AN ORATION 
DELIVERED AT 
RAHWAY, NEW-JERSEY, 
JULY 4th, 1839. 
BY 
JOHN BENTLEY SCOLES 
PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 
NEW YORK : 
APPLEGATE, PRINTER, OVER THE SUN OFFICE, COR. SPRUCE & NASSAU-STS 
1839. ORATION. 
Fellow Citizens, 
To us is granted, the inestimable privilege of beholding the com- 
mencement of another, and the sixty-third anniversary of our National 
Independence. And now-throughout a Republic of unparalleled 
•extent-from its fruitful hills and vallies smiling with the green prom- 
ise of an abundant harvestfrom the crowded city, from the thriving 
village, and from the little hamlet reared by the hardy and adventur- 
ous pioneer, on the chosen spot, rescued by him from the wilderness to 
become the abode of civilized life-may the voice of gratitude and 
praise rise to the Giver of all good-for having crowned the efforts of 
our patriot fathers with such glorious success ; and enabled a great 
and growing population to preserve thus long, from open foes without, 
and secret foes within-that precious inheritance of liberty, which 
those fathers periled life and fortune to bestow ! 
On this festal day, it is customary-and it is salutary and right!- 
to pause a while in our onward career, and look back upon the past. 
We are so much involved iu the immediate interests, the bustle and ex- 
citement of the present moment-so eagerly engaged in the perpetual 
struggle for wealth, power or fame-so occupied and engrossed-so 
fretted and harrassed with the cares and perplexities of our ordinary 
business-impelled forward by that active enterprize, spirit and desire 
of sudden acquisition and a speedy return of pecuniary profits, which 
have become almost characteristic of us as a community-we are too 
apt scarcely to bestow a thought upon the past, in our restless anxiety 
about the future. We do not think enough of days gone by-we do 
not think enough of the struggles and sufferings of the " times that 
tried men's souls"-we do not think enough of the virtues and the sac- 
rifices of our revolutionary fathers. Would we kindle the generous 
emotions and expand the noblest sentiments of the soul-would we 
lose all narrow, selfish, sectoral feeling, in one warm glow of genuine 
patriotism-embracing in the wide circuit of its benevolence, our whole 
country, and all who bear her name and love her institutions. We 
will study the lives, and emulate the conduct of the founders of ©ur 
Republic! 4 
We have heard and read much of the heroes and sages of Grecian 
a d R man story. They are familiar to us as the school boy's theme. 
They are presented to us as models of all that is devoted in patriotism, 
sublime in wisdom, and ennobling in virtue. They are indeed worthy 
of our admiration-worthy of the Historian's praise-worthy to be 
held in everlasting remembrance. But when, in any country, was 
there to be found in council, an abler and purer association of men 
than the Continential Congress? Where can we look for a brighter 
constellation of nobler spirits, than the Signers of the Declaration of 
Independence ? Where is there a character in the whole range of his- 
tory, upon which we so much delight to dwell-where is there a name 
which ought to strike such a chord in the American bosom, as that of 
Washington ? Yes, it is indeed salutary and beneficial to meditate up- 
on the history of the revolution. It is full of interest and full of in. 
struction. We may there learn what energy, integrity, and persever- 
ance can do against fearful odds, in the struggle for human rights. We 
will there discover, that " thrice is he armed, who has his quarrel just." 
When wc behold thirteen young and apparently feeble colonics, rising 
in the dignity and spirit of conscious manhood ; and with generous 
indignation and unflinching courage-spurning from the shackles of 
oppression-though the arm outstretched to force them on, was that of 
one of the mightiest empires of the earth ! 
From the history of the revolution, we may learn another important 
lesson-the necessity and advantage of harmonious union. Suppose 
the leaders of our revolution had not possessed a firm unanimity of pur- 
pose ? Suppose they had had distracted councils and a mutinous army ? 
