despots totter on their base. Limited monarchies yield to the pressure of equal rights. Popery grasps a barren sceptre. Protestantism breaks loose from ecclesiastical domination. Prejudice no longer obstructs the march of truth. The press abhors scrutiny and defies restraint. The haughtiness of aristocracy defers to the modesty of merit. Avarice is openly converted into beneficence, or hides its shame in obscurity. Good principles triumph in the conflict with error. Good habits attest the prevalence of virtue. Public opinion guards, regulates, and promotes the public interests. In this country the liberal tendencies of the age are concentrated. Hence they have been diffused; hither they re-act. Here it is their proper effect not to destroy, but to build up; not to paralyze, but to invigorate; not to sow division, but to strengthen union. They are the life-blood, which flows to and from the heart through the veins and arteries of our political system; and their circulation constitutes its vitality. The intellectual and moral being is here reared from the cradle in the undisturbed possession of all the advantages, and continues through life susceptible to all the influences which they are suited to impart. It is for us to contemplate the immeasurable usefulness, of which, by his circumstances, he is thus rendered capable. It is for us to appreciate the value of those attainments, which referring rather to his nature and destiny than to his present condition, can perish only with the mind that possesses them. In connexion with this topic I may briefly state, that effects, which mocked the skill, and tortured the ambition of former times, are already visible, and are seen to have been produced by a change of means, which strongly illustrates the view that I have taken. It was the vain boast of Archimedes, that if he had a station on which to rest his lever, he could move the world. Our country is the station, from which the world has been already moved by a moral power unknown to Archimedes. It was the vain regret of Alexander, at the height of earthly dominion, that there were no more worlds to conquer. In our age, Science has extended its conquests to other worlds. To what nobler purpose can the Lyceum be devoted, or to what is it more strikingly adapted, than to the cultivation of intellectual and moral excellence? While it excites the individual to a consciousness of his powers, while it interweaves its influence with all the interests of society, while it exemplifies the benefits of our political institutions, let it never be its reproach, that the great object, for which life, in any of its relations, is to be valued, or for which knowledge, in any of its departments, is to be sought, has been neglected or forgotten. I have thus undertaken to represent the present age as the period, and this country as the theatre of the proudest triumphs of human improvement. Moral courage is never disheartened by difficulties and dangers, so long as the mind's eye can discover satisfactory and practicable results. I have endeavored to exhibit such as are or may be successfully accomplished; and the purpose of the lecture will be answered, if you have been led to perceive, that in the accomplishment of these results, the Lyceum may be rendered an useful instrument. The country in which we live is described in geography as the first settlement of a new world. The unprejudiced stranger, who has crossed the Atlantic, whether he approaches the rocky ramparts of the eastern coast, or pursues the chain of the northern lakes, or roams through the solitudes of the western wilderness, or threads his devious track amidst southern savannas-whether his heart shudders at the horrors of the wintry tempest, or his ear is stunned by the roar of the cataract, or his eye reposes on a boundless forest, or all his senses are regaled by the beauty, fragrance and melody of a luxuriant plantation-whether he treads with a more than classic reverence the rock of Plymouth, or climbs with the zeal of a naturalist the cliffs of the Alleghany, or explores in the cance of the Indian the scattered sources of the Missouri, or glides in the steam-boat of Fulton over the smooth surface of the Ohio, finds himself in a region abounding with works of nature of unsurpassed magnificence and sublimity. He finds himself, too, amongst a people, whose origin and progress are characterized by a moral grandeur worthy of their natural advantages. He reads their history with the enthusiasm with which he surveys their territory. In the character of the Puritan fathers of New England, he traces the same rude features of strength and endurance that are impressed upon her iron-bound shores, her craggy mountains, and her stubborn soil. In the early fortunes of Virginia, in the triumphant struggle of her adventurous founder with difficulties deemed insurmountable, he is reminded of that "stupendous scene," where the impetuous Shenandoah suddenly bursts the barrier of the Blue Ridge, aud sweeps away in a moment the obstacles which had for centuries impeded its passage to the ocean. In the school of Virginia statesmen he reads the lessons of profound and practical wisdom, alike quick-sighted to discern an infraction of the people's rights, and to devise a remedy for their wrongs, which guided the pen that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and wielded the sword that was sacredly devoted to liberty. He repairs to Mount Vernon to contemplate the visible relics of the pure taste, the virtuous ambition and the happy old age of Washington; and though he is there pointed to his grave, he still feels his presence in the simple majesty, the mellow ripeness, and the softened harmony of all which surrounds him. In the clouded dawn, the fearful conflicts, and the mighty issue of the Revolution, he studies the destiny of a people, worthy of the blessings which liberty bestows, and fit to conduct the march of civilization from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Following in the track of the pioneers of the western settlements he recounts with pride the monuments of their perseverance, industry, public spirit and prosperity. He perceives art boldly attempting to rival nature in their canals. He admires the growth and opulence of their transylvanian cities. He discovers the smoke of the steam-engine as far as he can descry the smoke of the log-hut. He finds the farmer only preceding the mechanic, and the mechanic the manafacturer, and all classes employed in the honorable competition of rendering private industry subservient to the public weal. Throughout this vast country he perceives geographical diversities blended into political union, and local interests promoted by mutual dependence. He inquires the extent of territory, and calculates the increase of population. He notes the varieties of soil and climate, and the profusion of animal, vegetable and mineral productions; and he looks forward to the period, seemingly not far distant, when this republic shall be preeminent amongst the nations of the earth. Such is the scene presented to the eyes of the transient observer. Such are the recorded events imprinted on his memory, and such the associations that cluster in his imagination. If he have the curiosity of a philosopher as well as the enthusiasm of a traveller, he is not content with an external view of the present, or an historical outline of the past. He investigates the causes that have wrought and are producing such wonderful effects. He takes an intimate survey of men and things. He seeks the friendship of individuals, that he may learn from their lips the lessons of experience. He mingles in all the circles of society, that he may trace the clue of its innumerable combinations. He is admitted into the family, where the mother shows her children as her jewels, and where the infant character is formed by parental precept and example. He visits the free school, where education is seated as the faithful nurse by the side of the cradle of liberty. He enters the Lyceum, and is welcomed to the presence of intelligence and virtue. Last of all, he joins the multitude that go to the House of God in company, and there, amidst different modes of worship and instruction, he beholds the all-pervading influence of religion; in its sublime and endearing attributes of holy faith, immortal hope, and heavenly charity. |