The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-07-21
taut General, Joseph Reed, described the mill.

tant General, Joseph Reed, described the mill
tary situations
"Witn an army Of force before, and secret
one behind we stand on point OF land witt
G,000 old troops il years service OF
about half can entitle them to this name, ano
about 1900 raw levies OF the prov
ince MANY disaffected and more doubtful
every man, from the General to the private,
acquainted with our true situation, Is exceed
ingly discouraged. Had known the true pos
ture of affairs, no consideration would have
tempted me TO take part in this scene and this
sentiment is universal"
This statement was not laid before the Con-
gress, to be sure but one from Gen. Washing
ton, conveying essentially the same facts, was
read at the opening Of that days session. In
| spite of this mournful beginning, and notwith-
standing the arguments of Mr.. Dickinson, the
opinions Of the majority in Congress proved to
be clear and strong and the pressure from
| their constituencies was yet stronger. Nearly
every colony had ALREADY taken separate action
toward independence, and, on that 1st day
of July, the Continental Congress adopted,
! in committee, the first resolution offered by the
Virginia delegates. There were nine colonies
in the affirmative, Pennsylvania and South
| Carolina voting in the negative, the latter
unanimously, Delaware being divided. and New
York not voting, the delegates from that colony
favoring the measure, but having rs yet no
instructions. When the resolutions came up
for final action, in convention, the next day,
the state of things had changed. Dickinson
and Morrison OF Pennsylvania had absented
themselves and left an affirmative majority in
the delegation Caesar Rodney had returned
from an absence, and brought Delaware into
line and South Carolina though still disap-
proving the resolutions, joined in the vote for
the sake of unanimity, as had been half prom
ised by Edward Ruuedge, the day before.
Thus twelve colonies united in the momentous
md vat
indorsed it through State Convention within a
week. The best outburst Of contemporary
feeling over the great event is to be found in a
letter by John Adams to his wife, dated July 8,
1776. He writes as follows:
Yesterday the greatest question was de-
cided which ever was debated in America,
and greater, perhaps, never was nor will
be decided among men. When L
look back to 1761, and recollect
the series of political events the chain Of
causes and effects, am surprised at the sud-
denness as well as greatness Of this revolution.
Britain has been filled with folly and America
with wisdom. tits the will of Heaven
that the two countries should be sundered for
ever. 1t may be the will of heaven that
America shall suffer calamities still more vast
ing and distresses still more dreadful.
But submit all my hopes and fears to an
overruling Providence, in which, unfashion-
able as the faith may be, firmly believe.
1.-THE End day of July 1776, will be the
most memorable epocha in the history of
America, / am apt to believe that it will be
celebrated by succeeding generations as the
great anniversary festival. 1t ought to be
commemorated as the day Of deliverance,
by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty,
from one end of the continent to
the other, from this time forward for ever
more.
"You will think me transported with en-
thusiasm, but am not. / am well aware Of
the toll, and blood, and treasure that it will cost
us to maintain this Declaration, and support
and defend these States. Yet, through all the
gloom, can see the rays of ravishing light
and glory; can see that the end is worth all
the means. And that posterity will triumph
in that days transaction, even though
we should rue it, which l trust in God we
shall not"
John Adams was mistaken in one prediction.
1t is the Fourth Of July, not the End, which
has been accepted by Americans as " the most
memorable epocha." This is one Of the many
illustrations of the fact that words as we'll as
deeds are needful, since great act may seem
incomplete until it has been put into fitting
form Of words. 1t was the vote Of July that
changed the thirteen colonies into
Independent States the Declaration of
Independence only promulgated the fact
and assigned its reasons. Had this great
proclamation turned out to be a confused or ILL
written document, it would never have eclipsed
in fame the original resolution, which certainly
had no such weak sde But this danger was
well ayerted, for the Declaration was to be
drawn up by Jefferson, unsurpassed in his time
for power of expression. He accordingly
framed it Franklin and Adams suggested
few verbal amendments Sherman and Liv-
ingston had none to offer; and the document
stood ready to be reported to the Congress.
Some Of those who throng to Philadelphia
this summer may feel an interest in knowing
that the title-deed of our liberties" as
Webster called IL, was written in "a new
brick-houso out in the fields "a house still
standing at the southwest corner of Market
and Seventh streets, less than quarter of
mile from Independence square. Jefferson
had there rented parlor and bedroom, ready
furnished, on the second floor, for thirty-five
shillings week and he wrote the Declaration
in this parlor, upon little writing desk,
three inches high, which still exists. In that
modest room we may fancy Franklin
Livingston approvingly, to what was for them
simply the report Of q committee. Jefferson
had written it. we are told, without the aid Of
single book; he was merely putting into more
systematic form series Of points long famil-
lar; and Parton may be right in the opinion
that tho writer was not conscious OF any very
strenuous exercise Of his faculties, or of any
very eminent service done.
Nothing is so difficult as to transport our
selves to the actual mood OF mind in which
great historic acts were performed, or in which
their actors habitually dwelt. Thus, on the
| 7th day Of that July, John Adams wrote to
| his wife a description of the condition OF our
army, 80 thrilling and narrowing that it was as
| he says, enough to fill a humane mind with
horror" We fancy him spending that day in
sackcloth and ashes; but there follows ON the
same page another letter. written to the same
wife on the same day-a long letter devoted
| solely to a discourse on the varieties of Eng
lish style, in which he urges upon her o care
full reading OF Rollins Bellies Lettres," and
the Epistles Of Pliny the Younger. Yet any
| one who has ever taken part In difficult OF
| dangerous actions can understand the immense
relief derived from that half hours relapse
into the still Air Of delightful studies." And
IL is probable that Jefferson and his companions
even while discussing the title deed Of our lib
critics, may have let their talk stray over a hun
dred collateral themes, as remote from the i'm.
mediate task were Pliny and Rollin.
During three days-the End, Sd, and 4tl
OF July the Declaration was debated il
the Congress. The most vivid histori,
glimpse OF that debate is in Frankln's consola
tory anecdote, told to Jefferson, touching Johr
Thompson, the halter. The amendment
adopted by Congress have always been nc
counted ~ improvements, because tending II
the direction of boncisenes and simplicity
though the loss Of that stern condemnation O
the slave trade-"a piratical warfare agains
human nature itsef'-has always been re
gretted. The amended document was finall
adopted, like the Virginia resolution, by th
: vote OF twelve colonies. New York still abetaip