Think you that they could have succeeded ? No, it was the existence 
of perfect faith, and the absence of all treachery-it was the unwaver- 
ing confidence which one could repose in another-it was the one 
great cause, linking and binding them together-brothers in heart, and 
mind, and strength. It was this perfect union that gave them the vic- 
tory, and enabled them to stand freemen on the soil, which they had 
redeemed with their valor and their blood ! 
And if we would preserve our liberty, we must be united. We may, 
and we must differ on many political questions. Alen are not alike in 
mental constitutions, mental habits, or mental cultivation. It is al- 
together impossible that there should be any thing like unanimity upon 
the manifold questions of policy that must continually arise. Nor is it 
necessary-nor would it be beneficial that it should be. Mind sharp, 
ens mind. In the collision of intellect truth is elicited. The ener- 5 
gies of man would stagnate if the minds of his fellow men were in all 
respects like his own. If he met with no opposition-nothing to stimu- 
late his energies and nerve his determination-nothing to rouse curi- 
osity, arrest attention, or provoke inquiry. Wearisome indeed would 
it be to look abroad upon such a dead level of human intelligence as 
this would present to us. No, it is as much better as it is. But while 
we agree to differ upon points of policy-let us be united in our repub- 
licism-united in our devotion to our country, her institutions, and her 
interests. 
We must have party divisions. Party divisions will as a necessary 
consequence produce some degree of party spirit. But I have yet to 
learn that some degree of party spirit is not serviceable to a republic. 
Parties keep a sharp eye upon each other. The selfish spirit of opposi- 
tion combines with the better impulse of patriotism, to induce each to 
watch and protect the citadel of liberty from the invasions of the other. 
Pai ties cause power to change hands more frequently than it otherwise 
would, and presents an opportunity of any successful attempt at con- 
solidating and perpetuating it to the destruction of popular rights. 
But whatever may be our individual views of the tendency of parties 
in a community like ours, they ever will exist, so long as men desire 
political power, or differ in political opinion. 
But while a certain degree of party spirit may be beneficial, its ex- 
cess cannot but be injurious, and ought by all means to be avoided. Let 
us not fall into that extreme of party intolerance-which condemns as 
a species of moral turpitude, a mere difference in judgment upon men 
or measures-Which induces us to brand a man as an enemy to his 
country, because he cannot consent to join with us in doing what we 
happen to think most for that country's good. We remember what is 
related of the Emperor Charles V. after a reign which had been dis- 
graced by religious persecution. The monarch who had wielded the 
sceptre of so immense an empire, exchanged the schemes of politics 
and the excitements of conquest, for the more harmless, though less 
royal amusement, of inspecting the machinery of clocks and watches, 
in which it would seem he became somewhat proficient. It taught 
him a moral lesson, " with all my observation and skill," said he, " I 
never could get two watches to go exactly alike, why then should I 
have foolishly supposed, that I could compel all my subjects to think 
alike !" Well would it have been for him-well would it have been for 
the thousands who suffered for conscience sake during his eventful 
reign, if he had discovered this truth a little sooner! His reign pre- 6 
sented an example of religious intolerance ; and his son and successor 
improved upon its cruelties. No voice of warning-no gentle per- 
suasion to humanity issued from the the monastic retreat of the imperial 
solitary, to touch the sympathies, enlighten the mind, or amend the 
heart of Philip the Second ! 
Let us be ever ready to condemn impropriety of conduct wherever 
we find it-in the ranks of our own party, or among our opponents. Let 
us earnestly contend for that political faith which we believe to be 
true ; let us enforce and sustain it to the utmost of our ability--but let 
us concede to others, the right to do the same. 
