well as to [and we have conjured them by] the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which were likely to [would inevitably] interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity; and when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have by their free election, re-established them in power. At this very time, too, they were permitting their Chief Magistrate to send over, not only soldiers of our common blood, but [Scotch and] foreign mercenaries to invade and destroy us. These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affections; and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former love for them; we must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war; in peace, friends.

We might have been a free and great people together; but a communication of grandeur and of freedom, it seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. The road to happiness and to glory is open to us too; we will climb it apart from them, and acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our eternal separation.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of the States, reject and renounce all allegiance and subjection to the kings of Great Britain, and others who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve all political connexion which may heretofore have subsisted between us and the Parliament or people of Great Britain; and finally, we do assert the colonies to be free and independent States; [Colonies solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies, are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States;

that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved;] and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, [with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,] we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

CHAPTER X.

REMARKS ON THE DECLARATION.

THE instrument known as the "Declaration of Independence," set forth principles more important in character, more beneficial in tendency, and destined to work out a greater result for the happiness and prosperity of the human race, than any political document or protocol that had ever preceded it. It was in fact, as well as in name, the great Magna Charta of Freedom, inspiring men to act promptly and efficiently in all matters conspiring to advance the cause of political and religious toleration. Its plain unequivocal language, couched in terms of high and heaveninspired decision of purpose, gave it a potency which caused monarchists to tremble, and the advocates of Liberty and Equal Rights to rejoice. Never did despotism receive, in all its progress of usurpation, a more signal rebuke, or greater check. That instrument, containing the signatures of the representatives of thirteen colonies, although boasting of only three millions of people, interposed a more formidable barrier to the career of George III., than all the chevauxde-frise or enfaladments of military science arrayed against the approaches of an invading army. He looked upon it as dangerous to the perpetuity of kingly regality—to monarchical usurpation. The principles of Liberty in it had been evolved, and a determined

people, reared in the lap of toil and hardy adventure, were to be the efficient executives in carrying them to full and glorious fruition. A portion of the vast struggle had but just developed; other scenes in the bloody drama were now to be enacted. Wider and more trying measures were to be resorted to the ire of an insulted kingdom against which rebellion in its broadest acceptation had been instigated, was now to be either appeased or successfully resisted-the hitherto considered invincibility of England's military prowess was to be met, and the shafts of her power broken, or three millions of God's rational creatures, endowed with all the attributes and love of freedom that imperial monarchs and nobles enjoyed, were to be reduced to a condition worse than slavery, and their representative leaders executed as felons, by the guillotine, or upon the gallows! Those were the times indeed "that tried men's souls," and nerved them to heroic action. Those were the times in which a determined people exhibited heroism, and vowed by all that was sacred in life, honorable, and manly, to be slaves no longer. And these resolves had been sanctioned by their representatives. Their signatures had been subscribed to the Declaration of Independence-and a price was set upon their heads for the act. But representatives and constituents acted in concert with each other; defied the powers of despotism, and won the triumphs by which our country has grown to be so great and prosperous.

At a period anterior to the assembling of the Convention which drew up and adopted the Declaration, a number of eminent statesmen, among whom was Samuel Adams, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry,

Timothy Dwight and others, had suggested, on various occasions, the necessity of such an instrument, but the subject was treated as rather chimerical. These men saw at once, and had sagacity sufficient to perceive that reconciliation with the mother country was out of the question. And Patrick Henry, as early as 1773, speaking of England, exclaimed:-"She will drive us to extremities; no reconciliation will take place; hostilities will soon commence; and a desperate and bloody struggle it will be." In reply to a question propounded to him by Col. Overton, if he thought the Colonies sufficiently strong to oppose, successfully, the fleets of Great Britain, Patrick Henry remarked: "I will be candid with you. I doubt whether we shall be able, alone, to cope with so powerful a nation; but"-rising from his chair with great animation— "where is France? where is Spain? where is Holland? the natural enemies of Great Britain. Where will they be all this while? Do you suppose they will stand by, idle and indifferent spectators to the contest? Will Louis XVI. be asleep all this time? lieve me, no! When Louis XVI. shall be satisfied by our serious opposition and our Declaration of Independence, that all prospect of reconciliation is gone, then, and not till then, will he furnish us with arms, ammunition, and clothing; and not with them only, but he will send his fleets and armies to fight our battles for us; he will form a treaty with us, offensive and defensive, against our unnatural mother. Spain and Holland will join the confederation! Our independence will be established! and we shall take our stand among the nations of the earth!" How these prophetic exclamations were subsequently fulfilled, his

Be