American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-07-10

shows himself not susceptible a. lhe operation az
his theories Men are required 10 NJ themselves
10 The laws-the laws need not suit the people
Locke, the great philosopher, prepared con.
stitution for one Of the Southern colonies a
perfect Utopia, fun % powers with their cores
ponding checks, and intended 90 Operate like
the wheels and balance weights of an intricate
machine, It's fate was speedy, aud Il bat TOO
wen known. How conld theory, concocted In
cabinet meeting ut 81. James, suit the wants
and Feelings OF the hardy pioneers 0f the Amer
lean forestsi How irrational that the cottage,
sanctihed by the virtues, shonld receive its laws
from the feudal CASTLE distinguished not for ,ts
virtues, but for its wealth and power, and iro.
pervious to the appeals Of misery, 10 the cries
| or humanity. In legislating for man, he must
not be regarded as mere machine hut ns 4
sympathetic agent, as q son, husband, a father
| a patriarch The laws must have their founsla-
| tion in the social system, because, il the laws
| come in conflict with the freside, the freside
viii triumph over the laws. The legislator too
frequently looks to the force Of political or art-
fcial loyalty or allegiance alone, forgetting that
home begets loyalty TO the soil, and the laws
must rest upon that. In this respect legislators
have failed in their vocation Music and poetry
are strong social elements, but they have been
dlsregarded in the making Of the laws Chaucer
and Shakespeare have governed and will continue
to govern the nations that speak the English Ian
guage, for thousands of years after the Norman
lhonarchs and their codes Of laws shall have been
forgotten. The poets have been better lawpiyers
than thelawyers Their laws we're built upon the
affections andprejudices Of the races they touched
upon the key-notcs Of the heart. II all this be
true, how inadequate was British legislation for
America We are told that the colonies waxed
strong by British neglect. With true English
pride they refused to look into our condition.
They never travelled in America. They came
here, as "swarms Of officers, to harass our
people and eat out their substance" or as
. armies of foreign mercenaries, 10 complete
the works Of death, desolation, and tyranny"
So speaks the record. How differently did the
American philosophers and lawgivers act, when,
after the war, they were called upon TO substi-
tute constitution and government in the place
of British misrule-how wisely did they act.
They adopted the purely representative system.
They took the legislator from the freside, from
the family, from the masses. The unconscious
infant, slambering1 upon the straw of cabin
or the boy who is, now ploughing his father,
fields, may some day be President of the United
States Who is not proud that Millard Fillmor,
was a store lad-that Henry Clay was mil
boy?
How great must have been English ignoranc,
of our country in 1875, if they know so littl,
of US now! Mr.. Webster, in his recent Buffalt
speech, says that after he had been a Unites
States Senator from Massachusetts, he yisite,
England and was toasted by the Lord Mayor o
London as "a member of the upper senate o
New York /" and friend of mine recently re
turned from Europe, told me that an intelligen
Englishman inquired of him if he did not offer
ride out on horseback to see the gold region OF
| California! What, then, but revolution could
| have been expected as the consequence of the
neglect of the just and true principles of legis-
lation 2 The tax was but the pretext of the
leaders of the Revolution. The want Of a com
munity Of interests between the sovereign and
the subject was the true cause.-the absence Of
mutually the want of confidence and love.
After the first fatal error was committed, the
pretext was given, and no after-policy, however
wise, could have ayerted the outbreak. The
time was come-the handwriting was on the
wall-the struggle was commenced What,
then, let me ask, was the fate of that noble
prophecy, made on the floor of Parliament:
My Lords, you cannot conquer America I"
How, let me ask, did the struggle terminate
Let facts speak for themselves-Wc are free!
Need talk to you about that struggle? Need
lead you step by step through the stirring
details of that war; No; you have heard them
from your cradles--you have learned them from
your fathers and your mothers-you have stu-
died them in your schools-you have thrilled
over their recital; the names Of that day are
household words of the present day; you have
grown indignant at their wrongs and you have
gloried in their triumphs you have traced in
the snow and on the ice of the Jerseys and the
Delaware the bloody footprints of Washington's
men, and you have participated in their suffer-
ings and privations at Valley Forge. The his
tory Of the Revolution is well impressed upon
your minds-every line of it is written upon
your hearts. Cherish the bright impression
cling to the history Of the past with love and
gratitude. You can pursue no better study than
the history of 81 The times that tried mems
souls" BY learning what freedom cost you
will learn to value it's present possession. As
long, therefore, as you celebrate this day, so
long and so long only will you be free.
One circumstance in the Revolution has often
struck me with amazement and awe. This was,
the providential and apparently miraculous in
tervention of the elements of nature to shelter
the American forces from destruction by their
enemies. On Long Island, a mist from heaven
came between them and the foe, and saved them
from an inevitable fate. Again After the
battle Of the Cowpens, General Greene, being
unable to avail himself Of the victory ordered
retreat through the Carolinas. When Corn
wallis gave pursuit TO Morgan, with n choice
detachment of the American army under his
command, twice did the rains pour down from
the heavens, and twice did the waters of the
Catawba and the Yadkin mraculously rise after
the Americans had crossed in safety, and the
enemy were compelled to abandon the pursuit.
The miraculous preservation of the life of the
commander in-chief was remarked upon in those
days by both friend and foe. This gave moral
strength and courage to the nation; it told
them that their cause was just; it taught them
to look to Heaven for protection.
1t would be gratifying to the men Of tho Rev
oluton If they could but look down upon this
land and behold the fair fruits of their labors
Sixty-two years ago the first President was
elected he presided over little more than three
millions of people, without railroads, steam
boats, factories or telegraphs. Now the twelfth