Show c r ya tr2 IW I agp tYP lf fi ASH1NGTON There wns unveiled In the nations I W na-tions cflpltal recently a statue of the Rev John Wlthersppon one of lr x J4 tho signers of tho Declaration Dec-laration of Independence Indepen-dence More and more attention being given throughout tho country t to the memories of tho a men who signed tho liberty document Not long ago there was held in Washington Wash-ington a coincntfnn of tho descendants descend-ants of tho signers It Is expected that ns the result of the labors of this hereditary organization thero will be gathered together tor preservation pres-ervation In one safe place all tho things that are attainable which had Intimate association with the men who on tho 4th of July 177C took heir lives and their pens in hand In tho year 177C lived n woman who was fond of giving curtain lectures to her husband She was the original Mrs Caudle though her name was Mrs Dlckenson the wife of John Dlckenson of Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania whose Letters of n Pennsylvania Farmer had done much to arouse a spirit of liberty among the people Ono night several sev-eral weeks before the meeting of the continental congress of which Dickenson was a member his spouse speaking from beneath the shadow of her nightcap said Johnny It you have anything to do with this independence business youll be hanged and leave a most excellent widow John DIckenson spoke against the resolution declaring de-claring the colonies to be free and independent The great independence debate was held within closed doors and no record of the speeches was kept because it was felt that In 1 case of t tatty e > < e tr a i k K iI t t A I t < n ta I A t t j I1 l 4 ° wr R THEOfilGtJiAL ffRAfr Of THE DECLARATION 4 I or INDEPENDENCE I 3 PflSERVED J t + l 1 Y I = r e O + P p dg 9c > a t tin WlLAM PJYERCUoTODVAN Yd i ° si a HASTOffIC 0E13K Oft WMCH tffftjfOM WOW THE jD TtAffATOrt of ND PEIYDfNCt the capture of any one of the members of the body that King George would have him strung up speedily should there be written evidence that he had spoken against the supremacy of the crown When the Brunswick monarch however hind been forced to relinquish his grip on the united colonies some of the delegates told what they had said or what others had said These fragmentary speeches had never before been gathered together It is believed Bits of them appear here and there In revolu tionaryday stories Others are to be found In the correspondence of some of the fathers of the republic and two others have had their spirit but not their letter preserved through one of tho almost matchless orations of Webster Web-ster It is a wellknown fact that the declaring of the colonies independent was not thought of seriously before tho convening of the memorable memor-able congress of the spring of 1770 Washington Washing-ton was bitterly opposed to any such declaration declara-tion until It became a military and civil necessity neces-sity Patrick Henry was perhaps the only outspoken out-spoken advocate of the year when the cutting was actually accomplished though Benjamin Franklin and Timothy Dwight thought and sometimes said that the yoke should be removed re-moved Henry by tho way In one of his speeches undoubtedly gave the keynote to which Robert Emmet afterward attuned the last sentence of his speech when condemned to die As early as 1773 Patrick Henry declared de-clared that tho colonies should strike for independence inde-pendence and prophesied that Franco would not be backward in coming to their aid The last words of his speech wero almost literally a part of the concluding words of Robert Emmets speech Then our country shall take her place among the nations of tho earth The original declaration of independence was a local affair Mecklenberg county North Carolina at a public meeting held in the town of Charlotte In August 1775 declared that it threw off forever all alleglanco to the British Brit-ish crown It was not long alter this that North Carolina instructed Its delegates to tho continental congress to vote llrst last and always for the Independence of tho united colonies It must be said that many historians doubt the authenticity of tho Mecklenberg declaration The congress that was to declare America free convened In Philadelphia and In a general way discussed tho matter of throwing oft the yoke Richard Henry Lee of Virginia Intro douced this resolution Moved That these united colonies are und of right ought to be free and Independent states and that all political po-litical connection between us and Great Britain Brit-ain Is and ought to bo dissolved John Adams of Massachusetts seconded tho motion but tho names of both mover and sec onder were omitted from the record because it was the belief that If tho British authorities got hold of them as prisoners they would stretch hemp without a trial Before the discussion dis-cussion of tho resolution congress adjourned and came together again in June when began the debate perhaps tho roost Momentous In history till details of which nave In detached form wero never preserved pre-served During a part of the proceedings Benjamin