CELEBRATION IN BALTIMORE OF THE TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY IN FRANCE WITH THE ADDRESS DELIVERED ON THAT OCCASION, BY WM. WIRT, ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1830. Published by order of the Committee of Arrangements. BALTIMORE:JOHN D. TOY, PRINTER, Corner of Market and St. Paul streets. 1830. DISTRICT OF MARYLAND, TO WIT: BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the thirtieth day of October, in thefifty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, John D. Toy, of the said District, hath deposited in this office, thetitle of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in thewords following, to wit: "Celebration in Baltimore of the Triumph of Liberty in France: withthe Address delivered on that occasion, by Wm. Wirt, on Monday, October 25, 1830. Published by order of the Committee ofArrangements. " In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing thecopies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors ofsuch copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to the act, entitled "An Act supplementary to the act, entitled 'An Act for theencouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts andbooks, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the timestherein mentioned:' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts ofdesigning, engraving, and etching historical and other prints. " PHILIP MOORE, _Clerk of the District of Maryland. _ GRAND CELEBRATION OF THE PEOPLE OF BALTIMORE, ON THE RECENT TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY IN FRANCE. MAYOR'S OFFICE, _Baltimore, Oct. 5, 1830_. At the request of a number of Citizens, I am induced to _invite_my _Fellow Citizens_ to assemble in their respective WARDS, at theplaces where elections are usually held, on THURSDAY EVENING NEXT, at8 o'clock, in order to appoint two persons from each ward to meet inGeneral Committee on Friday evening following at the _City Hall_, at7 o'clock, in order to adopt measures to celebrate the triumph ofLiberty in France. JACOB SMALL, _Mayor_. * * * * * At a meeting of the delegates from the several wards, held at the CityHall on Tuesday the 12th inst. For the purpose of considering thepropriety of celebrating in this City, the recent triumph of Libertyachieved by the people of France, Col. SAMUEL MOORE was called to thechair, and Col. JOHN THOMAS and JAMES L. RIDGELY, appointedsecretaries. It was resolved, that a procession of the citizens commemorative ofthat event, be recommended on the 19th inst. That the Major General of the third division, be requested to orderunder arms the uniform Corps of his command, on the morning of the19th inst. , and that the day be ushered in by a National Salute. That the several trades and professions be invited to attend, withappropriate banners and badges. That the natives of France in the City of Baltimore be invited tounite in the celebration of the day. That the citizens, not included in the above resolutions, be requestedto assemble in Monument Square, on Tuesday the 19th inst. That WILLIAM WIRT, Esq. Be requested to deliver an oration suited tothe occasion. That Gen. SAMUEL SMITH, be requested to prepare and submit an Addressexpressive of the feelings of the citizens of Baltimore, on the recenttriumph of Liberty in France. That Col. JOHN THOMAS be appointed Marshal-in-chief for the day, andhave power to select all necessary sub-marshals and assistants. That the Marshal-in-chief, cause suitable arrangements to be made atMonument Square, for the accommodation of the Executive of Maryland, the natives of France in this City on that day, the Mayor and CityCouncil of Baltimore, Rev. Clergy, Soldiers of the Revolution, Officers of the Army and Navy, Judges of the several Courts, andmembers of the General Committee. That the ceremonies of the day be announced by three pieces ofArtillery in quick succession, and a National air from the Band. That the keepers of the public places be requested to display theirColours, together with the Tri-coloured flag of France during the day. That the members of the several trades and professions, be requestedto hold meetings, prior to the 19th, with a view of making theirnecessary arrangements. That the citizens of Baltimore be requested to suspend all kind ofbusiness on the day of celebration. _Resolved_, That the Marshal take such order in making hisarrangements as to enable the Orator to commence at 12 o'clockprecisely. _Resolved_, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by theChairman and Secretaries, and published in the several papers ofthe City. SAMUEL MOORE, _Chairman_. JOHN THOMAS, } _Secretaries_. JAMES L. RIDGELY, } * * * * * HEAD QUARTERS, THIRD DIVISION, _October 14, 1830_. The Major General of the Third Division accedes to the request of thedelegates of the City. He therefore orders, that the uniformed troopsof all arms attached to his command assemble on parade, at 9 o'clockA. M. On the 19th inst. To celebrate the recent triumph of liberty inFrance. The day to be ushered in by a national salute. General Steuart of the Light Brigade, will assume the command; and ischarged with the execution of this order. By order of Major General Smith, JOHN THOMAS, _Inspector of Division_. ORDER OF THE MARSHAL-IN-CHIEF. _The following Order of Procession will be observed on the 19thOctober, 1830, in Commemoration of the Triumph of Liberty in France_: FIRST DIVISION. The Uniform Corps of the Third Division. SECOND DIVISION. General Committee. 1. Band of Music. 2. Printers. 3. Agricultural Society. 4. Farmers and Planters. 5. Gardeners. 6. Plough Makers and makers of other Agricultural Implements. 7. Millers and Inspectors of Flour. 8. Bakers. 9. Victuallers. 10. Tailors. 11. Blacksmiths and Whitesmiths. 12. Millwrights, Rollers of Iron and Copper, and Steam Engine Makers. 13. Weavers, Bleachers and Dyers, and Manufacturers of Cotton and Wool. 14. Carpenters and Joiners, Lumber Merchants and Plane Makers. 15. Stone Cutters. 16. Masons and Bricklayers. 17. Painters and Glaziers. 18. Plasterers. 19. Cabinet Makers. 20. Upholsterers. 21. Fancy and Windsor Chair Makers. 22. Ornamental Chair Painters. 23. Tanners, Curriers and Morocco Dressers. 24. Cordwainers. 25. Hatters. 26. Turners and Machine Makers. 27. Coopers. 28. Brush and Bell Makers. 29. Coach Makers. 30. Whip Makers. 31. Cedar Coopers. 32. Brass Founders, Coppersmiths and Tin Plate Workers. 33. Comb Makers. 34. Tobacconists. 35. Potters. 36. Sugar Refiners. 37. Watch Makers, Jewellers and Silversmiths. 38. Engravers. 39. Glass Cutters. 40. Ship Carpenters, Ship Joiners, Block and Pump Makers. 41. Boat Builders. 42. Rope Makers. 43. Riggers. 44. Sail Makers. 45. Pilots. 46. Ship Captains and Mates. 47. Seamen. 48. Draymen and Cartmen. Music. Juvenile Associations. The respective trades and professions comprising the Second Division, will assemble with their Banners and Personal Decorations, at suchplace or places as they may deem convenient. Each trade and professionwill appoint a Marshal on foot, who will be distinguished by a bluesash, and who will conduct their respective associations to Baltimorestreet, where they will be received by the Marshals appointed for thatpurpose, and posted at their stations in line. THIRD DIVISION, Comprising the following bodies, will assemble at the Exchange. The Governor and Executive Council of the State, in an open Carriage. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Esq. In an open Carriage, supported by James H. McCulloch and Monsieur de Bois Martin. Genl. Sam'l Smith and the Orator of the day, Wm. Wirt, Esq. In an open Carriage. The Natives of France in the city. The Mayor and City Council and officers of the Corporation. Foreign Ministers and Consuls. Senators and Members of Congress. Senators and Members of the State Legislature. The officers of the Army and Navy. The Clergy of all denominations. The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland. The Trustees and Faculty of the University of Maryland. The Collector and officers of the Customs. The Marshal of the United States, and High Sheriff of Baltimore County and their officers. The Chancellor and Judges of the Court of Appeals. Judges and members of the Bar and officers. Justices of the Peace. Public Teachers. Students of Divinity, Law, and Physic. Merchants and Traders. Clerks and Accountants. Citizens, Mechanics, and Artizans not included in the above arrangement. Mr. Blanchard's Equestrian Corps. Capt. Bouldin's troop of horse. The line of Procession will be formed in Baltimore street at 9 o'clockA. M. , the right of the line resting on Bond street. The several bodies composing the procession will assemble at theirrespective places of meeting at 8 o'clock, A. M. Precisely, three gunswill be the signal for the different associations to commence theirmarch to Baltimore street, under the direction