Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-07-28
AN ADDRESS, Delivered by w. J. Kel- ley, On the 4th of July, 1857, at Mur- freesboro', Pike County, Ark.

ley, On the 4th of July, 1857, at Mur-
 freesboro, Pike County, Ark.
 It has pleased an all- wise Providence to per init us to witness another anniversary of our national independence, and to assemble here to-day, to commemorate the same with grati- tude to the Great Disposer of events, and the Giver of all good.
 Fourscore and one years have elapsed, this day, since the venerable declaration, which has just been read to this audience, was unani- mously adopted by the American congress, at Philadelphia assembled.
 It accords well with propriety, that we should consecrate the day; that We should on its annual return, lay aside our vacations, close our houses and shops, forget our religious and political distinctions, and assemble at the house of God as so many members of one common family, and there dwell on our country's rights and wrongs, acknowledge our gratitude to Hea- ven, and renew our pledge to hand down our liberties to our children pure and unsullied as when they came from the hands of the immor- tai sages of '76.
 About three hundred and seventy years ago, an obscure person seen at the door of a convent, begging bread for the support of a perishng child. He was poor, without money, and clothed in rags; but he was the first to guide a ship across the painless Atlantic, and to find a new world, the home of happy mil Hons. Subsequently, two men by tho name of Cabbot, discovered North America. They, being charmed with its beautiful rivers and towering mountains, silver lakes and surpass- ing scenery, published, on their return to Eng land, an account of their voyage, in which, they gave description of the country, that induced thousands to forsake the old world, and seek homes for themselves and children in the forests of the new.
 They came from France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, and in part, from every portion of the civilized globe, all eager to enjoy the blessings the new world denied to none. The greater portion of the country now called the United States, belonged to the Brit ish crown and being settled by authority from the king, under charters, the inhabitants were still under the protection of the laws of Eng land, and tributary to the British crown.
 Religious prosecutions had ragged in tho old countries thousands had suffered death for their religious doctrines, and many had been driven away into other countries. In the year 1920 an hundred and one purtans.. arrived at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, having been compelled to forsake the land of their birth on account of their religious creed. They were called puritans by their enemies, in dcrison, because their lives were blalneless and their whole conduct evinced purity of purpose
 They settled in Massachusetts and the con- tiguous colonies; by their industry and rerse- verance, they soon erected pleasant abodes for their families, and acquired wealth and inde- pendence. Others came from the old country, and settled among them, and from these early settlers, that race of people called Itllees had their origin.
 North America was so soon settled, and popu- lous, while many vast countries in Asia and Africa, which were discovered two or three thousand years before, remain to this day scarcely inhabited. They have also wondered why the arts and sciences seemed to grow spontaneous as the pine in the forests But let them consider the materials from which that population was originally composed, and the inducements they had to seek permanent homes:-let their characters be examined, and their morality understood, and the problem is solved at once
 When Romulus conceived the idea of build ing imperial Rome, he was compelled to people the newly formed city by inducing robbers ard refugees from justice to become its first citi- zens--but the American traces not his ances- try to oXiIes escaping the punishment of crime; he sees his forefathers quitting land of tyran- ny and oppression, with characters so stainless, that they received the name p,n7taa, buffetting winds and waves, enduring the hardships incl dent to the settlement of a mighty wilderness, annoyed by deadly, savage foe; and all, that they might find homes for themselves and children, where they could worship G3l ac- cording to the dictates of their own minds.
 A community formed of individuals of such stealing worth, living in the full enjoyment of their inherent rights, could not long exist with out producing greatness of intellect in pro- portion to the privileges enjoycd the new world was not destined to remain long behind the old in point of me-, greatness Frank lin was soon to beautifv it with the splendors of science; the noble spirit of West, and the greatness of Rittenhouse, together with the retiring modesty, wisdom and unparalleled goodness of a Washington, were soon to cheer and ilumine the western hemispherei and make it tho wonder of admirng posterity, and a light to surrounding nations.
 The increasing strength and wealth of the American colonies began to excite the susp- cons of the British crown. The governors of the colonies were chosen by the British king, as well as the members of the legislative coun- cls. All the laws passed by the colonial le. sislatnres were reviewed by the king and all the appearances of disposition to be indepen- dent of the mother country, were punished by denying the colonists some right, or imposing upon them some burden.
 They were taxed but allowed no represent tativo to parliament; they were required to pur- chase articles of British manufacture notwith- standing cheaper and better might be obtained of some other country; they were required to use British ships and employ British sailors in preference to all others; and finally, an act was passed by the British parliament, requir- ing Americans to use no paper in writing legal Instruments, but such as was manufactured by British operatives and bearing the British stamp. The right of trial by jury was impair ed, and several Americans were arrested, car ried across the ocean, and tried for trivial offen- ces, contrary to every principle of right, and