USA > Tennessee > Old times in Tennessee, with historical, personal, and political scraps and sketches > Part 38
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THE CAVALIER AND THE ROUNDHEAD.
The Cavalier who had fought under Charles, or conspired to the death of Cromwell, sat down under the same forest with the Roundhead, who signed the death-warrant of Charles the First, and were brothers. All were impressed, wherever they settled, with the same spirit of liberty and love of self-government, which ultimately culminated in the Revolution. The entire Col- onies possessed a jealous sensibility to any attempt of the mother country to derive a revenue from them by taxation. From the earliest period of their existence, they maintained the principle that they could only be taxed by a legislature in which they were represented. Sir Robert Walpole, when at the head of the Government, appreciated this feeling, and was cautious in pro- voking it. He said, "That it must be a bolder man than him- self, and one less friendly to commerce, who should venture on such a scheme. For his part, he would encourage the trade with the Colonies, for England would reap the profit; this is taxing them more agreeable to the constitution and laws."
MINISTERIAL MEASURES.
If this great principle had been adhered to, the revolution would not have been set on foot. Subsequent ministers adopted a widely different policy. In 1760, there was an attempt to col- lect, in Boston, duties on sugar and molasses. Writs of assist- ance were applied for authorizing them to break open houses, ships, and private dwellings in search of goods. It was opposed on constitutional grounds; it was argued in the courts, when James Otis spoke with a torrent of eloquence in vindication of Americen rights. All went away resolved to take up arms to resist such oppression. John Adams says then and there was the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of England; and then and there American independence was born. The fact is, that the speech of Otis made Adams the great man he turned out to be, and the great speech of Patrick Henry against a par- son's salary claimed by the Established Church, made Jefferson the author of the Declaration of American Independence. An- other ministerial measure was for the Judges to be appointed by the Crown and during its pleasure; this awakened a general
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spirit of resistance. Thus matters stood at the conclusion of the war with France. The first ministerial measure after the return of peace, was to make the naval officers the collectors of the customs. Burke says, "Men-of-war, for the first time, armed with regular commissions of custom-house officers, infested the coasts and gave the collection of revenue the air of hostile con- tribution." They fell so indiscriminately on all contrabands, or supposed contrabands, that some of the most valuable branches of trade were driven violently from our ports, and caused a uni- versal stagnation throughout the Colonies. As a measure of re- taliation, the Colonies resolved not to purchase British fabrics. George Granville, then at the head of the Government, pushed forward the taxation in the Colonies, embracing duties on other articles besides sugar and molasses, adopting the policy of Reho- boam, who increased the burthen of the ten tribes and made them reply : "What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : to your tents, O Israel : now, see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents." So our patriots took up arms and conquered despotism. From 1760 to 1764, Burke speaks of and specifies an indefinite variety of paper claims, extending through not less than twenty- nine acts of Parliament, by which the Colonies had been held in thraldom. Franklin appeared in London at the head of agents of the Colonies to deprecate in person, and urge the abandon- ment of such measures as were oppressive to them and would alienate the affections of the Colonies, and ultimately lead to re- sistance. This had no effect on Granville, "who," Burke says, "was great in daring, but little in views;" "who," Walpole says, " was charmed to have an untrodden field before him of calculation and experiment." Great English orators and states- men denounced the general tone of the measures, and depicted in advance the coming storm.
THE STAMP ACT AND RESISTANCE.
