Glass. 
 
 \r.ZQZ 
 
 Book ■ M 7*3 
 

 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 SOCIETY SONS OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI, 
 
 AT THEIR 
 
 Annual Meeting, February 22, 1895, 
 
 AT ST. LOUIS, MO., 
 
 RT. Rev. DANIEL SYLVESTER TUTTLE, D. D., S. T. D., 
 
 (Bishop of Missouri,) 
 
 President of the Society Sons of the Revolution in the 
 State of Missouri. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 
 
 ST. LOUIS: 
 Woodward & Tiernan Printing Company, 309 to 319 North Third Street. 
 
 1895. 
 
By transf et 
 
 FEB 9 1916 
 
 A 
 
WASHINGTON AND THE UNION. 
 
 FELLOW countrymen ! brother Americans ! I ask of you to 
 rest your thoughts awhile upon Washington, and particu- 
 larly upon Washington as he stood connected with our 
 American Union. 
 
 Let us first recall briefly the marked facts of Washington's life. 
 
 He was born in Virginia, on this day, in the year of 1732. 
 Before he was twelve years old his father died. Though his 
 father was wealthy and a large property was left to his mother, 
 yet he was not sent to England, according to the custom of the 
 wealthy Virginians, to be liberally educated. A plain, practical 
 education fitting for business seems to have been all that he 
 attained. A favorite branch of study with him was surveying. 
 When only sixteen years old he took full charge of a survey of 
 Fairfax's extended estate. Much of this survey was over what is 
 now the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah. For three years he 
 continued this work of a surveyor. In these three years of his 
 young life his physical endurance was well tested, his powers of 
 observation quickened, his self-reliance strengthened, his patience 
 and perseverance tried and found true, his resources under difficul- 
 ties developed, and useful knowledge about forests and the Indians 
 inhabiting them acquired. 
 
 In 1751 troubles arose between the French and English settlers 
 about Western lands, — the Ohio grants. Virginia, to be ready for 
 hostilities, was divided into military districts. In one of these 
 districts Washington, a youth of nineteen, through the influence 
 of his brother Laurence, was made adjutant-general with the 
 rank of major. Laurence Washington was a man of culture and 
 influence, the owner of an estate on the banks of the Potomac 
 which he called Mount Vernon after the British Admiral 
 Vernon, under whom he had served in the Spanish war. In 
 
June, 1752, the brothers Laurence and George took a trip to 
 Barbadoes in the West Indies for the benefit of the health of 
 Laurence. This is the only time that George Washington ever 
 set foot off the shores of his native America. The trip did 
 Laurence little good. He died that year leaving George the 
 guardian and eventual inheritor of Mount A r ernon. Thus at 
 twenty years of age Washington was manager of a large estate on 
 the banks of the Potomac, and adjutant-general in organizing and 
 equipping the militia in a district of Virginia. Both of these 
 pursuits were much to his taste. From a school-boy he had a 
 passion for arms. A fondness for farming he always showed. 
 With the help of two old soldiers of the Spanish war he acquired 
 knowledge and practice of the manual of arms, and of some evolu- 
 tions in the field. The differences between the French and 
 English settlers concerning the land along the Ohio being still in 
 agitation, the Governor of Virginia sought for a fit man whom he 
 could send on special embassy to the French Commander. The 
 man must be strong ; for 600 miles through the wilderness were 
 to be traversed, — and that too in the depth of winter. He must 
 be brave ; for this wilderness was full of savages, and he was to 
 go without a military escort, indeed, almost alone. He must be 
 wise ; for his diplomacy and tact were to be pitted against the 
 wiles of Frenchmen and the cunning of Indians. Major Wash- 
 ington, twenty-one years old, was the strong, brave, wise man 
 chosen for this duty ; and his duty he performed faithfully and 
 successfully during the wjnter months of 1753. From this time 
 Washington was a marked man. Hostilities between the French 
 and English commencing, Virginia raised a regiment of troops in 
 which Washington was appointed Lt.-Colonel. Soon after, by 
 the death of the Colonel, he became, at twenty-three years of age, 
 Colonel commanding the forces raised. In this, his first cam- 
 paign, Col. Washington met with reverses as well as successes. He 
 was compelled to give up to the French, on terms of capitulation, 
 a fort in which he was entrenched. In the war ensuing, known as 
 the " seven years' war," and terminated after the victory of Wolfe 
 at Quebec, Washington was more or less actively engaged ; — as 
 volunteer on Gen. Braddock's staff, — as adjutant-general raising 
 troops and putting them into the field, — and as Commander-in- 
 Chief of Virginia's forces. 
 
