DEDICATION. 



supported it ; the intelligence and science of the country sustained 

 it j as good men of all parties have aided in swelling the recent 

 triumph of liberty over despotism ; of right and justice over wrong 

 and oppression ; not of citizen over citizen, but of the people over 

 their rulers, who had forgotten the people, the source of power. 

 Fellow-citizens, 



*)The irresistible energies of a free people can only be called forth 

 and directed, on great occasions, through popular associations 

 among themselves, which should arise with the emergency, perform 

 their mission, and then sink into an unsleeping repose. It has been 

 o in this instance. The great beginning was at Columbus, 

 Ohio; then followed the national convention at Baltimore, the 

 Fort Meigs celebration, the gatherings on the old battle-grounds 

 of Tippecanoe, Bennington, and Bunker's Hill ; our state conven- 

 tions at Syracuse and Auburn; the great assemblies at Macon, 

 Georgia, and Nashville, Tennessee ; at Yorktown and Richmond, 

 Virginia ; at the celebrations of the battles of the Maumee and the 

 Thames in our own city ; besides, almost every county and town 

 in the Union has had its gathering of the people, freely, fearlessly 

 to discuss and pass upon the mighty issue before them ; and full 

 of moral grandeur, yea, of deathless sublimity, has been their de- 

 cision, unattended by the clash of arms, unstained with blood, un- 

 heralded by the stormy voice of war. 

 Fellow-citizens, 



That you have borne an honourable part amid the heat and dust 

 of this great contest is conceded by your brethren in every part 

 of the Union. It is proper and becoming, therefore, that you 

 should rejoice ; but, let it be with moderation, and in the spirit of 

 kindness and forbearance towards your opponents. Power, in the 

 hands of the majority, should always regard the rights of the mi- 

 nority. 



That the fruits of your efforts may be gradually but permanent- 

 ly to restore confidence between man and man; breathe a new 

 and healthy spirit into commerce ; give employment and adequate 

 reward to honest industry ; securing and dispensing alike to all 

 freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom in the prosecution 

 of their business under a moderate, wise, and paternal action of the 

 general government, is the sincere wish of your obedient servant, 



J. N. R. 



New- York, March 4, 1841. . 



