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Show 50 }'llt!n' OAr-EVENING ElESSlON• Jf rivers and mountains, and ideal lines, do not scparale from the aflCctions of our Father, that family wl1icb he has made of one flcsl1, to dwell upon the earth, we may concllidc that what is done amongst us, is done for the whole world. .!l conjlictfrw principle, distiuguishcs us from all other people. For gold, or conquest, the canvass was spread, <md the tJnlwown way templed by other colonies. For consl'icnce sake and for principle the Saxon blood now flows in American veins . To this conflict there has been no truce, no respite, from the founrlation of our country to this present hour. Nor will there b~. until every the01y be examined, every principle tested, th~t fools may dream, or wise men prove. Heretofore there has been noth1ng too sacred to escape attack, nor too valuable to remain untouch~U. Every relation of man to man, and of man to God, has Lecn, or w1ll be sub· mitted to the test of truth, or to the torture of error. Vain is the hope of checking- this struggle. It gave our country birth <u.u1 being. !t has been its milk in infancy, its mPat in manhood, and will be 1ts strength 111 age. Can it then ruin the country? No. The Lord has selec~ed ~ur land for .the glorious battle-field of intellect, virtue, and liberty, aga•nst 1gnorancc, vJce, and despotism. He hath done great things for the world through us. He will do greater. He hath given to our keeping the oracles of truth and of freedom. He will give grace to enable us to preserve them forth~ worl?· But these privileges must be valued, and this grace sought, or our hght w11l become obscure in noon~day, and darkness will cover the people, and gross c.larkness the nations. America is not only the refuge of the oppressed i it is also t.he den of the fugitive from virtue, the cave of the bandit of ignorance and vice. If none but lovers of truth came amongst us, and none but the friends of truth were born in our midst, then had our fathers, in gaining us victory, given us rest. But it is not so. The slave of the despot, the votary of superstition, and the gormand of vice, allured, not by our virtue, but our flesh poti, come among us, not to be free, but to be drunken. They are met by our c~rrupt, and mingle with our own depraved. Vice and ambition and a vance are ready to employ both in a warfare against truth and morals. In other coun· tries the confused noise of the warrior drowns the voice of reason; and the sword and the sceptre are teachers of rights. But with us, we have, nor need no such auxiliaries; our warriors are our citizens, and our teachers are our· selves. Our rulers and our ruled are all one and the same; and we must settle the question of the extension, perpetuity, and blessings of our present form of civil and religious liberty. And we will scttl.e it. Virtue ?r vic~, ignorance or knowledge, will triumph. Let the conflict go on.. G1ve fa.•r play; and no desponding fears will move us, even thou~h agatn and aga•.n defeated. Hope brightens as the battle rages fiercest. \Ve cannot despa1r of onr country's glory becoming the glory of the whole earth,. so long as our citizens will fearlessly examine any priuciple, theory, or practiCe, we ca re not what. Nothing is so much to be dreaded as the peace. of ~he gravc.rarcl, where all is corruption, or the stillness of c.leath, where al11s s1lent and 1mpo· tent. The battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift. llut defeat has never yet bePn known when love gave speed, justice strength, and truth led the host. The laggard in love and the dasta.n.l i1.1 tr~th can never triumph m•er those, whose hope is in God, whose object IS h1~ glory, ,and whose guide is his word. There is no cause of dread, nor of frul.urc, muess truth ami humanity shrink from the conflict. \Vc know that the Vil'lOrs must expect the smut of battle. But there arc 'Vashingtons, and Grce~~s, and '\Varreus, and Sltlarts in truth as well as in war, who will not regurd t!Je~r faces nor their linen, if the buuting flag of truth and liberty may be saved from LETTRRS READ. 51 the lOut of the enemy, and float in mild triumph over e,·cry foe . Let the conflict for principle rage on. It is the hope, the safety, and the glory of our land. Gi\·e it up, and the designing, and wicked, and destroy•ng will soon leave nothing worth weeping for, of all that countless treasure which now exalts us, in point of privilege, to heaven. Carry it 011, and the enlightened, au~! pure, and virtuous must triumph. Gird on the truth. I.et om influence be !Cit wherever it can tell on earth, and wherever we will be accountable for it in the judgment. Give no rest or aid to the enemies of tenqwrance. If they can c.lo withont us, we do them no harm by withdrawing from them. If they cannot, why should we l>ecomc responsible for their sins, by giving them our aid to keep undisturbed possession of the land, not to l>less it, but to curse both ourselves and them? Go on, and fear not. For until the enemy can scale the battlement of heaven, and pluck the crown from the brow, and the sceptre from the hands of the God of love and of truth, we and our country, and our cause are safe. EXERCISES OF THE SECOND DAY. ON the morning o[ the 15th, at 10 o'clock, the spacious saloon was again filled with a highly respectable and intelligent assembly. The exercises were commenced by reading the following letters: TnoY, N. Y. January 8, 1838. Respe~ted Friends:-Your letter on the subject of the Pennsylvania Hall, Wa8 recCived some days since, but owing to peculiar engagements 1 coull! not ~vel! reply to it till this morning. I need hardly say that! feel a deep interest ~n yonr movements.. I trust .the spirit of old Pennsylvania is awaking from lts slumbers, and w1ll make Itself known throngh all this republic. It has been . ~ matt~r of tl~ep rewet, that n~ pl.ace amon.g you has been open to free ~JscussJon. Your~ J.s the last c1ty 111 the Unwn where this fact ought to ex 1st. A~d I tlo reJOice, that a few friends of liberty are now about to ro~l away tlu~ reproach. I trust the whole country, as well as your city, Will feel the Influence of yonr enterprise. In rclati~n to the invitation which you h:1ve given me to make an address at the openmg of the Hall, I feel muc:h gratified by the favor you have conferre~ upon me. I accept of the appointment, anc.l, if a kind Providenc~ permll, l shall endeavor to fulfil it. Most respectfully yours, NATHAN s. s. lh:MAN. Mo•ssJ·s. Samuel \VcUU, \V,n. II. Scott,-- Committee. Tnov, N.Y., April 12, 1838. Afy Respected Friends:-l received yom kind lett~r iuformin11 me of the ~rrangements mad·e· ft)f opening the Pennsylvania Hall, some lime sine!.:!, and ha~c been waltmg for more light in regartl to the will of Providence respec~mg my own participation in the scenes of that tru ly important era in your ;-uy. When l accepted your appointment, I had no doubt but 1 cou ld be with ,rou and p~rform the part as8jgned me. Indeed, 1 felt highl honored 1n your c~ho~ee, and my feelings were deeply enlisted. But sine~ |