.W3P54 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DaD13^E7T^b -^ •.;«>'' j^ v-o^ ^^ ♦ V v^ • * • « s* ..y.^^-. % ,^- .-^ 9^^ .. •.>J ' .. '*v,'^^^'\t>^^' "o^'*':r,^%o^ "^'•.^«\^^' ^^-^^^ * ^K '^0^ ^^°^ • • • .\ * .^'\ \,^' .^'\ ip-'* v«o^ 'bV" '^0^ ,"^q. / ^^^ >^ "V^'^^V^ \'^^-'/^ "V^'^^^o'^ ^/i' >. ..** .'^ife;-. «. y .-ivi-. V .<^*' .•;saes: Digitized by tine Internet Archive in 2010 witii funding from Tine Library of Congress littp://www.arcliive.org/details/ceremoniesoncompOOpliil / ii? 10 ihe iVlu 11 LI I iii (»:iii1 ( V- n i i»,lcrf .H-i."^ SRStJTEV JTROM TICE HTZS.TON OF JOHN SJLRT.OJTN: TO Mcnvmmt CunrCerv ,Ph ? o rnsrs TS.V oteh T'R.oM Tiis ns si sir of John sartahst. CEREMONIES ON THE (tmilttlfs $1 tit Rtttrnttt, TO Jji^ f[^f[<)~f\^ OF Washington and Lafayette, IN THE MONUMENT CEMETERY OP PHILADELPHIA, 'S G. T. STOCKDALE, PRINTER, 117 SOUTH SECOND STREET. 1869. ^ ^ 3 (£> CORRESPONDENCE. Office of Monument Cemetery, June 3, 1869. William B. Mann, Esq. — Dear Sir : At a meeting of the Board of Managers, held on the 2d inst., the following resolution was adopted. ^'Resolved, That the Managers of Monunaent Cemetery return their thanks to William B. Mann, Esq. for his eloquent Oration, delivered on Saturday afternoon, the 29th ult., on the occasion of the dedication of the Monument, erected to the Memory of Washington and Lafayette, and that a. Com- mittee of three be appointed to wait upon Mr. Mann and request of him a copy of the Oration for publication." The undersigned, the Committee appointed under the above Kesolution, would be greatly obliged if you would comply with the request contained therein, and furnish them with a copy of the Oration at your earliest conve- nience. Yours, Respectfully, WILLIAM VOGDES, JOHN SAKTAIN, SAM'L. RAIN. Philadelphia, June 8, 1869. My Dear Sir: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note requesting, for publication, a copy of my address, delivered on the 29th ult., on the occasion of the completion of the Washington and Lafayette Monument. I enclose it herewith. — I assure you I esteemed it a very high compliment to be selected for so pleasant a duty, but I fear vay poor efforts failed to do justice to so great an occasion and imposing a ceremony. I am, very truly, yours, WILLIAM B. MANN. Wm. Voqdes, Esq., Ch'n. of Committee. INTRODUCTOEY REMARKS Made by Joseph Plankinton, Esq. Pees"t. of the Cemetery, ■ Ladies and Gentlemen: In the year 1837, a public spirited and enterprising citizen of the then Northern Liberties of Philadelphia, Dr. John A. Elkinton, whose remains repose near by, being the owner of a tract of land, of which the grounds here enclosed formed a part, he conceived the project of establishing a Cemetery. ■ And in the plan adopted by him, a Monument such as you see before you, was to be erected on this spot, and made a prominent feature of the proposed undertaking. Li pursu- ance of this proposed object a survey was made, and the ground laid out into lots and avenues as you now see it — as i,a,lso the circular plot, designed for the erection of the intended Monument. This done, the lots were oftered for sale by subscription at a sum, including five thousand dollars to be reserved as a Monument fund. The lots being all sold — the name it now bears was adopt- ed — a Board of Managers elected, and a charter obtained. Upon the organization of the Board of Managers, we (I say we, because I was one of the first Board) found ourselves Avithout any pecuniary means to make the needful improve- ments. The Monument fund was therefore borrowed, and applied, with the assessments upon the lots, to the improve- ment of the grounds. — And it was not until the year 1858 , that the Managers found themselves in possession of the means for restoring the borrowed fund, and to erect the Monument. And when erected, the want of suflicient means delayed the completion of it by placing the likenesses, inscrip- tions and ornaments thereon as you see it now standing before you, until the present year. 6 And ROW the duty lias devolved upon me of announcing to you that we have assembled here this afternoon, for the purpose of celebrating in a formal manner, the completion of this Monument, erected as I before stated, in accordance with the design originated by the founder of this burial place of the dead. — A Monument, and I believe the onlj^ material one in the State, certainly in the City of Philadelphia, in memory of that illustrious man, Avho by his courage and for- titude as the leader of the army of the American Revolution — his wisdom and prudence as a Statesman, and