Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1844-07-18

was only to drag ouI m.seraole e&is-
,cnce. ir prison ship, or confined dun-
eeon-perisbing by inches upon unwhole-
some and scanty food; sometimes lime,
mixed with the staff Of life, and that
yrDdgingly given, with Insult aud me.
nacas. If exchanged, be lad 10 Joln an
army many times blreioote1, and want
ing the clothing, necessary 10 enable them
70 porade with deceney--as was toe case
at Valley Forge. Ii he went home 10 his
paterna spot, perhaps i was 10 ashes, or
stripped Of Tho measures Of life, and his
wife and children living upon the charity
Of ueighbors. II ne planted, bis corn
was cut WITH the swords Of 'farilon's Cav.
airy. 1.-The plowed, ais horses we're press
ed for one, or the other, Of the hostile ar
mics.
Is this picture Of fancg1 Faefe are
vet alive, those, who can tell yeu me taie'
as it has been told TO me, ana Jar more
strongly. Meanwhile the hltle congress
of devoted Statesmen struggled on IN their
often desperate, but neger hopeless, con-
f;ct. The sinews Of war, Money, vas
warning. We had no commerce--no
nsno(sctures-no mines 10 produce 1t,
AMI private men beggared themselves;
commercial men pledged their credit TO
lis utmost; pooi men threw in their mites;
women gave up their ornaments 10 clothe
and feel the soldier. The SOLDIER,
marched to battle with his naked feet
bleeding on the frozen earlh-- but forgot
his suherings in the contemplation ofthe
wrongs of his country, and felt not the
SHOWS of Canada, the ice OF the Delaware,
or the burning sun Of the Carolnas; for
when the red rank OF the enemy was seen
formed upon his native soil, he pressed on
to victory, at the spas de charge"
And dare we on this day fail to men.
ton the mighty leader OF this devoted
little hos,l Con the early history Of our
Country come before our contemplation,
without seeing in the foreground, "tower.
ing above his fellows proudly pre.emi-
nent," the lofty shade Of WASHINGTON
The Cincinnatus Of the New World
the farmer Hero who won Continent by
his vaour--the surveyor Statesman, who,
by his consumate political wisdom, gave
free institutions (the wonder Of the ma
tons of the earth) TO the people Of that
CONTINENT But the tongue Of eulogy is
mute at tho contemplation of the simple
grandeur Of tn S God like man. Behold
him az the WARRIOR who never drew his
sword bur in defence of his Country, and
who by his dying bequest Of this sword
inloined his relative ''never to unsheath
it for the purpose OF shedding blood, ex-
cept it should be- for self defence, or in
defence Of his Country and its rights -
but then, in that case, to keep it unsheath-
ed, and prefer to fall with ii in his hands,
10 the reinqushment thereof" Such
II arc tho words of his last will and tesla
ment. Behold him as the STATESMAN,
without personal ambition; and when
crown was offered to his grasp. he spurn-
ed the bawbe, and YET had.not even the
pardon, BILE vanity of disclosing the fact
while he lived. View him as the PAT.
RIOT, who spent life Of toll and care,
and danger for bis Country, and asked
no other reward than the appreciation of
his own pure heart. As a Christian, who
prayed 10 his God while his weary host
slept around him, and always ascr:be TO
protecting providence the success Of his
efforts; and, in the last testing hour of
death, when the king of Terrors raised
his dart, calmly he smiled at the we'll.
known weapon, and defed its point.
HIS history is written in Nations
welfare. His eulogy ought to be writ
to the annals of the worlds brightest
AMI bast--but his example and precepts
10 as, my countrymen. May not his i'm.
IN rial spirit be permitted on this day to
look down upon Us p? Oh vex not his
pure shade, my counirymen, by sighting
the legacy he has left us-his lofty and
salu,ary example. If we love the mem
ory of oar father, let us ponder well his
precepts. They are given TO US in has
farewell address. Let Us presently try
ourselves by their teachings, and see
whether we be the worthy or degener'
ate children of such sire. by this STAN
dard Of his character and life we may
safely try ourselves. Ii il standard i'm
mutable and eternal.
age cannot wther it.
Nor custom stale its infny variety
Fen Time shall spare II,
And reise his scythepoin, he swooPelhby,
Leaving il all un scathed.
do not deem it proper, nor have | the
tjma to pass In review the events of the
memorable revolution. Every man who
can read, should know them for himself.
The contest ended in our success. The
naughty mistress Of the Seas, and the
mother Of many colonies, was forced to
acknowledge the Independence Of the
thirteen United States.
But great work yet remained TO be
done. The country came out OF the war
burdcned with large debt, and in every
way crippled after such a contest Be-
sides the Confederatlon--lhe league fol
mutual delence-was sufficient while the
pressure from without hooped together
the several States, but was manIiestly
Insufficient as a form OF government.-
iiere were SIX out of thirteen States that
possessed the vast unsettled lan6S--the
most magnificent patrmony ever held by
n ualion-and the obvious source for the
payment of this common debt, incurred
ior the common good, and to secure the
liberties Of the whole. Here were ihIr-