Looking over the history of these seven years, we are struck 
 with the admirable training which they gave him in preparation 
 for his future duties and trials. Having resigned his colonelcy 
 from a high toned sense of honor, — because provincial officers 
 bearing the Governor's commission were rated inferior to regular 
 officers bearing the King's commission, and because he would not 
 serve under a junior in rank, — it was as a volunteer that he 
 accompanied Braddock's disastrous expedition, a volunteer on the 
 General's staff, paying out of his own pocket for his horses and 
 equipments. 
 
 So situated he learned valuable lessons in this expedition. It 
 was to him what we might now call a West Point education. 
 General Braddock, whatever his faults, was brave in danger, 
 thorough in discipline, systematic and orderly in his plans and 
 their execution, and accomplished in all the military knowledge 
 of a regularly educated and experienced British officer. On his 
 staff, Col. Washington had opportunity to see in perfection, what 
 he had never seen before, the appointments, management, and 
 actions of a force of regular soldiers. His sagacity studied, and 
 noted for future use and guidance, — in the camp, the details and 
 tactics of regular military discipline, — on the march, the best 
 ways of conducting forward and retreating movements, — on the 
 field, the most efficient mode of disposing and handling large 
 bodies of men in evolution. No little, too, did he learn from 
 actual experience on the battle field, where his coat was riddled 
 with balls and two horses were shot under him; and, where, on 
 the occasion of Braddock's defeat, his chief and brother aids being 
 struck down, he alone was left to evoke order out of confusion 
 and to save from utter ruin the fortunes of the day. 
 
 As adjutant-general, charged with the duty of raising and 
 equipping the militia of Virginia, he found it difficult to get 
 troops. Then it was hard for him to secure from the dilator}- 
 Legislature the necessary appropriations for equipment and pay. 
 Then it was harder for him to introduce among the troops sub- 
 mission to discipline, necessary to efficiency. The notion of war 
 which they liked and meant to follow was on this wise ; — that 
 they must select for themselves the officers under whom they 
 would serve ; they must choose for themselves what orders were 
 wise and right and ought to be obeyed ; they must decide for 
 
themselves when it would be well for them to throw up their 
 fighting and go home to their plowing. If in the field with them 
 in the face of danger he found it hardest of all to secure order 
 and method, or to prevent his armed yeomanry from choosing 
 their own places and following their own ways, that each one 
 might fight as he wished and run when he wanted to. 
 
 As Commander-in-Chief of the forces raised, troubles too were 
 his. If any officers under him chanced to hold a royal commis- 
 sion, they were insubordinate and insolent. A medley of ambig- 
 uous and contradictory orders poured in upon him from the 
 Governor. Maryland and Pennsylvania and North Carolina were 
 jealous of Virginia, and whenever any troops from these colonies 
 were under him they gave him trouble. And while for all these 
 reasons his power was restricted, he was vexed to know that he 
 would be held responsible for results, however bad, of such an 
 unsatisfactory state of things. 
 
 I have called special attention to these seven years, for they 
 were Washington's schooling time. Acquaintance with actual 
 war, its ways, its wants, and its reverses; struggles against diffi- 
 culties, patience under them, perseverance in spite of them ; and 
 experience of the evils of want of discipline in troops, and of 
 the greater evils of want of unity and brotherhood in colonies, — 
 trained and fitted the Col. Washington of twenty-five years of 
 age to be the General Washington and President Washington of 
 after time. 
 
 In 1759 Washington married Mrs. Martha Custis, widow of 
 John Parke Custis, Esq., and retired to Mount Vernon. Here in 
 comparative retirement he remained for fifteen years, giving care 
 to the cultivation of his extensive lands. In comparative retire- 
 ment, I say, for during this time he was a member of the House 
 of Burgesses, or Legislature, of Virginia and attended its sittings. 
 Seldom or never did he rise on the floor of the House to speak. 
 He was no orator. When first taking his seat, by vote of the 
 House, thanks were returned to him for his military services to 
 Virginia. In rising to reply, Washington blushed, stammered, 
 stumbled, and was obliged to sit down in confusion. Washington 
 was a wise and influential legislator because of his good sense, 
 sagacity, sound judgment and dispassionate wisdom, but was no 
 orator. Nor needed that Legislature oratory from him. By his 
 
side sat Patrick Henry to supply all such need, one of the most 
 wonderful and effective orators that the world ever heard. 
 
 Perhaps, in deliberative assemblies nowadays, if some of us 
 would be content to cultivate and exercise the good sense which, 
 it may be, is in us, after the example of Washington, and not 
 painfully strain after the eloquence of a Patrick Henry, which 
 certainly isn't in us — perhaps we would be of no less value to the 
 community, and contribute quite as much to the promptness and 
 wisdom of deliberated results. 
 
