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t THE PITTSTON GAZETTE, -.i.y — Y * t iJw !i tit r| * '» t » ! I ? I 111) MEMIM HTHMOfE JOUHML J r. i*»it 51 mrkli} to Units. lijthtort, fnlitirs, tjre JBlttWfilt, JEttoing, SteJjunitnl, roll agtitutornl 3ntfrrsts «f tJjr Cnuutrij, Utrtrntto, Jlinuatmrnt, fa. )~gm Mttttyt Ararat. VOLUME 2.--NUMBEK 50. PITTSTON, PENNA., FRIDAY, JULY 23, 5852. WHOLE NUMBER 102. THE | wherever there hus been, in the history of mankind h restraint ot this liberty beyond what reason would teach was necessary for the subjects' own good and for the general welfare, there lias been an unending con. test between the restraining power, and the subject of restraint till the lost liberty was regained bttriiins many of the arts of civilization, and instruct thorn in the science of war, and thus put into their hands, the moans by which she herself had been enabled lo overcome iheni. Whero nations are separated by a mere ideal boundary, a line marked by some political regulation, there never can exist in their fullest extent all those loftv emotions of national pride and undivided attachment lo their native land, and all that belongs to the country of their birth, that characterizes those nations that aro depurated from each other by some prominent naturul boundary. weight and influence in the affairs of the world, justly acknowledging no superior. England that same omnipotent spirit that afterwanls brought Charles first to the scaffold and drove James second from his thcoue. twelfth of the whole globe, with every variety of climate, soil, productions and seanery.Endowed by nature with an exalted intellect, and iliut intellect strengthened and refined by cultivation and discipline ; proud and high-soulcd, impatient of restraint, and capable of brooking nocohtrol; bold, daring and adventurous, acknowledging no enterprise too arduons to be accomplished,and no barrier too lofty or too rugged for their ambition to overcome, they yield to no nation on earth, either morally, physically, or intellectually. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED WEEKLY BT G. in. Bichart 8 II. S. Fliilllp«» Your coasts studded all round, and your country covered all over with popuu lo us, flourishing, and opulent cities. 1 our manufactures filling every market and your commerce whitening every sea. Holding the first rank in science, litera. ture and military glory, with as noble a galaxy of heroes and statesmen aa the world ever saw. I have not time to enter into the history of the times on down to the Declaration of independence. OJht West side n) Main. Street, second Story of the " Long Store " of Witncr Cf- Wood. And us they advanced to the civilization and prosperity necessary to make them valuable to herself, they also advanced in power and a know ledge of their own rights, and when they bail onoe reached this posi. tion, they were not long without tho dispo. sition to enjoy their own rights and their own resources, and to control their own affairs, and beholding her distraction and weakness at home, the result of tho corrupting influences of overgrown wealth and luxury, they one after another rose upon her and forced her to withdraw wiih h( r authority from their territory. Yes, old Homo whoso, victorious eagles glittered in the sunbeams of every clime, and whose iron sway extended over a hundred nations, was forced tn content herself with the narrow limits the Adriatic and the MedetC rranean had originally assigned her, and there with her energies exhausted in her vain attempt to perpetuate her empire to crumblo from Iter once dazzling and overwhelming glory to insignificance and destruction. The same policy with increased aggra. vutions was pursued until it ended in the final rupture. The "Gazette" i» published every Friday, at Tw» ! Dollars per annum. Two DoClars and Fifty I Cents will be charged if not paid within the Tho enjoyment of freedom is the natu•al state ol mini and any restraint upon it is a war upon human nature. But still more odious is foreign domin- In t."le one case, tho political separation Is but on arbitrary violence upon the sympathies and congeniality of different portions of humanity. In the other, the separation of nature is the basis of a wider separation in all that makes up the difference of national character. Seventy-six years ogo this day lhat glorious declaration was adopted and proclaimed to the world. TiJpaper will be discontinued until all arrearages Advertisements arc inserted iPicu™£r One Dollar per square of fourteen lines for |' three insertions; Twenty-five en™ " * ditional for every iubsequeut insertion. A lib* eral deduction to those who advertise for six months or the whole year. , . Job Work.—Wehavo connected with our establishment a well selected assortment T vm, ' which will enable us to execute, in e n^,c"' style, every variety of printing. Being practical printers ourselves, we can afford to do work on as reasonable terms as any other office in the connty . All letters and communications aJdressed to tbe Gazette must be post p*id, and endorsed by a responsible name, to receive attention. ion. Behold your country, with tuenty.five millions of freemen, all united in the bonds of one great and harmonious brotherhood, governed by themselves, under a constitution resting upon their own intelli. gence and virtue, acknowledging no master, and no king bjut God, Behold the result of that sfruggle in this glorious refuge and asylum for the oppressed of all the earth. A people may for a .long time bear the encroachme.its of a government, while their governors and rulers are of their own number, and chosen from their midst ; for while thid is the case, however slight in fact their influence in the government, and though tlifir voice may be utterly powerless in controlling its administration, yet its origin is in, and ol their own country, and though oppression it may bp, as a part it partakes of the affection they cherish for that country. With such a country, such a local posilion, and such a people, could Great Britain expcct to hold us long in subjection to her government, and with such u country and such a people, what has this nation ever to fear from the rest of the world ? In the hopes and zeal it awakened in the cause of liberty, it fell upon the nation like a promise fresh from the throne of God. In tho one case, the people are left to minglo with each other, to interchange their sentiments, and notions of politics, morals, and religion, and mutually to disseminate their learning among each other. It was the great manifesto of American rights, that proclaimed an end to political bondage ; the morning star that brought the dawn of freedom. 1 Of the future greatness of fhe colonies, if left to work out their own fortune, Great Btitain early discovered the indications. The colonists had emigrated hither under circumstances littlo calculated to inspire hopes of success in the great undertaking of overcoming and subduing the wilds of America, and planting civilization in them. In the clearness and force with which it set forth the wrongs we had endured, and the causes that led to its adoption, it iiifpi. red every heart with adeeper hatred for the royal government, and banded together all hcartn in the glorious cause that was based upon its propositions. If the Declaration had been the end of difficulties, and that the crowning act in the achievement ofour Independence, there had already been paid a price, in the wrongs and oppressions endured, and in the blood already shed, sufficient to render it sacrcd to us lor all time, and to render illustrious and immortal the history of the tinips that preceded rt. But ft was not so. 1 hough there had been already sacrificcd and suffered more than has often revolutionized some of the most important slates of liuropo, the great struggle was yet to come. They become imbued with the principles and opinions of each other, their manners and customs bitcome the some, and aside from the distinctive peculiarities of their forms of government depending oftener on onuses to be found elsewhere than in their own choice, they become one people in almost all the essentials of nutional existence, and there is to be found among them but little of that exclusive regard for their respective countries tiiut form the basis of lofty mtional pride, and unmingled patriotism. Behold the glories of the star spsngled banner, that this day floats to the breeze in every clime, the proud emblem of the liberty and union of our country, whose broad stripes, covered with renown, spread out befoi*e nn admiring world in emblema. tic phalanx this lovely sisterhood or states, and whoso blight stars, kindled up with the glory of a thousand victories, was never dimmed by disgrace. "Long may it wave o'er the land of tb* free and the home of the brave." But foreign dominion, however mild, spttles down upon tho mind with all the force nnd odium of an arbitrary stretch of authority, awakening at once an insuperable hatred lor its souice, and the content, plation of tho rights of tliose cvpr whom it is sought to ho exerted, nnd arousing lliem to the asscition and delcnce of tho high perogative invaded by tho foreign rule. And it matte's not whether the subjects of foreign dominion have been made so by conquest, or whether they are colonies planted l.y the government asserting its sway over them. Ben Bolt's Reply, or Ah, yes, I Remember. They cumo here in the estimation of all the world, as men whom only desperation could have sent here; bs a forlorn hope before whom lay only the prospect of famine disease and dentil, in a solitude whose reign had not been broken for ages, save by the yells of sovages and wild beasts. And so of all antiquity. And so of all nges. In modern times tho colonies of Spain and Portugal on this continent are conclusive examples to illustrate the position ; And where now is the coIlo.CsaI pow. er of