The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-06-15

dent lrutLS are WOG true ii IL pc UOt true mat q
men created equal; if they are asot endowe
: by their Creator with inaenable rights, anon
: which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happ
T ness if Governments are not instituted to secur
these rights, and do mol derive their Just power
from the consent of the eorcrned--then the Pee
pie of these United Colonies had no right to re
nounce their allegiance 10 the Government O
Great Britain--no right to declare themselves in
dependent-no right to take their separate an(
equal station among the Powers of the earth. II
assuming that station, they declare themselves en-
titled to it by the laws of Nature and of Nature
God. By the laws of that same God they had
been bound in allegiance to their king 10 this
tie of allegiance, binding upon them from the
birth, multitudes of them had superadded the OBJ
| legations of solemn and voluntary oaths. Who
could absove them from these sacred pledges o
their faith Who but that people themselves
And for what cause but that the Government itsel
had forfeited the right to their allegiance, by per-
verting its power to the destruction of the ends ol
which Governments are Instituted Take away
from the Declaration of independence its self-ev.
ident truths, the natural and inaienabe rights oil
man, and you rob the North American Revolution
Of all It's moral principle, and proclaim it foul and
unnatural rebellion.
In the days of the Declaration of independence
there were politicians, ay and moralists--profound
conscientious moraSts--who maintained that doc
trine but they were not american patriots, states,
men or jurists. NORTH and MANSFIELD, the prime
minister and the chief dispenser of the justice Of
the realm Of England, verify believed that the peo-
pie of the colonies were rebels and traitors, and
were prepared to hang, draw, quarter, and embowel
them, to prove the sincerity oftheir faith. Nor were
they alone. Junius, the great unknown-Junius,
IL, l.
English liberty, utterly repudiating the dogmat-
impotence of Parliament, still formally disclaims
the concession of CHATHAM that the legislative
power of Parliament was not the same over the
colonies as over the island of Britain. DR.. SAM
UEL JOHNSON, the most renowned moralist of the
age could earn his pension of three hundred
pounds year by proving, in seSquipcdalan prose,
that taxation without representation was no tyran-
ny. And SCAM JENyNs, the philosopher and poet,
the ingenious author Of the Internal Evidences of
Christianity, TO whom PALEY is so deeply indebt-
ed-SoAM JENYNs, the poet and metaphysician, the
profound dlscourser upon the nature of time and
the origin of evil, and the elegant translator of
the Latin poem of BROWNE on the Immortality of
the Soul, not only considered the right and cape
diency of taxing the colonies by Parliament
indspntably clear; but, in disquisition on gov
eminent and civil liberty, has so completely fore
stalled the philosophers Of notification of the pres
ent day in their warfare against the self-evident
truths of the Declaration of Independence, that
their omission TO give him credit for their argu-
ments leaves them not entirely free from the i'm
puation of pagia rism.
In estimating the opinions of others upon poll
tics, religion, and morals, while we are bound to
follow exclusively the dictates of our own judg-
ment, enlightened by the honest and faithful search
after truth, we must make large allowances and
exercise liberal spirit of federation. In the NOR
al question of the North American Revolution,
he primary source Of all the arguments on the
British side was constituted poacer. The argu-
ments on the American side were all drawn from
elementary porer. When the basement-story of
the cdiice is laid, the superstrucure naturally rises
upon corresponding principles of architecture.
The trainers Of the Declaration of Independence
could justify themselves and their country-frst,
for their resistance against oppression; and, final
ly, for undertaking and accomplishing the Revo-
uton-upon no other principles than those which
they declared. If their principles were unsound,
American independence was nothing more than
successful rebellion.
adhere to the ethics Of the Revolution. The
self-evdent truths of the Declaration Of Indepen.
dence are still sef-cvident truths, whether contest
ed by the Chancellor of the British Exchequer or
by professor at the College of William and Ma
ry; whether clashing with the law of Chief
Justice of the Court of Kings Bench, or with the
equity of Chancellor of the State of South Car
DINA.
That the Lords NORTH and MANSFIELD, and the
vast majority of their contemporary countrymen,
we're sincere in the belief that they had righ-
teous cause, and that WASHINGTON and FRANKLIN,
HANCOCK and RICHARD HENRY LEE, ROGER SHER-
MAN and ARTHUR MIDDLETON, were rebels and
traitors, we have no reason to doubt. The truths
of the Declaration of Independence are not limit
ed by time Or place; they belong to the nature off
man in every age and every cline. They may
be subdued, but can never be suppressed. They
are truths at Constantinople and Pekin, at London
and Paris, at Charleston and at Philadelphia
They were truths in the days of Abraham and of
Solomon, of Zoroaster and Confucius but as
truths to influence human conduct they Were I'M
known to all the nations of antiquity. They were
revealed in the Gospel of Jesus, but We're never
expressly made the foundation of human govern
ment until'they were proclaimed in the Declara-
ton of Independence. But the Christian system
of morals, while disclosing as eternal truth the
natural equality of mankind, left all its practical
consequences in their effect upon existing institu-