The southern press., 1851-07-09
onArIoS or HI. WEBSTER,
DELIVERED JuLY 4, 1851

| AT The CGf ifoi, on the occasion u laying INC
Cornerstone Of The Extension Of The Cspitof.
FELLOW CITIZENS :-I congratulate you,
give you joy, OH the return of this anniversary
and felicitate you, also, on the more particular
! purpose Of which this ever memorable day has
been chosen to witness the fuhlment. HAL all
hail ! see before and around me a mass oi
faces, glowing with cheerfulness, and patriotic
pride. | see thousands of eyes, turned towards
other eyes, all sparkling with qualification and
delight. This is the New World This is
Americ And this is Washington, the capital
of the United States And where else, among
the nations, can the seat of government be sur
rounded, on any day Of any year, by those who
have more reason to rejoice in the blessings
which they possess! Nowhere, fellowctizens
assuredly, nowhere. Let us, then, meet this ris
ing sun with Joy and Thanksgiving!
! This is the day Of the year which announced
to mankind the great fact of American indepen-
dence This fresh and brilliant morning blesses
our Wis n v ith another beholding of the birth
day of our nation and we see that nation, OF
recent origin, now among the most considerable
and powerful and spreading over the continent,
| from sea to sea.
| Among the first colonsts from Europe to this
part of America, there were some, doubtless,
who contemplated the distant consequences of
their undertaking, and who saw great futurity
but, in general, their hopes were limited to the
enjoyment of a safe asylum from tyranny, ren
gicus ard civil and to respectable subsistence,
by industry and toll. A thick veil hid our times
from their view. But the progress Of America,
however slow, could not but at length awaken
genius, and attract the attention of mankind.
In the early part of the next century, Bishop
Berkeley, who, 1t will be remembered, had re-
sided for some time in Newport, in Rhode IT,
land, wrote his well Unknown oversees on the
prospect of planting ARTS and LEARNING in
AMERICA" The last stanza of this little poem
seems to have been produced by high poetical
inspiration
" Westward the course OF empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past
A fifth shall close the drama with the day
Times noblest offspring is the last"
This extraordinary prophecy may be consid-
cred only as the result of long foresight and un-
common sagaeity; of foresight and sagacity
stimulated, nevertheless, by excited feeling and
high enthusiasm. So clear a vision Of what
America would become was not founded on
square miles, or on existing numbers, or on any
vulgar laws Of statistics. 1t was an intuitite
glance into futurity it was grand conception,
stong, ardent, glowing, embracing all time since
the creation of the world and all regions OF
which that world is composed and judging OF
the future by just analogy with the past And
the inimitable imagery and beauty with which
the thought is expressed, joined to the concep-
ton itself, render it one of the most striking
passages in our language.
On the day of the declaration of Independence
our illustrious fathers performed the first act in
this drama-an act, in real Importance, infinitely
exceeding that for which the great English poet
invoked.
"a muse of fire.
kingdom for stage, princes TO act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene !"
The Muse inspiring our Fathers was the
Genius of Liberty, all on fire with sense Of
oppression, and resolution to throw it off; the
whole world was the stage, and higher charac.
ters than princes trod it, and, instead of mon.
| archs countries, and nations, and the age be-
held the swelling scene. How well the charac
ters were cast, and how we'll each acted his
part, and what emotions the whole performance
excited, let history, now and hereafter tell
At a subsequent period, but before the de
claration Of Independence, the Bishop of ST
Azaph published discourse, in which the fol
lowing remarkable passages are found
It is difficult for man to look into the des
\ tiny of future ages; the designs of Providence
ere too vast and complicated, and our owl
power are too narrow to admit of much salts
faction to our curiosity. But, when we SCI
many great and powerful causes constantly al
work, we cannot doubt OF their producing
| portionable effects.
"The conies in North America have moi
only taken root and acquired strength, but seen
fastening nth an accelerated progress 10 such q
powerful STATE as may introduce new and i'm
nort1Df chanDe in human affairs
"Descended from ancestors of the most im
proved and enlightened part of the world, they
receive, as it were by inheritance, all the i'm
provements and discoveries of their mother
country And it happens fortunately for then
to commence their fourishing State at the time
when the human understanding has attained to
the free use of its powers, and has learned tC
act with yigor and certainty. They may avail
themselves not only of the experience and in
! dustry, but even of the errors and mistakes o
former days. Let it be considered for how
many ages great part of the world appears
not to have thought at all how many more
they have been busted in forming systems ant
conjectures, while reason has been lost in {
labyrinth of words, and they never seem to hav,
suspected on what frivolous matters their minds
were employed.
aAnd let it be well understood what rapit
| improvements, what important discoveries hav
been made, in few years, by few countries
with our own at their head, which have at las
discovered the right method Of using their facul
ties.
"May we not reasonably expect that nun
Der of provinces, possessed of these advantages
and quckened by mutual emulation, with on
the common progress Of the human mint
should very considerably enlarge the boundarie
; Of science!
"The vast continent itself, over which the
are gradually spreading, may be considered as
treasure yet untouched of natural production
that shall hereafter afford ample matter for con
; merce and contemplation. And if we rehec
what a stock of knowledge may be accumulate
by the constant progress of industry and obse,
vaton fed with fresh supplies from the store
, Of nature, assisted sometimes by those happ
strokes Of chance which mock all the powers {
; invention, and sometimes by those superic
characters which arise occasionally to instrut
; and enlighten the world, it is difficult even t
imagine to what height of Improvement the
discoveries may extend.