Virginia Argus

FOR THE VIRGINIA ARGUS.
ANNIVERSARY OF FREEDOM.

ALBEMARLE, July 5th, 1814

Yesterday the Anniversary of American Independence was celebrated in the vicinity of our worthy Delegate to the General Assembly, Col. Charles Yancey, with the utmost festivity and joy.--altho' we were in the midst of our harvest, many of the hardy sons of labour, with their amiable Wives and virtuous Daughters, adorned the scene, and did honor to the day which gave birth to American Independence

According to previous arrangements, the Celebration was opened by Mr. Joseph Jones Monroe, in an eloquent and appropriate Oration, composed in a style truly classical, and delivered in a manner highly impressive and interesting --During its delivery, the strongest marks of feeling and of sensibility were manifested by the amiable and respectable audience, and the profound silence and deep interest, displayed by the hearers, afforded the surest testimony of the real gratification of the audience, as well as the just merit of the Orator.

By the urgent and unanimous request of this respectable audience, Mr. Monroe was prevailed upon to furnish a copy For publication, and which is herewith transmitted.

By the general suffrage of the company, our patriotic and enlightened Representative in Congress, Mr. Hugh Nelson, was conducted to the chair, to preside at this National Jubilee: he did ample honors to the occasion, and was well seconded and supported by Col. Charles Yancey. The utmost harmony and order prevailed: and after the following toasts were drank, with patriotic songs, the company at an early hour retired, without having witnessed one single incident to alloy or disturb the general joy and festivity inspired by the occasion.

The gentlemen and ladies retired to Colonel Yancey's residence, and closed the evening, in one of his spacious rooms, with a splendid Ball.

TOASTS.

1. The Day we celebrate--Long may it continue the Jubilee of Freemen--and may the period never arrive when Americans shall forget what was achieved on that day. 6 cheers.

2. The UNITED STATES of America--The asylum of Liberty and Free Government May the Tree of Liberty be here nourished by the blood of martyred Heroes. till it overshadow the globe and become indestructible by the combinations of the fell tyrants of the earth. 6 cheers.

3. The memory of the immortal WASHINGTON.
"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 9 cheers.

4. James Madison, President of the U.S.--The anchor of our hopes in the worst of storms. 9 cheers.

5. Thomas Jefferson. With true Republicans no panegyric can add lustre to his name. 9 cheers.

6. James Monroe--the Patriot, the Statesman and the virtuous man---He deems no sacrifice of fortune, of feelings or of blood, too great for his country's good. 9 cheers.

7. Our Native State--In times of peace, she steroly maintains true Republicanism--in time of war, she bolilly asserts all its rights. 6 cheers.

8. Governor Barbour--The watchful defender of his Country's safety--He has no object but his country's good. 6 cheers

9. Our Sister States.~Union in the hour of danger--extermination of internal foes, and perpetual war, in lieu of submission. 6 cheers.

10. America.--May she profit by the Revolution in Europe, and shew the World, that she has wisdom. spirit and virtue to maintain her Republican Government. 6 cheers.

11. The People--True to themselves, they have nothing to fear from factions or from parties. 18 cheers.

12. Our Mission to Gottenburgh--Its talents, the justness of our cause, and views of reciprocity, cannot and will not fail, if our enemy be possessed of similar principles. 6 cheers.

13. Our Army and Navy--If the former have not obtained, they have deserved success. The latter, first in the present century to humble the proud cross of St. George to the modest stripes of infant America. 6 cheers.

14. The Militia of the States--The Bulwark of our Liberties; the Lamb in the time of Peace--the Lion in the hour of danger. 6 cheers.

15. The Militia of Virginia--Hampton & Craney Island are monuments of their exploits. 6 cheers.

16. Senator Holmes, of Massachusetts. Undismayed by the union of wealth & of talents, he holds his steady course-- The People's Rights his polar star; the integrity of the Union his haven of rest. -9 cheers.

