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& iFaniUg : ©r&otctr to tfie &rts, Science, gferfculture, JUeeiiauieo, Education, jpoveiati autr domestic KnteUificncc, Rumour, szt. BY C. R. HANLEITER. p®EiriaY, “ Much yet remains unsung .” CONSOLATION, (FOR THE “COLONEL.”) If she's cold—why complain? there are others more warm, ‘Otherhearts more conformingly tender: JNo skies are so checkered by sunshine and storm As the minds of the feminine gender. ‘To-day they are willing—to-morrow averse — Now they arc serious—now they’re mocking— They are lavish sometimes as a prodigal’s purse, Then as close as a miser’s old stocking. I learned long ago not to sigh or be sad When the woman I loved was capricious; ißut I say to myself, “ Peter, laugh and be glad, There are other girls quite as delicious.” Though her smile be ns soft ns the gleam of a star, And her blush like the tint of the morning, There are Inssies and ladies more beautiful far And much less addicted to scorning. If she whom I prize over diamonds and gold, Confers her sweet self on another, 1 reflect, though not young I am not very old, And there's no use of making a bother. This adage my “ mu” once recited to me, When foiled after being enraptured— * There arc fishes, oh Peter, that swim in the sen, Good as any that ever were captured.” feteb. RfID@<SBII,ILAINnr. From the Magnolia, for May. HISTORY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. BY WILLIAM MACON STEVENS. As every thing connected with this “char ter of our liberties,” is worthy of preserva tion, and as we cannot too often recur to, and ponder over, that important event, I propose to draw up a succinct account of the rise and progress of independent princi ples ; and of the preparation and ultimate passage of the memorable “ Declaration” of them. The doctrines of that “ Declaration,” were early set forth in colonial history, and the principles of republican independence, brought over in the May-flower, were care fully enshrined in the hearts of the people— gradually engrafted into the civil constitu tions, and at last became the corner stone of this great republic. Virginia, under Sir George Yeardly, and during the Protecto rate-Massachusetts in the opposition to Sir Edmund Andros in 1659, New York in their repudiation of the tax act in 1691; and South Carolina under Gov. Moore, had each given good proof of the well grounded and pervading principles of civil liberty and elective rights, which obtained throughout the colonies. Chalmers, an author of cre dit and research, has'said, referring to the troubles in 1766 consequent on the stamp act that “none of the Statesmen of that pe riod, nor those of the preceding or subse quent times, had any suspicion, that there lay among the documents in the Board of Trade and l’apei office, the most satisfacto ry proofs, from the epoch of the Revolution in 1688, throughout every reign and during every administration, of the settled purpose of the revolted colonies to acquire direct In dependence.” Mr. Chalmers has not sup ported this assertion, by any testimony from the offices to which he refers ; but his inti mate acquaintance vv.th those documents while preparing his “ Political Annals,” does not permit us to doubt the statement. Indeed this very Board of Trade in a publi cation dated 1701, declared that “ the Inde pendency the colonies thirst aftci is now no torious.” Two years after Quarry wrote of New England “ Commonwealth notions im prove daily, and, if it be not checked in time, the rights and privileges of English subjects will be thought too narrow.” Two years later still, and the assertion was boldly issued from the press that “ the colonists will, in process of time, cast off their allegiance to England, and set up a government of their own.” An old writer recording the prevail ing opinions of the times, says it was at last said “by people of all conditions and quali ties, that theirincreasingnumbers and wealth, joined to their great distance from Britain, would give them an opportunity in the course of some years, to throw off their dependence on the nation and declare themselves a free state if not curbed in time by being made en tirely subjeettothe crown.” These,however, were mostly speculations haded on the un daunted spirit of liberty of thought, which no authority could repress or extinguish. It gave evidence of its existence in a variety of ways; at the civil tribunal, in the legis lative chamber—in the popular assembly— in the periodical press; and though Royal Governors menaced the people with ven geance, and poured out upon them phials of ministerial wrath, yet the tide of freedom, gathering up in its courso the little rills of popular feeling, rolled steadily onward— widening, deepening and hurrying in its current, until it swept away every land mark of royalty, and every standard of oppres sion. One little incident, noticed by Ban croft shows the jealousy of the people to any infraction of their rights. During the troubles with Gov. Cosby of New York in 1734, M A newspaper was established to de fend the popular cause ; and, in about a year after its establishment, its printer, John Peter Trcnger, was imprisoned, on the charge of publishing false and