Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1843-07-06

mutual counsel ard C0nsuitattoHs py
sense and feeling Of general interest, and
by The acquesence of the minority in the
win Of the majority, properly expressed:
and aboye all, the military must be kept.
according to the language of our bill oil
rights, in stric. subortinatIon TO the CIV
il authority. Wherever this lesson is
not both learned and practised, shere can
he no political freedom. Absurd, pre-
posterous is tia scoff and satire on
free forms Of constitu tional liberty, for
constitutions and frames Of government
to be prescribed by military leaders. and
the right Of suffrage to be exercised al
the point of the sword.
Milking all allowance for situation ard
climate, it cannot be doubted by inteill-
gent minds, that the difference new ex-
isting between North and South Ameri-
ca is justly attributable. in great de
gree, to political institutions. And
how broad that difference isl Suppose
an assembly, inone Of the valleys, or on
the side of one of the mountains OF the
southern half Of the, hemisphere. TO be
held, this day, in the leig fborhood OF a
large city: what would be the scene pre-
sented? Yonder is a volcano, taming
land smoking. but shedding no light,
moral or intellectual. At its foot is the
mine, yielding, perhaps, sometimes.
large gains to capital, bat which labor is
destined to eternal and unrequited toll.
and rewarded only by penury and
beggary. The city is filled with armed
men; not free people, armed and coming
forth voluntarily to rejoice IN public
festivty; but hireling troups. supported
by forced loans, excessive imposltions on
commerce, or taxes wruug from half
fed, and half-clothed population. For
the great there are palaces covered with
gold; for the poor there are bowels of the
meanest sort There is an eccIesiastl-
cal hierarchy enjoying the wealth of pfln-
ces, but there are no means of education
to the people. Do public improvements ia
vor intercourse between place and place?
So far from this, that the traveller cannot
pass from town to town. without danger.
every mile, of robbery and assassination.
| would not overcharge, or exagserate
this picture; but its principal sketches
are all too true.
And how does it contrast with the
scene now actually before u.s.? Look
round upon these fields; they are verdant
and beautiful, well cultivated, and at
this moment loaded with the riches of
the early harvest. The hands which
till them are free owners of the soil, en-
joying equal rights, and protected by law
from oppression ard tyranny. Look to
the thousand vessels in our sight. filling
the harbor, or covering the neighbotIng
sea. They are the instruments OF profit
able commerce, carried on by men who
knew that the profits of their hardy en-
terprise, when they make them, are their
own, and this commerce is encouraged
and regulated by wise laws, and defen-
ded, when need be, by the valor and
patriotism Of the country.
Look to that fair city, the abode Of so
much diffused wealth, so much general
happiness and comfort, so much person.
al independence, and SO much general
knowledge. She fears no forced contri-
buttons, no siege or sackipg from militia
ry leaders Of rival factions. The hun
dred temples, in which her citizens wor-
ship God, are in no danger of sacrleee.--
The regular administration of the laws
encounters no obstacle. The long pro-
cession of children and youth. which you
see this day. issuing by thousands from
the free schools, prove the care and anx-
iety with which a popular government
provides for the edacas on and morals
of the people. Every where there is Or
der; every where the law reaches to the
highest, and reaches to the lowest, to
protect him in his rights. and to restrain
him from wrong; and over all hoyers lib
erty, that liberty which our fathers
fought and fell for, on this very spot,
with her eye ever watchful. and her ca
gle wing ever wide out-spread.
The colonies Of Spain, from their orr
gin TO their end, were subject to the SOW
ereign authority Of the kingdom. Their
government, as well as their commerce.
was strict home monopoly. If we add
to this, the established usage of filling
important posts in the administrator Of
the Colonies, exclusively by natives of
Old Spain, thus cutting off forever all
hopes Of honorable preferment from eve
ry man born in the Western hemisphere,
causes enough rise up before US at once,
to account fully for the subsequent histo-
ry and character of these provinces.-I
The Viceroys and Provincial! Governors
of Spain were never at home, in their
governments in America. They did not
feel that they were Of the people, whom
they governed. Their official character
aud employment have good deal of re-
semblance to those of the Pro-consuls of
Rome, in Asia, Sicily, and Gaul; bat OBJ
yiously no resemblance to those of Car
yer and Winthrop. and very little to
those Of the Governors of Virginia after
that Colony had established popular
House Of Burgesses.
The English Colonists in America,
generally speaking, were men who were
seeking new homes in new world y
They brought with them their families