 In 1774 the colonies began their concerted struggles against 
 Great Britain ; not yet for independence, for the journal of the 
 first Continental Congress closes with this fervent declaration, — 
 " That your Majesty may enjoy every felicity through a long and 
 glorious reign over loyal and happy subjects, and that your 
 descendants may inherit your prosperity and your dominions till 
 time shall be no more, is, and always will be, our sincere and 
 fervent prayer ;" nor yet against present felt oppression, for the 
 trifling import tax of three pence per pound on tea, all the others 
 being repealed, could not be counted burdensome ; — but for the 
 steady assertion and sturdy maintenance and demanded recogni- 
 tion of the principle that there should be " no taxation without 
 representation.' ' 
 
 The first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia on the 5th 
 of September, 1774, and sat with closed doors for more than fifty 
 days. Washington and Patrick Henry were among the delegates 
 from Virginia. When the latter was asked who was the greatest 
 man in that body, he modestly replied, — " If you speak of elo- 
 quence in debate, Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina ; " and then 
 added, — " If you speak of solid information and sound judgment, 
 Col. Washington was unquestionably the greatest man on that 
 floor." 
 
 The second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, May 
 10th, 1775. Washington took his seat in this Congress also, but 
 was not allowed to remain in it long. Blood had been shed at 
 Lexington and Concord, and armed resistance must be organized. 
 In June he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the colonial 
 forces raised and to be raised. He immediately left for Boston to 
 assume actual command, arriving there shortly after the battle of 
 Bunker Hill. Nor yet was the war for nationality. It is a whole 
 
year yet before Jefferson prepares, and the members of this second 
 Congress sign, the memorable Declaration of Independence. The 
 two armies are not yet called British and American, but Minis- 
 terial and Continental. 
 
 I do not propose to follow the history of Washington's career 
 throughout the War of the Revolution. In June, 1775, he 
 received his commission as Commander-in-Chief from Congress 
 at Philadelphia. In December, 1783, he resigned the same into 
 the hands of Congress at Annapolis. For eight and a half years 
 his was the most trying and responsible position in America. 
 Having escaped from it, he welcomed six years of tranquil, happy 
 life at Mount Vernon. In 1789 he was drawn again from his 
 home to become the first President of the United States. In this 
 capacity he served his country wisely and well for eight years. 
 
 Then eagerly he returned once more to the quiet life of his 
 loved Mount Vernon. God spared him to his home and to his 
 countrymen for two years, and then, just as the eighteenth cen- 
 tury was dying out of the present into the past, He took him, — 
 our Washington, — unto Himself, — who doubts it, — " the greatest 
 of good men, and the best of great men," we humbly and ear- 
 nestly believe. 
 
 May I now call your attention to the American Union, and to 
 the fact that we owe its existence, its strength, its manifold 
 blessings, under God, to Washington ? 
 
 I beg you to remember that when our Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence was made, it issued from the representatives not of one 
 American people, but of thirteen distinct colonies; when our war 
 of Independence was fought, it was fought not by united Amer- 
 icans, but by English colonists, and Dutch colonists, and Swedish 
 colonists, and German colonists, joining themselves together with 
 the one purpose, to be free from the odious tyranny of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 When our Independence was achieved, there was no one 
 American Government ready to receive the heritage and retain 
 it and transmit it, but, instead, thirteen sovereign and independ- 
 ent States, no longer compelled to work together, and ready, now 
 that the pressure of war with a foreign foe was removed, to part 
 asunder under the centrifugal forces of local prejudices, diverse 
 habits and clashing interests. By whom, under whose influence, 
 
then, were we changed and made one American people? I 
 answer, by and under no one man so much as Washington. 
 
 By circumstances, character, and abilities, Washington was 
 eminently fitted to be the founder of our Union. He was native 
 born, and had but once, and then only for a few weeks, left the 
 shores of the American Continent. He was strong in body, noble 
 in person, courteous in manners. He was a good business man, 
 and it is wonderful to note how minutely and thoroughly, by an 
 uninterrupted weekly correspondence with his Superintendent, he 
 maintained personal management of his farm and estate through- 
 out the whole Revolutionary war. He was a rich man ; possessed 
 after his marriage with Mrs. Custis, of one of the most ample 
 fortunes in Virginia. For his services as General in the Revolu- 
 tion he would not accept one cent of pay, but called only for the 
 reimbursement of the 14,500 pounds which he had actually 
 expended for the cause out of his own private funds. He was 
 eminently wise ; not coldly and narrowly wise for himself 
 merely, but calmly, thoughtfully wise for his country, for others, 
 and for himself. His comprehension of contingencies, his sagac- 
 ity of judgment, his discretion in words and acts, and his earnest 
 diligence to acquaint himself honestly with the merits of both 
 sides of every question, were rare indeed. Above all he was a 
 man good and true ; unfailing in rectitude, unswerving in integ- 
 rity, firm in the right, faithful to duty; conscientiously alive to 
 the rights of others, earnestly prayerful to God to guide and 
 sustain him in ways acceptable in His sight. 
 
