Dr. John H. Savage--
Dear Sir: Suffer us, on the behalf of the Guards, to express our
gratitude for the eminent pleasure your address has afforded us, and
assure you that we feel deeply the importance of disseminating sound and
ennobling principles of patriotism. Such principles, your eloquent
address cannot fail to inculcate. That the public may enjoy the
gratification which you have afforded us, we respectfully solicit a copy
of your oration delivered on the 4th instant for publication.
With sentiments of high esteem, we are, dear sir,
Your obliged,
Humble servants,
C. B. NEW
WILLIAM LAPE
JAS. M. KNIGHT
Gentlemen: Your note has just been received, requesting a copy of
the Oration delivered by me on the 4th inst.
The highly flattering terms in which you have been pleased to
communicate your request, are due rather to the occasion and subject,
than to any merit which it may possess as a performance.
I submit it, therefore, with diffidence, to your disposal, and would
remark, that it was prepared amidst professional engagements and some
little indisposition, which I hope will be an apology for the many
defects, which I am but too sensible, it contains.
With great esteem,
Your friend and fellow citizen,
JOHN H. SAVAGE
To Dr. New, and Messrs. Jas. M. Knight, and Wm. Lape, Committee
Fellow-citizens: We have assembled here this morning to celebrate
the anniversary of no ordinary event. The glad voices of a great and
powerful people are this day proclaiming a nation's joy; the rich and
the poor, the proud and the humble, have forgotten their distinctions ,
and are mingling their distinctions, and are mingling their loud
acclamations together; the roar of artillery, the discharge of musketry,
announce the commemoration of a glorious era; and the tears of a few
hoary headed veterans, more eloquently than all, are speaking the
fullness of their hearts. And wherefore come these enthusiastic
demonstrations of joyful feeling? Is it to bind the laurel wreath
around the blood-stained brow of some military chieftain? Or is it to
pour the syren song of adulation into the ears of some favorite prince?
Ours is no idle and unmeaning pageant, where the eye is dazzled, but the
heart is unmoved. We have met, not to do honor to the living, but to
pour incense of gratitude over the graves of departed heroes; not to
signalize some victorious achievement, but to celebrate the triumph of
freedom. We have assembled, fellow-citizens, to commemorate the birth
day of our National Independence; to call up to our grateful
recollections the memories of those illustrious men who nobly achieved
it, and to impress on our minds a more solemn regard for those sacred
principles of liberty which belonged to the fathers of our country.
In order to appreciate properly our exalted privileges as a people,
it were necessary only to glance for a moment at Europe, and compare the
condition of the most enlightened nations of that quarter, with the more
favored destiny of our own country. If we caste our eye at England, the
mother of our language, and once the mistress of our soil, we behold her
reeling under a national debt, the interest of which, with her vast
resources, she is scarcely able to pay; a few rioting in luxury and
wealth, the many taxed for the benefit of the few; a clergy, who teach
the divine precepts of charity and benevolence, absorbing the hard
earnings of the poor. If we look to Ireland, unhappy Ireland, the land
of poets and orators, of Emmet and Fitzgerald, we see her bowed down
beneath the iron yoke of oppression, and we hear the moans of her brave,
but suffering sons, wafted upon every breeze. If we look at France, we
behold her giant energies at one moment, convulsed with revolutionary
struggles, and at another slumbering with apathy in the arms of
despotism; torn by factions, and shaken by the intestine commotion;
her people too proud to be slaves, not virtuous enough to be free. If
we look at Spain, and Portugal, and Italy, the picture is still more
gloomy -- their glory has departed, and the lustre of their fame has
passed away amidst the darkness of ignorance, and bigotry, and
superstition.
Turn your eyes now to your own country, and how gratifying the
contrast. Her rulers are not her masters, but her agents. She has no
haughty aristocracy to engross her honors, and usurp her power; no
standing army to feed upon her industry; no idle clergy to banquet upon
the proceeds of the poor man's labor: -- but in place of them she offers
competence to industry, wealth to enterprise, honors to the deserving,
liberty to all. This, then is our inheritance, and for this we have
reason to rejoice.
