essentially contributed; and Mr. Jefferson, at the same protracted age, was able to project, and carry on to their completion, the extensive establishments of the University of Virginia.

But it is the great and closing scene, which appears to crown their long and exalted career with a consummation almost miraculous. Having done so much and so happily for themselves, so much and so beneficially for their country, at that last moment, when man can no more do any thing for his country or for himself, it pleased a kind Providence to do that for both of them, which, to the end of time, will cause them to be deemed not more happy in the renown of their lives, than in the opportunity of their death.*

I could give neither force nor interest to the account of these sublime and touching scenes, by any thing beyond the simple recital of the facts already familiar to the public. Their deaths were nearly simultaneous. For several weeks, the strength of Mr Jefferson had been gradually failing, though the vigor of his mind remained unimpaired. As he drew nearer to the last, and no expectation remained that his term could be much prolonged, he expressed no other wish than that he might live to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary of independence. This he was graciously permitted to do. But it was evident, on the morning of the fourth, that Providence intended that this day, consecrated by his deed, should be solemnized by his death. On some momentary revival of his wasting strength, the friends around would have soothed him with the hope of continuing; but he answered their encouragements only by saying, he did not fear to die. Once, as he drew nearer to his close, he lifted up his head, and murmured with a smile, "It is the fourth of July;" while his repeated exclamation, on the last great day, was, Nunc dimittis, Domine — "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace." He departed in peace, a little before one o'clock of this memorable day; unconscious that his compatriot, who fifty years before

Tacit., J. Agricol. Vit. Cap. XLV.

had shared its efforts and perils, was now the partner of its glory.

Mr Adams's mind had also wandered back, over the long line of great things, with which his life was filled, and found rest on the thought of Independence. When the discharges of artillery proclaimed the triumphant anniversary, he pronounced it "a great and a good day." The thrilling word of Independence, which, fifty years before, in the ardor of his manly strength, he had sounded out to the nations from the hall of the revolutionary Congress, was now among the last that dwelt on his lips; and when, towards the hour of noon, he felt his noble heart growing cold within him, the last emotion which warmed it was, that "Jefferson still survives." But he survives not; he is gone. They are gone together!

The

Friends, fellow-citizens, free, prosperous, happy Americans! The men who did so much to make you so are no more. men who gave nothing to pleasure in youth, nothing to repose in age, but all to that country, whose beloved name filled their hearts, as it does ours, with joy, can now do no more for us; nor we for them. But their memory remains, we will cherish it; their bright example remains, we will strive to imitate it; the fruit of their wise counsels and noble acts remains, we will gratefully enjoy it.

They have gone to the companions of their cares, of their dangers, and their toils. It is well with them. The treasures of America are now in heaven. How long the list of our good, and wise, and brave, assembled there! How few remain with us! There is our Washington; and those who followed him in their country's confidence are now met together with him, and all that illustrious company.

The faithful marble may preserve their image; the engraven brass may proclaim their worth; but the humblest sod of Independent America, with nothing but the dew-drops of the morning to gild it, is a prouder mausoleum than kings or conquerors can boast. The country is their monument. Its independence is their epitaph. But not to their country is their praise limited. The whole earth is the monument of illustrious men. Wherever an agonizing people shall

perish, in a generous convulsion, for want of a valiant arm and a fearless heart, they will cry, in the last accents of despair, O for a Washington, an Adams, a Jefferson! Wherever a regenerated nation, starting up in its might, shall burst the links of steel that enchain it, the praise of our venerated fathers shall be remembered in their triumphal song!

The contemporary and successive generations of men will disappear, and in the long lapse of ages, the races of America, like those of Greece and Rome, may pass away. The fabric of American freedom, like all things human, however firm and fair, may crumble into dust. But the cause in which these our fathers shone is immortal. They did that to which no age, no people of civilized men, can be indifferent. Their eulogy will be uttered in other languages, when those we speak, like us who speak them, shall be all forgotten. And when the great account of humanity shall be closed, in the bright list of those who have best adorned and served it, shall be found the names of our Adams and our Jefferson!

THE HISTORY OF LIBERTY.*

FELLOW-CITIZENS:

THE event which we commemorate is all-important, not merely in our own annals, but in those of the world. The sententious English poet has declared, that "the proper study of mankind is man ;" and of all inquiries of a temporal nature, the history of our fellow-beings is unquestionably among the most interesting. But not all the chapters of human history are alike important. The annals of our race have been filled up with incidents which concern not, or at least ought not to concern, the great company of mankind. History, as it has often been written, is the genealogy of princes, the field-book of conquerors; and the fortunes of our fellow-men have been treated only so far as they have been affected by the influence of the great masters and destroyers of our race. Such history is, I will not say a worthless study, for it is necessary for us to know the dark side, as well as the bright side, of our condition. But it is a melancholy study, which fills the bosom of the philanthropist and the friend of liberty with sorrow.

But the history of Liberty, the history of men struggling to be free, the history of men who have acquired, and are exercising their freedom, the history of those great movements in the world, by which liberty has been established and perpetuated, forms a subject which we cannot contemplate too closely. This is the real history of man, — of the human family, — of rational, immortal beings.

This theme is one; the free of all climes and nations are themselves a people. Their annals are the history of free

* Oration delivered at Charlestown, on the 4th of July, 1828.

dom. Those who fell victims to their principles, in the civil convulsions of the short-lived republics of Greece, or who sunk beneath the power of her invading foes; those who shed their blood for liberty amidst the ruins of the Roman republic; the victims of Austrian tyranny in Switzerland, and of Spanish tyranny in the Netherlands; the solitary champions, or the united bands of high-minded and patriotic men, who have, in any region or age, struggled and suffered in this great cause, belong to that PEOPLE OF THE FREE, whose fortunes and progress are the most noble theme which man can contemplate.

A succes

The theme belongs to us. We inhabit a country which has been signalized in the great history of freedom. We live under forms of government more favorable to its diffusion than any which the world has elsewhere known. sion of incidents, of rare curiosity, and almost mysterious connection, has marked out America as a great theatre of political reform. Many circumstances stand recorded in our annals, connected with the assertion of human rights, which, were we not familiar with them, would fill even our own minds with amazement.

The theme belongs to the day. We celebrate the return of the day on which our separate national existence was declared; the day when the momentous experiment was commenced, by which the world, and posterity, and we ourselves. were to be taught, how far a nation of men can be trusted with self-government - how far life, and liberty, and property are safe, and the progress of social improvement is secure, under the influence of laws made by those who are to obey them; the day when, for the first time in the world, a numerous people was ushered into the family of nations, organized on the principle of the political equality of all the citizens.

Let us then, fellow-citizens, devote the time which has been set apart for this portion of the duties of the day, to a hasty review of the history of liberty; especially to a contemplation of some of those astonishing incidents which preceded, accompanied, or have followed the settlement of America, and the establishment of our constitutions; and which plainly indicate a general tendency and coöperation of