as governor of Massachusetts, retiring in 1797 because of "the
increasing infirmities of age."

Like many other statesmen of his time he lived the greater part of
his life in poverty, but his only son, dying before him, left him a
property which supported him in his old age.

It is said that his great oration on American Independence,
delivered at Philadelphia in August 1776, and published here, is the
only complete address of his which has come down to us. It was
translated into French and published in Paris, and it is believed
that Napoleon borrowed from it the phrase, "A Nation of
Shopkeepers," to characterize the English.


AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

Countrymen and Brethren:--

I would gladly have declined an honor to which I find myself
unequal. I have not the calmness and impartiality which the
infinite importance of this occasion demands. I will not deny the
charge of my enemies, that resentment for the accumulated injuries
of our country, and an ardor for her glory, rising to enthusiasm,
may deprive me of that accuracy of judgment and expression which men
of cooler passions may possess. Let me beseech you, then, to hear
me with caution, to examine your prejudice, and to correct the
mistakes into which I may be hurried by my zeal.

Truth loves an appeal to the common sense of mankind. Your