In casting our eyes back to the early history of our country, and
viewing it through all of its trying struggles and <illegible>
disasters, from its origin to the establishment of our National
Independence, it seems more like a beautiful and thrilling tale of
romance than the sober realities of history. We behold a few firm and
independent men, leaving the homes of their youth and the burying places
of their fathers, to seek in a new world and in a far distant
wilderness, another home for themselves and their posterity. Some of
them were prompted to engage in this perilous enterprise from pious
motives and from a hope to enjoy that liberty of conscience which they
were denied in the country of their ancestors; while others were allured
by the novelty of the undertaking or the hope of gain. Privations which
might have deterred even the stout hearted -- difficulties at which the
spirit of enterprise might have faltered -- and dangers at which even
the boldest might have felt alarm, had no terrors for these undaunted
men. In despite of every sacrifice and discouragement, they accordingly
undertook their voyage across the Atlantic, and arrived in the depth of
winter upon a stony shore. Three thousand miles now, from the land of
their ancestors, with no aid to rely upon but the God in whom they
trusted, a trackless wilderness covered with snow, stretching out in
gloomy and illimitable distance before them, the horrors of famine
impending over them, and to complete the catalogue of the difficulties,
an Indian foe to contend with, how appalling was the prospect -- how
formidable and terrific was the dangers of their situation. But they
met them with fortitude, and endured them with patience and
perseverance; and at last they succeeded, after years of toil, of
privation, and of bloody conflict, in establishing themselves in
comparative comfort and independence.
How often have you, my fellow-citizens, gathered around the evening
fire sides of your fathers, and listened with an eager ear and with an
intense and chilling interest to the chivalrous deeds and the daring
exploits of the first settlers of Kentucky? The names of Boone, and
Harrod, and Logan, call up to your vivid fancies, the soul-stirring
incidents, the intrepid achievements, the fierce and desperate
encounters which belong to "the dark and bloody ground" -- and yet, in
comparison with the first settlement of Virginia and Massachusetts it
has more the character of romantic and dangerous enterprise, than that
of the heart chilling expatriation of the forefathers of our country,
their helpless separation from the world of white men, and the gloomy
sacrifice of all that is dear to the human heart.
Notwithstanding, however, the almost insurmountable difficulties ,
which the two provinces of Virginia and New England had to encounter,
their numbers soon began to increase; other colonies were established by
new emigrants, and the cultivation of the soil not only yielded
sufficient for their own consumption, but afforded some for export. The
various colonies which in progress of time were scattered along the
coast, soon began to wear an aspect of prosperity; and while the
planters were realizing the comforts of life, and gradual accumulation
of property, they were able, by their contributions to add something to
the revenue of the mother country.
As the condition of the colonies improved, the spirit and feelings
of the inhabitants became more independent; and on the other hand, we
find from the very commencement of the growth and prosperity of the
colonies, a disposition was manifested on the part of the mother country
to tyrannize over and oppress them. Commercial restrictions, oppressive
taxation, and arbitrary laws seem to have characterized the policy of
England at an early period of the existence of the colonies. But they
never were quietly or tamely submitted to. When the colonies scarcely
numbered a handful of men, we see them standing forth openly, and
asserting their rights, resisting oppression, and ready to maintain at
every hazard the privileges which belonged to them. It would afford a
subject no less interesting than instructive, to contemplate these
colonies from the first moment of their political existence -- to
observe their spirit of freedom in its infant state -- to see their
principles unfolding as they advance -- and finally, to behold how these
characteristic qualities which distinguish them in mature age, were
successively acquired. But I must pass over many of the interesting
events connected with the early history of our country, to those of a
period more immediately connected with the glorious occasion which has
this day called us together. For some years previous to the breaking
out of open hostilities between the colonies and England, it is well
known to you, fellow-citizens, that the former had been subjected to the
exercise of arbitrary power and of almost every species of oppression
until it became a burden too heavy to be borne. The particular
aggressions upon our rights have been clearly set forth in the sacred
Declaration of Independence which you have just heard so eloquently
read. Petitions for redress were sent to the throne, and they were
trampled upon with silent contempt; remonstrations were made to the
British Parliament, and they were answered with contumely and reproach.
