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EXTRACT FROM AN ORATION, PRONOUNCED AT WORCESTER, (MASS.) JULY 4, 1796; BY FRANCIS BLAKE, ESQ.

IN

N viewing the causes which led to the event of this joyous anniversary; in tracing the effects, which have resulted to America; in searching for the princi ples which impelled to the contest; in recalling the feelings which supported us in the struggle, it cannot fail to occur to us that the causes have not been confined to the limits of our continent; that the effects have extended far beyond the boundaries of our nation; that the glorious example, with electrical rapidity, has flashed across the Atlantic; that, guided by the same principles, conducted by the same feelings, the people, who so gallantly fought and bled for the security of our lives and our liberties, are now fighting and bleeding in defence of their own.

On this day, therefore, religiously devoted to the consecration of our independence, it becomes us, as the votaries of freedom, as friends to the rights of man, and bound to support them whenever invaded, to turn our attention, with a grateful enthusiasm, to the scenes of their sufferings, their revolt, and their victories. While exulting in the full enjoyment of peace and tranquillity, shall not a tear for the unexampled distresses of this magnanimous nation, check, for a moment, the emotions of our joy?

They have sworn that they will live FREE or DIE! They have solemnly sworn, that the sword, which has been drawn in defence of their country, shall never be returned to its scabbard, till it has secured to them victory and freedom. Let us then breathe forth a fervent ejaculation to Heaven, that their vows may be remembered; that the cause of our former allies may not be deserted,

deserted, till they have scourged their invaders, till they have driven them back in confusion to the regions of terror from whence they emerged.

While we remember with horror the continued effusion of blood, which darkened the morning of their revolution, let us not forget that their vengeance was roused by the champions of despotism, whose lives have since justly atoned for the crimes they committed. While we lament the sanguinary scenes, which clouded its progress, let it not be forgotten that they arose from the bloody manifesto of a band of tyrants, combined for the hellish purpose of again rivetting the chains they had broken.

The league of Pilnitz, like the league of Satan and his angels, revolting against the Majesty of heaven, was professedly fabricated, to arrest forever the progress of freedom; to usurp the dominion of France, and divide the spoil among this band of royal plunderHave we not heard, that the noble, the generous,' the grateful monarch of the forest, that fawned at the feet of Androcles, when remembering his former friendship, will ever turn with fury on his pursurers; and when robbed of his whelps, rests not till his fangs are crimsoned in the blood of the aggressor?

ers.

Shall then the fervour of our friendship be abated, by remembering the transitory frenzy of a people distracted with the enthusiasm of freedom, and irritated to madness by the dreadful prospect of losing what they had enjoyed but for a moment? Let it never be said of us, as of Rome and of Athens, that ingratitude is the common vice of republics. Was it to the crowned monarch, named Louis the Sixteenth, or to the people of France, that we were indebted, for the blood and treasure that were so profusely lavished in our cause? Shall then their services be forgotten, in the remembrance of their momentary excesses? or shall we refuse our most cordial concurrence in the feelings which impel them to the present contest with the ruffian potentates of Europe?

Can

Can we doubt, for a moment, which is the cause we are bound to support with our sanction, when we behold the winds and the seas, those dreadful ministers of Heaven's vengeance, commissioned to advance their progress, and deluge their enemies? When we behold Ariel, with his attendant spirits, gently hovering over their navies, and wafting them to victory on the bosom of the ocean while Neptune and Boreas have combined against the league of their oppressors, to overwhelm in the deep these deluded followers of Pharaoh! Have we not seen them fed, as with manna from heaven; the waters divided, and the walls of Jericho falling before them, while the fair prospect of liberty has led them in triumph through the wilderness, as a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night!

AMERICANS! Let us join in a fervent supplication, that the sacred charters of humanity, which we have once sealed with our blood, may be forever preserved from the deadly grasp of tyrants.

