Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-10-02

From the Baltimore Telegraph.

iO iOllOHl iIS diC TIC IdlllCS vi llC
surviving signers of our declaration of
independence:
JOHN ADAMS, of Massachusetts,
WILLIAM LLLERy, Of Rhode-l Hand,
WILLIAM FLOYD, of Newly ork,
CHARLES CARROLL, Of Mary land, and
Thomas JEFFERSON, OF Virginia.
To which we may add the name of
the venerable CHARLES iHoMgsoN, OF
Pennsylvania, who signed the aeclara
ton oil Independence as secretary TO
congress-, and which office ne held du-
ring the whole revolution, and until the
organization OF the present government.
what a train OF reflection Is oXcited by
the pcrusal OF THIS fact. five ont of the
fifty SIX patriots who witnessed the birth
oil our national independence, are still
living. Compare this fact with another,
that the emperor oil Austria has recently
dlned on board OF an American ship OF
war, and to what bewildering sensations
does It lead what an advance OF nation
al greatness IN the short period of forty
three years. During that term of time
this nation has shewn to the world the
only example of a republic remaining
on the surface Of the globe on which we
tread. Kings and emperors have bowed
in homage 10 the American character,
and i've OF those who watched over the
cradle OF the young Hercules, are still
living witnesses OF the fact And is
there an heart SO cold and so dead, that
does not throb with anxiety for the pre-
servatlon OF republic, whose early
auspices have been SO glorious and SO
resplendent i! Does not the single fact
that we have just mentioned, Justify the
tondest anuclpatlons on our part, that
our nation is indeed born to high destl-
mes Could the curtain oftuturity have
been Withdrawn from the eyes OF those
patriots who signed the declaration of in
dependence, with what confidence would
they have added the sanction of their
names. They were cheered by no such
anlmatng spectacle-all before their
eyes was cloud, and darkness, and storm.
We mention this fact not for the pur.
pose oil Idle defamation, but as evidence
that our countrymen should not despond
under the pressure of temporary difficult
ties. What for example have we to
contend WITH now in comparison with
what our ancestors had We feel COIL
mercial distress, and the want Of Cir.
cuiaung medium, they beheld towns i'll
fiames--their countrymen butchered by
the sword oil proud and naughty foe
pcnury, want, and famine in the most
Mucous forms, and is il for us to de-
spond the sons of those sires that
could look such appalling calamities in
the face lilo, the time will shortly ar
rive, and at no distant period, when we
shall be astonished at the dependency
that we now suffer. When we have by
means SO evidently proyidcntial been
preserved, can we believe that We are no
longer objects of providcntial superin-
tendence 1t is ingratitude, and the
grossest ingratitude, to the Being from
whom we have received such multiplied
mercies to doubt this protection now.
Let those who despond, look at the de-
ciaratlon ofour independence, and blush
at their own unworthiness--blush that
they should even dream of detection,
and complain of the hardness of the
times, when those very evils under
which they are SO pusillanimously re-
pining, have in great measure been oc-
casioned by their own conduct. We are
suffering the consequence of our own
folly, and we complain as if we had been
visited by famine or by pestilence.
While on the declaration of indepen-
dence, VIC would suggest it as a matter
worthy of consideration, whether it oug...
not to be a subject of school exercises.
The principles of our government can
not be too early impressed on the minds
of the rising race, if we wish to insure
permanence to our republic. Impress
sions made in early youth are the most
vivid and indelible. 1t surely cannot be
unworthy of those to whom the dcstinies
of our beloved country are hereafter to
be committed to inherit from early in
fancy reverence for the free institutions
of their ancestors. English history is
often taught in our schools while Ameri-
can history is forgotten. Many projects
have been proposed for the purpose of
forming national character, decidedly
and exclusively American-butwe have
considered them for the most part as
visionary and impracticable. But it
does appear to US, that no plan for the
accomplishment of so desirable an OBJ
ject abounds with so many advantages
as the present.
The children of republicans should