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THE REFLECTOR
MILLEDGEVILLE, G. TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1818.
NO. 37.
Lmerican Independence.
—At the request ot'the citizens of this vici-
eard it, .md by the wish of your subscribers
Inty, I transmit for insertion in your paper the
el.vered by GEORGE CAHY, esq’r. at Colum-
house. on the 4th of July, to a large assemblage
[table citizens. Upon \vMchoccasion thcDecla-
Indepc'v’ence, the land mark of our glory and
If our political salvation, was read preparatory
dress, by Dr. JOHN C. GIGGS; and after the
le citizens harmoniously partook of a champetre
►the evening concluding \vi»h the merry ball and
"exhibition of the charms of beauty and the fas-
lof devoted courtesy. All was calculated to re-
I cherished recollection of tlie imperishably rc.
A CITIZEN,
In behalf of many fellow-citizens.
ORATION,
Ion the 4 f hof July, at Columbia Court-House, G.
BY' GEORGE CARY, ES<*.
'j-citizens,—Well may American free-
bet to commemorate tlie 4th of July.
|he day-spring of those inestimable
Itlie maturity and confirmation of
pre-eminently bless and distinguish
idy and pledged to the protection of
try, it is most warrantable and pro-
at we convene for festive and cordial
Ition when the day returns upon which
be declared emancipated. But do we
lafely torpast on the fatness of the soil,
Ibe the exhilevation oftlie glass ? As we
the board of jubilee, let us increase til
th of our hearts in tlie sacred cause,—
sabbath of freedom, hit us renew and
tizc our dedication to be first in ad-
, and last ill n trt at; let us strengthen
kachment and half iw our devotion tu
Pits around Which we are sworn to
before which we should be resolved to
p the spirit of our fathers asleep with
Are theirlabors forgotten ? (s their
undervalued ? From this proud day
annals, patieipants of equal rights,
ev the times that are past. Tlie rc-
p will awaken the slumber of patriot-
' refresh the memory of revolutionary
-Think of rolonial.lKirdsbips and pa-
fceroisin ; of all that has been sufler-
lachieved to finish the compact of our
ind perfect our heritage of indefensi
bly, and be cold and nerveL-ss if you
Immediate descendants of those wh
led independence with their blood, \v.
tmnly engag 'd to preserve the sacred
|on with onra. Spirits of tlie revolu-
»y we emulate your prowess and ri-
■ exploits whenever liberty embattles
(icr defence ! Yon struggled to be
kl triumphed in disaster and destitu
■Ye the heirs of the invaluable a'q"i-
kvith the. nerve of comparative man
Itli the invigoration of forty-two years
feign independence and the consolida-
union ; abundant in resource air:
spirit, are and should be devoted
obligation of honor and every tie
St to defend your memorable achieve-
i which no record of man supplies a
Colonized by oppress! in in the
kss of Savages, immortal forefathers !
Be shelter of God’s providence, your
foments germinated and flourished,
>f the Indian ambush and midnigh;
Liberty nourished the root and
hie courage protected tlie trunk ;—
jer and virtue and industry fertil
towing branches. Attractive of ra-
four fruitful and rapid growth, tie.
tountry, who had exiled you from
tannent of her lap, and tlie proter-
er embrace, unequivocally claimed
his of your hardy adventures and
Is implantation in the pathless for
bore all that was tolerable, and
to more than was just. But the
unconstitutional encroachments j
urc of enormous impositions you
| hear. When dispassionate remon-
ten repeated could obtain no redress
[nces or rectification of abuse;.when
pgumertt itivt petition was answer-
[insults, and new infringements;
heroes, you asserted your rights,
I their maintenance, and conquered
jli them. In a just cause, rawness
keipline ; poverty gainstood wealth,
tr prostrated you—no miscarriage
luutil you cook your seat with ac-
jand wonder among the nations of
^llow citizcns, were our ancestors,
magnanimity and such the labors
crated their memories to a nation
(•—The happy beneficiaries of their
Struggle. Shall we not emulate
111 their lofty spirit ? Remember
and glow with their triumphs ;
rage and sufferance wliidli enabled
In, alone can guard artd preserve
|licritance. What renowned them,
fs save us. The storm that af-
day, purified and serened our
\ the genial, and I trust, imperish-
»f freedom ; hut all would have
| in vain, if the approach of dan-
ivc dastardized or disheartened
freemen in the full and pure enjoyment of
whatever the magnanimous would live to par
take, or die to maintain. In vain would the
martyrs of liberty have fallen, and her nak
ed and unshod defenders shivered in the rigor
or marked with their blood the snow of win
ter, if their posterity had sickened at the
coming or recoiled at the onset of battle.—
Can the mercenary, the conscript and the
slave obstinately hear the iron tempest of
war and brave its thunders ? No recollec
tion of dignity or comfort or security at
home nerves their arm or inflames their va
lor in carnage and desolation. If they sink,
it is an immolation to tyranny ; if they sur
vive, it is to he the miserable and servile in
struments to propagate oppression and ruin
the happiness of man. Yet the armies of
Europe, in the dreadful convulsions, which
shook and tei rifled the world, with no spur
hut despotism, and no motive but compulsion,
illumined by the ‘lustre and glory of their
deeds, the black and foul chronicle of the
times. See bow they breast the torrent of
blood and f..ce the horrible discharge ! Is it
the high and ,n»ly combat of freemen for their
rights; the last determined and desperate
enclosure around an unequalled constitution
— around tlie walks of sacred love—the seats
of friendship—the firesides of social repose
—the couches of secure refreshment ?—No.