Ben-jamin Franklin presided pre-sided In a letter written 20 years after the debate one of the delegates said that when Benjamin Benja-min Franklin after the Binning said Now ft k pJ I I 4I he w 1 k A y 1SSt tsP > I 1 r sP I f a s wtft A t TilE TEEI oAP WHICH THE ftrIAIlATIOIj OF IYIJEPfYfElCC AS PREJERVEP we must all hang together or well all hang separately Harrison who had a ready wit looking at his ample proportions said If they drop us off at a ropes end tome of you lightweights will be kicking and suffering long after Im done for During the time of the adjournment the committee which had been appointed to prepare pre-pare tho declaration of independence chose Jefferson tho youngest of their members to write tho document on the ground that he was tho hest penman in the lot Now the word penman In those days was sometimes used to denote a man who expressed himself well on paper and not necessarily a man who wrote a good hand The English of tho declaration pel haps shows that the word was used with the former significance though some of Jeffer sons detractors have insisted that Tom Paine wrote tho famous document Tho Declaration of Independenco was read paragraph by paragraph to the assembled membors As a matter of fact tho most brilliant bril-liant speakers were opposed to the resolution Among those so opposed were Dlckenson Robert Rob-ert R Livingston James Wilson and Edward Rutledge It leaked out afterward that most of these men made speeches opposing the severing sev-ering of the British bonds Of three of thoso who spoke in favor of independence it was afterward said Jefferson was no speaker George Wyeth was sensible but not clear and Witherspoon was clear but heavy It has always been believed that Richard Henry Leo said In standing for tho absolute Independence of his country Why still deliberate delib-erate Why sir do you longer delay Let this happy day give birth to an American republic re-public Let her arise not to devastate and conquer but to reestablish tho reign of peaco and law The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us she demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast In the felicity of tho citizen to the ever Incrcasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores If we arc not this day wanting in our duty to our country the names of tho American legislators legisla-tors of 1776 will bo placed by posterity at tho side of Theseus of Lycurgus of Romulus of Numa of the three Williams of Nassau and of all those whose memories have been and forever for-ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens Just how Leos speech leaked out w Siiot Ifiiown but It led to a somewhat remarkable sceno In tho English school of St Bees Lee had a son a mere boy a pupil In St Bees A member of a board of visitors to the institution institu-tion asked tho heaa master who tho boy was He Is the son of Richard Henry Leo of America was tho answer Como here young man said I tho InqulBl tor find w hen Loo approached the Englishman English-man said to him Do you know we will soon have your fathers head on Tower hill You may have It when you can get It was the boys spirited spirit-ed answer John Dick onson of Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania I although al-though ho had been ono of tho fore m08 t nrlvn cates of resistance to tyranny spoke forcibly against the adoption of the declaration It may be that his wifes Johnny youll be hanged was still on his mind lie was ono of the best speakers in the congress and tho friends of liberty feared the effect of his arguments argu-ments Tho gist of what ho said was years afterwards mado public and while Dickenson feared simply that the time had not yet como for the declaring of the countrys Independence Indepen-dence and was In reality a patriot at heart his memory has suffered for the stand he then took When Daniel Webster delivered his panegyric pane-gyric of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams ho drew a verbal picture of that scene in the continental congress when tho Declaration of Independence was under discussion Ho knew the thread of Dlckensons discourse as It had been Imputed to him and though Webster mentioned no name his amplification of Dick ensons words will probably stand forever as containing the essence of tho opposition of tho colonial legislator to the taking of a firm stand for his countrys freedom Dickensons speech as it has come down runs In part as follows Let us pause This stop once taken cannot bo retraced This resolution once passed will cut off all hope of reconciliation If success attend tho arms of England wo shall then be no longer colonies colo-nies with charters and with privileges these will all be forfeited by this act and we shall bo In the condition of other conquered people at the mercy of the conquerors For ourselves our-selves we may be ready to run the hazard but aro wo ready to carry the country to that length Is success so probable as to Justify us Where Is tho military where the naval power by which wo are to resist the whole strength of the arms of England for she will exert that strength to the utmost Can we rely