of their own officers. On reaching Baltimore street, they will be conducted by the Marshals, appointed for the purpose, to their respective places in line. The procession will take up the line of March at 10 o'clock, A. M. Precisely. Any association not in line, when the procession shall havetaken up the line of march, will fall in the rear. JOHN THOMAS, _Marshal-in-Chief_. * * * * * AFTER ORDER OF THE MARSHAL-IN-CHIEF. Mr. Blanchard having accepted the invitation of the Marshal, hisCorps of Equestrians will be attached to the Third Division. The procession will move up Baltimore to Eutaw street, up Eutaw toFayette street, down Fayette to Howard street, up Howard to Franklinstreet, from Franklin to Hamilton street, down Hamilton to Calvertstreet, on Calvert street to Monument Square; when the ceremonies ofthe day will be performed in the following order. Three pieces of Artillery, fired in quick succession, will be thesignal for the commencement of the ceremonies of the day. A National Air will then be played by the Band. Mr. Wirt will then deliver an Oration. After which General Smith will submit an Address expressive of thefeelings of the Citizens of Baltimore, on the recent Triumph ofLiberty in France. The Marseilles Hymn will then be performed by the Band. On the conclusion of the ceremonies, the Procession will be dismissed, and the several associations will leave the ground under charge oftheir respective marshals. All those who shall unite in this procession are requested to weara tri-coloured cockade and an appropriate badge. The following gentlemen are appointed Aids and Marshals. CAPT. WILLIAM G. COOK, } _Aids to the Marshal-in-Chief. _ALCÆUS B. WOLFE, } MARSHALS. JAMES L. RIDGELY, EDWARD SPEDDEN, JESSE HUNT, GEN. BENJAMIN EDES, JAMES BIAYS, JR. , MCCLINTOCK YOUNG, JONATHAN FITCH, GEORGE DOBBIN, W. P. MILLS, HENRY GREEN, CAPT. HENRY MYERS, R. D. MILLHOLLAND. Captains Kelly, Myers, and Cook, assisted by William F. Small andAlcæus B. Wolfe, Esqrs. Are charged with the arrangements at theMonument Square. JOHN THOMAS, _Marshal-in-Chief_. When the Procession arrived at Monument Square, Col. S. MOORE, asChairman of the Committee of Arrangement, announced that GeneralSAMUEL SMITH, was appointed to act as Chairman and JOHN S. SKINNER, Esq. As Secretary to the meeting, with instructions to sign theAddress on behalf of the Citizens of Baltimore, and forward the sameto General LAFAYETTE, to be disposed of in such manner as he may seemost proper. MR. WIRT'S ADDRESS. We have met, fellow citizens, to give public expression to thefeelings which animate every bosom in our society, and to unite ourcongratulations on the triumph of liberty in France. On this subject, there is but one heart, one voice among us, and that a heart and voiceof universal joy. Had this great event occurred even in a land of strangers, unendearedto us by any previous act of kindness, and having no other claim uponour sympathies than that they belonged to the same family of humanbeings with ourselves, it would still have been cause of private joy toeach individual among us; for it would have borne evidence of theprogress of liberty in the world. But it is not in a land of strangers, it is not in a country unendeared to us by previous acts of kindnessthat it has occurred. It is in France, our ancient friend and ally: inFrance, who stood by _us_ in the darkest days of our own revolution;in France, by the powerful aid of whose fleets and armies, the lastensign of British authority was struck in _our_ land, and we took ourundisputed place among the nations of the earth. Yes, it is in France, the land of our benefactors and friends, that this spectacle has beenexhibited. And such a spectacle! unparalleled in the history of theworld! A nation of more than thirty millions of people emancipated bythe efforts of a single city in three days! Not by a great body oflords and barons, cased in armour of iron, and with well appointed hostsof vassals at their backs: but by the common body of the citizens ofParis; the labouring classes--mechanics--manufacturers--merchants--boysfrom the Polytechnic school; rushing naked and unarmed, upon the armedbands of the king; without a leader to direct their movements, and yetmoving with a judgment, a concert, an energy that would have done honorto the ablest general; and, at the same time, with a moderation, ahumanity, an integrity, a respect for private property and privatefeelings that would have graced the noblest school of philosophers inancient times, or of christians in modern; finishing the whole stupendousoperation in three days, and then returning, quietly and peaceably totheir respective occupations, and committing the details of theirpolitical arrangements to their more experienced friends! In the stern decision, in the rapid and resistless execution, in thethorough accomplishment of the purpose, and in the sudden and perfectcalm that succeeded, tyrants may read a lesson that may well make themtremble on their thrones; for they see that it is only for the peopleto resolve, and it is done. Had this story been told to us by some writer of romance, as theproduct of his own imagination, there is not a man among us who wouldnot have condemned it as unnatural, improbable, a mere extravaganceentirely out of keeping with the human character. And yet the thinghas actually taken place; the work has been done, and well and noblydone. The French have sometimes been spoken of as a light people, withoutdepth or stability of character. Let those who thus describe them, open the annals of England (the Rome of modern times) and shew usthere, a movement, from the period of their invasion by Julius Cæsarto the present day, that can match this magnificent movement of thecommon people of Paris. No. In the enlightened motive, in the stationof the actors, in the character of the action itself, and in itsbeautiful consummation, there is nothing in the archives of history, ancient or modern, nor even in the volumes of the boldest and wildestimagination, that will bear a comparison. It was for liberty theystruck, and the blow was the bolt of heaven. The throne of the tyrantfell before it. The work was done: and all was peace. Well may we beproud to claim such a people as our friends and allies, and to unitein this public demonstration of joy at their triumph. To give us a still deeper interest in the transaction, whom do we seemingling brilliantly in the conflict, partaking of the triumph, andbenevolently tempering and guiding its results? Lafayette, our ownLafayette, the brave, the good, the friend of man. Well may we callhim _our own_: for he gave to us the flower of his youth! freelysacrificed the splendors of a court, all the pleasures and enjoymentsnatural to his age, nay his fortune and his blood, on the altar of ourliberty. With the weight of more than seventy winters upon his head, broken with the struggles of a long life devoted to the cause ofliberty, in America and in France--a cause which he has never ceasedto cherish in the midst of the most depressing circumstances, even inthe dungeon's gloom--we see him now throwing off at once the weight ofyears, recovering, as if by magic, all the animation of his youth, with all its generosity and humanity; building up the liberties of hiscountry with one hand, and with the other, protecting and alleviatingthe misfortunes of the fallen dynasty, and its misguided adherents. This is, indeed, to ride like an angel in the whirlwind and direct thestorm: like an angel whose mercy is equal to his power. Yes--if anything could swell still louder the note of our exultation at thisgreat achievement, it is the part which Lafayette, the noble pupil ofour Washington, has borne and is still bearing in it. He seems to havebeen preserved by heaven, amid the countless perils through which hehas passed, that he might witness the final triumph of liberty in hisnative land. The great object of his life, that alone for which heseemed to wish to live, is accomplished; and he wears, at this moment, a brighter crown than ever graced the brow of a Bourbon; for it isformed of the best affections, the love and gratitude of an admiringworld. Here let us pause, and endeavor to recover from the amazement withwhich such an event is calculated to overwhelm the mind, that we maycontemplate it more calmly. On the first arrival of the intelligence, we involuntarily askedourselves, "Can this be a reality?" And when we could no longer doubtthe evidence of the fact, the next anxious inquiry which presseditself upon us, was "Will it stand, or are we again to be disappointedas we were by the revolution of 1789?" This is not a question of mere idle and speculative curiosity withregard to which we are indifferent about the result. It is one inwhich our feelings are keenly interested; and more--it is one of deepand awful import to the liberties of the world. For if France