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CJcuotci* to Citcraturc, Srintcc, anh tt)e Sons of QTcmpcrana, iTdloioslpp, ittasonrn, atti ©cncral SntcUigetur.
VOLUME I.
SESsBCEEB fftlfSf.
THE WIFE TO HER HUSBAND.
not long! Homo is not homo without thee,
Its dearest tokens only make me mourn;
Oh! let its memory, like a chain about thee,
Gontly compel and hasten thy return.
Linger not long!
Linger not long! Though crowds should woo thy stay,
Bethink thoo : can the mirth of friends, though dear,
Compensate for the grief thy long delaying
Costs tho fond liesrt that sighs to have thee hero ?
Linger not long!
Linger not long! How shall I watch thy coming,
As evening shadows stretch o’er moor and dell,
When the wild bee hath ceased her busy humming,
And silence hangs on all things like a spell.
Linger not long!
How shall I watch for thee, when fears grow stronger,
As night draws dark and darker on the hill !
How shall I weep, when I can watch no longer :
Oh! art thou absent —art thou absent still!
Linger not long!
Yet I should griove not, though the eye that soeth me,
Gazeth through tears that makes it splendor dull;
For Oh! sometimes 1 fear, when thou art with mo,
My cup of happiness is all too full!
Linger not long!
Haste—haste thee home into thy mountain dwelling!
Haste as a bird unto its peaceful nest!
Haste as a skiff, when tempests wild are swelling,
Flies to its haven of securest rest!
Linger not long!
08191541.
THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Alt ADDRESS DKLITSRBD BEFORE THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
BT DR. F. M. ROBERTSON, OF CHARLESTON.
( Coucluded.)
To estimate as we should, the deep devotion
and true spirit of Washington and his compan
ions, let us contrast this scene with one in w’hich
a chiettain, who flourished on the Continent of
Europe, was a prominent actor. With such an
illustrious example before him, who could have
believed that the great Napoleon would have
robbed I ranee of her liberty, to aggrandize him
selt and family. France struggled in vain for
what America accomplished, because selfish am
bition and vain glory were allied to usurp the
throne of moral worth and elevated patriotism.
10 can forget the scene that was enacted when
10 was created Consul? Though one branch of
the Legislative Council had been gained by in
trigue and corruption, yet a majority of the an
cients remained firm, until driven from the hall
0 Legislature by the bayonets of the usurper’s
grenadiers. This scene is, indeed, full of interest,
ab i US tyative of the power of moral force, even
tV er .- m . 05t §l° w ing circumstances, for, at
is CHtieaA juncture, though backed by a strong
who y et the iron-hearted Napoleon, —
in \ lce( l the connon’s mouth, and mingled
trembled:\t a : g r gre 'J ? T*
fence of theirßK°" fr ° nted freemen “ d ’
callpd imn l * erlies * He, however, rallied,
hv for vJ* f & rena(^e rs to clear the hall, and,
mSi hU f “’ 0n ‘ he
this nnW m ° re Ste P Was required to fasten upon
cost th7r natC nation > that which had already
This rn S thousands of her best citizens,
raised T° Wed - But one solitary voice was
creation of In T? NaUonal Council > oppose the
whose eh’ f , Bmperor in the person of the man
Trance th shoul(i have been in g iv ! n S to
Th e and bert y s^e so on g sought in vain.
corona tion soon arrived. It
that Sunders °f that artillery
bailee ten struc k terror to the enemies of
lue multitude assembled to witness
the creation of anew, but short-lived, dynasty.
Well did his countenance wear a thoughtful as
pect as, with his own hand, lie placed the ill-fated
diadem upon his brow. The shouts of “ long
live the Emperor /” from his chosen menials, re
sounded like a knell through the vaults of the
ancient cathedral, while the solemn tones of the
choir, as it chaunted the Te Deum, fell upon the
multitude like the requiem of liberty!
We have drawn this contrast for the purpose
of exhibiting, in bold relief, the patriotism, virtue
and moral worth of that man, whose character
should, at all times, be held up to the American
people as a glorious beacon-light, to guide them
in their onward course. Truly has he been
styled “ the Father of his Country .” Look at his
official acts, and voluminous correspondence.
