The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1821-07-25

Ciafbeu IN The paper which l am about 10
present once more TO your memory Of the
past, and to your forecast Of the future; you
will hold the people OF Britain, as you hold
The rest Of msnk,nd-Enemies in war, in
peace nds.-Tbe conflict for Indepen-
dence is now lt.eif put a record of history.
The .resentmenls Of that age may be buried
10 oblivion. The stoutest hearts which then
Supported the tug OF war arc cold under The
clod Of the valley. My purpose is 10 rekin-
die no angry passion from its embers: bur
this annual solemn perusal OF The instrument
which proclaimed to the world the causes OF
your existance as nation, is net without its
just aud useful pu. pose.
Ii Is not, by the yearly reitera,ion of the
wrongs endured by your fathers, 10 evoke
from the Sepulcnte Of Time the shades Of
departed Tyranny; il i. not to draw from
their dread abode the frail,ies of on unfoitu.
nate monarch, who now sleeps WIN his ia
thc's, and the sufeflngs of whose iatter days
may have atoneo at the bar Of Divine Mercy
tor the sins which the accusing Angel will
read from this scroH to his charge /; II is not
TO exul, IN the great moral triumph by which
.he sup 'eme Governor of the void crowned
the cause OF your country with success.
No: the u'pose for which you Iisen with
renewed aud never rlanguishing delight to the
feading of this paper, is Of purer and more
exalted cast. 1t is suilied with no yindictive
recollection. 1t is degraded by no ranking
resentment. II is inflared with no vain and
idle exultation of victory. The Declaration
OF independence, in its primary pufport, was
merely an oceaSi cnaE state paper. Il wo,
solemn exposition 10 the W. Id, of the caHseS
which had eomEelLed the people of small
portion of the BRUSH empire, to Cast off the
allegiance, and renounce the protection of
the British king ; and TO dissolve their social
coDnexion with the British people. In the
annals OF the human race, the separation OF
one people into two 10 an event of 40 uncosa.
mon occurrence. The successful resistance
OF people against oppression, 10 the down.
TALL OF the iyrant, and Of y amy Itself, is The
lesson OF many an age, and OF almost evsry
cline. IL hves IN the venttable records of
Hoy Wit. lrbeams in the brightest pa.
ges OF p'otaGc history. The usmes OF
Pharoah aod Moses, OF Tacquin and J1nius
Brutus, OF Geisler aud Tell, of CHI tistiern
and Gustsyss Vass, of Philip of Austria and
William oil Orange, stand in lo0g array
through the vista of Time, like the Spirit of
Evil aud the Spirit OF Good, in embattled op.
position. GO each other, from the mouidering
ages OF ahtiquity TO the recent memory of
our fathers, and from the burning plains of
PAlestIue to the polar frost Of Scandinavia.
For the independence OF N,rth America,
there were ample and sufficient causes in the
laws of moral and physical nature. The tie
OF colonial sub election is coki paiible with the
esse0tiat purposes Of civil government, only
when the condition Of the subordinate state
is, from its weakness, incompetent TO its own
protection. Is The greatest moral purpose
o! civil. .govcf nment the administration of Jus.
tice Aud, " justice has been truly defined
the constant aud perpetual will of securing to
every one his right, how absurd and imprac-
ticabie Is that form OF poity, in which the
dispenser cf justice is in one Quarter OF the
globe, snd he 10 whom justice is to be dis
peuscd Is io smother where " moons re.
volvc aod oc cans toll between the order and
its execution :" where time and space must
be anoihi,ated TO secure TO every one his
right! The tie of colonial snbiec,ion may
suit the relations bctw een great naval pow.
CT and the settlers Of small and remote is.
land ia the incipent stages of society; but
was ii possible for Is i,ish intelligence to i'm.
asinc, or. Buish sense of justice TO desire,
that, through the boundIess ages of,ime, the
civilizs the wilderness, and Gli with human
lille the soi,udes of this immense continent,
should receive the mandateS of their earthly
desti0ies from council chamber Ct ST:
J,mes's, or bow forever in submission to the
onnipo,ence of st. Stephsn's Chapel? Are
the essenual purposes of civil government to
administer 20 the wants and to fortify the in.
hemities of solitary man TO unite the sinews
OF numbericss arWs, and combine the coun-
ciIs of multitudcs of minds Tor the promo
ton OF the well being of all f? The first NOR
al element, then, of this composition, is sym.
p,hy between the members of which it con.
sists; the second is sympathy between the
giver and the receiver Of the law.
The sympathies of men begin sith the af-
icctions OF domestic life They are rooted
IN the naiuriI relations Of husband and wife,
OF parent and child, OF brother and sister;
thence they spread through the social and
moral Propiuquites of the neighbor and
fliend, to the broader aud more complicated
relations of eountymen and fcllow.eilizens
terminating only with the circumference of