r
legislation: To all which, we expostulated by petitions, con
taining the most humiliating language; setting forth our ma
ny burthens and grievances, and praying relief. Our peti
tions mocked, our prayers ridiculed and scoffed to derision,
we were left without a solitary remedy, save that ot an ap
peal to arms. Believing that it was base for man to suffer,
when resistance is a duty, the colonies with one voice and
one feeling, flew to their muskets; declaring that they would
sooner die on the field of battle, than to be thus goaded and
oppressed by a set of foreign lordlings.
Finding themselves destitute of disciplined forces, fleets
and fortresses, wanting both great and small arms, they saw
to be successful, that council, unanimity and moderation
were indispensable; to effect which, the Convention at Plu
l.irfplnhlri wre convened, and a league entered into by thir
teen distinct provinces, under the denomination of the Old
Confederation, composed ot a galaxy oi neroes, pamoi
and statesmen, a single one ot wnom wouiu nave uune min
or to a nation in wisdom, and virtue, and patriotism, they
stand without an example on the records of time than
whnm ! mnre august assemblage, never has convened be-
u u Uorli;liinpf r.ivie. nf vnndpr's refulerent sun. Yet
even they, great apostles of liberty, by such, as their lord
ships North, Mansfield and Northington, were denounced j
as simpletons, villains and traitors, demagogues and knaves,1
But the result of their labors flashes refutation, in the ve
ry face of these slanders. The independence of these Uni
ted States is the living monument of their deathless fame.
The Declaration which you have just heard read, was con
ceived by their heads and emanated from their hands; a
work that will be handed down to the latest posterity, as
an unrivalled production of masterly genius. In a state of
chaotic dismemberment, with undisciplined troops, with
inexperienced generals; destitute of money, of clothing, and
lorrefusing quarter to all sexes, alike to the innocenUnd
the brave, fill then our drooping spirits, had been held to
gether, only by the victories' of Saratoga, "Stony-point and
Monmouth. . .. .; . . rr
But the news of the Cowpens, the capture of Clermont,
the triumph of Eutaw, again began to revive our dejected
nation; and amidst their distresses, they eemed to gain
strength from the pressure of their calamities. 1 he victo
ries of Hastings, Poictiers and,Agincourt; Badajos, Victo-
riaand Salamanca; Austerlitz, Marengo aim
the victories of living tvrant's but the sacred day ot York
town, on which England's blood-stained hirelings laid down
their arms, above every other, upon the face ot the earth,
was the most glorious, the most sublime. On that day, did
the long silenced trump of freedom blast; with speed, n
sent its heraldic harbingers north, south, east and west, pro
claiming in a loud voice, the triumph of constitutional lib
erty and national freedom. The transports of ioy are un
utterable. On the recital of this news, widows and orphans,
and matrons and virgins, and hoary fathers sprang from
their seats, commingling their response to heaven: All hail.
Columbia, Columbia is free! The paroxysms of transport,
as an electric shock, spread alike through the city, the vil
lage and the cottage the yelling savage ceased to scream;
the tramp of the war-horse was no longer to be heard
from every church, from every chapel peals of joy and
nm.in5 in httiven nrnse. in gratitude, to the great deliverer
of our country. From the metropolis down to the lowly
hut, illuminations blazed forth, eclipsing the brightness or
the lunar rays, and converting the gloom of midnight into
solar day.
Will this be thought an exaggeration? when I say, on the
enunciation of these" blissful tidings, at the door of our Na
tional Congress, one of its officers swooned away, and Did
ten, and the diseases of past times have
again appeared in the present age. It js
for us to say, how far it shall prove an
epidemic amongst us, or whether we
shall apply to it, the great catholiconof
disinterested patriotism, and frown uporl
its first dawnings, its unchasteued au
thors into the shades of eternal obscurity
Ours is an infant Republic, but of a
day's duration; We, probationary repub.
ucans, an experiment we are about ma.
king; the history of mankind is before
us, and is against us; the durability 0f
such a government is, and has hr
doubted and mooted by the wisest and
profoundest politicians.
Shall we then behold, with criminal
indifference, the operations of this, th
only free institution on earth; and see
immolated at the shrine of party spirit
and corruption, the dearest rights and
liberties of man? 0! slumbering patriots!
Arouse! I invoke you, from that phle.
matic state of indifference: 0
"Bid thy loved country, shake off that gloom
Which binds her feeble temples with dis
grace, And like the bold, but deathless chiefs of old,
Entwine everlasting laurels in its place.