isagain to revolve through years and through seas of blood and crime, and to terminate, at last, at the point from which she set out--adespotism--despair will fill the European world, and the people willbe disposed rather to bear the ills they have, than to encounter theunavailing horrors of the double precedent which France will haveset. Let us look, therefore, calmly, for a few moments, at the veryinteresting question of the probable stability and success of thisrevolution. Those of us who remember the revolution of 1789, are forcibly remindedof it by the late event, and from the catastrophe of the formerstruggle, are apt to draw a mournful presage of the present. It is notfor human penetration to foretell, with certainty, the ultimate issueof such a movement. In a case so dependent on the capricious passionsof man, there are too many contingencies that may arise to darkenthe fairest prospect and disappoint our hopes. But there seem to befundamental points of difference between the two cases which forbidus to reason from the one to the other, and justify, now, the hopeof a happy result. Let us attend for a moment to these points ofdifference. In the first place, the state of political information in France, andin Europe at large, is widely different now from that which existed in1789. France was not prepared for that revolution: nor were the peopleof Europe prepared to understand it, to second it, and to turn it tothe best account. This is a grand and over-ruling distinction betweenthe cases. With regard to France, her people had been buried, for ages, in thenight of despotism, and had no idea of the meaning of politicalliberty. I speak of the great body of the people. On the upperclasses, it is true, that day had recently broken from the writingsof Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau and Raynal. But thick darknessstill rested upon the lower classes. Their faculties were benumbed byits influence, and their spirits enslaved and debased by the habit ofsubjection. The condition of things which they saw around them, andwhich had been immemorially transmitted from father to son, seemed tothem to be the natural condition, and they considered themselves bornfor the use of their prince and his nobles. Such, too, was the general state of things in Europe. As to politicalrights, the body of the people were all in Egyptian darkness. Theyoke had been fixed and locked upon them in far distant ages, of whichthey had no knowledge; they had borne it, time out of mind, and theirnecks had became so callous and accustomed to its pressure, that itnever entered into their imaginations to question the right. In this state of habitual subjection and inveterate ignorance, the sunof liberty suddenly arose upon France, in full glory; when, "blindwith excess of light, " and maddened by the too rapid circulation ofthe blood which had so long stagnated in their veins, they passed ina few years, from the extreme of despotism to the extreme of anarchy, and deeds of horror were perpetrated which humanity shudders torecall. They frightened the rest of Europe by their example, insteadof alluring them to an imitation of it. But widely different is the state of information at this day. Thatrevolution itself, dreadful as it was, has awakened the wholecontinent from the sleep of ages, and put them upon inquiry into thefoundations of government, and the purposes for which it was ordained:and during nearly half a century which has since elapsed, a degreeof light has been thrown upon the great subject of the rights ofman which has found its way into every hamlet and every cottage ofsouthern Europe, and is advancing to the north with such increasinglustre as will ere long scatter the gloom that yet hangs over Siberiaand Kamschatka. Hence the people of France, certainly, and perhapsof the whole south of Europe, are now prepared for the temperateenjoyment of liberty, under the administration of a regulargovernment, for which they were totally unfitted in 1789. There is another striking difference between the cases, and a mostimportant one it is, as it affects the question before us. France has now the benefit of her own past experience before her eyes:she had no such lamp to light her steps in 1789. Yes; that dreadfullesson is fresh in her recollection. She has had full time to studyit: to discover every false step that was then taken, and to observethe causes which led to the miscarriage of that revolution. And tosatisfy us that she has profited by this study, a comparison of hervery different conduct on those two occasions will suffice. The former revolution was one long-protracted tragedy of horrors towhich there seemed to be no end, and of which the most sagacious menamong us could not guess the _denouement_, except that from its veryprotraction and violence it would probably end in a despotism. At theclose of every scene of horror, we kept saying to ourselves, "surelyit will close _now_, and France will at length have rest and peace. "But we were doomed to be disappointed, time after time. One explosionfollowed another until the heart sickened "with hope deferred, " and weturned away our eyes at last in despair from the appalling spectacle. It was this slow, vacillating, indecisive course of the formerrevolution which generated all the causes that conspired to defeatit. The Bastile was stormed in 1789. It was not until the latter partof 1792 that the unfortunate monarch was deposed. During these threeyears, though strokes of great boldness were struck, one afteranother, yet none of them were of a decisive character: none of themindicated a fixed point at which the revolution was to stop: whilethey were all of a character to alarm, to exasperate and to raise uppowerful enemies to the revolution both at home and abroad. Thus, in 1789 privileges and distinctions of orders were abolished, and the hitherto sacred revenues of the church suffered a deepencroachment. In 1790 titles of nobility, with all their _insignia_ of emblasonedarms and feudal power, were annihilated, and the estates attached tothem were seized for the public use. These measures drove from Francea numerous and powerful body of emigrants, inflamed with resentmentand despair, who preached up, at every court in Europe, the cause ofkings, which they represented, with reason, to be menaced with generaldestruction; and they left in France an equally numerous and powerfulbody of malcontents, whose cabals kept every part of the kingdom ina state of constant ferment and insurrection. The people, released atonce from the restraints of the clergy and of their feudal lords, andsuddenly become their own masters, without the discretion necessaryfor their guidance, became licentious and turbulent, and the wholekingdom presented a scene of riot and disorder which there were nolaws to repress. And now was hatched that political hydra, the Jacobinfaction, which no Frenchman will ever be able to remember without aninvoluntary shudder. In 1791 the affrighted king made an unsuccessful attempt to escapewith his family. They were arrested near the confines of the kingdomand brought back to Paris under the most humiliating circumstances;but still he was acknowledged to be the king of France, and aconstituent part of the existing government. A new constitution wasthen framed, to which he was required to take an oath of obedience, and he took it _per_ force. The leading patriots, who had nothing morein view than the enjoyment of rational liberty under a regulargovernment, attempted to stop the revolution at the point of a limitedmonarchy. Mirabeau, that prodigy of genius and vice, was believed tohave been of this number. The virtuous Lafayette certainly was, andso was a host of others of the brightest names in France. But the ballhad rolled beyond their reach, and had acquired a _momentum_ whichthey could no longer control. A set of unprincipled men, engenderedby the slow progress of the revolution, had, by their flatteries andappeals to the worst passions of the populace, worked themselves upto the head of affairs and drove on the revolution before the storm, without any fixed object on their own part. These infamous men infused suspicions into the minds of the peopleagainst their best friends, and even Lafayette had to defend himselfagainst their accusations. In 1792 the king was tried, condemned and deposed, and a republic wasestablished; but it was a republic of bedlamites. The revolution nowassumed a most dreadful form. France, delivered up, at once, to thefury of a foreign and a civil war, and at the same time rent asunderby the most frightful anarchy, exhibited a picture which the heartquails to contemplate even at this distance of time. All was chaos andconfusion, and Lafayette perceiving that the great object for whichhe had contended was lost, retired from the kingdom, and was doomedto mourn, for years, in an Austrian dungeon, the