In March, 1765, the Stamp Act was passed. All offenses against this act could be tried in any Marine or Admiralty Court throughout the Colonies, no matter how distant from the place where the offense was committed, thus violating the cherished right of trial by a jury of the vicinage. The first burst of op-
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position to this act occurred in Virginia. Washington had occu- pied a seat in the House of Burgesses since his return from the French war. Here his opinions received the electric shock from the magnetic battery of Patrick Henry, a young lawyer, wo had distinguished himself in pleading against the exercise of the royal prerogative in church matters, and who, as a member of the House of Burgesses, introduced those immortal resolutions declaring, "that the General Assembly of Virginia had the ex- clusive right and power to lay taxes and imposts upon her citi- zens, and whoever maintained the contrary should be deemed an enemy to the Colony." The Speaker, Robinson, objected to the resolutions as inflammatory. This aroused the young lion, and he went into an able, constitutional discussion of colonial rights; all his fires were lit, and his eloquence flowed in torrents in ex- position of the manner in which these rights had been assailed. He closed with vivid flashes of lightning, and startled the house with a warning flash from history-" Cæsar had his Brutus- Charles the First, his Cromwell-and George the Third (Trea- son! treason! resounded from the neighborhood of the chair) may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it!". The resolutions passed, and, as a correspondent in a let- ter to Secretary Conway said, they were the signal for a general outcry over the continent. The mover and supporters of them were applauded as the protectors of American liberty. So great was the indignation of the Colonies at the assumption of power, that the entire people, when an effort was made to enforce the act, violently opposed its execution, and they burnt in effigy those seeking to execute it, and, in fact, their lives were in immi- nent peril. The gathering storm was black and lowering, and forced the repeal of the act of the 18th of March, 1765, but in the repeal the poison tooth of the serpent was left undrawn, for the Parliament asserted that it had the power to make the levies, to bind the Colonies in all cases whatever. This reserved power chilled the feeling of gratitude which the repeal otherwise would have engendered. The flames were fanned by other acts of Par- liament. Duties were levied on English fabrics, and naval off- cers were required to collect them. The military act was passed requiring the Colonies to support the armies sent to oppress them, commanding obedience to unconstitutional laws, and to
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suppress their assemblies until they should comply with the re- quirements of said laws. Many of the assemblies were dissolved by Tory Governors, which greatly added to the growing excite- ment. Memorials and petitions were laid before the King and Parliament without effect. The quartering of troops upon the people added fuel to the fire. In 1770, the discontent increased. Lord North came into power, a pliant, weak favorite of the King. Parliament repealed all duties on goods except on tea; this tax was continued to retain the Parliamentary right of tax- ation-the very right which was the grand subject of the con- test. Being urged to grant a repeal, it was replied, "A total repeal cannot be thought of until America is prostrate at our feet." In 1773, Lord North brought forward a bill to concili- ate the East India Company, to permit them without paying an income tax to ship large quantities of tea to America. All the Colonies not only refused to buy tea, but other English goods. To settle this matter, inhabitants of Boston, disguised as Indians, boarded the vessels and threw the tea into the harbor. It was the act of a courageous geople, which showed they " meant busi- ness." This caused the Boston Port Bill to be passed, which closed that harbor. The charter of Massachusetts was altered, requiring all the officers to be appointed by the Crown, and to hold their offices during the royal pleasure. It was also provided that persons charged with crime should be sent to England for trial. News arrived of this usurpation of Parliament. The House of Burgesses in Virginia suspended all business and ap- pointed a day for fasting, humiliation, and prayer. Lord Dun- more dissolved the Assembly. Though dissolved, they would not disperse ; they denounced these measures, proposed a league, and called on the members of the House to convene on the 1st of August, 1774, to take into consideration a general league. Gen. Gage, in command of the British forces, denounced it as traitorons.
THE CRISIS
was evidently approaching in all the Colonies. Washington headed a town meeting denouncing those usurpations, and insist- ing that to persist in them would dissolve the compact by which the Colonies were held to Great Britain. These resolutions
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pointed to a convention to assemble at Williamsburg on the 1st day of August, 1774. It met and proposed similar resolutions. It is said that Washington spoke with great power and elo- quence; he proposed to raise a regiment and pay and equip it himself, and to march at its head to the relief of Boston.
