Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-07-10

on The Ara INST. AT MURRAY's CHAPEL
DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENN.


your determination to observe this day. 1t
is properly your own. since only you and
your comDatriots of the South, have firmly
adhered to the principles which have made
the 4th of July dear to us all. Instead of
surrendering it, let US resolve to celebrate it
with renewed and increasing enthusiasm.
Apart from this. the coming together of
such people upon such an anniversary can
not fail in being a means of good Only
small portion of the Commonwealth. it is
true. will be affected by its Immediate inf nee.
but like causes produce like results, and we
may therefore conclude that the pervadiug
spirit, which animates US upon an occasion
so interesting, also thrills in the bosoms of
vast majority of our counirymen.
But little more than eighty years ago,
amid the wilds aud Businesses of the eastern
portion of this continent; even then but
spars"ly Inhabited, men were preparing as
we are now, TO hazard their all upon the
stern arbitrament OF war. They were not
making ready their rude munitions to attack
or guard gainst foreign foe. As in our
case, the usurpations they resisted. were
found in the tyrannous aggressions OF their
own government, to which they had long en-
deavored to prove themselves as loyal and
ob~dient subjects. When the law-making
power lost its claim to their respect, by stoop-
ing to lev | unfriendly enactments at their
Interests, and at last menaced even their
rights.-thy saw that submission had be-
come degradation, and refused any longer to
submit.
The grave and prudent men who formed
the Colonial Assembly, met for the purpose
OF securing the rights of the people, by law
iul means and in a constitutional manner.
The modest petition for redress of their
grievances was tried first. but without avail.
Finding that they had TO go beyond this, the
delegates from the several Colonies were
placed in the most embarrassing position.
The responsibilities of the hour were dread
tul, but there was no escape. Those fearless
patriots had come together. more as Com
mittee of Consultation, than in any other
capacity. They had not been chosen for the
express purpose of making revolt, for at
that time, the idea of separation from the
mother-country was not generally enter
tanned by either the delegates or the people.
Even their imaginations, however prone, had
not been permitted to ramble after any Ito
pan visions of distinct and Independent
national existence. All things cOnspired
against even the entrance of such an idea.
So late as 1854, a plan OF colonial union,
simply for the purposes of local convenience,
was rejected as being too democratic in its
tendencies, and nearly twenty years after
DIR. Franklin. one of the most daring thinkers
of the time,-in an official letter to the Mas
sachusetts Assembly, merely ventures upon
the general remark, ''that the strength of an
Empire depends mainly on the union of it's
parts, and on their readiness for the united
exertiOn of the common force" and by this
guarded sentiment, prepared the way for the
position he afterwards so nObly and boldly
maintained that as their efforts for the pre-
s-ryatiOn of constitutional rights seemed fu-
tile ''the best and fairest plan for the colonies
would be- first full and solemn assertion
md declaration of those rights and second,
a fl u engagr ment with each other"
Not till the winter of 1856, did the ne
c-ssity of complete separation become APP
parent to the people not till then. were
they released by their Congress. from the al
legiance necessary for the support of any
government under the crown of Great Bril-
tain, and not till then, did the functions of
that Congress become those of revolution
airy body. AS before remarked. thousand
things opposed the idea of Freedom as it was
a terwards entertained. Every habit of
thought and actiOn-every custom and con
ventiOnalIty- natural preference of the
people for old and lime-hOnored Observan-
ces-a general prejudice against innovations
of any kind-the disgust with which they
regarded war and those principles which
called for the sustenance of the sword-the
certain and terrible prospect of internal
uds and dissension-thtir pitiable weakness
as d separate natiOn-all these, and myriad
oth"r causes, united in torbddine the very
policy, which al the last they resolved up N.
"Why them" interrupts my intelligent
hearer, Ibid they pursue course SO detri- |
mental to peace and prosperity. and SO ob
nOxious even to their affections What su-
periOr motives than the preservation of these,
could have influenced their actions?" We
answer promptly. and in that answer, pass
the highest eulOgium that is possible, upon
the sterling worth of our venerated tore
d., oi1ln A.
Principle. that impelled and sustained them
when that was placed in the balance, the
beam lowered, t ough hearts and hearth
stones lay 10 the opposing >cale. Some more
valOrous than discreet--prOposed to light for
th,ir rights, in the government-but that doc
trine was as much opposed TO good sense then,
a. it is now, and was wisely rejected. They
determined to go out from their oppreS-
>ors, boldly declaring that George Iii,
because If mis- malieasaDce In office, had Viz
rually withdrawn his protection from them.
nd that by the law of nature they were now
justified in doing the best they could for
{ b. mselves. They were also justified, by
precedent drawn from English history and
by principles constituting English law, as
We shall see.
On the 7th of February, 1858, the Lords
and Commoners OF England in solemn con-
yention. resolved, 50 That their monarch,
l.
Constitution OF the Kingdom (mark the
subsequent parallels. if you please,) having
broken the original contract between ruler
and people: and by the advice of wicked
persons, having violated the fundamental
iaws-has abiicated the government and the
throne is hereby declared vacant"
Commenting upon the action OF the Parlia-
ment in this case, the learned Sir William
Blackstone declares, that " these things did
aatu4l utilization of fhL,
eminent, affecting not only the person of
he King himself but also all the heirs of
his bod after him, and did render the throne
vacant
More than this, the highest authorities on
the subject of civil relationships and duties,
agree in their assent to the proposition, that
Protection and Subsection are reciprocal
and co-essential. They have furthermore
decided that if the loyalty of the subject is
due to the sovereign, only as return for the
protection afforded by him, when that pro-
lection is perverted TO tyranny and misrule,
and manifested By massacre, pillage and open
war. the continued allegiance of the subject,
IN ITS turn degener;&,s iuto a bondage, which
i dastardly and siS.ish in the last degree.
Judge Drayton in his charge to the Grand
Jury at Charleston, in April, l776, seized up
un The salient points OF analogy and pictured
forth striking similarity, as 60 the conduct
Of James III, and that of G, orge Ill. James
vi hheld from bis subjects the protection due
them, and thereby hindered the free exercise
ann enjoyment OF the privileges, immunities
aud riguts, which were theirs by prescription,
oy royal pledge, and by constitutional guar
.ntee. George. guilty in like manner, went
10 much greater leng b, both in transgression
aud aggression-seizing the towns of his peo-
pie and laying them in ruins. pursuing the
Inhabitants with fire and sword and denounc-
inn than ssrehaiS and traItoFS' hfcaUSp
they resisted a force, the only employment OF
waieh, was in the destruction of their lives,
liberties and property
and" said the distinguished Judge, 1.-THE
law is SO clear and so tenacious on this very
principle, that it is laid down that subsection
is not due even TO King de jure, (or OF
righl, } unless be be also King de facto Chat