17. The Statesmen and Heroes of the Revolution. Examples worthy of imitation by all lovers of Freedom--embalmed in the inmost core of the hearts of all true Americans. 6 cheers.

18. The Fair Daughters of Columbia--Their smiles the happiest reward of the Brave ;-their frowns the heaviest curse of the coward. 6 cheers.

VOLUNTEERS.

Mr. Nelson and Mr Monroe having retired, the following volunteers were given by Col. Yancey, and received with universal applause:

Hugh Nelson, our enlightened, firm and independent Representative in Congress. May he prove worthy of the trust reposed, and continue to merit our confidence. The People venerate the Father and love the Son : Both are monuments of public and private virtue.

Joseph Jones Monroe--the Orator of the Day--His talents and virtue cannot be obscured. May he soar above ambition, and prove a bright ornament to our growing Republic.

Col. Yancey having retired, the following volunteer, by a Friend, was equally well received :

Charles Yancey, the worthy Vice-President of the Day--His country delights to repose confidence in him. He will prove worthy of the trust.
ORATION,
By MR. JOSEPH J. MONROE.

My Fellow Citizens,

Thirty eight years ago, the faithful Representatives of this Nation, in Congress assembled, declared that thenceforward, "these States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent" It belongs to the land discovered by the immortal Columbus, to give a bright example to all the nations of the earth, who, then, immersed in darkness, submissively wore the chains of bondage, and groaned under the tyrannical yoke of an inexorable despotism--

Adopted Sons of Liberty, our Fathers were responsive to her voice, thus expressed by a resplendent constellation of Sages:--They rose in the morning of their strength, and under the auspices of the godlike Washington, plunged into this mighty contest. Without discipline--without arms--they nobly front an enemy skilled in all the arts of human execution. Long we fought, and much we bled. Our fields are desolated--Our Cities wrapt in flames.--Our gallant spirits dread not the scorching heats of the south, and shoeless they dye with their blood the ice of the north. These are the men from whose loins we sprung ;" whose history is read in a Nation's eyes--whose pomp of heraldry" is found in their matchless deeds. Are you not proud of your origin? Accursed be the men who would not boast of such a parentage, and who would not emulate actions that elevate to glory and boundless fame

I will not repress your rising joy, or harrow your feelings, by pointing to the grass which waves to the zephyr that fans the tombs of our Warren and of our Mercer. I will not poison this "feast of reason and flow of soul," by recounting the exploits of the heaven-born Montgomery, who, adorned with every grace and virtue that can dignify our nature, flew from the arms of love and beauty to the cold embraces of death, within the walls of Quebec.-- Nor will I record the prowess of a Woodford or a Nelson. I've not eloquence adequate to the mighty theme. But future historians shall spring up, to eternize, in bold and animated strains, the fame of these illustrious worthies, and that of thousands who smiled in the agonies of death, at the fair prospect of our political redemption. Bards, too, shall arise, who in the rapturous melody of song, shall make our hearts beat and our eyes weep over the Iliad of our woes, and the heroic achievements of our valiant ancestors. Yes, some future Thucydides, or Hume, filled with historic vigor, shall paint in unfading colors, the valorous acts, the mighty deeds, of these distinguished patriots Some Homer or contemplative Ossian, shall at this our feast of shells. give in thoughts that glow, and words that beam immortality to the Nestor's and Fingals that fought and died in the glorious cause of American freedom. Be it my humble lot, to call your attention to the passing scenes in which the American honor and the American happiness are deeply interested