Here we behold his life “drawn out in living
characters.” Whether in the field, in the coun
cils of the Nation, in the executive chair, around
the domestic fireside, or engaged in the ordinarv
business transactions of life, we find him ever the
same—guided always by the same high princi
ples of moral action. In looking over the long
list of our revolutionary patriots, we cannot re
frain from exclaiming,
“This was the noblest Roman of them all.”
Though he possessed all the fire of a brave and
intrepid general, yet
“ His life was gentle ; and the elements
So mixt in him, that nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, this was a man !”
We cannot close this part of our subject without
alluding to another instance in which the Spirit
of the Revolution, and particularly the moral force
of Washington, was active in preventing a ca
lamity to our country, which would have ren
dered the blood and trials of the revolution vain
sacrifices.
No sooner did peace begin to shed its benign
influences over our infant republic, than discord,
intrigues and dissentions arose in consequence of
the defects in our confederation. A strong party
arose, w r hich thought that the evils arising under
the then existing form of government, could only
be removed by a monarchy; and its members
were ready to carry their views into execution.
In opposition to this, no one was more active than
Washington; who, assisted by his ancient co-la
bours in the great cause of American liberty, suc
ceeded in setting in motion a train of events that
resulted in the formation of our present constitu
tion. This was another great crisis in the liberty
of our country; and nothing but the preponder
ance of these high moral principles that had car
ried the bark of State safely through the storms
of the revolution, could have saved it now from a
total wreck. And, we must sincerely believe,
That the incorruptible integrity and unflinching
patriotism ol Washington and his companions,
were the instruments of averting the destruction
that awaited our Republic. Anticipating the dis
astrous consequences that would flow from such a
state of disaffection, he most correctly appeals to
his countrymen. “What astonishing changes”
he exclaims, “a few’ years are capable of pro
ducing, I am told that even respectable charac
ters speak of a monarchical form of government
without horror. From thinking proceeds speak
ing, thence to acting is but a single step. Rut
how irrevocable and tremendous! What a tri
umph lor the advocates of despotism, to find that
we are incapable of governing ourselves, and
that systems founded upon the basis ol equal lib
erty, are merely ideal and fallacious. Would to
God that wise means may be taken in time to
avert the consequences we have too much reason
to apprehend.” . ir
This glorious spirit has shone itself adequate
to every succeeding crisis. Though aggression
has come from abroad, and turmoil, and the dire
fuleftectsof sectional jealousies from within, have
shaken the federal arches to their centre, yet like
a vestal flame, this divine spirit that shone so
brightly in our revolutionary fathers, has never
SAVANNAH, GA„ THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1849.
ceased to burn in the bosoms of their children;
and long may it prompt them to make all need
ful sacrifices to uphold the pillars that sustain
this mighty fabric.
If the great work which we have been contem
plating, was achieved through enlightened pat
riotism and moral worth, how essential, then,
must they be to that purity which can alone per
petuate its existence. We have numerous ex
amples, both in ancient and modern history, to
warn us of the fatal rock upon which the liber
ties of many nations have been totally wrecked;
and we have endeavored to point out those pe
riods in the history of our government, in which
the supremacy of these principles prevented the
same fatal consequences from falling upon us.
Like causes, in the moral and political world, as
in the physical, will produce like effects. These
effects are inevitable, and the same under what
ever form of government the cause may operate.
What written constitution has ever been able to
guarantee peace and liberty to a nation, when the
source of power had become impaired—when
enlightened patriotism based upon moral princi
ples ceased to predominate? The source of
power, in our government, is the people. If
these principles are not placed supreme, we can
not advance —decay and ruin must be the inevi
table consequence. The constitution is but the
shadowing forth of that unwritten code that pre
existed in the minds of its founders. To respect
and sustain the principles it contains, we must
possess the same dispositions and feelings that
prompted its formation ; and if we would per
petuate its existence, we must use every means
to fix these principles in the bosoms of the rising
generation.
It is a common observation, that when public
opinion does not sustain the law, theii obedience
to its commands cannot exist. What is public
opinion hut the expression of the principles by
which a majority of a community are governed?
The stability of all republican form of govern
ments must, then, depend upon the degree of de
gree of devotion of public opinion. Let public
opinion cease to respect the constitution of our
country, and of what value would all the laws,
enacted under it, be in sustaining our rights and
liberties? We may bonst of the liberty we enjoy
under our constitution; but let us look well to
those principles which alone guarantee to us the
constitution itself.
