Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1851-07-14

l.
ciples on which il was formed, an equal re-
presentation (the best discovery of politi-
cal wisdom) and just and commodious
distribution Of power, which, with US, were
the price OF civil wars, and the reward oi
the virtues and sufferings of our ancestors,
descend to them as a natural inheritance,
without toll or pain. But must they rest
here, as in the utmost effort of human geni-
usl Can chance and time, the wisdom aud
the experience Of public men, suggest no
new remedy against the evils their vices
and ambition are perpetually apt to cause!
May they not hope without presumption to
preserve greater zeal for picty and pub
lie devotion than we have done? For, sure,
it can hardly happen to them. as it has to
US; that when religion is best understood
and rendered most pure and reasonable,
that then should be the precise time when
many cease TO believe and practise it, and
all in general become most Indifferent to
1t. May they not possibly be more sue
cesstul than their mother country has been,
in preserving that reverence and authority
which is due to the laws-to those who
make, and to those who execute them?-
May not method be invented of procur-
ing some tolerable share of the comforts OF
life to those inferior, useful ranks of men,
to whose industry we are indebted for the
whole! Time and discipline may discover
some means TO correct the extreme ine-
qualities of condition between the rich and
the poor, so dangerous to the innocence
and happiness of both. They may fortu-
nately be led, by habit and choice, to des.
pisc that luxury which is considered with
us the true enjoyment of wealth. They
may have little relish for that ceaseess hur-
ry of amusements which is pursued in this
country without pleasure, exercise, or en-
ployment; and, perhaps, after trying some
of our iohes and caprlces, and rejecting
the rest, they may be led, by reason and
experiment, to that old simplicity which
was first pointed out by nature, and has
produced those models which we still ad-
mlre IN arts, eloquence, and manners. The
diversity of the new scenes and situations,
which so many growing States must neces-
sarlly pass through, may introduce chang
es in the fluctuating opinions and manners
of men, which we can form no conception
OF; and not only the gracious disposition of
Providence, but the visible preparation of
causes, seem to indicate strong tendencies
towards a general improvement"
Fellow-citizens-On the 4th of july
l77G, the representatives of the United
States Of America, in Congress assembled,
declared that these United Colonies are,
and of right ought to be, free and indepen-
dent States. This declaration, made by
most patriotic aud resolutc men, trusting
in the justice of their cause, and the pro
tcctlon of Provldence--and yet not without
deepsolicltudeand anxiety-has now stood
for scventy-five years and still stands. 1t
was scaled in blood 1t has met dangers
and overcome them; it has had enemies,
and 1t has conquered them; it has had de-
tractors, and it has abashed them all; it has
had doubling friends, but it has cleared
all doubts away; and now, to-day, raising
Its august form higher and higher than the
clouds, twenty-millions of people contem-
plate it with hallowed love, and the world
beholds 1t, and the consequences which
have followed, with profound admiration.
This anniversary animates, and gladdens,
and unites all American hearts, On other
days of the year we may be party men,
lndulging in controversies more or less i'm
portant to the public good; we may have
likes and dlslikes, and we may maintain
our political differences often with warm,
and sometimes with angry feelings, But
to-day we are Americans, all and all, moth
ing but Americans. As the great luminary
over our heads, dissipating mists and FOES
cheers the whole hemisphere, so do the as
sociatlons connected with this day disperse
all cloud dy and sullen weather, and all nox-
lous exhalations in the minds and feelings
of true Americans. Every mans heart
swells within him-every mans port and
bearing become somewhat more proud and
lofty, as he remembers that seventy-five
years have rolled away, and that the great
inheritance of liberty is still his; his undi
mlnshed and unimpaired; his, in all its orr
g,nal glory; his to enjoy, his to protect, and
his to transmit to future generations. Eel
low-citizens!-This is not only an inheri-
tance of liberty, but of our own peculiar
American liberty. Liberty has existed in
other times, In other countries, and in other
forms. There has been Grccian liberty,
bold and powerful, full of spirit, eloquence
and fire; liberty which produced multi
tudes of great men, and has transmitted one
immortal name, the name of Demosthenes,
to posterity. But still it was a liberty Of
disconnected States, sometimes united, in
deed, by temporary leagues and confcd-
eracles, but often involved in wars between
themselves. The sword of Sparta turned
its sharpest edge against Athens, enslavcd
her and devastated Greece, and, in her
turn Sparta was compelled to bend be-
foro the power of Thebes And let it ever
be remembered-especially let the truth
sink deeply into all American minds-that
it was the want OF union among the several
States which finally gave the mastery of
all Greece to Philip of Macedon. And
there has, also, been a Roman liberty, a
proud, ambitions, domincering spirit, pro
Tossing free and Popularprinciples, in Rome
Itself; but, even in the best days of the re-
public, ready to carry slavery and chains
into her provinces, and through every
country, over which her eagles could be
borne. Whoever heard Of liberty in Spain,
or Gaul, or Germany, or Britain, in the
days of Rome? There was none SUCH
As the Roman empire declined, her prov
lnces, not instructed in the principles Of free
popular government, one after another de-
cllned also; and when Rome herself fell, in
the end all fell together. Ihave said, gen.
tlcmen, that our inheritance is an inheri-
tance of American liberty. That liberty
is characteristic, peculiar, and altogether
our own. Nothing like it existed in for
mer'mes; while with US its principles have
become interviewer into the minds of indi-
vidual men, connected with our daily opin-
ions and our daily habits, until it is if l may