The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1865-07-25


ests Of the British Empire. The moth
er country commenced a system of tax
1ation, which was certain to lead to th
most dircful consequences. American
were denied the rights of British sub
ljects. The rights of the people as de
clared and set forth in the Magma Char
ia, were entirely disregarded. One &C
of oppression followed another, whicl
Lord Burke termed an infinite variet,
of paper chains, binding the Colonies
in thraldom. The most eloquent ar
guments were used by British orators
and statesmen to avert the storm which
was rapidly coming on. The far-see
ing, noble-hearted Pitt, and the liberal
minded Burke, plead fervcntly in be
half of our fathers and the liberties Sc
cured to them by the British constitu
ton. They clearly saw that the causes
which eliminated in the execution oi
Charles the First, and the flight oi
James the Second, would lose to Eng.
land her Colonies in America. Matters
came rapidly to crisis. ALL the Colo.
nics espoused the common cause.
The year l776 arrived. A second
American Congress assembled at Phil
adelphia. Apostles of liberty came to.
gcther from all parts of the country to
lay the foundation of mighty empire.
Old Independence Hall was filled with
an awful solemnity. Freedom and hui
manity had their advocates. Our fa-
theirs had seen their brothers and their
sons fall in the streets Of Lexington
and Concord. .u
An American army lay encamped at
Cambridge and upon the heights of
Dorchester. The sound of drum and
trumpet, the clatter of hoofs, the rattle
of gun-carriages, and all the din and
preparation of military strife that usual
ly characterize an army in preparation
for battle, reminded Americans that
an appeal to arms was the last resort
The conflict of Bunker Hill had already
sent its echoes vibrating throughout
the world eha
Matters now assumed decided char
actcr. The Continental Congress, by
a solemn act, declared all connection
between the Colonies and the mother
country severed forever, and took the
great initiatory step in the organization
of n government based upon the rights
of man, and struck a serious blow to
the doctrine of the divine right of
Kings to rule, and of passive obedience
on the part of the people.
Eighty-nine years ago this day, that
ever memorable Congress Incorporated
the great doctrines of the Magma Char
t., into the great Charter of American
liberty; and for the maintainancc there
of, pledged to each other, their lives,
their fortunes and their sacred honors.
Three millions of people, without re-
sources, without military supplies, with
out ship, and without forts, embarked
upon an ocean of uncertainty, bound.
less in extent, and perhaps without any
safe harbor in which to find repose.-
Thrice armed with just cause, they
marched boldly to encounter the fleets
and hosts Of England, and at their
hsughty foe hurled defiance.
For seven successive years the war
ragged. All the unmitigated horrors of
barbarian warfare desolated our de-
fenceless frontiers. The patriot army,
though small and struggling under the
greatest complication of difficult cir
never faltered. 1t drove
the enemy from the Hudson, crossed
the Delaware and cleared the Jerseys,
blow upon blow, until the
main body Of the English army was
compelled to surrender at Yorktown.
The dark night of the revolution hav-
ing passed away, with peacereturned,
our fathers Immediately set themselves
to work to form a government, which,
while it recognized the sovereignty of
the States within the limits of the Con-
stitution, contemplated perpetual
union, one, and inseparable. This is
not the time or place for argument to
prove the unity of the government, and
the absolute iinpossibility of one State,
or any number of States, to separate
from the body of the whole.
Whatever may have been the origin
al views of our fathers with regard to
State sovereignty, and State rights, by
the adoption of the Constitut on, they
that the absolute sovereignty
Of each State, should be merged into the
sovereignty Of one great Republic,
and under the benign influence of that
and the fostering care and
protecting genius of laws and institu-
lions cminating from it, as light emin-
ltes from the sun, the great centre of
The solar system, our progress as ma
ton has been more rapid than that of
any other power upon the globe. ] de-
sire to. enter into no vain Loasting, and
will not. The United States COM
menced last in the career of future on
ward progress, and they have not only
kept pace with the other great powers,
but in many respects have gone far
beyond shem.
The thirteen original States consisted
of narrow section of this continent,
lying along the shores of the Atlantic
Ocean, comprising about 900, 900 square
miles of territory. Our public domain
now consists of more than 3,500,0OO
square miles, andis three times rs large
as the whole of Britain, Holland, Bel
GUM, Denmark, Austria, Prussia, Por-
tugal, Spain and France, and equals in
extent of that of the Roman Empire,
when Augustus Caesar held sway over
all all those countries which lie between
the Mediterranean, and tho waters of
the Indus.
BY the acquisition of California, VIC
have converted the hunting grounds of
the Indian savage. and the as,lum of