% v^ S ^O. ^1^ ,/"-*. K^^ .^'^ A''^ '<• '5' I'd- <■-■- .\'> '^■<^' :iS^ ^ V .*^-V r ,.:^^s. '«liV^G o ^0 ^^. -f'' „. O. ^ V 4 " .^ ■' -. -^^ A ^'-js^^;-p% : ^■^.^' : ^\ i 'S' ~^f 5 ■^^ '■L o '■■-^, ' * « -^ <^'^* .- "> ''^'' ^ ■< ' ■-• o r^^"^ :v>:*i ^v' sP o . * , ^ e ^ '5> V' '! ■> (5 O v~'l '< ,§' r-" -^ .-^^ A Jv- ■^. ^ .0^--'.% \>^\....,, %/--^\./^.,..;% . ^ * o II o ^ V O^ * c ,- 1 " • ,0 1 .La©S^¥Y ©l^gG^©[l[5), FOURTH OF JULY. PATRIOTIC CITIZENS OF POMPTON PLAINS THEIK COMMITTEE EEQUESTING ITS PUBLICATION. IS MOST HESPECTFULLT DEDICATED BY THE SPEAKER, ISAAC S. DEMUND, BELLEVILLE, N. J. PRINTED BY JOHN A. GRAY, TO FULTON, COR. GOLD STREET. 1851. ■? r^^&/ PoMPTON Plains, July 5th, 1851. Rev. AND Dkar. Sir : — The undersigned, the Committee of xVrraugemeuts, having, togftber with theii- ieUow-citizens of this vicinity, hstened to the able and eloquent oration delivered by you yesterday, on the anniversary of our national independence ; and not satisfied with merely listening, but desirous of perusing it at our leisure ; moreover, regarding tlie truths contained in it as peculiarly suitable to the present eontlitiou of public sentiment, and believmg tlp?m worthy of being brought more ex- tensively before the pubUe mind, we, in behalf of ourselves and of nnuiy wlio heard you, most respectfully request of you a copy for pubUcation. SAMUEL VAN NESS, ^ M. N. WISEWELL, I CALVIN M. PARKS, DAVID W. BERRY, I (jammHtce. MARTIN VAN NESS, HENRY VAN NESS, | LUCAS B. MANDEVILLE, J Rev. Isaac S. DE>a"ND. To the Committee, ilessrs. Samuel Van Ness, M. N. AVisewell, Calvin M. Pabks, David M. Berry, ^Martin Van Ness, Henry Van Ness, Lucas B. ]VL\ndeville : Gentlemen : — Your request that I should furnish you a copy of the oration which I had the honor and privilege to deUver before you and other fellow-citizens, I feel it my duty to comply with, beUeviug, as you have been pleased to exi)ress yom-selves, that the truths it contains are peculiarly suitabU' to the present condition of public eentiment. \'"ery respectfully, your fellow-citizen, Isaac S. Dejiund, Belln'lUc,N.J.,JHhjm, 185L LIBERTY DEFENDED It lias long been tlie custom on this, tlie gala-day of our nation, to laud our institutions, and extol, as amono" tlie greatest patriots, tlie men by whom they were ori- ginated and established. The Constitution, which is the foundation or plat- form of the United States, has been long and loudly eulogized, as furnishing the purest liberty that ever came from uninspired man, as that which could not well have been surpassed. What, superior to it, could have been de\dsed? A\Tiat, but this, could have given us the freedom, j^rosperity, and union we have so luxuri- antly enjoyed ? Chief Justice Jay, at the time it was adopted, declared, that whilst the government was not what some could have desired, in his estimation, con- sidering every circumstance, it was the best perhajDS that ever would be enjoyed ou earth previous to the Millennium. Shall the honored custom of eulogizing our institu- tions pass into desuetude ? Shall we permit ourselves 6 FOtTETH OF JtJiY. to listen to the dissonant voices that would now dis- parage what has proved itself invaluable, and what ouofht to be held venerable and sacred ? Shall dema- goguism and fanaticism now be allowed to disgorge their lava, and blight and desolate our favored realm ? It is true, all men were not made free by the Decla- ration of Independence, or by the Constitution, that, by the blessing of God, gave us our Union. Our colored population were in bondage, and what to do with or for them was the Gordian difficulty. Great, however, as was the difficulty, and desirable as it was that all should be free, it was determined by solemn compact, that the domestic institution of slavery already in ex- istence, and that had long been in the colonies, should be left, to be disposed of as might be thought proper by the individual States. No one State might interfere with another, touching that matter. And it was made imperative upon the United States to see that the rights of the several States, in that and every other stip- ulation, be guarded inviolate. Could human wisdom or legislation have elaborated a higher achievement ? The government, thus constituted, presented for the world the illustrious spectacle of a galaxy of indepen- dent States, holding sovereign sway over theii' own respective affiiirs, and yet firmly united, indivisibly one, to guard the chartered rights of each other, and present a dense, unbroken, unconquerable phalanx against for- eign aggression. As with the nicest machinery, not a jar could be heard for a time in the vast but simple movements of our august government. Eeligion, such as fell in in- LIBERTY DEFENDED. 