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mous resolutions were passecTby this great assembly of 500 , selected from all parties , expressive of their exalted sense of his merits and public
ser-. The private character of President Adams was perfectly pure , unsullied and unstained . There was no Christian or moral duty which he did not fulfil—the kindest of husbands , and the best of fathers .
An Oration to the Memory of Thomas Jefferson , delivered in Richmond , Virginia , by Governor Tyler . WHY this numerous assemblage —this solemn and melancholy procession—these habiliments of woe ?
Do they betoken the fall of some mighty autocrat , of some Imperial Master , who hath " bestrid the earth like a Colossus , " and whose remains are followed to the grave by the tools and minions of his power ? Are they the tokens of a ceremonious woe—a
mere mockery of feeling ? Or are they the spontaneous offering's of gratitude and love ?—What mighty man has fallen in Israel , and why has Virginia clothed herself in mourning ? The tolling of yon dismal bell , and the
loud , but solemn , discharge of artillery , hath announced to the nation the melancholy tidings—Thomas Jefferson no longer lives . That glorious orb , which has for so many years given
light to our footsteps , has set in death . The Patriot , the Statesman , the Philosoper , the Philanthropist , has sunk into the grave . Virginia mourns over his remains , and her harp is hung upon the willows .
Why need I say more ? There is a language in this spectacle which speaks more eloquence than tongue can utter . This is the testimony of a well-spent life—the tribute of a nation ' s gratitude . Look on this sight , ye rulers of the earth , and learn from it the
lessons of wisdom . Ye ambitious and untamed spirits , who seek the attainment of glory by a scaffolding formed of human suffering , behold a people in tears over the funeral bier of their
benefactor , and , if true glory be your object , be guided by the light of this example . la pronouncing the eulogy of the dead , my countrymen , I have no blood-
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stained banner to presentr—np battles to reeount- ^ no sword or helmet to deposit on his hearse . I bare to entwine a civic wreath which Philosophy has woven , and Patriotism has hallowed . The achievements of the warrior in
the field , attract the attention of mankind and fasten on the memory ; while the labours of the civilian too often pass unnoted and unknown . But not so with that man whose death we this day mourn . The results of his policy are exhibited in all around . Although his sun has sunk below the horizon of
this world , yet hath it left a train of light , which shall never be extinguished . At the commencement of his successful career , he manifested the same devotion to the rights of man , which he evinced in all his after life . At an
early day he so distinguished himself as the firm and fearless asserter of the rights of Colonial America , as to draw upon him the frown of the Royal Governor—and had already anticipated the occurrence of the period when the colonies should be elevated to the
condition of free , sovereign , and independent States . Having drawn liis principles from the fountains of a pure philosophy , he was prepared to assail the slavish doctrine that man was incapable of self-government , and to aid in building , upon its overthrow , that
happy system under which it is our destiny to live . On the coming of that tremendous storm , which for eight years desolated our country , Mr . Jefferson hesitated not , halted not . Born to a rich inheritance , destined to the attainment of high distinction under
the regal government , courted by the aristocracy of the land , he adventured , with the single motive of advancing the cause of his country , and of human freedom , into that perilous contest , throwing into the scale his life and
fortune , as of no value . The devoted friend of man , he had studied his rights ia the great volume of nature , and saw with rapture the era near at hand , when those rights should be proclaimed , and the world aroused from the
slumber of centuries . 1 he season was approaching for the extension of the empire of reason and philosophy , ana the disciple of Locke and of Sydney rejoiced at its approach . Among his fellow-labourers , those devoted champions of liberty , those brilliant lights
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640 Jefferson and Adams *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1826, page 640, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2554/page/4/
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