The New York herald., 1870-06-05
An American Policy.

at NeW 1Ork 10 take decisive measures III
reference to the obnoxious Stamp act, which
had been received everywhere upon this side
OF the Atlantic with a storm of indignation,
they laid broad and deep the basis upon which
the superstructure of national independence
was subsequently built In fact, they formed
the first image Of an American Congress.
William Pitt was the great echo of this bold
demonstration in the British Parliament. An
American policy began to germinate beside the
very throne Of Great Britain, and the Stamp
act was repealed. But oppressive taxes in
other forms were imposed by the mother
country, and at length, in 1878, on the 18th of
December, the inhabitants of Boston and the
neighboring towns assembled in mass meeting
to consider the admission of the famous
cargoes of tea into their harbor. Then it was
that the famous address of Josiah Quincy,
reminding his fellow townsmen of the gravity
Of the step they contemplated, served by its
impressive eloquence only to fire their enthu-
siasm, and the '.Mohawks' on that same even
ing boarded the British vessels and tossed the
tea into the water. American policy was
again enunciated.
On September s, 1774, the first Continental
Congress met at Philadelphia, with Peyton
Randolph presiding what a roll of illus
trious names was there! George Washington,
Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry, of
Virginia; Jay, of New York; Samuel and
John Adams, of Massachusetts,; Hopkins, Of
Rhode Island; Roger Sherman, of Connecti-
cut; Livingston, of New Jersey Dickinson,
Mifflin and Ross, of Pennsylvania; Sullivan,
of New Hampshire; Rodney and Mexican, of
Delaware; Chase, of Maryland; Middleton
and Rutledge, of South Carolina, aud thirty
two others only little less distinguished.
Once more the voice of Pitt was heard in Par
lament extolling ''the dignity, the frmness
and the wisdom of the Americans. AT home
the proceedings OF that grand Congress were
when, at last, the Continental Congress that
succeeded it, with John Hancock in the chair
and delegates from thirteen colonies around
him, sounded the final note Of l776 from the
State House bell in Philadelphia, American
nationality and American policy sprang forth
boldly into the arena of practical political
existence. And they were received with the
acclamation of the world. From the Baltic to
the Bosphorus salvos of welcoming cannon
announced that the nations of Continental
Europe cordially greeted the young Power of
the West. No matter what their motive for so
doing may have been, the fact remains of his
torical record that every leading European
State, excepting the one against which the
colonies were contending, manifested deep
interest in the American declaration and
openly appIauded the character of our leading
men.
Such were the events that surrounded our
first appearance as nation in the presence of
mankind, and they were hailed with intense
hopetulness everywhere by all who yearned
for constitutional freedom. The position was
the proudest and the vantage ground the most
conspicuous of the age. The class of men at
the head Of the movement, the sterling worth
of the people who sustained them and the
admirable organization which they planned,
all promised glorious results. The same spirit
long animated our counsels, and an illustrous
line of statesmen have kept it alive through |
four tremendous wars, the last of which sur
prised mankind by the gigantic scale on which
it was conducted and the wonderful
resources that it revealed The dignity
and independence of Washington, which,
after conducting our revolutionary struggle to
successful issue, secured proper respect
from England and France, and in bringing
Spain to her senses freed the navigation OF
the lower Mississippi; the prompt action of
Adams, which curbed the naval aggressions of
the French Directory and forced them to make
overtures of peace; the swift reduction of
Tripoli and the prohibition measure against |
British impressment of American seamen |
under Jefferson; the determined resistance |
to foreign insolence eliminating in successful |
warfare, under Madison; the advantageous
treaty with Spain and the acquisition of |
Florida under Monroe; the firm, decided |
bearing of Andrew Jackson on all points of |
national policy were magnificent beginning |
for future OF continually increasing splendor !
Since then there have been, here and there, |
bright flashes Of the same intelligence under |
different administrations of various political
but it would be trenching upon
partisan ground to specially DISCUSS them.
The one disheartening fact, more and more
disclosed in these later days, is the absence of
that hgh-toned, Independent bearing which
should distinguish a government like ours,
republican In form, occupying the geographical
middle region of the worlds intercourse COM
manding both the great oceans of the globe,
extending through nearly all climates and
every variety of soil and product,
even now almost forty millions of
souls and doubling the number every twenty
years, and regarded by all peoples as the land
Of new hope and home for humanity.
With such mower on such an AREA and in |