America! my dear, my native soil,
For whom my warmest wish to heaven is
sent;
Long may thy sons, of rustic toil,
Be bless'd with health, andpeace, and sweet
content."
nf war; nn attemnt to . adieu to time and to mortalitv.
r.h circumstances, wasi Fellow-citizens: such is but a feeble 'delineation of facts,
looked on by some, as merely chimerical and visionary, by 1 and the emotions witnessed on that momentous occasion,
others, as an act of arrogance and consummate presumption. Liberty, indeed, is a word which we all use with familiari
To conduct us through this impending storm, while all ty; the lisping tyro, the adult, and proficient politician, the
eyes were glared, and each patriot's hair bristled on his. sable slave and Ethiopian savage; but its costless price is
head, (knowing that the price of their failure was a hempen known but to few. It is of luxurious growth, in a healthy
rope,) the clash of opinion, with igArd to a leader great, a climate, but withers amidst corruption; a tender plant, but
man of ?)iight appearedbom a patriot, by birth a discipli-; cannot flourish amidst noxious weeds; a boon, which we
narian, who with a magic touch transformed the rustic yeo-Jhavc inherited from the noblest race of man. It has been
man into the veteran soldier a chief whom the American left to us and our posterity to say, what culture it shall
people delighted to honor, in whom they reposed the most, have, how long it shall flourish.
unlimited confidence his memory is enshrined in the hearts! To preserve it unalloyed and in its pristine purity, re
of his country; his fame is as lasting as time for WASH- quires much vigilance, and a continual application to its first
INGTON, the God-like, was his name. To him, the desti-1 principles; subjected to be operated on by all the turbulent
nies of our nation, by universal consent were committed, j passions of human nature, it is never secure from revolution
Placed at the head of a raw rabble of troops, to oppose the, and annihilation. If we doubt this, let us for a few mo
victorious battalions of British Veterans; with more thanjments turn our eyes on the histories of other nations, that
human foresight, he surveyed the whole operations of a se-joncc professed to be free and to enjoy liberty. "Let us un
ven year's campaign. Indeed, it is difficult to say, whether 1 veil the causes of their misfortunes, and be taught true wis-
this illustrious individual excelled mostly in council, or in.dom. Let the experience of past ages become a mirror of
the field of battle: In courage, though not desperate, he was : instruction to the present and future generations,
constant and irresistible always repugnant to an unnecessa-l Ask, where is Thebes, with her hundred gates andJiun
ry profusion of blood; in prudence, he stands not second toldrcd palaces; once the cradle of science and metropolis of
Fabius of old; in design, not inferior to the great Africanus, the commercial world? Where Tyre? Where Babylon,
the boast of antiquity, and the pride of imperial home suchi Palmyra, with their thousand spires piercinjr the very hea-
was he who commanded the Continental forces. ven? "Ye solitary ruins! ye sacred tombs! ye silent an(
From the commencement of this unequal conflict, no man
could have rationallv anticioated its ultimate issue. Our
y
mouldering walls! all hail! I invoke you?
i
ye silent ana
Where those
busy multitudes, that once infested your cities and thronged
defeats were successive and numerous. 1 he repulse of ourj vour streets? Awhile ajro, the whole world bowed the neck
army at Brandywine, the capture of Charleston, the surren-l in silence before your powers, and acknowledged your do
minion where your once boasted liberties? Huned and
gone forever, beneath the desolated ruins of your empires
the solitary abodes of scorpions, and serpents, and poison
4er of Camden, the investment of Philadelphia and New
York by our capacious enemies; the devastating and plun
dering of Virginia by Arnold, had damped the ardor of ev
ery patriot heart, and the struggling cause of expiring liber-! ous toads.r Say, has all this not been effected by designing
ly, was about to be swept away from the lace ot the earth.
Long since, had its genius been persecuted and expelled
from the older world; hunted and chased OMt of the ancient
continents, it had fled to the wilds of America for repose,
and amidst forests and deserts sought relief, from tyranny
and oppression.
But delusive indeed, were those soothing dreams; for its
growth and prosperity soon became an object of envy to
kings and tyrants. England, though first, should have
been the last, to have attempted its final extirpation. But
who can set bounds to a tyrant's envy, or a mercenary ty
rant's revenge. Hordes of hireling troops were transport
ed, to invade with unhallowed tread, the land consecrated
to freedom to butcher its votaries on its sacred soil, and to
extinguish forever the remnant flame of expiring liberty.
For awhile Dame Fortune seemed to sport with their project
and success to await their hellish designs. Our half-starved,
naked soldiery, panic-struck at the splendor and equipment
of their adversaries, yielding to their superior discipline, fled
before them in every direction, marking their flight by the
.blood of their unshodden heels. Their cities and villages
tying in ashes, their country pillaged and desolated by a
ruthless enemy, there is no wonder that they should have
conceived for awhile, that all was lost; for the stoutest pa
triot heart, was bent down with the afflictions of his coun
try. The old man, in silence, wept tears of bitterness over
its misfortunes; while the frantic mother, placed her tear
streaming eyes on her fresh-grown son, warm to engage in
his country's cause, only as an object of prey for those Eu
ropean vultures, speeding her fervent prayers to heaven:
O God! be with my darling boy.