The duty on tea was reserved, after every other injury had been heaped
upon our devoted countrymen, to furnish occasion to the ministry for a
new effort to enslave and ruin them. A cargo of their tea was shipped
to Boston, for the purpose of ascertaining how far they could carry
their acts of oppression, and to what extent they could trample upon the
rights of an unoffending people with impunity. But the measure of
injustice and wrong was full to overflowing; the point of endurance had
been transcended, and the infant energies of an indignant people which
had been gathering like dark and portentous clouds, now burst forth into
unrestrained and open resistance. In the month of December, 1773, the
cargo of tea was thrown into the sea. It was the first oblation on the
altar of freedom. It was the first signal in the glorious struggle for
independence, and as they dashed the poisoned chalice of oppression from
their lips, the war shout of liberty rung like a clarion through the
land. The decisive step was now taken -- the line was distinctly drawn
between the friends of liberty and its enemies -- and a trial, a fearful
trial, was now to be made whether it was to be a country of freemen or
slaves. It was a dark and gloomy period. An infant people scattered
over a widely extended territory, with scanty resources, surrounded by
warlike Indians, and with nothing but stout hearts and a good cause to
aid them, had now marshaled themselves in array against the most
powerful nation in the world. They knew well the disheartening
disadvantages under which they labored; they foresaw the dangers of the
contest, the difficulties, the sacrifices, the privations, which they
must encounter in the conflict -- but they weighed them with the burden
of tyranny and oppression under which they were then groaning, and their
choice was soon decided upon. "If we fail," (said one of the most
illustrious patriots of that day) "if we fail, it can be no worse for
us. But we shall not fail. The cause will rise up armies; the cause
will create navies. The people -- the people, if we are true to them,
will carry us, and will carry themselves gloriously through the
struggle." "I know the people of these colonies -- and I know that
resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts,
and cannot be eradicated." It is impossible, my fellow-citizens, to
contemplate the fervent patriotism, the glowing love of liberty, the
heroic self-devotion which breathed in every word, and animated every
thought and act of the illustrious men of this period, without mingled
emotions of wonder, of admiration, and gratitude. Who can call to his
recollections their bold defiance of danger, their unbending and
indomitable attachment to the holy cause which they had espoused, and
not feel his bosom burn with indignation at their wrongs, and his heart
pound with patriotic ardor? Who can remember their voluntary exposure
to every privation, and their contemptuous disregard to all pecuniary
considerations, without feeling elevated by the purity of their
sentiments? Who can call to mind their unflinching firmness in every
difficulty, and their patient submission to every misfortune, and not
feel a veneration for the almost sublime intrepidity of their
character? When we look back to this solemn and gloomy period of our
country's history, and behold with the eye of fancy, the old
revolutionary Congress assembled at Philadelphia -- when we see the bold
and determined, but anxious and careworn countenances of Hancock, and
Franklin, and Adams, and Jefferson, and others, conferring together upon
the best measures for the welfare of their unhappy country -- when we
imagine we hear the impassioned strains of eloquence that burst forth
from their lips, summoning the friends of liberty to the rescue of their
country, and invoking the aid of Heaven with fervent solemnity, we are
constrained these mighty men as the commissioned agents of Providence,
to achieve its own holy and glorious purposes.
Europe looked on with astonishment, and the throne of Britain
trembled with dismay. They smiled with derision at our colonial
Congress as an assemblage of wild, and visionary, and ambitious
politicians; but they found it composed of profound statesmen, of able
and ambitious scholars, and of powerful and soul stirring orators. They
sent out troops to subdue a few refractory rebels, and they found men
who could not be conquered because they loved liberty better than life.
They expected to find a few ambitious and mercenary leaders, whom gold
would bribe into submission, and they found men who were willing to
sacrifice their fortunes and lives upon the altar of their country.