France under Napoleon? Like an avalanche it moved over the earth overwhelming Kingdoms and Empire?, and all nations trembh d at its world wide grafp ; but like tho storm it come, and like the stor,m it passed uway. Its violence and might, only hastened the expenditure of its life, and all that can be said of it, is that it was the most magnificent and terrible illustration of the vanity of human greatness, and of the instability of empire the world ever beheld. And in the revolution and independence of our own country, Great ■Britain may behold a paiqlul w arning of the inevitable doom that sooner or later awaits her world wide Empire. BY SIDNEY DYEH Ah ! yes I remember tliat name with delight, Sweet Alice, so cherished and dear; I seek her grave in the pale hour of night, And moisten the turf with a tear ; And there, when the heart is o'erburdened with woes, On the other hand,where they are separated by nn Important range of mountains, or an ocean or sea, they are with regard to each-other in fill the distinctive force of the term, foreigners ; not only in locality, but in their feelings, sentiments und prinpies.And when they reached here, they were abandoned by the government to whatever fate might befall them. May it ride in triumph on the breeze forever. May its cheering sheeto continue to gladden the hearts of tha votaries of freedom over the world, till the liberty it symboliz • es shall bccoinc the boon of the oppressed °f all the earih, till Hungary, glorious Hungary shulf throw off the shroud of mourn, ing that rests upon her, and in triumph wreath the pillar of her hopes with tho bloom of immortal freedom, till Italy, bright land of battle and of song, shall burst the chains of her thraldom, and under a sway as genial as the sunny skies above her, inspire a nob!theme than ever warmed a Tully's soul, or waked a Virgil's lyre, and till Ireland, loveliest gem that glitte.s on the bosom of the sea, whose harp, hung upon the willows, no mora churms to love and joy her warm hearted sons, and whose melting wail of sorrow has for ages been drowned in the ocean's moan ; till Ireland, down-trodden Ireland, at the trump of political resursection, shull rise from her grave, and come forth roLed in the habiliments of liberty, and in joy and triumph sing" the hymn of her regenerationI wander and muse all alone, And long for tho time when my head shall repose, Where " sweet Alice lies under the stone.1' The strong and undying love cf country, the sacred ties of patriotism have ever arrayed mankind against foreign rule, and prompted llieni to every sacrifice fur the establishment and defence ot a government having its, origin and deriving its support from themselves. This is the highest object of humai. ntnb'tidn, and when thf pow. er of self government is taken away irom a people, all that they value is gone; nn. tionhlily, optional ambition, national prosperity, and national hope. Yet, from the first they exhibited a for. titude, a patience and a fclianoe in the care of Heaven which the world had seldom belore beheld. Ijoam through the wood where so joyous we Limited in their intercouse, no mutual influences exert their assimilating power over them, ond eucli is led to fo'low the tendencies which the peculiar'circumstances and associations of their respective localities may induce, end to become as widely dilleretit as the locality and nutural peculiarities of their respective countries. And though they were forced to contend with calamities and sufferings in many cases unparalleled in the history of man, yet cheered by the inspiring reflection that their toils und suflerings were consecrated to the cause ol human liberty, justice and religion, and sustained by the belief ;l|ot the approval of God rested upon their deeds, they outlived misfortune and overcame every danger, aud in the course of a few years had laid permanently the foundations of civilization over u wide extent ot country. A war of seven years duration with eve. ry vicissitude of misfortune and success, was yet to be fought through. The colonists, few in numbers, anil poor in all but patriotism and-bravery, had yet to fight for the freedom of the new world. strayed, And recline on the green sunny hill; All things are as bright in that beautiful glade, Hut mj heart is all lonely and chill. The hand that so fondly I pressed then in mine, And the lips that were melting with love— Are C-t4d in the grave, and I'm left to repine, • 'Till I meet with sweet Alice above. Need 1 attempt to detail to you the events of that war! Each knowing but little of the other, or of whatever may be valuable in the other, a mutual contempt for all that is foreign, becomes a nutural characteristic. Need [ attempt to describe the vicissitudes, the calamities, the slaughter and blood tlmt made it terrible, yet glorious!— History has emblazened her proudest page with its achievements, and there they will stuud bright and glorious in an everlasting array of all that is sublime in exalted bravery and ihe loftiest exhibitions of virtue arid patriotism. They are recorded in every mountain pass, on every plain, and at every river side of our country. We can hardly turn our eyes to a hill that is not a monument to mark the scene ofour fathers struggles, or a plain whose sod has not pillowed a dying patriot's head, or a stream that has not been crimsoned - with their blood. Ah! well I rememberthe school house and brooi, " And the muster so kind and so truo," The wild blooming flowers in the cool shady nook, So fragrant with incense and dew. Cut I Weep not for these, though »o dear to my heart, And whatever the clemency of the government, tho subjects see themselves only in the condition of slaves, beuring tho weight and supremacy of un authority in the creation of which, nnd in the success of which, they have no lot or part, and w hose only object is the aggrandizement of another country nt llie cost of the prosperity and happiness of their own. In looking (or the causes that contribute to prevent the permanence of foreign do minion, we can find none that operute more powerfully thun the local position iiself of tho different nations of tho earth, whether we consider its effect in the natural obstacles presented to aggression, or upon tho diameter of tho people themselves. "Lands intersected by a narrow frith ab. hor each oth«r. Cultivated farms, flourishing towns and villages with their churches and schools, and a prosperous and happy population succeeded the swamps; the gloomy forests, the wigwam aifii the roaming savage; and tho world beheld spreading along the shores of the Atlantic n number of prosperous and rapidly %drancing colonies. Mountains interposed make enemies of nations which had else, like kindred drops, been mingled into one." Nor the friends that have li ft us alone— , The bosom will heave, and the tear-drops will Nature holds in her own hands ihe high prerogative of teaching mankind where the tovritoritil limits of the ri Kprctive authority ul different governments must exht, and though in its convulsions nqtioridl umbi'.ion has at times for a lin'.a while succeeded in overriding the limits she 1ms marked for it, yet in this respr6t as well as c\ery other, she has ultimately shown herself mis. tress : that her laws are intvocable, and cannot ho violated with impunity. But while they bestow hut little care or attention abroad, and have but little interest in the rest of the world, their own country uecomel the object of their supremo regard. start, For " sweet Alice lies under the stone." Their country, the dearrsi object of their affections is no longer their own, Inn h for. eign masters, and the only hope that worms their hearts, and the only object that ab. sorbs the ir souls, and files their energies, is the regaining its dominions. INDEPENDENCE ORATION. But while the rest of the world looked on with admiration at tho almost superhuman transformation of the wilderness into a garden, ajid the magic birth of an infant nution, the pleasure of the mother country was mingled with anxiety and painful forebodings. The heroes of the revolution did not fight the# battles of that war and wade through a seven years ordeal of fire and blood for the glory of • day. They did not achieve the liberties of their country for the benefit of one generation or one age only, but for all time. i hrough the cloud of daAtness and the gloom that overhung their own day, they looked forward with joy te the reward of their own sacrifices and sufferings in the blessings and glory that should render joyous and illustrious the pathway of tbeir posterity for all generations. They did not Irave us with liberty simply achieved, simply wpn, and thus render it a curse instead of a blessing by overt urniwz one op. pression and leaving anarchy, a fa/ worse oppression to take its place. Their whole affections, in exulting partinlity, are centred upon it, and its glories fill the whole scope of (heir contemplation. Its government and institutions appear the models from which alone mankind should learn perfection; its prominent character* in politics, in arms, in letters, and religion fur above those of every other nation in all inat hnakes them illustrious ; and its very soil dear to every son it bears. Delivered in Fittston, July 3d, 1852. IIV. W. W. KCTOHAM, EHQ. Ilislory will bi-iK nin out in the position, tliut no nation ever jet »a» abk 1 need not point you to the disasters of our army on Long Island; enough to have sunk the hearts of anv soldiers but [Puhlt.