Excerpt from The Address of the Society of Constitutional Republicans

Friends and Fellow-Citizens,

After an arduous contest in support of those principles of civil liberty, to which the Revolution gave birth; during the first period of a triumph, that conferred the Executive and Legislative authority of the nation, upon patriots of our own choice; while the character of the American People, and of their Government, is rising, with unrivalled lustre, in the estimation of the wise and the good throughout the world; and in the ripe season of domestic prosperity, presenting its blessings as the reward of virtue and industry, without distinction of persons, places, or pursuits; - who can hear, without surprize, the cry of social discontent; or view, without apprehension, a spirit of political innovation? But the painful crisis has arrived! Amidst all our inducements to preserve harmony and peace, the standard of discord has been wantonly unfurled. By specious tales of imaginary wrongs, you have been urged to doubt the reality of the happiness you enjoy. In the hope of substituting the glitter of impracticable theories, for the steady light of experience, the fundamental laws and constitutions of the land, are assailed. The wreath of honor, placed by yourselves upon the brow of sages and of chiefs, is rudely violated by strange and obtrusive hands. And the Republican Party of Pennsylvania (out-running the opprobrious prediction of its enemies) seems eager to become the speedy instrument of its own destruction.

The evil, thus distinctly traced, is great; but, Fellow-Citizens, it is not incurable. Reflecting upon the origin and progress of the scheme to subvert our Government, and to degrade our Patriots; the motives, the means, and the number, of its authors and supporters; the very nature of the influence, which has beguiled some honest and respectable Citizens to its aid; and the irresistible force of reason and truth, in developing the fatal consequences, with which it teems; you will be convinced that there is yet safety, by an appeal to the virtue, intelligence, and power of the people.

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