The Illinois free trader. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1840-1841, 1840-08-08

face OF our land was marreu by the pol
luton of their foul footsteps our coast
was surrounded by hostile ileets---our
ports were blockaded-all commerce stop
ped-and ere sword had been drawn by
the Americans. or hand raised in defence
of their liberties. They were declared re-
bells, Notifications were erected by the
British III our largest cities, and the sol
diers sent to occupy them outnumbered
the citizens. The sword was nnsheathed
in the land, and our pure streams were en-
sanguined by the blood of the innocent,
and what had they to hope for! Where
now were they to obtain that redress
which had been denied them by their OPP
pressors What now remained for them
to do But one of two things-either to
set supinely under the torturing lash and
acknowledge that they were slaves, or to
rise majestic, clothed in the garb of truth,
with full reliance on God and the Justice
of their cause--at the risk of their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honors-
assert their liberties, to resist to the death,
and to die as freemcn rather than to live
as slaycs--with knowledge that "a day,
IN hour Of yirtuous liberty, is worth a
whole eternity of bondage The latter
alternative was adopted and an astonished
world beheld poorly fed and worse clad
handful OF ireemen, whom they had been
taught TO look upon as towards, battling
successfully against one of the most pow
eriul nations i'll the world for those great
cardinal truths contained in our celebrated
Declaration of independence, and forcing
them reluctantly to acknowledge the pow
er of truth and justice, when asserted by
a people who knew no wish but that of
freedom, who brcathed no aspiration but
that of liberty.
With such men, protesting such princi-
pies, and adhering to them unwaveringly
under hardships and privations unparalel-
led in the ";nnals OF history, contention
was useless, and, after the expenditure of
much blood and treasure, England gave up
the vain contest, and America was ac-
linowledged as an independent republic
! by the whole civilized world. A, that
time gloomy were the forebodings and
ominous the prophesies of its speedy
downfall. But the virtue of the American
people has triumphantly proved the falsily
of the prediction. 1t has been shown
that an enlightened people are capable of
governing themselves.
Sixty-lour years have passed away
since the United States were declared to
be free and Independent, and the happi-
ness & virtue of the people are proverbial.
The stand she then took in the list of ma
tons has been nobly maintained; and the
pledges she made to the world have been
amply and fully redeemed. Each sue
| ceeding year as ii dawns upon us but wit
nosses the increasing strength of our re-
public, which has now ceased to be called
an experiment.
will not detan this audience with a
recapitulation Of the injuries and oppres-
sions which led to the separation of the
colonies from the British government.
The path has been often trod before. Adler
pens have written and ADLER voices than
mine have been raised on this subject,
with power sufficient
"To stir fever in the blood of age,
And make an infant sinews strong as steel"
No American can be ignorant of the
causes which led to the establishment of
country of freedom and home for the
oppressed Of the world. The pen Of the
historian has over and over again portray
ed the events of the Revolution. The
orators tongue never tires of dwelling,
and the poets pen fingers fondly upon
these themes, as if unwearied with the
happy and noble task of chronicling the
triumph of right over power, and handin
down to posterity the names and glorious
deeds of those men who achieved our in
dependence, led by Washington TO
''crimson glory and undying fame - and
for this reason will ] pass over those
events, and turn your attention for few
moments to the blessings we enjoy, and
which are the result of the institutions
under which we live, and, also, to the
means necessary for the preservation of
those blessings.
America may truly be called the most
happy country in the world. The adj
vantages of education are open to all
classes the people are industrious and
enterprising and the press here has a
power which no country but our own can
boast of. By it the vices of our rulers are
reproved with the utmost severity; their