seditious li bels. The grand jury would find no bill against him, and the Attorney-General filed an information. The council of Trenger took exceptions to the commissioners of the judges, because they ran during pleasure, and because they had been granted with out consent of council. The court answer ed the objection by excluding those who of fered it from the bar. At the trial, the pub lishing was confessed; but the aged An drew Hamilton, a lawyer of Philadelphia, pleading for Trenger justified the publica tion by asserting its truth. “ You cannot be admitted,” interrupted the chief justice, “to give the truth of a libel in evidence.” “ Then,” said Hamilton to the jury, “we appeal to you for witnesses of the facts. The jury have aright to determine both the law and the fact, and they ought to do so.” “ The question before you,” he added, “is not the cause of a poor printei, nor of New York alone; it is the best cause—the cause of liberty. Everyman who prefers - free dom to a life of slavery, will bless and ho nor you as men who by an impartial verdict, lay a noble foundation for securing to our selves, our posterity and our neighbors, that to which nature and the honor of our coun try has given us a right—the liberty of op posing arbitrary power by speaking and writing truth.” The jury gave their verdict “ not guilty ;” the people of the colonies exulted in the victoiy of freedom ; Hamil ton received of the common council of New York the franchise of the city for “his learn ed and generous defence of the rights of mankind.” A patriot of the revolution es teemed this trial to have been the morning star of the American revolution. But it was not one light alone that ushered in the dawn of our Independence : the stars of a whole constellation sang together for joy. That colonial independence was not un thought of in England, we gather from vari ous writers ; a passage from the memoirs of Horace Walpole, Earl of Oxford, will sus tain this assertion. Speaking of the designs of the ministry towards America, he says, “ The instructions to Sir Danvers Osborn, a new Governor of New York, seemed better calculated for the latitude of Mexico, and fora Spanish tribunal, than for a free, rich, British settlement, and in such opulence and such haughtiness,thatsuspicions had long been conceived of their meditating to throw off theirdependence on the mothercountry.” It is evident however, from the tenor of History, that the Independence of the Ame rican colonies, was more suspected and feared in England, than entertained or act ed upon in the Provinces. Dr. Gordon in his History of the Revo lution has preserved part of a conversation between Mr. Pratt (afterward Lord Cam den, and ever a friend of America,) and Benj. Franklin, in which Mr. Pratt says : “ For all what you Americans say of your loyalty, I know you will one day throw off your dependence upon this country, and notwithstanding your boasted affection for it, will set up for independence.” Franklin replied, “ No such idea is entertained in the mind of the Americans; and no such idea will ever enter their heads unless you gross ly abuse them.” Even during all the heated controversy which followed the arbitrary acts of 1765- 66, &c. we hear but little of throwing off allegiance to the crown or of erecting an in dependent state. But the time of which Franklin had spoken, as giving birth to such feelings was at hand, the colonies had been “ grossly abused.” The passage of the “ Boston Post Bill” in March 1774, caused the fervid Patrick Henry to hirft at indepen dence to a popular assembly in Virginia, but Mr. Wirt tells us, that “at the word inde pendence, the company appeared to be star tled, for they had never heard anything of the kind even before suggested.” In September 1774, Capt. Mackenzie, an English officer of the 43d regiment, writing from Boston to Washington under whom he had served in the French war as Captain in the Virginia regimentcommanded by Wash ington, spoke of the “ fixed aim at total in dependence,” evinced-l>y the Massachusetts people. In his reply during the following month, Washington says, “Although you are taught I say, by discoursing with such men, to believe, that the people of Massa chusetts are rebellious, setting up for inde pendency and what not, give me leave my good friend to tell you that you are abused, grossly abused.” * * . * * “ Give me leave to add and I think I can announce it as a fact, that it is not the wish or intention of that government, or any other upon this continent, seperately or collectively to set up for independence.” And again, at the close of the same letter recapitulating his opinions he writes, “ I am well satisfied that no such thing is desired by any thinking man in all North America. On the contra ry, that it is the ardent wish of the warmest advocates for liberty, that peace and tran quility upon constitutional grounds may be restored and the horrors of civil discord prevented.” In a letter of John Jay to Geo. A. Ot’s the translator of Botta’s History, dated Bedford 12th Jan., 1821, he thus refutes an assertion in the pages of that work, as to the early yet masked desire on the part of America for independence. “ Our country,” says he, “ does not deserve this odious and disgusting imputation. During the course of my life, and until after the second peti- MADISON, MORGAN COUNTY, GEORGIA, SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 18, 1842. tion of Congress in 1775,1 never did hear any American of any class, or of any des cription, express a wish for the indepen dence of the colonies.” Few Americans had more, or better means and opportunities of becoming acquainted with the sentiments and dispositions of the colonists, relative to public affairs than Dr. Franklin. In the letter to his son, dated 22nd March, 1775, he relates a conversation which he had with Lord Chatham in the pre ceding month of August. His lordship having mentioned an opinion prevailing iu England, that America aimed at setting up for her self as an independent state, the Dr. thus ex pressed himself. “ I assured him, that hav ing more than once travelled almost from one end of the continent to the other, and kept a great variety of company, eating, drinking, and conversing with them freely, I never had heard in any conversation, from any person, drunk or sober, the least ex pression of a wish for aseperation, or a hint that such a thing would be advantageous to America.” “It does not appear to me necessary to enlarge further on this subjeck It has al ways been and still is my opinion and be lief, that our country was prompted and im pelled to independence by necessity, and not by choice. They who know how we ’were circumstanced, know from whence that ne cessity resulted.” Mr. Otis, in replying to Judge Jay, intro duces into his letter two extracts from com munications made to him by President Adams (the elder) and Jefferson, which are strong and interesting testimony on this point. Mr. Adams says, “ it is true, there always ex isted in the colonies a desire of independence so parliament in the articles ofinternal taxa tion and internal policy, and a very general if not an universal opinion .that they were consti stutionally entitled to it, and as general a de termination, if possible, to maintain and de fend it; but there never existed a desire of independence of the crown, or of general regulations of commerce, for the equal and impartial benefit of all parts of the empire. It is true, there might be times and circum stances in which an individual or a few indi viduals might entertain and express a wish, that America was independent in all re spects ; but these were “ rari nantes in gur gite vasto.” For example, in one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, seven and eight, the conduct of the British Generals Shirley, Braddock, Loudon, Webb and Abercrom bie, was so absurd, disastrous, and destruc tive, that a very general opinion prevailed that the war w as conducted by a mixture of ignorance, treachery, and cowardice; and some persons wished we had nothing to do with Great Britain for ever. Os this num ber I distinctly remember I was myself one; fully believing that we were able to defend ourselves against the French and Indians, without any assistance or embarrassments from Great Britain. In fifty-eight and fifty nine, when Amherst and Wolfe had chang ed the fortunes of the war, by a more able and faithful conduct of it, I again rejoiced in the name of Briton, and should have re joiced in it to this day, had not the king and parliament committed high treason and re bellion against America, as soon as they had conquered Canada and made peace with France. That there existed a general de sire of independence of the crown, in any part of America, before the revolution, is as far from truth as the Zenith is from the Na dir. The encroaching disposition of Great Britain, it was early foreseen by many wise men in all the States, would one day attempt to enslave them by an unlimited submission to parliament, and rule them with a rod of iron; that this attempt would produce re sistance on the part of America, and an aw ful struggle, was also foreseen but dreaded and deprecated as the greatest calamity that could befall them. Foi; my own part, there was notamoment duringthe revolution when I would not have given every thing I possess ed fora restoration to the state of things be fore the contest began, provided we could have had a sufficient security for its con tinuance,” &c. &c. Mr. Jefferson says, in fewer words, “ I confirm by my belief, Mr. Jay’s criticisms on the passages quoted from Botta. I can answer for its truth from this State south wardly, and northwardly I believe to New York, for which State Mr. Jay himself is a competent witness. What, eastward of that, might have been the disposition, towards England before the commencement of hos tilities, I know.not; before that I never had heard a whisper of a disposition to seperate from Great Britain ; and after that, its pos sibility was contemplated with affliction by all,” &c. In July, 1775, Congress reported their last petition and address to the king. The first draft was drawn up by Jefferson, but he says “ it was too strong for Mr. Dickenson.” This gentleman, distinguished as the author of the “ Farmers Letters” which produced such a great effect in rousing the colonies to a sense of their rights and dangers, was yet lingering on