Indiana Centinel, Volume 5, Number 18, Vincennes, Knox County, 1 September 1821 — Page 2

neighbor and friend, to the broader and more complicated relations of country-

conflict of (welve years which had prece- They ware a nation, asserting as ofrigM, ' In the prepress of time thai vial cf led and led to the declaration ofinde- and maintaining by -war, its own exis- wrath was exhausted After seven years prudence, our fathers had been not less tence. A nation was born in a day : of exploits and achievements like these.

(faithful to their duties, than tenacious of 4 How many a?;es hence performed tinder the orders of the Brit-

only with 'the circumference of the globe Uhenv Their resistance had not Shall this their lofty sc.ene.be acted o?er fsh kin-, to ue the lanW of the trea-

been rebellion. It was not a restless ana " In states unborn, and accents yet un- ty of peace, 44 it having pleased the Diungovernable spirit of ambition bursting known?" vine Providence to dispose the hearts of from the bonds of colonial subjection; it It will, be acted o'er, fellow-citizens, the most serene, and most potent prince, was the deep and wounded sense of sue- but it can never be repeated. It stands, George the 3d, by the grace of God cessive wrongs,upon which complaint had and must forever stand alone, a beacon king of Great Britain, France, and Irebeen only answered by aggravation, and on the summit of a mountain, to which land, defenderof the faith, duke of B runspetition repelled with contumely, which all the inhabitants of the earth may turn wick and Luneburg, arch treasurer ani

had driven them to their last stand upon their eyes for a genial and saving light, prince elector of the holy Roman emii i : i .. r i i 4 i'n i' A.ii t. .i ?a. ial i i l r.iiTT-i

me auainauime iuck ui numan ngnis mi lime suaii ue lost in eternity, anu tins pire, anu so iorui auu oi me united It was then fifteen months after, the globe itself dissolve, nor leave a wreck States of America, to" whati 4'To blood 'of Lexington and Bunker's Hill, behind. It stands forever, a light of ad- forget all past misunderstandings and difafter Charlestown and Falmouth, fired monition to the rulers of men, a light of ferences that have unhappily interrupted by British ' hands, were but heaps of salvation and redemption to the oppres- the good correspondence and friendship allies, after the ear of the adder had been sed. So long as this planet shall be in- which they mutually wish to restore"turned to two successive supplications to habited by human beings; so long as men what then? Why, "His Britannic majesthe throne ; after two successive appeals shall be of social nature, so long as gov- ty acknowledges the said United States, to the people of Britain, as friends, coun- eminent shall be necessary to the great viz: New-Hampshire, Massachusetts trijmcn, and brethren, to which no respon- moral purposes of society : and so long Bay, Rhode Island and Providence lansive voice of sympathetic tenderness had as it shall be abused to the purposes of tations, Connecticut, New-York, Newbeen returned oppression, so long shall this declaration Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary44 Nought but the noise of drums and hold out to the sovereign and to the sub- land, Virginia, North Carolina, South timbrels loud, jeet the exleut and the boundaries of Carolina and (ieorgia, to be free, sorer44 Their children's cries unheard that their respective rights and duties, foun- cign and independent states, that he treats passed through fire ded in the laws of nature and of nature's wTl h theniassuch;andforhimse!f,hisleir 4 To the grim idol" God. Fire and forty years have passed and successors, relinquishes all claims to Then it was, that the th rtcen united col- -away since this declaration was issued by the government, proprietary and terri-" onies of North America, by their dele- our lathers; and here are we, feltow-cit- torial rights of the same, and everv part gates in congress assembled, exercising izens, assembled 'in the fulf enjoyment of thereof." the first act of sovereignty by right ever -its fruits to bless the Author of Being for Fellow-citizens, lam not without npinherent in -the -people, but never to be the bounties of his province in casting prehension that some parts of this ex.-

resorteu 10 save at me awitu crisis wnen our iocs in mis iavoreu lanu ; tj remem- tract, cited to the word and to the letter e vil society is solved into its first ele- berr with effusions of gratitude, the sages from the treaty of peace of 1783 may Ail lji n 1 I i f ii 111 i i ? t . - ' . - ' J