disappointment of hispatriot hopes. In 1793 the amiable and unfortunate king was torn from his family, and bade adieu, on the scaffold, to all the troubles of life; andthenceforth the guillotine streamed with the blood of the bestpatriots of France. No confidence existed any where. Every one wasdistrusted. Generals, whose victories had shed the highest glory upontheir country, were called from the head of their armies to perishin disgrace. Denunciation and massacre were the order of the day. Suspicion became full proof, and every accusation was fatal. Toconsummate the horror of the scene, the christian religion wasformally abolished, and a sort of heathen worship was substituted inits place. The republic was dissolved, the government was declared tobe revolutionary, and a dictatorship was established, compared withwhich those of Marius and Sylla formed a golden age. Terror, death, and rapine walked abroad in triumph, and the diabolical spirits whichhad set the mischief afoot, hovered over the bloody spectacle andmocked at the misery which they had created. In 1794 the ruffians, Danton and Robespierre, fell in succession, and expiated their crimes (if indeed such crimes be expiable at all)on that guillotine which they had so often deluged with the bloodof innocence, even of female innocence and beauty. But the reign ofterror still held on its course. The government was continuallyshifting its form. In truth, there was virtually no government at all. It was one continued scene of anarchy and confusion. Those terriblefactions, the Jacobin, the Gironde, the Mountain, in their strugglesfor power, and their alternate ascendancy, continued to exhibit Franceas one great slaughter-house of human victims, without regard toguilt or innocence, sex or age. The whole nation seemed to have beenmetamorphosed into a nation of demons, wild and frightful, and drunkwith human blood, with which they seemed incapable of being satiated. And yet, strange as it may seem, and strange as it does now seemeven to ourselves, there was a splendour, a magnificence about thatrevolution that riveted our admiration and sympathy with a force thatcould not be at once detached by all the horrors that accompanied it. In the first burst of the revolution, nothing was seen by us but abrave and generous effort by the people for the recovery of their longlost rights and liberties. The spectacle of such a people, a people soendeared to us by recent services, rising, in such a cause, againstthe whole wealth and power of the court and the vast body of thenobles, temporal and spiritual, who had so long lorded it over France, was well calculated to enlist our strongest sympathies. --The firstmovements of the national convention, too, were marked with an energy, a grandeur, a magnanimity, and a power of eloquence such as the worldhad never witnessed, and such as no human heart could withstand. --And, then, when the combined armies moved upon France, the heroism withwhich they were met by the armies of the republic--chaunting, as theymarched up in order of battle, the sublime strains of their nationalhymn--and the stupendous power with which they were beaten off, andtheir armies crushed and annihilated one after another--threw sucha blaze of glory around the revolution as made us blind to all itsexcesses. Those excesses, too, came to us, veiled and softened by thedistance, and by the medium through which they passed: and, howevermuch to be deplored, we were ready, with the French patriots, toconsider them as the unavoidable consequences of such a struggle, and to charge all the blood that was spilt in France, to the tyrants, abroad and at home, who chose to resist, to death, the rightfuldemands of the people. Those "wonderful people, " too, (as they were characterised by Gen. Washington in '96, ) in the midst of the terrific scenes which theywere daily enacting, contrived to throw a grace and a beauty aroundtheir public acts, and to gild even their wildest projects with amoral sublimity that effectually concealed, at the time, all theirfolly and injustice, and gave them a rapturous reception throughoutthe United States. Thus, when, in the rage of reformation which seemeddetermined to leave nothing of the old order of things remaining, they resolved to abolish the calendar, and, in lieu of the barbarousnames by which the months had been distinguished, to introduce a newnomenclature, founded on the exhibitions of nature, in the differentseasons: there was a poetic beauty in the conception and a felicityof taste in the execution of which no other nation on earth seemedcapable. Their months of buds, flowers and meadows, of harvest, heatand fruit, of vintage, fog and sleet, of snow, rain and wind, were sobeautiful and so expressive, that they extorted the admiration evenof the reluctant world. Even the wild project of propagating libertyby the sword, and folding the whole human family in their fraternalembrace, was so bold and generous and grand, that, in the contemplationof its magnificence, we forgot its folly. And when, in execution ofthis project, the young hero of the republic crossed the Alps, and bya series of victories that eclipsed the brightest boasts of ancienthistory, brought Italy, Austria and Prussia to his feet, it seemedas if heaven itself had set its seal to the high resolve. Those days come fresh upon our recollection in consequence of therecent movement in France. There are not many of us now alive who wereold enough then to understand and recollect them. The first shockof the revolution, the storming of the bastile, struck this wholecontinent, from one end to the other, like an electric flash, and Ibelieve that there was not a man in the United States whose firstimpulse it was not to rush to the side of the gallant people of France, and to triumph or die in their cause. Had it not been for the barrierof the ocean, there were hundreds and thousands of our countrymen whowould have obeyed the impulse. Even with that impediment in our way, itwas with extreme difficulty that the illustrious man then at the headof our affairs, the Father of his country, could restrain us fromplunging into the conflict. No other man, and no other thousand men inthe United States could have done it. And even when done by him, theidol of our love and the pride of our nation, and of mankind, wecomplained, in no very measured terms, of a restraint which probablysaved us from ruin. In truth, our hearts were too deeply engaged togive fair play to our heads. Many of us were very young, and allof us under a paroxysm of excitement which scarcely left us morallyresponsible for our conduct. So all-absorbing was the passion, thatour own affairs had no longer any flavor for us. We gave to France allthat we were permitted to give, our hearts, our prayers, and all thesympathies of our nature. Our eyes, our ears were turned, incessantly, towards her coast, to catch the earliest tidings of her progress, andevery new sail from abroad that hove in sight, set our bosoms into thewildest commotion. We identified ourselves with her as far as possible. We assumed her badges, adopted her language of salutation andintercourse, and all her votive cries of joy and triumph. The namesof her patriots, orators, and generals, "familiar in our mouthsas household words, were, in our flowing cups, _most devoutly_remembered!" We recited with rapture those noble bursts of indignant orpathetic eloquence which were continually breaking from her tribune. Every shout of victory from her shores was echoed back from ours. Everyhouse and every cottage, our mountains and valleys, rung with hernational airs, and often did we see groups of the old and the young, the rich and the poor, fathers and sons, virgins and matrons, swellingthe heroic chorus of the Marseilles hymn, with the tears and the fireof enthusiasm in their eyes. Those days are gone; but there is stilla mournful pleasure in their remembrance. They recall to us many ofthose who were wont to join with us in those celebrations, but who canjoin with us no more. They recall those visions of glory which thensurrounded France, but which were, afterwards, so mournfully overcast. They attest the universality, the sincerity, the depth of the interestwhich we have ever taken in the cause of her liberty. Long, very long, was it before that enthusiasm subsided. Never did it subside, whilethere was a remaining hope that France might still be free. But thecombined powers, though beaten in every field, were still able toprotract the war, until all the bloom and beauty of the revolution weregone, and, what was worse, until its very object was lost sight of andexchanged for a deadly thirst of vengeance, and a proud passion forthe glory of the arms of France. It was this moral transition in thesentiments of the people, which ultimately defeated the great purposeof the revolution. For it conducted Napoleon to