The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1821-08-01

| From the day Of the Declaration, the people
OF the North American Union and of its con
| stitoent>Ststes, were associated bodies Of civ.
ilized men and christians, in a state OF nature
5ut not Of anarchy. They we're bound by
| the laws OF God, which they ali, and BY The
laws OF the gospel, which they nearly all, ac-
knowledged as the rules of their conduct.
They we're bound by all those tender and en-.
desring sympathies, the absence Of which in
the Btiish government and nation towards
them w1s The primary ceuse OF the distress.
ing coDhct into which they had been precip
itated They were bound by all the bene Fl
cent laws and institutions which their fnrets-
theirs had brought with them from their
mother country, not as serviiudes, but az
rights. They were bound by habits of hardy
industry, by ugal and hospltabe manners.
by the general sentiments Of social equality
by pure and virtuous morals, and lastIy thew
were bounH by the grappIing hooks of com
mon suffering under the scourge of oppres.
500. Where, then, among such a people,
were The materials for anarchy Had there
been among them no other law, they would
have been law unto themselves.
They had before them iD their new posi,.
ion, besides the maintenance Of the Indepen.
dence which they had declared, three great
objects to attain : The FIST, to cement and
prepare Tor perpetuly, their common union,
and that or their Posterity the second, TO G.
rect and organize civil and monicipal govern.
ments IN their respective States and the
third, to form co1nec,ions Of T iend,hp and
OF comme'oe with foreign nations. For all
these objects, the same Congress which issued
the Declaration, and at the same time with it,
had provided.-They recommended to the
several states 10 io' IN civil governments for
themselves. With guarded and cautious de-
liberation they matuied confe deration for
the whole Union and they prepared treaties
OF commerce, TO be Offered TO the principal
maritime nations OF the world. All these oh.
Jects were in great degree accomplished,
amid the din OF ar ms, and while every quarter
of our county Was ransacked by the fury of
invasion. The states organized their govern.
men's, all 10 republican forms /; oil on the
principles of the Declaration. The cohfede
ration was unanimously adopted by The thir.
teen states, and troaies Of commerce were
concluded with L ance and the Nehe riands,
in which, FOR the frsf time, the same Just and
magnanimous principles, consigned in the
DeCi ration Of Independence, were, SO far
as they could be applicable TO The intercourse
between nation and natio6, solsmnly recog-
nized
When experience had proved that the
Confederation was not ode quate TO the nation
al purposes OF the county, the people of the
United States, without tumult, without vio-
ience, by their delegates, all chosen upon
principles of equal right, fptmed a more per-
fect Union, by the establishment of the cd
erai Constitution. This has already passed
The ordeal OF one human gener a,ioo. In all
the changes ot men and parties through.
which il has passed, il has been admnisto &C
on the same fundamental principles. Our
manners, our habits, our feelings, are all re-
publican and 1t ouc principles had been,
when Fl st proclaimed, doubtful to the ear Of
reason or the sense OF humanity, they would
have been reconciled to our understandings,
and endeared 10 our hearts by their practical
operation. In tho progress OF forty years
since the acknowledgement of our Inde pen.
dence, we have gone through many modifca-
tions of internal governments, and through al,
the vcissitudes Of peace and war, with other
powerful nations. But never, never for
moment, have the great principles, consecra
ted by the Declaration of this day, been re-.
nounced or abandoned.
And npw, friends and county ymen, if the
world the FIRST observers Of mutation and ab-
Grafton, the di,coverers Of nsdden,ng ether
and invisible planets, tho inventors Of Con-
grevs rockets and Sharpnell shells, should
fad their hearts disposed TO euquiro Wha,
has America done Tor the benefit Of mankind
Let our answer be this: America, with the
same voice which spoke herself into existence
as a nation, proclaimed TO mankind the mex
tinguishab'e tights OF human nature. and tho
only lawful foundations Of govern ment. A
metica, in the assembly Of naions, since her
admission among the On, has invariably, though
often fruilessly, held forth to them the hand
of honest friendship, Of equal freedom, OF
generous reciprocity. She has uniformly
spoken among them, though often to heedIess
and often 90 disdaIniul ears, the language Of
equal libery. of equal justice. and of equal
righ's. She has, IN the lapse oil nearly half
century, without a single exception, respect.
ed the Independence of other nations while
asserting and maintaining her own-She has
abstained from interference in the concerns Of
others, even when the conflict has been for