the side of conciliation, and unwilling to break off from the Royal authority. His early efforts in the cause of the Colonies, induced the members of Con gress to treat him with deference, and be was therefore suffered to take Mr. Jefferson’s draft and remodel it to his own views and sentiments; which he so effectually did, as only to leave four and a half of the para graphs of the original. Jefferson in* his valuable notes relates the following interest- ing anecdote of its reception. “ The dis gust against its humility was general; and Mr. Dickenson’s delight at its passage was the only circumstance which reconciled them to do it. The vote being passed, although further observation on it was out cf order, lie could not refrain from rising, and ex pressing his satisfaction ; and concluded by saying, “ there is but one word, Mr. Presi dent, in the paper which I disapprove, and that is the word Congress on which Ben Harrison (father of the late President Har rison) rose and said, “ there is but one word in the paper, Mr. President, of which I ap prove, and that is the word Congress.” This petition was taken over to England by Rich ard Penn former Gov. of Pennsylvania, who on the 10th November 1775 was examined upon it before the House of Lords, when the following questions and answers taken from the parliamentary debates were put and given. Question. Are you personally acquaint ed with many of the members of Congress? Answer by Penn. lam acquainted with almost all the members~of Congress. Question. Do you think they levy and carry on this war fur the purpose of estab lishing on Independent empire 1 Answer. I think they do not carry on this war for independency. I never heard them breathe sentiments of that nature. Question. For what purpose do you be lieve they have taken up arms ? Answer. In defence of their liberties. The remarks above made as to the draw ing up of the petition to the king by Dick enson, and “ the general disgust felt first” by the members, reconcile the apparent in sincerity of Mr. Adams in writing letters full of independence to his wife and James Warren, only a fortnight after the signing the above last act of fealty to his sovereign ; and which, being intercepted, were laid be fore the king along side of the Petition, each giving the lie to the contents of the other, and puzzling both the king and ministers by their contrariety. Indeed after the battles of Concord and Lexington which happened nearly two months before the passing of Mr. Dickenson’s petition, the feeling of inde pendency rapidly gained ground, and sooti became openly declared. Tho sentiment of Edmund Burke that “an English gov ernment must be administered in the spirit of one, or it will that moment cease to ex ist” was verified. England had ceased to govern America with justice and honor— America therefore renounced her allegiance and set at naught her authority. On the 15th May 1776 a Resolution was proposed to, and adopted by Congress, de claring, that “ whereas the government of Great Britain had excluded the United Colonies from the crown, it was therefore irreconcilable to reason and good conscience, for the people to continue their hllegience to the government under that crown ; and they accordingly recommended the several colonies to establish independent govern ments of their own.” The same day Col. Archibald Cary introduced a resolution into the Virginia Convention which was assem bled at Williamsburg on the 6th May in structing their delegates in Congress to pro pose to them to declare the colonies inde pendent of Great Britain. This coinci dence it has been said was brought about by the contrivance of Jefferson who designed it for popular effect. Accordingly on Fri day the 7th June 1776, Richard Henry Lee the oldest of the delegation, in accordance with the instructions of the Virginia Con vention, moved “ that the Congress should declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved from all alle gience to the British Crown, and that all the political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be to tally dissolved ; that measures should be im mediately taken to procure the assistance of foreign powersand a confederation be formed to bind the Colonies more closely together.” This motion was seconded by John Adams of Massachusetts, and the next day, Satur day the Bth at 10 o’clock A. M. was appoint ed for considering it. On that day, the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, and spent the remainder of that day and Monday the 10th, in deliberating upon the question. The principal advocates of the proposition were John Adams, Sam. Adams, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson, and the principal op ponents of the measure were Messrs. Dickenson and Wilson of Pennsylvania, Robot R. Livingston of New York, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina. The debate was, as may well bo conceived, of intense interest, and as an abstract of the discussion, we give the notes of Jefferson, who says ol them in a letter to Mr. Wells, that, for the truth of them, he pledges him self “to heaven and earth; having, while the question of independence was under discussion before Congress, taken written