Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1820-07-11


ed first to the king and parliament, then
to the liberality and paternal feelings OF
the English nation. But all in vain; in
stead of hearing their prayers, they were
treated with silent contempt; instead oil
recognizing their rights and redressing
their grievances, they enacted still more
Oppressive laws, and determined to en-
force them at the point of the bayonet
Then it was that one general spirit OF In
dipnation9 seized the whole continent
then it wa, that one simultaneous rising
and determination to oppose force to
force actuated the breast of every true
lover of his country; then was seen what
an oppressed and indignant people could
do; then the lords and tyrant OF the
world were taught that beyond certain
length they could not go; that insult and
oppression musth have some bounds; that
there was people in the woods and
wilds of America who knew their priyl-
leges, and were determined to maintain
them at every hazard. Then it was that
such men as Hancock, Warren, and
Henry, fearlessly stepped forward in de-
fence of their country, and in opposition
to their country; men whose merits will
be appreciated, and whose names will
be hailed with Joy and exultation as long
as liberty and just regard to the rights
of mankind shall be held dear and valua-
Bile. At Lexington and Bunker's bill
the first blood was split in the most sacred
cause that any people ever engaged in.
There was exhibited that intrepidity that
noble spirit of daring which always
characterize brave people. Then
was manifested that firmnesS and op-
position to the arbitrary will of a for
eign despot, which should have taught
the British king that the Americans were
people who would not, who could not,
submit to insult and oppression.
The war waged with various and un-
equal success from the commencement
of hostilities until seventy-six; during
all which time the colonies manifested
a constant desire to come to terms OF
cancellation on just and equitable princi-
ples but their overtures were as con-
stantly rejected with disdain; and they
were branded with the epithet of traitors
and rebels to their lawful prince and
master. Although weakened by con-
slant series OF reverses their armies
dwindling away from defeat, and the
want of almost every necessary; the IL
nances of the country exhausted; fresh
troops Of the enemy constantly pouring
in--troops who had been hired for
the express purpose Of chastising the
colonies and bringing them under proper
subsection, who were ignorant of our lam
guage, and who knew no law but the will
of their commanders; alike ignorant
and careless of the rights of their fellow
men: and if their thirst for plumber was
gratiied, it was all they cared for, no
matter what cruelty and inhumanity they
lpractised. 1t was at this gloomy period,
when the the dark clouds of hopeless
wretchedness and deep despair seemed
lowering over US; when the few friends
we had abroad were about giving us up
as lost for ever, and considered our
struggle for freedom and the sacred
rights of mankind as the last hopeless
conflict of a set of desperate rebels, who
would ere long receive that punishment
from their masters which their presump-
ton and premature opposition to their
will merited; when our intrepid and
godlike forcfathers, rising superior to
every misfortune, determined, on the
fourth of July, seventy-siX, to declare
themselves free, sovereign, and indepen-
dent states. Here was more than human
bravery and Spartan forttude. All that
We are in the habit Of conceiving of the
brightest and most virtuous periods of
the Roman and Grecian history, was
more than exempliied in the American
sages. A GOODNESS, delibcration, con-
stancy, amidst every danger and every
difficulty; contempt for wealth, and life
itself, when put in opposition to the in
tercst OF the country, was one Of the
characteristics of the times. This was
the period that brought into action the
talents of such men as Franklin, Jeffer-
son, and host of other worthless, whose
deeds stand as a lasting monument of
their virtues and services. Amongst the
rest stands pre-eminentIy conspicuous
the name of him who not only then, but
at all times previous, even from the
commencement of the war until his
death, shone forth with such glory and
| lustre that he is unparalleled in history
Washington, a name at once expressive
of all that is great and good and praise
worthy in human character. After the
declaration of Independence, the face of
events was changed; things assumed