Excerpt from Oration in Honor of Universal Emancipation in the British Empire, Delivered at South Reading, August First, 1834 Nnxr to doing good and great actions ourselves, the best thing is to appreciate them duly when done by others. A frank commendation of goodness affords a strong presumption of a wish to imitate it. We participate the glory which we celebrate. On the other hand, self-praise is real reproach, and a man's true worth will commonly be found to be inversely as his own vauntings. N o merit is so great that vanity cannot debase it, and none so little that humility may not exalt it. Our assem' bling together at this time, if we are actuated by the spirit which the occasion supposes and demands, cannot fail to be profitable in every view. It is an occasion of self-examination, not of self-applause; of commemorating a great civil achieve ment of another nation, not the military or political glory of our own of serious and humble preparation for following, not of self-complacent pride for setting, a noble example. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This 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.