7 spired precept from tlie incarnate Son of God ; edu- cation, that would lavish its blessings on all through the common school; agriculture, that would turn the wil- derness into fruitful fields ; commerce, that would erect its emporiums, and every art that could favor national prosperity, flourished. State after State, as by magic, rose into view, and took their })lace beside their elder sisters in the l>lessed Union. A second war wdth Eng- land l)ut served to consolidate our strength, and develop still more rapipeared almost imbecile to apprehend danger to the institutions of our country, danger to the cause of liberty. But the leaven spreads as a fire that sweeps over a western prairie. It spreads and ferments in the Church. Denominations the most numerous in all our land, the Baptist, the Methodist, di\dde. Abolitionism rends them in twain. Slavery and Anti-slavery become the shibboleths, the tests of Chris- tian fellowship and communion. The leaven still spreads. It appears in State as well as Church ; statesmen as well as churchmen call for the immediate abolition of slavery. The political arena now becomes the scene of fearful conflict, and we learn the strange nomenclature of " Free-soilism " and " the Higher Law." The war against Mexico having termi- nated in our favor, again, as in the dark days of the Mssouri agitation, the South calls for a share in the conquered territory. Almost in vain our ablest and most patriotic and experienced statesmen contend, that our Constitution has left it to the citizens of a new territory, in organizing a State, to elect whether or not there shall be slavery. California comes in among the free States. The South calls for the enforcement of the solemn compact that guarded the individual rights of all the States. With tlie utmost difiiculty has that compact been regarded. There is a higher law, we ai'e told, than the law of the United States, of the 10 FOUETH OF JULY. Constitution, of government. To meet that "higher law," the compact, entered into with so much good-will and benefit by our fathers, must be amended, the pro- test of the South " to the contrary notwithstanding." By the strong arm of a majority, the guaranteed rights of the South must be trampled in the dust ; rights that no man may take from them, rights that no majority may violate without breaking the solemn oath of cove- nant, without virtually and actually dissolving the Union ; sacred rights competent for the South alone, in their State legislation, to deprive themselves of, even as the same has been done by ourselves, by New-York, by Connecticut. Farther still, if a majority cannot be secured to amend the compact, citizens are urged by the authority of the " higher law " to resist the provisions of that com- pact — to stand up against the law of the land; and States are solemnly summoned to legislate against it, impede, nullify, destroy it. Kesistance of a certain kind has been made. The escape of the slave has been facil- itated by mob-violence ; and citizens have been invited to come in from the surromiding country, armed for the purpose of overawing or counteracting the proceedings of Court. Such is the higher law that is now advocated, not merely by a Thompson, member of Parliament, from England, not merely by a Garrison, but by hon- orable Senators and Representatives in Congress assem- bled ; not only by politicians, but by American Chris- tians, and even by some ministers of the gospel ! "Wh.at, then, fellow-citizens, is this higher law ? — if you have failed to perceive its true character, from its avow ed principles and actual deeds. Is it the law of LIBERTY DEFENDED. 11 civil and religious liberty 'i Or is it that Avliicli may- be denominated and demonstrated to be both treason and heresy ? Unquestionably, it is treason against our own Gov- ernment, for it avowedly seeks either to amend by ma- jority or destroy the very compact to which, under God, Ave are indebted for our Union. If the higher law of the day bade us use constitutional, legal, righteous mea- sures to remove slavery — if it only urged the South themselves to legislate away the evil — much as we might regret the impolicy or the danger of the move- ment, lest we should thereby only irritate the Southern mind, we would nevertheless have to allow its weapon to be legitimate. But since it would have us play the tyrant, by resorting to mere majority, to mere force, in the tace of solemn compact, is it not treason ? The higher law, however, is treason against govern- ment in the abstract — against all government, however righteous its foundations. To the law and to the testi- mony — to the decrees or orders of our sovereign and infallible teacher, Jesus Christ. What does He say to us, who sits upon the throne of the universe 'i What does He say, who has all power in heaven and upon earth, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords ? " Render unto Caesar the things that are Cesar's." Or, in the language of his apostle Paul, " Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God : the powers that he are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God ; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." If, then, Ctesar, or the higher power, or government should enact a law or estaljlish a 12 FOURTH OF JULY. compact Tinder wliicli a portion of tlie subjects are re- quired to remain in bondage until it should please their masters to liberate tliem by legislation, may the subjects in bonds rise up against those in authority ? Or may the free incite and assist the enslaved to do so, under the pretext that the rebellion is warranted and required by a higher law ? What law can be higher than what God has made and called " the higher powers V Not the higher law of revelation, since the law of " the higher powers " is that which it expressly establishes, and sub- ordination to which it .explicitly enjoins. It indeed commands us to obey God rather than man or govern- ment, where the law of the latter is opposed to that of the former. But where the law of government is not opposed to the law of God, how can there be a higher law under which it may be resisted or overthrown ? Now it so happens in the present instance, that the law of our Government does not come in collision with the law of revelation. On the contrary, as plainly as language can make it, revelation is on the side of the compact upon which our Union stands. It is out of place then to discuss what should be our course, if our very Constitution were contrary to Scripture ; if our Constitution enjoined a crime like to idolatry, or mur- der, or theft ; whether we should resort to a revolution, or disobey and suffer. The higher law of revelation is the law of our Consti- tution, fui-nishing us the very princij^les on which it rests. Revelation is not silent upon slavery. It does not leave it for man to determine whether it may lawfully exist. It does not teach that a man sins who allows LIBERTY DEFEIS^DED. 13 « himself to "be a slave or remain a slave. "Art tliou called, being a servant ? Care not for it ; but if tlioii mayest be made free, use it rather." Nor are we tauglit that a man sins who retm-ns the servant to his master. The apostle Paul himself re- turned the servant Onesimus to his master Philemon. If, then, the institution of slavery is not even sinful — if Scripture itself commands the slave and the friend of the slave to obey the government under which they are placed — if Scripture itself sanctions that government where the institution of slavery may exist — what can our American higher law be but treason agamst all that is righteous in the principle of civil government ( As well as treason against government, our higher law is heresy against Christ. Where does Christ tell his follower that he may not be a servant and be a Christian ? Where does Christ say to a man, that if he would be a Christian, he must free his slaves — that he must cease to be a master ? In his blessed code we find rules for masters and rules for servants, but not one word or principle to compel the master to let his slave go free ; not the faintest suggestion to instigate the ser- vant to rise up against his master, or run away, and if pursued, resist unto death. " Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren ; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit." " These things teach and exhort. If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our 14 . FOUETH OF JULY. « Lord Jesus Clirist, and to tlie doctrine wliicli is accordinfy to godliness, lie is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, wliereof cometli envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of tlie truth, supposing that gain is godliness : from such withdraw thyself." Our higher law then, according to these words must be brought in as guilty of heresy — as that which opposes Christianity — as that which promotes nothing but evil. It is anti-Christian. It assumes to legislate where God has legislated, and against what God has expressly regulated. Like the " man of sin," it would give us another law than the law of revelation — another gospel than the gospel of Christ. The exposure of the higher law, so ominous, so unprincipled, so tyrannical, so unevangelical, needs no apology. It is called for by all that is dear to us — by all that is sacred in government or religion. If, then, we would be patriotic and love our country — if we would be Christians and love our Sa^dour — if we would prove ourselves, as our fathers were, the tried and faith- ful friends of civil and religious liberty — these are the principles we are to advocate, and these are the prin- ciples that must be known, received, and established throughout our land, if we would have our country go on and prosper. Am I then an advocate for slavery? God forbid! Africa, be free — is the desire and prayer of my heart. And that Africa may be free ; that her sons may be emancipated, only let our government continue ; only let the slave States be left to manage their ow^n domes- tic concerns, and we may soon hail the auspicious day, LIBEETY DEFENDED. 