Daniel Webster's First Bunker Hill Monument Oration, 1825
Paragraphs 1 through 2: Daniel Webster delivered this address at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument at Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the 17th of June, 1825, in the presence of as great a multitude as was ever perhaps assembled within the sound of an un-amplified human voice. In the introductory paragraphs he sets forth the purposes of the speech: to move the listeners to an appreciation of the sacrifices of their ancestors; to place the Battle of Bunker Hill as a pivot point in American history; and to sketch a likely future of American prosperity.
[1] This uncounted multitude before me and around me proves the feeling
which the occasion has excited. These thousands of human faces, glowing
with sympathy and joy, and from the impulses of a common gratitude
turned reverently to heaven in this spacious temple of the firmament,
proclaim that the day, the place, and the purpose of our assembling
have made a deep impression on our hearts.
[2] If, indeed, there be any thing in local association fit to affect
the mind of man, we need not strive to repress the emotions which
agitate us here. We are among the sepulchres of our fathers. We are on
ground, distinguished by their valor, their constancy, and the shedding
of their blood. We are here, not to fix an uncertain date in our
annals, nor to draw into notice an obscure and unknown spot. If our
humble purpose had never been conceived, if we ourselves had never been
born, the 17th of June, 1775, would have been a day on which all
subsequent history would have poured its light, and the eminence where
we stand a point of attraction to the eyes of successive generations.
But we are Americans. We live in what may be called the early age of
this great continent; and we know that our posterity, through all time,
are here to enjoy and suffer the allotments of humanity. We see before
us a probable train of great events; we know that our own fortunes have
been happily cast; and it is natural, therefore, that we should be
moved by the contemplation of occurrences which have guided our destiny
before many of us were born, and settled the condition in which we
should pass that portion of our existence which God allows to men on
earth.
Paragraphs 3 through 11: He begins, not with the battle, nor
even the War of Independence, but with the discovery of America by
Christopher Columbus and continues through the early English settlements
of North American -- in New England in 1620 by the Protestant Pilgrim Fathers
and in Maryland in 1634 by Roman Catholics -- passing to "that prodigy
of modern times, at once the wonder and the blessing of the world," the American
Revolution. Webster justifies the erection of a monument to the first
great battle of the revolution by pointing to the happiness and
prosperity of America fifty years later, to the New World generally
shaking off European colonialism, and to both Europe and American
progressing in knowledge, legislation, commerce, in the arts, in
letters, and in liberal ideas since the American Revolution
inaugurated a new age in the world.
[4] Nearer to our times, more closely connected with our fates, and
therefore still more interesting to our feelings and affections, is the
settlement of our own country by colonists from England. We cherish
every memorial of these worthy ancestors; we celebrate their patience
and fortitude; we admire their daring enterprise; we teach our children
to venerate their piety; and we are justly proud of being descended
from men who have set the world an example of founding civil
institutions on the great and united principles of human freedom and
human knowledge. To us, their children, the story of their labors and
sufferings can never be without its interest. We shall not stand
unmoved on the shore of Plymouth, while the sea continues to wash it;
nor will our brethren in another early and ancient Colony forget the
place of its first establishment, till their river shall cease to flow
by it /1/. No vigor of youth, no maturity of manhood, will lead the
nation to forget the spots where its infancy was cradled and defended.
[5] But the great event in the history of the continent, which we are
now met here to commemorate, that prodigy of modern times, at once the
wonder and the blessing of the world, is the American Revolution. In a
day of extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of high national honor,
distinction, and power, we are brought together, in this place, by our
love of country, by our admiration of exalted character, by our
gratitude for signal services and patriotic devotion.
[6] The Society whose organ I am /2/ was formed for the purpose of
rearing some honorable and durable monument to the memory of the early
friends of American Independence. They have thought, that for this
object no time could be more propitious than the present prosperous and
peaceful period; that no place could claim preference over this
memorable spot; and that no day could be more auspicious to the
undertaking, than the anniversary of the battle which was here fought.
The foundation of that monument we have now laid. With solemnities
suited to the occasion, with prayers to Almighty God for his blessing,
and in the midst of this cloud of witnesses /3/, we have begun the work. We
trust it will be prosecuted, and that, springing from a broad
foundation, rising high in massive solidity and unadorned grandeur, it
may remain as long as Heaven permits the works of man to last, a fit
emblem, both of the events in memory of which it is raised, and of the
gratitude of those who have reared it.
