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from the rudest, wildest, and most savage condition of the hu- 

 man race, may, with as much propriety be denounced as super- 

 fluous and extravagant. It is the decree of omnipotence, that 

 nations shall advance or retrograde, that man shall rise or 

 fall, from every point of time in his existance. But there is a 

 consideration by which we must be actuated, in whatever we 

 undertake, far above the attainment of the object sought. The 

 means to be employed, the labor bestowed, the excitement pro- 

 duced, is of infinitely greater consequence than the advantage 

 of actual achievement. The latter is temporary, and often of 

 little moment, while the former are of universal benefit and 

 abiding influence. There are results of mightier import than 

 those of mere acquisition, which are to be sought in the excite- 

 ment, which is given to the most dignified attributes of the 

 mind and the heart, and in those manifestations of genius, 

 talent and enterprise, which the study, pursuit and exertion un- 

 fold. Education, instead of being confined in its scope and 

 duration, is thus made ca-extensive with individual existence, 

 and the exalted characters which are formed in this rigorous 

 school of intellectual discipline, are for all nations and all time. 

 There is a moral grandeur in their lives, which render them 

 perpetual examples for emulous imitation, and the salutary effect 

 on the human race, is as universal as the admiration in which 

 their distinguished benefactions are held. Man can only esti- 

 mate his own natural resources, by experiment. We know not 

 their extent or efficiency, until placed in those trying exigencies, 

 those self-relying positions, where they become indispensable for 

 immediate extrication, or to give assurance of ultimate success. 

 It is from repeated trials of strength, that the eagle launches 

 forth upon the tempest, from the lofty eyry of the mountain cliff, 

 with the fullest confidence in the sustaining power of its wing, 

 in the longest, highest and most daring flight. 



If the principles which have been assumed are founded in 

 truth, and the facts which have been alleged for their illustra- 

 tion are deserving of credit, why should there not be changes 

 produced here, in relation to a subject, in which every citizen 

 is so deeply interested, corresponding with those which have 

 appeared in other nations ? 



May we not, then, confidently hope, that at no very distant 