FRENCHMEN! Be firm; be undaunted in the struggle you have thus miraculously supported. Evince to the world, now gazing with admiration at your exploits in the field of battle, that you have virtue equal to your courage; that you are friends to the friends of humanity; that your arms are nerved only against the enemies of man. Let not the sacred name of LIBERTY be polluted by the frenzy of licentious passions; but may your present glorious constitution, while it protects your freedom from the unhallowed ravages of tyranny, remain an unshaken bulwark against the destructive fury of faction.

TYRANTS! Turn from the impious work of blood in which your hands are imbrued, and tremble at the desperation of your revolting subjects! Repent in sackcloth and ashes. For behold, ye, who have been exalted up to heaven, shall, ere long, be cast down to nell! The final period of your crimes is rapidly approaching. The grand POLITICAL MILLENNIUM is at hand;

when

when tyranny shall be buried in ruins; when all nations shall be united in ONE MIGHTY REPUBLIC! when the four angels, that stand on the four corners of the globe, shall, with one accord, lift up their voices to heaven; proclaiming PEACE ON EARTH, AND GOOD WILL TO ALL MEN.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF AMERICA. EXTRACT FROM A POEM SPOKEN AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, ON COMMENCEMENT DAY, 1795.

F

ROM Patagonia's snow-invested wilds,

To Darien, where constant verdure smiles,
The Andes meet the morning's earliest ray,
O'erlook the clouds and check the flood of Day.
In copious torrents from their eastern side,
Flow the vast streams of Amazonia's tide,
Roll on majestic through her boundless plain,
And swell the surface of the neighboring main.
Nor Plata less a broad, deep channel fills;
Danube and Walga by his side were rills.
But leave my muse this wide-extended clime,
By nature stamp't with all she owns sublime.
Here she has wrought upon her largest plan,
But mourns in solitude the wrongs of man.
Here Gautemozin writh'd in flames of fire,
And slaughter'd millions round their prince expire.
Rise sleeping vengeance! vindicate their cause ;
And thou, stern justice, execute thy laws :
Ye Andes, strike Hesperian fraud with dread,
Burst thy volcanoes on the guilty head!

Where Cancer's sun pours down his ardent blaze,
Draws the Monsoons, and lengthens out his days,
The spacious gulph of Mexic' rolls his tide,
And thronging fleets of various nations ride.
The fertile isles their rich luxuriance pour,
And western dainties crown the eastern shore.

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But weep, humanity, the black disgrace,
And spread thy blushes o'er oppression's face!
Ye sons of mirth, your bowls, your richest food,
Is mingled with fraternal tears and blood.
Still groans the slave beneath his master's rod,
But nature, wrong'd, appeals to nature's GOD.
The sun frowns angry at th' inhuman sight;
The stars offended, redden in the night :
In western skies, drear horror gathers round,
And waking vengeance murmurs under ground;
O'er all the gulph the dark'ning vapours rise,
And the black clouds sail awful round the skies.
From heaven to earth swift thunder-bolts are hurl'd,
And storm's dread demon shakes th' astonish'd world.
The rich plantation lies a barren waste,

And all the works of slavery are defac'd.

Ye tyrants, own the devastation just;

'Tis for your wrongs the fertile earth is curs'd.
Columbia's States unfold their milder scenes,
And freedom's realms afford more pleasing themes.
From Georgia's plains, to Hudson's highest source,
The nothern Andes range their varied course :
Rank above rank, they swell their growing size,
Rear their blue arches, and invade the skies.
Here spreads a forest; there a city shines;
Here swell the hills and there a vale declines.
Here, through the meads, meand'ring rivers run ;
There placid lakes reflect the full orb'd sun.
From mountain sides perennial fountains flow,
And streams majestic bend their course below.
Here rise the groves; there opes the fertile lawn,
Fresh fragrance breathes, and Ceres waves her corn.
Along the east, where the proud billows roar,
Capacious harbours grace the winding shore :
The nation's splendour and the merchant's pride
Wafts with each gale, and floats with every tide.
From Irroquois to vast Superiour's strand,
Spread the wide lakes and insulate the land,

Here

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