-he l by rtqueat of the Citizenh of Piittton.'] ue its rule over either conquered or over colonics of fu»rDwn rst-.oiuhmcnt, any longer tl'nn till ;npy hud advanced sufficiently faj- in civilization and rerources to throw off the foreign yoke, and the days of foreign sway are always number, ed by the inte lligence and power of the governed.to cotitin Khiends and Fillsw Citizen# : Wo ar« assembled to celebrate the 7Cth anniversary ot American Independence. The impossibility of the population of the whole earth bting subject 'o one human government, m.u exist in harmonious submission to it; yielding allegiance to it, and obeying its direction in all the widely extended and multifarious pursuits of an aclive world, stimulated and impelled byall the discordant and conflicting passions, natures, ambitions and interests, that un. dcr the varieties of climate, soil, production*, and pursuits, over the globe, characterise human action, should be sufficient to satisfy us of the great ruling design of God, in eslutflishing the economy of the world, that mankind should be distributed into independent nations, looking to themselves for their government. Hut as if to encircle the different nations of the earth with an eternal monition of iiis will that different nationalties should exist, God himself has distributed the surfjioe of the earth, ond separated and walled out from each other the different nations, by the great natuial barriers, the mountains and seas ho has thrown over the globe. Ry these monuments clothed in the majesty of his own omnipotence, he proclaims to each of the nations, thus far shall thou come and no fun her. While they should remain her colonies, their prosperity was indeed her prosperity, and the greater advances they might make in wealth and resources, the more her own greatness would be promoted hy them.— But there was another view in w hich their prosperity was regarded by her. Americans, Fof seventy-six years has our own d»ar land been the home of freedom, and enjoy, ed tho full fruition ot civil and religious libertv. Nor need I follow them in their retreat through the Jerseys, when with the British army at their heels flushed u ith victory and exulting in :he hope ol annihilating them at a blow, this forloyi hope of freedom, .worn out with' fatigue, sore with wounds, and perishing with cold pressed on for repose beyond the Delaware. Here is nationol pride! Here is devotion to country ! Here is patriotism'. For this let every heart be lifted in grateful acknowledgment to Him who rules the destinies of the earth, and builds up and prostrates the nations at his will. Some of the governments of antiquity overran a largo portion of the world, and for a whilt' hold ail surrounding nations In bondage, but it is u fact that the bep'nniiur of conquest, w as to tho conquero'.,, the beginning of their own ruin.' Here is a spirit that the powers of the earth cannot subdue. Conquest may rob them of their rights, but it cannot subdue them. She with gC.od reason regarded their welfare, as for u short time, a soujeo of revenue to her own treasury, hut ultimately and not very fur distritit, as tho current that must inevitably sweep them away Irom Nor need 1 here turn your eyes to our beloved Washington, whose calm sa«acity saved '.his feeble remnant from ruin, by exhibiting to the world that heaven-born courage that showed he dared be called coward, sooner than waste one drop of his soldiers' blood for his own ambition ; and who like a guardian angel rose in the halo of light beaming from the circle of his own virtues, above the storm C of adversity, and by his counsel", and his cheering accents of kindness inspired with hope the hearts of his followers and pointed them to the sun of their glory, in the future yet to rise. There was a day when Despotism and her slavish minions, in derision luughed at the attempt to establish in this country, the institutions that rest at the bottom of our present national greatness, and pointed the finger of contempt at what lliev were pleased to call the government of visionaries and of fools. She may rear her dark castle upon the ruins ol their liberty, hut she will find that she bus laid us foundations upon a moral volcano, whose files, catching their vitality from the patriot's soul, are inextinguishable, and will sooner or later burst forth upon her in retributive vengeance. In many cases, so far f'jm the suhjuga. ted countries becoming of any value to "the conqueiors, ihe cost of establishing and sustaining government over tliem, while it ror.1|y improved and advanced the conditio:, of tiie conquered, became a drain upor, their rulers tha ultimately exhausted .'..icir i-csources, and reversing tho positions of the conquerors and cinquered, rendered the victors an easy prey in their turn to the vengeance of those they had subjugated. her forever They guve us a chart \ind a lighi in the constitution they have left us, under whoee guidance we have thus far more thaD realized their brightest hopes, and undor which administered by virtue and intelligence we may effectuate the great object of. all their toils, the perpetuity of {he liberty they have bequeathed us. She had driven them away shores and left them to perish. from her She had persecuted them and filled them with bitterness against her. The insular position of Great Dritain has contributed more to her greatness than all else beside. They had gone forth the devotees of liberty, and as if by the direct aid of Heaven founded a nation. They heaped upon it thoir scoffs and their sneers, and in their unholy exultation in the prospective failure of the hopes bf the friends of freedom, proclaimed tha jCl. pending dissolution of our aoverp-.„eil| (h0 distraction of our country bv and civil wars; and to close the fdjCe of liberty, a final resort to despoil,, aa ,h0 only refuge from anarchy '.nd fraternal discord with all their evils. The constitution of our country, in ilia comprehensive scope, the far-reachiug forecast and the sublime objects of its provisions, the loftv and liberal spirit that everywhere pervades it, and yet the simplicity and practical nature of its structure, is a noble illustration of the greatness, the sublimity and the sagacity of the minds thjit conceived it. Though formed at the com. mencernent of our country's career when our whole population did not exceed three millions, and our whole inhabited territory was confined to the shores of the Atlantic, and our and manufac. tures, and in pursuit in its in. fancy ; yet in its comprehensiveness it en. compasses all the advances of Civilization, and has proved itself adequate to every na. tional exigency incident to the vast expansion of our population with all the variety and multiplicity of pursuits and inloresta that have sprung up within our widening boundaries, and our almost boundless intercourse with the other nations of the glob®. Encumbered with no parade of unwieldly machinery, or Useless redundancy, plain, perspicuous, ond definite in its term*, it'is easy of application !n the practical*d. ministration of the offaird of the country, and free from the dangers of ibe perversion of its spirit or principles to whicb obscurity or ambiguity in its language would render it liable. Admirably£balanced in the distribution of its powelts, and guarded bv wholesome checks and restraints inter, posed against the encroachment of one de". pertinent upon the authority and jorisdic. lion of the others, the freedom of eaeh de. par.mniit in the performance of its peculiar offices is effectually secured, and the whole machinery of government made to move on in magnificent harmony in the attainment of the great objects of it* creation', the liberty and happiness ol the people. It has fostered a spirit of national pride and jealousy, and a patriotism that is, and ulways has been, as indomitable as the beetling cliffs that break the ocean's surges on her rock bound coast. The hatred of such men as they by their achievements had shown themselves to be, with sufficient means within their control to avenge themselves upon her, she justly regarded with dread, and when she beheld their growing power, she trembled for her authority over them- Thus while some of the most renowned nations of antiquity, in triumph boasted the greatness of their empire, and felt that the powers of the earth were in tljeir hands, they were in truth in the very midst of their weakness and upon the verge of ruin. With pride they would point to the bound, less array of their colonies and dependent nations, us the evidences of their power, when in truth they were themselves hanging upon the mercy of those dependencies for their own existence. Oh, Washington 1 The world claims thee, and throws down her tributes at the shrine of thy memory. 13ut Columbia gave thee to mankind, and thou art all our own. While the everlasting hills of our country shall endure, thy fame shall not perish, and thy memoiv sliall live and bloom in the aTectionsof thy countrymen, as fresh as the mantle of flowers that nature throws over lliv tomb. Separated from tho continent bv a narrow sea, she has by means of her navy been enabled to make that 6ea us impassable to her enemies as a sea of fire. She determined, therefore, to adopt a policy towards them which though it might stamp her with disgrace and bring down upon her the opprobrium of mankind for all time, was the only course by which she could hope to perpetuate her dominion over lliem. But ctli coming anniversary of our country's independence, has brought with it proofs and confirmations of the enduring strength of our government, that have sileoo-j all her enemies, and filled with felad:iess ti,e hearts of her friends ihrough"M the world. The only nations that escaped the power of Napoleon, escaped by reason of the great natural obstacles thut protected them. And while all the nations of the continent have been scourged by the endless wars that have for all time been their curse, resting securely aloof, she has avoided all the evils of European contests, and constantly accumulating wealth and power by the blessings of peace at home, has been able not only to resist the influence and dictuiion of Europe, but to become herself the proud arbitress of the destiny of na'tions, and while others have been overturned and destroyed by revolutions, to turn to