Excerpt from Oration, Delivered Before the Adelphic Union Society of Williams College, on the Evening Preceding the Commencement: Sept. 5, 1826How, too, would the revolution which severed these Colonies from the mother country, and which seems designed in providence to exert such a mighty inuence on the future destinies of the world, have been sustained or consum mated, if the actors in that drama had not brought to their work the lights of learning P There might, indeed, have been heard the murmurs of conscious oppression; but had there been no master spirits, imbued with Greek and Roman and British lore, to direct that raging storm, can it be doubted that the genius of colonial depen dence would still brood over this same land, which is now the brightest and loveliest inherit ance of freedom?About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.