which we inhabit, in the co-extensive

ch irities incident to the common nature of m m. To each of these relations, different degrees of sympathy are allotted by the ordinances of nature. The sympathies of domestic life are not more sacred and obligatory, but closer and more powerful, than those of neighborhood and friendship. The tie which binds us to our country, "is not more holy in the sight of G d, but it is more deeply seated in our nature, more tender and. endearing, than that looser link which merely Connectssis with our fellow mortal man. It is a common government that constitutes our country. But in --that association, ail the sympathies of domestic life and kindred blood, all the moral ligatures of friendship and of neighborhood, are combined with that instinctive and mysterious connexion between man and physical nature, which binds the first perceptions of childhood in a chain of sympathy with the last gasp of expiring age, to the spot of our nativity, and the natural objects by which it is surrounded. These" sympathies belong and are indispensable to the relations ordained by nature between the individual and his country. Thy dwell in the memory and a:-e indelible "in the hearts of the first settlers of a distant celony. These are the feelings under which the children of Israelsat down by the rivers of Babylon, and wept when they remembered Zion." These arc the sympathies under which they 44 hung their harps upon the willows," and instead of songs of mirth, exclaimed, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." But those sympathies can never exist for a country, which we have never seen. They -ire transferred in the breasts of the succeeding generations, from the country of human institution to the country of their birth, from the land of which they have only heard, to the land where their eyes first opened to the day. The ties of neighborhood are broken up,

those of friendship can never be firmed, with an intervening ocean ; and the nattural ties of domestic life, the all-ubd-i-ing sympathies of love, the indissoluble bonds of marriage, the heart rivctted kindliness of consanguinity, gradually wither and perish in the lapse of a few generations.. All the elements w'uch form the basis of that sympathy between

the individual and h s country are dissol

ved. Lona: before the declaration of in

aole wrongs, concentrated in this declaration; it is not the melancholy catalogue of alternate oppression and entreaty, of reciprocated indignity and remonstrance, upon -which, in the celebration of this anniversary, your memory delights to dwell. Nor is it yet that the justice of your cause was vindicated by the God of battles; that in a conflict of seven ycars,thc history-of the war by which you maintained that declaration, became the history of the civilized world; that the unanimous voice of enlightened Curope, and the verdict of an after age, have sanctioned your assumption of sovereign power; aud that th 3 name of your Washington is

j enrolled upon the records of time, fin.t ; in the glorious line of heroic virtue. It

dependence, the great mass of the peo-;:is not that the monarch himself, who i r t 4l. i i i

..Die ui -America, aim kjl iru i;c iiun ueeu uur oimressor. was lorane -

of Britain, had become total stran- led to recognize you as a sovereign and gers to each-other. The people of Amer- independent people, and that the nation, icawere known to the people of Britain whose feelings of fraternity for you had only by the transactions of trade ; by slumbered in the lap of pride, was awashipments of lumber and flaxseed, indigo kened in the arms of humiliation to your and tobacco. They were known to the equal and no longer contested rights, government, only by half a dozen colon- The primary purpose of this declaration, ial agents, humble, and often spurned the proclamation to the world of the caussuitors at the feet of power, and by royal es of our revolution, is 44 with the years governors, minions of patronage, sent beyond the flood." It is of no more infroni the footstool of a throne beyond terest to us than the chastity of Lucrethe seas, to rule a people of whom they tia, or the apple on the head of the child knew nothing; as if an inhabitant of the of Tell. Little less than forty years moon should descend to give laws to the have revolved since the struggle for indwellers upon earth. Here, and there, dependence was closed; another generaa mm of-letters and a statesman, cenver- tion has arisen: and, in the assembly of

ments, declared themselves free and in- who put forth, and the heroes who bied have discomposed the serenilu of your

dependent states, and two days after- for the establishment of, this declaration; temper Far be it from me to disjwsc wards," in justification of that act, issued and by the communion of soul, in the your hearts to a levity unbecoming th this unanimous decoration of the thirteen re-perusal and hearing of this instrument, hallowed dignity of this day But thi United States of America jto renewthe genuine holy alliance of its treaty of peace is the dessert appropriate) Here Mr. Adams read, from the ori--principles, to recognize them as eternal to the sumptuous banquet of the decluginal lying before him, the declaration truths, and to pledge ourselves and bind ration. It is the epilogue to that unparof Independence. four posterity,. to a faithful and undevia- al'eled drama of whiche declaration i