an imperial throne;and his ambition, grown frantic with success, urged him to those rashmeasures which resulted in the restoration of the Bourbons, and thusbrought back the revolution to the point from which it had started. This sketch, imperfect as it necessarily is, will enable us toinstitute a comparison between the former revolution and the present. And we cannot but see that it was the slow, lingering, fluctuatingcourse of the former revolution, and the repeated intervals in whichthere was, virtually, no government at all, that gave time for thedemoralization of the people, and for the formation of those terriblefactions within, and those powerful combinations without, whichfinally ended in its discomfiture. But here the blow has been struck, and the whole revolution rounded off and finished in three days. Notime has been afforded for the demoralization of the people; none forthe formation of factions within, or combinations without. The firstintelligence that Europe, or even the remote provinces of France haveof the affair is, that it is finished. It is this celerity, and theconstant presence of an efficient government, which distinguish thisrevolution from the former and constitute its safety. The men who headthis movement are practical men, with strong common sense, (the bestof all sense) and with honest intentions. With the former revolutionfull in their view, and a thorough knowledge of all the causes of itsmiscarriage, they have gone to work in this case with the decisionand despatch of men of business. They change their monarch, limit hispowers, and there they stop. And what power in Europe can complain? Can England? She has saved us the trouble of a speculation on thissubject by a prompt acknowledgment of the existing government. Can Austria or Prussia complain of it, as breaking the line oflegitimate succession, while acknowledging Michael on the throne ofPortugal? Or can Russia, while not only acknowledging Michael, buthaving her own throne at this moment filled with the younger brotherof the family? These are, both, departures from the strict line oflegitimate succession adopted by the holy alliance: and if it besufficient to excuse the departure in these two instances, that thereigning prince is of the same blood with the right heir, the same maybe urged for the reigning king of France; for he is a Bourbon in thematernal line. It is not upon the abstract principle of the strictline of legitimate succession that these powers can be expected tounite in a war against France. If they do unite in such a war, it willbe to assert the right of a prince to rule despotically, in violationof the social compact which unites him with his people. Is thisprobable? Let us remember that Alexander of Russia was the chief ofthe armed negotiators by whom this compact was arranged. That monarchsaw the impossibility of maintaining a despotic prince, of theobnoxious house of Bourbon, on the throne of France, in the state ofhigh illumination which then existed among the people. And althoughthe allied armies were in possession of Paris, he would not permitLouis the XVIII. To enter until he had given to his people the charterwhich they required. Will the present Emperor of Russia support withhis arms the violation of the charter thus sanctioned by his augustbrother? That it has been most shamefully and most unwisely violated, all Europe admits. That the offender has been removed with astonishingmoderation and humanity, is equally admitted. That the revolution isnot a war upon monarchy is apparent by the fact that a monarch nowoccupies the throne, and substantially under the charter to whichRussia herself gave her sanction in 1814. With what decency, then, could Russia interfere? But, waving the _decorum_ of such aninterference, (which perhaps would not be insurmountable, ) let usattend to the motives by which princes are more generally governed;the practicability of the enterprize, and the value of its precarioussuccess, compared with the certain costs and hazards of the attempt. The question is every day becoming more complicated to them: andcircumstances which, at first, seem calculated to provoke thisattempt, immediately assume an appearance well fitted to discourageit. Thus the contagion is spreading: the Netherlands have risenand demanded a charter from their king. This is a new alarm to theneighboring monarchies. But the king of the Netherlands is a sensibleand honest man, and has, we are told, already called the StatesGeneral, with a view to the redress of the grievances of his subjects. This monarch has followed, in the main, the policy of England soclosely as to leave but little doubt that he will be willing to adoptthe British form of government; and that he will, also, follow herexample in the immediate recognition of that of France. Similargovernments will probably soon be instituted both in Spain andPortugal; and they will be recognized by England, France, and theNetherlands. Now, although England was willing in 1792 to unite in a war againstthat wild democracy in France, which threatened to subvert, byforce, monarchy in every form, throughout the world, and to give thefraternal embrace to every nation upon earth, willing or unwilling, does it follow that she will look with composure at a war on thelimited monarchies in her neighborhood, which she has thought properto recognize, and that war, too, headed by Russia? Jealous as she is, and with good reason, of the alarming strides of the great autocrat, and interfering, as she certainly did, with his distant enterpriseupon Turkey, will she be content to see the kingdoms in her immediateneighborhood reduced to Russian dependencies, by those armies ofoccupation with which the success of Russia must be followed? WillRussia rise against the resistance of England to such an enterprise, when she is believed to have mitigated her designs on Turkey inconsequence of English _mediation_? This is scarcely credible. Or ifshe should, will Austria and Prussia, notwithstanding their allegedservility to her views, follow her in such an enterprise? Those powerswill unquestionably consult their own safety, and will weigh theconsequences, on both sides, before they take such a step. There is awide difference between their situation and that of Russia, and whatmay be politic for Russia, might be very impolitic for them. Thesubjects of Russia are yet in polar darkness: those of Austria andPrussia are in a very different condition. Look at the internal stateof their own dominions. The spirit of liberty has gone abroad amongtheir people, and even in Prussia is so strong, that so far backas 1814 the king found it necessary to promise his subjects anamelioration of their political condition, to induce them to followhis standard against France. In Austria liberty is awake, not onlyin her Universities, but among the body of her people. Neither ofthese powers could send an army against France, without raising andmaintaining another at home to keep down the discontents of their ownpeople. Those people are no longer the automatons they were in 1814. They have discovered that they are men as their monarchs are, derivingfrom the God of nature equal rights, and with a clear right toparticipate in the government of their choice. Is it credible thatthey would bear the repeated conscriptions to which such a war wouldsubject them, for the purpose of carrying on a crusade against theliberties of others abroad, and thus riveting, more closely, theirown chains at home? If, in spite of all these discouragements, those powers were mad orfatuitous enough to meditate such an enterprise, have they any reasonto believe that it could succeed? Must they not see, on the contrary, that it would be utterly hopeless? Have they forgotten that whenFrance stood alone, with all Europe combined against her, they foundher invincible; that she swept their embattled hosts from every field, and led her victorious legions into their own capitals? One of thesemonarchs is reported already to have said that "he has had enough ofFrench wars. " Well may he say so; and well may Austria respond "Amen. "They have not forgotten that Napoleon twice "struck their crowns intothe hazard, " and that it was by his gift that they now wear them. Andalthough Napoleon be no more, they well know the gigantic power ofFrance when armed in such a cause, and how readily a war upon herliberties will raise up some other Napoleon, probably from among theheroes of the Polytechnic school, once more to sweep like a whirlwindover their dominions, and to bring them again to his feet. If France, single-handed, was able to do this, while every power in Europefrowned upon her, what will she not be able to accomplish when cheeredby the countenance, and perhaps supported by the arms of England? Amid so many discouragements, is it conceivable that these powers willbrave the consequences of an enterprise