 Rare elements are these which have been enumerated to meet 
 in one man. But they did meet, — strength, riches, business 
 qualifications, moderation, firmness, wisdom, conscientiousness, 
 goodness, — in Washington ; and they gave him power and 
 influence, and fitted him for the great work of changing revolted, 
 segregated colonists into a united American people. 
 
 Thus fitted for the good work was Washington the man. It 
 now behooves me to show, as briefly as I may, how Washington 
 the soldier and Washington the statesman wrought the good 
 work. 
 
 The military troubles and triumphs of Washington for the 
 eight-and-a-half years in which he was Commander-in-Chief of 
 our armies I am not about to enumerate. Of brilliant victories 
 
10 
 
 in the field his career was very bare. I can call to mind but two, 
 the battle of Trenton and the seige of Yorktown. But when I 
 know that as a Southern Commander the Northern troops were 
 naturally disinclined to serve under him ; that the soldiers 
 assigned him were raw and undisciplined, hoping and expecting 
 to get home next week or next month to their plows and firesides ; 
 that able officers like Lee and Gates were selfish and only half 
 patriotic; while patriotic officers like Ethan Allen and Putman 
 were rash and wrongheaded ; that he was without powder from the 
 start, and scarce ever could secure a well ordered commissariat ; 
 that in the winters at Valley Forge and Morristown officers and 
 soldiers were starved and shoeless ; that State Legislatures in 
 their insane jealousies would not furnish him needful forces and 
 supplies ; and that, because of his caution and his firm resistance, 
 notwithstanding loud clamours, to all temptations to embark in 
 rash, wild ventures, he was derided on the floor of Congress as a 
 stupid, timid, weak, inefficient Fabius, and that body was at the 
 point of superseding him by Gen. Charles Lee, — when I know 
 this and know also that ever, through it all, that patriotic 
 commander was firm in the right, brave in his heart, wise in his 
 work, loyal to duty, true to his country, trustful in his God, and 
 hopeful to the last, — then do I say that Washington triumphed 
 gloriously as never soldier triumphed before over enemies, over 
 circumstances, over himself, and plucked glory for himself, free- 
 dom for us, help for the world, from the very darkness of 
 engulphing desperation. 
 
 But of Washington the soldier I meant not now to speak > 
 only of Washington as laying the foundations for the Union in 
 his influence and pleadings while he was a soldier. 
 
 No sooner had he taken command at Boston than he was 
 grieved to note the prevalence of sectional jealousies. Connecticut 
 men were unwilling to serve under officers from Massachusetts, 
 and Massachusetts men under officers from Rhode Island. They 
 would not enlist unless they knew their Colonel, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel and Captain. General Schuyler wrote that he had the 
 same troubles in his camp in Northern New York. 
 
 Washington had no sympathy with these sectional feelings. 
 He wanted to be, and strove from the first to be, Commander of 
 all the forces of and for one country. Bear with me while I 
 
11 
 
 quote from his own letters of this period. Early in 1776 in a 
 letter to Schuyler he says : " I must entreat your attention to do 
 away the unhappy and pernicious distinctions and jealousies 
 between the troops of different governments," (meaning the 
 different colonies). " Enjoin this upon the officers, and let them 
 inculcate and press home to the soldiery, the necessity of order 
 and harmony among those who are embarked in one common 
 cause, and are mutually contending for all that free men hold 
 dear." In a general order of the same year he says, " It is with 
 great concern that the General understands that jealousies have 
 arisen among the troops from the different provinces ; and that 
 reflections are frequently thrown out which can only tend to 
 irritate each other and injure the noble cause in which we are 
 engaged, and which we ought to support with one hand and one 
 heart. The General most earnestly entreats the officers and 
 soldiers to consider the consequences ; that they can no way assist 
 our enemies more effectually than by making divisions among 
 ourselves ; that the honor and success of the army and the safety 
 of our bleeding country depend upon harmony and good agree- 
 ment with each other ; that the provinces are all united to oppose 
 the common enemy, and all distinctions sunk in the name of an 
 American. To make this name honorable and to preserve the 
 liberty of our country ought to be our only emulation ; and he 
 will be the best soldier and the best patriot who contributes most 
 to this glorious work, whatever be his station, or from whatever 
 part of the Continent he may come." 
 
