Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-01-13

u 'hdt Wlde nall are flung ope
y gentlemen ushers; one announces sHj
And g decrepid man with a vacant eve
4 3 hanging ip--a gouty form, raocked wi,
pnTnie robes hobbl bles slowly forth Ss
4 ! hat other gentleman in livery announ
ces;-sHis Grace, Washington, Duke c
Mount Vernon, Viceroy of American
And from that door comes man of mao
nltlcent nj form, high bearing, kingly look
lie is clad-oh, shame!-in the scarlet I'M;
form-his breast waving with ribbons an,
glittering with stars -, - @~~r",'" -
!. And that noble man kneels in the cente,
q that crowd, kisses the equity hand of tba
lhlng. The good-humored idiot murmurs m
something about forgiving the rebel Wash.
lngton, because that rebel has become .
lloyal subject, and brought back a nation te
the feet of the British King.
And there kneels Duke WASHINGTON md
there stands the Protestant Pope OF Britain.
Had Washington accepted the parch.
ment from General Howe, something like
T. this scene would have been the presenta-
siStA Ab SOults q.
Or change the scene again:
What see you now? Independence Hall
transformed into monarch's recention
room, and there, surrounded sbv his corr
tiers, the crown on his brow, stands George
the First, King of America. %
The glitter of arms flashes DER indie.
Pendence Square: the huzzas of the mob
burst D. into the sky; there is joy today in
PhllLa,delphia-- the aristocracy are glad
for George Washington, forsaking the fact
OF republican truth, has yielded to the wish.
es Of servile friends, yielded to the huzzas
OF the mob, and while Independence Bell
tolls the death of freedom, has taken to
himself crown and throne. o ,-D.'
So, my friends, would one dark page in
history have read, had not George Wash
ington been George Washington all his
life. ......>>.., I'D, -. ''
And now let us look for q moment Mt
the other side of the picture. 3. al i, ,gr.3r
Suppose instead Of the ryuttered by the
one night as. the State House
clock struck one-'One o'clock, and Corn.
wallis is taken!'-he had shrieked forth
sone o'clock, and George Washington
is taken!' ...,.. -..r....> w.. s-<
Then would history have chronicled a
scene like this: IL ,- ,.....t.- III.
Ono summer day an immense crowd
gathered on Tyburn Hill. Yes, that i'm.
mense crowd spread fur along the street, O.
yer the house tops, clung to the trees, or
darkened over the church steeples. That
day London had given forth its livery and
its rags-its nobility and its rabble. St.
Giles, that foul haunt of pollution, sent its
thieves and its beggars-St. James, the
home OF royalty, sent its princes and its
lords, to swell the numbers of this vast
crowd which now darkened far and wide
over Tyburn Hill. -"--
And in the center Of this wide theatre
whose canopy is yonder blue heaven
whose walls are human faces.-there glooms
q scaffold covered with dropping folds of|
black. III l. ~ n ,.
There, on that scafold, stand three per-
sons:--That grim figure, with face muffled
n Grape, and the axe. in his hand, that is
The executioner. .
There is a block by his side, and around
hat block is scattered heap of saw dust.
That saw dust has drunk the blood of
men, like Algernon Sidney-but to-day will
1rink the blood of a greater rebel than he !!
By the side of that executioner stands
another figure in black, not a hangman,
but priest, come to pray for the traitor.
And the third fgures .agr-1
X See, how he towers above priest and
hangman, his blue uniform still enrolling
mis- proud tfgure--a calm resolution still
sitting like glory upon his brow! 4
Can you tell me the name of this traitor?
!. Why, you must be stranger in Lon
don not to know his story. Why, the rab-
BILE in the street have, it at their tongues
those noble ladies looking from
yonder windows-they shed some tears
when they speak it,; r.,
That man standing on the scaffold is the
great rebel, who was captured at Yorktown
home in chains--tried in Parlia-
ment--sentenced to death---and to-day he
dies. Is. i, ..5 Z >ass.l 4; sty .a e.s r.@.e|
And now look, the priest approaches; he
begs that calm-faced traitor to repent Of his
treason before he dies,--to be- reconciled
g his King, the good King George; to re-
pent of his wicked deeds at Trenton, ION
n mouth, Germantown, Brandywine, and
al'ey Forge. ss!sssss g4s n sp.s.& 7
And assthe priest doles out his store of
set phrases, look how that noble-looking
rebel pushes him aside witha quiet scorn.
Then, with onesprayer to- God .swithoneI
thought ofhi country, now bleeding ainl
her chains, he knoes--hisy head on thei
block. ssas .ssl