[7] We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious actions is most
safely deposited in the universal remembrance of mankind /4/. We know, that
if we could cause this structure to ascend, not only till it reached
the skies, but till it pierced them, its broad surfaces could still
contain but part of that which, in an age of knowledge, hath already
been spread over the earth, and which history charges itself with
making known to all future times. We know that no inscription on
entablatures less broad than the earth itself can carry information of
the events we commemorate where it has not already gone; and that no
structure, which shall not outlive the duration of letters and
knowledge among men, can prolong the memorial. But our object is, by
this edifice, to show our own deep sense of the value and importance of
the achievements of our ancestors; and, by presenting this work of
gratitude to the eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and to foster a
constant regard for the principles of the Revolution. Human beings are
composed, not of reason only, but of imagination also, and sentiment;
and that is neither wasted nor misapplied which is appropriated to the
purpose of giving right direction to sentiments, and opening proper
springs of feeling in the heart. Let it not be supposed that our object
is to perpetuate national hostility, or even to cherish a mere military
spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. We consecrate our work to the
spirit of national independence, and we wish that the light of peace
may rest upon it for ever. We rear a memorial of our conviction of that
unmeasured benefit which has been conferred on our own land, and of the
happy influences which have been produced, by the same events, on the
general interests of mankind. We come, as Americans, to mark a spot
which must for ever be dear to us and our posterity. We wish that
whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, may behold
that the place is not undistinguished where the first great battle of
the Revolution was fought. We wish that this structure may proclaim the
magnitude and importance of that event to every class and every age. We
wish that infancy may learn the purpose of its erection from maternal
lips, and that weary and withered age may behold it, and be solaced by
the recollections which it suggests. We wish that labor may look up
here, and be proud, in the midst of its toil. We wish that, in those
days of disaster, which, as they come upon all nations, must be
expected to come upon us also, desponding patriotism may turn its eyes
hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power
are still strong. We wish that this column, rising towards heaven among
the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to God, may contribute
also to produce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and
gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object to the sight of him
who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his who revisits
it, may be something which shall remind him of the liberty and the
glory of his country. Let it rise! let it rise, till it meet the sun in
his coming; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting
day linger and play on its summit.
[9] Europe, within the same period, has been agitated by a mighty
revolution, which, while it has been felt in the individual condition
and happiness of almost every man, has shaken to the centre her
political fabric, and dashed against one another thrones which had
stood tranquil for ages. On this, our continent, our own example has
been followed, and colonies have sprung up to be nations /6/.
Unaccustomed sounds of liberty and free government have reached us from
beyond the track of the sun; and at this moment the dominion of
European power in this continent, from the place where we stand to the
south pole, is annihilated for ever.
[10] In the mean time, both in Europe and America, such has been the
general progress of knowledge, such the improvement in legislation, in
commerce, in the arts, in letters, and, above all, in liberal ideas and
the general spirit of the age, that the whole world seems changed.
[11] Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint abstract of the things
which have happened since the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, we are
but fifty years removed from it; and we now stand here to enjoy all the
blessings of our own condition, and to look abroad on the brightened
prospects of the world, while we still have among us some of those who
were active agents in the scenes of 1775, and who are now here, from
every quarter of New England, to visit once more, and under
circumstances so affecting, I had almost said so overwhelming, this
renowned theatre of their courage and patriotism.
Paragraphs 12 through 17: Returning to the subject at hand, Webster
addresses as venerable men the survivors of the Battle of Bunker Hill, about 40 of them, present.
He pays homage, by name, to some the heroes of that battle who have since been
gathered to their fathers. He praises General Warren, who died
at the battle and was buried on Bunker Hill the next day.
Finally, he addresses all the veterans of the Revolutionary War.
[13] But, alas! you are not all here! Time and the sword have thinned
your ranks. Prescott, Putnam, Stark, Brooks, Read, Pomeroy, Bridge! our
eyes seek for you in vain amid this broken band. You are gathered to
your fathers, and live only to your country in her grateful remembrance
and your own bright example. But let us not too much grieve, that you
have met the common fate of men. You lived at least long enough to know
that your work had been nobly and successfully accomplished. You lived
to see your country's independence established, and to sheathe your
swords from war. On the light of Liberty you saw arise the light of
Peace, like
[14] But ah! Him! the first great martyr in this great cause! Him! the
premature victim of his own self-devoting heart! Him! the head of our
civil councils, and the destined leader of our military bands, whom
nothing brought hither but the unquenchable fire of his own spirit!
Him! cut off by Providence in the hour of overwhelming anxiety and
thick gloom; falling ere he saw the star of his country rise; pouring
out his generous blood like water, before he knew whether it would
fertilize a land of freedom or of bondage!—how shall I struggle with
the emotions that stifle the utterance of thy name! /10/ Our poor work
may perish; but thine shall endure! This monument may moulder away; the
solid ground it rests upon may sink down to a level with the sea; but
thy memory shall not fail! Wheresoever among men a heart shall be found
that beats to the transports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations
shall be to claim kindred with thy spirit!
[15] But the scene amidst which we stand does not permit us to confine
our thoughts or our sympathies to those fearless spirits who hazarded
or lost their lives on this consecrated spot. We have the happiness to
rejoice here in the presence of a most worthy representation of the
survivors of the whole Revolutionary army.
[16] Veterans! /11/ you are the remnant of many a well-fought field. You bring
with you marks of honor from Trenton and Monmouth, from Yorktown,
Camden, Bennington, and Saratoga. Veterans of half a century! when in
your youthful days you put every thing at hazard in your country's
cause, good as that cause was, and sanguine as youth is, still your
fondest hopes did not stretch onward to an hour like this! At a period
to which you could not reasonably have expected to arrive, at a moment
of national prosperity such as you could never have foreseen, you are
now met here to enjoy the fellowship of old soldiers, and to receive
the overflowings of a universal gratitude.
[17] But your agitated countenances and your heaving breasts inform me
that even this is not an unmixed joy. I perceive that a tumult of
contending feelings rushes upon you. The images of the dead, as well as
the persons of the living, present themselves before you. The scene
overwhelms you, and I turn from it. May the Father of all mercies smile
upon your declining years, and bless them! And when you shall here have
exchanged your embraces, when you shall once more have pressed the
hands which have been so often extended to give succor in adversity, or
grasped in the exultation of victory, then look abroad upon this lovely
land which your young valor defended, and mark the happiness with which
it is filled; yea, look abroad upon the whole earth, and see what a
name you have contributed to give to your country, and what a praise
you have added to freedom, and then rejoice in the sympathy and
gratitude which beam upon your last days from the improved condition of
mankind!