 In 1780 he writes to a member of Congress, " Certain I am, 
 unless Congress speak in a more decisive tone, unless they are 
 vested with power by the several States, competent to the pur- 
 poses of war, or assume them as matters of right, and they and 
 the States respectively act with more energy than they have 
 hitherto done, that our cause is lost. We can no longer drudge on 
 in the old way. By ill-timing the adoption of measures, by delays 
 in the execution of them, or by unwarrantable jealousies, we incur 
 enormous expenses, and derive no benefit from them. One State 
 will comply with a requisition of Congress ; another neglects to do 
 it; a third executes it by halves; and all differ either in the 
 manner, the matter, or so much in point of time, that we are 
 always working up-hill ; and while such a system as the present 
 
12 
 
 one, or rather want of one, prevails, we shall ever be unable to 
 apply our strength or resources to any advantage. I see one head 
 gradually changing into thirteen, I see one army branching into 
 thirteen, which, instead of looking up to Congress as the supreme 
 controlling power of the United States, are considering themselves 
 dependent on their respective States. In a word I see the power 
 of Congress declining too fast for the consideration and respect 
 which are due to them as the great representative body of 
 America, and I am fearful of the consequences." 
 
 Again, in 1783, just before the dissolution of the army, he 
 writes to the Governors of the several States, "This is the time of 
 the political probation of the citizens of America. This is the 
 moment when the eyes of the whole world are turned upon them ; 
 this is the moment to establish or ruin their national character 
 forever. This is the favorable moment to give such a tone to the 
 Federal Government as will enable it to answer the ends of its 
 institution ; or this may be the moment for relaxing the powers 
 of the Union, annihilating the cement of the Confederation, and 
 exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may 
 play one State against another to prevent their growing import- 
 ance, and to serve their own interested purposes." He appends 
 what he considers the four essentials to the well being, and even 
 the existence, of the United States as an independent power. 
 These are three of his essentials. " 1. An indissoluble union of 
 the States under one federal head, and a perfect acquiescence of 
 the several States in the full exercise of the prerogative lawfully 
 vested in such a head. 2. A sacred regard to public justice in 
 discharging debts and fulfilling contracts made by Congress for 
 the purpose of carrying on the war. 3. A disposition among the 
 people of the United States to forget local prejudices and policies; 
 to make mutual concessions, and to sacrifice individual advan- 
 tages to the interests of the community." 
 
 So did Washington while a soldier, by the influence of his 
 acts, by the appeals of his pen, and in the fervency of his heart, 
 plead for harmony between the people and for a union of all the 
 States in one nation. 
 
 The war closed. Washington might have been a king. The 
 army would have made him so at his will. But, instead, after a fare- 
 well address to his soldiers containing an earnest exhortation to 
 
13 
 
 them to maintain their attachment to the Union, and a silent, 
 tearful leave of his officers, he retired in eagerness to Mount 
 Vernon, presenting the sublime and unwonted spectacle of the 
 victorious Commander of a devoted army, whose efforts had 
 given a nation existence, voluntarily putting off power and 
 honors and glad to serve his God and obey the laws as a diligent 
 farmer and peaceful, private citizen. 
 
 When the war was over thirteen United States had achieved 
 their freedom. But were they one people? By no means. 
 They were rather a weak, allied congeries of so many individual 
 sovereignties, without fusion or organization into one strong 
 nationality. In 1778, during the war, these thirteen States had 
 entered into a Confederation. But the Second of their Article of 
 Confederation was this : " Each State retains its sovereignty, 
 freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and 
 right which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to 
 the United States in Congress assembled." Such a Confederacy 
 was not a nation. It was merely a contrived apposition of 
 segregated units. When the constraining outer pressure of the 
 war was removed, wise men saw no power of coherence in the 
 Confederation, and wise men foresaw in the clear light of 
 experience of human nature that the power of diverse habits and 
 local interests would soon embroil these sovereign States in 
 jealousies, dissensions, animosities, and wars. 
 
 Washington, the statesman, observed this condition of things. 
 Wise warnings of the coming storm issued from Mount Vernon. 
 In 1786, three years after his retirement, he writes: " We have 
 errors to correct. We have probably had too good an opinion of 
 human nature in forming our Confederation. Experience has 
 taught us that men will not adopt and carry into execution 
 measures the best calculated for their own good, without the 
 intervention of coercive power. I do not conceive that we can 
 exist long as a nation without lodging, somewhere, a power which 
 will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as the 
 authority of the State Governments extends over the several 
 States." 
 
 And again, shortly after : " The consequences of a lax or 
 inefficient government are too obvious to be dwelt upon. Thir- 
 teen sovereignties pulling against each other, and all tugging at 
 
14 
 
 the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole ; whereas, a 
 liberal and energetic constitution, well checked and well watched 
 to prevent encroachments, might restore us to that degree of 
 respectability and consequence to which we had the fairest 
 prospect of attaining." 
 
