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®l;i.'ilun|iton aiul tlif yilnion, 
 
 ORATION 
 
 JIK1.IVKKE1) BY 
 
 ly 
 
 HON. ROBERT M. PALMER 
 
 SPEAKER OF THE SENATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 5 
 
 The Raising of the National Flag on the Dome of the Capitol, 
 
 ox THE 22d day OF FEBRUARY. 1861. 
 

RATION. 
 
 TMs is a great occasion. The day, the place, the audience, the 
 surroundings, the purpose and meaning of this vast assemblage, — 
 all combine to mark it as long to be remembered. It is the anni- 
 versary of the Birth Day of Washington, and here, at the Capitol 
 of Pennsylvania, are assembled her invited and honored guest, 
 the President elect of the United States, her chosen Governor, 
 and the Representatives of her more than three millions of people, 
 together with a mighty concourse of their constituents. The 
 National Stars and Stripes — the Flag of our country — of a Nation 
 of thirty millions of free people — just raised to the pinnacle of 
 the dome, amid the exultant booming of cannon, the music of our 
 National airs, and the signs of great popular joy, by the hands of 
 veterans, who, nearly half a century ago, assisted to defend it 
 against a powerful enemy, on sea and land, in a glorious and suc- 
 cessful war, floats proudly over our heads. 
 
 And on this day, and in this presence, with the words of that 
 priceless legacy of his wisdom and patriotism to his country, his 
 Farewell Address, still sounding in our ears, you have directed me 
 to speak to you of Washington. A great American and a great 
 orator once said of true eloquence, that it must exist in the man, 
 in the subject, and in the occasion. The subject and the occasion 
 are present with us. Would that your chosen orator were more 
 nearly equal to his theme ! 
 
 This is not a newly established Anniversary, but the return of 
 an old one ; and although always hitherto celebrated by the 
 American people with pride and joy, there must be some cause for 
 
 (3) 
 
this unusual display of popular interest and enthusiasm. It is 
 found in the present condition of our National afiairs, in which 
 the hearts and minds of the people are turned to contemplate the 
 character, services and teachings of Washington, in order to draw 
 from the contemplation, lessons of wisdom to guide their action in 
 the present fearful emergency. And what more natural and 
 proper, Avhen our Union is threatened with destruction, than to 
 turn, with anxious earnestness, to him whose Avisdom assisted in 
 laying its foundations, Avhose valor established and sustained it, 
 whose virtues adorned it, and the influence of whose character 
 and example we all fondly hoped, had cemented and rendered it 
 perpetual ! 
 
 And if all the people of every other State in the Union were to 
 forget or neglect properly to celebrate this day at this time, yet 
 could the people of Pennsylvania neither forget nor neglect it. As 
 fully as Washington is identified with the American Union, so fully 
 is Pennsylvania identified with Washington. The great principles 
 of American Liberty, justice, purity and love of humanity, which 
 found in him their embodiment, were interwoven into the very 
 framework of our original Government, by its illustrious founder, 
 William Penn, and grew with our growth and strengthened with 
 our strength. It was in 1752, nearly a quarter of a century before 
 the Declaration of American Independence, under the direction of 
 Isaac Norris, Speaker of the General Assembly of the then 
 Province of Pennsylvania, that the old Bell, with its famous and 
 prophetic inscription, " Proclaim Liberty throughout the land, and 
 to all the people thereof," was cast and suspended in the steeple 
 of the State House in Philadelphia ; and it was but a just tribute 
 to the well known position of the State, that it was upon our soil 
 the sessions of the Federal Congress, which formed the first Federal 
 Union and appointed Washington Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Army, were held; it was upon our soil that the Declaration, the 
 great practical first step towards entire Independence, was made ; 
 and it was upon our soil that the Constitution of the United States? 
 which resulted in the present Union, was framed. How could 
 Washington do otherwise than rest with entire confidence in this 
 State and its people ? How can we do otherwise than revere his 
 memory and turn to him for aid, when the great fabric of American 
 