Fellow-citizens: it would be vanity beyond compare in
me, to attempt a description of the ineffable feelings and
sufferings of our forefathers at that particular crisis. Our
greatest statesmen had their misgivings and the profound
est doubts shrouded both great and small. For awhile,
great WASHINGTON paused. Arnold had already de
serted our flag, and with fire and sword was spreading deso
lation and diath throughout our country butcher-like trai-
and corrupt man, aided by the withering hand of party spirit?
Let us not stop here we have other instructive lessons.
Where the liberties of Greece? The democracy of Rome?
The Republic of Carthage? Alternately have the liberties
of each been sacrificed to the demon of party nge. Ener
vated by civil discord, they presented the most flattering
prospects of conquest to the barbarian invaders. The sons
of Epaminondas and Leonidas, the immortal heroes of Ma
rathon and Thermopylae, have degenerated into the slaves
of the Musselmcn, and for four centuries have submissively
worn the yoke of the descendants of Mahomet. The pride
and patriotism of Grecian Thebes, of Athens and Sparta, have
cringed and chuckled at the feet of the lordling Turk.
The contentionsof Marius and Sy Ha, of Pompey and
Cscsar, of Brutus and Anthony, reduced Rome to a state of
degradation; drenched with her own blood, sickening at her
multiplied misfortunes, her best patriots, for a servile and
dishonorable peace, willingly bartered the last remnant of
Roman freedom. On the plains of Pharsalia and Phillippi,
went down the sun of Rome's much boasted liberties, to
rise no more. The great schisms in the Republic of Car
thage, proved equally fatal to her freedom. With the fall
of Hannibal, fell mighty Carthage; beneath the ashes of.that
imperial city, now lie buried forever the liberties of Africa.
I ask, if the same causes are not likely to produce the same
or similar effects now? Is fire not as hot now, as then?
Does not water quench fire, as soon? Is not a pierce of the
dagger to the heart equally moliferous and productive of
death? Is man not equally avaricious and ambitious? In
fine,, is not man naturally the same in every age and clime?
Agitated by their own passions, men, whether in their indi
vidual capacity, or as collective bodies, always impatient
and improvident, passing from one extreme to another, from
freedom to tyranny, from tyranny to slavery, from pride to
abjectness, from presumption to despair, have been the eter
nal instruments of their own misfortunes. A hundred di
verse nations, a hundred powerful empires, in their inces
sant vicissitudes, have read airain ami a wain th
lessons to all mankind; yet these lessons are much forgot-
Xarljorouslj,
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1828.
(JJThe Celebration at F. Philips'?,
will appear in our next paperalso, that
of the pupils of the Female School at
Hyde Park, in Halifax county.
(jQ3 We are requested by Kexeth
Hymax, to withdraw his name from the
list of candidates for this county.
Mr. JJdams. We see by some re
marks in a late Washington City Tele
graph, that Mr. Adams is to be present
ed with "a portion of the bitter waters
which his dependants have prepared for
his illustrious rival" in other words,
an attack on Mrs. Adams is contempla
ted. We regret that such a course is to
be adopted; in our opinion, this is the
only step that can be taken to check the
re-action which now progresses so rap
idly in every direction, and which will
in a few months carry Gen. Jackson to
the Presidency by a triumphant majori
ty. No: let it be for that party, and
that party only in this country, whicu
boasts of embracing "all the wealth, ah
the intelligence, and all the respectabili
ty," to invade the domestic sanctuary
and sport with the sensibility oi females.
The same reckless course was pursued
by the party that supported the El&f
Adams, when the "factious opposition
was headed by Mr. Jefferson, that is
now the distinguishing feature of the
Administration party, in the contest be
tween President Adams and Gen. Jack
son; and we doubt not, but it will beat
tended with similar results. Then as
now, wealth, intelligence, aud respecta
bility were arrayed against integrity, pa
triotism, and eminent services then z
now, the fireside was invaded, private
disputes magnified, pecuniary transac
tions distorted, and fraud and forger
called in to aid the dominant part 'n
misleading the honest yeomanry ot t e
country. Then John Quincy Aia
was foremost with his tongue and
pen in ridiculing and abusing the ''i? 3' ,
of Democracy," the immortal Jeffer
but, notwithstanding he mingled
his own hand some of the "bitter watery
which were presented to that illustrio
patriot, we would not present him in
turn with the same potion. N: r
honor of our country for the rep L
due to the station he occupies, no
reprehensible the means resorted
obtaining it, or the inability maniu
in the discharge of its duties,
yet say, forbear.