first President of the United States, and his many virtues as a citizen, so endeared him to his countrymen that by common consent, they conferred upon him the proud title of "the father of nis country" — Our own immortal Washington! Connected with his, is the name of one, who though not a native of our country, voluntarily left a home of ease and affluence, crossed the ocean and participated in our straggle for Independence; and by his subsequent career in his own country earned the title of a "votary of liberty in two hemispheres" — The noble, the generous, the gallant Lafayette. And now my further duty is to introduce to you, as now" I do, the orator of the occasion, William B. Mann, Esq. ORATION DELIVERED BY We are assembled to-day to celebrate with appropriate ceremony the completion of this Monument to Washington and Lafayette. After many unavoidable delays the struc- ture is now finished and has received the proper inscriptions, which record a people's gratitude toward their benefactors. And w^ell has this spot been chosen for such purpose. Here, amid the memorials which grief and affection have erected to the memory of the loved and lost, above the tombs which piety and gratitude have reared, this Monument, solid and enduring, stands pre-eminent to testify the remembrance of a grateful nation of those who were the most conspicuous, as well as the most deserving of all who achieved our inde- pendence, and laid the foundations of our government. In accepting the invitation to address you to-day, I assure you I was well aware of the difficult nature of the task. To speak to you of the Father of his Country, what terms can be chosen? To pronounce an eulogium of him is impos- sible. ■ In allusions to his fame eulogy has long since been ex- hausted. His name has been so inseparably connected with the history of his country in its great struggle for independ- ence, that every American in early childhood learns to honor and revere the memory of WASiirNGTON. N^or can we ever forget the youthful and generous stranger who espoused our cause in its darkest hour, and by great services rendered his name worthy to be placed side by side with our hero and Washington. and Lafayetie! What reminiscences does not the recital of these names call up? The mind goes back to the early struggle, the dark hour, the varied fortunes of that long contest, when the interest of unborn millions was at stake; and sensations are awakened which cause our hearts to thrill with aflection and gratitude. We contrast our wonderful progress, our great power so recently developed, our extended territory, with what it was when a few feeble colonies defied the power of Britain, and we are amazed in comparing the present with the past. It is well for us to pause at times, in the midst of our un- rivalled progress as a people, to do homage to those who were mainly instrumental in founding our noblest structure of civil and religious liberty. Every nation, every age, every great epoch, has its heroes, and they are reverenced by the devotion with which their followers maintain and perfect their work. In despotic governments, where the people are subjects- and not rulers, heroes brighten and fade as the swelling and receding waves of popular passion sweep thrones and titles out of existence, and erect new ones to repeat the triumph and fall of despotism; but in this favored land of popular government, our heroes are revered, from generation to gen- eration, from age to age, and our children, and our children's children, will worship at the same shrines, and bless the same great names we bless to day, as the chief authors of our freedom — Washington and Lafayette. Had these great heroes failed and fallen, their names would still be lisped with affection throughout the civilized world, wherever human liberty has its vot^iries; but, in the provi- dence of an all-wise God, they were directed to the achieve- ment of the crowning benefaction to mankind. In France, Lafayette won victory for the people against despotism in 1789, but the priceless boon Avas sacrificed to passion, and France ceased to be free. Since then, every dynasty has had its revolution, and an Imperial master is the last oftspring of the betrayed republic of 1849. jSTot so with the revolution of our colonial fathers. Their chieftans, like their people, were impelled to rebellion by the noblest aspirations for liberty. They were lovers of peace, and resorted to the terrible arbi- 9 trament of the sword only when "resistance to tyrants became obedience to God." They bled and died, and sacrificed, be- cause