her own advantage and render subservient to her own interest all the events of the continent. The mountains of Spain enabled her lo sustain a war with him that wasted his power more than half of Europe besides, and finally forced him to give up the attempt to subdue her. That policy was a couise of systematic oppression. To curtail as for as possible the libeities and privileges that had grown up among thAi, and which from the commencement, more through the negltct of the Government than from any liberality towards them, they had been left to enjoy. To sow dissensions nnd jealousies among them. To limit and crush any aitempt at the manufacture of articles for their own use, and compel them to look to, and depend upon her own establishments for them. Nor need 1 direct you to him, when, amid the storm of a winter's night, while his country was sinking beneath the gloom of disaster and defeat, lie rose from the midst of surrounding desolation, led forth his band of heroes across the Delaware to Trenton and Princeton, and put to route the legions of tyrranny. And this day finds us, under the protecting caro ol Heaven, trom a weak and feeble colonial infancy, grown in the course •of three fourths of'a century to the stature ■and power of the greatest notion* on earth, -while the despotisms of the old world, •that once laughed with scorn at our hopes •and pretentions, are tottering to eternal ruin, under the irresistable force of liberal 'sentiments pouring forth from the temple •of American liberty across the Atlantic, and arousing to the assertion of their rights, '4he downtrodden millions of Europe. The probtem is uolved! gloriously sol-vedl The American republic has stood, Cand not failed ! She still lives, lives gloriously ! And of the mighty, in all that irraltes a nation great, is the mightiest! Her foundations still stand" And in their enlarged and ever growing ek.tenl,.aad in their deepening and ever increasing strength give us promise of a future far transcending the fondest hopes of her illustrious founders. The Roman empire overran and subdued a large portion of liie world, and passed every barrier that opposed itself to her ambition.Switzerland, guarded by the Alps, with their cloird-capped summits, he never could conquer, insignificant as she was. For a long time she held as tributaries some.of-the fairest and most fruitful porlions of the earth, and with the revenues derived from them filled her treasury and built up a power and grandeur that was the wonder of the world. The passage of the Alps immortalized Hannibal, and Bonaparte thought it his highest glory, and one of the greatest achievements of his life, to imitate bin*. Shall 1 go with you to the battle of Gormantown, and there wi'h aching heart behold rank after rank of patriots full, and Washington lead away the remnant in defeat, while their bare lee' mark the winter's snow with their blood 1 Favorite daughter of old Ocean ! Rocked in the cradle of his billows, and resting upon his bosom, she rises from Ilia foam, sharing with Neptune the glory of his reign, and great in courage, learning and intellect, apd coverfd V.'ith renown, stands forth tho Genius o( Empire, with one hand covering the waters with her fleets, and with the other deciding the late of threelourths of the globe. But these very revenues in the abuses that attended the farming them, exasperated the nations from whom they were drawn, and eternally kept alive the spirit of insurrection and rebellion abroad and in the luxury they introduced, became in the course of time the source of indolence, effeminacy, licentiousness, corruption and treason at home. And in the final settlement of national claims, and the restoration of power to the different nations of Kurope by the Congretis of the allies, after the fall of'Nupoleon, the important ranges of mountains and large rivers exerted so great an influence upon the minds oi'statesmen, thai to a great extent they became the guides that ruled the adjustment of territorial rights. Hut it is upon the patriotism of nations that ttiose great natural burners exert their chief in- To cramp and restrain iheir commerce by forcing item to carry it on irf English ships, and to seek English markets without a choice; with mnny other restrictions were the principal features ol this unrighteous policy Shall we follow them to Valley Forge, and witness there their privation*, their sickness, and their sorrows, while a haughty onewy riots in luxury in the city of Philadelphia. In this way she hoped to crush the spir. is of the colonials and blast in the bud their hopes of future independence, perpetuate her government over them, and secure for all time llie advantages of their hard earned wealth. Shall we go to Saratoga, Stillwater, »nd Bennington, and there behold our soldiers victorious under the gallant Gates and Stark t But many of her foreign conquests were oyer decaying nations, or nutions of barbarians, whose intestine convulsions and corruptions, or whose barbarism rendered them an eany prey to their powerful conquerors, who could bring to bear against then all the advantages of scientific warfare sustained by the harmony of*council and youthful vigor of a nation just approaching tlm zenith of its own inherent strength in physical resources and the power of enlightened and disciplined intellect. Dut this argument applies with peculiar, and I may say, with far mora force, to this country than any other, both in respect to the great physical obstacles presented to aggression and foreign interference by our distant isolated position, and the influence of our local position upon our national character. fluencc The mountain chains, with their rugged sides and towering peaks, and the seas with their tempests and storms, in the voice of nature preach to them tbo doctrine and the hope of separate existence, self-gov. eminent, arid national independence. And .finally shall I go with you to Yorktown, and there behold the pride of England humbled in. the dust, her haughty commander, at the bidding of Washington, surrender his sworj to an American suit, altern, her army prisoners in the hands of the victorious Americans, and our country free. Based upon liberty, justice and truth, fiod has been her guardian and shield, and his arm her strength, and in her present greatness and the future that opens before .us, we behold her destiny still onward in the highway to glory and Vehown. Then let us rejoice ! all rejoice! Rejoice for the past, the present and the "future! That the people of this nation woulfl have remained in a state ot dependence upon the mother cpuntry, and subject to her tot any very long time whatever might iiave been her treatment towards us, I think there Is little reason to believe. But vain hope.' 'Die wicked device by which she honed to avert the liberation of the colonies from hor grasp, came to her aid too la'te. The onlv question as to the permanence of the liberty and prosperity of our coun. try, is whether we shall, like many of the nations that have gone before us, destroy ft is to these that they look for protection against aggression, to these that they look for the limits of their«Bountry, and her authority, to those that their eyes are constantly turned us the point where the invasion of their soil must begin, to these that in defence of their nation8lity before the tribunal of ;he civilized would, they point us, os the evidence cf their title, placed around them by the hand of God. And it is upon these that gathers all the sacrednesv with which the putriot's imagination clothes the threshold of his native fang. The sweets of liberty had already been tafted, and these had taught the colonists to look forward to ti time when a full feast of freedom should be spreud over the length and breadth of the land. Based upon th« broad principles of equality, no privileged classes, no prinoes, no knights, ud lores with their ill-gotten titles dignities and franchises find a sanction here. On its broad platform of republican equality, all its happy subjects stand equal in the enjoyment ofits privileges, its immunities and its blessings. The high, the low, the rjch and the poor are alike the recipients of its benefits and its honors. In its rewards it recognizes no distinction but that of virtue and merit; and there is not a station in the great cou)- But even then these conquests were effected at a ruinous cost of life and treasure, and to /onder tbom of any value to her, and to derive any return for what tbey had cost her, she was forced to adopt a policy, which though it temporarily secured the object, yet in the end greatly contributed to work her own destruction. ourselves Thesc events are no obscurities. They are known as far as civilization has spreud her liaht. For from without wo have nothing to fear. In the few privileges tho government in its neglect had suffered thc'rfi to 'enjoy in the beginning, they had beheld a gleam of light that told how glorious the full noon of the perfect day would be, and though they were not yet ready for the contest, there was already slumbering on the plains of uic South find among the rockt of New And would you ask the result oi this struggle 1 Ifyou Would be answered, look you. Behold your country! The fairest portion of the Western Hemisphere, spreading over twenty degrees of latitude from north to south, and from the Atlantic on tlDe east to the Pacific on the west; nearly one Possessed of a mighty continent, with every variety of climate, soil, and products ; with natural resources sufficient to supply the wants of half of mankind, and separated from the old world by an ocean rolling 3,000 miles between, and to orown all a people who in all that gives a nation The love of liberty is a first principle of human uature, and it is as abtdmg and uniyfr/al iiD jn;ui as the lote of lift. And She was forced to regenerate those that were going to 4C:ofcy, and to teach the bar.