Bribe, did I say? During the siege at Boston, Gen. Washington consulted
Congress on the propriety of bombarding the town. While the subject was
undergoing discussion in Congress, Mr. Hancock, with characteristic
magnanimity, remarked: "It is true that all the property I have in the
world is in the houses and other real estate in the town of Boston; but
if the expulsion of the British army from it, and the liberties of our
country require their being burnt to ashes, issue the order
immediately." What an example of noble disinterestedness, of patriotic
self-devotion, is here, my fellow-citizens. Would to God, that
sentiments like this, could be written upon the hearts of all
Americans. Statesmen of this now great and powerful Republic, will you
not, as you assemble in that city which takes its name from the father
of this country -- will you not, as you ascend the steps of the Capitol,
the sacred temple of your country's liberties -- will you not, as you
take your seats in the legislative halls of the nation, the venerable
sanctuaries of a people's rights -- will you not call to mind the noble
independence, the self sacrificing patriotism, which pervaded, and
animated, and inspired that little band of patriots which composed the
old Continental Congress? Will you not remember, that they thought not
of themselves, but of their country? That they sought not honor, nor
wealth, nor power for themselves -- but the happiness, the prosperity,
and freedom of their country? It was in 1775, that the Congress
determined on prosecuting an open war with Great Britain, and adopted
energetic measures for raising troops. The soil of Massachusetts was
still wet with the blood which was shed in the battles of Lexington,
Concord, and Bunker Hill. The spirit of Warren, as it went up from the
battle field of Bunker Hill, hovered for a moment over his bleeding
country, and then descended into the bosom of Washington, as the patriot
hero to avenge his death and his country's wrongs. Washington received
his commission as commander-in-chief on the same day on which the
lamented Warren fell "in freedom's holy cause."
The year 1776 set in, in almost impenetrable gloom. Dark and heavy
clouds were spread over our political horizon. At times they became
somewhat dispersed, and the blue sky could be faintly discerned; but
again it was suddenly obscured, and a dark, cheerless gloom settled on
the face of our land. Congress again met. The hopes of the bold and
sanguine were not indeed shaken -- but the fears of the timid were
increased. It was as this inauspicious period that the subject of the
Independence of the Colonies was first discussed. It is true, that the
Independence of the Colonies, was not the object originally contemplated
by them. They would have been satisfied at first to have been relieved
of the grievances of which they complained. But when they remembered
how much they had suffered, and with what patience they had endured --
when they found that the sword at last must be drawn -- when they looked
around upon the reeking altar of their country, and heard its immolated
victims crying to them for revenge, they resolved that they would
achieve their freedom or perish in its cause. Congress accordingly
declared the colonies free, sovereign, and independent. This
declaration, so unexpected, burst from the Western hemisphere like a
mighty thunderbolt, and mingling with the quick and vivid flashes of a
nation's wrath, rolled in awful majesty across the Atlantic, and shook
the thrones of Europe to their centre. France listened, and she heard
the roar of the coming tempest; she gazed, and saw an infant people
beneath a tyrant's grip, struggling to be free; and, girding her armor,
she flew to the rescue. Great Britain began to discover that the
conquest of the rebellious provinces was no frivolous undertaking, which
could be accomplished by an ostentatious parade of military power, and
by empty threats of vengeance. She augmented the number of her troops,
and sent out a large naval force at once, as she vainly hoped to
overwhelm the colonies and terminate the contest. But notwithstanding
these vigorous exertions, the campaign of 1776, gloomy and disheartening
as it was in its commencement to the American cause, terminated with
brighter prospects, and with the increased confidence of its friends, in
the ultimate redemption of their country. During this year, the
surprise and capture of the Hessian troops near Trenton, by Gen.
Washington, revived the drooping spirits of our suffering army, and
stimulated our countrymen to renewed devotion and more zealous activity
in the great cause which they had espoused.
In reviewing at this period, the history of this eventful struggle,
and contrasting the resources, the power, and the wealth of Britain,
with the narrow and limited means of an infant people -- the number of
her disciplined and well provided troops, with a far inferior force of
the colonies, without clothing and exposed to every want, it would seem
surprising that the operations of the British army were of so feeble and
indecisive character. But when we reflect upon the different motives
which animated the leaders and men of the two opposing armies -- when we
compare the activity of the provincial troops, with the luxurious ease,
the voluptuous dissipation, and profligate licentiousness of the English
General and his army, our surprise ceases. While our devoted
Washington, with his few, but gallant men, half clothed, half starved,
borne up by a love of country, and urged on by an unquenchable hatred of
tyranny, was enduring hardships at which humanity shudders, Gen. Howe,
with upwards of thirty thousand men, was wasting time and the energies
of his army, in a life of gayety and pleasure. On the one side were
arrayed men who had been goaded into resistance, by repeated acts of
injustice and oppression; on the other, were the minions of power -- the
mere mercenary hirelings of an arbitrary monarch. On the one side were
men impelled by lofty feelings of patriotism, and animated by a virtuous
love of liberty; on the other were enlisted men who took no interest in
their cause, and who felt that they had nothing to gain by success, and
nothing to lose by defeat. Under circumstances like these, temporary
misfortune, occasional defeat, and a combination of minor disadvantages,
might indeed embarrass the operations of the colonies, and protract the
war -- but they could not overcome them. They had erected in the new
world, at temple of liberty; on its summit waved their broad banner, and
they were resolved, if they must fall, at least they would fall with
it. The contest went on; every battle won fresh laurels to our heroes,
and every campaign inspired the friends of liberty with increased
confidence in their success.