Let us, as much as lies in our power, prevent our party contentions 
from degenerating into personal bickerings and personal enmities. Why 
should this be the case ? Men have a right to differ on political subjects, 
and to proclaim and circulate their own peculiar views. They have a 
right to maintain their own opinions-to assail with decorum the opinions 
of others-and to make proselytes, whenever they have the opportunity 
and the abililv. This is the undoubted right of every man-and we 
should never be so unreasonable as to murmur or complain when it is 
properly exercised. Why cannot we admit the equal sincerity of one 
who differs materially from ourselves in political opinion? Why should 
that difference of opinion sever our friendship, or lessen our respect for 
each other? Let us endeavour to to do justice to the motives of men, 
even when we believe them most egregiously to err. Let us employ the 
weapons of argument, rather than invective. Let us aim at truth-To 
the utmost of our capacity, sent to prevent and correct his judgment in 
ourselves and others-and be prompt and ready to condemn nothing but 
palpable misconduct. 
And, my Fellow Citizens, let us take care that our zeal for our party, 
does not lead us io justify, or sanction, a disregard of moral obligation, 
or a resort to the arts of corruption, with a view to obtain or secure its 
ascendancy. Though we may honestly suppose that the success of our 
particular party is essentially connected with the prosperity of our coun- 
try-let us remember, that by extenuating or excusing, for any purpose 
whatever, a lax morality-weare undermining the very foundations of 
our institutions-we are spreading a deleterious influence that will per. 
vade all classes of our community-we are feeding and stimulating those 
evil propensities and passions, that will soon begin to develope themselves 
in the ordinary dealings between man and man. A community cannot 
be politically depraved, without being really depraved. When men 
begin to to excuse to themselves corruption, fraud, and treachery in poli- 7 
tics, they will soon begin to' do so in the other transactions of life. The 
moral sense is blunted, they have become familiar with vice-the evil 
habit is already formed. No, my fellow citizens-let us be wary and cir- 
cumspect, and never do what we believe to be decidedly wrong, with a 
view either to defeat opposition, or to obtain success. 
The history of the revolution will also instruct us in the true principles 
of rational liberty ; that liberty for which our fathers fought, and bled, and 
conquered. 
It is always profitable, and sometimes absolutely necessary, to go back 
to first principles. To understand a subject fully, we must trace it to its 
origin, and know its history. This is peculiarly the case with the im- 
portant subject of government and of laws. To understand them fully, 
we must study their history. No man can understand the character and 
operation of this Republic, without being familiar with the lives and writ- 
ings of those who prepared the way for the Revolution, and framed the 
Constitution. Can there be a more interesting and delightful study? 
When we gaze upon a noble river, pursuing its ceaseless course in the 
depth and grandeur of its mighty waters ; we feel an insatiable inclination 
to explore its sources, and to behold its fountain head. It is so with a 
great and rising nation-as we trace its onward march to increasing intel- 
ligence, respectability, and strength. How much more intense should 
that feeling be-when that nation is our own? Shall we penetrate the 
dark recesses of ancient history? Shall we make ourselves profound in 
its fabulous details, and be exceedingly curious in its legendary lore ? 
Shall we investigate the changes and revolutions of every European go- 
vernmeat, and reason learnedly and logically upon them? And yet ex- 
hibit an utter ignorance of the history of that government in which we 
have the deepest interest? The only government by which our destinies 
in life are to be directly affected-the most rational-I had almost said, 
the only rational government in the world ? Unworthy indeed, would we 
be of our privileges as American freemen, if this could with truth be said 
of any of us ! 