Object Description
Title | Pittston Gazette and Susquehanna Anthracite Journal |
Masthead | Pittston Gazette and Susquehanna Anthracite Journal, Volume 2 Number 50, July 23, 1852 |
Volume | 2 |
Issue | 50 |
Subject | Pittston Gazette newspaper |
Description | The collection contains the archive of the Pittston Gazette, a northeastern Pennsylvania newspaper published from 1850 through 1965. This archive spans 1850-1907 and is significant to genealogists and historians focused on northeastern Pennsylvania. |
Publisher | Pittston Gazette |
Physical Description | microfilm |
Date | 1852-07-23 |
Location Covered | United States; Pennsylvania; Luzerne County; Pittston |
Type | Text |
Original Format | newspaper |
Digital Format | image/tiff |
Language | English |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Contact | For information on source and images, contact the West Pittston Public Library, 200 Exeter Ave, West Pittston, PA 18643. Phone: (570) 654-9847. Email: wplibrary@luzernelibraries.org |
Contributing Institution | West Pittston Public Library |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Description
Title | Pittston Gazette and Susquehanna Anthracite Journal |
Masthead | Pittston Gazette and Susquehanna Anthracite Journal, Volume 2 Number 50, July 23, 1852 |
Volume | 2 |
Issue | 50 |
Subject | Pittston Gazette newspaper |
Description | The collection contains the archive of the Pittston Gazette, a northeastern Pennsylvania newspaper published from 1850 through 1965. This archive spans 1850-1907 and is significant to genealogists and historians focused on northeastern Pennsylvania. |
Publisher | Pittston Gazette |
Physical Description | microfilm |
Date | 1852-07-23 |
Location Covered | United States; Pennsylvania; Luzerne County; Pittston |
Type | Text |
Original Format | newspaper |
Digital Format | image/tiff |
Identifier | PGS_18520723_001.tif |
Language | English |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Contact | For information on source and images, contact the West Pittston Public Library, 200 Exeter Ave, West Pittston, PA 18643. Phone: (570) 654-9847. Email: wplibrary@luzernelibraries.org |
Contributing Institution | West Pittston Public Library |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Full Text | t THE PITTSTON GAZETTE, -.i.y — Y * t iJw !i tit r| * '» t » ! I ? I 111) MEMIM HTHMOfE JOUHML J r. i*»it 51 mrkli} to Units. lijthtort, fnlitirs, tjre JBlttWfilt, JEttoing, SteJjunitnl, roll agtitutornl 3ntfrrsts «f tJjr Cnuutrij, Utrtrntto, Jlinuatmrnt, fa. )~gm Mttttyt Ararat. VOLUME 2.--NUMBEK 50. PITTSTON, PENNA., FRIDAY, JULY 23, 5852. WHOLE NUMBER 102. THE | wherever there hus been, in the history of mankind h restraint ot this liberty beyond what reason would teach was necessary for the subjects' own good and for the general welfare, there lias been an unending con. test between the restraining power, and the subject of restraint till the lost liberty was regained bttriiins many of the arts of civilization, and instruct thorn in the science of war, and thus put into their hands, the moans by which she herself had been enabled lo overcome iheni. Whero nations are separated by a mere ideal boundary, a line marked by some political regulation, there never can exist in their fullest extent all those loftv emotions of national pride and undivided attachment lo their native land, and all that belongs to the country of their birth, that characterizes those nations that aro depurated from each other by some prominent naturul boundary. weight and influence in the affairs of the world, justly acknowledging no superior. England that same omnipotent spirit that afterwanls brought Charles first to the scaffold and drove James second from his thcoue. twelfth of the whole globe, with every variety of climate, soil, productions and seanery.Endowed by nature with an exalted intellect, and iliut intellect strengthened and refined by cultivation and discipline ; proud and high-soulcd, impatient of restraint, and capable of brooking nocohtrol; bold, daring and adventurous, acknowledging no enterprise too arduons to be accomplished,and no barrier too lofty or too rugged for their ambition to overcome, they yield to no nation on earth, either morally, physically, or intellectually. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED WEEKLY BT G. in. Bichart 8 II. S. Fliilllp«» Your coasts studded all round, and your country covered all over with popuu lo us, flourishing, and opulent cities. 1 our manufactures filling every market and your commerce whitening every sea. Holding the first rank in science, litera. ture and military glory, with as noble a galaxy of heroes and statesmen aa the world ever saw. I have not time to enter into the history of the times on down to the Declaration of independence. OJht West side n) Main. Street, second Story of the " Long Store " of Witncr Cf- Wood. And us they advanced to the civilization and prosperity necessary to make them valuable to herself, they also advanced in power and a know ledge of their own rights, and when they bail onoe reached this posi. tion, they were not long without tho dispo. sition to enjoy their own rights and their own resources, and to control their own affairs, and beholding her distraction and weakness at home, the result of tho corrupting influences of overgrown wealth and luxury, they one after another rose upon her and forced her to withdraw wiih h( r authority from their territory. Yes, old Homo whoso, victorious eagles glittered in the sunbeams of every clime, and whose iron sway extended over a hundred nations, was forced tn content herself with the narrow limits the Adriatic and the MedetC rranean had originally assigned her, and there with her energies exhausted in her vain attempt to perpetuate her empire to crumblo from Iter once dazzling and overwhelming glory to insignificance and destruction. The same policy with increased aggra. vutions was pursued until it ended in the final rupture. The "Gazette" i» published every Friday, at Tw» ! Dollars per annum. Two DoClars and Fifty I Cents will be charged if not paid within the Tho enjoyment of freedom is the natu•al state ol mini and any restraint upon it is a war upon human nature. But still more odious is foreign domin- In t."le one case, tho political separation Is but on arbitrary violence upon the sympathies and congeniality of different portions of humanity. In the other, the separation of nature is the basis of a wider separation in all that makes up the difference of national character. Seventy-six years ogo this day lhat glorious declaration was adopted and proclaimed to the world. TiJpaper will be discontinued until all arrearages Advertisements arc inserted iPicu™£r One Dollar per square of fourteen lines for |' three insertions; Twenty-five en™ " * ditional for every iubsequeut insertion. A lib* eral deduction to those who advertise for six months or the whole year. , . Job Work.—Wehavo connected with our establishment a well selected assortment T vm, ' which will enable us to execute, in e n^,c"' style, every variety of printing. Being practical printers ourselves, we can afford to do work on as reasonable terms as any other office in the connty . All letters and communications aJdressed to tbe Gazette must be post p*id, and endorsed by a responsible name, to receive attention. ion. Behold your country, with tuenty.five millions of freemen, all united in the bonds of one great and harmonious brotherhood, governed by themselves, under a constitution resting upon their own intelli. gence and virtue, acknowledging no master, and no king bjut God, Behold the result of that sfruggle in this glorious refuge and asylum for the oppressed of all the earth. A people may for a .long time bear the encroachme.its of a government, while their governors and rulers are of their own number, and chosen from their midst ; for while thid is the case, however slight in fact their influence in the government, and though tlifir voice may be utterly powerless in controlling its administration, yet its origin is in, and ol their own country, and though oppression it may bp, as a part it partakes of the affection they cherish for that country. With such a country, such a local posilion, and such a people, could Great Britain expcct to hold us long in subjection to her government, and with such u country and such a people, what has this nation ever to fear from the rest of the world ? In the hopes and zeal it awakened in the cause of liberty, it fell upon the nation like a promise fresh from the throne of God. In tho one case, the people are left to minglo with each other, to interchange their sentiments, and notions of politics, morals, and religion, and mutually to disseminate their learning among each other. It was the great manifesto of American rights, that proclaimed an end to political bondage ; the morning star that brought the dawn of freedom. 