The haughty insolence of Britain felt humbled by her defeat, and
disdain began to soften down into a feeling of compromise and
concession. In 1778, she sent over commissioners with conciliatory
propositions, which were submitted to Congress. The President returned
an answer that they would maintain their independence, and would accede
to no proposition which did not admit it.
It would occupy more time than custom has allotted on these
occasions, to recapitulate to you, fellow-citizens, the many hard fought
battles and brilliant victories of our Revolutionary heroes. But they
need no repetition, for they are yet fresh in your recollections, and
will go down to posterity with the same unfaded brightness. The battles
of Brandywine and Bennington, of Saratoga and Stillwater, of Monmouth
and Yorktown, will live in story, and give lustre to the page of
history, when the thrones of royalty and the sculptured monuments of
military greatness shall have crumbled into dust. The contest was over;
the victory was won. At the close of the siege of Yorktown, the last
thunderbolt of the war had passed away -- the clouds were dispersed --
and the sun of liberty rose with resplendent brightness upon a free and
happy land.
But let us not forget, fellow-citizens, to pronounce the illustrious
name, and do homage to him, who, it the dawn of manhood, surrounded by
every allurement of pleasure, enjoying all that the splendor of wealth
or the power of nobility could confer, was willing to forsake them all,
and in the day of its greatest darkness and peril, to embark on the
great cause of American Independence. He was no friendless wanderer
whom misfortune had driven from the land of his fathers -- he loved the
land of his nativity, and the valiant sons of France hailed him as one
of their favorite chiefs. But the cry of oppression reached him from a
distant shore -- the bugle of liberty sounded its inspiring notes, and
he hastened to obey its summons. He went to the tombs of his ancestors,
and he knelt over illustrious ashes which reposed there; he turned to
the cherished idols of his ardent affection, and implored the blessings
of Heaven upon them, and next to them, upon the holy cause which he had
espoused: he left them -- but not in sorrow; he felt his soul expanded
and elevated by the sacred fire which burned within him, and he longed
to identify himself with the little band of heroes in their noble
struggle for freedom. The winds of Heaven proudly wafted him over the
ocean -- the land of his fathers faded in the dim distance, and a new
land, the future birthplace of liberty, was now before him and around
him. He went out to the great work in which he was to engage. He had
been nursed in the lap of luxury and ease -- but he cared not for danger
or fatigue. He shared in the toils and the dangers of his fellow
soldiers. He fought and bled with the champions of freedom; he asked
for no remuneration but the success of his glorious cause, and he nobly
obtained it. Future generations, while they recount the deeds of valor
and patriotism in the great struggle for American Independence, will
delight to dwell upon the name of La Fayette, as the friend of liberty
and benefactor of mankind.
But how shall I speak to you of Washington -- of him whose name is a
Nation's history -- whose character is its glory -- whose memory is its
treasure? If I say that he lived not for himself, but for his country
and the world -- if I say that the splendor of his public life was
equaled only by the purity of his private character -- if I say that he
combined in an eminent degree, those great qualities which belong to the
hero, the statesman, and the philanthropist -- your grateful hearts will
call it poor praise. Be it so. To appreciate his character fully,
belongs only to futurity. Not until after ages have enjoyed those
blessings of civil liberty which it was his glory to establish, can his
praise be spoken, or the measure of his fame be full. Ages shall pass
away, but his name and glory shall grow brighter and brighter. Like
some great luminary, his transcendent fame is destined to career to a
place high in the heavens, and to shed its mild and beneficent light on
the most distant nations of the earth. But, though our faltering
tongues may not speak his praise, though our best incense may be the
silence of grateful hearts -- yet, a solemn responsibility rests upon
us, fellow-citizens, to preserve inviolate and unimpaired, the rich
inheritance which has been handed down to us by Washington and his
associates.
