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should not be transgressed — we are astonished that principles 

 should have been so soon imbibed, and a conduct adopted, which 

 brought into such imminent hazard, all thcj could hold dear, and 

 for which tliej had so virtuously and successfully coutendtd — We 

 shudder at the idea, that the fair flibric of American liberty and 

 independence, which they had erected, and in which they had 

 placed the altar of freedom, and where was then burning the 

 purest incense, was at once on the point of being overthrown, the 

 flame extinguished, and the dome of tyranny and despotism, the 



successors of anarchy, fixed on its ruins. But the extremes of 

 good and evil are often marked by imperceptible lines. In this 

 occurrence w^e may, without a fanciful imagination, trace one of 

 the most operative causes, which gave birth and energy to that 

 system of union, which has since cemented, and, we trust, indis- 

 solubly, the freemen of America. 



A NUMBER of merchants, and other gentlemen of property, in 

 the year 1784, having procured a charter for a Bank, considered 

 Mr. BowDOiN, as the person most likely to give them, credit, and 

 assure the world of their honor and stability, and placed him at 

 their head as their President. 



A SOCIETY afterwards formed under the name of the Humane 

 Socidf/, for purposes friendly to humanity, followed their exam- - 

 pie and gave him the same rank among them. 



MR. Bowdoin's rej)utation as a man of science and virtue, was 

 not confined to the United States of America. Distinguished 

 honors were conferred on him by many learned societies. He 

 was made L. L. D. by the universities of Camhidc/e, Philadel- 



pMa, 







