North American. [volume] (Swanton, Vt.) 1839-1841, 1839-09-25

1
British Parliament: il is admitted by eaci
successive Colonial Secretary; il is smoker
out in language not TO be mistaken, the
language OF lnsurreciion and civil war. II
IS monstrous for Americans to DENY thai
the Canadas have been misgoverned; il ID
idle for any body to deny il. | engage to
exhibit a parallel Of every one Of the speci-
iications Of tyranny set forth in the Dec
laration of Independence, by the same or
greater acts Of tyranny perpeiraied by
Great Britain in the Canadas. MOI that
England is worse mistress 10 them Than
any other foreign Power would be. Far
from it. England, with all her faults, and
take pleasure in making the admission.
England is wiser, n milder, purer, a
better ruler OF her American Colonies.
than any other of the Great Powers Of
Europe has been. But colony and hberty
are IDEAS Incompatible. They can no more
exist together than water and fire. The
Canadas have greater, far greater, causes
OF complaint, than we had, when we be-
longed TO Great Britain. Our colonial
councils were elective, theirs are appointed
by the Crown; and that is one Of the
points at issue in their present troubles.
we had town governments; they are for
hidden to have them, because England
considers, and justly, that town govern
ments are so many nurseries of freedom.
We had roads, they have next 10 none;
we had public schools, they have absolute
iy none, we had but few foreign troops
qnartered upon US, they have great armies:
we were permitted to bear arms, they are
not; IN short, we possessed all the means &
instruments of progression and freedom,
which have been carefully withheld from
them, through fear, if they possessed these
means and instruments, that they also,
after our example, would aspire to indie
pendence. At the present time, they are
consigned to the tender mercies of military
despotism, martial law, and occupation of
the country by armed hosts of imported
mercenaries; their trusted public men cut
off by the judicial murder O: courts martial,
or driven into exile; their villages given
up to sack and conflagratioa; their Young
men, some sabred in the field without
quarter, others murdered in cold blood.
and without trial, after battle is over; their
women violated; the bodies OF their slain
patriots left to rot on the ground unburied,
or turned over to beasts TO devour! God
OF justice, where sleeps thy thunder? Is
there no vengeance for those who do those
deeds Of ignominy and horror? Is it to be
endured, does it not make the blood boil,
that Europeans, -hireling soldiers of for
tune, aliens to the land and its people, the
base and sordid tools Of transatlantic lust
of power, should polute the rich soil or!
America with such enormities, We shud-
der at the recital of these very acts Of hor-
ror, when perpetrated by Turks in Greece,
or by Russians in Poland. Shall they
happen at our door-stone, and awaken no
condemnation! They shall not, they will
not, until the Declaration of independence
be expunged from our memories, and every
sentiment of patriotism and freedom, which
halowed the Revolution, be extinguished
in our hearts.
When the time comes, as come it surely
will, for those Provinces to be indepen-
dent, then will there be more complete
unity of principle on this Continent. 1t
viii come ere long; for not England her
sell, or if Engla not the Provinces, can
submit to the military occupation Of the
Canadas as permanent system'of govern
ment. Or will the Mother Country re-
duce the Colonies to desert, and cali that
peace No, they will become free. and
their freedom will be for the common ben-4
eft of America. Independent, in close as.
ISOLATION with us, enjoying together with
us the navigation Of the ST. Lawrence and
the Lakes, the Atlantic fisheries, and the
fur trade Of the North West, each OF us
delivered from border controversies, and
both possessed 'of similar political inst- |
tutions, North America would then pre- |
sent one harmonious American whole, from |
the Gulf of Mexico TO the Arctic sea. 4
Fellow citizens, the ideas which have |
thus presented TO you, may be thought
peculiar, they may seem to be startling,
but they are no Utopian speculations. /
They are plain matters of fact. North |
America will be independent, it will be re-
publican, it will be AngIo-American This
result will be reached by the (for the most
part) peaceful progress Of peaceful events.
And its general effect will be a peaceful |
one. What is the prolific cause of so great /
and frequent wars in Europe Evidently
The subdivision Of that Continent into ma
ny distinct nations, speaking different Ian
yuages, having dissimilar ideas and insti-
Iutions, and adverse interests, that war
only can adjust. What is the remedy pro-
posed BY the friends Of peace, for this un-
haopv etata If ghinos The tahIas oC a. = Il