During a period of more than half a century, our country has gone on
triumphantly through the sunshine of peace and the fearful storms of
war. She has been honored by all nations. Our commerce has extended to
every portion of the globe, and "the star spangled banner" has been
hailed with respect in every clime. Within our own State, even in the
short period of time of your own remembrance, what unexampled prosperity
has prevailed. Our majestic forests have given place to smiling fields,
and the cultivated earth has been made to give up its hidden wealth.
Where but a short time since stood the rude log-hut, now reared the
lofty and elegant mansion. Thriving and populous towns now occupy the
places, where, but a few years since, the Indians roamed in pursuit of
game, or mused perhaps in solitude or silence on the destinies of his
fallen race. If no great political calamity should befall this happy
country -- if no unhallowed inovavation3 upon our constitution -- no
reckless and visionary experiments should be madly attempted, what
exhilerating4 expectations, what bright and happy visions of the future,
may not be safely entertained. But without indulging upon speculations
of the future, let us endeavor to preserve at least the noble patrimony
which we have received from our ancestors. Let each one of us, my
fellow-citizens, consider himself personally responsible, as one of the
guardians of this priceless treasure. Let us venerate the republican
virtues of our fathers, and cherish as the life blood of our
institutions, those principles for which they hazarded "their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honor."
Guards! The great events which are connected with this day's
commemoration, address themselves with peculiar force to you. The young
men, in all ages, have been the hope of their country, and the bulwark
of its liberty. It was the young men in our country, who first raised
the spirit of rebellion and resistance against the encroachments and
aggressions of British power; it was the young men of the Polytechnic
school who first raised the standard of liberty in Poland; and it is to
you, as young men, that our country looks for the preservation of its
free institutions.
The daring deeds of your fathers -- their burning love of liberty --
the blood they shed as ransom for your country -- call upon you this
day, as citizen soldiers, to renew those solemn pledges which in the
darkest hour of oppression, they made and gloriously deemed. The voices
of the veteran soldiers who fell in the revolution, come up from the
hill tops and the green fields, where their bones are mouldering5, and
call upon you this day, as their sons, to act as faithfull6 and vigilant
"Guards" over the liberties of your country. The sainted spirit of
Washington leans from the blue vault of Heaven, and bids you this day
stand up around the altar of freedom, and swear that those glistening
arms shall always be ready to defend it. But you have anticipated the
summons; your hearts are already beating with patriotic ardor; your
banner already waves proudly in the breeze; and like a Spartan band, you
stand ready for your country's call. The chivalrous spirit which
prompted the formation of your gallant corps -- your excellent
discipline -- and your lofty and martial bearing, fully evince that
spirit which animated the heroes of the Revolution, still burns in the
bosom's of their descendants. The mantle of the sire's patriotism has
descended fresh and unfaded7 to the son.
Go on, then, to your noble enterprize8. Let your patriotic zeal
stimulate you to increased exertion to prepare yourselves for the
service of your country. The illustrious examples of Washington and La
Fayette will shed a brilliant light around your path, and will conduct
you in your progress through life, as citizens or soldiers, to a
glorious march of honor and renown. The father of the great Hannibal,
on his death bed, required his son to vow eternal hatred to the Romans.
-- Your fathers have left a better and wiser request; not to hate
another country -- but to love your own. Cherish it then, as a noble
inheritance -- as the holy sanctuary of the rights of man; cherish it,
for the inestimable privileges which it confers; cherish it, as the
asylum of the oppressed in every land; cherish it, as the world's last,
great hope in the permanency of a free, and happy, and powerful
Republic.
Notes
1 Published in Southern Telegraph, Rodney, Mississippi, on July 11,
1837. Transcribed by James W. Norris, August 2003
2 The printed text gives the year as 1836, but that date is clearly
incorrect.
3 I have retained the spelling in the original document at this point.
4 Also here as well.
5 And here
6 And here
7 And here
8 And hereContributed by James W. Norris
Contributor's note: The article was published in the
Southern Telegraph on July 11, 1837. Dr. Savage married my great
grandfather's aunt. Somehow or other, this newspaper survived in family
hands all these years. Dr. Savage died in the Yellow Fever
epidemic of 1843.