Oppression broods over the land of their birth
and withers the joys of life. No boundarv
ascertains its dominion ; no charter re
strains its aggressions. AH are exposed to
pitiless and ruinous invasion of rights ; all
are dispirited by the cruel vigilance of sus
picious and grinding power. The coldshade
of a monstrous and iniquitous throne, dark
ens the land and freezes the people. If slaves
then, broken in spirit and degraded in cha
racter, were dauntless in danger and bold in
conflict, may wc not triumphantly ask, what
shall rout the phalanx marshalled to protect
a stake like ours? With the example of oui
progenitors fresh in remembrance, with the
blessings of freedom in noble fruition, and
the generous solicitude to transmit unimpair
ed and without retrenchment the invaluable
trust, the roar of battle can never appal nor
its storm disperse us. In the hour of trial, if
we fall, the glory of the offering can never
fade; if we survive, we return with con
scious desert and keener relish to resume in
dependence and re-enjoy its felicities. 1 re
peat, with such a heritage to guard, and such
laurels to win, what shall conquer the defen
ders of this republic. ? But what a few years
ago would have been only reasonable confi
dence, is now established really beyond the
fears of friends, and above sneers of enemies.
We came out of tlie recent struggle undis
solved by intestine ferments, and undcbilita-
ted by a powerful foe. Tlie evil prediction
that men would never be found enlightened
>r virtuous enough to merit or support a sta
ble and rational republic, was splendidly re
futed by the events of Bridgewater, Chippe
wa and New -Orleansv Instead of quenching
in dishonor the sacred lights of the revolu
tion, the last war has added many an ihex-
tinguishahle star to our sublime galaxy.—
They w ill shine forever in the history of the
country, and combine with those bf an elder
period to light the glorious path of our fu
ture warriors and statesmen. Our enemies
who busily croaked abroad and at home, the
perishing instability of this envied govern
ment, turn pale and sicken at this increased
brilliancy of our day. The tremendous
shock of war, has left our plain & unassuming
fabric of republicanism, without a pillar
fallen or a stone displaced—Sound as when
die deathless framers pronounced it finished
—beginning to exhibit the venerable impres
sions of time and more solemnly consecrated
by the fresh blood effused in its defence.—
Veterans of Europe ! look at itn prouhd and
unimpaired survival of your sanguine and
rut bless attack. The imperial eagle of
Fraluc had cowered submissively beneath
your victorious banners ; the agitator oftlie
world with unparalleled genius to conduct,
and astonishing promptness to execute, had
retreated before you. and well might you ad
vance with contemptuous defiance A haughty
fiivetaste of victory upon a people, enervat
ed by a long peace and undisciplined by
bloody experience. The fields of Monmouth,
Cowpens, Eutaw and York were forgotten;
or your veteran who was tliero indelibly
taught the lesson of our valor no longer liv
ed to abate your ardent anticipation of easy
conquest, by testifying with the high authen
tication of beams and scars and mutilations,
the insuppressiblc bravery of even our
fant. years, when we were just horn to em
pire, under the Very swords of the oppres
sor.—Perhaps it was supposed that time,
prosperity and independence had pushed us
into unnatural enormity of size, without
harilehing our grissle into bone, or confirm
ing our sinews into strength ; and that such
miserable overgrow th would unfit us for the
rude and exhausting tug of war. Was not
our patient forbearance under the long ac
cumulation of injuries arid insults ; our meek
and tempered pursuit of redress, through
every form of insincere negotiation, calcula
ted to strengthen such conclusions. Indeed,
we had suffered spoiliations of com
merce, impressment of citizens, and deroga
tion of character, with a degree of modera
tion, which a proud and encroaching enemy,
might well mistake for conclusive proof of
the extinction of the spirit of "Sftvcnty-six,
and of the apathy of approaching death.
