The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-06-12
New Fork correspondence.


this letter 10 tie record OF some IDEAS which
have presented themselves in my musings upon
the proposed celebration at Bunker Hue II
is subject worthy Of pen much more power
full than mine--of a mind endowed by nature
and enriched by education to an extent FAR be-
yond any Thing | boast, and yet there is
something stirring within me TO which would
fam give utterance.
<'Nec Deus nterst, nsi dgnus yndice nodus."
Does it not, indeed, appear as though kind
Providence was about 10 interfere and cut the
knot by which the public mind has been too long
tied down to the " meum'' and 'teum" routine,
and awaken 10 higher and hoer sensations +?
Is it not something higher than mere human
thoughts that, in this physical age, general
impulse should spring up, to assemble around
the sacred spot consecraled by the blood which
first flowed in the cause of a nations freedom
something of more than human agency that has
| kindled up anew latent sTark on the altar OF
every heart, and bid it burn aresh lest it should
be smothered and extnguished by too sordid
devotion to the pursuit of gain, as though that
were the chiefesl good?
|
upon us to look hack to the time when few
noble spirits dared the attempt to burst the
| chains of colonial servitude and embark in a
doubtful contest with the disciplined troops Of a
mighty monarch who till then had exercised an
unbounded sway over their destinies to COM
pare this scattered few with The mighty throng
Of freemen who are now Fastening 10 celebrate
| 4 II nC n
tuate the noble deed
| Shall we not listen to lis sacred counsel and
call 10 mind the solemn ruth that nothing but
that Strength hich is brought forth by close
paterna union In common and glorious
cause could haye prevailed 10 found mighty
empire from sd hazardous commencement
What would have been The fate of this noble
Republic had not all selfish considerations given
way to the common veal? When we reflect
upon the fearful odds against which our sires
had TO contend, can we doubt that the favor of
| the God of battles alone could have crowned
them with success? Are these hallowed feel
ings sufficiently rife among US? Where and
when in these degenerate days have we seen an
/ evidence of the existence of that spirit of pa
triotism, that ardor Of soul 10 rush foremost to
the bloody field Of the unequal conquest, where
that fervor in the righteous cause of freedom
and of man that held the iisk of life as naueht
compared with the mighty impulse, which
| swelled the bosoms of the martyrs doomed 10
die, and TO bedew the soil of that well fought
field with their blood? Alas how do the ia
glorious pursuits, the dscords and the sriles OF
the present day lessen us in the comparison7
! Shall il be said that the descendants Of those
lofty spirits who first proclaimed the glorious
truth that man should thenceforih be the aIbter
of his own destiny, are unworthy of their sires
Is the very prosperity which has so pent-
fully flowed from the deeds we are about cell
citrate, to debase nature, and sink US into
supnenes. and unworthy jeaoLsies forbid il
II, aven
May the lofty aspirations, which the bare
thought Of that hailowed fed Of honor and re-
nova Is so well calculated to call forth, sink deep
into the hearts of This People, and may those
whose good fortune it>ha be to be PRESENT at,hal
august ceremony, there renew their puri ose 10
sustain, by every sacrifice, those holy and i'm
mortal truths which God in his mercy 10 man
kind spread abroad among the Inhabitants Of he
earth a. that eve ntful period OF nations birth /
| am led into his strain from fear Of which
cannot dispossess myself, that see in the mo-
raj atmosphere of the present day, clouds hich
porlenJ tempest in our political world which
nothing but reverence TO that chivalrUus spirit,
that sef-sacrfcing concession, and that devo
ton to principle which carried our ancestors
through their mighty struggle, can avert or as
susge.
Cd grant that nay be in error and that The
evil may not reach US but sure am that to
avert it, we must not look for miracles; we must
60 back TO first principles, from which we have
been carried away by those passions and preju-
dices which will ever riot most in unitarian
age. We have been hurried on with rapidly
too great in our desire 10 become TOO sud- nlv
rich, and have overshot the mark. Let US, then,
say, pause, and go back TO first principles for
ii is these alone that can preserve us from the
common fate of nalions-lhese alone that can
uphold US in the hour Of Trial, which sooner or
later must come upon Us.
] conclude, therefore, as | commenced, with
most ardent and religious hope, that the cele-
bration about to take place at Bunker Hill may
real re TO our whole people con.e ration not of
a marble monument which time and the elements
may crumbe into decay, but t. those principles !
of justice and equal rights which, when C the
stars shall fade away, the sun b. self grow dim |
with age, all nature sink into years." shall -four
sh in immortal truth unhur amidst "the war
of elements, the wreck Of matter, and the crush !
of world ="
Anxiety is on tip-toe for the arrival of the
President, for whose cordial reception no ex-
pense will be spared, and we are all praying for