After having fought and conquered, Peace descended, like an angel from Heaven, with Liberty in her train. "Yes ; Liberty, who had fled from the Earth, when Rome fell under the sword of the Barbarian, visited our western hemisphere, and thirty millions of people, prostrate on the earth, hail her approach, with songs of transport, of extacy and joy --A thousand altars blaze to the Goddess. Under Washington, her favorite votary, we form for ourselves a wise, happy and efficient government. We cultivate the arts of Peace: Agriculture enamels our fertile fields ; a luxuriant verdure covers our meads ;-Our canvas whitens the Ocean; Our unrivalled prosperity, and rapidly increasing population, render us at once the admiration and envy of the world. France. groaning under a mass of despotism, bursts her chains, and opens a long vista sometimes irradiated with glory, at others opaque with crimes and with horror, Britain, fearful that the contagion would reach her shores, enters upon the bloody arena with her. In this sanguinary conflict, both nations trample on our National Rights ; we heap remonstrance upon remonstrance ; but, with Britain, all our efforts are in vain. She continued to sweep our commerce from the Ocean, and to impress our seamen.-- At length, after aggression upon aggression, Pelion on Ossa. the temple of Janus is again thrown open--our swords are unsheathed, and we appeal to arms. Is there one among us, so lost to American feelings, so utterly denationalized, as not to approve of the calm wisdom of the purely virtuous character who now presides, and the patriot band who then surrounded him? I am no eulogist, and scorn the language of adulation; but I will say, that when sceptres are broken, thrones mouldered, & dynasties forgotten, James Madison, and the Congress of 1812, will survive the general wreck.

Yes, my countrymen, Madison looked to his great prototype, the father of his country, the founder of our Republic--and his witenagemote; to their illustrious predecessors, the Congress of 1776. What though we have been long accustomed to peace; what though our youth can hear their grandsire's tale, and see them point to their scars --this under william Washington--this under Henry Lee--there I was pierced with the bayonet at Guilford, and here I was struck at Monmouth : Are we degenerated ? have we lost the spirit which burnt in the breasts of our fathers? Genius of Pike! come forth, and repeat the charge !-Lawrence! where art thou!

Oh, my fellow citizens, my knees totter, my voice falters at the recollection of-such events. Hull lives--Perry, the American Nelson, yet treads the deck, and stands a pyramid, against which storms & wintry hurricanes may exhaust their fury in vain. Harrison! thou still livest, and crowned with Laurels Great and good man. although thou hast quitted the tented field, thy country loves thee, and her best benedictions follow thee to the shade where thou delightest to dwell: Thou hast discharged thy duty: and blasted be the man, who would dare to invade thy peace--"well done, good and faithful servant," and may thy retirement be as happy as thy deeds have been glorious Youthful Croghan, allied to heroes, receive from me and this generous assembly, the praise due to high and exalted merit.

After deeds, which encircle the American name with deathless renown, and a bright halo of glory, who dares to charge us with being a degenerate race ? Because we rally around the standard of justice, love peace, and deplore the effusion of human blood, are we to incur the reproach of pusillanimity ? No, as with individuals, so it is with nations, a love of peace is the surest guarantee of courage: our President evinced his devotion to peace, when he acceded to Mr.Erskine's overtures; in his acceptance of the Russian Mediation; &, above all, on the mission to Gottenburgh. But are we assured that our pacific temper will be reciprocated by our foe? Alas, we are not. The Allies, triumphant on the continent of Europe; the old regime established in Holland and Spain; and the Bourbons restored to the throne of France, principally through the instrumentality of Great Britain, will she not be flushed with victory and elated with success ? what are we to expect from the magnanimity of a Castlereagh or a Canning? Nothing, my fellow citizens, I greatly fear, but dire and ruthless war; and will you shrink--dastardly shrink from the arduous conflict? Will you surrender the palladium of your liberties to your ancient oppressor, & acknowledge yourselves unworthy of the rich heritage derived from your Fathers? No, you will not--you must not. You will nobly contend for every inch of land, from the shores of the Chesapeake to our highest mountains Yes, sons of war, friends of peace, you will defend your household Gods, your wives, and your children. Fair and beautiful Daughters of Columbia! we will be your dauntless protectors against a barbarous foe; and your smiles will be our great reward.