can sae, rate the history and poetry of early days; and above all, wentivas 
can tend to fold the beauties, vontirm eas ae and give strength and force to 
i bli acred Volume of our common faith. 
This is the first object which I hope to ge we by my sojourn among you, and 
this alone would well justify my visit to your shores. If, at the same time, there be 
not incompatible with this cea ar one, but auxiliary and subordinate to it, 
that I may be permitted to pursue — such as a careful and impartial examination of 
your own ‘ces, institutions, literature, and manners — so that while diflusing in- 