Constitutional liberty is threatened with destruction by internal 
 
 enemies 
 
 How the great Chief loved the Pennsylvania patriot and phi- 
 losopher, Benjamin Franklin, and how much he consulted his 
 judgment on the gravest questions, the world knows. How he 
 loved glorious Anthony Wayne, Penns^dvania's Quaker General, 
 and relied upon him in his times of greatest need, they also know ; 
 and for years, and to the day of Washington's death, the highly 
 prized portraits of Franklin and Wayne, graced the walls of his 
 home at Mount Vernon. And every schoolboy knows, that in 
 the darkest hour of the almost seven years' night of the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle, when hope seemed to have deserted the minds 
 of men, Wx\SlliNGTON turned to Pennsylvania's noble son, Robert 
 Morris, for relief, and received it. Nor can we forget that good 
 patriot, George Clymer, one of the Pennsylvania signers of the 
 Declaration, who so effectively assisted Robert Morris in his 
 financial arrangements for the struggling colonies ; or omit to 
 name among Washington's consistent friends and supporters, the 
 preacher General, Peter Muhlenberg, who so ably co-operated with 
 Wayne in that most brilliant action of his brilliant career, the 
 storming of Stony Point ; and the brave and noble General John 
 Cadwallader, one of the heroes of Germantown, Princeton and 
 Monmouth, who vindicated, at the risk of his own life, the reputa- 
 tion of his beloved Commander-in-Chief, in the punishment of the 
 leader of the "Conway Cabal." 
 
 But it was after the bloody and disastrous battle of Brandy wine, 
 and the ably planned and bravely fought, though unsuccessful 
 field of Germantown, — it was during the prolonged horrors of that 
 fearful winter at Valley Forge, that the people of Pennsylvania 
 learned to know Washington, to revere his character, and to 
 idolize his memory. There they saw an army destitute of every 
 comfort — naked, starving and freezing — yet, under the influence 
 of the personal presence, moral power and noble example of 
 their beloved General, exhibiting a patient suffering and fidelity 
 to principle which elicited the admiration of the world, and has 
 rendered Valley Forge more glorious to Washington and his 
 soldiers, than was Waterloo to Wellington and his victorious army. 
 It was this experience which bound Pennsylvania to Washington, 
 
6 
 
 and his great heart to lier, so that long years afterwards, when 
 the people of Western Pennsylvania were excited in opposition to 
 a law which they thought bore hard upon their interests, he had 
 sufficient confidence in her sons to come among them, and call 
 upon them to follow him to the re-establishment of peace and the 
 preservation of the authority of that Government which had been 
 framed upon her soil. 
 
 His first military achievement which gained him renown was in 
 Pennsylvania, when he rallied and rescued from the savages the 
 broken fragments of Braddock's proud army; and his last service 
 as a military commander was when he came amongst our distracted 
 and excited people, and by his courage and prudence re-established 
 peace and order. 
 
 The character of Washington, as illustrated during his military 
 services in Pennsylvania, and afterwards, during the years of his 
 residence at Philadelphia as Chief Magistrate of the Republic, by 
 his private and social virtues, stamped itself largely upon the people 
 and the institutions of our State ; and to his influence, more than 
 that of any other man, is it to be attributed that they have been and 
 remain unsurpassed by any other people for loyal patriotism, sterling 
 honesty, a love of truth and justice, a regard for the rights of 
 their fellow men, and an unshrinking constancy and fortitude 
 when summoned to the maintenance of these great principles. If 
 to this, candor induces us to add that, perhaps, our peculiar weak- 
 ness is a strong love of military glory, rank and display, and a 
 strong attachment to military heroes generally, the world will 
 recognize the weakness, if it be such, as one that does honor to 
 the people whom it characterizes, being but an excess of their de- 
 votion to him Avhom all mankind have not hesitated to pronounce 
 " of all men that have ever lived, the greatest of good men and 
 the best of great men." And so may it ever be, in all time to 
 come. May the ingenuous youth of Pennsylvania "still hold up 
 to themselves the bright model of Washington's example, and 
 study to be what they behold ; may they contemplate his character 
 till all its virtues spread out and display themselves to their 
 delighted vision ; as the earliest astronomers, the shepherds on the 
 plains of Babylon, gazed at the stars till they saw them form into 
 clusters and constellations, overpowering at length the eyes of 
 the beholders with the united blaze of a thousand lights!" 
 