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
The following were the delegates to the first Congress in Phil- adelphia : Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Wash- ington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benj. Harrison, and Ed- mond Pendleton, to represent the people of Virginia. Congress assembled on the 5th of September, 1774, in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. There were giants in this assembly who were lay- ing the foundations of a mighty empire. John Adams writes, " It is such an assembly as never came together on a sudden in any part of the world. Here are fortunes, abilities, learning, eloquence, acuteness, equal to any I ever met with in my life. Here is the diversity of religious opinion, education, manners, interests, such as it would seem impossible to unite in one plan of conduct." Patrick Henry announced, "All America is thrown into one mass. I am not a Virginian, but an American." He poured forth in one continued flash of lightning an appeal which had often shaken the House of Burgesses, and gained him the fame of being the greatest living orator. In one of his great speeches he concluded, "Give me liberty or give me death." Richard Henry Lee charmed the House with a different kind of eloquence, chaste and classical. Many other gifted orators fanned with their vehement eloquence the flames that were lighting up the entire Colonies. To these were added cool-headed, practical, calculating men of unerring judgment, making it the greatest deliberative body that ever assembled upon the earth, as their after-work has demonstrated to an admiring world. Masterly state papers were issued by this body from session to session, which were complimented in the British Parliament, and which culminated in the Declaration of Independence, which you have just heard read, and which has never been equalled in the history of the world. Gen. Washington was appointed to the head of the armies, with such illustrious names as Putnam, Schuyler, and Greene as his subordinates. Articles of Confederation were
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adopted. The tide of war rose at Bunker Hill, where the bravery of the patriots was displayed to the admiration of the world. This tide rolled through New York, the Jerseys, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, covering in blood the area of the Colonies. I must allude to a few particu- lars which display the heroism of our patriot fathers and mothers during this seven years' war-an unparalleled struggle for liberty and self-government.
EVENTS OF THE WAR.
The darkest days of this glorious revolution were when Great Britain had sent over large reinforcements under the able General Lord Cornwallis. The armies of the Colonies were retreating; New York City was abandoned, and a pall seemed to settle upon the country, and the sun of liberty appeared to be setting amid clouds of disaster and defeat. In all this gloom Washington was as fixed as the great canse for which he took up arms, and as the granite hills which were stained by the blood of his retreating patriots. In the midst of these hours of doubt and misgiving, the great victory at Princeton over the Hessians was won under the lead of Gen. Mercer and Col. Bassett. A few days after this the great battle of Trenton was won, which revived the drooping spirits of the patriots.
"INTO THE JAWS OF DEATH."
Washington sent forward a portion of his army to bring on this battle, he bringing up the rear in person. The battle opened with the cannon's roar reverbrating along the valleys, lighting up the burning fires of the patriots to a greater heat. Washing- ton saw the tide of battle turning against him, and mounting his blooded Virginia charger, gave orders for the rear to follow on at " double quick." He met the routed patriots leaving the field in great disorder; he rode in their midst, and with a waive of his hat called aloud to the retreating mass, "Stand to your arms and we will yet snatch victory from the jaws of death. Here we will fill patriots' graves or be crowned with victory." He thus ral- lied the retreating hosts; turned and charged the enemy, and held them in check until the main body of his troops came up, when he headed and led a brilliant charge that effectually routed the pursuing enemy. Washington was the personification of the
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noblest man that ever trod a battle-field; his appearance and ac- tion approached divinity itself; he was the only living man that could have rallied his broken army and placed upon their brows the wreath of one of the most brilliant victories of the revolu- tion. The fact is, this was the hinge or turning point that gave success to the revolution, and secured to us the birth-right we this day enjoy.
Our patriot fathers having demonstrated to the world that they were worthy of that freedom which they had staked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors to gain, gallant France came to their aid. The immortal LaFayette tendered his services to the Continental Congress; they are accepted, and he is made a Major-General. France recognizes the independence of the Col- onies, but the tide of war still rolls on. Charleston falls, King's Mountain is won, the battles of Eutaw Springs and the Cowpens are fought, Cornwallis retreats, is pursued to Yorktown, and is invested and forced to surrender his army in 1781, and George III. is compelled to sign the treaty by which the Colonies are proclaimed free and independent sovereignties, and England loses "the chief jewel of her coronet."
THE WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION.
