Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1849-07-05

WdUIIIT IHFV mdT TtdCH WdUkIHU, IHd TtFUTuTTOU5
are no trihes; they ought never to be undertaken rashly;
nor without deliberate consideration and sober reflection;
nor without a solid, immutable, eternal foundation of
justice and humanity nor without a people possessed Of
intelligence, lOrtitude, aud integrity sufficient TO carry
them with s~ieadIness, patience, and perseverance,,
through all the vicissltudes Of fortune, the fiery trials and
melancholy disasters they may have TO encounter.
The town of Cosiun early Instituted an annual Grafton
on.the fourth Of July, in -OmnemoraIIon Of the princl-
piles and feelings. That of my honest and amiable
neighbor Josiah QGincy, appeared to me The most direct
ly TO the purpose of the institution. These principles
and feelings ought to be traced back for Two hundred
years, and sought in the history of the country from the
first plantations in America. Nor should the principles
and feelings of the English and Scotch towards the colo
mics, through that whole period ever be fOTgniten. The
perpetual discordance between British principles and
feelings and those Of America, the next year after the
suppression of The French power in America, came TO a
crisis, and produced an explosion
Ia was not until after the annihilation Of the French
dominion in America. that any British ministry had dared
to crafty their own wishes, and the desire of the nation,
by projecting a formal plan of raising a national revenue
from America, by parliamentary taxation. The first
manifestation of this design was by the order to carry in
to strict execution those acts Of parliament which were
well known by the appellalon Of the acts of trade,
which had lain a dead letter, unexecuied for half a CEN
fury, and some Of them | believe for nearly u whole
one.
This produced, in I760 and I76l. an a,cakening and a
reUiral Of American principles and feelings, with an en-
thusiasm which went on increasing, till in 1775, il burst
out in open violence, hostility and fury.
The characters, the most conspicuous, the most ardent
and influential, in tins revival from L go TO I766, were
first and foremost, before all and above all, James Oils
next To him was Oxenbridge Thatcher next TO HIM
Samuel Adams next To him John Hancock then DIR.
Mayhem, then DR.. Cooper and his brother. or Mr..
Hancock's life, character, generous nature, great and dis
interested sacrifices, and important services, / should be
glad to write a volume. But this | hope will be done by
some younger and ADLER hand. Mr.. Thatcher, because
his name and merits are less known, must not be wholly
omitted. This gentleman was an eminent barrIster Mt
law, in as large practice as any one in Boston. There
was not n citizen of that town more universally beloved
for his learning, ingenuity, every domestic and social vir-
fine ,nI cton IN av1, rai,ts, If lEa
His patriotism was as ardent as his progenitors had been
ancient and illustIiOus in this country. Hutchinson often
said, "Thatcher was not born a plebian. but he was de-
termined TO die one" In May, 1853, | believe, he was
CHOSEN by the town of Boston one of her representatives
in the legislature, a coIleage of Mr.. Otis, who had been a
member from May, 176l, and he continued to be re-eIect-
cd annually till his death in 1865, when Mr.. Samuel
Adams was elected to fill his place, in the absence of
Mr.. OTIS, then attending the Congress at New York.
Thatcher had long been jealous of the unbounded ambi-
ton of Mr.. Hutchinson, bu; when he found him not con-
tent with the Office of lieutenant governor, the command
Of the castle, and its emnlumenis, of Judge Of probate for
the county of Suffolk, a seat in his majesiy's council in
the legislature, his broiherin-law secretary of state by
the kings commission, a brother of that secretary Of state
a judge of the supreme court and a member of council,
now in 1850 and l76l, soliciting and accepting the Office
of chief Justice of the superior court of iudicature, he
concluded, as Mr.. Otis did, and as every enlightened
friend of his country did, that he sought that office with
the determined purposes of determining all causes in IA
vr of the ministry at 81. James, and their seryile parlia-
ment.