You will not expect of me, in the limited time reasonably allot- 
 ted to this address, to attempt a detail of the life and services of 
 Washington. That work has been often and thoroughly per- 
 formed by abler tongues and pens. Ilis noble deeds have found 
 their best record upon the warm and grateful hearts of the Ameri- 
 can people, and there they will be preserved forever. The hearts 
 of the thousands about me are now throbbing with the glorious 
 recollections, and they do not ask me to assist in their recall. It 
 is to the grand results of all his labors, the Constitution and Union 
 of these States, undeniably the best form of Government that the 
 world has ever know^n, which have been recently attacked and 
 endangered, and the practical lessons afforded by his example and 
 the wisdom of his teachings, to which I propose to direct your 
 attention. 
 
 I am fully aware of the delicacy of the topic in the excitement 
 of the present time, but I conceive that it would not meet your 
 just expectations, as I am sure it would not satisfy my own sense 
 of the responsibilities and duties of the task you have assigned 
 me, were I to shrink from approaching the subject in this view. 
 And I pray you to rest assured that, in so doing, I have earnestly 
 endeavored to elevate myself above the petty considerations of 
 mere personal and partisan expediency, to the higher, clearer, and 
 purer atmosphere which naturally and properly surrounds the 
 great theme. 
 
 He who does not recognise in Washington the chosen instru- 
 ment of a Divine Power for the accomplishment of great and 
 benign purposes in behalf of mankind, takes but an Atheistic view 
 of the subject. In the events which, commencing with the dis- 
 covery of this continent, found their ultimate in the formation of 
 the American Union, a Providential design and control may be 
 clearly observed. The circumstances which surrounded the incep- 
 tion of the expedition of Columbus, the patronage of the good Queen 
 Isabella, in the face of the common and almost universal incredu- 
 lity, the great interest which she took in his object, even to the 
 pawning of her royal jewels to raise the necessary funds ; the 
 incidents of the voyage, with inexperienced and ignorant crews, 
 for days and nights out on the trackless and unknown ocean ; 
 the mutiny of the sailors, and the discovery of land in the very 
 
! 8 
 
 hour when, under threats of death from his mutinous men, Colum- 
 bus, according to his extorted promise, was about to attempt to 
 retrace his way, in utter failure and disappointment ; all this true 
 history constitutes a story of wonderful and romantic adventure, 
 which is not only deeply interesting, but which, in its most strange 
 coincidences and results, can hardly be deemed other than Provi- 
 dential, as having been guided and controlled by a higher than 
 human Power, for the establishment of a great nation on this vir- 
 gin continent. 
 
 No less wonderful are the events attending the early settlement 
 of this country. That England should see fit, by fierce and un- 
 reasonable religious persecutions, to drive out from amongst her 
 people that wonderful band of God-fearing men who made up the 
 precious freight of the MayfloAver, and sought these shores through 
 perils innumerable, yet disregarded by those brave hearts, for 
 conscience' sake, and for the sake of religious freedom, was surely 
 a policy hard to be accounted for on any rational principle. But 
 what Old England lost, New England gained a thousandfold ; and 
 the world everywhere has been vastly the gainer, for what the 
 persecutors meant for evil, God overruled for good. In their 
 original character, the settlers of New England were the chosen 
 men of the best blood of the earth ; and the trials and experiences 
 through which they passed, rendered them unsurpassed in manly 
 virtues and nobleness of character, by any other men who have 
 ever lived : 
 
 "Amidst the storm they sang, 
 
 And the stars heard and the sea; 
 And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang. 
 