15 when State after State will liljerate tlieir Londmeii; when a part of our own domain will be assigned them where they may be free as ourselves, or when they will all be repairing to the home of their forefathers, even as the Irish now seek an asylum with us from the op- pression of England. Our proud steamers shall plough their rapid course over the mighty deep, freighted with the costliest treasures — not manacled slaves for servi- tude, but Christian freemen, who, by the blessings they will convey, will more than compensate their country for all the outrages it has endured. Are not patriots and Christians, in view of such a stupendous result, now called by the providence of God to secure to themselves the sacred, invaluable rio-hts which they have inherited from their fathers ? In no other way can our country be preserved. In no other way can the free remain free. In no other way can the enslaved be freed. Abolitionism, made up as we have seen of treason and heresy, would dash our Union to atoms. Other governments might rise on its ruins, but , by no means comparable to that we now enjoy. The South withdrawing by itself and becoming a powerful integer, on the princij^les of interest and dan- ger, would rivet more strongly the shackles of her slaves, and bid successful defiance to the North, arrayed against itself in as many petty States as compose it — sadly rent asunder by the demagogue and the fanatic — ofiering itself an alluring prey to petty Caesars, or falling an entire victim into the hands of some daring Augustus. Or, if you prefer, picture to your imagination the sicken- ing scene, the South crushed and destroyed ; and liberty, civil and religious, both at the North and the South, 16 rOUETH OF JULY. departed ; a miserable few left, it may be, from tlie dis- mal wreck, to hang their liarps on tlie willows, and moan tlie sad requiem of freedom — fled, to find its home in other climes and bless other realms — perhaps the climes and realms of Africa. Remember, therefore, my coimtrymen ! we are now summoned, in the providence of Heaven, to a conflict quite as perilous and important as that in which our fathers were engaged. They must fight for liberty aa-ainst the marshalled hosts of Great Britain, her hired Hessians, and the savage hordes of their- own wilder- nesses. We must maintain what has thus been secured, against a Garrison, a Thompson, a Smith, a Seward, and an Abby Kelly, and thousands of other similar fierce spirits, who, to accomplish their darling scheme of abolition, would rob the South of their State-rights, and transfer general government into a mere system of inglorious tyranny for that end. We must blow a trumpet that will not give an uncertain sound. We must let abolitionists know — whatever may be the mo- tives by which they deem themselves to be impelled — that we hold their principles and objects and actions as traitorous and heretical. If permitted to go on in their wild career, they would crimson our land with the blood of its best citizens, and consign fair Freedom to an ignominious grave. Democrats or Whigs, we should vote for no man — not so much as to be the scavenger of our streets, or the master of our roads, much less to be President, or Judge, or Sheriff— that declares himself pledged to the dictates and bulls of the higher law. Dutch Reformed, or Methodist, or Baptist, we should LIBEETY DEFEKDED. 17 note those bretlireii who advocate the fearful heresy and schism of the higher law, and at least separate our- selves from them, as the apostle Paul enjoined it upon the evangelist Timothy to withdraw himself No pa- triot, no Christian — if he would regard the injunction of the gospel — may he the hearer of a higher-law 23reacher. Nor may any one, if he would regard the same injunction, hold Christian fellowship or commune at the table of the Lord with higher-law members. Strong measures, just such as are enjoined by Scripture, are demanded ; for only by these measures, associated with prayerful struggles and the blessing of our God, shall we be able to prevail. Tried and faithful men are In requisition. Patriotic and Christian men, men opposed to all treason and heresy, are in imperious requisition. Allow me, moreover, to urge that if the citizens of the United States would act well their part in the ex- isting warfare, they must be temperate in all things, — temperate, particularly, with regard to whatever can intoxicate. " It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." It is not for American freemen to be intemperate. Their interests, this mo- ment in danger, are too vast, that they should be given to the indulgence so expressly prohibited those who are in authority. You are not ca^ed to abstain or be temperate on the principle that whatever intoxicates is a sinful beverage. Have no sympathy with those who denounce the use of wine or strong drink as in itself iniquitous ; no sympathy with those who would remove 18 FOTTETH OF JULY. the sacred cup from tlie table of our Lord. But, fellow- citizens, abuse not wine and strong drink. Is intem- perance a sin to wliicli you are inclined ? Abstain, for your own sake abstain. Or, strong as you may be, kave you weaker brethren, easily enticed by the intoxicating bowl? Abstain for their sake; abstain on the lofty principle of him who said, if wine made his brother to ofiend, he would never allow himself in its use. With- out temperance, you would be disqualified to contend for the liberty of your country. Drunken men, though kings or princes, whatever their station or authority, are not fit to be trusted. The United States call that temperate men should come to the rescue. And if for no other cause, for the cause of the Union, let every citizen, every patriot, every Christian, be temj)erate. The ground on which we tread is sacred, because of the foot-falls of our free and noble fathers. New- Jersey, though among the least, proved not the least efficient in the trying and dark days of the Revolution. In our own State the great Washington fought some of his principal battles. At Trenton, Princeton, and Mon- mouth, his thunder was heard, carrying dismay to the hearts of our ruthless foes, and reviving the drooping spirits of the champions of freedom. In your immediate vicinity he had his camp. We can almost fancy that we see our venerable and loved chieftain in the humble but w^elcome and honored home of one of the patriotic fathers at Montville. We can almost hear him, as he bowed his knees in his closet before God and prayed that he would save and free his country. We have a good cause, he was often wont to say, even in the darkest hours. He must be blind, he was heard to say, who 3477-61 Lot-19 LIBERTY DEFENDED. 19 could not see the finger of God in tlie Kevolution, crowning it with success and triumph. Yes, he and our fathers had a good cause. Traduced as they may now he, they esj^oused the cause of li]3erty, fought its l:)attles, and won its hiurels and its blessings. And we, their children and successors, have inherited from them the greatest and fiurest country on earth, the modern Ca- naan of the world, the glory of all lauds. In the name of Jehovah, of Government, of Chris- tianity, of Liberty, — be patriotic, be Christian, be tem- perate. Prove yourselves worthy of your sires ; worthy of the rich legacy they have left you ; worthy of the exalted position in which God has placed you, above all the nations under heaven. New-Jersey — awake ! be \dgilant, be brave. Old Virginia — that gave us our Washington — stand firm, and lead, as you once led, in the defence of liljerty. Pennsylvania — the key-stone of the Union — listen to your Buchanan, not your Johnston. New- York — Ije Empire State now, and discard those < >f your politicians who would have power at all events, though it must be at the hands of traitorous and heret- ical abolitionism. New-Hampshire — bring on your granite sons. Massachusetts — overboard with the tea of aljolition- isrn, that only maddens the brain and incites to the abo- lition of liberty. Vermont, the Green Mountain boys of Vermont — for your and our liljerty we call. Connecticut— you will not forget to tread in the steps of Brother Jonathan, Governor Trumbull. South Carolina-— away with your nullification and 20 FOUETH OF JULY. secession ! Your threatening attitude ill befits tlie Pal- metto State. Kentucky — pick your flint, and try it again. Never yield tke liberty in wMcli you have so illustriously figured. Tennessee — to your sacred trust have been committed the bones of Old Hickory, the hero of New-Orleans. Ohio — come up, Ohio, to the battle of the Lord against the mighty, and legislate against treason and heresy, as your Giddingses have legislated for them. From Maine to Florida, from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific Ocean — stand. State and Territory, like the stars that fought against Sisera. Stand shoulder to shoulder, as in the pahny days of our glorious Kevolution. England, Scotland, Ireland — stand off! Mind your own business. You have enough to do, to mourn over your own sins. Correct the evils that beggar and enslave your ten thousands or drive them to seek the charity of our generous Kepublic. THE UNITED STATES ! ! May they live for ever ! God save the United States ! May they go on from strength to strength, and from glory to glory, until the kinsfdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ ! ,-^' r-1 V> ,^' ^op^ •V^' "•J^ -S' J <^^.. . -^^^ ,^ C X' <^„ ^--ii^-^- > V .•^" ■•.•-i^'<-_ s - '. o jy ° " " ^ > c ' "■ J ^'^ •■ '= % ./■■ J .^'-r-- •-. "" >X'. A''' ■•^\ ' . « > ' P" ""o o « / '■^.t. cf f;- -^)' °o ^^. '^^ "Z^. ^b ■.•'V ^ - o « o - Jp- , 'ci- 0^ .o'^ ■^. ^ a"^' .-■> V. 0*^^ ^-0^ .H '^,. A '^. A^ .0* o "o ■^--r^ : -x^ ^.o :^ '' '^^^^.'-V ,^.0'-' "^^ <^ r<- "^J"• vT' ••'■■^<^'\... - - - ^ •y- ^E