Ladies, you have sprung from the matrons of the Revolution, who exhibited the same patriotic spirit, and endured the same hardships as our forefathers. They fanned the fires of the Rev- olution, put the ball in motion, and at every period of that seven years' war were true and faithful to the cause of liberty. Wives gave up their husbands, mothers their sons, and told them to go forth to freedom's battle, and return victorious or not at all. They toiled and fed and clothed the hungry soldier; they were as true as the reflected image from a mirror or a pool of water- "as true as the needle to the pole." Many were their sacrifices and acts of heroism and daring. Mol Pitcher followed her hus- band to the war, and in one of the great battles he, while gal- lantly playing his battery upon the advancing foe, was slain; she was handing him balls at the time, and seeing him fall, this hero- ine jumped to the cannon, loaded and discharged it until the foe was beaten back, and thus saved the day aud revenged the death of her lord. Mrs. Jackson, the mother of Gen. Andrew
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Jackson, was left a widow with three sons; she was of Scotch- Irish descent, and came from the North of Ireland with her hus- husband. The oldest son was killed in the revolution. Andrew and his brother, aged respectively fourteen and sixteen years, volunteered in the patriot army. They were taken prisoners, and both were wounded with saber-cuts by a British officer for resisting indignities offered to the prisoners. Mrs. Jackson un- dertook the hazardous journey of going to the camp where they were confined with other patriot prisoners, some distance from the humble home of their mother. By her address she succeeded in procuring the release of the prisoners. After this Charleston fell, and many of the patriot prisoners were confined there and very rudely treated. Mrs. Jackson went from her home to Charleston afoot, a tedious and hazardous journey, and nursed the sick and wounded, and at length procured the release of all of them. This arduous labor and life in the camp produced dis- ease which caused her death. Such were some of the instances of patriotic feeling and womanly virtues displayed in the days of the revolution, which aroused the hearts of the patriots and cul- minated in the independence of these States and the founding of this great republic.
HISTORY'S HEROINES.
The history of every age and country shows the like virtues and love of liberty displayed by lovely women. The dagger of Charlotte Corday rid the world of the brutal French tyrant, Marat, whose guillotine plied its hellish vocation of severing the heads of men, women, and children, until the best blood of France ran in rivulets, coloring the waters of the river Seine. The nationality of France was preserved by the heroism of the shepherd girl of Lorraine, Joan of Arc, who, leaving her retreat in the attire of man, aroused the drooping spirits of her coun- trymen, and inflamed a desponding army, and assuming command, led the legions of France in the charge, and wherever her white plume floated in the troubled air, there was the hottest of the battle.
OLD HICKORY.
Andrew Jackson was bred in the cradle of the Revolution. Its great principles were at an early period deeply impressed upon
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his mind. His pedigree was good for an honest man, a good fighter, a hater of royalty, and a lover of liberty-all of which he displayed in a most remarkable manner throughout his bril- liant career. He was one of nature's noblemen-born such, and only needed the occasion to exhibit it to the world. He had the Scotch-Irish blood in him which had been oppressed and trodden upon by the mailed Kings of England for centuries.
" ERIN GO BRAGH."
The inhabitants of the "Emerald Isle" have been driven from their native soil to seek an asylum where liberty dwells. They are a brave, chivalrous, but an overpowered people, whose bones bleach upon every battle-field of the world. Jackson was a wor- thy representative of that chivalrous people. Thomas Jefferson, the great "Apostle of Liberty," in reviewing Jackson's life, said : "He has filled the measure of his country's glory." America has produced her Washington, her Jackson, and her Lee. The brilliant achievements of these great men have rendered past fame doubtful, and future fame impracticable.
Ladies and gentlemen, after the achievement of their inde- pendence, our forefathers founded this great republic, a govern- ment of limited powers granted by sovereign States. By the terms of the compact, all powers not expressly given to the Fed- eral Government were reserved to the States and the people therof.
OUR GROWTH.