their disenthrallment was dictated alike by the crudest necessities and the noblest purposes; and they chose their • leaders because they embodied their stern integrity and high resolves to win liberty as an offering to the l^ew World. They triumphed, and behold the fruition of their sacrifices and heroism. Thirteen feeble colonies, with but little more than two millions of population, scattered along nearly two thousand miles of exposed seacoast, and extending to the sun- set side of the Alleghenies — with many of the most wealthy and influential openly and actively in sympathy with their oppressors — assumed the mighty task of establishing free government. Through eight sad years of privation and min- gled triumphs and disasters they fought the battle of human rights; and when the proud armies of King George held our chief cities, and credit, and even hope itself, seemed to have fled, faith in the God of Justice made the people only more inflexible in their purpose to maintain the immortal declara- tion for the defence of which they had accepted war — "That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," * * * and "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States. Since then nearly a century has passed away, and the votaries of Washington and Lafayette have, each succeed- ing year, been' gathering richer and still richer harvests to elevate and ennoble the human race. The great empire of human freedom stretches from ocean to ocean, from the eternal snows of the North, to the gulfs of the sunny South, and its progressive civilization is as expansive as the con- tinent. More than thirty millions of people now enjoy the free institutions won by fearful baptism in the blood of our revolutionary fathers, and thirty-seven States make up the family that clusters in freedom's brilliant galaxy. It has had sore trials. It had to re-adjust the status of the American republic in 1812, w^ith the still unfriendly parent Govern- ment. It has had rebellion, as desperate and bloody as it 10 Avas causeless, bat the fierce crucible chastened the Union to perfected libert}', and to still higher and nobler advancement in man's great struggle for man. Whether in war or in peace, whether foreign or domestic dangers threatened or assailed; whether shattered credit or internal discord, or despotic hatred of our institutions confronted us, the safety of the nation has ever been, as it was under the lead of Wash- ington and Lafayette, and as it ever will be, in the virtue, the intelligence, and the self-sacrificing patriotism of Ameri- can people. History-, both ancient and modern, is replete with heroes. Ambition has crimsoned the record of every nation, and often been gratified at the cost of liberty and law. Of the heroes of history, how few, alas, are the heroes of humanity, and the victors over ambition ! Of these noble few, there are no names more deeply enshrined in the grateful mem- ories of free people, in every clime, than Washington and Lafayette. If they had worshipped at the shrine of ambition, their wildest dreams of fame could not have measured their achievements. A fame wide as the world, enduring as time, and unstained by selfishness or envy, who could calculate it in the dark days of the infant republic? Who could have con- ceived the vastness, the might, the progress, the grandeur of the empire thej^ were about to rear ? Who could have bid ro- mance yield to the strange but truthful story of States, three thousand miles distant from each other, washed by the waves of the Atlantic and the Pacific, represented in a common capital; their people in hourly communication; their com- merce exchanging weekly by continuous highway' of the iron horse, and all obeying a common Constitution, and devoted to a common country? Alexander won empire, but his fame was written in the blood of wanton war; Rome, under her multiplied heroes, was mistress of the Avorld; but the am- bition that made her great is the author of her decline and fall. Her monuments are buried in the ruins of her ancient capital, and the world is not better because of her once boasted glory. ]S"apoleon, "whose bloody footsteps," in the language of Lafayette, France followed " through the sands of Egypt, and through the snows of Kussia, over fifty fields of battle, 11 in disaster as faithfully as in victory," and for which she mourned "the blood of three millions of Frenchmen," made his name immortal; but did not make his worshippers free. Ambition has made men known to fame, in all ages, but the names are exceptional which are memorable for a singleness of devotion to the disenthrallment of their people. When we meet to do homage to the memory of Wash- ington and Lafayette, we bow at an altar that the pollution of inordinate ambition has left unstained and untouched. Their lives were as blameless as their deeds were heroic. Their fame is the fame of the liberator, the benefactor, and the one every tongue confesses as the "Father of his Country," and the other, the great "votary of Liberty in two hemispheres." ]!