.Ho. 133.] 20U 



aad healthy constitutions, and noble memories of departed patri- 

 ots, and a proud consciousness of national superiority !. 



And here permit roe to remark that this feeling of national su- 

 periority is no slight benefit to be derived from the independence, 

 the advantages of which I am attempting to illustrate. Time, 

 which has extended our boundaries to the far Pacific, and built 

 up wuntless villages and cities through all our vast domain, and 

 made this great city what it has now become, has at last given us 

 a history. We have a past. We have memories to be cherished, 

 as well as hopes to cheer. We can look back upon a national ex- 

 istence, whose origin is more marvellous than the fabulous ma- 

 ze^, in which ancient historians loved to involve the birth and 

 infancy of their own nations. We were cradled in war, and the 

 warlike spirit, which is perhaps inseparable from a people pos- 

 sessing what we have inherited and acquired, has more than once 

 found a fitting field for its display. Our history thus far has been 

 a struggle for national superiority : this struggle will not soon 

 ©ease; but I trust it may become a fraternal, bloodless strife for 

 ascendancy in the arts of peace. Whatever cherishes and justi- 

 fi€Ni a sense of national superiority, cannot but elevate a people 

 and impart to every man a consciousness that he constitutes a part 

 of the State. Noble and elevated sentiments like this cannot 

 4well alone in the human heart. They expel base thoughts qnd 

 low propensities, and give birth to ideas akin to themselves. As 

 •or c<iuntry is increasing in population, and expanding in territo- 

 rial extent, what can tend more to insure that high tone of pub- 

 lic morals by which our Republic must be preserved ? A people 

 qualified for self-government is the higliest type of manhood. 

 An individual who can govern Iiimself has reached a high point 

 o( moral culture — much more a people. Such a j)eople should 

 feel deeply the grandeur of the duty, and be j>ervaded with a 

 kigh sense of national honor. They should feel what our couiftry 

 ii — her position among the nations of the earth — her duties, her 

 responsibilities, and her capacities — and how grand and imjwr- 

 tant the part she is to play on the great stage of human experi- 

 ence for centuries to oome. Already our flag waves over every 

 sea. and commands respect for itself and for every American citizen. 