 To the anthem of the free ! " 
 
 It was impossible that these men and their descendants should 
 ever be other than free men. They could not be slaves. The 
 Declaration of American Independence and the Revolutionary 
 War, resulting in the present Federal Union, were but natural and 
 logical sequences in the chain of events commencing Avith the 
 landing of the crew of the Mayflower on the rock at Plymouth. 
 And the God in whom they trusted, held these, His chosen people, 
 in the hollow of His hand, and preserved them and their posterity 
 for His own great purposes, in the regeneration of a Continent 
 
9 
 
 and the establishment of this great Government. It will not be 
 destroyed until it lias fully accomplished Ilis mission ; and •we do 
 not, cannot believe that that time has yet arrived ! 
 
 The extraordinary character of the men who composed the 
 Continental Congress, and selected Washington as their leader, 
 awakened the surprise and commanded the admiration of the world. 
 The papers issued by that body have deservedly been pronounced 
 master-pieces of practical talent and political wisdom. Chatham, 
 when speaking on the subject in the House of Lords, could not 
 restrain his enthusiasm. "When your lordships," said he, "look 
 at the papers transmitted to us from America, — when you consider 
 their decency, firmness and wisdom, you cannot but respect their 
 cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, I must declare 
 and avow, that in the master states of the world, I know not the 
 people or senate who, in such a complication of difficult circum- 
 stances, can stand in preference to the delegates of America 
 assembled in General Assembly at Philadelphia." 
 
 And of these giant men, Washington was the chosen leader, 
 and he justified their choice. What most forcibly impresses us at 
 this lapse of time, is the pcrfectness of his character. We may 
 not doubt, as a general truth, that "distance lends enchantment 
 to the view." Close inspection of the towering mountain — with 
 its hoary rocks, and frightful gulfs, and blasted trees, and stunted 
 shrubs — destroys the illusion of the "azure hue; " and though we 
 may be bowed into awe in the presence of its symbols of majesty, 
 the poetical dream of perfect symmetry has passed away from our 
 vision forever. We feel it to be thus in respect of all the great 
 men, the sages, the statesmen and warriors of antiquity ; and this, 
 too, though the perishing of annals and traditions affecting their 
 private life, awakens the suspicion that many of them are little 
 better than myths. It has been said that "no man is a hero to 
 his valet," and a knowledge of our own infirmities, and of the weak- 
 ness of our contemporaries, allows of little scruple in endorsing 
 that quaint conceit. We may concede it as applicable, in a greater 
 or less degree, to every mortal, in every age and clime ; yet it 
 would seem that one man, by reason of his singular merit, has 
 been exalted into a memorable exception by the unanimous verdict 
 of the civilized world. 
 
10 
 
 This judgment is not born of ignorance regarding his childhood 
 and youth, nor of the details of his eventful history, dating in the 
 energy and activity of early manhood and consummated in the 
 dignity and solemnity of Mount Vernon. He was peculiarly a 
 "marked man" from the middle of the eighteenth century imtil 
 its ending. Born in 1732, engaged in responsible duties at sixteen 
 years of age, and finishing his course in the closing month of 
 1799, he was so far the "observed of all observers" that no man's 
 life is more minutely recorded, in his domestic, social and public 
 relations. Kindred who loved him, friends who admired him, 
 enemies who feared him, spies who waited for his halting, traitors 
 who thought to supersede and destroy him, — all these, with loving 
 or with ogre eyes, and with abundant opportunities of knowing 
 what he was, in his inAvard life and its outward expression, make 
 and confirm the acknowledgment that he Avas every inch a man, 
 in the nobility of his sentiments, and in every respect of character 
 which rears the column of imperishable renown. 
 
 It is not as viewed through the gathering haze of distance that 
 Washington claims this honorable, universal testimonial ; nor is 
 there decreasing regard as we consider him, not in aggregated 
 completeness, but in the details of his thoughts and life. A few 
 fanatics, indeed, have, of late years, cursed his memory as a slave- 
 holder ; and others of an opposite extreme, may be equally bitter 
 in denunciation for a difierent reason ; yet the views of the great 
 moralist and statesman were far in advance of public enlighten- 
 ment on the vexed question of involuntary servitude, and those 
 views were confirmed by his deeds. 
 