Frequent meditation upon the writings of the men of the Revolut on 
will establish us in the important and disputed doctrines of State rights and 
Constitutional powers-as they understood those doctrines. It is pecu- 
liarly necessary when we have wandered far away from them, and lost 
ourselves in the mazes of sophistical refinement and ingenious perversion, 
in the deceptive guise of explanations, and constructions either too rigid 
or too relaxed. Whenever we find ourselves in this situation, we cannot 
do better than to turn at once to the expositions and precepts of the 8 
heroes and sages of the Revolution. It will so extricate us from our en- 
tanglements, it will save us from any further wanderings from the straight 
and narrow path. In their immortal records, we have an unfailing mir- 
ror, reflecting the image of unquestionable truth-let us look to it in every 
case of difficulty or doubt. They are the Fathers of our political Church 
-and although I do not pronounce them to be infallible. Yet I certainly 
do consider them the very highest authority to which an appeal can be 
made. Let us frequently refer to them, and study them with diligence and 
care. It will kindle and keep alive the fire of patriotism upon the altar of 
the heart. It will cause us to admire, to love and imitate their excellen- 
cies-which are of imperishable renown. It will impart and strengthen 
within us, the primitive spirit of the Whigs of '76. 
It was not a chimera for which they now contended. They pursued 
no ignusfatuus of a vain and speculative philosophy. Their object was 
substantially before them, and continually in view. They were deter- 
mined that the American people should make the great experiment of 
self government. If it proved successful, they knew that it would be the 
first of earthly blessings-and that at all events, the opportunity of seek- 
ing that experiment, was worthy of their utmost zeal, and their most un- 
tiring efforts. They understood well their position. They knew the con- 
sequences of their conduct, and the extent of their responsibility. They 
did not go upon a warfare without counting the cost. Bigotted to no 
political system, embracing no wild theories, impelled by no blind enthu- 
siasm ; they were sound thinkers; practical statesmen ; men who in all 
their doings, never lost sight of common sense. Then every movement 
was marked by the highest wisdom and the most consummate prudence ; 
and we regret to say, has been admired, rather than imitated, by those 
who have professed to be guided by their example. 
Fellow Citizens, we are the inheritors of this inestimable right of self, 
government. The experiment was made. Thus, far it has proved suc- 
cessful. 
But Fellow Citizens-we must not expect too much from government. 
No government is, or can be perfect. Its superiority can only be known 
by comparing its principles and operations with those of other govern, 
ments. It must be framed and administered by fallible men.-for the be- 
nefit of fallible men. It must sometimes encroach too far, and some- 
times be deficient. Government cannot reach the heart. It can only 
control, and imperfectly control, the outward conduct. When it has done 
its utmost; much yet remains to be done. Other influences moral and 
religious must come to its aid. They must operate with it; and reach, 9 
when it stops short-inert and powerless. But while they supply its de - 
ficiencies, and ar® the right arm of its strength-they ask not the sup- 
port of its physical force. While they operate with government-they 
must still be kept distinct from it. Government may play the tyrant, 
and make men hypocrites. It may enforce an external conformity, and 
estrain licentiousness. But the will of man is beyond its control. It 
cannot make him religious-it cannot make him moral. We rear no 
splendid temples to our Creator with wealth wrested from reluctant hands. 
We would have no compulsory worship at those modest shrines, which 
increasing with the increase of population-bear witness of pious enter- 
prize, public spirit, and Christian faith-and proclaim to wondering Eu- 
rope-that the land which they adorn, improve, and elevate, has no need 
of a church establishment! 
How shall we preserve our liberty ? This is indeed a momentous and 
important question-when we consider what that liberty cost, and all that 
this question involves. The answer to it might be simply given-by say- 
ing that our liberty can only be preserved by diffusing and maintaining 
among our people a portion of the same spirit by which it was achieved. 
Permit me to suggest some considerations-by way of elucidating the 
mode in which this may be accomplished. 
