The record-union., 1896-07-05
illustrfous descendants. to light the
torch of liberty in America

people had found homes in America,
and 100000 able-bodied men stand
ready to defend their liberties with their
| lives. Nor was this people ignorant of
war. Constant incursions of Indians
| had taught the use of arms and the
French and English war then just ended
had trained thousands of the colondsts is
into admirable soldiers. had made them
conscious of their superiority over Brit
ish mercenaaies. and had developed
commanders, though less experienced,
os equal skill and valor with the Eng
lish. 1t has been well said that the ed
uication of the colonists in this war cost
England her American colonies
| During all these years the colonists
had never forgotten that they were
Englishmen, and as such they claimed
all the rights wrested by their ancestors
from King John at Runnymede and 400
years later from Charles l. in the petit
| ticn of rights by both Lords and Com
moners. America, during her infancy
and until the revolution, had been
| treated as a useful adjunct ito the
mother country, but at length with the
! consciousness of strength and right
| came the resolution Of Americans to
demand and defend their rights as free
| men. Their rights were defended even
! in England The spirit that anima ted
Raleigh, Hampden, Russell and Sidney
and other leaders of liberty in England
| rushed to the lips of Burke, of Barre and
Pitt and Chatham in Parliament
| When the Act imposing taxes on the
cclonists without their consent came up
| for passage, in answer to the statement
| by the ministry, THE colonies were
| children planted by our care, nourished
| by our indulgence and protected by our
| arms" Col. Barre said: They planted
by your care. No-your oppression
| planted them in America. They nour-
| shed by your indulgence, They grew
UP by your neglect of them. They pro-
| tected by your arms. Those noble sons
of liberty have nobly taken UP arms in
your defense. / claim to know more of
America than most of you The people
are truly loyal subjects as the King
has, but people jealous of their hber
ties, and who will vindicate them should
| they ever be violated
| And later the magnificent Pitt said
in the House Of Commons: The king
dom has no right to levy taxes on the
4
| have invariably exercised the consti-
tutional right of giving and granting
their own money They would be slaves
| f they had not" And on Lord Gran
| vile reproving him for his seditious
words, he replied: I'VE are told that
America is obstinate; that America is
almost in open rebellion. Sir. 1 rejoice
that America has resisted. Three mill
ions of people so dead to all feeling of
| liberty as voluntarily to submit to be
slaves would have been fit instruments
to enslave all the rest. The Americans
have been wronged. They have been
driven to madness by injustice. Will
you punish them for the madness you
| have cauSed?
| Finally the great fundamental prin-
ciple that inspired our people was laid
| down by Lord Camden. He said: MY
position is this-I repeat it-I will
maintain it till the last hour-taXation
and representation are inseparable. 1t
is more. 1t is an eternal law of ma
| ture.' But still Parliament and the
King persisted. Import duties were laid,
| but the colonists refused to buy or
| consume, and the goods rOtted in Amer
| lean storehouSeS Franklin said to the
| King: Americans did take pride in
wearing articles of dress made in Eng
| land, but now they take especial pride
in wearing their old clothes till they
| can manufacture new ones" Ameri-
| cans by agreement refrained from eat
| ing mutton or lamb that more wool
might be produced.
| Finding the colonists still obdurate,
| the Stamp Act was passed requiring
| newspapers and all documents to be
written or printed on stamped paper
| furnished by the Crown. Then the
Sons Of Liberty" arose. The stamp
agents were driven out or intimidated
ard the stamps destroyed.
Then came the tea tax-it amounted
| to but little iltself, but a mighty prin-
| ciple was involved. Not a pound of
| tea was sold. In Boston it was thrown
/ overheard by the angry colonists, and
| in New York and elsewhere rotted in
| the warehouses. In Wilmington a
| cargo was burned by the Captain of
| the ship bringing it over. Then came
| the law closing the harbor at Boston.
| This was appointed to take effect June
| l, 1114. The sentiment of union had
now so grown that at Williamsburg
| the day was set aside to religious exer-
cises as recommended by the Assembly.
At Philadelphia it was solemnized by
public testimonials of grief, and all
over America it was observed as a day
of mourning.
| Then came the Kings army-then
| Lexington, and there that shot that
echoed around the world" The revolu-
| ton was not alone an insurrection
against ruling power. 1t was the an
| nouncement of a sentiment that for
| generations had sought utterance from
| the best and purest men of England and
| America. Jefferson announced it in
1174 in his Summary View of the
Rights of America: '"The monarch is
no more than the chief officer of the
people appointed by the laws and cir
cumscribed with definite powers TO as
sist in working the great machine Of
| government erected for their use and
consequently subject to their superin
! tendance. Kings are the servants, not
! the proprietors of the people, and a ma
ticn's rights are derived from the laws
of nature, not as the gift of their chief
magistrate
| When in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence he wrote: I'VE hold these
| truths to be self evident; that all
men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights; that
among these are life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness; that to secure
| these rights governments are instituted
among men deriving their just powers
| from the consent of the governed'-it
struck a responsive chord in the heart
of every thinking man and encouraged
Americans to persist in independence
| tho TINA of the ra SSincc .,f tho