Oration delivered leforc the Agricultural Society. 5 



range of commonage than according to juft diftribution they 

 were entitled to. At that time murmuring and difcontent arofe 

 in the hives of Europe, and fwarms of emigrants flew weftward 

 and colonized along thefe coafts. The new-comers claimed, 

 under nature's univerfal chartcry a part of that land which the 

 natives poffeffed exclufively in too great, a proportion. Their 

 fettlements grew, their population increafed, and oh ! that any 

 afts of cruelty and oppreffion have been committed to tarnifh 

 the fplendour of their w^orks. Ancient oaks and pines fell 

 beneath the ftrokes of the axe, ravenous v/olves and tigers 

 forfook their abodes, and in the midft of a defert wade and 

 wild, the hardy adventurers fcooped out a dwelling-place. 

 Where lately briars and nettles deformed the fpot, the con- 

 fuming operation of fire prepared the earth for the reception 

 of wheat and rice. Tobacco and indigo, laying afide their 

 wildnefs, put on a domeflicated look. Orchards of apples, 

 pears and peaches fprung up where not long fince the toxico- 

 dendron emitted its poifonous vapours. The horfe, the cow, 

 the fwine and the fiieep fucceeded the defl;ru6live beafts of the 

 foreft ; and where the favage hornet formerly took his dreary 

 flights, the honey-bee, over meadows of blooming clover, 

 coWefts her fweets : I fee the fettlers in their progrefs from the 

 Adantic coafls colle8; the peltry and lumber of the woods into 

 vafl magazines ; I fee them hew out roads, drain fwamps, build 

 bridges and conflru8: mills; I fee them climb up the fide of 

 the Apalachian mountain, and palling that formidable ridge, 

 eflablifii themfelves on both fides of the Ohio; I fee the v/ilder- 