Paragraphs 18 through 23: Having addressed the men who had served in the war,
Webster turns to the narration of the events leading to, and proceeding from, the Battle of Bunker Hill.
He traces the conflict to the Intolerable Acts, a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774
in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773
and in particular to the Boston Port Act of March 30, 1774, which closed the port of Boston. He discourses on how the British suppression
of Boston, rather than bringing the other colonies back to obedience to British authority, drove the 13 colonies together in a common
rebellion against British outrages. He rehearses how resistance to British mis-rule turned bloody at the April 19, 1775
Battles of Lexington and Concord and how New England united with "one cause, one country, one heart" for the June 17, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill.
Bunker Hill, he asserts, transformed the patriot cause from a local insurrection to a full-blown
war of independence and inspired the world by showing that Americans were prepared to die for freedom.
[19] But the hour drew nigh which was to put professions to the proof,
and to determine whether the authors of these mutual pledges were ready
to seal them in blood. The tidings of Lexington and Concord had no
sooner spread, than it was universally felt that the time was at last
come for action. A spirit pervaded all ranks, not transient, not
boisterous, but deep, solemn, determined,—
[20] The 17th of June saw the four New England Colonies /13/
standing here, side by side, to triumph or to fall together; and there was with them
from that moment to the end of the war, what I hope will remain with
them for ever, one cause, one country, one heart.
[21] The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with the most important
effects beyond its immediate results as a military engagement. It
created at once a state of open, public war. There could now be no
longer a question of proceeding against individuals, as guilty of
treason or rebellion. That fearful crisis was past. The appeal lay to
the sword, and the only question was, whether the spirit and the
resources of the people would hold out, till the object should be
accomplished. Nor were its general consequences confined to our own
country. The previous proceedings of the Colonies, their appeals,
resolutions, and addresses, had made their cause known to Europe.
Without boasting, we may say, that in no age or country has the public
cause been maintained with more force of argument, more power of
illustration, or more of that persuasion which excited feeling and
elevated principle can alone bestow, than the Revolutionary state
papers exhibit. These papers will for ever deserve to be studied, not
only for the spirit which they breathe, but for the ability with which
they were written.
[22] To this able vindication of their cause, the Colonies had now added
a practical and severe proof of their own true devotion to it, and
given evidence also of the power which they could bring to its support.
All now saw, that, if America fell, she would not fall without a
struggle. Men felt sympathy and regard, as well as surprise, when they
beheld these infant states, remote, unknown, unaided, encounter the
power of England, and, in the first considerable battle, leave more of
their enemies dead on the field, in proportion to the number of
combatants, than had been recently known to fall in the wars of Europe.
[23] Information of these events, circulating throughout the world, at
length reached the ears of one who now hears me /14/. He has not
forgotten the emotion which the fame of Bunker Hill, and the name of
Warren, excited in his youthful breast.
Paragraphs 24 through 26: Webster then addresses General Lafayette,
in the middle of his tour of the United States
in celebration of 50th anniversary of American independence
and present that day for the foundation-laying of
the Bunker Hill Monument.
[25] Fortunate, fortunate man! with what measure of devotion will you not
thank God for the circumstances of your extraordinary life! You are
connected with both hemispheres and with two generations. Heaven saw
fit to ordain, that the electric spark of liberty should be conducted,
through you, from the New World to the Old; and we, who are now here to
perform this duty of patriotism, have all of us long ago received it in
charge from our fathers to cherish your name and your virtues. You will
account it an instance of your good fortune, Sir, that you crossed the
seas to visit us at a time which enables you to be present at this
solemnity. You now behold the field, the renown of which reached you in
the heart of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom. You see
the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the incredible diligence
of Prescott; defended, to the last extremity, by his lion-hearted
valor; and within which the corner-stone of our monument has now taken
its position. You see where Warren fell, and where Parker, Gardner,
McCleary, Moore, and other early patriots, fell with him. Those who
survived that day, and whose lives have been prolonged to the present
hour, are now around you. Some of them you have known in the trying
scenes of the war. Behold! they now stretch forth their feeble arms to
embrace you. Behold! they raise their trembling voices to invoke the
blessing of God on you and yours for ever.
[26] Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of this
structure. You have heard us rehearse, with our feeble commendation,
the names of departed patriots. Monuments and eulogy belong to the
dead. We give them this day to Warren and his associates. On other
occasions they have been given to your more immediate companions in
arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, to Sullivan, and to Lincoln.
We have become reluctant to grant these, our highest and last honors,
further. We would gladly hold them yet back from the little remnant of
that immortal band. Serus in coelum redeas. /15/ Illustrious as are
your merits, yet far, O very far distant be the day, when any
inscription shall bear your name, or any tongue pronounce its eulogy!
Paragraphs 27 through 32: Webster surveys the fifty years
since the Battle of Bunker Hill and finds progress both in
America and abroad although not at the same pace, which
he compares to "vessels on a common tide,
propelled by the gales at different rates, according
to their several structure and management, but all
moved forward by one mighty current, strong enough
to bear onward whatever does not sink beneath it."
