Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-04-24

ApnIL l9rn.

mEMORtEs OF THE DAY.
ArRIL l9rH.
Our readers will be gratifed with the fol
lowing beautiful tribute to Burke from The
polite pen Of The eloquent editor of the Irish
Nenos, rhos. Francis Msagher:
III rhe or, tr Eimund Burke made the
nitt'e' iih II April famous, the blood of Lex
lagoon and Concord made il immortali
IF the former failed to stay the thunders
opening over the head of England, the latter
gave the first light by which the clouds were
dispeled from that ofAmerica.
upon the ears of British Ministers, the
eloquence of the one, as the valor of the others,
broke with an indignant vehemence and a
scornful warning, worthy alike to denounce
and defy a.despotism, or to indicate the trans
hguration of q colony into nation.
"On the 18th Of April, l774, Burke delivered
his famous speech on American Taxation, in
the British Commons. On that day twelve.
month, the Americans took up the theme at
the point of the bayonet. Truly, Burke has
said, "Terror is not always the effect of force;
and an armament is not victory Lexington
proved the first; the war succeeding it, illus
trated the latter, to the English.
"Burke's speech on the occasion has prob
ably never been surpassed, if equalled, as q
sustained effort. II is an unbroken stream
now rolling generously along, now descending
with the force of unity, over mighty chasms-
now doubly concentrated in the space allowed
it--now expanding from the gorge. ever beau
tlfni, and undivided. For effulgent energy,
and pictorial sarcasm, the speech was admitted
to be unequalled at the time. He shook out
every plea of the Minister. He paraded the
stupid policy that kept the tax on tea, by the
importation of which, by America, the East
Indies were to be kept from crushing England
with their burden. The government he stig-
matized as being without system, and invent
ing occasionally some miserable tale for the
day, in order meanly to sneak out of difficult
ties, into which they had proudly strutted.
he reminded them that the previous year they
were on the verge Of bankruptcy, when, by the
operation OF the injudicious tax, ten million
pounds OF tea were rotting in the warehouses,
the sale Of which would have prevented the
distress. Exposing the policy, he condemned
the tax on other grounds, as "a tax of sophis-
try, tax OF pedantry, tax of disputation, .
tax OF war and rebellion, q tax for anything
but benefit TO the imposers, or satisfaction to
the subject
Townshend, how could he acquire such tran
scendent powers? And an American in the
gallery said to an English friend, you have
most wonderful man here he understands more
OF America than the rest of your house put
together
"A year had passed, Burke made another
speech in favor of America, and while that
voluminous moralist, Sam. johnson, was re-
plying to him in pamphlet Of ponderous
puerilities, entitled Taxation No Tyranny
the colonial policy of Lord North had driven
the provincials to casting bullets, to the silent
collecting of military stores, and such treason
able practices
"The government officials scented out a
store of artillery and ammunition at Concord
and eight hundred men, led by Major Pitcairn
were dispatched with great secrecy to destroy
it. But the ears of rebellion, like the Indians
are tenacious, and hear footsteps through miles
OF earth. There is an attraction Of repulsion
that brings the stealthiest step and dullest
ears of enemies together. As tbs royalists
approached Lexington on the morning Of
April 18th, some seventy armed provincials
stood in their path. Pitcairn valiantly charged
the little band, which retreated, leaving eight
dead, the first heroes of the War of Indepen-
dence, on the field. Concord was reached by
the royalists, but Concord had no peace for
them. The alarm spreading, their work Of
demolition was interrupted. There were dead
people in Lexington, their blood was on the
hands in Concord. The indignant militia as
sembled-the army Of Pitcairn was baffled,
beaten, routedl and only saved from utter
determination by the arrival of Lord Percy
with two companies of artillery, sixteen of in
fantry, and corps Of marines. Even with
this aid the army barely effected retreat to
Charlestown, leaving in killed, wounded and
prisoners, in the hands Of the victorious people.
two hundred and seventy.three. The rebels
lost ninety men.
IA nation without valor has no history.
Literature may be the heart, science the head,
and art the eye of a country; but valor is its
strong right arm. As it protects the others,
it inspires theml As it inspires them, il gives
them actual being. Their being is its history.
II makes a history they live to chronicle. II
makes peace that gives them life. Thus,
these memories must be ever present to us all.
Not to cherish them is to be vandal. To
forget them is to be suicide.