so full of despair? No onebelieves that their decision will be governed by any other motive thantheir own interest. Their own safety will be their supreme law. Butwill not this very consideration conduct them to the conclusion thatit is their wisest course to keep the peace with France, and endeavorto preserve peace at home? Can they fail to perceive that theirresistible course of events must constrain them ultimately to maketerms with their subjects; and that it is far wiser to make them atonce, with as good a grace as remains to them, and to place theirgovernments at least on the basis of the British constitution, ofwhose stability they have had such signal proof? Must they not seethat it is far wiser thus to act, than to peril the consequences ofthat wild and desolating uproar throughout Europe, which an invasionof France would unquestionably produce? That they will take the course that is wisest, because it is thewisest, may be problematical. But it is scarcely to be presumed thatthese sovereigns are so utterly bereft of reason as to provoke andprecipitate their own ruin by a measure so hopeless. If they doattempt it, it can only be because Heaven, resolved upon theirdestruction, has first made them mad. What course they will take is yet problematical. But supposing themto have the use of their reason, we have fair grounds of hope, thatalthough the astounding character of the revolution, and of theprogress of the same principles in the neighboring kingdoms may makethem pause for a while, their own common sense will at length conductthem all to the conclusion, that there is no other course left forthem but to recognize the existing government of France, and todirect their attention, exclusively, to their affairs at home. Very much, indeed every thing, depends upon the prudence of Franceherself. If she shall stop where she is, remain quiet, united andhappy at home, and avoid all interference with other governments, thework is done. If, on the other hand, storms should arise within todrive her from her present anchorage, and set the revolution afloatagain on a sea of anarchy, every thing is to be feared for herselfand for Europe. Is there any danger of such a relapse? That there aredomestic malcontents, and perhaps foreign emissaries enough in thekingdom to make the wicked attempt, is probable enough. Is there anyreason to believe that such an attempt will succeed? The great security of France arises from her past experience, which must make her distrust all counsels tending to disunion anddisorganization. There is, moreover, an efficient and watchfulgovernment in being, under whose jealous vigilance these incendiarieswill have to carry on their machinations. What theme can they find ofsufficient power to persuade the people of France to leave the portin which they now find themselves safe and happy, and to committhemselves again to those seas of whose dangers they have heretoforehad such dreadful experience. Will it be sympathy for the fallen house of Bourbon? There is no nervein France that will respond to such an appeal. That house has no placein the affections of the people. It was forced upon them, at the pointof the bayonet, in 1814. It has been tried a second time: found to beincurably despotic, and every indication attests that the revolutionwhich has again ejected them from the throne, is, in this respect, popular throughout France. The influence of that family isextinguished for ever, in the kingdom. Nor do we learn that there is any other competitor for the crown thathas a party of sufficient strength to unfurl a banner in his causewith any hope of success. It is not a small faction that can disturbthe peace of such a kingdom as that of France, instructed as they mustnecessarily be by their past experience. It has been suggested that the limited monarchy which has beenestablished is distasteful to the republicans: and that the match ofdiscord may be applied with success to this party. But Gen. Lafayetteis at the head of _the republicans_, and a letter from him which hasbeen recently published is well fitted to quiet our apprehensions onthis score. _He_ would have preferred a republic on our model. Butthe question was not what was best in the abstract, but what was bestfor France in the situation in which she was placed. What was thatsituation? The tastes and prejudices of foreign princes were to beconsulted to avoid all pretext for interference on their part, andsuch a government was to be established as the more liberal amongthem, (England for example, ) would promptly recognize. On the otherhand, with a view to immediate repose in France, herself, it wasindispensably necessary that there should be at once a firm andefficient government, to avoid those factions which are alwayshatched by protracted revolutions, and fluctuating counsels; witnessthe afflicting scenes in South America. Hence the necessity of thatcompromise which he, Gen. Lafayette, says was so promptly made. Thewisdom of it, both in its foreign and domestic aspect, is so striking, that the people of France, with the lights of their past experiencebefore them, cannot fail to see it. Nor can those republicans fail tosee what Gen. Lafayette has so intelligibly stated in another letter"that although the government be a monarchy, it is a very republicanmonarchy, _susceptible of farther improvement_:" and they have a kingmanifestly prepared to yield to any improvement they desire; for heis, in spirit, as much a republican as any man among them. The people of France finding themselves at once in the actualenjoyment of the sweets of peace and freedom, under the protection ofa government mild, conciliating and efficient--open, moreover, to suchamendments as experience shall suggest, will hardly be persuaded togo again in quest of anarchy and confusion, with the horrors and thecatastrophe of the former revolution full in their view. No: they havenot forgotten that fearful lesson: and to suppose them ready, withoutany necessity, to re-enact that tragedy, is to suppose them madmen, without any other claim upon the sympathies of the world than such asare felt for the inmates of a lunatic asylum. The quiet and orderly manner in which the people restored thepavement of their streets, purified their city, and went back totheir respective occupations, after their battle of three days, was, at that time, a pledge for Paris, always the most to be dreaded ofany other part of the kingdom. They acted like honest and sensibleworkmen. They had a public job to do; they finish it, at once, withall possible moderation and humanity; and then peaceably resumetheir private pursuits. Whom have they to quarrel with? The guards, it seems, fired upon themreluctantly, until their hearts would permit them to fire upon theirfellow citizens no longer--when they throw down their arms and rushinto their embrace in a manner so touching as to leave no doubt ofthe sincerity and permanency of the reconciliation. France, at large, seems tranquil. A few petty disturbances there may have since been;but they are the mere foam which was to have been expected from thefall of such a water-spout. Should more serious disturbances arise, from any public grievance which demands redress, who can doubt thatit will be redressed, and that the people will be satisfied? We havethis important guaranty for the tranquillity of France, that Lafayetteis in the counsels of the king, and possesses the unbounded confidenceof the people. With a perfect knowledge of his countrymen, and withan address of unrivalled tact to soothe and to conciliate, he is, moreover, at the head of the National Guards, and of the wholemilitary force; and possesses, therefore, the power to entreat withenergy, where moral persuasion fails. But we have no authenticinformation to justify the fear that the application of force willbecome necessary; and we have good reason to distrust those reportswhich, according to custom, will be continually thrown upon the LondonExchange, for the unworthy purpose of speculations in stock. The quiet and very leisurely manner in which Charles the X. With hisfamily, was permitted to retire from the kingdom, and his reception bythe people, every where upon his journey, speak volumes on the subjectof the temper of the French, in the very crisis of the revolution. How different from the flight of the unfortunate Louis and his familyin 1791--posting by night, in disguise and in dismay--pursued byarmed dragoons--finally arrested by the discovery of the keeper ofa post-house--and brought back in disgrace to Paris under an armedguard, the informer sitting triumphant above him crowned withlaurel--the frantic rabble exulting in his humiliation, and withdifficulty restrained from laying violent hands upon him. Charles X. On the contrary, travels, with his family, in open day, by the slowestand easiest journeys, under the respectful escort of the