Knowledge, he says, has triumphed and mankind
in 1825 are, "better fed and better clothed . . . they are
able also to enjoy more leisure; they possess more refinement and
more self-respect. A superior tone of education, manners,
and habits prevail." More importantly, he finds the past
fifty years to have been given over to "the great question of politics
and government."
"A great wheel of political revolution," says Webster, "began
to move in America." He compares the guarded regularity and safety
of that wheel's rotation in America with its irregular
and violent impulses elsewhere and concludes that America was fortunate
in the condition of the land and character of the populace
at the time of our Revolution. Americans, while under the
authority of the mother country, had, nevertheless, many years' experience
of self-government as regards internal matters and were accustomed
to some of the basic elements of our Constitution: representative bodies, division of power, and checks and balances.
He credits the character of the American people -- sober, moral, and religious --
for the restraint from plunder and spoil that might otherwise have
attended our Revolution.
[27] The leading reflection to which this occasion seems to invite us,
respects the great changes which have happened in the fifty years since
the battle of Bunker Hill was fought. And it peculiarly marks the
character of the present age, that, in looking at these changes, and in
estimating their effect on our condition, we are obliged to consider,
not what has been done in our own country only, but in others also. In
these interesting times, while nations are making separate and
individual advances in improvement, they make, too, a common progress;
like vessels on a common tide, propelled by the gales at different
rates, according to their several structure and management, but all
moved forward by one mighty current, strong enough to bear onward
whatever does not sink beneath it.
[28] A chief distinction of the present day is a community of opinions
and knowledge amongst men in different nations, existing in a degree
heretofore unknown. Knowledge has, in our time, triumphed, and is
triumphing, over distance, over difference of languages, over diversity
of habits, over prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized and
Christian world is fast learning the great lesson, that difference of
nation does not imply necessary hostility, and that all contact need
not be war. The whole world is becoming a common field for intellect to
act in. Energy of mind, genius, power, wheresoever it exists, may speak
out in any tongue, and the world will hear it. A great chord of
sentiment and feeling runs through two continents, and vibrates over
both. Every breeze wafts intelligence from country to country; every
wave rolls it; all give it forth, and all in turn receive it. There is
a vast commerce of ideas; there are marts and exchanges for
intellectual discoveries, and a wonderful fellowship of those
individual intelligences which make up the mind and opinion of the age.
Mind is the great lever of all things; human thought is the process by
which human ends are ultimately answered; and the diffusion of
knowledge, so astonishing in the last half-century, has rendered
innumerable minds, variously gifted by nature, competent to be
competitors or fellow-workers on the theatre of intellectual operation.
[29] From these causes important improvements have taken place in the
personal condition of individuals. Generally speaking, mankind are not
only better fed and better clothed, but they are able also to enjoy
more leisure; they possess more refinement and more self-respect. A
superior tone of education, manners, and habits prevails. This remark,
most true in its application to our own country, is also partly true
when applied elsewhere. It is proved by the vastly augmented
consumption of those articles of manufacture and of commerce which
contribute to the comforts and the decencies of life; an augmentation
which has far outrun the progress of population. And while the
unexampled and almost incredible use of machinery would seem to supply
the place of labor, labor still finds its occupation and its reward; so
wisely has Providence adjusted men's wants and desires to their
condition and their capacity.
[30] Any adequate survey, however, of the progress made during the last
half-century in the polite and the mechanic arts, in machinery and
manufactures, in commerce and agriculture, in letters and in science,
would require volumes. I must abstain wholly from these subjects, and
turn for a moment to the contemplation of what has been done on the
great question of politics and government. This is the master topic of
the age; and during the whole fifty years it has intensely occupied the
thoughts of men. The nature of civil government, its ends and uses,
have been canvassed and investigated; ancient opinions attacked and
defended; new ideas recommended and resisted, by whatever power the
mind of man could bring to the controversy. From the closet and the
public halls the debate has been transferred to the field; and the
world has been shaken by wars of unexampled magnitude, and the greatest
variety of fortune. A day of peace has at length succeeded; and now
that the strife has subsided, and the smoke cleared away, we may begin
to see what has actually been done, permanently changing the state and
condition of human society. And, without dwelling on particular
circumstances, it is most apparent, that, from the before-mentioned
causes of augmented knowledge and improved individual condition, a
real, substantial, and important change has taken place, and is taking
place, highly favorable, on the whole, to human liberty and human
happiness.
[31] The great wheel of political revolution began to move in America.
Here its rotation was guarded, regular, and safe. Transferred to the
other continent, from unfortunate but natural causes, it received an
irregular and violent impulse; it whirled along with a fearful
celerity; till at length, like the chariot-wheels in the races of
antiquity, it took fire from the rapidity of its own motion, and blazed
onward, spreading conflagration and terror around.
[32] We learn from the result of this experiment, how fortunate was our
own condition, and how admirably the character of our people was
calculated for setting the great example of popular governments. The
possession of power did not turn the heads of the American people, for
they had long been in the habit of exercising a great degree of
self-control. Although the paramount authority of the parent state
existed over them, yet a large field of legislation had always been
open to our Colonial assemblies. They were accustomed to representative
bodies and the forms of free government; they understood the doctrine
of the division of power among different branches, and the necessity of
checks on each. The character of our countrymen, moreover, was sober,
moral, and religious; and there was little in the change to shock their
feelings of justice and humanity, or even to disturb an honest
prejudice. We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privileged orders
to cast down, no violent changes of property to encounter. In the
American Revolution, no man sought or wished for more than to defend
and enjoy his own. None hoped for plunder or for spoil. Rapacity was
unknown to it; the axe was not among the instruments of its
accomplishment; and we all know that it could not have lived a single
day under any well-founded imputation of possessing a tendency adverse
to the Christian religion.