First-Let the great body of the people and particularly those who 
are yet in the ingenuousness of youth-be thoroughly instructed in the dis- 
tinctive principles of our government. Let the school, the pulpit, and the 
press, until in urging and enforcing upon the public mind-the essential 
difference between rational liberty, and that licentious anarchy which 
spurns all legal restraint-and which is triumphant-whenever a lawless 
mob, under any pretext, and for any purpose whatever, ventures to as- 
sume the power of government, and exercise the functions of the magis- 
tracy-and can do so-with the consciousness that numbers give impu- 
nity, and that Justice dare not use that sword she wields in solemn mock- 
ery of protection. When mobs are suffeted to control a community- 
it is in vain to talk of rights. If the mob spirit gain the ascendency- 
liberty must soon be at an end. Let our people be taught to venerate 
the constitution and the laws, as the security of their political and persona! 
rights**-the great foundation of union, government, and good order. Let 
us guard them from invasion from any quarter, and in any shape. Let 
us be continually on the watch-never relaxing our vigilance when tkt 
enemy is abroad. This is the price of liberty. We know its worth. We 
cannot hesitate. We must be faithful to our trust. 
Secondly-Let the precepts of a strict public and private morality be 10 
siduiously inculcated-and let the practice be enforced by example in 
high places. 
Thirdly-Let us imitate as far as we can, the primitive simplicity of 
our forefathers-in opposition to the luxurious habits and frivolous man- 
ners of European life. 
Fourthly-Let us be Americans in something more than name] Let us 
us have a just idea of our dignity as American freemen. Let us foster thein- 
the intellect ofourown country,scorn a servile imitation, and aim at a vigor- 
ous appropriate originality. W e have suffered much from foreign influence. 
The effect has been to make the wealthier classes of our community less 
republican and less American, and to diffuse among the working classes a 
spirit of radicalism or Jacobinism, ot which we should know nothing in 
this land of equal rights. It was the uttered wish of one of the founders 
of our republic that an insurmountable barrier could be raised between 
us, and the people on the other side of the Atlantic. This wish was pro- 
bably but half sincere-yet it serves to show what forebodings of evil in- 
fluence were uppermost in his mind. And the Father of his country- 
in that memorable message which he left us as the legacy of his love, and 
which will endure through all time as an evidence of his wisdom-ex- 
presses a similar apprehension, and couples it with a solemn warning that 
should sink deep, and make an indelible impression on every true Ameri- 
can heart. 
Let me not be misunderstood, however, as encouraging national pre- 
judices, or as recommending any display of inhospitality towards those 
who may leave the land of their birth, to seek among us'a refuge from op- 
pression, or the means of subsistence. No, to all who are honest, and 
willing to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow-to all who have 
suffered for conscience sake-to all who have endured persecution, and 
made sacrifices in the sacred cause of liberty-our republic stretches 
out the hand of invitation, and will rejoice to throw around them the 
shield of her protection! She wishes them to become her adopted 
children-not in semlbance, but in reality. She would have them vic 
with her native sons, in attachment to her institutions, and activity in 
her cause. Long may she hold her proud pre-eminence-as the asy- 
lum of the oppressed of every clime-the " home of the brave"-the 
favored land, to which the unsuccessful patriot can turn in the daik day 
of his calamity, and find a ray of consolation in the thought-that here 
his troubled soul and wearied feet may obtain a solace and a resting 
place at last! What I desire-what 1 would impress with the utmost 
earnestness upon the minds of my countrymen, is-that they may strive 11 
He who in the same space of time may be thrown upon the shore by the 
to make our emigrant population Americans, and not permit them to 
make us aliens in our own land-that we may not adopt their errors, 
vices, or follies-their views of government or notions of civil liberty- 
the product of a different political system, and a different state of society. 
Let us remember that we are American republicans-and that the 
manners, habits, and feelings, which would be proper enough in a mon- 
archy or an aristocracy, are very improper here. Let those who would 
arrogate and domineer over their fellow men, because the accident of 
fortune has made them rich, or because they vainly suppose that the 
accident ot birth has given them some claim to rank, remember that our 
Declaration of Independence proclaims as a fundamental truth, that " all 
men are created equal." And let the working classes of the community 
bear in mind that with us to labour is not to be degraded, and that many 
of those who have filled with credit some of the most important stations in 
their country's gift, began life with as few resources, and have worked as 
hard with their own hands, as the poorest among themselves. 
