Show SPEECH delivered by jjames 3 FER G at black blach rock B bank an k of great salt lake july ath 1851 at the celebration of the eitt etti sens zens of great salt lake city caty happy and undisturbed it has been our good lot this day to listen to the overflowing overflow inT or of our honest hearted and well veil gifted bt brethren en in ill commemoration of the daring declaration of our inspired and noble minded ancestors the sweet notes ot of our martial band have alto been employed in the glorious chaunt of liberty er ty the independent ebbings and fl owings of th the nature seasoned ned waters before us the whistling of the still small voice of the sum mer wind through the caverns of the mountains not omitting the long to be remembered buzz of the mosquitoes oe and gnat nat join in in our happ happy y testimony that our lang land is free ay and shall be free when even the very names of missouri and illinois shall be forgotten it is somewhat out of the common course of political economy to select a stranger to tell of the glories glorie of your constitutions and the endowments dow ments of your country and last among arrangers gt at rangers it would seem to me would you choose an irishman to talk of american independence born in a country where liberty was a dark unmeaning word in her lexicons and where the dread prey bird who made havoc of the already slaughtered or helpless flock could alone I 1 lay a y claim to a free breath nurtured on a soil boil e enriched and fattened by the blood of those who who only presumed to question the right of their brethren to entail on them hereditary bondage I 1 am but a poor subject to give a tone to the feelings of a free people I 1 do not appear to advocate alone the liberty you vou all enjoy she is well defended Is there in v in this happy haj circle irele one who would stoop so low as to s speak ea unseemly of the high highborn born dame are around me are es who already have the hiss for him on their lips I 1 appear before you V not as a representative of thel the hardy weather beaten holy men who made their oblations to almighty god on the altar of plymouth rock nor am I 1 to rehearse the thousand times told roaald tale of the adventures of revolutionary heroes p move to hear it told it comes on my ears like I 1 the indistinct recollection of a happy dream 1 but like that recollection it is languid and un satisfactory for the dark reality intrudes and my mind runs to the question ton of them blancho y shall we commemorate the day whose genial influence has passed oer I 1 al appear i ar before you one of a wronged people As were your ancestors by british tyrants so have you yon been by no less ruthless demagogues robbed and plundered As that honest unassuming ing band und under er penn had to flee from the unpitying hand of their religious persecutors and take shelter among t the e savages of Q a aGu exchanging the comforts of ald civilization liati on fo for th the e drearr dreariness n ess of a forest home 1 so here you had to flee from those who forget the sufferings I 1 of their ancestors and with the song of blood bought liberty on their lips and take shelter among the secluded mountains of the great basin I 1 do not wish to dwell on a subject that recalls so many man y pangs yet forgive my allus allusion ibn to them for it is your sufferings that binds you closer to me I 1 love lore you for the dabir dangers e re youve passed we will commemorate the day the day when a spirit of holy intelligence presided in the councils of your clear blooded ancestors and inspired them to publish a declaration which at onoe set example and defiance to the world example that they might tread in their steps and enjoy for themselves the blessings and privileges I 1 eire s that thai man was created to enjoy and de defiance flance that they might know what god dispensed his servants were not afraid to defend the day when one great link in the mighty chain chai n which held in bondage the universe was waa broken and with the crash every throne of every tyrant shake the day when the conscience of ins man in once more left its d dull prison house of superstitious fear and dared to bow at the altar I 1 of its own choice the day of which ne nephi hi sang with wit h gladness g I 1 a d 1 when n the spirit of god od I 1 gid ed should ou cje e poured u rr u upon p the people of this land jand and th they y should h 1 I 1 be on breed r ee a from their oppressors in recalling the bright events of that happy period we must for tho the time pass over the history tor y of our wrongs and sufferings we must think of the feelings the hopes the joys and anticipations of the good men who wore themselves out and died that their children might enjoy peace and freedom and not of the degeneracy gene racy of their unworthy successors we must place before us ua the P residential presidential chair as it was dignified by washington and not as it I 1 was waa disgraced by van buren we must recall the hard fou fought battles of marion and wa wayne e and the 1 inspiring 11 i voice of the at stranger ranger zo kosciusko na as W i he passed the word along and pass by contemptuously the prow lings of boggs and ford and their unholy we must review the prayers and thanksgivings of the brave humble chieftains of the revolution whilst they redeemed their country from tyranny f n y and how they acknowledged god in every victory and pass over the boa coa stings of later chieftains who for potty petty quarrels swelled wo we f vily fully the ranks of the widow and orphan a and vanquished ched a degenerate race we must think of the labors of those brave good men to bring about and forever establish an union of states hearts and hands and how they bade all welcome from every clime and forget today to day the bicke rings and contentions of the paltry cal rabble who seek to separate what go god political eol iti as joined coined and cannot be convinced that adam was the father of an englishman let it be understood then that we come to celebrate the fourth of july of 1776 and not of 1838 we come to celebrate the redemption of our country and not the captivity of our brethren yen we come here to offer up our thanksgivings that the same god who guided your sires through the vicissitudes of a bloody revolution devolution has directed the steps of our leaders through a rough countr country y and provided us a home in these rich valleys from whence our prayers may ascend with those of your sires sires that peace may ma be established on earth and good will to alf men and if the harsh war whoop of call us from our peaceful occupations like your sires we will d defend end and not offend we will protect ourselves and after the reprimand invite even the dark indian to join us in in our industry and pastimes though congress may award to robbers large payments for the accomplishment of our desolation we will sustain the flag as it once waved over the legions of washington and unremunerated against savage or civilized defend our country and its flag to the last among that number whom a mob were paid to imprison and destroy were some whom I 1 now see around me with whom I 1 have fought and toiled under the burning summers sun worn out