Paragraphs 33 through 40: In other nations, says Webster,
revolutions have terminated differently than in America, nevertheless,
he sees enlightened ideas advancing everywhere. Under this universal
advance of knowledge the concepts of government for the public
good and of the representative system have gained the assent of all.
The model of the king as the state with the people as subjects is,
he says, everywhere giving way to an understanding that "the
powers of government are but a trust, and that they cannot be lawfully
exercised but for the good of the community." He believes
that the advance of such sentiments will promote peace among
nations and, even where the popular principle does not prevail,
public opinion will have influence in government.
Speaking of the prolonged struggle of the Greeks for independence
from the Turks, he seems to find, in other nations' restraining and
not entering into the fight on either side, more evidence that
nations are learning to refrain from violent interference with
each other.
Looking to South America, he finds former European colonies now
independent states, following a pattern first found in the
American Revolution.
[34] Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowledge, the people
have begun, in all forms of government, to think and to reason, on
affairs of state. Regarding government as an institution for the public
good, they demand a knowledge of its operations, and a participation in
its exercise. A call for the representative system, wherever it is not
enjoyed, and where there is already intelligence enough to estimate its
value, is perseveringly made. Where men may speak out, they demand it;
where the bayonet is at their throats, they pray for it.
[35] When Louis the Fourteenth said, “I am the state,” he expressed the
essence of the doctrine of unlimited power. By the rules of that
system, the people are disconnected from the state; they are its
subjects; it is their lord. These ideas, founded in the love of power,
and long supported by the excess and the abuse of it, are yielding, in
our age, to other opinions; and the civilized world seems at last to be
proceeding to the conviction of that fundamental and manifest truth,
that the powers of government are but a trust, and that they cannot be
lawfully exercised but for the good of the community. As knowledge is
more and more extended, this conviction becomes more and more general.
Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun in the firmament. Life and power
are scattered with all its beams. The prayer of the Grecian champion,
when enveloped in unnatural clouds and darkness, is the appropriate
political supplication for the people of every country not yet blessed
with free institutions:—
[36] We may hope that the growing influence of enlightened sentiment will
promote the permanent peace of the world. Wars to mantain family
alliances, to uphold or to cast down dynasties, and to regulate
successions to thrones, which have occupied so much room in the history
of modern times, if not less likely to happen at all, will be less
likely to become general and involve many nations, as the great
principle shall be more and more established, that the interest of the
world is peace, and its first great statute, that every nation
possesses the power of establishing a government for itself. But public
opinion has attained also an influence over governments which do not
admit the popular principle into their organization. A necessary
respect for the judgment of the world operates, in some measure, as a
control over the most unlimited forms of authority. It is owing,
perhaps, to this truth, that the interesting struggle of the Greeks has
been suffered to go on so long, without a direct interference, either
to wrest that country from its present masters, or to execute the
system of pacification by force, and, with united strength, lay the
neck of Christian and civilized Greek at the foot of the barbarian
Turk. Let us thank God that we live in an age when something has
influence besides the bayonet, and when the sternest authority does not
venture to encounter the scorching power of public reproach. Any
attempt of the kind I have mentioned should be met by one universal
burst of indignation; the air of the civilized world ought to be made
too warm to be comfortably breathed by any one who would hazard it.
[37] It is, indeed, a touching reflection, that, while, in the fulness of
our country's happiness, we rear this monument to her honor, we look
for instruction in our undertaking to a country which is now in fearful
contest, not for works of art or memorials of glory, but for her own
existence /17/. Let her be assured, that she is not forgotten in the world;
that her efforts are applauded, and that constant prayers ascend for
her success. And let us cherish a confident hope for her final triumph.
If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will
burn. Human agency cannot extinguish it. Like the earth's central fire,
it may be smothered for a time; the ocean may overwhelm it; mountains
may press it down; but its inherent and unconquerable force will heave
both the ocean and the land, and at some time or other, in some place
or other, the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven.
[38] Among the great events of the half-century, we must reckon,
certainly, the revolution of South America; and we are not likely to
overrate the importance of that revolution, either to the people of the
country itself or to the rest of the world. The late Spanish colonies,
now independent states, under circumstances less favorable, doubtless,
than attended our own revolution, have yet successfully commenced their
national existence. They have accomplished the great object of
establishing their independence; they are known and acknowledged in the
world; and although in regard to their systems of government, their
sentiments on religious toleration, and their provisions for public
instruction, they may have yet much to learn, it must be admitted that
they have risen to the condition of settled and established states more
rapidly than could have been reasonably anticipated. They already
furnish an exhilarating example of the difference between free
governments and despotic misrule. Their commerce, at this moment,
creates a new activity in all the great marts of the world. They show
themselves able, by an exchange of commodities, to bear a useful part
in the intercourse of nations.
[39] A new spirit of enterprise and industry begins to prevail; all the
great interests of society receive a salutary impulse; and the progress
of information not only testifies to an improved condition, but itself
constitutes the highest and most essential improvement.