We way truly indulge an honest pride at the
position we occupy as a nation, among the pow
ers of the earth ; but let us beware of sell-confi
dence and vain glory, which act like a mildew
upon the virtues of a people. Since the achieve
ment of our independence, our progress has been
almost without a parallel in history. Our popu
lation has extended from our most northern limit
to the Mexican frontier; and the tide of emigra
tion sweeps on to the west with such rapidity as
to leave no doubt that the American Eagle
will stretch its pinions from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean. The following facts are well cal
culated to impress our minds with the benign in
fluence and great importance of our institutions,
and that spirit was infused into them as they
came from the hands of our forefathers.
These facts are more valuable, because they
came from a foreign tourist, and show a contrast
which cannot fail to strike the reflecting inquirer
into the cause that led to the common good of
mankind. # In speaking of the rapidity of the
spread of our population, this writer remarks,
that, “DeToqueville calculated that along the
borders of the United States, from Lake Superior
to the Gulf of Mexico, extending a distance of
more than 1200 miles, in a direct line, the whites
advance every year, at a mean rate of seventeen
miles; and he truly observes, that there is a gran
deur and sublimity in this gradual and continuous
march of the European race towards the Rocky
Mountains. He compares it to a deluge of men
* Lyell’s travel* in North America.
rising unabated, and daily driven onward by the
hand of God.”
“When conversing with a New England friend”
observes the same writer, “on the progress of
American population, I was surprised to learn,
as a statistical fact, that there are more whites in
North America than all that have died there
since the days of Columbus. It seems probable,
moreover, that the same remark may be good for
fifty years to come.”
“ The territory of the United States is said to
amount to one-tenth, or at the utmost to one-eighth
of that colonized by Spain on the American con
tinent. Yet in all these vast regions, conquered
by Cortez and Pizarro, there are considerable less
than two millions of people of European blood,
so that they scarcely exceed in number the popu
lation acquired in half a century in Ohio, and fall
far short of it in wealth and civilization.”
We will look now at another striking fact, from
the same author, in relation to the British posses
sions in North America. “The population in these
possessions in 1542 amounted, in round numbers,
to one million and a half. The annual growth of
the United States, with which her wealth and
territory keep pace, exceeds at present 700,000
souls, so that every two years’ increase is equal
to the number of all the present inhabitants of
British America.” Comment upon these facts
are unnecessary. Let the true spirit of the revo
lution be maintained and cherished, and what
power shall define the limits of our territory, or
the wealth and glory of our Republic ?
Our march in internal improvement far sur
passes the expectations of the most sanguine.
Our commerce whitens every sea, and scarcely
a nation exists that has not been furnished with
the products of American industry. The arts
and sciences have progressed to a high degree
of perfection, and our literature will not suffer by
a comparison with that of older nations. Yet
while we enumerate all these, we tremble lest
we should be found wanting in the one thing
needful—that, without which all would be in vain.
In the midst of our success and greatness, may
we not be too unmindful of the true Spirit of the
Revolution, without which there can be no security
for the permanence of our institutions?
Let us beware least a fated lethargy come over
us, from which we shall only be aroused by the
crash of the fair fabric reared upon the moral ex
cellence and incorruptible patriotism of our revo
lutionary fathers.
Nothing is so w r ell calculated to weaken and
counteract those high principles that can alone
maintain the purity of the fountain of power, as
the violence of party spirit and sectional preju
dices. There can be no question that both have
exerted a most baleful influence over the adminis
tration of our government, from the first forma
tion of the constitution, and it has steadily in
creased up to the present time. This was early
foreseen by the framers of the constitution; and
Washington looked forward to its increase with
fearful anxiety. “The spirit of party” he ob
serves, “is unfortunately, inseparable from our
nature, having its root in the strongest passions
of the human mind. It exists under different
shapes in all governments, more or less stifled,
contracted or repressed ; but in those of the popu
lar form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is
truly their worst The alternate domi
nation of one faction over another, sharpened by
the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissentions,
which in different ages and communities, has per
petrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a
frightful despotism. But this leads, at length, to
a more formal and permanent despotism. The
disorders and miseries which result, generally in
cline the minds of men to seek security and re
pose in the absolute power of an individual; and,
sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing fac
tion, more able or more fortunate than his com
petitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of
his own elevation on the ruins of Public Liberty.”
NUMBER 9.
