Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-07-10
BY Fl. NJ. R. FOGG.


FELLOW CITIZENS: In arising before you my |
purpose is not to deliver an elaborate Grafton,
consume your time for more than few moments.
Were 1 adequate to the lofty theme, it would be
but tresplssug upon the province of the orator who
is to succeed me.
My part it is to strike the keynote to music |
sweeter than rang from Orpheus' Tyre; to
read the words of that sacred instrument, whose
utterance hurled confusion upon tyrants and filed
the world with admiration and awe.
Two hundred and fifty years ago. were laid the
foundations Of the mightiest empire earth at
jamestown in Virginia and the feeble handful of
men, struggling for existence amid savages and
famine, owed that existence to friendly Indian,
who revealed plan of massacre at the eleventh
hour. few years later the landing of the
PilZrms at Plymouth, bearing the ark of civil and
religious liberty from the sympathizing shores of
Holland, where alone of all the continent of Eu-
/ rope, save bright spot amid Alpine SHOWS,
burned dmly, yet steadily, the holy Vestal fire OF
| freedom.
Onward flowed the tide of civilization, which now
set in; the tomahawk and the war-whoop recedng
before the woodmans axe and the uplfted voice of
the Christian TO his Maker; the wigwam and the
! .
rolled in silence the noblest rivers of the EARTH
succeeded by the Curlng smoke of cottage-homcs,
the orchards and the enamellEd fields of all that
bounteous Nature could unfold to the well directed
| l4bour of the husbandman.
Thus sped the course of events, until the period
when the scattered fragments Of pioneers had ceased
to dwell in block-houses fortified against the re-
morseless red man, and society dspl yed the bless
| ings of peace and prosperity. Government par
took OF the nature that Magma Charta and the Pc
| tition o Rights warranted The people asemb ed
in their legislature by representatives cooperate
| with the Governor aud his Council in passing laws
! and laying taxes, the interests of the people
should dictate. Frequently would those Governors,
clothed with all the pomp of aristocratc old world
| splendor, arrogate to themselves some despotic
claim of prerOgativc-as frequently would the
sturdy yeoman chafe and insist upon his rights
''auguring misgoVernment at distance, and snuf-
fng tyranny in every tainted gale.'' Thus it was
in l76O, when the thirteen colonies, numbering
now near three millions of people, first felt the
ercise of unwarrantable authority by the Mother
Country in seeking to enforce dead letter laws, and
to violate their domestic privacy.
Then it was, that James Otis Of Boston, the
SLO"u-duhOC -SSuS'aii luOSudutly ESSlSueu MS
Office and threw the whole weight of his ma tchess
character in eoquence that would have done hon.
to Demoshenes, against he infamous ''a0rits OF
assistance" "a hime OF fre"-as John Adams
called him, who heard him speak against their
constitutiOnality-in bis face the Court dared not
! sanction them, and multudes went away from the
scene ready to take up arms, had the result been
otherwise. Then aud there, was the first scene OF
the first act of Oppositiont the rbitrary claims
Great Britain. Then and there the child Indepen
dence was born. In fifteen years he grew up to
manhood, and declared himself free.
During this period intense and Unsurpassed
excitement perVaded the whole country. The
heart of Virginia beat in unison with the heart OF
Massachusetts,. And the world saw for the frs
time Cavaliers and RouDdheads animated by a com
mon sentiment of ardour and patriotism. Patrick
Henry was arOusing the apethetc, and terrifying
the timid, in language that rocked not of treason
or the myrmdons of the law; surprising the mar
tia fire of Prince Rupert, and Wheeling the weghty
javeIin of Ppm and Hampden.
The infatuated ministry folio wed up their "writ
of assistance" by the Stamp Act, the Mutiny Act
and other similar acts of oppression. The bloc,
which lay in puddles in the streets of Boston, sheC
by an armed sollery to suppress a riot 10 ITO
was seed soWn to spring up ere long in armed he
roes and patriots full grown.
At last in IVA met the first Continental Con
gress to take counsel together. Henry OF Virginia
the Adams of Massachusetts,, the Sons of Soutl
Carolina, whose names will ever fill the trump O
Fame, and many other sages were there creates
of all whom s the glorious one, whom to nam
even were needless-W ashington the conversion
of this Republic, the Mont Blanc amid the pigm
mountains that group its base below.
No one then dreamed of sever:ng the tie of allie
glance to the mother country but all had hope
that their remonsrances and petitions to King, an
. Parliament, and people of Great Britain, would b
, heard aud attended Observation-Disclosures so power
ul to draw from the grand old orator and state:
man, Chatham-him, whose administrative geniu
) had placed Great Britain where she stood, at tll
1 pinnacle OF national greatness-drew from him th
2 highest eulogy that language could express cor
=, corning those sages Of the fret Congress- In val
did Chatham, now broken by disease, unite wit
{ many OF an enlightened opposition in Parliament
, to assert the rights Of outraged people to b
taxed by none save their own representatives. TIL
Monarch whose ear was deaf to aught but the CT
f Of "Rule Brtinria, rule the waves"-gladly cor
scented to the wishes of his minions and prepare
TO swell the fiery Of the that was soon to burs
D The interval between the close of this Congres
and the meeting of the next in the Spring of l77I
, Witnessed the consumption and climax of oU
: wrongs. The King had then uttered these words
= "The die is cast. The colonies must either tr
umph or submit" Patrick Henry's well kno "
+ declaration, in basphemous bat significant tone.
e had gone forth Simultaneous With the King. "B
q G.! We must 6ght!" The streets of Lexingto
were the first sacrifcal altar fro which arose IN
halloWed fires and incense to the God of Battles
f And when Congress met, John Hancock, whose in
mortality achieved by bis signature, as Pres
dent to the Declaration of Independence, laid b,
. fore them the Official intelligence OF the battle
Lexington, aud the fight of British Regulars befor
Z. New highlands PeasAntTy.
Now truly the 'tisles lsaf tried meas solslsl
' Now might be gathering from far and near IN
{ devoted Of freedom who spurned 20 live
chains and darkness. The son OF the wealthy pah
left his haunts in Oxford and Csmbridgs, ahitht
q be had gone 10 acquire bis college learning. or
perfect himself Tor the bar. and returned play
1 part on & wider field and TO put INTO practice "a
lessons Of Greece and Rome.
!. Now shruuk the eraven's heart Wishin him, an
the blood thirsty Tory dipped his hands IN the gO
: Of the unprotected inmates, whose homes were ls
a 70 biz mercy BY the ssalwafs fathers and bFolhs
d on the battlefield
i L -