Mr. Buckingham's Address. 



These, then, are the circumstances, and I have narrated them with as much brevity 

 as possible, which have led me to quit the land of my nativity, and go, with my family, 

 to other shores. The motives which have induced me to prefer those of the United 

 Stales, as the first, at least, to be visited in my course, and the objects which I hope to 

 accomplish among you, still require to be explained. 



It is an opinion, not now professed by me for the first time, but long entertained, and 

 frequently avowed, that America is destined, in the course of time, to be the great centre 

 of Freedom, Civilization, and Rehgion, and thus to be the Regenerator of the World. In 

 the ages that are passed, we have seen the rays of science and the beams of truth first 

 illumining the countries of the East, and then passing onward, like the light of Heaven 

 itself, progressively toward the West: — Chaldea giving knowledge to Egypt — Egypt 

 to Greece— Greece to Rome — Rome to Iberia, Gaul, and Britain — and these three in 

 succession to their respective settlements in America; — till these last, shaking off' their 

 dependance, and rising in the full dignity of their united strength, asserted and secured 

 their freedom, and took their place among the most enlightened and most honored 

 nations of the earth. 



Prom that moment you have gone on, rejoicing like the sun in his course, increasing 

 in population, in commerce, in liberty, in wealth, in intelligence, in happiness, till your 

 people have penetrated the primeval forests, and spread themselves as cultivators of the 

 soil from the Atlantic almost to the Pacific, till your ships cover every sea, and till the 

 Message of your President, unfolding the measures of the past, and developing the 

 prospects of the future, is looked for with interest at every court in Europe, and read 

 with eager and intense attention by the humblest lover of freedom in every country in 

 which it is made public. 



Commanding, therefore, as you now do, a position the most favorable to national 

 greatness, to useful influence, and to honorable renown ; the vast interior of your ex- 

 tensive surface embracing every variety of climate, soil, and production, and your ex- 

 tended sea-coasts furnishing ports of attraction to all the world; with the Atlantic 

 Ocean for your highway to Europe, and the Pacific for your approach to Asia ; your 

 mighty rivers, rising cities, populous villages, increasing colleges, temples of public wor- 

 ship, and adult and infant schools; what is wanting, but time, to place you at the head 

 of those nations of the old world, who, less than a century ago, derided your intelli- 

 gence and your strength, to both of which you have long since compelled them to pay 

 the homage that was justly due? 



While others, therefore, visit your shores, charged either with merchandise to sell, or 

 gold and silver to buy, I venture to come among you, freighted with no cargo of goods 

 for your consumption, or with the precious metals for purchase or exchange. In the 

 midst, however, of all the bustle and animation that fills your crowded marts, there 

 will be room, I hope, for one who brings only the knowledge and experience acquired 

 by years of travel in the Scriptural and Classical countries of the East, to communicate 

 to those who may have leisure and disposition to hear, and taste and education to enjoy, 

 whatever can illustrate the history and poetry of early days ; and above all, whatever 

 can tend to unfold the beauties, confirm the prophecies, and give strength and force to 

 the subhme and important truths contained in the Sacred Volume of our common faith. 



This is the first object which I hope to accomplish by my sojourn among you, and 

 this alone would well justify my visit to your shores. If, at the same time, there be 

 others not incompatible with this prominent one, but auxiliary and subordinate to it, 

 that I may be permitted to pursue — such as a careful and impartial examination of 

 your own resources, institutions, literature, and manners — so that while diffusing in» 