 Thank God, wise and good men were not wanting among our 
 fathers of those days. These met in convention in Philadelphia 
 in 1787, and ordained and established, not as the representatives 
 of the States merely, but more as the representatives of the people 
 of the United States, our present Constitution, the Magna Charta 
 of our liberties, the vital strength and stable safeguard of our 
 National Union. Of this Convention Washington was chosen 
 President. And who doubts that his wisdom and moderation, 
 his wide influence, and deference to his known views guided 
 under God, the work of that body and secured the auspicious 
 result ? 
 
 The convention sat four months. The magnitude and diffi- 
 culty of the work they accomplished can hardly be overestimated. 
 Northern claims and Southern claims, producers' wants and con- 
 sumers' wants, agricultural interests and manufacturing interests 
 and commercial interests, pro-slavery prejudices and anti-slavery 
 prejudices, the rights of large States and the rights of small 
 States, — had all to be satisfied, or at least harmonized. A greater 
 work than theirs and better done, I think the world has never seen. 
 I am amazed at their triumphant success. I thank Godfor our wise 
 and good constitution. If we should ever dare to violate it and 
 break in pieces its blessed covenants, casting them to the sweep- 
 ing winds of higher law and the roaring storms of modern pro- 
 gress, I count him a hopeless fool who thinks that we, by calling 
 ourselves wiser men, can, in the passions and prejudices and 
 temptations and selfishnesses of to-day, meet and adjust and 
 adopt a better constitution than that well tried one, born of the 
 four months' hard labor of 1787. 
 
 Under the eye and help of Washington, the statesman, was 
 the Constitution formed. Through his influence, more than of 
 any other man, it was adopted and became the organic life of the 
 nation. Signally, in this work did he help to found the Union 
 and launch it steadily forth for a strong, and God grant, a long, 
 voyage among the community of nations. In announcing to the 
 
15 
 
 President of Congress the result of the deliberations of the con- 
 vention, he says : " It is obviously impracticable in the Federal 
 governments of these States to secure all rights of independent 
 sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of 
 all. Individuals entering into society must give up a share of 
 liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the sacrifice must 
 depend as well on situation and circumstance, as on the object to 
 be attained. It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the 
 line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those 
 which may be reserved ; and on the present occasion this difficulty 
 was increased by a difference among the several States as to their 
 situation, extent, habits, and particular interests. In all our 
 deliberations on this subject, we kept steadily in our view that 
 which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, 
 the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosper- 
 ity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This import- 
 ant consideration seriously and deeply impressed on our minds, 
 led each State in the Convention to be less rigid on points of 
 inferior magnitude, than might have been otherwise expected : 
 and thus the constitution which we now present is the result of a 
 spirit of amity, and of mutual deference and concession which the 
 peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable." 
 
 Under this Constitution on April 30, 1789, Washington 
 became President. There was much risk to the life of the Union 
 in the distractions and doubts and inexperience of the times ; in 
 the bitter controversies between the Federalists led by Hamilton, 
 Secretary of the Treasury, and the Republicans or Democrats led 
 by Jefferson, Secretary of State ; but Washington, by staying at 
 the helm for eight years, by rigidly obeying the Constitution, by 
 moderating the extreme heats of party faction, by allaying preju- 
 dices and inspiring confidence, bore the nation safely through. 
 To him is due the bringing of all the parts of the new system into 
 harmonious working order. So in act and practice was the Union 
 his child. He loved it as a child. In his farewell address in 
 1797, he earnestly pleads with his countrymen to love, nourish, 
 support, maintain the Union. 
 
 Therefore, ever, when Washington is recalled to the memory, 
 that the thoughts may yield him homage and the heart may give 
 him love, let him be to us not only Washington, the man, the 
 
16 
 
 general, the President, but Washington, the father of his country, 
 the author of our American Union. 
 
 Fellow countrymen, fellow members of the " Sons of the Rev- 
 olution," the sword in our fathers' hands won for us freedom. 
 Then their wisdom, forbearance, patriotism and love established 
 it under the Constitution and provided for its perpetuation and its 
 protection by the Union. And the chieftain, whose name and 
 birthday we are met to honor, was alike their brave leader in war 
 and their wise and trusted guide in peace. The panorama of the 
 world's history presents us with the figure of no man who did the 
 double duty better. 
 
 The love in our hearts and the gratitude in our thoughts for 
 Washington are warm almost to burning. Honest pride in our 
 forefathers who served under him swells the breast and quickens 
 the flow of the blood. Renew, we want to, our fealty at the shrine 
 of this day's memories. And we count ourselves unworthy sons 
 of worthy sires if ours be not a steady course of unselfish, unwav- 
 ering, patriotic devotion to the flag of our country, — to the Union 
 which Washington mightily helped to make, and quite as mightily 
 helped to preserve and perpetuate. 
 
