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Excerpt from Address Delivered in the Chapel of Jefferson College, Canonsburgh, Pa., On the Fourth of July, 1839
A large proportion of the colonists sought in this country, then a wilderness, an asylum from oppression, where they might enjoy undisturbed their civil and religious liberties. Unlike other nations that have gradually emerged from barbarism to civilization and refinement, this nation was highly civilized from its origin. The pilgrim fathers brought with them to these shores all the elements of an enlightened, refinedand virtuous people. Among the early colonists were to be found some of the choicest men of the age, dis tinguished for talent, for learning and piety. They brought with them the literature, the sciences and the arts of the old world. They were picked men, men of choice spirits, prompted by the noblest motives, the love of liberty and the love of God. Their first act on landing was an act of renewed consecration to the Almighty. They brought with them their religious instructors, their Sabbaths and religious institutions, their libraries and their instructors in science. Their first public edifices were temples dedicated to God and to literature. Their first legislation was directed to the promotion of religion, the education of youth, the preservation of civil liberty and the rights of con science - for which they had here sought an asylum at the peril of their lives.
The result was such as might be expected from such an origin. Their sufferings were great from famine, disease and war. Their industry and enter prise surmount every obstacle. Their v'alor triumphs over savage fo'es, the most formidable on earth. Um der the protecting care of Heaven they are preserved. The wilderness soon becomes a fruitful field; towns and cities rise to cheer the desert. They increase in numbers, resources and wealth. They attract the attention and excite the envy and contention of Euro pean nations.
Attached to the mother country by consanguinity, language and religion, they were among the most loyal subjects of Britain. Under her banner they fought, and endured for nearly half a century the perils and privations of a war with France, and thenative savages, armed and instigated by them against the colonies.
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