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taking. Utterly, indeed, sliould I despair, did not the 

 presence of many, whom I here see, remind me, that in 

 the other high authorities provided by our constitution, 

 I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, 

 on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, 

 gentlemen, who are charged witli the sovereign func- 

 tions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I 

 look with encouragement for that guidance and sup- 

 port, which may enable us to steer, with safety, the 

 vessel in which we are all enjbarked, amidst the con- 

 flicting elements of a troubled world. 



During the contest of opinion, through which we 

 have past, the animation of discussions and of exer- 

 tions, has sometimes worn an aspect which might im- 

 pose on strangers, unused to think freely, and to speak 

 and to write what they think : but this being now de- 

 cided by the voice of the nation, announced according 

 to the rules of the constitution, all will, of course, ar- 

 range themselves under the will of the law, and unite 

 in common efforts, for the common good- All, too, will 

 bear in mind this sacred principle ; that though the will 

 of the majority is, in all cases, to prevail, that will, to be 

 rightful, must be reasonable — that the minority possess 

 their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and 

 to violate would be oppression. Let us then, fellow- 

 citizens, unite with one hear* and one mind. Let us 

 restore to social intercourse, that harmony and affec- 

 tion, without which, liberty, and even life itself, are but 

 dreary things, and let us reflect, that, having banished 

 from our land, that religious intolerance, under which 

 mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained 

 little, if we countenance a jiolitical intolerance, as des- 

 potic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody 

 persecutions. 



During the throes and convulsions of the ancient 

 world — during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, 

 seeking, through blood and slaughter, his long lost li- 

 berty — it was not wonderful that the agitation of the 

 billows should reach even this distant and peaceful 

 shore — that this should be more felt and feared by some, 