1 Of the future greatness of fhe colonies, if left to work out their own fortune, Great Btitain early discovered the indications. The colonists had emigrated hither under circumstances littlo calculated to inspire hopes of success in the great undertaking of overcoming and subduing the wilds of America, and planting civilization in them. In the clearness and force with which it set forth the wrongs we had endured, and the causes that led to its adoption, it iiifpi. red every heart with adeeper hatred for the royal government, and banded together all hcartn in the glorious cause that was based upon its propositions. If the Declaration had been the end of difficulties, and that the crowning act in the achievement ofour Independence, there had already been paid a price, in the wrongs and oppressions endured, and in the blood already shed, sufficient to render it sacrcd to us lor all time, and to render illustrious and immortal the history of the tinips that preceded rt. But ft was not so. 1 hough there had been already sacrificcd and suffered more than has often revolutionized some of the most important slates of liuropo, the great struggle was yet to come. They become imbued with the principles and opinions of each other, their manners and customs bitcome the some, and aside from the distinctive peculiarities of their forms of government depending oftener on onuses to be found elsewhere than in their own choice, they become one people in almost all the essentials of nutional existence, and there is to be found among them but little of that exclusive regard for their respective countries tiiut form the basis of lofty mtional pride, and unmingled patriotism. Behold the glories of the star spsngled banner, that this day floats to the breeze in every clime, the proud emblem of the liberty and union of our country, whose broad stripes, covered with renown, spread out befoi*e nn admiring world in emblema. tic phalanx this lovely sisterhood or states, and whoso blight stars, kindled up with the glory of a thousand victories, was never dimmed by disgrace. "Long may it wave o'er the land of tb* free and the home of the brave." But foreign dominion, however mild, spttles down upon tho mind with all the force nnd odium of an arbitrary stretch of authority, awakening at once an insuperable hatred lor its souice, and the content, plation of tho rights of tliose cvpr whom it is sought to ho exerted, nnd arousing lliem to the asscition and delcnce of tho high perogative invaded by tho foreign rule. And it matte's not whether the subjects of foreign dominion have been made so by conquest, or whether they are colonies planted l.y the government asserting its sway over them. Ben Bolt's Reply, or Ah, yes, I Remember. They cumo here in the estimation of all the world, as men whom only desperation could have sent here; bs a forlorn hope before whom lay only the prospect of famine disease and dentil, in a solitude whose reign had not been broken for ages, save by the yells of sovages and wild beasts. And so of all antiquity. And so of all nges. In modern times tho colonies of Spain and Portugal on this continent are conclusive examples to illustrate the position ; And where now is the coIlo.CsaI pow. er of France under Napoleon? Like an avalanche it moved over the earth overwhelming Kingdoms and Empire?, and all nations trembh d at its world wide grafp ; but like tho storm it come, and like the stor,m it passed uway. Its violence and might, only hastened the expenditure of its life, and all that can be said of it, is that it was the most magnificent and terrible illustration of the vanity of human greatness, and of the instability of empire the world ever beheld. And in the revolution and independence of our own country, Great ■Britain may behold a paiqlul w arning of the inevitable doom that sooner or later awaits her world wide Empire. BY SIDNEY DYEH Ah ! yes I remember tliat name with delight, Sweet Alice, so cherished and dear; I seek her grave in the pale hour of night, And moisten the turf with a tear ; And there, when the heart is o'erburdened with woes, On the other hand,where they are separated by nn Important range of mountains, or an ocean or sea, they are with regard to each-other in fill the distinctive force of the term, foreigners ; not only in locality, but in their feelings, sentiments und prinpies.And when they reached here, they were abandoned by the government to whatever fate might befall them. May it ride in triumph on the breeze forever. May its cheering sheeto continue to gladden the hearts of tha votaries of freedom over the world, till the liberty it symboliz • es shall bccoinc the boon of the oppressed °f all the earih, till Hungary, glorious Hungary shulf throw off the shroud of mourn, ing that rests upon her, and in triumph wreath the pillar of her hopes with tho bloom of immortal freedom, till Italy, bright land of battle and of song, shall burst the chains of her thraldom, and under a sway as genial as the sunny skies above her, inspire a nob!theme than ever warmed a Tully's soul, or waked a Virgil's lyre, and till Ireland, loveliest gem that glitte.s on the bosom of the sea, whose harp, hung upon the willows, no mora churms to love and joy her warm hearted sons, and whose melting wail of sorrow has for ages been drowned in the ocean's moan ; till Ireland, down-trodden Ireland, at the trump of political resursection, shull rise from her grave, and come forth roLed in the habiliments of liberty, and in joy and triumph sing" the hymn of her regenerationI wander and muse all alone, And long for tho time when my head shall repose, Where " sweet Alice lies under the stone.1' The strong and undying love cf country, the sacred ties of patriotism have ever arrayed mankind against foreign rule, and prompted llieni to every sacrifice fur the establishment and defence ot a government having its, origin and deriving its support from themselves. This is the highest object of humai. ntnb'tidn, and when thf pow. er of self government is taken away irom a people, all that they value is gone; nn. tionhlily, optional ambition, national prosperity, and national hope. Yet, from the first they exhibited a for. titude, a patience and a fclianoe in the care of Heaven which the world had seldom belore beheld. Ijoam through the wood where so joyous we Limited in their intercouse, no mutual influences exert their assimilating power over them, ond eucli is led to fo'low the tendencies which the peculiar'circumstances and associations of their respective localities may induce, end to become as widely dilleretit as the locality and nutural peculiarities of their respective countries. And though they were forced to contend with calamities and sufferings in many cases unparalleled in the history of man, yet cheered by the inspiring reflection that their toils und suflerings were consecrated to the cause ol human liberty, justice and religion, and sustained by the belief ;l|ot the approval of God rested upon their deeds, they outlived misfortune and overcame every danger, aud in the course of a few years had laid permanently the foundations of civilization over u wide extent ot country. A war of seven years duration with eve. ry vicissitude of misfortune and success, was yet to be fought through. The colonists, few in numbers, anil poor in all but patriotism and-bravery, had yet to fight for the freedom of the new world. strayed, And recline on the green sunny hill; All things are as bright in that beautiful glade, Hut mj heart is all lonely and chill. The hand that so fondly I pressed then in mine, And the lips that were melting with love— Are C-t4d in the grave, and I'm left to repine, • 'Till I meet with sweet Alice above. Need 1 attempt to detail to you the events of that war! Each knowing but little of the other, or of whatever may be valuable in the other, a mutual contempt for all that is foreign, becomes a nutural characteristic. Need [ attempt to describe the vicissitudes, the calamities, the slaughter and blood tlmt made it terrible, yet glorious!— History has emblazened her proudest page with its achievements, and there they will stuud bright and glorious in an everlasting array of all that is sublime in exalted bravery and ihe loftiest exhibitions of virtue arid patriotism. They are recorded in every mountain pass, on every plain, and at every river side of our country. We can hardly turn our eyes to a hill that is not a monument to mark the scene ofour fathers struggles, or a plain whose sod has not pillowed a dying patriot's head, or a stream that has not been crimsoned - with their blood. Ah! well I rememberthe school house and brooi, " And the muster so kind and so truo," The wild blooming flowers in the cool shady nook, So fragrant with incense and dew. Cut I Weep not for these, though »o dear to my heart, And whatever the clemency of the government, tho subjects see themselves only in the condition of slaves, beuring tho weight and supremacy of un authority in the creation of which, nnd in the success of which, they have no lot or part, and w hose only object is the aggrandizement of another country nt llie cost of the prosperity and happiness of their own. In looking (or the causes that contribute to prevent the permanence of foreign do minion, we can find none that operute more powerfully thun the local position iiself of tho different nations of tho earth, whether we consider its effect in the natural obstacles presented to aggression, or upon tho diameter of tho people themselves. "Lands intersected by a narrow frith ab. hor each oth«r. Cultivated farms, flourishing towns and villages with their churches and schools, and a prosperous and happy population succeeded the swamps; the gloomy forests, the wigwam aifii the roaming savage; and tho world beheld spreading along the shores of the Atlantic n number of prosperous and rapidly %drancing colonies. Mountains interposed make enemies of nations which had else, like kindred drops, been mingled into one." Nor the friends that have li ft us alone— , The bosom will heave, and the tear-drops will Nature holds in her own hands ihe high prerogative of teaching mankind where the tovritoritil limits of the ri Kprctive authority ul different governments must exht, and though in its convulsions nqtioridl umbi'.ion has at times for a lin'.a while succeeded in overriding the limits she 1ms marked for it, yet in this respr6t as well as c\ery other, she has ultimately shown herself mis. tress : that her laws are intvocable, and cannot ho violated with impunity. But while they bestow hut little care or attention abroad, and have but little interest in the rest of the world, their own country uecomel the object of their supremo regard. start, For " sweet Alice lies under the stone." Their country, the dearrsi object of their affections is no longer their own, Inn h for. eign masters, and the only hope that worms their hearts, and the only object that ab. sorbs the ir souls, and files their energies, is the regaining its dominions. INDEPENDENCE ORATION. But while the rest of the world looked on with admiration at tho almost superhuman transformation of the wilderness into a garden, ajid the magic birth of an infant nution, the pleasure of the mother country was mingled with anxiety and painful forebodings. The heroes of the revolution did not fight the# battles of that war and wade through a seven years ordeal of fire and blood for the glory of • day. They did not achieve the liberties of their country for the benefit of one generation or one age only, but for all time. i hrough the cloud of daAtness and the gloom that overhung their own day, they looked forward with joy te the reward of their own sacrifices and sufferings in the blessings and glory that should render joyous and illustrious the pathway of tbeir posterity for all generations. They did not Irave us with liberty simply achieved, simply wpn, and thus render it a curse instead of a blessing by overt urniwz one op. pression and leaving anarchy, a fa/ worse oppression to take its place. Their whole affections, in exulting partinlity, are centred upon it, and its glories fill the whole scope of (heir contemplation. Its government and institutions appear the models from which alone mankind should learn perfection; its prominent character* in politics, in arms, in letters, and religion fur above those of every other nation in all inat hnakes them illustrious ; and its very soil dear to every son it bears. Delivered in Fittston, July 3d, 1852. IIV. W. W. KCTOHAM, EHQ. Ilislory will bi-iK nin out in the position, tliut no nation ever jet »a» abk 1 need not point you to the disasters of our army on Long Island; enough to have sunk the hearts of anv soldiers but [Puhlt.