THE SCRAP BOOK.

June,—BUNKER HILL—June,
1775. 1843.

Peroration of the Address Delivered by Daniel Webster,
June 17, 1843, at the Dedication of the
Monument That Now Marks the Scene of
the Famous Revolutionary Struggle.

We have indulged in gratifying recollections of the past, in theprosperity and pleasures of the present, and in high hopes for the future.But let us remember that we have duties and obligations to perform,corresponding to the blessings which we enjoy. Let us remember the trust,the sacred trust, attaching to the rich inheritance which we have receivedfrom our fathers. Let us feel our personal responsibility, to the fullextent of our power and influence, for the preservation of the principlesof civil and religious liberty. And let us remember that it is onlyreligion, and morals, and knowledge, that can make men respectable andhappy under any form of government. Let us hold fast the great truth thatcommunities are responsible as well as individuals; that no government isrespectable which is not just; that without unspotted purity of publicfaith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor—no mere formsof government, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to politicalsociety. In our day and generation let us seek to raise and improve themoral sentiment, so that we may look, not for a degraded, but for anelevated and improved future. And when both we and our children shall havebeen consigned to the house appointed for all living, may love ofcountry—and pride of country—glow with equal fervor among those to whomour names and our blood shall have descended! And then, when honored anddecrepit age shall lean against the base of this monument, and troops ofingenuous youth shall be gathered round it, and when the one shall speakto the other of its objects, the purposes of its construction, and thegreat and glorious events with which it is concerned—there shall rise,from every youthful breast, the ejaculation—"Thank God, I—I also—am anAmerican!"