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are openly vilified, as parties to a conspiracy, against the peace, the dignity, and the happiness of the Uni|ted States.
And who are these reformers, that exhibit these charges?—Are they the virtuous, meek, unspotted and holy of the earth?
Who are these thus reproached? They are your neighbors, chosen to protect your interests.—What is their object? Wealth?—If so, they are miserably employed. There is not a man among them, who can, with the utmost economy, secure as much money as hundreds of merchants, lawyers, physicians, masters of vessels, and farmers, annually make, by their various pursuits.
But alas! they wish to enslave us. Is this their character in private life? Have they not, with you, houses and lands, character and liberty to defend?—Have they not wives and children, whose happiness is near their hearts?—And do they, indeed, labour and toil, to forge chains and fetters for their children, and children's children, that their names and memories, may go down to future generations, covered with the bitterest curses.
I have made these observations, my Fellow-Citizens, that we may, on this anniversary of our National existence, a day which I hope may be kept sacred to that solemn employment, contemplate the labours, the exertions, and the characters of those venerable men, who founded, and have, hitherto, protected this nation. I wish them to be seen, and compared with the speculating theorists, and mushroom politicians of this age of reason.
It is now less than two hundred years, since the first settlement of white people was effected, in these