 "I never mean," such was his record in 1786, "I never mean, 
 unless some particular circumstances should compel me to it, to 
 possess another slave by purchase ; it being among my first wishes 
 to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be 
 abolished by law." 
 
 Eleven years later, that record was renewed. " I wish," said 
 he, "I wish from my soul that the Legislature of this State could 
 see the policy of a gradual abolition of slavery. It might prevent 
 much future mischief," — a thought prophetic of embarrassments 
 which hang this day, as a dark cloud, upon the horizon of this 
 land of light and liberty. 
 
11 
 
 By his last will and testament, dated a few months preceding 
 his death, he provided for the emancipation of all his slaves, at 
 the same time expressing his regret that legal complications pre- 
 vented the immediate consummation of his wish that freedom 
 should forthwith be the inheritance of all whom he held in bonds. 
 The aged and infirm he directed to be comfortably clothed and 
 fed by his heirs ; and all the children bound to service until they 
 reached the ago of twenty-five years, he directed should be taught 
 to read and write, and be brought up to some useful occupation, 
 agreeably to the laws of Virginia, providing for the support of 
 orphan and other poor children. " And I do hereby expressly 
 forbid the sale or transportation out of the said Commonwealth of 
 any slave I may die possessed of, under any pretence whatever. 
 And I do, moreover, most pointedly and most solemnly, enjoin it 
 upon my executors to see that this clause respecting slaves, and 
 every part thereof, be religiously fulfilled." 
 
 Such were the long cherished views, and such the solemn in- 
 junction of the noble man whose birth we celebrate this day. I 
 make the allusion to his estimate of slavery with no sectional, 
 political or party feeling or interest, but in answer to the criticism 
 of extremists, who, on this hand, condemn him as a slaveholder, 
 and on that, ignore his comprehensive desire that the institution 
 of slavery should be utterly abolished ; and in justification of 
 Pennsylvania, and her ancient and consistent position on this sub- 
 ject. If the people of this State love their own free institutions 
 better than any other, it is largely because of the teachings and 
 example of Washington. 
 
 We usually consider it an axiom of justice, that a man should 
 be judged by the age in which he lived, and by the standard of 
 the community in which he has his citizenship. It is the high 
 encomium of Washington, that he has little need of the charity 
 which springs from this fair method of estimating character. He 
 was a slaveholder by inheritance, but an emancipationist by convic- 
 tion ; and it is a justifiable thought that, were he living this day, 
 he would indignantly rebuke that ultraism which, both on the ros- 
 trum and in the pulpit, has endorsed involuntary bondage as an 
 institution of value to both races, to be perpetuated world without 
 end. Gathered around Washington and standing reverently un- 
 
12 
 
 covered in his presence, we confirm his judgroent in the premises ; 
 yet would we also remember that he was the owner of men as 
 chattels, though he wished it were otherwise ; and so, in this 
 seemingly two-fold character, feel him to be a bond of union be- 
 tween the North and the South. 
 
 Is it only a fancy, indulged in my hasty preparation for this 
 occasion, or is it a reality growing out of the cross purposes of 
 Divine Providence, that the apparent incongruity to which I refer 
 was needed in the building up of a truly national man f Had he 
 ignored and practically condemned the institution of slavery — or, 
 being a slaveholder, had he upheld it as of Divine authority, or 
 as an institution honorable by reason of its morally wholesome 
 influences, little sympathy could have been awakened for him in 
 one or other of the extremes of our great Confederacy, as affecting 
 this overmastering element of governmental policy ; and this day 
 there would be silence in regard to his memory, or faint praise, in 
 one or other of those extremes, according as he had been wholly 
 on this side or on tliat of the absorbing question. Yet now may 
 we form a circle of brotherhood in this broad land of seemingly 
 adverse interests, and with Washington standing by the central 
 shrine of Political Liberty, claim him to be the National Man, 
 whose name shall yet recover the lost Pleiades, and restore the 
 harmony of the constellation of the Union ! 
 