[40] When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the existence of South
America was scarcely felt in the civilized world. The thirteen little
Colonies of North America habitually called themselves the “Continent.”
Borne down by colonial subjugation, monopoly, and bigotry, these vast
regions of the South were hardly visible above the horizon. But in our
day there has been, as it were, a new creation. The southern hemisphere
emerges from the sea. Its lofty mountains begin to lift themselves into
the light of heaven; its broad and fertile plains stretch out, in
beauty, to the eye of civilized man, and at the mighty bidding of the
voice of political liberty the waters of darkness retire.
Paragraphs 41 through 44: Webster exhorts Americans
to exult in the conviction that our Revolution was a beneficial
example to the world, however, an example that he would not
necessarily apply as a template. "We are not propagandists," he says.
"Wherever other systems are preferred . . . we leave the
preference to be enjoyed." However, given the favorable
circumstances of America's experiment in democratic government
he concludes that if the representative system fail here,
it is unlikely to ever succeed.
With America, he asserts, rests "the last hope of mankind."
this is a phrase that will be echoed by Abraham Lincoln
in his December 1862 Annual Message to Congress ("the last best, hope of earth")
and Ronald Reagan in his January 1974 "We Will Be a City on a Hill"
speech ("the last best hope of man on earth").
As for the future of democracy in America, Webster predicts:
"The principle of free government adheres to the American
soil. It is bedded in it, immovable as its mountains."
While the current generation, he says, are not called to be founders
of states, they have been entrusted with defending and
preserving our system. Further, he calls on Americans
to improve and expand our democratic republic, looking
beyond the peculiar interests of the then twenty-four
states to "cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony" and,
he concludes, "Let our object be, Our country, our whole country, and
nothing but our country."
[42] We are not propagandists. Wherever other systems are preferred,
either as being thought better in themselves, or as better suited to
existing condition, we leave the preference to be enjoyed. Our history
hitherto proves, however, that the popular form is practicable, and
that with wisdom and knowledge men may govern themselves; and the duty
incumbent on us is, to preserve the consistency of this cheering
example, and take care that nothing may weaken its authority with the
world. If, in our case, the representative system ultimately fail,
popular governments must be pronounced impossible. No combination of
circumstances more favorable to the experiment can ever be expected to
occur. The last hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us; and if it
should be proclaimed, that our example had become an argument against
the experiment, the knell of popular liberty would be sounded
throughout the earth.
[43] These are excitements to duty; but they are not suggestions of
doubt. Our history and our condition, all that is gone before us, and
all that surrounds us, authorize the belief, that popular governments,
though subject to occasional variations, in form perhaps not always for
the better, may yet, in their general character, be as durable and
permanent as other systems. We know, indeed, that in our country any
other is impossible. The principle of free governments adheres
to the American soil. It is bedded in it, immovable as its mountains.
[44] And let the sacred obligations which have devolved on this
generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. Those who established
our liberty and our government are daily dropping from among us. The
great trust now descends to new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that
which is presented to us, as our appropriate object. We can win no
laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier hands have
gathered them all. Nor are there places for us by the side of Solon,
and Alfred, and other founders of states. Our fathers have filled them.
But there remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation; and
there is opened to us, also, a noble pursuit, to which the spirit of
the times strongly invites us. Our proper business is improvement. Let
our age be the age of improvement. In a day of peace, let us advance
the arts of peace and the works of peace. Let us develop the resources
of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote
all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and
generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered. Let us
cultivate a true spirit of union and harmony. In pursuing the great
objects which our condition points out to us, let us act under a
settled conviction, and an habitual feeling, that these twenty-four
States are one country. Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle
of our duties. Let us extend our ideas over the whole of the vast field
in which we are called to act. Let our object be, Our country, our
whole country, and nothing but our country. And, by the blessing of
God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not
of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and of Liberty, upon
which the world may gaze with admiration for ever!
Notes:
/1/
An interesting account of the voyage of the early
emigrants to the Maryland Colony, and of its settlement, is given in
the official report of Father White, written probably within the first
month after the landing at St. Mary's. The original Latin manuscript is
still preserved among the archives of the Jesuits at Rome. The “Ark"
and the “Dove” are remembered with scarcely less interest by the
descendants of the sister colony, than is the “Mayflower” in New
England, which thirteen years earlier, at the same season of the year,
bore thither the Pilgrim Fathers.
Note how, in tracing the English settlement of North America, Webster passes over
Virginia (with permanent settlement since 1607), a primarily commercial venture,
in favor of the 1620 arrival of the “Mayflower” at Massachusetts
and the 1634 arrival of the “Ark" and the “Dove”
at Maryland, each marking the foundation of new settlements of
English subjects who came to the New World for, in large part, religious freedom.
In speaking at the bicentennial celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, December 22, 1820, Webster declared:
/2/
Mr. Webster was at this time President of the Bunker
Hill Monument Association, chosen on the decease of Governor John
Brooks, the first President.
/3/
Webster takes his image of the crowd as a cloud from the Epistle to the Hebrews:
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
(Hebrews 12:1)
/4/
Webster here echos the words of the Athenian leader Pericles in
his oration at the funeral of the first fallen in the Pelopponesian War in 431 B.C.:
"For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own,
where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart."