O O 1 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Society $on$ of the Revolution 
 
 IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI, 
 
 AT THEIR 
 
 Annual Meeting, February 22, 1895, 
 
 MERCANTILE CLUB HOUSE, ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
 ALSO AT THE 
 
 Annual Banquet of the Kansas City Chapter, 
 
 COATES HOUSE, KANSAS CITY, MO., 
 OCTOBER 19, 1895, 
 
 Right Rev. DANIEL SYLVESTER TUTTLE, D. D., S. T. D., 
 
 Hon. TRUMAN AUGUSTUS POST, 
 
 Hon. JOSEPH VAN CLIEF KARNES, 
 
 Hon. HENRY HITCHCOCK, 
 Hon. EDWARD HERRICK ALLEN, 
 Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, D. D., 
 Hon. JAMES LAWRENCE BLAIR. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 
 
 KANSAS CITY, MO. 
 
 Lawton & Burnap, Stationers and Printers, 706-708 Delaware Street. 
 
 1895. 
 
 - 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 BANQUET, 
 MERCANTILE CLUB HOUSE, ST. LOUIS, MO., 
 
 FEBRUARY 22, 1895. 
 
 BISHOP TUTTLE. 
 
 Fellow members of the Missouri Society of the Sons of the 
 Revolution: 
 
 It is with great pleasure that I extend to you the greetings of 
 welcome to-night. From a little one our Society has grown to 
 be quite an army. Among the youngest of the State Societies 
 though we be, we yet already number one hundred and fifty- 
 nine members. 
 
 There is pride in our hearts, and we have no open ears to- 
 night for the words which are sometimes bandied about touching 
 "poor old Missouri." 
 
 For that matter, Missouri anyway has no call to be ashamed 
 of her past record. To instance only one historical name, Thomas 
 H. Benton, her distinguished and most influential representative 
 in the United States Senate for thirty years, the sagacious prophet 
 to foresee the building of a railroad across the Continent, the 
 father of the homestead law, and the steady supporter in the days 
 of doubt and hesitancy, of the principles of honest money and 
 sound finance, 'till "Old Bullion" was fastened upon him as an 
 appellation, — his name alone is enough to shed lustre upon our 
 Commonwealth, and to give her a place of no mean rank among 
 her sister States. 
 
 The day on which we meet is one, I am sure, to send a thrill 
 of patriotic affection to the heart of every Son among us. No 
 words of mine are needed to awaken in you the grateful love and 
 profound reverence with which we are always wont to hail the 
 
birthday of the Father of Our Country. May I be permitted to 
 point your attention to a picture of Washington, kindly loaned to 
 us for this evening, and placed on the wall before you? It is 
 one of the original portraits painted by Gilbert Stuart. 
 
 There is the immortal hatchet, too, near. Keen, analytical 
 scrutiny of historical incidents is taking too much the line of a 
 stupid murdering of the innocent children of our memory and our 
 imagination. Join me, dear friends, in believing still that Tell 
 shot the apple from the head of his son, and that the truthful, 
 manly little man with his little axe hacked the cherry tree in the 
 Virginia orchard. 
 
 The flag — our flag — a thing of beauty and grace and power, is 
 fixed before us to-night. Its greetings to hearts which honor and love 
 it are more eloquent than words can tell. With its beautiful, un- 
 changing stripes, and with its stars, ever increasing in number 
 and glory — Utah, my old home, is soon to be the forty fifth — it 
 seems to say : "Sons of the Revolution, your fathers fought to 
 give me being. I ask you to live and strive, if need be to fight 
 and die, that I, unchanged and unstained, never lowered and 
 never dishonored, may continue to float in glad pride over the 
 country which I am set to honor, and which you are bound to 
 love." 
 
 Hearken, brothers mine, to what the flag says. There is 
 inspiration in the utterance. God help us. I speak for your 
 hearts and mine. We want to live for the right and true, to help 
 make America noble and great. And, by the memory of our 
 fathers, by the teachings of the day, by the pleadings of the flag, 
 we want all our hearts to beat full with patriotic devotion, loyalty 
 and love, till the final rest comes to close the floodgates of earthly 
 life. 
 
 Hon. TRUMAN AUGUSTUS POST. 
 
 " THE REVOLUTION : A REBELLION AGAINST 
 TYRANNY." 
 
 The lad in the cock loft of the old Bowery theatre, who pro- 
 fanely told his chum to "quit munchin peanuts and listen at 
 Fori est give them tyrants h-11!" had a patriotism about as lofty and 
 
a conception of democracy about as well defined, if not as elegantly 
 expressed, as many of the youth who are taking lessons in Fourth 
 of July statesmanship. 
 