 It is, therefore, with no partizan or sectional view that I refer, 
 on this occasion, to his practice and his convictions, in antagonism. 
 Rather would I make his mediatorial character a theme from which 
 may be derived a lesson of charity and conciliation, without any 
 compromise of principle. I would fain hope that as he stands in 
 majesty before us, extending one hand to the South and the other 
 to the North, we may bow ourselves to receive the blessings of the 
 Father of his Country, and rise invigorated by his spirit of 
 forbearance and concord. 
 
 If Napoleon or Wellington exceeded him in the splendor of 
 their military achievements, we must remember the masses they 
 controlled, and the feeble means at his disposal. lie more than 
 illustrated the "masterly inactivity" for which a great Roman 
 was renowned. But when occasion served, as at Trenton and at 
 Princeton, he stooped, like the eagle, upon the prey, and his 
 
13 
 
 proud and powerful enemies found, to their utter disma}^ mortifi- 
 cation and discomfiture, tliat, with all the disproportion of means, 
 wealth and power, there were " blows to be received as well as 
 given/ in the great contest for Liberty. And when we consider 
 the diverse and opposing interests of the Colonies engaged in the 
 War of Independence — that there was no consolidation, but only 
 a confederation of weak and insufficient powers to enforce its 
 decrees, and that Washingtox succeeded in harmonizing these 
 conflicting elements, educing order from this chaos, and in bring- 
 ing the war to a successful issue, it is here that the perfection of 
 his character and his statesmanlike qualities shine even more 
 conspicuously than in the after years of his accession to the 
 Presidency, when the experience of its necessity had compelled 
 the people to the adoption of the present Constitution, " in order 
 to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic 
 tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general 
 welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and their 
 posterity." 
 
 Through the long years of the Revolutionary struggle, in the 
 formation of the Constitution, and in the oro-anization and 
 administration of the Government, God was with Washington, 
 and has been with us, as a people, since. The tree of American 
 Liberty, which our fathers planted and nurtured with their blood, 
 has grown to be of mighty proportions and exceedingly beautiful, 
 so that many thousands of men, of all nations of the earth, have 
 gathered under its protecting branches, and sought comfort in its 
 shade. One practical lesson that we would draw from these great 
 truths is, that, as God was with Washington, and as his labors 
 and their results — the Constitution and the Union — met the 
 Divine approval, and have received the Divine support, there can 
 be no "higher law" for the American citizen than the Constitu- 
 tion of his country, and no higher duty after the service of the 
 God of our fathers, than the faithful observance and support of 
 that Constitution ; and that those who would " hawk at and tear 
 it," and by their teachings seek to set aside its binding force upon 
 our consciences, under pretence that there is a "higher law" for 
 us, are not to be regarded. The work of John Brown, in Vir- 
 ginia, whatever Northern fanatics may say, was not God's work, 
 
14 
 
 but that of tlie adversary of men ; and those who follow his 
 example, will meet and deserve his fate. So, those who would 
 have Pennsylvania repudiate an obligation of the Constitution of 
 the United States, under pretence that it is contrary to good con- 
 science to fuDS.! it, seek to be wiser than that Omniscience Avho, 
 for great and good ends, raised up Wasuington and his contem- 
 porary sages and patriots, and inspired their hearts. 
 
 And those Southern extremists, secessionists and disunionists, 
 who madly hasten to the destruction of the noble fabric of our 
 Government, under pretence of securing for themselves greater 
 freedom, prosperity and happiness, will gain only an immortality 
 of infamy, in comparison to which that of him 
 
 "Who fired the Ephesian dome," 
 
 is honorable distinction. 
 
