AN

ORATION

ON THE

POLITICAL SITUATION

OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

IN THE YEAR 1789.

Pronounced before the State Society of the Cincinnati of Connecticut, at New-Haven, in Celebration of the thirteenth

Anniversary of Independence.

PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY.

AN

ORATION, &c.

་

SINCE the last Anniversary of Independence, my dear fellowcitizens, we have been witnesses to the complete establishment of a new general government. On an event of such magnitude, the voice of congratulation has already been heard from one extreme of our land to the other. But as our felicitations can never be more grateful than at the time when we are convened to commemorate the birth of our nation, it may, perhaps, be expected, from the task I am called upon to perform this day, that I should be the organ for expressing the part we bear in this universal joy. I feel a confidence, from the sensations of my own heart, that every bosom in this assembly beats high at the thought of our country's happiness. Even the ardent eyes and the animated countenances of all who compose it, attest how sincerely they rejoice in the prospect before them. But, in the midst of our rejoicings, we ought to remember, that no occasion can be more suitable than the present for employing our reflections on our political situation. I will therefore hope for your indulgence, while I make a few observations on the American revolution; on the necessity which afterwards appeared for establishing a general government of more energy than the original confederation; on the nature of the government which has lately been carried into effect; and on the national prosperity which we may reasonably expect will result from the faithful administration of that government.

At the commencement of the late war with Great-Britain, when we thought ourselves justifiable in resisting to blood, it was known to those best acquainted with the different conditions of the combatants, and the probable cost of the prize in dispute, that the expense, in comparison with our circumstances as colonists, must be enormous the struggle protracted, doubtful, and severe. It was known that the resources of Britain were almost inexhaustible, that her fleets covered the ocean, and that her troops had harvested laurels in every quarter of the globe. Not then organized as a nation, or known as a people on the earth, we had no

preparations. Money, the nerve of war, was wanting. The sword was to be forged on the anvil of necessity; the treasury to be created from nothing. If we had a resource, unknown to our enemy, it was in the unconquerable resolution of our citizens, the conscious rectitude of our cause, and a confident trust that we should not be forsaken by heaven. The people willingly offered themselves to the battle; but the means of arming, clothing and subsisting them, as well as of providing the general implements of hostility, were only to be found in anticipations of our future wealth. Bills of credit were emitted; monies borrowed for the most pressing emergencies; and our men in the field unpaid for their services. At this time the magnanimous monarch of France reached a fostering hand to assist in rescuing us from ruin. In this manner, peace, attended with every circumstance that could gratify our reasonable desires, was at length obtained; but a load of debt was left upon us. The fluctuation of our paper currency, and the consequent frequency of speculation in it, had, in too many instances, occasioned vague ideas of property, produced licentious appetites, and corrupted the morals of men, To these immediate consequences of a fluctuating medium of commerce, may be joined a tide of circumstances, that flowed together from sources mostly opened during and after the war. The ravage of farms, the conflagration of towns, the diminution of agriculture, the extinction of trade, the embarrassment of some who were indebted to British merchants before the war, the privation in all, during its continuance, of many conveniences of life, the subse quent influx of merchandize, the tempting facility of procuring it without present payment, the growing taste for extravagance, and the habit, too soon acquired, of deferring or eluding satis faction for just obligations, now began to overwhelm the continent with private distress, bankruptcy, and breach of faith.

From this period also our public affairs were seen to decline. I will ask your attention for a moment, while I speak of the unsatisfactory part of our old confederation, and the necessity that became apparant for instituting a different form of government. It is not a subject of wonder that the first project of a federal government, formed on the defective models of some foreign confederacies, in the midst of a war, before we had much experience in political affairs, and while, from the concurrence of external danger, and the patriotic impulse of the moment, implicit obedience was yielded to the requisitions of an advisory council, should have been imperfect. Our astonishment ought rather to be excited, that, feeble and inefficient as the government was, it not only carried us in safety through the war, but kept us from seve

Fance until another could be substituted. By the original confede ration, the right to make demands on the several States for such pecuniary supplies as might be necessary for defraying the expenses of the war, and for supporting the government of the union, together with some other specific prerogatives of sovereignty, were committed to Congress. Bat Congress, constituted in most respects as a diplomatic body, possessed no power of carrying into execution a single resolution, however urgently dictated' by prudence, policy or justice. The individual communities, knowing there existed no power of coercion, treated with neglect, whenever it suited their convenience or caprice, the most salutary measures and the most indispensable requisitions of Congress. Experience taught us, that the powers given by the members of the union to their federal head, were not sufficient to enable it to accomplish the purposes for which the body politic had been formed. We now touched on the hour of humiliation. The con federacy was found to be a government in name rather than in reality. Hence the interest due on our public debts remained un paid. Hence many a veteran was reduced to unmerited distress. Hence we were continually liable, on our own part, to have infractions made upon treaties, which were equally honourable, advan tageous and sacred. Hence we were in danger of having our faith become as proverbial as that of Carthage, and our name the scorn of the earth. Hence there was a nation, which, in some measure, excluded our vessels from its ports, burdened our commerce with intolerable impositions, introduced its ships into our carrying trade, and, because we were destitute of â retaliating power, refused to enter into a commercial treaty with us. With a debt accumulating from the necessity of obtaining repeated loans; with a credit much impaired for the want of punctuality, and apprehension of national bankruptcy; with cries for justice from the widow, the fatherless, and the soldier worn out in his country's defence, ascending to that Being who hath purer eyes than to behold iniquity with impunity, who is a God of vengeance as well as a God of justice-whither could we turn for succour? where could we fly for refuge?

The veil that concealed this melancholy and afflicting picture was at last withdrawn. The wise and the good stood astonished at the sight; none but the ignorant or the wicked rested unconcerned. Even fearfulness seized, in many instances, upon those well-meaning politicians whose security had been produced by the scantiness of their information, and the confinement of their views to the local advantages of the States to which they belonged.. Then it was that men, better informed and more conversant in