Finally, to close the sanguinary conflict, to grant America the blessings of an honorable peace, and clothe her heroes with laurels, CORNWALLIS, at whose feet the kings and princes of Asia have since thrown their diadems, was compelled to submit to the sword of our father WASHINGTON.—­The great drama is now completed—­our Independence is now acknowledged; and the hopes of our enemies are blasted forever!—­Columbia is now seated in the forum of nations and the empires of the world are loft in the bright effulgence of her glory!

Thus, friends and citizens, did the kind hand of over-ruling Providence conduct us, through toils, fatigues and dangers, to Independence and Peace.  If piety be the rational exercise of the human soul, if religion be not a chimera, and if the vestiges of heavenly assistance are clearly traced in those events, which mark the annals of our nation, it becomes us, on this day, in consideration of the great things, which the LORD has done for us, to render the tribute of unfeigned thanks, to that GOD, who superintends the Universe, and holds aloft the scale, that weighs the destinies of nations.

The conclusion of the revolutionary war did not conclude the great achievements of our countrymen.  Their military character was then, indeed, sufficiently established; but the time was coming, which should prove their political sagacity.

No sooner was peace restored with England, the first grand article of which was the acknowledgment of our Independence, than the old system of confederation, dictated, at first, by necessity, and adopted for the purposes of the moment, was found inadequate to the government of an extensive empire.  Under a full conviction of this, we then saw the people of these States, engaged in a transaction, which is, undoubtedly, the greatest approximation towards human perfection the political world ever yet experienced; and which, perhaps, will forever stand on the history of mankind, without a parallel.  A great Republic, composed of different States, whose interest in all respects could not be perfectly compatible, then came deliberately forward, discarded one system of government and adopted another, without the loss of one man’s blood.

There is not a single government now existing in Europe, which is not based in usurpation, and established, if established at all, by the sacrifice of thousands.  But in the adoption of our present system of jurisprudence, we see the powers necessary for government, voluntarily springing from the people, their only proper origin, and directed to the public good, their only proper object.

With peculiar propriety, we may now felicitate ourselves, on that happy form of mixed government under which we live.  The advantages, resulting to the citizens of the Union, from the operation of the Federal Constitution, are utterly incalculable; and the day, when it was received by a majority of the States, shall stand on the catalogue of American anniversaries, second to none but the birth day of Independence.