-he l by rtqueat of the Citizenh of Piittton.'] ue its rule over either conquered or over colonics of fu»rDwn rst-.oiuhmcnt, any longer tl'nn till ;npy hud advanced sufficiently faj- in civilization and rerources to throw off the foreign yoke, and the days of foreign sway are always number, ed by the inte lligence and power of the governed.to cotitin Khiends and Fillsw Citizen# : Wo ar« assembled to celebrate the 7Cth anniversary ot American Independence. The impossibility of the population of the whole earth bting subject 'o one human government, m.u exist in harmonious submission to it; yielding allegiance to it, and obeying its direction in all the widely extended and multifarious pursuits of an aclive world, stimulated and impelled byall the discordant and conflicting passions, natures, ambitions and interests, that un. dcr the varieties of climate, soil, production*, and pursuits, over the globe, characterise human action, should be sufficient to satisfy us of the great ruling design of God, in eslutflishing the economy of the world, that mankind should be distributed into independent nations, looking to themselves for their government. Hut as if to encircle the different nations of the earth with an eternal monition of iiis will that different nationalties should exist, God himself has distributed the surfjioe of the earth, ond separated and walled out from each other the different nations, by the great natuial barriers, the mountains and seas ho has thrown over the globe. Ry these monuments clothed in the majesty of his own omnipotence, he proclaims to each of the nations, thus far shall thou come and no fun her. While they should remain her colonies, their prosperity was indeed her prosperity, and the greater advances they might make in wealth and resources, the more her own greatness would be promoted hy them.— But there was another view in w hich their prosperity was regarded by her. Americans, Fof seventy-six years has our own d»ar land been the home of freedom, and enjoy, ed tho full fruition ot civil and religious libertv. Nor need I follow them in their retreat through the Jerseys, when with the British army at their heels flushed u ith victory and exulting in :he hope ol annihilating them at a blow, this forloyi hope of freedom, .worn out with' fatigue, sore with wounds, and perishing with cold pressed on for repose beyond the Delaware. Here is nationol pride! Here is devotion to country ! Here is patriotism'. For this let every heart be lifted in grateful acknowledgment to Him who rules the destinies of the earth, and builds up and prostrates the nations at his will. Some of the governments of antiquity overran a largo portion of the world, and for a whilt' hold ail surrounding nations In bondage, but it is u fact that the bep'nniiur of conquest, w as to tho conquero'.,, the beginning of their own ruin.' Here is a spirit that the powers of the earth cannot subdue. Conquest may rob them of their rights, but it cannot subdue them. She with gC.od reason regarded their welfare, as for u short time, a soujeo of revenue to her own treasury, hut ultimately and not very fur distritit, as tho current that must inevitably sweep them away Irom Nor need 1 here turn your eyes to our beloved Washington, whose calm sa«acity saved '.his feeble remnant from ruin, by exhibiting to the world that heaven-born courage that showed he dared be called coward, sooner than waste one drop of his soldiers' blood for his own ambition ; and who like a guardian angel rose in the halo of light beaming from the circle of his own virtues, above the storm C of adversity, and by his counsel", and his cheering accents of kindness inspired with hope the hearts of his followers and pointed them to the sun of their glory, in the future yet to rise. There was a day when Despotism and her slavish minions, in derision luughed at the attempt to establish in this country, the institutions that rest at the bottom of our present national greatness, and pointed the finger of contempt at what lliev were pleased to call the government of visionaries and of fools. She may rear her dark castle upon the ruins ol their liberty, hut she will find that she bus laid us foundations upon a moral volcano, whose files, catching their vitality from the patriot's soul, are inextinguishable, and will sooner or later burst forth upon her in retributive vengeance. In many cases, so far f'jm the suhjuga. ted countries becoming of any value to "the conqueiors, ihe cost of establishing and sustaining government over tliem, while it ror.1|y improved and advanced the conditio:, of tiie conquered, became a drain upor, their rulers tha ultimately exhausted .'..icir i-csources, and reversing tho positions of the conquerors and cinquered, rendered the victors an easy prey in their turn to the vengeance of those they had subjugated. her forever They guve us a chart \ind a lighi in the constitution they have left us, under whoee guidance we have thus far more thaD realized their brightest hopes, and undor which administered by virtue and intelligence we may effectuate the great object of. all their toils, the perpetuity of {he liberty they have bequeathed us. She had driven them away shores and left them to perish. from her She had persecuted them and filled them with bitterness against her. The insular position of Great Dritain has contributed more to her greatness than all else beside. They had gone forth the devotees of liberty, and as if by the direct aid of Heaven founded a nation. They heaped upon it thoir scoffs and their sneers, and in their unholy exultation in the prospective failure of the hopes bf the friends of freedom, proclaimed tha jCl. pending dissolution of our aoverp-.„eil| (h0 distraction of our country bv and civil wars; and to close the fdjCe of liberty, a final resort to despoil,, aa ,h0 only refuge from anarchy '.nd fraternal discord with all their evils. The constitution of our country, in ilia comprehensive scope, the far-reachiug forecast and the sublime objects of its provisions, the loftv and liberal spirit that everywhere pervades it, and yet the simplicity and practical nature of its structure, is a noble illustration of the greatness, the sublimity and the sagacity of the minds thjit conceived it. Though formed at the com. mencernent of our country's career when our whole population did not exceed three millions, and our whole inhabited territory was confined to the shores of the Atlantic, and our and manufac. tures, and in pursuit in its in. fancy ; yet in its comprehensiveness it en. compasses all the advances of Civilization, and has proved itself adequate to every na. tional exigency incident to the vast expansion of our population with all the variety and multiplicity of pursuits and inloresta that have sprung up within our widening boundaries, and our almost boundless intercourse with the other nations of the glob®. Encumbered with no parade of unwieldly machinery, or Useless redundancy, plain, perspicuous, ond definite in its term*, it'is easy of application !n the practical*d. ministration of the offaird of the country, and free from the dangers of ibe perversion of its spirit or principles to whicb obscurity or ambiguity in its language would render it liable. Admirably£balanced in the distribution of its powelts, and guarded bv wholesome checks and restraints inter, posed against the encroachment of one de". pertinent upon the authority and jorisdic. lion of the others, the freedom of eaeh de. par.mniit in the performance of its peculiar offices is effectually secured, and the whole machinery of government made to move on in magnificent harmony in the attainment of the great objects of it* creation', the liberty and happiness ol the people. It has fostered a spirit of national pride and jealousy, and a patriotism that is, and ulways has been, as indomitable as the beetling cliffs that break the ocean's surges on her rock bound coast. The hatred of such men as they by their achievements had shown themselves to be, with sufficient means within their control to avenge themselves upon her, she justly regarded with dread, and when she beheld their growing power, she trembled for her authority over them- Thus while some of the most renowned nations of antiquity, in triumph boasted the greatness of their empire, and felt that the powers of the earth were in tljeir hands, they were in truth in the very midst of their weakness and upon the verge of ruin. With pride they would point to the bound, less array of their colonies and dependent nations, us the evidences of their power, when in truth they were themselves hanging upon the mercy of those dependencies for their own existence. Oh, Washington 1 The world claims thee, and throws down her tributes at the shrine of thy memory. 