distant, but of which their nature and that of the world they inhabit,
are most certainly capable. It is at all times pleasing and instructive
to look backward by the light of history, and forward by the light of
analogical reasoning, to behold the gradual advancement of man from
barbarism to civilization, from civilization toward the higher perfections
of his nature; and to hope--nay, confidently believe, that the time is not
far distant when liberty and equal rights being everywhere established,
morality and the religion of the gospel everywhere diffused,--man shall
no longer lift his hand for the oppression of his fellow man; but all,
mutually assisting and assisted, shall move onward throughout the journey
of human life, like the peaceful caravan across the burning sands of
Arabia. And never, on this glorious anniversary, so often and so
deservedly celebrated by millions of free men, but which we are to-day for
the first time called to celebrate--never before, has the eye been able to
survey the past with so much satisfaction, or the future with hopes and
expectations so brilliant and so flattering; it is to us a day of two-fold
joy. We are men, though the strong hand of prejudice and oppression is
upon us; we can, and we will rejoice in the advancement of the rapidly
increasing happiness of mankind, and especially of our own race. We can,
and we will rejoice in the growing power and glory of the country we
inhabit. Although Almighty God has not permitted us to remain in the land
of our forefathers and our own, the glories of national independence, and
the sweets of civil and religious liberty, to their full extent; but the
strong hand of the spoiler has borne us into a strange land, yet has He of
His great goodness given us to behold those best and noblest of his gifts
to man, in their fairest and loveliest forms; and not only have we beheld
them, but we have already felt much of their benignant influence. Most
of us have hitherto enjoyed many, very many of the dearest rights of
freemen. Our lives and personal liberties have been held as sacred and
inviolable; the rights of property have been extended to us, in this land