American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-07-10
AMERICAN TELEGRAPH
GRAFTON,
Deferred al Piney Pooat, July 4, 1851.

\ . Il y /. +. i q II Z II f4
4 BY RICHARD IL. CLARKE.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: have been honored
4 by the gentlemanly and courteous proprietors
ot TINS pleasant retreat, the Potomac Pavilion,
with an invitation to address you on this the
tlme-honored anniversary of our Independence.
NO merit OF mine, but their personal friendship,
must have formed the grounds of their choice.
| thank them most cordially for the honor.
!, as wen as yoa, had first anticipated the high
ep,osnent Of listening, ON this day and in this
SPOT to the manly voice and fersidr reloqaence Of
one Of Maryland's most gifted sons but the
duty, as well as the honor, has, by the partiality
ofothe proprietors, devolved within few days
upon his unworthy substitute. Though informed
| that occupy the place of one so talented and
eloquent as Mr. May, can still make the en-
couraging reflection that you will meet me half
way-that the sentiment of this occasion Is es-
sentiaily an inward sentiment, deep-seated here,
in our hearts, having its spring in the best feel
lngs OF our nature, and clinging to a country
that is great, beautiful and free, and well deserv-
ing onr allegiance that sentiment can suffer no
diminution from external causes Let us then
yield ourselves up to the kind and Christening
influence of this glorious day, and, forgetting
the cares OF business and casting off the recol-
lection of the daily routines of life, let us enter
into the ceremonies of the festival. True, the
story am about to tell you is an old one, but
it is dear and a sacred story-a legend we
love to hear; and we have assembled here to-
day to tell 1t over together in the old-fashioned
style, threatened disunion and secession to the
contrary Notwithstanding. Then hear me for
my cause" ss....'t
| What more appropriate place, let me ask,
could have been selected for this celebration!
This is most beautiful and quiet spot, judi
ciously resorted to by the young, the lovely,
and the gay, the aged and venerable, for pur-
poses OF, pleasure and reereaton--situated, as
/ 1t IS, upon the storied banks of the beautiful
Potomac, and surrounded by some Of the dear
| est and most soul-stirring associations of the
great historic past? Not far distant, on the
other shore Of. this bright stream, in w Westmore-
land county, on a farm called Wakefield, now
the property Of private gentleman and for
mer college-mate of my own, the great cham
pion of freedom drew his first BREATH and first
saw. the light of heaven. A modest slab of
marble has, with most becoming! filial piety,
been erected there by Mr.. Custis, to mark the
/ theatre of his birth and boyhood. But still
more within a few hours sail are the sacred
shades of Mount Vernon These graceful, dam
cling waves cast upon our beach, in passing to
the ocean, the fresh green twigs of trees which,
but q few moments ago, were casting their sha-
/ dows upon the tomb of the immortal Washing
ton. llustrious name !! What mortal man has
ever been so much beloved and honored? Who
has been SO meritorious? The nations claim
him for the world but we can say, with more
Ijustice, he belongs to us and Heaven for -
| All the ends he aimed at Y Il.
| Were his Country's, his Gods, and Truths"
| Here, too, within view, is the site of the an
cient settlement of the Maryland pilgrims-a
green and beautiful land, celebrated in the
annals of history the spot where first in this
new world were proclaimed, for all men, the
blessings of civil and religious liberty This is
the proud boast of Maryland. In the early
days Of the settlement, the prosecuted from
Europe and the other colonies took refuge here
under the mild government of the Calverts, and
from that circumstance the place was most ap-
propriately and beautifully called in those days
the Land Of He Sdactudry." The graceful
steamers that, with flying colors and martial
music, have borne us to these shores, have fol-
lowed in the course of the {" Ark" and the
/" Dove" which more than two centuries ago
landed the pious pilgrims of st. Mary's upon
that blooming island. Standing here in the
vicinity Of both the birthplace and the tomb Of
Washington, and from the green banks of his
own Potomac, viewing the pilgrims resting
place, the cradle of American liberty, how can
we but feel that il is no ordinary sentiment that
has called us together but that this is q great
festival of the head and of the heart, appealing
alike TO the highest faculties of the intellect and
TO the finest and best sensibilities of our hu-
manity. Following, then, the inspirations of
the place, let US examine the causes, accom-
plishment and results of the Revolution, and
our duties Of gratitude and preservation.
The causes of the Revolution have, with a
too great fondness for antiquity been traced by
some writer's to the peculiar social and political
characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race. The
laws of King Edward the Confessor, the Magma
Charta of King John, and the Declaration of
independence, have thus been viewed MS steps
in one great onward march-as scenes i'm the
same drama. | have been contented to trace
the last of these three great facts to cause
purely and historically American. That cause
is want of sympathy between the governors
and the governed-a sympathy that can only be
eDgendered by o knowledge Of the social con-
dition of the governed, by knowledge Of their
wants, of the feelings engendered at the fire.
side, the prejudices of their education, their
peculiar characteristics, their interests and af-
fections the sources of their hope, their very
dreams and fancies. How could such sympa-
thies exist between Great Britain and her
colonies, separated as they were by three
thousand miles of ocean, Driven, as the col
onists were, from their homes by the tyranny
and oppression of the home government, gain
ing by degrees a foothold in a savage land,
where the aborigines were to be conciliated or
subjugated, where the forests were to be felled,
the virgin soil broken into cultivation, and a
whole continent redeemed from barbarism to
civilization, now could their minds and charac-
ters but receive new impressions from the new
circumstances around them? How could they
but acquire new habits suited to their new sit
uationY How could they but forget their old
notions and lose their old sympathies in the
acquisition Of new ones! The politician or
lawgiyer is too apt TO become wise at the ex-
pense Of judgment; he pursues theories and
loses sight Of realities he disregards the close
connexion existing between the political and
social systems, and the influences Of the latter
upon the former; he legslates for the indyid-
ual as though he we're mere machine, and