/ 
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50, 
people on this Seno U Me occasion? ‘The 
most cbvious, and [believe the most im- 
portant, are comprised 1 in two words; and 
to them I shali confine my observations: 
public iniprovements, and public enstruc~ 
tion. ‘These two objects, though distinct 
ah the organization which they will \re- 
quire;are so similar in their effects, that 
Most of the arguments that will apply to 
one, will apply equally to both. They 
are both necessary to the preservation of 
dur principles of government ; they: are 
both necessary ta the support of the sys- 
tem into which those principles are 
wrought, the system we now enjoy; they 
gre each of them essenti ial, perhaps in an 
equal, degree, to the perfecting of that 
system, to our perceiving and ¢ preparing 
the &melicrations of which it is suscepti- 
ble. I shall dwell exclusively on these 
two objects, not. because they are the 
énly ones that might be pointed out, but 
because their importance, their imme- 
diate and pressing importance, seems to 
have been less attended to, and probably 
less understood, than it; ought to have 
been among the general concerns of the 
Union. ; 
Public improvements, such as roads, 
bridges, aid canals, are usually consi- 
dered only in a commercial and econo- 
mical point of light; they ought hkewise 
to be regarded iu a moral aud pehtical 
hight. Cast your eyes over the surface 
ef our dominion, with a view to its vast 
extent ; with 4 view to its present and ap- 
pro: aching istate of population; witha view 
to tbe di ier rent habits, manners,languages 
erigin, mo: als, cena of the people; itl 
a view to the nature of those ues, vie 
poiitical, arufcial ties, which held the 
together as one people, and ‘which are 
to be relied upon to continue to hold 
them togethez as one people, when their 
number sha!i rise to hundreds of millions 
of treemen, possessing the spirit of inde- 
 Beedence that becomes their station, 
What anxiety, what ay pee what 
painful apprehensions, mus naturally 
crowd upon the mina for the continuance 
af such a government, stretching its.thin 
texture over such 4 country, and in the 
bands of such a people! The prospect 
is awful; the object, 1f attainable, 1s mag= 
nificent beyond coranarison ; but the dif 
ficulty of attaiving it, and the danger of 
Josine it, are suficient to cloud the | pros- 
pect in the eyes of many respectable ci- 
tizens, and force them to despair. De- 
" Spair in this case, to an ardent spirit des 
voted to the best good of his country, is 
a distressing state indeed. To despair 
ef pres ser¥1 ing g the federal union of these 
Oration delivered at. Washingion, July 4, 1809, 
‘conciude, that 
Feb. ty 
republics, for an indefinite length of time, 
witheut a dismemberment, is to luse the’ 
highest hopes of human society, the 
greatest promise of betiering its condi.’ 
tion that the efforts of all generations 
have produced. Vhe man of sensibility 
who can Beutciee without horror the 
dismemberment of this empire, has not 
well considered its effects, And: yet E 
scarcely mingle in society foraday without: 
hearing it predicted, and the prediction” 
uttered with a levity bordering on indif= 
ference; and that too’ by well-d lisposed. 
mén of every political party. Hence E 
the subject: has nut been 
examined with the aitention it deserves, 
Lam net t yet so.unhappy a to believe 
10 a prediction; but I:should be forced: 
to believe in it if I did not anticipate the 
use of other means than those we have yet! 
employed to perpetuate the union of the 
States. They must not be coercive’ 
means, Such ones, in most cases, would 
produce elfects directly the reverse of 
what would be intended. Our policy 
does not admit of standing armies; and 
if it did, we could not maintain them 
suficiently numerous to. restrain great 
bodies oftreemen with armsin their hands, 
blinded by ignorance, heated by zeal, and 
led by factious chiefs 5. and if we could 
maintain them strong’ enough for that 
purpose, we all know they would very 
soon overturn the government ni were 
intended to support. 
With as little prospect of success ae 
re rely upot legisiative means; that is, _ 
a oles laws against treason and misde- 
meanor, or any other chapter of the evi- 
minal code. Such laws may sometiines 
intimidate a chief of rebels, or a few un 
supported traitors. But a hints ge0=. 
graphical “district of rebels,- half a na- 
tion of traitors, would legislate against’ 
you. Phey would throw your laws into 
one scale and their own into the other,and 
toss 1n their bayonets to turn the balance. 
No, the means to be relied upon to 
hold dee bencficent unjon together, must 
apply directly to thé interest and conye- 
nience of the people; they musi, at the 
same time, enable than to discern thak 
interest and be sensible of that convent 
ence. he people ‘must become habi- 
tuated to enjoy a visible, palpable, in- 
contesteble yood; a greater good than, 
they could promise themselves from any 
change. ‘Ehey must have information 
en ough to perceive it, to reason @pon if, _ 
to know w by they enjoy it, whence it” 
flows, how it was attained, how it is td 
be preserved, and Kaw 4: may be lost.’ 
x he people. of these States must be edu- 
calcd 
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