With such a prospect before them, the in-
vincibles of the army and the select of the
navy, reach our shores. Having never
learned that the bulwarks of a free nation arc
in the hearts of its citizens, they derided the
seeming defencelessncss of our country. In
speaking of us, the vulgarity of their low
est soldier and sailor was adopted by their
officers. Every thing gloomily announced
the spirit of cruelty, brutality and contempt,
in which they resolved to wage their amus
ing warfare, against what was deemed a de
generate rabble of self styled freemen. It.
was not imagined that wc were, entitled to
the observance of tlie Ordinary laws of war,
or that, tiie rest of the civilized world, would
stigmatize the spotless purity of British
magnanimity, if upon those of our citizens,
whom the tide of fortune threw into their
power, they practised the most barbarous
indignities. I revive this recital of facts, fel
low-citizens, not to dash the exulting emo
tions of this day, with the bitterness of ha
tred, or under the unshaken olive of peace,
to torture your minds, by rekindling the fire
of indignation. I know it is the character
of my countrymen, and enthusiastically hail
the trait, as evidence of national soundness,
when the prompt blow is effectually strick
en, insolence chastised and injustice repres
sed, to blot the record of the offences, and
the offender, from their memories. We have
buried past injuries, not under tlie ruins of
our cities, but in the solemnities of a treaty,
highly honorable and advantageous to our
selves, and vindicatory of our rank in tlie
scale of nations. I recur to the particulars
of the gloomy eve of the recent contest, that
the highminded and noble conduct of our
forces may be duly appreciated, and the feel
ings of the union, at that memorable crisis,
may be more deeply realized. What wer
those feelings ? Though the awful appeal to
arms was made by us ; though baffled em
bassies and rejected overtures, through
tantalizing lapse of time, had distinctly pre-
monished us, that the storm was mustering,
and tending to our coast; it is fresh in our
recollection, that its first thunder burst upon
us, when comparatively unprepared, and its
first leaden showers fell upon the skeleton of
a thin and undisr ip» ! ">*d army. An ambi
tious, talented auc defatigable minority',
in the restless dance ol expedients, to ascend
the seats of power, sought to traduce the
motives that led to the declaration, and to
alarm with the utter destruction, which they"
predicted must mark tlie progress of the
war. The leaders of the revolution had
nearly all Sunk into the grave. Washington,
Greene, Morgan, Wayne, and the greater
part of their immortal compatriots iii arms,
were gone. In a gloomier period, in the
days of universal sacrifice and peril, their
courage had defended, A. their wisdom saved
hut « the dull cold ear of death,” could
not hear the calls of affectionate confiding
fellow-citizens. Those venerated patriarchs
could serve us now, only by their remember
ed examples and weighty precepts. The ho
ly pledge into which our hearts spontaneous
ly leaped, not to suffer the enemy to trample
with impunity on their consecrated ashes,
was the only succour they could now afford
the land of their birth; and the rights which
they won. In this state of things, a new ge
neration, born and reared in peace, strkngers
to the path of war, which, in the United
States, had happily grown up, and lost its
vestings in the unexampled productions of
long prosperity, it was natural for the stur
diest and purest spirits of the union, t6 feel
anxious Solicitude. Nor did the result of
the first blows we struck on land, quiet that
solicitude, by the auspicious dawn of ability,
to lead, or discipline, to be led. Hundreds
who hear me, must remember how their
hearts sunk at the accounts of our first skir
mishes and battles ; how they sickened with
mortification, and fVoze with despair, at the
jealousies, feuds and didcord, that distracted
some of our general officers, and debilitated
the ranks of the country. But at that cheer
less juncture, when those Who did not feel
exquisite pain, were dead in apathy, and
those who did not impatiently expect the
resurrection of our sleeping powers, were es
tranged by treason, the roar of our navy
startles our dejection, and its victorious flash
dispels the shadows of doubt. Tdo incredi
ble for belief—too transcendent for adequate
celebration! The little forgotten navy, of a
few ships, strikes terror to the heart of the
British lion, upon the element where his pow
er was most terrible, and his achievements
most unparalleled. I will not attempt to
follow the shining track of our naval heroes,
over the fearful deep. The explosions of
their desolating broadsides; almost to this
moment, rumble among our mouhtains and
plains. May the stately forests that trem
bled with tlie concussion, soon descend to
the ocean and form ample theatres for the
talents and invincibility which, we cannot
now doubt, abounds among us; and give
new occasion for the English parliament to
appoint committees to enquire into the causes
oftlie alarming unsiiccessVulncss of their men
of war!!! Gallant Lawrence, much of this
glory was purchased with your inestimable
life ! M ould, my auditors, that he still liv
ed to enjoy with his intrepid and eternized
brothers in danger at;d renown the universal
gratitude of his country, anil co-operate with
them to nurture our marine iiito, what it
seem destined to become, the pride of our
history and the champion of our honor.—
Sleep fallen great one, under the trophies of
unblemished victory. The poets, historians
and orators of freedom have your fame in
charge. The exploits which signalized and
led you to perish are inscribed where obliter
ation and erasure can never happen, fo the
hearts of millions for whom you fought anl
died.
