compatriots, the work of their hands, and our union, strength, and prosperity, the fruits of that work best attest. But, to have essentially aided in presenting to his country this consummation of her hopes, neither satisfied the claims of his fellow-citizens on his talents, nor those duties which the possession of those talents imposed. Heaven had not infused into his mind such an uncommon share of its ethereal spirit to remain unemployed, nor bestowed on him his genius, unaccompanied with the corresponding duty of devoting it to the common good. To have framed a constitution, was showing only, without realizing, the general happiness. This great work remained to be done; and America, steadfast in her preference, with one voice summoned her beloved WASHINGTON, unpractised as he was in the duties of civil administration, to execute this last act in the completion of the national felicity. Obedient to her call, he assumed the high office with that self-distrust peculiar to his innate modesty, the constant attendant of pre-eminent virtue. What was the burst of joy, through our anxious land, on this exhilarating event, is known to us all. The aged, the young, the brave, the fair, rivalled each other in demonstrations of gratitude; and this high-wrought, delightful scene, was heightened in its effect, by the singular contest between the zeal of the bestowers, and the avoidance of the receiver, of the honours bestowed.

8. Commencing his administration, what heart is not charmed with the recollection of the pure and wise princi ples announced by himself, as the basis of his political life. He best understood the indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and individual felicity; watching with equal and comprehensive eye over this great assemblage of communities and interests, he laid the foundations of our national policy, in the unerring, immutable principles of morality, based on religion, exemplifying the pre-eminence of a free government, by all the attributes which win the affections of its citizens, or command the respect of the world.

Part of Judge Minot's Oration on the Death of
General Washington.

Delivered before the Inhabitants of Boston.

1. OUR duty, my fellow-citizens, on this distressing occa sion, is dictated by the dignity and resplendent virtue of the beloved man whose death we deplore. We assemble to pay a debt to departed merit, a debt which we can only pay by the sincerity of our grief, and the respectful effusions of gratitude; for the highest oration left us to bestow upon our lamented WASHINGTON, is the strict narration of the truth, and the loftiest character which we can assign to him, is the very display of himself. When ambition allies itself to guilt, when power tramples upon right, when victory triumphs in blood, when piety sits clouded in superstition, when humility is affected by cunning, when patriotism is founded on selfishness; then let adulation spread her prostituted mantle, to screen the disgrace of her patrons, and amuse with the falsehoods of her imagination.

2. But to our political father, the faithful page of history is panegyric, and the happiness of his country is the monument of his fame. Come, then, warriors! statesinen! philosophers! citizens! assemble round the tomb of this favourite son of virtue! with all the luxury of sorrow, recollect the important events of life; and partake of the greatest legacy which a mortal could bequeath you, in the contemplation of his example. Your anniversaries have long celebrated the birthday of your illustrious chief, and the parish of his own name in Westmoreland county, in Virginia, boasts itself the place of his nativity. But to souls like his, local restrictions are not attached. Where Liberty was, there would be his country; happy for us, the Genius of Liberty, responsive to his affections, resolved that, where WASHINGTON was, there also shall be her abode. Educated by private instruction, his virtue grew with his knowledge, and the useful branches of literature occupied the whole powers of his mind. Exemplary for solidity of thought, and chastity of morals, he was honoured by the government of Virginia with an important mission, at an age when the levities of the human character seldom yield to the earliest operation of reason.

3. To trace this Protector of our Liberties through his unrivalled career, from his gloomy retreat through the Jerseys, to his several victories, and his splendid triumph at York

town, would be to narrate the varying history of our revolution. To him public labour was amusement, suffering in the cause of freedom was a luxury, and every hour as it flew carried an offering to his country. As obedience to the voice of his oppressed fellow-citizens drew his sword, on the approach of war, so at the declaration of peace, by the same respected voice, he restored it to its scabbard. He left them his blessing, and their liberties. O human nature, how hast thou been traduced! With thee, has it been said, is essentially connected that lust of power which is insatiable; which restores not voluntarily what has been committed to its charge; which devours all rights, and resolves all laws into its own authority; which labours not for others, but seizes the fruits of their labours for itself; which breaks down all barriers of religion, society, and nature, that obstruct its course; now art thou vindicated! Here we behold thee allied to virtue, worn in the service of mankind, superior to the meanness of compensation, humbly hoping for the thanks of thy country alone, faithfully surrendering the sword with which thou wast intrusted, and yielding up power with a promptness and facility equalled only by the diffidence and reluctance with which thou receivedst it. Now, will the future inquirer say, this hero has finished the task assigned him; the measure of his glory is full.