 Not that I desire to be understood as advancing the doctrine 
 that the Constitution is perfect, and, therefore, not to be altered 
 or amended. Only that, as it stands, it is the most perfect instru- 
 ment of its kind, and has secured the best form of Government, and 
 the freest, happiest and most prosperous people that the world has 
 ever known, and that any alterations or amendments of it that 
 may become necessary, in our National development, need not be 
 sought by fanatical nullification or repudiation of its existing pro- 
 visions, nor by the hand of revolutionary violence, but may be 
 best had in the regular, peaceful and orderly mode provided in the 
 Constitution itself. The conclusion which we have drawn from the 
 work and teachings of Washington, that it is our highest duty as 
 citizens, to sustain the Constitution and faithfully carry out its 
 provisions, involves no unmanly sacrifice of principle, nor surren- 
 der of our own convictions, but it does involve the Christian duty 
 of "rendering unto Csesar the things which are Cesar's," and of 
 " doing unto others whatsoever we would that others should do 
 unto us." 
 
 I fully appreciate the entire and apparently irreconcilable dif- 
 ference of opinion at present existing between the people of dif- 
 ferent sections of our common country, on the subject of the insti- 
 tution of slavery, and I do not expect soon to see this diff'erence 
 removed. But is its existence necessarily a cause of strife and 
 
15 
 
 enmity of one portion of the people against another ? Can- 
 not we meet together as our fathers met, and discuss and de- 
 cide this, as they discussed and decided equally grave questions of 
 difference. Is there no other or better way to settle disputes in 
 this latter half of the nineteenth century, in the American Re- 
 public, and in the full blaze of Christian light and civilization, 
 than for brother possessors of a common heritage of liberty, to 
 war with each other, destroy the noble legacy of their fathers, 
 and their own prosperity and happiness, blight the rich future of 
 their posterity, devastate with fire and sword, and deluge in fra- 
 ternal blood, humanity's refuge — the world's last, best hope ? 
 
 Certainly such is not the lesson Pennsylvania learned from 
 Washington — certainly this is not the spirit nor these the objects 
 with which she Avill approach the question of the solution of our 
 present National difficulties. 
 
 When recently Virginia invited Pennsylvania to join with her 
 in an effort to preserve and perpetuate the work of Washington, 
 the invitation was promptly and cordially accepted. How could 
 Pennsylvania refuse the invitation of Virginia to such a work ? — 
 Pennsylvania and Virginia ! " Shoulder to shoulder they went 
 through the Revolution — ^hand in hand they stood romid the ad- 
 ministration of Washington, and felt his own great arm lean on 
 them for support;" and with the help of that God, in whom he 
 trusted, and in whose great name and fear he acted, and through 
 whose strength he triumphed, the sons of Virginia and Pennsyl- 
 vania sires will yet sustain the mighty fabric of the Union ! 
 
 And here to-day, assembled under the flag of our country, to do 
 honor to ourselves in honoring the name and memory of Washing- 
 ton ; in the presence of him whom the American people have re- 
 cently chosen to administer the duties of the high office which Wash- 
 ington first filled so admirably and with so much advantage to his 
 country, and of these noble men, whose brave hearts and strong 
 arms sustained its stars and stripes during the storm of war in 
 our country's youth, and by whose hands it has just been elevated, 
 the veterans who remain to remind us of the deeds of valor and 
 patriotism by which that flag has been made the universally re- 
 spected emblem of our National greatness, power and glory, let 
 us renew our vows of fidelity to the Constitution and the Union. 
 
16 
 
 Let us unite with them in a prayer to God, that " when our eyes 
 shall be turned to behold for the last time, the sun in Heaven, 
 we may not see him shining on the broken and dishonored frag- 
 ments of a once glorious Union ; on States dissevered, discordant, 
 belligerent ; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched it may be 
 it fraternal blood ! That their last feeble and lincrerinj]!; glance 
 may rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now hon- 
 ored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and 
 trophies streaming in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or 
 polluted, nor a single star obscured — having for its motto no such 
 miserable interrogatory as. What is all this worth ? nor those other 
 words of delusion and folly. Liberty first and Union afterivards ; 
 but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing 
 on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, 
 and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, 
 dear to every true American heart — "Liberty and Union, now and 
 fovever, one and inseperable !" 
 