(History of the Pelopponesian War, Book II, Chapter 43)
/5/
That which was spoken of figuratively in 1825 had, within
the lapse of a quarter of a century, by the introduction of railroads
and telegraphic lines, become a reality. It is an interesting
circumstance, that the first railroad on the Western Continent was
constructed for the purpose of accelerating the erection of this
monument.
/6/
See President Monroe's Message to Congress in 1823, and
Mr. Webster's speech on the Panama Mission, in 1826.
/7/
There were present about 40 venerable veterans of the Battle of Bunker Hill.
/8/
It is necessary to inform those only who are
unacquainted with the localities, that the United States Navy Yard at
Charlestown was situated at the base of Bunker Hill.
/9/
These words are from the first book of Milton’s Paradise Lost, and occur in the remark made
by Adam to Eve on discovering the approach of "The angelic Virtue," as follows:
/10/
See the North American Review, Vol. XIII. p. 242.
/11/
In total the veterans of the Revolutionary War, including the 40 venerable
men who fought at Bunker Hill, present for the ceremony was about 200.
/12/
"And a Mind, diffused throughout the members, gives energy to the whole mass, and
mingles with the vast body."
/13/
The four New England colonies were Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
Vermont, whose territory had been claimed by both New Hampshire and New York declared itself an independent republic in 1776
and joined the Union as th 14th state in 1791. Massachusetts's Maine province became the 23rd state in 1820 under a compromise
that admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave-holding state.
/14/
Among the earliest of the arrangements for the
celebration of the 17th of June, 1825, was the invitation to General
Lafayette to be present; and he had so timed his progress through the
other States as to return to Massachusetts in season for the great
occasion.
/15/
"Late may you return to heaven."
/16/
From Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Iliad, Book XVII, Line 730.
/17/
The Greek War of Independence from the Turks lasted from 1821 to 1832.
Other Resources:
Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration: Introduction and Notes by William Trufant Foster
[3] We do not read even of the discovery of this continent, without
feeling something of a personal interest in the event; without being
reminded how much it has affected our own fortunes and our own
existence. It would be still more unnatural for us, therefore, than for
others, to contemplate with unaffected minds that interesting, I may
say that most touching and pathetic scene, when the great discoverer of
America stood on the deck of his shattered bark, the shades of night
falling on the sea, yet no man sleeping; tossed on the billows of an
unknown ocean, yet the stronger billows of alternate hope and despair
tossing his own troubled thoughts; extending forward his harassed
frame, straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven at
last granted him a moment of rapture and ecstasy, in blessing his
vision with the sight of the unknown world.
[8] We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so various and so
important that they might crowd and distinguish centuries are, in our
times, compressed within the compass of a single life. When has it
happened that history has had so much to record, in the same term of
years, as since the 17th of June, 1775? Our own Revolution, which,
under other circumstances, might itself have been expected to occasion
a war of half a century, has been achieved; twenty-four sovereign and
independent States erected; and a general government established over
them, so safe, so wise, so free, so practical, that we might well
wonder its establishment should have been accomplished so soon, were it
not for the greater wonder that it should have been established at all.
Two or three millions of people have been augmented to twelve, the
great forests of the West prostrated beneath the arm of successful
industry, and the dwellers on the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi
become the fellow-citizens and neighbors of those who cultivate the
hills of New England /5/. We have a commerce, that leaves no sea
unexplored; navies, which take no law from superior force; revenues,
adequate to all the exigencies of government, almost without taxation;
and peace with all nations, founded on equal rights and mutual respect.
[click map for larger view]
[12] Venerable men! /7/ you have come down to us from a former generation.
Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your lives, that you might behold
this joyous day. You are now where you stood fifty years ago, this very
hour, with your brothers and your neighbors, shoulder to shoulder, in
the strife for your country. Behold, how altered! The same heavens are
indeed over your heads; the same ocean rolls at your feet; but all else
how changed! You hear now no roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed
volumes of smoke and flame rising from burning Charlestown. The ground
strewed with the dead and the dying; the impetuous charge; the steady
and successful repulse; the loud call to repeated assault; the
summoning of all that is manly to repeated resistance; a thousand
bosoms freely and fearlessly bared in an instant to whatever of terror
there may be in war and death;—all these you have witnessed, but you
witness them no more. All is peace. The heights of yonder metropolis,
its towers and roofs, which you then saw filled with wives and children
and countrymen in distress and terror, and looking with unutterable
emotions for the issue of the combat, have presented you to-day with
the sight of its whole happy population, come out to welcome and greet
you with a universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, by a felicity of
position appropriately lying at the foot of this mount, and seeming
fondly to cling around it, are not means of annoyance to you, but your
country's own means of distinction and defence /8/. All is peace; and
God has granted you this sight of your country's happiness, ere you
slumber in the grave. He has allowed you to behold and to partake the
reward of your patriotic toils; and he has allowed us, your sons and
countrymen, to meet you here, and in the name of the present
generation, in the name of your country, in the name of liberty, to
thank you!
another morn,
and the sky on which you closed your eyes was cloudless.