His Indignation against him henceforwsrd, to 1765,
when he died, knew no bounds but truth. speak from
personal knowledge. For, from 1858 to 1865, | attended
every superior and inferior court in Boston, and recollect
not one in which he did not Invite me home to spend the
evenings with him, when be- made me converse with him
as we'll as ! could, on all subjects of religion, morals, law,
politics, history, philosophy, belle-lettres, theology, my
thOlogy, cosmogony, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Clark, Leib-
nitz, Bolingbroke, Berklev,-the pre-esiablished harmony
of the universe, the nature of matter and spirit, and the
eternal establishment of condolences between their ope-
ration fate, foT~e-knowledge, absolute-and we reasoned
on such unfathomable subjects as high as Millions gentry
in pandemonium and we understood them as well as
they did, and no better. TO such mighty mysteries be
added the news of the day, and the title tattIs of the
town. But his favorite subject was politics, and the i'm
pending, threatening system of parliamentary taxation,
and universal government over the colonies. On this
subject he was SO anxious and agitated that j have no
doubt il occasioned his premature death. From the
time when he argued the question of writs OF assistance,
TO his death, he considered the king, ministry, parliament
and nation of Great Britain as determined 10 new model
the colonies from the foundations; to annul al. their char
tiers, 10 constitute them all royal governments; to raise a
revenue IN America by parliamentary taxation TO apply
that revenue TO pay the salaries OF governors, judges, and
after all this, to raise as large a revenue as they pleased
to be applied to national purposes, at the exchequer in
England and further, TO establish bishops, and The whole
system of the church of England, tylhes md all, through
out all British America. This system, he said, if it was
suffered to prevail, would exiinguish the fame Of liberty
all over the world that America wonld be employed
as an engine to batter down all the miserable remains
of liberty in Great Britain and Ireland, where only
any semblance of II was left in the world. To this
system he considered Hutchinson, the divers, and sIl
connexions, dependents, adherents, shoeIickers--all entire
ly devoted. He asserted that they were all engaged with
all The crown officers in America, and the understrappers
of the ministry in England, in a deep and reasonable
conspiracy to betray the liberties of their country, for
their own private, personal, and family aggrandizmenl.
His philipics against the unprincipled ambition aud ava
rice Of all of them, but especially of Hutchinson, were
%unbridled; not only in private, confidential conversations,
but in all companies, and on all occasions, he gave Hutch
inson the sobriquet of "Summa Potestatis," . and rarely
mentioned him but by the name of 'Summa.' His liber-
ties OF speech were no secrets 10 his enemies. ] have
sometimes wondered that they did not throw him from
tho bar, rs they did soon afterwards major Hawly, for
they hated him worse than they did James Otis or SAM
uel Adams, and they feared him more, because they
had no revenge for a fathers disappointment of a seat on
the superior bench, to impute to him, as they did TO Otis;
and Thalcher's character through life had been SO modest,
decent, unassuming, his morals so pure, and his religion
so venerated that they dared not attack him. In his office
were educated to the bar, two eminent characters, the
late Judge Lowell, and Josiah Quincy, aptly called the
Boston Cicero. Mr.. Thaicher's frame was slender, his
constitution delicate, whether his physicians overstrained
his vessels with mercury, when he had the small pox, by
incubation at the castle, or whether he was over plyed
by public anxietIes and exertions, the small pox left him
IN a decline from which he never recovered. Not long
before his death, he sent for me to commit 10 my care
some Of his business at the bar. / asked him whether
he had seen the Virginia resolves: "Oh yes-they are
men! They are noble spirits 1t kills me to think of
the lethargy and stupidity that prevail here. i long 20 be
out. | will 60 out. ! will GO out. | will go into court,
and make a speech which shall be read after my death,
as my dying testimony against the internal tyranny they
are bringing upon u.s. Seeing the violent agitation into
which it threw him, I changed the subject as soon as pos
sIole, and retired. He had been confined for sometime.
Had he been abroad among the people, he would not have
complained so paihelically Of the ~"lethargy aud stupidity
that prevailed" for town and country were all alive; and
IN August become active enough, and some of the people
proceeded TO unwarraniable excuses, which were more
lamented by the patriots, than by their enemies. MIR.
Thatcher soon died deeply lamented by all the friends
Of their country.
Another gentleman who had great influence in the
commencement Of the revolution, was DIR. Jonathan Nav
hew, a descendant of the ancient governor of MarIha's
Vineyard. This divine had raised a great reputation,
both IN Europe and America, by the publication OF a vol