In other countries where power is hereditary, and where the aim and 
operation of the system of government is to concentrate and perpetrate 
property in the hands of the few, combinations of laborians many may 
be necessary to protect them from grasping monopolies, and the encroach- 
ments of individual or associated wealth. But in this country such com- 
bination? are unnecessary and dangerous. It is the majority that govern 
here, not a priveledged and asistocratic few. The spirit of our institu- 
tions and laws-the legal restraints upon perpetuities-the fluctuations of 
trade, making a man rich to-day and poor to-morrow ; all conspire to 
prevent any reasonable apprehension of injury to the mass of the people, 
from the land holders and capitalists among them. The numerical 
strength is the other way, and with us, numerical strength is every thing. 
Combinations formed for the protection of rights that arc not assailed) 
must be very careful, or they will become oppressors themselves, and in- 
vade the right i of others. In a land of equal laws, where the rights of 
the poor man are the same, and as securely protected as those of the 
rich mar, where the "little all" of the one is as precious in the sight of 
the law, as the large estate of the other; where the only recognized dif- 
ference is that between right and wrong, guilt and innocence, what need 
jS there of combinations for the protection of individual rights? But i- 
is idle in this country to talk of pocr men and rich men. Who is our poor 
man ? The one who may be the most extensive farmer-the most 
thriving merchant-the largest landholder-the most subsiantial capital- 
ist after a few years of prosperous industry. Who is our rich man? 12 
stormy waves of that uncertain stream of fortune on which he now rides 
so proudly-a broken, wrecked, and bankrupt man ! How vain-how 
worse than vain then is it to talk of " a monied aristocracy" in such a 
country as ours, when the very essence of aristocracy is power, substan- 
tial, permanent power! How criminal must be the conduct of any man, 
who would attempt for any selfish purpose, to array different portions of 
the same community against each other, portions mutually dependant, 
neither of which can prosper without the good feeling and cordial co- 
operation of the other ! 
Lastly, Let us cling to the federal union ! However we may be 
divided upon other matters, let there be no division here. Let us never 
forget that, although many, we are yet one, though separated by state 
Unes, we are one people. In interest, in feeling, in attachment to oui 
country and her institutions', one !-Presenting against our enemies, an 
undivided strength-to our friends, an inviolable faith! We cannot be 
held together by that brute force to which the despot is ever ready to'ap- 
peal, and which is his only, and too frequently, his all sufficient argu 
ment. But feeble as foreigners may deem the bonds of our union, let us 
demonstrate by their continuance unbroken in the midst of every agitation 
and against every assault, that the good sense and generous feeling of a 
free people can impart to those bonds an adamantine strength ! 
Actuated by these just principles-pursuing this upright and honorable 
course, our republic shall stand secure. It will be like that house which 
was built upon a rock-and which fell not when the rains descended and 
the floods came. The rude breath of party contention may indeed agi- 
tate the surface of the waters-but deep and clear will run the current 
below. The tempest may indeed sometimes sweep across our sky-but 
it will only be to clear the atmosphere of impurity and disease-and the 
blue heavens will shine out again in still serener majesty. There may be 
an occasional outbreak of temporary cxcitement-.-but the mighty heart of 
our millions will continue sound and true at the core ! O, let us be mind- 
ful of our exhalted and responsible position-mindful that the eyes of an 
inquisitive and doubting world are upon us-mindful of the great duty 
that we owe to posterity and to ourselves! and when we have " run our 
course and sleep in blessings" -may a distant and grateful posterity-as 
they proudly gaze upon the honored flag of the republic, spreading its 
starry folds in triumph on the land or on the sea-exclaim with the same 
heart-felt enthusiasm, that we now exclaim- 
Forever float that standard sheet! 
Where breathes the foe that falls before us, 
With freedom's soil ben< a'h onr feet, 
And fret dom's banner stream.ng o'er us.