commissariesof the new government; and the people, every where, so far from anyvulgar display of insolent triumph, touch their hats in silent respectfor the sorrows of the party, with a delicacy of feeling eminentlycharacteristic of the French when in a state of peace, but at the sametime with an air of calm decision quite as manifest as their delicacy. The whole movement stands in striking contrast to the formerrevolution. In the two legislative houses there was no violence ofdebate. Differences of opinion there were: but there was no rude andbitter altercation. On the contrary, all was as calm and decorous asit was decisive. And so far from adopting the bloody revolutionarytribunal which characterised the movement of 1789, one of the firstmeasures proposed is the abolition of capital punishment. It was madeimmediately after the arrest of the late ministers, and was supportedby Lafayette; and no one who observes the point of time and knowsthe man, can mistake the purpose. How noble is this humanity to thefallen; and how strikingly and honorably does it distinguish thepresent revolution from the vindictive and sanguinary proceedings ofthat of 1789. Is it not manifest that every man who has had any thingto do with this affair, is acting with direct reference to the formerrevolution, and with a settled determination to avoid the false stepswhich led to its miscarriage? And is not this determination a mostpropitious pledge of the stability and success of the presentrevolution? After all--in a case so dependent on the crooked policy of princes, and on the wayward and turbulent passions of man--it is possiblethat our hopes may be disappointed. Judging, however, by generalappearances both in France and out of it, (so far as any authenticinformation has reached us) we have reason to cherish the hope thatthat beautiful country is at length as free as she chooses to be, and that the genius and taste, the fine sensibilities and generousaffections which so pre-eminently distinguish her, will now havegenial skies and full scope for their cultivation and expansion. SureI am that I speak the sentiments, not only of this city but of thewhole United States, when I say, that no nation will hail her successwith a truer heart of joy than ours, and that there is none on whichwe believe that liberty will sit more gracefully and attractivelythan on hers. Never has her character appeared in a form so captivating as in thelate movement. It has brought forward, among her people, a new classof candidates for foreign respect and admiration: that class which hernobles, in haughty contempt, were wont to style the _canaille_, butwho proved themselves, on that occasion, the true noblemen of France, the noblemen of nature. Their conduct throughout the whole movementwas marked with the noblest lineaments, and their sudden transitionfrom the shock of arms to the stillness of peace, was sublime. In thisthey proved their perfect title to liberty by their fitness to enjoyit, and, on a most trying occasion, have presented a model of prudenceand wisdom worthy of the remembrance and imitation of us all. Among the youth of the Polytechnic school, too, there was abeautiful little incident, so characteristic of the fine and delicatesensibility of the French, that I cannot forbear adverting to it. When those boys were required by the present king to designate fromamong their number the twelve most distinguished in the late conflict, with the view of conferring on them the decorations of the legion ofhonor--what was their answer? Permit me to read it, as extracted fromour papers, for it is one of those things that will bear a secondreading. "_To the Secretary of War_: "_General_--We come in the name of the Polytechnic school, to expressour gratitude on the subject of the crosses of honor awarded to us:but the recompense appearing to us above our services, and, moreover, no one of us deeming himself more worthy than his comrades to receiveit, we beg permission to decline accepting them. "There is a favor, however, we desire to ask of you. One of ourcomrades, Venneau, perished on the day of the 27th: We recommend toyour kindness his father, who is in the service of the government, in the collection of the revenue. We recommend, farther, to yourkindness, General, another of our comrades, Charras, dismissed fromthe schools by General Bourdsoulle on account of his opinions. We askthat he may be restored to our ranks, in which he did good servicethese few days. "In the name of the Polytechnic school, the two scholars deputed bytheir comrades, J. DUPRESNE, FERRI PISANI. _August 7th, 1830. _" There is no parade here. It is the simple voice of nature, and goes, at once, to the heart of every reader. Such is France: radiant withtaste and feeling and generosity in every department of her society:"in war, the mountain storm--in peace, the gale of spring. " Long maythe sun of liberty gild with his glories her vine-covered hills, herlaughing valleys and her splendid cities. With no pretence of right, and no wish to interfere with the politicalinstitutions of other countries, but, on the contrary, holding it tobe the right of all to pursue their own happiness, in their own way, and under the form of government which they deem most conducive tothat end--yet believing, as we do, that civil and religious freedomare essential to the happiness of man, and to the development of thehigh capacities, mental and moral, with which his Creator has endowedhim, it is natural for us to rejoice when we see any nation, and moreespecially one so endeared to us as France, coming, of her own accord, into the fold of free governments. If there be any people who believethat their peace and order and happiness require the curb of adespotic government, be it so: their believing it, is proof enough tous that it is so, with regard to them: And however much we may regret, it is not for us to disturb their repose. Free government is good onlyfor those who understand its value and are prepared for its enjoyment. It cannot be forced, with advantage, upon any people who are notyet ripe for its reception. Nations yet in darkness require, likechildren, to be disciplined and instructed before they can act withadvantage for themselves. Their best instruction from abroad, is theexample of other nations; their only proper teachers at home, aretheir own enlightened patriots; and the wisest process, the gradualdiffusion of light among them. That a movement may be premature andend only in abortion and misery, the former example of France hasinstructed them. That it may be mature, and the deliverance easy, quick and safe, she has now given them a happy and beautifulillustration. It is only by such a revolution as this that the causeof liberty can present an attraction to the world. It is only in sucha revolution that the humane and benevolent can take delight. Charity is due even to the prejudices of princes. They are, probably, as much in the dark on this head, as their subjects. They have beentaught from their cradles that they were born to rule, as theirsubjects have been taught from theirs, that they were born to beruled. The mistake seems to be mutual, and is, perhaps, equally honeston both sides. Humanity requires that its correction should beattended with as little violence as possible, and this can be besteffected by the gradual diffusion of light. Let us be content with theorder of nature, which, however slow, is always safest and best. Thesun does not spring at once from the nadir to the zenith. Such a leapwould bring on a convulsion of nature and the crash of worlds. No: hisascent is gradual. Our eyes are accommodated, without pain, to hisincreasing light. The landscape is softly and beautifully unfolded, and the planetary system, in the meantime, maintains its harmoniousand salutary action. The seasons revolve in their order; and theearth brings forth her flowers and her fruits, in peace. So let us becontent to have it in the intellectual world. Let not vain man presumeto be wiser than his Maker, and, in a foolish attempt to force theorder of nature, create only misery, where he intended happiness. Let us not fear that the light which has already gone forth will beextinguished. Tyrants might as well attempt to blot the sun from thefirmament. They may attempt it; but "He that sitteth in the heavensshall laugh them to scorn. " The creatures formed for his worship willbe permitted to worship him with exalted faculties and full libertyof conscience. Placed here for their common good and happiness, andindued with minds and affections fitted for enlightened intercourse, and the mutual interchange of kind offices, let us not be so impiousas to fear that the light which has arisen will be suffered to be putout and the world re-plunged in darkness and barbarity. Fellow citizens, this light was first struck in our land. The sacredtrust is still among us. Let