on tho constancy und perseverance of tho people or will they not act as the people of other countries coun-tries have acted and wearied with a long war submit In tho end to a worse oppression While wo stand on our old ground and Insist In-sist on redress of grievances wo know we are right and are not answerable for consequences conse-quences Nothing then can bo Imputed to us But It we now ciango our object carry our pretensions farther and set up for absolute independence In-dependence wo shall lose the sympathy of mankind Wo shall no longer bo defending what we possess and which wo have solemnly und uniformly disclaimed all Intention of pursuing pur-suing from tho very outset of tho troubles Abandolng thus our old grounds of resistance only to arbitrary acts ot oppression tho nations na-tions will bellevo the whole to have been moro pretense nnd they will look on us not as In I jurid but as ambitious subjects I shudder before this responsibility It will be on us If relinquishing the ground on which we have stood so long and stood so safely wo now proclaim Independence and carry on war for that object while I these cities burn these pleasant field whiten and bleach with the bones of their owners and these streams run blood It will be upon us It will be upon us If falling to maintain this unreasonable and judged declaration a sterner despotism maintained by military power shall be established over our posterity when we ourselves given up tr an exhausted a harassed and misled people shall have expiated our rashness and atoned for our presumption on tho scaffold It is a fairly well established fact that one of the delegates lacking a prepared speech of his own quoted from Tom Painos pamphlet s Common Sense whltih some months before had created a sensation Tom Paine as I s well known was an atheist but that made little difference to tho delegate who was said to be a pious Puritan when ho had a chanco to let his feelings go ripping through sentence like these It matters very little now what tho king of England either gays or does ha hath wickedly broken through every moral ant human obligation trampled nature and conscience con-science beneath his feet and by n steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelly procured for himself a universal hatred It has been reported that John WItherspoon of Princeton stanch ortnodox Presbyterian was the man who quoted thus liberally from Tom Paine atheist Some years afterward the Scotch dominie it Is salil was taken to task for quoting Paine and reverend John said It tradition may be believed that the devils pitchfork was none too bad a weapon to use in prodding John Bull out of the country It was left however for John Adams to make tho great speech that brought to the side of thoso favoring independence all the wavering ones and strengthened in their position posi-tion those who stood for the signing of tho declaration What Adams said was given Is substance to tho world when there was us longer any danger of his being hanged for his utterances Daniel Webster lent his own eloquence elo-quence and something of his diction to his Interpretation In-terpretation of Adams discourse which on tho eventful day It may bo truly said won for the country the declaration ot independence indepen-dence Adams powerful and electrifying speech was In part as follows It Is true Indeed that In tho beginning wo aimed not at Independence Inde-pendence But theres a divinity which shape our ends The Injustice of England has driven us to arms and blinded to her own Interest tor our good she has obstinately persisted till Independence Is now within our grasp Wo have but to reach forth to It and It Is ours Why then should we defer the declaration Is any man so weak as now to hope for a r + rcconcilntlon with England which shall leave either safety to the country and Its liberties or safety to his own life and his own honor I know there Is not a man here who would + snot r s-not rather see a general conflagration sweep over tho land or an earthquake sink It than qtr ono Jot or tittle ot that plighted faith fall to the ground For myself having 12 month ago in this place moved you that George a1 Washington be appointed commander of the forces raised or to be raised for defense of American liberty may my right hand forget her cunning and my tongue cleave to the root ot my mouth If I hesitate or waver In the support I gio him My Judgment approves this measure and my whole heart Is In It All that I have and all that 1 am and all that I hope in this life 1 am now ready hero to stake upon It i e I am for the declaration It Is my Jiving eon timent nnd by tho graceof Goa is shall be my dying sentiment Independence now and Independence forever Tho 2d of July Is in reality Independence day for on this date In the year 1776 a ma jority of tho delegates from each colony voted for tho declaration Two days later the document docu-ment was signed and went into effect and from that clay to this in fulfillment of Joha Adams prophecy the day has been celebrated with pomp parade games sports guns bells bonfires and Illumination from ono end of the continent to tho other D = |