4. A world is admitted to freedom-a nation is born. Favoured beyond the leader of Israel, not only with the prospect, but with the fruition, of the promised blessing, he has retired like that of Meekness to the mount, whence he is to ascend, unseen by a weeping people, to the reward of all his labours. No, he is to live another life upon this globe; he is to reap a double harvest in the field of perennial honour. The people whom he has saved from external tyranny, suffer from the agitations of their own unsettled powers. The tree of Liberty, which he has planted, and so carefully guarded from the storms, now flourishes beyond its strength; its lofty excrescences threaten to tear its less extended roots from the earth, and to prostrate it fruitless on the plain. But he comes! In convention he presides over councils, as in war he had led the battle. The Constitution, like the rainbow after the flood, appears to us now just emerging from an overwhelming commotion; and we know the truth of the pledge from the sanction of his name. The production was worthy of ita

authors, and of the magnanimous people whom it was in tended to establish. You adopt it, you cherish it, and you resolve to transmit it, with the name of Washington, to the latest generation, who shall prove their just claim to such an illustrious descent.

5. Who was so worthy as our great Legislator, to direct the operations of government, which his counsels and his sword had laboured to erect? By a unanimous suffrage, he was in vited to the exalted station of President of the United States. The call was too sacred to admit of doubt; it superseded the happiness of retirement, the demands of private interest, the sweet attractions of domestic society, and the hazard (forgive it, Washington, for thou wast mortal)-the hazard of public reputation. Behold the man, on this occasion, so mighty in the eyes of all the world, so humble in his own. Did the occasion admit of it, how pleasing would be the review of his administration, as our Supreme Executive Magistrate! His talents and his virtues increased with his cares. His soul seemed not to bear the limits of office a moment after the obligations of duty and patriotism withdrew their restraints from his universal love.

6. When the misguided savages of the wilderness, after feeling his chastisement, had sued for peace, he seemed to labour for their happiness, as the common representative of mankind. Insurrection was so struck at his countenance that it fled from the shock of his arm. Intrigue attempted to entangle him in her poisonous web, but he burst it with g gantic strength, and crushed her labours. Anarchy looke out from her cavern, and was dashed into oblivion, as we trust, forever. The nations of Europe saw the wisdom of our laws, the vigour of our measures, the justice of our po licy, the firmness of our government, and acquiesced in the neutrality of our station.

7. The dangers of the commonwealth having subsided a the close of his second administration, he felt himself justi fied, after dedicating forty five years of his valuable life to he service, in withdrawing, to receive, with resignation, the great change of nature, which his age and his toils demon strated to be near. When he declined your future suffrages he left you a legacy. What! like Cæsar's to the Romans money for your sports? Like Attalus's, a kingdom for you tyranny? No; he left you not such bubbles, nor for such

purposes. He left you the records of wisdom for your government; a mirror for the faithful representation to your own view, of yourselves, your weaknesses, your advantages, your dangers; a magnet which points, at the secret mines and windings of party spirit, faction, and foreign influence; a pillar to the unity of your republic; a band to enclose, conciliate, and strengthen, the whole of your wonderful and almost boundless communities. Read, preserve the sacred deposite; and lest posterity should forget the truth of its maxims, engrave them on his tomb, that they may read them when they weep before it.

Death of General Hamilton.

"When the bright guardians of a country die,
The grateful tear in tenderness will start;
And the keen anguish of a reddening eye,

Disclose the deep afflictions of the heart!"

1. To swell the sable triumphs of the tomb, the great destroyer, in pointing his shaft at Hamilton, has selected a victim of no ordinary value. He has not only taken from the bosom of a beloved family its solace and support; from the circle of his immediate friends its pride and ornament; from the forum its most distinguished advocate; from society an eminent and useful citizen; but, from his country, he has taken its ablest statesman, its warmest patriot, its great benefactor. With talents of a superior order, the choicest in nature's gift, improved by an elegant and refined education, trengthened by intense and laborious application, directed to usefulness by a steady love of justice, and an undeviating adherence to the cause of truth, as a soldier, a statesman, a public advocate, a warm friend, and zealous guardian of the liberties of his country; the invaluable life of this distinguished citizen has been spent with increasing glory to himself, and incalculable usefulness to his country. As a member of the family of the illustrious Washington; as his companion in arms; as his counsellor and friend, he shared with him the dangers of the revolution, and reaped with him the glory of its accomplishment.

2. As a soldier, he united bravery with humanity, skill with activity. So eminently distinguished were his military talents, that he was designated, on a momentous occasion by the great Washington himself, as the man of his choice