Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-07-28

and with an unyielding frmness, to sustain an eight years conflict and bring it to a suc- cessful close, we no longer cling to human strength, but admit with implicit confidence the experimenting care of an unseen hand.
 In all political revolutions which have af- fected the general interest of man, there have always been found those master spirits, whose towering minds were to stem the tide of diff culty through the upheavings of disorder and misrule. When Egypt was to become the birthplace of civilization, and the cradle of science she had her Socrates and Ptoiomies; when classic Greece was about to emerge from barbarsm to refinement, she had her Homer and Theocrates; when Rome was to rise in her power and majesty, and to combine under one government all the energies of the civilized world, she had her Tullies and six hundred senator's Sparta could boast her Leonidas and invincible generals, Carthage her Hannlbals, and England her Alfreds and Hamdens; bat when the American citizen is asked to present the claims of his native land he will simply in- scribe the name of GEORGE WAsHINGToN, the first in war, the first in peace, and the flrSt In the hearts of his countrymen.
 Although he commanded not his millions as did Xerxes, although the field of bis opera tons was limited, compared with that of Alex ander, although he boasted not that he had fought a thousand battles and slain million of men, as did Caesar, yet would rather have the name of Washington, retreatng before the British through New Jersey, than that of the Macedonian routing the millions of Darius, or of Napoleon dictating to the Russian monarch, or storming the bridge at Lodi.
 It is not my intention to dwell on the his tory of the revolution; this is, doubtless, ia mliar to all who hear me. The conflict lasted nearly eight years Often were the American troops in straightened circumstances for the want of munitions and the means of suSte- nance The mon were ragged and torn, they often lived for several days together on roots and the bark of trees, and in the winter mark ed the ground with blood from their naked feet But in the hour of peril, Washington's great and prudent mind never failed him when the terrific gloom of war thickened over his country, and the earthquake of national revolution shook our continent to its very cen ter when despair seemed to mark every coun- tcnance, he remained ever firm to his purpose, and true to the interest of his country. When reduced in numbers by means of pestilence, battles and mutiny, till he was unable to com bat with the foe, he often retreated with the fororn band beyond the enemys reach; when his men were reduced to the last extremity for want of bread and clothing, he contributed to their relief from his own private funds. And when the terrors of war and famine gathered around him, and the voice of mutiny was heard in his camp, he would often retire in the deep and bitter anguish of his soul, and ask wisdom of his God.
 The British ravaged the country along the Atlantic coasts, and the tories did immense damages, especially in the two Carolinas; but the battle of Yorktown was decisive and ended the war. Cornwalis was taken, and shortly afterwards peace was declared.
 When the new government was organised it was generally supposed, throughout the world, that man was incapable of elf-govcrnment; it was fully expected that the republic would soon be dissolved into several petty kingdoms, and that war and anarchy would follow-but it has not been so u eighty-one years have passed away, France has been revolutionised, Poland has fallen, war has desolated our bor- ders, and change after change has passed over the world but America, the land of the free, has constantly advanced in all that is cacuat- ed to make country great and its citizens hap py From three millions of freemen, we now number about twenty five millions; from thir teen feeble colonies, we now number thirty one States and eight territories; from the AL le.hanies, our western border has extended to the Pacifc-our course is onward, ever on- with the extension of territory; colleges and academies, schools and churches, have been multiplied, the wilderness has been reclaimed, the forest has fallen before the blows of the sturdy woo1sman, anl agriculture smiles over a thousanl fuuowed fields.
 It becomes not the Christian philosopher to lose sight of the designs of Providence, as manifested in the affairs of men. From the moment Columbus left the shores of Spain to seek for new world, with his three crazy ships, all along the future history of America, the experimenting haad of the God of Ma tions is visible. Is it not seen in the settle ment of the pilgrim puritans? Is 1t not seen in the birth and early training of George Wash ington? IS it not seen in every act of British oppression, calculated to cause a rupture be- tween the two continents? Is it not visible at Bunker IIil at Bennington, at Saratoga, at White Plains and at Yorktown?
 It is plainly seen in the illustration of the black and traitorous designs of Arnold. It is evident when Washington refused a crown, and resigned his command, his place and his power and retired to the handles of the blow. It is plainly to be seen on every page of Ame- rican historv-yes--am the storm and temp est of revoluton when a dark cloud hangs in dense columns over the western hemisphere, far, far away in the distant heavens, where the smoke of battle never rolls up its suphurous incense, where no convulson ever shakes the everlasting hills, there l see my Maker! He favors the cause of freedom; He directs the movements of Washington, and brings to glorious issue the cause of the Americans
 have often thought of the happiness and unmaasured enjoyment that fell to the lot of Washington, in the evening of his life. We find no parallel on history's page. Moses for forty years endured the trials of his unbelieving people, as he led them through the wilder ness but at last he was only permitted to view the promised land from the top of Mount pis- sah, and lie down and die! Socrates labored long for the Athenian youth, but was finally cnndcmned to die without witnessing the con