Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1848-07-21
DUPLIN COUNTY, July 9TH


DUPLIN COUNTY, July 9TH.
Gent1emen-Your communication request
ing a copy of the address had the honor to
deliver before the citizens of DupIin, on the
occasion of the late anniversary, has been re-
ceyed
! assure you that the address referred to
was written with no design of puL'ication-
and aware how little it deserves the fattering
terms in which you have been pleased TO speak
of it, I ought, in justice to myself, decline
your request, but as it was furnished at your
request, and that of the citizens of Kenans
vile, feel bound to submit it to any further
disposition by which their wishes may be
gratfed
With acknow ledgments for the Kind regard
OF those you represent, am, very respectful
ly, your obedient servant,
W. J. HOUSTON.
To Messrs. K. Bass, w H. Hanslev, and ]
L. Carroll, Committee.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-You will not.
trust, consider me as indicating an unbecom-
ing insensibiity to my deficiencies, if, without
OBTAINING you with assurances of unftness,
should at once proceed to the discharge of the
pleasing task you have assigned me, with such
! ability as possess. In conserving to appear
before you, [ only hope to give evidence Of
my willingness TO serve you, and to contribute
in some slight degree to those exercises which
lmpart so much interest to the occasion And
| feel encouraged in the hope that shall en-
JOY at your hands that sympathy and support
always granted good intentions, however i'm
perfectly they may be executed.
Permit me, then, to present to your consid-
Grafton, as the subject which shall endeavor
to discuss, " The proper reflections of a free
man on the 4th of July, the birth day Of irde-
pendence' 1t is, fellow citizens, a natural
and instructive principle in every being to love
liberty. This we all understand as a self
evident truth. or at least one that may be at
tested by every day observation. We may
then at once conclude that it is pre- eminent,y
consistent in the eyes of God and our fellow
beings. That we should resent with scorn
and bitter aversion, the presuming tyrant who
would dare enslave us, or the fendish mon
arch who would arrogate to himself the right
to bind us down in the chains of misery and
slavery-drag from US our lives and happi-
ness-appropriate to his individual purposes
our hard earned wages, and deprive us forev-
er of those blessed of blessings, the rights of
freemen. Hence again very naturally arises
the conclusion, that it is right and honorable
that the suspicious day on which the first
happy step was taken by the injured or en-
shaved people, that led to their final deliver
ance from the shackles of tyranny, and gave
them the untrammelled enjoyment of their lib
critics, should be consecrated to the name and
hallowed to the perpetuation of the glorious
institution itself.
This, fellow. citizens, is but a parallel of the
case of our country prior to the 4th of July,
1875. We-yes, we who now stand forth as
beacon light for others to guide and govern
by--we who are called freemen, and who
have shown that we are by no means unWor-
thy of the name-we who have taught the
world how 10 acquire, preserve, and enjoy the
true principles of genuine liberty, were mere
colonies, subject 10 tyrants sway and iron
rule But our gallant, heroic, and patriotic
fathers, thinking of and interested in us and
our welfare, and in that of nations and gene
rations yet unborn, gave expression to then
feelings in the solemn and determined declara.
ton that we are, and of right out to be, free
Relying upon the goodness of God, and the
Justice of their cause, they summoned the world
10 witness that they were no longer subjects
of the British crown declared that America
had reached that pitch of power and impor'
lance that assigned her place among indie
pendent nations-that union could by nc
means exist with the mother country without
rancor and danger, and that they would nc
longer brook the wrongs, rage, and rgor Of
an impetuous tyrant. Although weak anc
impotent in comparison to the power of Brl
tain, they resolved that they would not live {
life of tame and degraded submission, and or
their departure from the vale of tears, bequeatF
to posterity an inheritance of chains and sa
very-but that they would free themselve:
. from the petty shackles of a scep:re swayine
: tyrant-establsh the true principles of Chris
tan liberty, obligation, and happiness, an(
leave to us 0heir chiIdren) the priceless IN
heritance of civil and political freedom. |
has been said by a distinguished son of llber
ty that there is one characteristic in the hlsto
ry of our revolution which, constituting as
does " its living principle, proud distinction
and browning glory" deserves to be noticed
y and studied by every American citizen. 1t il
a this sc Our revolution had not its actual orr
: gin so much in the weight of oppression as il
4 the exercise of unauthorized power" Othe
nations have been driven to rebellion by tn
e iron hand of despotism-the insupportabl
It weight of ppresson-which, leaving me-
d nothing worth living for, takes away the fea
r of death itself, and causes them to rush up
on the spears of>their enemies, or break thei
chains upon the heads OF their oppressors."