Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1821-07-17

SS'' w '"''s otnti. rue people OF America
were known to the people OF Britain only by
the transactions of trade: nv shipments oflum-
her and iiaXse,I, indigo and tobacco. They
Were anown 10 Inc government only by half
aUoaSn cuioiih agents, humble, and often
spu'nSd sriturS at the feet of power and by
royal governors, minions of patronage. sent
from tine iootstool of throne beyoml the
seas, to ruie a people of whom they knew
nothing as If annhabitan OF the moon should
descend 10 give laws To the dwellers upon
earth. Here and there. Il man of letters and
"s-atesman, convcrsant with all history knew
something of the colonies, as he knew
something of Cochin China and Japan. Yet
even the PRIME minister of England, urring
upon ms omnipotent Parliament laws for
Srlncing the colonies to submission could talk.
without amazing or diverting his hearers. of
the island OF Virginia even Edmund Burke
a hiaa oil more ethereal MUD, Gpoioyi-ing to
the people OF Bristol for the offence of sympa-
thysing with the distrcsses of cur country.
ra'age1 oy the lire and sword of Britoas, ask
ed indulgence for his feelings on the score of
general Immunity, and expressly declared that
the Americans were nation utter strangers
10 nun, ana among whom he was not sure of
having SINGLE acquaintance. The sympa-
tnies, therefore, most essrntialto the commit
my OF country were, between the British and
american people, extinct. Those most in
dfsPensahie to the Just relation between snve-
reign and subject, had never existed and could
not exist between the British government
and the American people. The connection was
unnatural and il was in the moral order. M
less than III the positive DEGREES OF Providence
that it@shOuld he dissolved
YET, ieiow-rtizcns, these are not the cou-
500 al nc separation assigned in the paper
winch am about - read. The conncyion
between different portions Of the same people.
ana between people and their government.
Is connexion of duties rs well as OF richts-
LII me long conflict of twelve years which had
preceded and led to the Declaration or Jnde-
pnndence, our fathers had been not less faith
III 10 Their duties, than tenacious ofther rio.hts
3 herr resistance had not been rebellion. I,
was not rcs'iye ~ ungOvcrnabie spirit of am
nit;on bursting from tine bonds OF colonial sub
Jcc'inn; 1T was the deep and wounded sense
"a successive wrongs upon which compiaint
mad been only answered by aggravation. and
petition repealed with contumeir, which had
orven them to their last stand upon the ada
nlantinN rock ofhuman rights
1t was then, fifteen months after the blood
oi Lexington and Bunkcr's Hill, after Charles
town and Falmouth, fired by British hands
were but heaps of ashes, after the car of the
atider had been turned to two successive SIM
phcauons TO the throne; after two successive
appeals to the people of Britain. ne CieuJs
coent'yme'', and brethren, TO which no rcsnon.
sive voice ofsympalheiic tenderness had ,ee,
returned
No,shi i'.t ihe noise fdrnms and ,imbrcls loud.
nheir cii.frens cries GEleard that passed tho, ire
To the grim iuoi'- i 49, NV
J hen II was, that the thirteen United Colo
tiies OF North America, by their delegates in
congress assembled, exercising the first act of
sovereignty by right ever inherent in the peo
PIE, Dut never to he resorted to, save at the
awiu' Crisis when civil society is solved into its
list clements, declared themselves free and
independent states, and two DAYS afterwards.
IN Justification of that act, issued this unani
inons Declaration OF the Thirteen United
States OF America.
Here Mr.. Adams rend f.o, the original ,,.;,
the Declaration OF Indepentence.l - '
II Is not. let me repeat, fellow citizens. If is
not the long enumeration OF intolcrable
wrongs concentrated in this Declaration: il is
not the melancholy catalogue of alternate on
preston and entreaty, ofreciprocated indigni-
~ and Femonstrancc, upon which, in the celc
nratoh OF this anniversary, your memory de-
rights TO dwell. Norris it yet that the i,Ist;ce
Oh your cause was vindicated By the God of
battIes that n a conflict of seven wears. the
history oi The war by which you maintained
tnat Declaration, became the history ofthe civ
Ihzcd world that the unanimous Voice ofen
h@htened Europe, and the verdict of an after
aye, nave sanctioned your assumption of sovc-
reign power; and that the name of your
Wdsh,ngtonis enrolled upon the records oil
!Iine, first IN the glorious line of heroic yirtur
IT'S not that the monarch hi,nself. who had
lieen your oppressor was compeIled To- recor-
ME you as sovereign and independent pcoplr.
an that the nation, whose feelings of fraterni-
~ ior you had slumbered in the lap of pride
was awakened in the arms of humiliation TO
your equal and no longer contested rights. i
Inc primary purpose of this Declaration. the
proclamation 10 the world ofthe causes Of our
revolution, is with the years beyond the
hood. 1t is of no more interest TO us
IMAM me chastity OF Lucretia, or the apple on
the head ofthc child of Tell Little less than
iofty years have reyoived since the struggle
Tor independence was closed another genera
ton has arisen and, in the assembly Of ma
tons, our republic is already matron DINA
tuFe age. The cause Of your Independence is
no longer upon trial the final sentence upon
u has long been passed upon earth and ratified
in Heaven.
The interest which in this paper has strryiv-
ca the occasion upon which it was issued the
interest which Is of every age and every
cline the interest which quickens with tile
lapse of years, spreads as il grows old. and
brlghtcns as it rccedes, is in the PRINCIPLES
which 1t procIaimg. Ii was the first solemn
declaration by nation of the only legitimate
foundation of civil government. It was the
corner stone of "a new fabric, destined TO cover
the sarface Of the globe. 1t demolished at
stroke the lawfulness Of all governments
founded upon cenques,. II swept away all
The rubbish ofaccuntatetl centuries of scrgi-
Jude. itannounccd in practical form to the
world the transccndant truth Of the unaliena-
DE sovereignty of the people. 1t proved that
The social compact was no fgfnent of the ina
Gination, but real. solid and sacred bond NJ