From thirteen States, occupying the Eastern shores of the At- lantic, containing a population of three millions, westward the star of empire has taken its way, and our republic is now bounded on the East by the Atlantic, on the South by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the West by the golden shores of the Pacific. already numbering thirty-seven sovereign States, with a teeming popula- tion of forty millions; a republic unparalleled in the greatness of its extent, and unequalled in the wisdom, justice, and humanity of its institutions. For this great heritage we are indebted to Washington and his noble compatriots. "As the eagle >tirreth up her nest, futtereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them and beareth them on her back," so Washington encouraged and led his people to victory and to glory. When did
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power ever lose its iron grasp, but as that grasp relaxed in death ?' The brow of man and lovely woman once lifted up in sacred free- dom to heaven, will never again willingly bow down in galling servitude. Let man but once taste of this morsel of his birth- right, and he will purchase with his life-blood its minutest crumb. The glorious principles announced in the Declaration of Inde- pendence were borne to final triumph through scenes which should live forever in all generous hearts, and the men who supported them by their lives and fortunes, deserve to stand in the front rank of fame's battallion, and their memory should be honored and cherished in all time to come by every devotee of liberty. Glorious era, pregnant with the destiny and liberties of man! Glorious generation, worthy of such an era! Greece gave liter- ature and Rome civilization to the world, but it was ours to give it civil and religious liberty.
NEARING THE SHORE.
Ladies and gentlemen, I fear I have detained you too long al- ready, and I must bring my address to a close. I must near the bank and tie up my canoe, for I see the exhibition of your hos- pitality, and there's going to be some " tall eating" done on these lovely grounds. I don't think "the horses can be held back much longer."
"WASHINGTON, THE BEACON LIGHT."
The name of Washington will electrify all coming ages. In the shock of battle it will nerve the souls, and in the day of tri- umph rule the evil passions of all who struggle for liberty. The light of his glorious career will forever illumine the path that leads the weak and oppressed to freedom, strength, and bound- less prosperity. The spirit of our laws, manners, and institutions will abide upon the earth as the redeeming spirit of succeeding times, resisting all the attacks of ignorance, barbarism, and ty- ranny ; living in the very care of the world's heart, and defying all attempts to extirpáte it, until the whole mass shall be warmed and enlightened, and the flame, like that in the ancient fable, shall burst forth in millions of places and fill the earth itself with brightness. It was predicted by some people at an early day that. our Republic would fall to pieces by reason of its extent. One
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hundred years have demonstrated that the extension of its terri- tory has been a great source of strength and endurance. Florida and Louisiana have been purchased, and with them the great valley of the Mississippi, with its fertile fields, has been added to the Union. Texas and California have been added by conquest, as magnificent stars to our republic. Our territory extends from ocean to ocean. This country has successfully gone through two wars.
" THE LATE UNPLEASANTNESS."
It has withstood the disasters and test of the greatest social schism that ever afflicted the earth-a schism produced by break- ing the compact on one side, and resistance to aggression on the other. Then coercion was resorted to, which culminated in a four years' war-a war in which were displayed courage and manhood unsurpassed in the history of the world. Reverses and victories alternated, great battles were lost and won on either side, which were fully equal to those glorious campaigns of Na- poleon struggling against the crowned heads of Europe, confeder- ated under the name of the Holy Alliance. The eleven South- ern States were overpowered by multiplied resources and num- bers, and they surrendered under treaty and Congressional pledges that each State should be restored to equal rights with the rest under the constitution of our fathers. We have seen these States reduced to military provinces; satraps and rajahs installed into power; the people disfranchised, taxed, and oppressed far beyond the grievances which brought about the Revolutionary war. Yet, the spirit of liberty, justice, and right, though stifled for awhile, still dwelt with the people North and South. The "bloody shirt" was flaunted so long in the faces of the people at the North that it produced a nausea, and at length was expelled by a fraternal feeling between the sections. Then we began to see State after State emerge from the dark clouds which obscured them, the right of self-government recognized and restored, and now all the States of our Union occupy an equal position in our great republic.
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