It is not, let me repeat, fellow-citizens, iting adherence to them. the prologue. Observe, mv countrymen

eIIow-citizens, our fatners have been and friends, how the rules of unity presfaithful to them before us. When the cribed by the great master of the Active little band of their delegates, " with a stage, were preserved in this tragedy of firm reliance on the protection of Divine pitv and terror in real life. Here was a

Providence, for the support of his decia- beinnin"-, a

it is not the lon enumeration of intolcr-

a middle, and an end. nf mm

. . . - . . . o ij y "

ration, mutually pledged to each other ! mighty action. The beinnin- was tho their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred declurntion which we have readTthe miJtonctt," from every dwelling, street, and die, was thr.t sanguinary, calamitous, but square, of your populous cities, it was glorious war, which calls for deeper col-re-echoed with shouts of joy and gratula- ors, and a brighter pencil than mine to tion, and -if the silent language of the : pourtray : the end was the disposal by heart could have been heard, every hill ! Divine Providence that same Divine upon the surface of this continent which Providence upon whose protection your had been trodden by the fool-of civilized fathers had so solemnly and so eflectua!man every valley -in which the toil of . y declared their firm re'liance.of the heart

uur lauiers nau pencu a paratase upon . 0t the most serene and most potent prince

lo acknowledge your independence to the precise extent in which it had been declared. Here was no jrreat charter of Huimy 3Ie ad, yielded and accepted as u. rrrau t of royal bounty. That which the declaration had asserted, which seven years of mercy-harrowing war had contested, was here, in express and unequivocal terms, acknowledged. And how? By the mere disposal of the heart of tho most serene and most potent prince. The declaration of independence pronounced the irrevocable decree of political separation between the:United States and tiieir people on the "one part, anj the British k;Mg, government, and nation, on the other It proclaimed the first

principles on which civil government ij

the wild, would have rung with one ac

cordarlt voice, louier U an the thunders, sweeter than the harmonics of the heavens, with the solemn aud responsive words, " We sjocar." The . pledge has been redeemed. Through six years of devastating but heroic war; through forty years of more heroic peace, the principles of this declaration have been supported by the toils, by the vigils, by the blood of your fathers, and of yourselves The condiet of war had begun with fearful odds of apparent human power on the part of the oppressor: he wielded at will the collective force of the mightiest nation of Furope He, with more than poetic

truth, asserted the dominion ot the waves.

mi ' I

I tie power to whose unjust usurpation founded, and derived from them tho

your talkers nutted tne gau.itlet ot ue!i- . justilication before earth and heaven r,f

ance, bamed and vanquished by them, has -this act of snvfrnirmtv l,f if ia

-t. ii u!. i u: e ui- i . . .. . I ..: i ..Viwi. ' r . . . " 0"V i

saui wiui an iiisiury, h.uc suiiieiuui ui nations, our repuuiic, is aireauy a matron een m:ici , siuppuuoi an me energies oi people ol tins union collective and inn'

the colonies, as he knew something ot of mature age The cause of your hide- this continent, . been found adequate to dual without organized government Cochin China and Japan. Yet even the pe deuce is no longer upon-trial; the fi- give the law to its own quarter of the In eGrtenmlatino- thU t ito f ti,; 1 ... r r i i i a i i i ' i i a 1 1 ,i , 1 . r it t Ji.iwnjiuuiu8 mis si.ue oi iiiings, ona prime minister ot England, urging upon nal sentence iou it has long i.een passed giobe, and to mould the destinies of the oi the proloundest of British statemen his aamipoteat parliament laws for grin- upon earth and ratified in Heaven. European world It was wiUi a sling in an ecstaoy of astonishment excla" - dini; the colonies to submission, could The interest which in this paper has and a stone that your fathers went forth ed, 44 Anarchy is found tolerable!" But" talk.without amazing or diverting his hear survived the occasion upon which it was to encounter the massive viiror of this tlmw wo ,,r. ......ok r lL' j

