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

ton, avail myself of the occasion Of expressing through
you, to fellOwcirens the my gratitude
for the indulgence w;hwhieh twas received.
have the homer &c, with great respect, Gentlemen
your very obedent servant
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
To the Committee Of ]rro"rsmenfs,S r.
ADDRESS.
FELLow-CITIzENs:
Until within Il few days preceding
that which we have again assembled TO COM
memorate, our Fathers, the people of this u
Mon. had constituted portion of the British
nation a nation renowned in Arts and Arms
who, from asmall island in the Atlantic Ocean,
had extended their dominion over considera-
bic parts of every quarter of the Globe
Governed themselves by race OF kings, whose
title TO sovereignty had originally been found
ed in conquest, spell-bound for succession of
ages under that portentous system of despo-
tlsm and of superstition which, in the name of
the meek and humble Jesus, had been spread
over the Christian world, the history Of this
nation had, for apcriod ofseven hundred ears,
from the days of the Conquest till our own,
exhibited conflict almost continual, between
the expressions of power and the Claims of
right. In the theories of the Crown and the
hlitrc man had no rights. Neither the body
nor the soul of the individual was his own
From the impenetrable gloom OF this mtellec-
trial darkness, and the deep degradation OF
this servitude, the British nation had partially
emerged. The martyrs of religious freedom
had consumed to ashes at the stake the cham
pions of temporal liberty had bowed their
heads uponthe scaiiold and the spirits ofmany
bloody day had left their earthly vcsture
upon the field of battle and SCARED to plead the
cause of Liberty before the throne of Heaven.
The people of Britain, through long ages of
civil war, had cXtorted from their tyrants not
acknowledgements, but grants, of right. With
this concession they had been content to stop
III the progress of human Improvement They
received their freedom donation from their
sovereigns they appealed for their privileges
to sign manual and seal they held their
title TO lands, from the bounty ola man ; and
IN their moral and political chronology, the
great character Of Runny Mead was the be-
ginning of the world.
From the earliest ages of their recorded his
tory, the inhabitants OF the British Islands have
been distinguished for their intelligence and
their spirit. How much of these two quail
ties the fountains of all amelioration in the
condition OF men, was stifed by these two
principles of subserviency TO ecclesiastical us,r-
patton, and of holding rights as the donation
oil kings, this is not the occasion To enquire
vi their tendency TO palsy the vigor and
enervate the faculties of man, all philosophical
reasoning, and all actual experience, concur i'm
testimony.
These principles, however, were not pecu-
liar to the people of Britain. They were the
decisions of all Europe, still the most emlighi-
ened and most improbable portion ofthe earth
The temporal chain was rivetted upon the
people of Britain by the Conquest Their
spiritual letters were forged by subteiy work
ing upon superstition. Banef as the effect
OF these principles was, they could not forever
extlngulsh the light of reason in the human
mind. The discovery of the Mariners Com
pass was soon followed by the extension of in
tercourse between nations the most distant,
and which, without that light beaming in dark
ness TO guide the path of man over the bound
less waste of waters, could never have been
known to each other. The invention of Print
ing and the composition of Gunpowder, which
revoluuonlzed at once the art and science of
war, and the relations of peace the revelation
OF India to YascO de CANA, and the disclosure
to Columbus ofthe American hemisphere all re-
suited from the incompressible energies of the
human intellect, bound and crippled as it was
by the double cords of ecclesiastical mpos-
ture and political oppression To these power
ful agents in the progressive Improvement OF
our species, Britain can lay 30 claim. For
them the children Ofmen are indebted to Italy
to Germany, 10 Portugal, and To Spain. All
these improvements, however, consisted In sue
cessful researches into the properties and mo-
dhications of external nature. The Religious
Reformation was animprovemcnt in the science
of mind an improvement in the intercourse
of man with his Creator, and in his acdllaint-
ance with himself 1t was an advance in the
knowledge of his duties and his rights II
was step In the progress of man I'm compare
son with which the Magnet and GunpOwder,
the wonders of either India, nay, the Printing
Press itself, were but the PAGES of pigny TO
the stride of giant. Ito this step of human
advancement Germany likewise lays claim In
the person of Martin Luther, or in the. earlier
but Intellectual maftyrdom of John Hnss, Eng
| land may point to her Wicklilfe as vet more
| primitive indicator of the same righteous
cause, and may insist on the glory of having
contributed her share to the improvement. oil
the moral condition of man.
/ The corruptiOns and usurpations of the
| Church were the immediate objects Of these
reformers ; but, at the foundation Of all Their
eXertiOns, there was a single, plain. and aImOs;
/ self-eyident principle--that man has a right to
the exercise of his own reason. Il was thi.
principle which the sophistry and rapacity o
The Church had obscured and obliterate0, and
/ which the intestine divisions of the sam,
/ Church itself first restored. The triumph o.
reason was theresult ofinquiYy and discussion
Centuries OF desolating wars have gilccpdcd
and oceans Of human blood have flowed ~
the final establishment Of this principle but i
f-f,s., tho dssisy,cse t.T fl..