How the glad tidings of those astonishing
deeds rang through this extensive empire ?
Sublime acclamation raised by millions of
intelligent freemen to brothel's, who had a-
chievcd more than was hoped ; it can never
be forgotten by ourselves who triumphed, or
the enemy whose discomfiture supplied the
occasion. Animated by the example, our ar
my quickly began to assert their title to the
renown of their ancestors and the confidence
of the nation. In the agony of battle, new
and able generals arc produced frbm subor
dinatc ranks to save the country and perpe
tuate its character. The land gloriously re
sponds to the sea. The eagle awoke, and all
w as redeemed. From the smoke which fear
fully shrouded the tremendous cannonade,
that eagle intrepidly ascended to betoken to
the world that tlie arms of the free were still
unwithered in the vindication of their birth-
right ; that the declaration of independence
which, fellow-citizens, which you have just
heal’d read, was again publishing with awful
solemnities, upon the field of carnage with a
loudness that shook the hills, and a ratifica
tion serious as the death of its enemies.—
Yes. accomplished leaders and war proof le
gions, who came to belie that declaration to
our teeth and blot its immortal lines with our
blood, recognized its immutable principles
with the sincerity of dying men, and wash
ed all imputation from it with the streams of
their hearts. They debarked upon our soil
to tread insolently on the graves df our fa
thers and rest uncontrolled in tlie sanctuary
of our homes ; on that very soil they fell
with terrible homage under the strokes of its
defenders. And thus may the servants of
oppression be forever enforced to advance
low on the ground, before the temple of liber-
ty« which they are hired to demolish. If I
mistake not, you heartily join in this aspi
ration. It becomes us and the day. It
warmed and inspired the bosoms of our Jack-
sons, Scotts, Browns, Ripleys, & Macombs.
The rest of the immortalized catalogue, in
which the fame of the republic has become
so enriched, as to make particularity im
practicable, all felt it, while they rained up
on invaders the blasting tempest of provok
ed vengeance. I say provoked ; because it
is the pure distinction of the Unitod States
to wage no war for ambitious conquest; to
expend no blood or treasure but for the hap
piness of tlie citizens, who always spill the
one from their own veins, and supply the o-
tlier from their own pockets. Happy peo
ple—The burdens of taxation arc imposed
by yourselves, and employed for your good j
tlie proclamation of war, that most awful
and responsible act of government, must bo
made by your own Voice, through your im
mediate representatives ; and not by pageant
kings or callous ministers, with no touching
sympathy for the herd over whom they ty-
ranize, and no solemn accountability to the
victims of their wickedness. Happy people !
whose substance and whose lives can never
bo wantonly sacrificed to brighten the paltry
gem3 of a monarch’s crown, or renew the
fading decorations of unfeeling nobility.—
Tlie unalterable duties of self-defence lead
us to the field ; the spirit of justice Strength
ens us there ; the voice of vindicated liberty
rscalls us home.
Thus, my hearers, were your illustrious
fellow-citi2ens, Who gathered for us such un
fading laurels, recalled at the conclusion of
the war, whose outline I have just faintly
sketched. They joyfully obeyed the divine
summons ; not becauSe the stars and badges
of ennobled and knighted generals terrified
their sight, or the dense column of their war
bred soldiery inspired fears. Ennobled them
selves by the sanctity of national gratitude,
and decked with the wounds of patriotic dar
ing, our victorious chiefs, despised the emp
ty splendor of the first, and having often
broken tlie formidable front of the latter,
could not tremble at its most terrific menace.
They had seen those stars and trappings fall
and vanish in the storm of battle; like the