j c l cj cuiaiuii v . I'lirii ii ii iiiir nr

ers,ofthe island of Virginia: even Ldimmd issued; the interest which is of every age Goliah. They slung the heaveu-direc- the declaration, the people of the North Burke, a man of more ethereal mind, ap- and every clime; the interest which quick- ted stone, and American u-'n 9n,i r ;c

r..- i.i ..i i e- .,.n ir:iL i 1 a' - . "l lJ "-"'"luuciiu

ofog.rt.'ig 10 me people oi nrisioi, lor me ens wun ine lapse oi years, spreads as it; inu neawcsi sour.u me giam monster states, were associated bodies of civilized olfenceof sympathizing with the distres- grows old, and brightens as it recedes,; fell." men and christians, in a state of nature - ses of our country, ravaged by the fire is in the principles which it proclaims.; Amid shouts of victory, your cause but not of anarchy They were bound and word of Britons, asked indulgence It wa the first solemn declaration by a soon found friends and allies in the rivals bv the lavsofCrwl wh',JL

for his feelings on the score of general nation of the only legitimate foundation : of your enemies. France .recognized by the laws of the "-ospcl which 'the-

u l a i .i tut . 1- -i i. i, i .1 i . J . .i"-t'

iiuru.i.m, uuu cijursv u'.ucu nuti oi eivii go emnieiu. ii was me corner juur uiuepeuueuce as existing in lact, nearly all, acknoweded as the rules of the Americans were a nation utter stone of a new fabric, destined to cover and made common cause with you for its their conduct. They were bound bv stmngers to him, and among whom he the surface of the. globe. It demolished, support. J?paiu and Netherlands, with- all those tender and endearing symnawas not s-ue of having a single acquain- at a -stroke, the lawfulness cf aJl govern-! out adopting your principles, succes- thies,the absence of which in the Britance The sympathies, therefore, most ments founded upon conquest. .It swept sively flung their weight into your scales. tUh overnmeit and nntlan tn,r,u

essential to the communion of country, away all the rubbish of accumulated cen- The Semiramis, of the North, no convert was the primary cause of the distressing were, between the British and American turies of servitude. It announced in toyourdoctrii.csjStillconjuredallthema- conflict into which they had been precipeoplo, extinct. Those most indispen- practical form to the wcrld the transccn- ritime neutrality of Europe in army a- pitated They were bound by all the

sable to the just relation between sover

veen sover- dent truth of the unalienable sovereignty gainst the usurpation of your antagonist beneficent lw nn,l

cign and sidiject, had ne ver existed, and of the people. It proved that the social upon the seas. While some of the fair- their forefathers had brought with thera could not exist between the British gov- compact was no figment of the imagina- est of your fields were ravaged ; while from their mother country0 not as servi-

ernment and the American peop.e lhe tion, but a real, solid, and sacred bond of your towns and villages were consumed tudes. but as rights Thpr wprP hnnnrl

i it !. :i ... I." .1.,.. .ni!. .. -til. C . ...1 ! l i , .... c w - " "

in uie Mjciai uiiiwu. nuui me udv ui iuis "un iuc, uuc me iiar ests oi vour by habits o.ardv ii

connexion was unnatural, and

imitrv hv FriiTol

7 , ..u-.i ailH

murai uruer, nu ieviuau in me po- uecianuion tne peopie oi flortu Amen- summers were oiasiea; wmie the purity hospitable manners by the general sen sitive.lecrees of Providence, that it ca were no longer the fragment of a dis- of virgin innocence, and the chastity of timents of social equality, by pure and should be dissolved. tani empire, iaolonng justice and mercy matronly virtue, were violated; while the virtuous mom's, and lastly, they were Yet, fellow-citizens, these are nof the from an inexorable master in another living remnants of the field of battle were burd bv the rannlin hnnl- r

Causes of the separation assigned in the hemisphere They were no longer chil- reserved for the gibbet, by the fraternal mon suffering under the scourge of oppaper which I am about -to read. The dren appealing in. vain to the sympathies sympathies of Britons throughout your pression. VVhere then amon" such a

mcricaa iadepeadence.