 And may God protect and bless the President elect of the United 
 States, whom he has called to the performance of high and im- 
 portant duties at this solemn and difficult period in our hietory. — 
 The people of Pennsylvania, by their votes in favor of his election, 
 have confided their interests and their honor to his keeping, and 
 the vast destinies and future welfare of the Union are largely 
 committed to his charge. And here, in behalf of the people of 
 Pennsylvania, let me thank him for his recent public declarations 
 of fraternal feeling and justice of intention towards the people of 
 the Southern States — that " they are to be treated as Washing- 
 ton, Jefferson and Madison treated them — that their institutions 
 are in no way to be interfered with — that he will abide by every 
 compromise of the Constitution." And further, that " they are 
 our fellow-citizens, friends and brethren, equally devoted with our- 
 selves to the Constitution, and that there is no difference be- 
 tween them and us, other than the difference of local circum- 
 stances." These are the sentiments of Washington, and the 
 sentiments and principles Pennsylvania meant to sustain when 
 her people voted for Abraham Lincoln ; and if they be made 
 good by the President of our choice, as we trust and believe, and 
 are confident that he will make them good to the extent of his 
 
17 
 
 ability, peace and quiet and fraternal love will soon be restored 
 to our country, and with hearts overflowing with thankfulness to 
 Almighty God for rescue from threatened danger, and renewed 
 and invigorated by a sense of His kind Providence, in relieving 
 us from present perils, we will again enter on our former career 
 of glory and prosperity as a Nation ; and the people will rise up 
 and bless the name of him who was the chosen instrument in the 
 great work. 
 
 But whatever may be the result of these our National trials, 
 Washington belongs to the world and to mankind ; and if his 
 own countrymen see fit madly to cast away the priceless blessings 
 he so largely assisted to bestow upon them, the world elsewhere will 
 still remember to bless and cherish his memory as a distinguished 
 benefactor of his race — as one who assisted materially to advance 
 the best interests of humanity, and "when oblivion shall have 
 swept aAvay thrones, kingdoms and principalities — when human 
 greatness and grandeur and glory shall have mouldered into dust, 
 eternity itself shall catch the glowing theme and dwell with in- 
 creasing rapture on his name !" 
 
 In the erection of the Washington Monument there were con- 
 tributions from every nation and every clime ; from the half civil- 
 ized Mohammedans of the African coast; from the sands of Egypt, 
 a nation, whose history has long been lost in the dim ages of the 
 past — from the classic plains of Italy and Greece, those ancient 
 nurseries of the arts and sciences — from the newly found islands 
 of the Pacific — from every nation of modern Europe, as well as 
 from every mountain and valley of our own beloved land. These 
 will remain enduring monuments to his memory, even if the disrup- 
 tion of this country prevents that shaft from towering to the skies. 
 
 Should a dividing line be drawn between the North and South, 
 that spot upon the banks of the Potomac, where he passed the peace- 
 ful days of his life, and where his mortal remains now repose, will 
 ever be, to the philanthropist and the friend of liberty, hallowed 
 ground ; and the pilgrim from every land, when he visits the shores 
 of America, will turn his steps to that tomb, which the patriotism of 
 her daughters has given to futurity for an inheritance. For 
 
 " Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines, 
 
 Shrines to no creed or code confined ; 
 The Delphic groves — the Palestines — 
 
 The Meccas of the mind !" 
 
t./ 
 
 
 
 Itttashinnton and the iliiioii. 
 
 ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED BY 
 
 HON. ROBERT M. PALMER, 
 
 SPEAKini OF THE SENATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 AT II A II RIS BURG, 
 
 The Raising of tlie National Flag on the Dome of the 
 
 ON THE 22i) DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1861. 
 
W 7Z 
 

 
 
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