notes, in my seat, of what was passing and reduced them to form on the final conclu sion.” It was argued by the opponents of the declai ation, says he, “ That though they were friends to tho measures, and saw the impossibility that we should ever again be united with Great Britain, yet they were against adopting them at this time: That the conduct w’e had formeily ob served was wise and proper now, of defer ring to take any capital step till the voice of the people drove us into it: That they were our power, and without them our declarations could not be carried into effect: That the people of the middle colonies, (Maryland, Delawme, Pennsylvania, the Jerseys, and New York,) were not yet ripe for bidding adieu to British connection, but that they were fast ripening, and, in a short time, would join in the general voice of America; That the resolution, entered into hy this House on the 15th of May, for suppressing the exercise of all powers derived from the crown, had shown, by the ferment into which it had thrown these middle colonies, that they had not yet accommodated their minds to a seperation from the mother country: That seme of them had expressly for bidden their delegates to consent to such a declaration and others had given no instruc tions, and consequently no powers to give such consent: That if the delegates of any particular colony had no power to declare such colony independent, certain they were, the others could not declare it for them ; the colonies being as yet perfectly independent of each other: That the assembly of Pennsylvania was now sitting above stairs, their convention would sit within a few days, the convention of New York was now sitting, and those of the Jerseys and Delaware counties would meet on the Monday following, and it was probable these bodies would take up the question of Independence, and would de clare to their delegates the voice of their State: That if such a Declaration should now be agreed to, these delegates must retire, and possibly their colonies might secede from the Union: That such a secession would weaken us more than could be compensated by any foreign alliance: That in the event of such a division, for eign powers would either refuse to join themselves to our fortunes, or, having us so much in their power as that desperate De claration would place us, they would insist on terms proportionalily more hard and pre judicial : That we had little reason to expect an al liance with those to whom alone, as yet, we had cast our eyes : That France and Spain had reason to be jealous of that rising power, which would one day certainly strip them of all their American possessions: That it was more likely they should form a connection with the British Court, who, if they should find themselves unable other wise to extricate themselves from their diffi culties, would agree to a partition of our territories, restoring Canada to France, and the Floridas to Spain, to accomplish for themselves a recovery of these colonies : That it would not be long before we should receive certain information of the disposition of the French Court, from the agent whom we had sent to Paris for that purpose: That if this disposition should be favora ble, by waiting the event of the present campaign, which we all hoped would be successful, we should have reason to expect an alliance on better terms: That this would in fact work no delay of any effectual aid from such ally, as, from the advance of the season and distance of our situation, it was impossible we could re ceive any assistance during this campaign: Thatit was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on which we would form alliance, before we declared we would form one at all events : And that if these were agreed on, and our Declaration of Independence ready by the time our Ambassador should be piepar cd to sail, it would be as well, as to go into that Declaration at this day.” These were certainly strong, and appa rently unanswerable arguments, and may be regarded as an exponent of the views of that body of the American people who then thought that the time had not yet come to declare themselves independent; but wait ed until furtheraggression and blood dissolv ed the ties of their allegiance. But turn now to the other side, and read tho cogent arguments of the advocates of the Declara tion, and who embodied in their reasons the views of that other and dominant class who had resolved, that living or dying they would be Independent. “ No gentlemen,” £feid the Adamses, Lee, Wythe, Jefferson and those on this side,“had argued against the policy or the right of se paration from Britain, nor had supposed it possible we should ever renew our connec tion ; that they had only opposed its being now declared. That the question was not whether, by a Declaration of Independence, we should make ourselves what we are not; but whether wo should declare a fact which al ready exists: That as to the people or parliament of England, we had always been independent of them, their restraints on our trade deriv ing efficacy from our acquiescence only, and not from any rights they possessed of imposing them, and that so far, our connec tion had been federal only, and was now dissolved by the commencement of hostili ties : That, as to tho King, wo had been bound to him by allegiance, but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to tho late act of parliament, by which he declares ns out of VOLUME 1.