New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-07-03

dependence, UNIVERSAL Heeuom'
All slavery and oppression are based on
the poverty and weakness of individuals
and of nations. Poverty is The foun iation
of despotism, of ignorance, Of national as
well as of individual misery. He who has
not the means of supplying his natural
wants, and is urged by the dire necessity OF
supplying them, cannot be a free man; he
cannot rise to the dignity Of manhood; his
intellectual and spiritual. faculties are en-
chained and overwhelmed by that necessi-
ty, and cannot be developed. 1t is vain to
bring forward the exceptions to this prin-
ciple, by way Of controverting it; the truth
remains mistaken. that, where poverty is
the lot of the masses, they are necessarily
weak, and subject to arbitrary rule in some
form or other.
Such is the uuswerving law of Mans
progress first emancipation from the con-
troll of natural wants. the subjugation Of
natural forces, and with these the gradu, Il
establishment ofpolitical and social liberty
and gradual elevation in the scale of intel
lgence, virtue, religion.
Hence the astonishing growth of this
Republic. No restraints of governmental
authority, no extortions OF arbitrary taxa
ton, no barriers to the diffusion of know
ledge and to the march of science, inven-
ton and industry, have here impeded the
normal course of things. The consequence
is that in no country has wealth so rapidly
increased, in none is it so equally distri-
buted. The masses of the people are here
safe from the depressing tyranny OF physl-
cal necessities 10 a degree quite without
precedent. Therefore they are every way
freer, more intelligent, and more manly
than in less favored nations.
This is not the result of any exclusive
excellence in the American people; it is
only the native force of humanity freely
developing its efficacy. With as good a
beginning under similar circumstances any
other nation would have succeeded in the
same way.
While then this anniversary is sacred
and important in our eyes as Americans,
it is of significance equally sacred, Of i'm
portance equally momentous to all men,
1t is the prophecy and the guarantee OF lib
erty, of independence, of free development,
we'll being and of happiness to all. As
long as its benignant sun shall continue to
rise on the earth, so long the downfall OF
all Slavery, of all tyranny, of all unjust
authority, of all perncious institutions is
assured. Life to Man and Death to OPP
preston this day forever proclaims.
But while it is no personal or national
merit of ours that day so traught with
welfare to the family of Man, should be
intimately associated with our national life
and history, we cannot escape, and should
not wish to escape, the solemn responsible
ity which our position imposes on us with
reference to other less favored nations. We
are free, we are wealthy, we are power
ful. They, obeying the same natural I'M
pulse as our fathers obeyed, aspire to the
same liberty, the same diffusion OF wealth
among the masses, and the same power a
we enjoy and exercise. When they ap-
peal to US for aid in gaining this liberty and
in laying the foundation of this indepen-
dence, we may not refuse, any more than
the father when asked for bread may give
his hungering child a stone. For we do not
exist for ourselves; our liberty and our
power are not our exclusive property to
be Rugged and boarded, apart from all hu-
man sympathies. They belong to human
ity; they are entrusted to US for humanity;
and wo to US if we turn coldly and heart
lessly away when called on to do the duty
imposed by that sacred trust Wo to Us
if we, the elder born, trample under foot,
or suffer foes to trample under foot, the
hopes and the prayers Of our younger
brethren
Such, then, is the moral Of this Ami
versary at home, the increase and diffu-
sion of Liberty by Industry, Science, Edo
cation; abroad, to do unto others as we
would have others do to us, and to give
aid and comfort and support everywhere to
nations struggling to be free
Y Hon. Rufus Choate's Speech in the