and fainting ing and exposed to the life destroying dg breath of the cold messengers from the I 1 land of ice to sustain the dignity of the flag their persecutors were permitted to bear while they drove them will congress award to them a small pittance to sustain them in their toils or will she again drain her treasury to support a desolating mob if she relent and repent of the wrong she has done her best and most genuine friends then will ake blessings of a forgiving people bring tranquility to their pillow and peace to their coant country if not then shall the cries of the heart broken widow and the disconsolate orphan follow them in their councils destroy the pleasures of their midnight revels haunt them in their debauches and bring dissolution and anarchy upon them the E eagle agle that flapped her broad wings with joy seven seventy t years ago bowed her crest at the a sight ight of t the 1 tragedies of missouri and illinois and fled abashed into the far off western deserts we found her here weeping our suffer ings and devotion reminded her of past times she revived and again exulting floats over her same old banner our song today to day is of liberty and we have assembled to celebrate her birth day to this land yet many who are now now celebrating the day have not even a remote idea of what the word intends it has many meanings the urchins who arrange themselves in in contending squads as they are released from their school prison and pelt one an others eyes out with stones are then in the enjoyment of liberty the inhuman driver who goads and pitilessly p iti lessly pricks his team while groaning under its heavy burthen possesses liberty the liberty to be brutal even the myriads of troops who cringe to the mandates inan dates of a haughty tyrant enjoy liberty the liberty to butcher those who in the me morning i had called upon the same god for favor ah with themselves these are all liberty but of a different stripe to that we are called on to defend and advocate our liberty un trammels the mind lots lets loose the judgment given by god and permits every man to enjoy the benefits of his own conscience it is a liberty to do right while iff imperfection perfection continues to fco be on marm man and til the curse we inherited from our fathers has been removed it will be necessary to erect a bulwark around the standard of this divine representative senta tive of a better country count rv that bulwark should be the laws and conati constitution firtion of our land defended by righteous honest men and the standard itself borne by those whom she will not be ashamed to own and who know the val value a e of the gem they bear in the b biography achy of men we may learn the history of nations in that of a strong Z muscular man we may learn the history of our country born of a powerful dame like the strong man in his infancy she was nursed carefully and her every nerve was permitted to expand and every muscle to fill its place and become strong As she matured she became wearied of af the ca prices of her mother and manlike man like sought to serve and rear herself thus did she frugally and wisely still under the eye of her mother when the ca prices of the dame swelled into wrongs and abuses she spurned the wrongs and while she cherished dearly the recollection of merry childhood contended with the abuses yet revered the for the good she had received at her hands like the strong man her strength increases and soon she becomes the terror of the groat great ring what next none dare oppose her none can control her alas she be begins gi I 1 ns to imagine deformities in herself in the possession of what has become only a substitute for liberty she begins to tear from herself the imagined deformities an eye is plucked out and cast to the storms of the desert she thinks herself improved and like the string strong man imagines im agines the sear scar but a memento of her greatness and of the glories of her past achievements still more deformities arise and nothing will now answer short of dismer barship ber ship delighting Be lighting in war for it has now become a pastime hand contends with hand and each avows itself capable of sustaining a head A separation takes place the old grudge aria arises in those who dare not con confront froit her anen when one hand defended while the other dealt a blow she comes again within the power of a tyrant more more capricious than her ancient dame jand and thus 8 she h e learns that liberty when not rightly understood and appreciated is but the price of bondage can it for a moment be imag imagined ined that those who labored hard and long who bore the burthen during the heat of the day had a single thought that their a successors should contend over their scarce cold clay for a dissolution of the results of all their labors and should lose sight ol 01 0 f the grand object of universal al freedom fr ees in a contention about the price of human blood under the kind providence of god we have been permitted to dwell in these mountains and prosper means have flowed into info our la laps from every quarter and those who 0 oboe n ce looked ro 28 ed wo fully for the approach ol of a morning without a breakfast have now become affluent cheerfulness and content have been the result of our residence here but in despite of this I 1 c can an i discover mong among this happy assemblage the palo pale worn cheek the distorted limb the cracked heart of the widow caused by the e depredations and pi pitiless fitiles tiles pursuit suit of the hell hounds we have left yes aku that r we have teft taft I 1 but not forgotten the curse that fell from the lips of the heart bro ken orphan by the side of his fath fathers ers mangled corpse upon them still rings in ou rears and we echo it from our hearts yes and call upon all who celebrate the day of liberty to jo join in us in n our anathemas ana themas against them and show by this that they the y spurn such monsters from their associations we have been called bigot ted mid and superstitious but it was by those who knew us not we invite all to join with us and whatever their creed or thi the god they worship their conscience is is their own the standard we have raised like that raised by the first defenders of our I 1 country is wide and extended and can shelter all of every caste and climate we invite themi them not to cone come and bless us while gold can be their reward and when a cloud comes over us curse us and away A dinall dark cloud hangs over us now our money is is spent but beyond the cloud a ray of light begins to break and by and bye when speculators speculator clator shall have become discouraged and left us with a curse on 0 n their lips li s it will burst forth and illuminate the whole horizon korizon Eo dud and the recollection of the darkness will be no more I 1 am done I 1 have said perhaps too much mu yet in my feelings fe e li D ga and the recollection of some dis dismal marmo moments ments in the past would not have permitted me to have said lees I 1 desp despise I 1 i se h hypocrisy 00 too much to speak aught but what heel I 1 feel and if I 1 have offended any let them charge chang it to the never to be closed account of an erring irishman |