The Planters' banner. [volume] (Franklin, Attakapas Co., Lou.) 1849-1872, 1851-07-12

by their Creator with certain unalien
able rights; that among these are life
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
1t is true that man, in almost every age
had dreamed of This; but the mere in
stinctive longing for freedom, without a
corresponding enlightenment of the un.
derstanding, could not drive back thai
dense miruge which the accumulation
of hoary centuries had thrown around
it, Reason, at every turn, had to crap.
pie with those created deformities oi
ignorance and superstition, or was be-
wildered with the never-ending and
abstruse propositions OF an absurd phil
osophy, embracing within its dreamy
flight those last exploded phantoms of
unity Of church and state, and the
divine right of kings.
The light of experience was unfavor-
able. Republican Greece stood before
them like a wreck upon the ocean of
time, and they doubted. The Roman
Republic, buried beneath the rubbish
of ages, cried out from her deep abyss,
"BewareI bewarem Reasoning, too, on
the subject of the rights of man, was
slow, studied, and in the low whisper
ing voice of caution; for the Argus eyes
of power was upon them-the stake,
the gibbet the inquisition of blood was
before them. Here and there arose one
whose proud soul defed grim tyranny
to shackle his reason or restrain his
lawful will. But what can we say of
them for themselves they lived too
soon. What could they expect but
few short days of glorious persecution
on earth, and hero's grave. The re-
collection of these martyred sons of
Liberty now rise fresh before our fancy
on this anniversary of freedom, forming
green spots along down the pathway Of
history, on which our own bird of liberty
could alight and plume herself while
on her way to this her final home.
How much more of the hearts best
alteration is poured out over these spots
which enshrine the dust of those who
died to consecrate the liberties we this
day celebrate and enjoy, than around
those mouldering mausoleums which
mark the spot where the conqueror
paused in his fierce career, while chas-
ing the evaneseent phantom of glory
over the dying and the dead. The
work of mans civil and political re-
generation was not secured till the dis
covery of our own native land. And
even here, though the seed was not i'm
mediately sown, yet this was the broad
field in which it was TO be planted.
None can close the lids of that last
great work on English history without
being more than ever convinced that
the minds of our ancestors there were
deeply imbued with the principles of
civil liberty. But in the dense, the
crowded population of the old world,
man could not work out the problem of
self government Here, year after year
rolled on, generation after generation
passed away, and what was great un-
solved problem in the old world be-
came the conviction of a mighty people
in the new. "Man is and ought to be
free.n This had been studied and
proven in the deepest recesses of na-
ture. Men, families, neighborhoods,
lived far away from each other, lived
happily and blessed. Laws, natural
and necessary for their good and pro-
lection, were simply and duly admins
tered, and man became impressed with
the dignity and rights of man. Have
in your minds eye the character of one
Of those pioneers of at once our liber-
lies and the woody wilds of this great |
continent. What cared he for the gay
of power, or the tinselled
ornament of greatness! Little did he
care, perhaps he did not even know,
who had swayed the proud sceptre of
England, or any other sceptre; but he
lid know and feel deeply seated in his
,wn breast, the immutable principles
If right and wrong, He knew what
was necessary to make him happy, and
that happiness was intended
~ the Creator for all his creatures, and
he pursuit to be left to the dictates Of
lis own immortal mind, felt it not only
o be his right, but his stern and solemn
luty, to defend that right and leave the
ssue with God of Justice
Who that reads and reflects is not
prepared 10 admit the truth Of the idea
hat the mind of man is formed and
ashioned in a great degree by the loca-
ion, soil, and climate in which It is
cared. II was thus that the minds of
ur progenitors here became imbued
gith simple grandeur by the magni-
Icence of the scenes which surrounded |