PASTOR OF THE ALLEN STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW YORK. NEW YORK: JOHN S. TAYLOR & CO., 145 NASSAU ST. 1843. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by S. I. PRIME, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York. NEW YORK: 111 Fulton Street. New York, Dec. 31, 1842. Rev. GEORGE B. CHEEVER, Sir: As a Committee appointed on behalf of the New England Society, in the City of New York, and whose individual opinions render the service in every way agreeable, we return to you the sincere thanks of the Society, for the Address delivered by you before them at the Tabernacle, on the 22d inst.; and earnestly request, that a copy of an Address, so full of the spirit and principles of our forefathers, may be given the Society for publication. We are, very respectfully, Your Friends and Servants, THOMAS FESSENDEN, EDWARD S. GOULD. New York, January 10, 1843. GENTLEMEN : I thank you sincerely for your very kind note, requesting for publication a copy of the Address delivered before the New England Society, on the 22d of December, and have great pleasure in complying with your request. I have the honour to be, with great respect, ADDRESS. SIR WILLIAM JONES, among the multiplicity of his compositions, has left an ode commencing with the following question: What constitutes a State? This question comprehends my subject. I propose to dwell upon the Elements of National Greatness. We are certainly entered on a new cycle in the affairs of men; for a nation might, in times past, have become great by means which now are altogether inadequate. The city which Cain built, though it bore the stamp of the first murderer, became, before the deluge, a mighty city, and the heart of a great Empire. But no kingdom in the antediluvian world was truly great. What constitutes a State? Let the poet and legislator first answer. Not high-raised battlement or laboured mound, Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned; Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; Not starred and spangled courts Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. No: men, high-minded men, Men, who their duties know But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain. These constitute a State, And Sovereign Law that State's collected will. |