Why? to what purpose is the immortal light of Heaven beaming in man's mind, if it be wise not to make any use of it? To what purpose all that assiduous care about public instruction, and about the propagation of knowledge and intelligence, if the writings of Washington are the Koran of America; forbidding the right of private judgment, which the great majority of your nation claim as a natural right, even in respect to the Holy Bible, that book of Divine origin? Look to the east where the Koran rules, obstructing with its absolutism the development of human intellect: what do you behold there? You behold mighty nations, a noble race of men, interesting in many respects, teeming with germs of vitality, and still falling fast into decay, because doomed to stagnation of their intelligence by that blind faith in their Koran's absolute perfection, which we see recommended as a model to the people of this Republic, whose very existence rests on progress. Indeed, gentlemen, I dare to say that I yield to nobody in the world, in reverence and respect to the immortal memory of Washington. His life and his principles were the guiding star of my life; to that star I looked up for inspiration and advice, during the vicissitudes of my stormy life. Hence I drew that devotion to my country and to the cause of national freedom, which you, gentlemen, and millions of your fellow-citizens and your national government, are so kind as to honour by unexampled distinction, though you meet it not brightened by success, but meet it in the gloomy night of my existence, in that helpless condition of a homeless wanderer, in which I must patiently bear the title of an "_imported rebel_" and of a "_beggar_" in the very land of Washington, for having dared to do what Washington did; for having dared to do it with less skill and with less success, but, Heaven knows, not with less honesty and devotion than he did.