Risen on mid-noon /9/
[18] The occasion does not require of me any particular account of the
battle of the 17th of June, 1775, nor any detailed narrative of the
events which immediately preceded it. These are familiarly known to
all. In the progress of the great and interesting controversy,
Massachusetts and the town of Boston had become early and marked
objects of the displeasure of the British Parliament. This had been
manifested in the act for altering the government of the Province, and
in that for shutting up the port of Boston. Nothing sheds more honor on
our early history, and nothing better shows how little the feelings and
sentiments of the Colonies were known or regarded in England, than the
impression which these measures everywhere produced in America. It had
been anticipated, that, while the Colonies in general would be
terrified by the severity of the punishment inflicted on Massachusetts,
the other sea-ports would be governed by a mere spirit of gain; and
that, as Boston was now cut off from all commerce, the unexpected
advantage which this blow on her was calculated to confer on other
towns would be greedily enjoyed. How miserably such reasoners deceived
themselves! How little they knew of the depth, and the strength, and
the intenseness of that feeling of resistance to illegal acts of power,
which possessed the whole American people! Everywhere the unworthy boon
was rejected with scorn. The fortunate occasion was seized, everywhere,
to show to the whole world that the Colonies were swayed by no local
interest, no partial interest, no selfish interest. The temptation to
profit by the punishment of Boston was strongest to our neighbors of
Salem. Yet Salem was precisely the place where this miserable proffer
was spurned, in a tone of the most lofty self-respect and the most
indignant patriotism. “We are deeply affected,” said its inhabitants,
“with the sense of our public calamities; but the miseries that are now
rapidly hastening on our brethren in the capital of the Province
greatly excite our commiseration. By shutting up the port of Boston,
some imagine that the course of trade might be turned hither and to our
benefit; but we must be dead to every idea of justice, lost to all
feelings of humanity, could we indulge a thought to seize on wealth and
raise our fortunes on the ruin of our suffering neighbors.” These noble
sentiments were not confined to our immediate vicinity. In that day of
general affection and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote on
every patriotic heart from one end of the country to the other.
Virginia and the Carolinas, as well as Connecticut and New Hampshire,
felt and proclaimed the cause to be their own. The Continental
Congress, then holding its first session in Philadelphia, expressed its
sympathy for the suffering inhabitants of Boston, and addresses were
received from all quarters, assuring them that the cause was a common
one, and should be met by common efforts and common sacrifices. The
Congress of Massachusetts responded to these assurances; and in an
address to the Congress at Philadelphia, bearing the official
signature, perhaps among the last, of the immortal Warren,
notwithstanding the severity of its suffering and the magnitude of the
dangers which threatened it, it was declared, that this Colony “is
ready, at all times, to spend and to be spent in the cause of America.”
totamque infusa per artus
War, on their own soil and at their own doors, was, indeed, a
strange work to the yeomanry of New England; but their consciences were
convinced of its necessity, their country called them to it, and they
did not withhold themselves from the perilous trial. The ordinary
occupations of life were abandoned; the plough was staid in the
unfinished furrow; wives gave up their husbands, and mothers gave up
their sons, to the battles of a civil war. Death might come, in honor,
on the field; it might come, in disgrace, on the scaffold. For either
and for both they were prepared. The sentiment of Quincy was full in
their hearts. “Blandishments,” said that distinguished son of genius
and patriotism, “will not fascinate us, nor will threats of a halter
intimidate; for, under God, we are determined that, wheresoever,
whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will
die free men.”
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. /12/
[24] Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the establishment of great
public principles of liberty, and to do honor to the distinguished
dead. The occasion is too severe for eulogy of the living. But, Sir,
your interesting relation to this country, the peculiar circumstances
which surround you and surround us, call on me to express the happiness
which we derive from your presence and aid in this solemn
commemoration.
[33] It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances less auspicious,
political revolutions elsewhere, even when well intended, have
terminated differently. It is, indeed, a great achievement, it is the
master-work of the world, to establish governments entirely popular on
lasting foundations; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce the popular
principle at all into governments to which it has been altogether a
stranger. It cannot be doubted, however, that Europe has come out of
the contest, in which she has been so long engaged, with greatly
superior knowledge, and, in many respects, in a highly improved
condition. Whatever benefit has been acquired is likely to be retained,
for it consists mainly in the acquisition of more enlightened ideas.
And although kingdoms and provinces may be wrested from the hands that
hold them, in the same manner they were obtained; although ordinary and
vulgar power may, in human affairs, be lost as it has been won; yet it
is the glorious prerogative of the empire of knowledge, that what it
gains it never loses. On the contrary, it increases by the multiple of
its own power; all its ends become means; all its attainments, helps to
new conquests. Its whole abundant harvest is but so much seed wheat,
and nothing has limited, and nothing can limit, the amount of ultimate
product.
Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore,
Give me to see and Ajax asks no more. /16/
[41] And, now, let us indulge an honest exultation in the conviction of
the benefit which the example of our country has produced, and is
likely to produce, on human freedom and human happiness. Let us
endeavor to comprehend in all its magnitude, and to feel in all its
importance, the part assigned to us in the great drama of human
affairs. We are placed at the head of the system of representative and
popular governments. Thus far our example shows that such governments
are compatible, not only with respectability and power, but with
repose, with peace, with security of personal rights, with good laws,
and a just administration.
"Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment.
Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle,
nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits.... Whatever makes men good Christians,
makes them good citizens." - December 22, 1820. The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1853), Vol. I, pp. 22-24.
Haste hither, Eve, and, worth thy sight, behold
Eastward among these trees what glorious Shape
Comes this way moving: Seems another morn
Risen on mid-noon.