Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1847-08-14
FROM THE LYNcHBURG vIRGINIAN OF AUGUST 8.

Tallol, independently vi any mere form OF gov
eminent
FROM THE LYNCHBURG vIRGINIAN AUGUST 8.
The speech of Gen. CUSHING, on the occasion of
the late anniversary at Monterey, deserves place
IN our columns from its ability and the interesting
and novel circumstances under which it was dev-
cred. We take, however, special pleasurein pub
fishing it, inasmuch as it advances an opinion which
we have always held, and should like to see be-
come universal The General says:
Men who have but specifically studied the history of the
United States accustomed speak of this day the
anniversary of emancipation from bondage and vague
ideas of that vagues of all things called liberty attached
to the very of our national independence. But the
people of the United States a of bondage
The of the Revolution Of liberty On the
contrary, it but struggle determine whether the
great subdivisions of the British nhabng Europe
and the other nhabiing America, and both equally
should continue to constitute single empire, whether
they should be reconstructed separately into independent
empires"
This idea, that american liberty dates from The
4h Of July, l776, IS popular fallacy, which it is
high time to dispel. The vndicaon of historical
truth, well of the character of our ancestors re-
quires that more correct notions should be adopted
Anniversary orators, whether from ignorance of our
ante-revolutionary history, or with view to dra-
matte effect, are prone to dilate upon the slavery
under which, they assert, our people groaned until
their shackles were broken by the Declaration of
Independence. Our blood has more than once
boiled within US at listening to this outrage on the
truth of history and on the fame of our orefathers
According TO this theory, the grand leading prnci-
pies OF civil liberty and constitutional government
were first promulgated in 1916 Now, without de-
tracing from the merit of that immortal document,
we IN Iao
announced by the Declaration of independence
which cannot be found in SYDNEY and LOCKE, and
earlier writers in England, and which had not been
thoroughly understood and appreciated and carried
into effect by the colonsts from their earliest settle
ment. The Declaration mere recdpit1tiati0n
of fundamental principles of ciUa liberty which
were quite as well understood and cherished, and
the practical blessings flowing from which were as
fully enjoyed, at that day as now. There no
startling novelty about this part of the instrument;
the truths proclaimed were familiar as household
words What startled and appalled, many was the
bold assertion that the colonies should hereafter
sert their POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. We can i'm
agine the surprise and Indignation with which the
members of the Congress of '76 would have re-
celved the announcement that they were the repre-
sentatlves OF people grooming under intoerable
political slavery. The coonists believed themselves
to be in the enjoyment of the amplest freedom.
They were content with their situation, and asked
for no new rights or privileges. Their object was
10 preserve the franchises they then and ALWAYS
HAD enjoyed, not TO extort new ones. Our limits
will not permit even the most meager extracts, but
let the reader turn to those State papers which
torted the splendid eulogium of CHATHAM-the adj
dresses to the British crown and people-and he
will look in vain for any demand for privileges.
Their proud and affecting appeal was, that they
might be permitted the uninterrupted enjoyment Of
the prescriptve rights and liberties of British SUBJ
Jecs. They believed and had ample reason to be-
lleye, that 1t was the intention of the British Min
istry to infringe those privileges and deprive them
of their liberty. Their aim was merely conserva-
tive. The severance of all the ties which bound
them to the British nation was an aferthought; not
INDUCED until the intentions of the Ministry could
no longer be questioned; and not adopted until it
became apparent that it presented the most hopeful
chance of preserving their Liberties. No doubt the
leading spirits Of that day. the ADAMsEs and HEN
RVS, foresaw the necessity, and labored zealously,
but covertly, TO promote separation. There is still
less doubt that, up to the last moment, connexion
with Great Britain was dearly cherished by the
mass OF the people, and by the majority of those
who afterwards became the leaders in the struggle
to sever it. The Declaration of Independence took
the colonies by surprise; and had it been made
twelve or even six months sooner, would have
been too far in advance of public sentiment. The
great merit of the colonsts was, that they cordially
with but few exceptions. approved the act Of their
delegates, momenous and unexpected though it was
In certain sense there was revolution. The
bloody struggle, which was closed by the peace Of
'S3, was war for independence. No new ideas
OF civil or religious freedom were announced in the
outset and propagated at the point Of the sword
There was, with small exception, no civil war.
The coonlsts all held the same general ideas the
subject OF human rights, the origin Of political pow
er, and the true end of all legitimate government
Their attention was not diverted from the end in
view-that is, the independence Of the colonies
by novel discussions, in clubs and journals, of the
rights of man. or theories of government. They
had never known any thing else than the plain,
practical, sober doctrines of Ango-Amercan liber-
ty; and simple but sublime truths, which, when
elsewhere announced, convulsed society, by then,
had so long been held as TO seem part of their men
tai and moral constitution. Their liberty was the
product of sturdy tree, raised from. the seed and
the growth Of centuries-not fruit engrafted on
decaying STEM