13ut Columbia gave thee to mankind, and thou art all our own. While the everlasting hills of our country shall endure, thy fame shall not perish, and thy memoiv sliall live and bloom in the aTectionsof thy countrymen, as fresh as the mantle of flowers that nature throws over lliv tomb. Separated from tho continent bv a narrow sea, she has by means of her navy been enabled to make that 6ea us impassable to her enemies as a sea of fire. She determined, therefore, to adopt a policy towards them which though it might stamp her with disgrace and bring down upon her the opprobrium of mankind for all time, was the only course by which she could hope to perpetuate her dominion over lliem. But ctli coming anniversary of our country's independence, has brought with it proofs and confirmations of the enduring strength of our government, that have sileoo-j all her enemies, and filled with felad:iess ti,e hearts of her friends ihrough"M the world. The only nations that escaped the power of Napoleon, escaped by reason of the great natural obstacles thut protected them. And while all the nations of the continent have been scourged by the endless wars that have for all time been their curse, resting securely aloof, she has avoided all the evils of European contests, and constantly accumulating wealth and power by the blessings of peace at home, has been able not only to resist the influence and dictuiion of Europe, but to become herself the proud arbitress of the destiny of na'tions, and while others have been overturned and destroyed by revolutions, to turn to her own advantage and render subservient to her own interest all the events of the continent. The mountains of Spain enabled her lo sustain a war with him that wasted his power more than half of Europe besides, and finally forced him to give up the attempt to subdue her. That policy was a couise of systematic oppression. To curtail as for as possible the libeities and privileges that had grown up among thAi, and which from the commencement, more through the negltct of the Government than from any liberality towards them, they had been left to enjoy. To sow dissensions nnd jealousies among them. To limit and crush any aitempt at the manufacture of articles for their own use, and compel them to look to, and depend upon her own establishments for them. Nor need 1 direct you to him, when, amid the storm of a winter's night, while his country was sinking beneath the gloom of disaster and defeat, lie rose from the midst of surrounding desolation, led forth his band of heroes across the Delaware to Trenton and Princeton, and put to route the legions of tyrranny. And this day finds us, under the protecting caro ol Heaven, trom a weak and feeble colonial infancy, grown in the course •of three fourths of'a century to the stature ■and power of the greatest notion* on earth, -while the despotisms of the old world, •that once laughed with scorn at our hopes •and pretentions, are tottering to eternal ruin, under the irresistable force of liberal 'sentiments pouring forth from the temple •of American liberty across the Atlantic, and arousing to the assertion of their rights, '4he downtrodden millions of Europe. The probtem is uolved! gloriously sol-vedl The American republic has stood, Cand not failed ! She still lives, lives gloriously ! And of the mighty, in all that irraltes a nation great, is the mightiest! Her foundations still stand" And in their enlarged and ever growing ek.tenl,.aad in their deepening and ever increasing strength give us promise of a future far transcending the fondest hopes of her illustrious founders. The Roman empire overran and subdued a large portion of liie world, and passed every barrier that opposed itself to her ambition.Switzerland, guarded by the Alps, with their cloird-capped summits, he never could conquer, insignificant as she was. For a long time she held as tributaries some.of-the fairest and most fruitful porlions of the earth, and with the revenues derived from them filled her treasury and built up a power and grandeur that was the wonder of the world. The passage of the Alps immortalized Hannibal, and Bonaparte thought it his highest glory, and one of the greatest achievements of his life, to imitate bin*. Shall 1 go with you to the battle of Gormantown, and there wi'h aching heart behold rank after rank of patriots full, and Washington lead away the remnant in defeat, while their bare lee' mark the winter's snow with their blood 1 Favorite daughter of old Ocean ! Rocked in the cradle of his billows, and resting upon his bosom, she rises from Ilia foam, sharing with Neptune the glory of his reign, and great in courage, learning and intellect, apd coverfd V.'ith renown, stands forth tho Genius o( Empire, with one hand covering the waters with her fleets, and with the other deciding the late of threelourths of the globe. But these very revenues in the abuses that attended the farming them, exasperated the nations from whom they were drawn, and eternally kept alive the spirit of insurrection and rebellion abroad and in the luxury they introduced, became in the course of time the source of indolence, effeminacy, licentiousness, corruption and treason at home. And in the final settlement of national claims, and the restoration of power to the different nations of Kurope by the Congretis of the allies, after the fall of'Nupoleon, the important ranges of mountains and large rivers exerted so great an influence upon the minds oi'statesmen, thai to a great extent they became the guides that ruled the adjustment of territorial rights. Hut it is upon the patriotism of nations that ttiose great natural burners exert their chief in- To cramp and restrain iheir commerce by forcing item to carry it on irf English ships, and to seek English markets without a choice; with mnny other restrictions were the principal features ol this unrighteous policy Shall we follow them to Valley Forge, and witness there their privation*, their sickness, and their sorrows, while a haughty onewy riots in luxury in the city of Philadelphia. In this way she hoped to crush the spir. is of the colonials and blast in the bud their hopes of future independence, perpetuate her government over them, and secure for all time llie advantages of their hard earned wealth. Shall we go to Saratoga, Stillwater, »nd Bennington, and there behold our soldiers victorious under the gallant Gates and Stark t But many of her foreign conquests were oyer decaying nations, or nutions of barbarians, whose intestine convulsions and corruptions, or whose barbarism rendered them an eany prey to their powerful conquerors, who could bring to bear against then all the advantages of scientific warfare sustained by the harmony of*council and youthful vigor of a nation just approaching tlm zenith of its own inherent strength in physical resources and the power of enlightened and disciplined intellect. Dut this argument applies with peculiar, and I may say, with far mora force, to this country than any other, both in respect to the great physical obstacles presented to aggression and foreign interference by our distant isolated position, and the influence of our local position upon our national character. fluencc The mountain chains, with their rugged sides and towering peaks, and the seas with their tempests and storms, in the voice of nature preach to them tbo doctrine and the hope of separate existence, self-gov. eminent, arid national independence. And .finally shall I go with you to Yorktown, and there behold the pride of England humbled in. the dust, her haughty commander, at the bidding of Washington, surrender his sworj to an American suit, altern, her army prisoners in the hands of the victorious Americans, and our country free. Based upon liberty, justice and truth, fiod has been her guardian and shield, and his arm her strength, and in her present greatness and the future that opens before .us, we behold her destiny still onward in the highway to glory and Vehown. Then let us rejoice ! all rejoice! Rejoice for the past, the present and the "future! That the people of this nation woulfl have remained in a state ot dependence upon the mother cpuntry, and subject to her tot any very long time whatever might iiave been her treatment towards us, I think there Is little reason to believe. But vain hope.' 'Die wicked device by which she honed to avert the liberation of the colonies from hor grasp, came to her aid too la'te. The onlv question as to the permanence of the liberty and prosperity of our coun. try, is whether we shall, like many of the nations that have gone before us, destroy ft is to these that they look for protection against aggression, to these that they look for the limits of their«Bountry, and her authority, to those that their eyes are constantly turned us the point where the invasion of their soil must begin, to these that in defence of their nation8lity before the tribunal of ;he civilized would, they point us, os the evidence cf their title, placed around them by the hand of God. And it is upon these that gathers all the sacrednesv with which the putriot's imagination clothes the threshold of his native fang. The sweets of liberty had already been tafted, and these had taught the colonists to look forward to ti time when a full feast of freedom should be spreud over the length and breadth of the land. Based upon th« broad principles of equality, no privileged classes, no prinoes, no knights, ud lores with their ill-gotten titles dignities and franchises find a sanction here. On its broad platform of republican equality, all its happy subjects stand equal in the enjoyment ofits privileges, its immunities and its blessings. The high, the low, the rjch and the poor are alike the recipients of its benefits and its honors. In its rewards it recognizes no distinction but that of virtue and merit; and there is not a station in the great cou)- But even then these conquests were effected at a ruinous cost of life and treasure, and to /onder tbom of any value to her, and to derive any return for what tbey had cost her, she was forced to adopt a policy, which though it temporarily secured the object, yet in the end greatly contributed to work her own destruction. ourselves Thesc events are no obscurities. They are known as far as civilization has spreud her liaht. For from without wo have nothing to fear. In the few privileges tho government in its neglect had suffered thc'rfi to 'enjoy in the beginning, they had beheld a gleam of light that told how glorious the full noon of the perfect day would be, and though they were not yet ready for the contest, there was already slumbering on the plains of uic South find among the rockt of New And would you ask the result oi this struggle 1 Ifyou Would be answered, look you. Behold your country! The fairest portion of the Western Hemisphere, spreading over twenty degrees of latitude from north to south, and from the Atlantic on tlDe east to the Pacific on the west; nearly one Possessed of a mighty continent, with every variety of climate, soil, and products ; with natural resources sufficient to supply the wants of half of mankind, and separated from the old world by an ocean rolling 3,000 miles between, and to orown all a people who in all that gives a nation The love of liberty is a first principle of human uature, and it is as abtdmg and uniyfr/al iiD jn;ui as the lote of lift. And She was forced to regenerate those that were going to 4C:ofcy, and to teach the bar. |
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