us take care how we guard the holy fire. We stand under a fearful responsibility to our Creator and our fellowcreatures. It has been his divine pleasure that we should be sentforth as the harbingers of free government on the earth, and in thisattitude we are now before the world. The eyes of the world are uponus; and our example will probably be decisive of the cause of humanliberty. The great argument of despots against free governments is, that largebodies of men are incapable of self-rule, and that the inevitable andrapid tendency of such a government as ours is to faction, strife, anarchy and dissolution. Let it be our effort to give, to theexpecting world, a great, practical and splendid refutation of thischarge. If we cannot do this, the world may despair. To what othernation can we look to do it? We claim no _natural_ superiority toother nations. We have not the folly to think of it. We claim nothingmore than a _natural_ equality. But circumstances have conspired togive us an advantage in making this great political experiment whichno other modern nation enjoys. The government under which the fathersof our revolution were born was the freest in Europe. They were rockedin the cradle and nurtured in the principles of British liberty: andthe transition from those institutions to our own was extremelyeasy. They were maturely prepared for the change both by birth andeducation, and came into existence as a republic under the happiestauspices that can ever again be expected to arise. If, therefore, ourexperiment shall fail, I say again that the world may well despair. Warned as we are by the taunts of European monarchists, and by themournful example of all the ancient republics, are we willing to spliton the same rock on which we have seen them shipwrecked? Are wewilling to give our enemies such a triumph as to fulfil their prophecyand convince the world that self-government is impracticable--a merechimera--and that man is fit only to be a slave to his fellow man? Arewe willing to teach the nations of the earth to despair, and resignthemselves at once to the power that crushes them? Shall we forfeitall the bright honors that we have hitherto won by our example, andnow admit by our conduct, that, although free government may subsistfor a while, under the pressure of extrinsic and momentary causes, yet that it cannot bear a long season of peace and prosperity; butthat as soon as thus left to itself, it speedily hastens to faction, demoralization, anarchy and ruin? Are we prepared to make thispractical admission by our conduct, and extinguish, ourselves, thesacred light of liberty which has been entrusted to our keeping? Or, shall we not rather show ourselves worthy of this high trust, maintainthe advanced post which we have hitherto occupied with so much honor, prove, by our example, that a free government is the best pledge forpeace and order and human happiness, and thus continue to light theother nations of the earth on their way to liberty? Who can hesitatebetween these two alternatives? Who that looks upon that monument thatdecks the Park, and observes the statue by which it is surmounted, or on this that graces our square, and recalls the occasion onwhich it was erected, is willing to admit that men are incapable ofself-government, and unworthy of the blessing of liberty? No man, Iam sure, who has an American heart in his bosom. Away, then, with all faction, strife and uncharitableness from ourland. We are brothers. Let no angry feelings enter our politicaldwellings. If we differ about measures or about men, (as, from theconstitution of our nature, differ we must, ) let us remember that weare all but fallible men, and extend to others that charity of whichthe best of us cannot but feel that we stand in need. We owe this goodtemper and indulgence to each other as members of the same family, asall interested, and deeply interested, in the preservation of theUnion and of our political institutions: and we owe it to the world asthe _van-couriers_ of free government on earth, and the guardians ofthe first altar that has been erected to Liberty in modern times. Inthe casual differences of opinion that must, from time to time, beexpected to arise among us, it is natural that each should thinkhimself right. But let us be content to make that right appear by calmand respectful reasoning. Truth does not require the torch of discordto light her steps. Its flickering and baleful glare can only disturbher course. Her best light is her own pure and native lustre. Measuresnever lose any thing of their firmness by their moderation. They wintheir way as much by the candor and kindness with which they areconducted, as by their intrinsic rectitude. Friends and fellow-citizens, "our lines have fallen to us in pleasantplaces: yea, we have a goodly heritage. " Let us not mar it byvindictive altercations among ourselves, and offend the shades of ourdeparted fathers who left this rich inheritance to us. Let us nottinge with shame and sorrow, the venerable cheek of the last survivingsigner of the Declaration of our Independence, whom heaven stillspares to our respect and affections. Let us not disappoint the worldwhich still looks to us for a bright example, and is manifestlypreparing to follow our steps. Let us not offend that Almighty Beingwho gave us all these blessings, and who has a right to expect that wewill enjoy them in peace and brotherly love. It is His will that weshould so enjoy them; and may His will be done. ADDRESS OF THE CITIZENS OF BALTIMORE TO THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE. FRIENDS AND ANCIENT ALLIES: We, the people of Baltimore, in Convention assembled, do, withunqualified satisfaction, tender you our heartfelt congratulations, on the late glorious assertion of your undoubted rights. When we beholdthe many and severe trials through which you have passed, we cannotbut express our joy, that your liberty is now fixed on a firm, and, as we ardently hope, an enduring basis. We must ever bear in vividrecollection, the efficacious assistance you so liberally extended tous in our day of peril. The blood and the treasure of France flowedfreely in our cause. Under circumstances of great national difficultyyou alone, among the nations of the world, interposed your shield forour protection. Frenchmen and Americans fought side by side in theholy contest for freedom; and variant as were their habits, religion, manners, and language, it is nevertheless true, that not a solitaryinstance of discord disturbed the harmony of the two people. The mostexemplary citizen of America did not render more absolute submissionto the laws, and to the civil authority, than did the gallant anddevoted soldier of France. Such are the noble inspirations of liberty!These recollections are cherished with gratitude, and will befaithfully transmitted to millions of unborn Americans. To Heaven, toFrance, and to the stout hearts of our ancestors, are we indebted forall that man should most highly prize. And we rejoice that our ancientand faithful allies have triumphed over tyranny, have asserted theirunalienable rights, and themselves ordained their great charter ofgovernment. We rejoice that this triumph has been accomplished withthat mild and chastened spirit becoming the age, and peculiar toadvanced civilization. No excess, no absence of moderation, nointemperate ardor nor vengeful aspirations. In this sublime displayof courage and of humanity, of victory and of forbearance united, Americans are delighted to see the hand, and to recognize thebenevolent spirit of the great and good LAFAYETTE, to whom the heartsof the people of Baltimore are bound by so many indissoluble andgrateful associations. History affords no brighter example of cooland philosophic expression of matured thought, and of determinedyet temperate action. The omen is most propitious, and a people soactuated must enjoy ages of that liberty they have so dearly yet sonobly achieved. That this brilliant omen may be carried out into happyreality, through all courses of time, is our sincere wish, and ourmost earnest supplication to HIM who holds the destinies of nations inhis hand. SAMUEL SMITH, _Chairman_. JOHN S. SKINNER, _Sec'ry_. Transcriber's Note 'Bastille' is spelled both 'Bastile' and 'bastile' in this text, matching the original document. The following changes have been made to the text: Page 5: Added missing period (Jewellers and Silversmiths. ) Page 7: Added missing comma (A. M. , the right of the line) Page 7: Added missing comma (JAMES BIAYS, JR. , ) Page 24: Changed 'enterprize' to 'enterprise' for consistency with other cases in the address (the enterprise, and the value) Page 25: Changed 'recognise' to 'recognize' for consistency with other cases in the address (proper to recognize) Page 39: Changed 'his' to 'His' for consistency with other references to an Almighty Being (may His will be done)