--NUMBER 12. his protection, and by his levying war on ns, a fact which had long ago proved us out of his protection ; it being a certain position in law, that allegiance and protection are reci procal, the one ceasing when the other is withdrawn : That James the ll.‘never declared the people of England out of his protection, yet his actions proved it and the parliament declared it: No delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of declaringan existent truth: That the delegates from the Delaware counties having declared their constituents ready to join, there are only two colonies, Pennsylvania and Maryland, whose dele gates are absolutely tied up, and that these had, by their instructions, only reserved a right of confirming or rejecting the mea sure: That the instructions from Pennsylvania might be accounted for from the times in which they were drawn, near twelvemonth ago, since which the face of affairs has total ly changed: That within that time, it had become ap parent that Britaiu was determined to ac cept nothing less than a carte-blanche, and that the King’s answer to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of London, which had come to hand four days ago, must have satisfied every one of this point: That the people wait for us to lead the way: That they are in favor of the measure, though the instructions given by some of their representatives are not: That the voice of the representatives is not always consonant with the voice of the people, and that this is remarkably the case in these middle colonies: That the effect of the resolution of the 15th of May has proved this, which, raising the murmurs of some in the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, called forth the opposing voice of the freer part of the people, and proved them to be the majority even in these colonies: That the backwardness of these two col onies might be ascribed, partly to the influ ence of proprietary power and connections, and partly, to their having not yet been at tacked by the enemy: That these causes were not likely to be soon removed, as there seemed no proba bility that the enemy would make either of these the seat of this summer’s war: That it would be vain to wait either weeks or months for perfect unanimity, since it was impossible that all men should ever be come of one sentiment on any question : That the conduct of some colonies from the beginning of this contest had given rea son to suspect it was their settled policy to keep in the rear of the confederacy, that their particular prospect might be better, even in the worst event: That, therefore, it was necessary for those colonies who had thrown themselves forward and hazarded all from the beginning, to como forward now also, and put all again to their own hazard: That the history of the Dutch revolution, of whom three States only confederated at first, proved that a secession of some colo nies would not be so dangerous as some ap prehended : That a Declaration of Independence alone could render it consistent with Euro pean delicacy, for European powers to treat with us or even to receive an Ambassador from us: That till this, they would not receive our vessels into their ports, nor acknowledge the adjudications of our courts of admiralty to be legitimate, in cases of capture of British vessels: That though France and Spain moy be jealous of our rising power, they must think it will be much more formidable with the addition of Great Britain; and will there fore see it their interest to prevent a coali tion, but should they refuse, we shall be but where we are; whereas without trying, we shall never know whether they will aid us or not: That the present campaign may be un successful, and therefore we had better pro* Eose an alliance while our affairs wear a opeful aspect: That to wait the event of this campaign will certainly work delay, because, during this summer, France may assist us effectual ly, hy cutting off those supplies of provisions from England and Ireland, on which the enemy’s armies here are to depend; or by setting in motion the great power they have collected in the West Indies, and calling our enemy to the defence of the possessions they have there: That it would be idle to lose time in set tling the terms of alliance, till we had first determined we would enter into alliance: That it is necessary to lose no time in opening a trade for our people, who will want clothes, and will want money too for the payment of taxes: And that the only misfortune is, that we did not enter into alliance with France six months sooner, as, besides opening her ports for the rent of our last year’s produce, she might have marched an army in Germany, and prevented the petty princes there, from selling their unhappy subjects to subdue ns.” On the 10th June, Mr. Lee having been informed of the dangerous illness of his wife, obtained leave of absence from Con gress, and returned home. The members after some debate on the order of the day