^either of them invoked war. Both had responded to the call of their countries before the advent of the bloody drama that made them chieftains; but they sought not to win re- nown through the flame and tempest of battle. Washington was called unexpectedly from his private pursuits to the com- mand of the army, and long hesitated before accepting it. War was not his trade, nor in harmony with his tastes; but when duty called him he obeyed, and he faithfully and suc- cessfully discharged his high trust. There were those about him who were ambitious, and they were not his friends. They fought for fame — Washington fought for his country; and neither the disgraceful jealousies of lieutenants; the per- il dy of one of his most trusted subordinates; the clamor of a sorely suffering people; the prostration of credit, nor the repeated disasters in the field, could for a moment swerve him from his accepted duty. Always wise and prudent in counsel, intrepid and skillful in battle, temperate in victory, and undaunted in adversity, he is the model military chieftain of history. And when his armies were triumphant and peace and independence were brought back upon his banners, he refused to mar the freedom he had won, and ruled in re- publican simplicity and manly fidelity, until the problem of government was solved, when he retired, the model hero of the world. By his side came an ardent youth, not yet two score in. years, and proftered his life for the liberation of the colonies. He was of noble birth and of independent fortune; 12 he had home, friends, culture, honors, and everything to tempt him to ease and enjoyment. He came when the darkest shadows enveloped the patriot cause. 'New York and Foi-t Washington had been lost, and Washington had retreated through Xew Jersey. He asked neither commis- sion nor pay, but Congress declared him a Major General, intending the commission to be honorary; but the youth proved his fitness for a division, as he sealed hi^ devotion to liberty by his blood, at Brandy wine. Twice he returned to France to aid the struggling Colonists, and when the French became an ally, he bore from King Lou is XVI to Washington, a commission appointing him a Lieutenant General in the French Army, and Yice-Admiral in the French ISTavy, to ena- ble him to command the united forces battling for our indepen- dence. Throughout the entire struggle, wherever he could best serve the cause, there was thisyoung chieftain, and not till England fully assented to the separation, was the sword of La- fayette sheathed, or his means and efibrts withheld from the revolution. And when he had aided so conspicuously to found the new Empire of Freedom, and its civil honors were offered him by both Washington and Jefferson, he modestly de- clined them all, and returned to complete in France what he had so gloriously begun here. When the people of France declared for a liberal government, he joined the Assembly in abolishing feudal titles, and voluntarily laid down that of Marquis, to be known thenceforth by the title he had won in the noblest of hej-oic struggles — a General in the patriot army. His eventful and noble life was extended beyond the period allotted to mortals, but it was ever devoted to the ad- vancement of liberty and justice. Banished from his native land by the passions which ruled with Robespierre, and con- fined in a felon's cell in Austria, he returned to France to re-enter the councils of the nation during the perils of Napoleon's abdication; and subsequently, by special invita- tion of Congress, he visited the United States, to be welcomed by the hearty plaudits of a mighty nation. He was present, in 1825, at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument. Mr. Webster, in his address there delivered, turned to Lafayette, and accostedhim in these words : 13 "Sir, we are assembled to comraeraorate the establishment of great public principles of liberty, and to do honor to the distinguished dead. "The occasion is too severe for eulogy to the living; but, sir, your interesting relation to this country, the peculiar circumstances which surround you