“Scattered in detachments along a coast immensely extensive, at a distance of more than three thousand miles from their friends on the eastern continent, they were exposed to all those evils, and encountered or experienced all those difficulties, to which human nature seemed liable. Destitute of convenient habitations, the inclemencies of the seasons harassed them, the midnight beasts of prey howled terribly around them, and the more portentous yell of savage fury incessantly assailed them. But the same undiminished confidence in Almighty God, which prompted the first settlers of the country to forsake the unfriendly climes of Europe, still supported them under all their calamities, and inspired them with fortitude almost divine. Having a glorious issue to their labors now in prospect, they cheerfully endured the rigors of the climate, pursued the savage beast to his remotest haunt, and stood undismayed in the dismal hour of Indian battle.” Passing on to the Revolutionary struggle the young orator refers to “our brethren attacked and slaughtered at Lexington, our property plundered and destroyed at Concord,” to “the spiral flames of burning Charlestown,” and proceeds as follows: “Indelibly impressed on our memories still lives the dismal scene of Bunker’s awful mount, the grand theater of New England bravery, where slaughter stalked grimly triumphant, where relentless Britain saw her soldiers, the unhappy instruments of despotism, fallen in heaps beneath the nervous arm of injured freemen! “There the great Warren fought, and there, alas! he fell. Valuing his life only as it enabled him to serve his country, he freely resigned himself a willing martyr in the cause of liberty, and now lies encircled in the arms of glory. “’Peace to the patriot’s shade—let no rude blast Disturb the willow that nods o’er his tomb; Let orphan tears bedew his sacred urn, And fame’s proud trump proclaim the hero’s name Far as the circuit of the spheres extends!’ “But, haughty Albion, thy reign shall soon be over. Thou shalt triumph no longer; thy empire already reels and totters; thy laurel even now begins to wither and thy fame to decay. Thou hast at length aroused the indignation of an insulted people; thy oppressions they deem no longer tolerable. “The Fourth Day of July, 1776, has now arrived, and America, manfully springing from the torturing fangs of the British lion, now rises majestic in the pride of her sovereignty, and bids her eagle elevate his wings! The solemn Declaration of Independence is now pronounced, amidst crowds of admiring citizens, by the supreme council of the nation, and received with the unbounded plaudits of a grateful people! That was the hour when heroism was proved—when the souls of men were tried!