The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-07-03
GheQnteIliqsucer.
The Fourth Of July This Year
nuL NeXl,

Wuu NGAlS
II seem, out Of the order OF things tina
We should have already celebrated two
very important centennial initiatory in
cidca,s Of the Revolution that eliminated
in our independence Of Great Britain
and vet be still obliged to wait whole
wear for the centennial Of the Declaration
Of In cpenlcncc itself Some persons
NAV be puzzled to understand why this
should BE- the case. Why did not
our fathers first declare themselves Tree
and independent, and then proceed to
6,ht ilst a. our Southern brethren did
in the late "unplcasantncss"2 Why did
they do an important amount OF lighting
before declaring to the world "thc causes
that impellcd them to separation? II
"a decent respect for the opinions oil
mankind" required them at length to
publish to the world, as their vlndica'
ton, a long catalogue Of grievances why
was il not necessary to make the pnbIica'
tion prior to fighting at least three i'm
portant battles2
TIE answer il very plain; Our RevO-
lulionary fathers builded wiser than they
knew when they took up arms at Lexing.
ton, at Ticondcroga and at Bunker Hill
They did not then strike for separation
from the mother country, but for re-
dress OF grievances, In the language Of
the Declaration, they petitioned for re.
dress "in the most humble terms Mt
"cvcry stage OF the expressions" Of King
George. They thought at last to cxtort
Justice from him by forcible resistance,
but not to bring about absolute separa-
ton from his government.
Hal the Colonies begun their struggle
by declaration such AS they ut length
put forth, it would have been somewhat
d, II Mr.. Lincoln had issued his Procla'
nation Of Emancipation in 1861 in.
stead Of 1868. We all know that such
proclamation in 1861 would have dctach.
ed at single blow the whole slave bord.
or on both sides Of the Potomac aud Ohio
rivers, and vast amount OfpeOple furth-
er north, from the support Of the govern
ment. In fact, It would have insured the
success OF the rebellion. As It was, II
alienated a great many people even in
1868.
Just so il was at the outset OF the great
struggle for nationality in this country
one hundred years ago. While there were
individuals like Samuel Adams, (who was
the Wendell Phillips Of the R.volulion)
whose voices and votes were for separa.
tiOn from the start, yet there was through.
out the colonies only an embryo response
to a demand for independence. The
people had to be educated up to the logi-
cal consequences Of their struggle in
l77t-TO, just as their descendants had to
be educated to the same end in l8Gl.G2
And juIt as We had sympathizers with
tho rebellion among us all through our
great struggle, so our fathers had Tories
in their midst from the beginning to the
end ot the war Of the Revolution. The
firing on the colonists ut Concord was
like firing on Snmpier. II served to
arouse the people and to ECt in motion
the process Of uniIicNtion. And no also
the battle Of Bunker Hill was not unlike
that Of Dull Run in It's consequences. Il
was reverse to the Colonial arms just aI
the after was to the National arms. But
it quicieNed the process Of education and
uniGcAtion, and prepared us for n deClara.
tiOn at Last in favor Of the real, logical,
and inevitable objective point Of the war.
This much by way Of reference to the
Fourth of July 1876, whose centennial
Is 30 near at hand We are now entering
the centennial Of that "most immemOrial
year" tits fl that we should enter 1t, as
VIC are really doing, with so many cvilen-
Ces that the era Of good feeling is upon
us. The recent reunion nj Bunker lTill,
between prominent soldiers and citizens
Of the North and South, is the most cn.
couruging incident that has happened
since the close Otthe war. And Of the same
character have been the speeches in the
South Of these returned soldiers and citi.
Eens, and the editorials in many Of the
leading Southern newspapers. They are
the welcome indications of changed and
last changing public sentiment in the
same direction. Nothing else could have
SO happily served to open the way for the
expression of 80 much good feeling. We
believe that this feeling, thus expressed,
will grow yet more Obundantly during
this Centennial year Of our independence,
and that 1t will finally culminate next
year nt Philadelphia in the grundest and
most patriotic reunion ever known In
this mr. onv nIkna rnVoIs1