and surround us, call upon me to express the happiness ^\4iich we derive from your presence and aid in the solemn commemoration, "Fortunate, fortunate man, with what measures of devo- tion will you not thank God for the circumstances of your extraordinary life. "You are connected with both hemispheres and with two generations. "Heaven saw fit to ordain that the electric spark of liberty should be conducted through you from the JSTew "World to the Old; and we, who are now here to perform this duty ot patriotism, have all of us long ago received it in charge from our fathers to cherish your name and your virtues. "You will account it an instance of your good fortune sir, that you crossed the seas to visit us at a time which enables you to be present at this solemnity. "You now behold the field, the renown of which reached you in the heart of France, and caused a thrill in your ar- dent bosom. "You see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the incredible dilligence of Prescott, defended to the last extreni- ity by his lion-hearted valor, and within which the corner- stone of our monument has now taken its position. "You see where Warren fell, and where Parker, Gardener, McCleary, Moore, and other early patriots fell with him. "Those who survived that day, and whose lives have been prolonged to the present hour, are now around you. "Some of them you have known in the trying scenes of war. "Behold, they now stretch forth their feeble arms to em- brace you. Behold, they raise their trembling voices to invoke the blessing of God on you and yours forever. " Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundations of this edifice; you have heard us rehearse with our feeble commend- 14 ation the names of our departed patriots. Sir, moiuiraents and eulogy belong to the dead. We give them this day to "Warren and liis associates. On other occasions they have heen given to your more immediate companions in arms; to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, Sullivan and Lincoln. "Sir we have become reluctant to grant these, our highest and last honors, further; we would gladly hold them yet back from the little remnant of that immortal band. Serus in cadiim redeas. Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, very far distant be the day when any inscription shall bear your name, or any tongue pronounce its eulogy." Alas, that far distant day has come, and the great orator who then spake; and the hero that then listened, both sleep now the sleep that knows no wakening. "Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. ISTow let the inscription bear the name of Lafayette, and every tongue pronounce his eulogy. Let us place his name upon our monuments beside that of our "Washington. For as they fought and endured together, so let their names be jointly treasured. Let the youths of America study their history and emulate their example. Tlie wasting hand of time will eflace these inscriptions; the neglect of those who come after us may fail to renew them; the stones that constitute this pile may become a heap of ruins; our proudest n).emorials may fall into decay, and perish from the earth; "When water-drops have worn these stones away, And blind oblivion swallowed cities up; let us fondly hope that even then the great fabric of Consti- tutional Government erected by our forefathers shall continue to exist from age to age, the proudest and most enduring monument of the name and fame of those great benefactors of mankind, who will only be forgotten when liberty has no altar, or freedom no votary to worship at its shrine. .^ms ^r CEREMONIES ON THE m^ ^^Hm tl lit H^ttttrntut^ ^-^^^V -i^ -^ ^ V vv ^ rs^.Js^ TO jji^ fijifi'OHy OF Washington and Lafayette, IN THE MONUMENT CEMETERY OF PHILADELFIIIA, G. T. STOCKDALE, PRINTER, 117 SOUTH SECOND STREET, 1869- "^i^^^S^^^^ ii&&&&&&&'S& "THE MOKHMENT CEMETERY OF PHILADELPHIA," COMMENCED SEPTEMBER 1, 1837, Incorpoi'ated hy the Legislature 3Iarch 19, 1S38, Present Oncers and 3Ianagers : F*residen<, J0SE:I>H P»LANIiIJS"TON". Secretary, ENOCH TA^VrLOK.. Treasurer, AVILLIAIM VOGJDES. INIanagers, JOSEPIT PIAN_KINTON; : . ._ CHARLES TYRELL, LXbfll lAY lOR, :" DAVID B. BENTLEY,, WILLIAM VOGDES, """^ ' SAMUEL RAIN, yC/VJN MK-TAINj', ,. •■ CHARLES ERINTTZINGnOrFER, .SPJErjCiHTl fti»KJR.Tf5..' r HENRY ROHKMAN, GEURGE R. JOHNSON, JOHN W. MASSEY, UE.NRY SCHELL, DANIEL WITHAM, JACOB KNIGHT. B D '04 • • •* ^ aT" O^ • , , « "h .*'\ C,sP ^°v '^ •' \* .. •^ ••• ♦•^ m \m If u f i liit? 'I Hi m •mmmt\ i ;l:i.>l t !^!MJ •i *JiP l?mi ^ikw' ^ll!« f!«-^^m?*p|l '((H>(i I iS j?*f ii im