 The Irishman just landed was a trifle more specific in declar- 
 ing his simple platform as "furninst the government." Accord- 
 ing to his idea, pretty much any government stood for tyrrany 
 and ought to be abolished. 
 
 In the municipal "unpleasantness" of 1877, when Mayor 
 Overstolz was waited upon by sundry representative citizens, a 
 well-known and estimable German of the radical and metaphysi- 
 cal school "came also among them"; and after the assembly 
 had warmed up and views on the situation had been exchanged 
 with much freedom and emphasis, and some anathemas on the 
 Fabian policy of "his Honor," he solemnly arose, and with one 
 hand beneath the tail of his coat and the other extended toward 
 the chief executive of our city, delivered his oracle as follows: 
 "Mr. Mayor! This is not a strike. This is not a mob. This is 
 not a riot. It is— it is — a revolution." To his aged vision the 
 outbreak was a joyous awakening in these latter days and occi- 
 dental parts of the spirit of '49 in the Vaterland. The old soldier 
 was ready, like Simeon, to take up his nunc dimittis; for he had 
 seen the "salvation of God." 
 
 To men of his type there is something sacred in the right of 
 revolution per se, pure and simple. Revolution is hailed as an 
 end to be sought — a "consummation devoutly to be wished," 
 regardless of any question of motives or causes or probable results. 
 
 I believe, Mr. President, that a prominent object to be gained by 
 the Sons of the Revolution should be an education, out of all 
 these crass and crazy notions of popular rights, whether they be 
 the protoplastic conceptions of the Bowery boy or the owl-like 
 wisdom of the Radical theorist, into a true understanding of 
 American liberty as handed down by our Fathers. 
 
 The "right of revolution," as popularly understood, is one 
 always reserved to the people — never surrendered by any written 
 constitutions, but attached to and qualifying them all, like an 
 unwritten bill of rights, under which the people may at any time 
 cast off the existing government, as a serpent molts his skin. 
 
6 
 
 For one, Mr. President, I do not believe such a doctrine, and 
 do not believe our Fathers ever taught it. 
 
 In a general way, it is true that "governments derive their 
 just powers from the consent of the governed." And if those who 
 exercise the right of revolution comprise the entire population, 
 they might, if such a thing were conceivable, get together, as 
 some one has described it, on a vast plain, and there in mass 
 meeting vote to do away with statutes and constitutions — for that 
 matter with any sort of government. If the vote were unani- 
 mous, who shall question it? All have sanctioned the movement, 
 and none can complain. Society, like an individual, may commit 
 suicide. It may go back to its elemental germs. But, if the 
 question be taken out of nebulous theories into practical states- 
 manship, the case supposed is simply not supposable. A revolu- 
 tion always implies opposition; one party or faction, however 
 great, downs another, however small. And a " consent of the 
 governed," in which all unite and all are bound, is practically 
 impossible. 
 
 The right of revolution must always be invoked by some 
 party or faction and your radical theorist must hold that the 
 question whether the revolution is right or wrong is one to be 
 settled absolutely and unalterably by the majority. Vox populi 
 vox Dei. "The king can do no wrong;" and when the fiat of 
 the people in its majesty, that is, in the expressed will of its 
 majority, goes forth, it is final and infallible as that of the Pope. 
 
 Practically understood consent of the government is never a 
 consent of the whole people, but is confined to that of a dominant 
 party; and it is a melancholy lesson of the past that no infalli- 
 bility is to be attached to the utterance of any party or faction 
 however mighty. We Americans are not living in Utopia and 
 dreaming of a perfect commonwealth, but dealing with a very 
 peccable humanity. It is a fact which no one who has not read 
 history upside down will question, that parties, like individuals, 
 may blunder and sin. Whig and Tory, Girondin and Jacobin, 
 Democrat, Federal and Republican — the most potent and famous 
 organizations of the past and of the present — have committed follies. 
 Some of them have been guilty of crimes such as to "make angels 
 weep." 
 
 A frequent rotation in political control is essential to health in 
 
the body politic, as the double circulation of blood is in our human 
 anatomy ; and often times the greater the ascendency of a party, 
 the wilder its blunders, the worse its crimes ; hard after victory 
 follow edicts of proscription and banishment, and star-chamber sen- 
 tences — acts which lend color to Orville Dewey's sneering para- 
 phrase of " Vox populi vox Diaboli." 
 
 If the vox populi is indeed the vox Dei — the oracle which 
 cannot err, it is not the voice of a particular faction in the midst 
 of strife, nor is it that of a single section, or generation of men. 
 Its refrain comes also from mankind in other lands outside of the 
 din of the struggle, and from the calmer atmosphere of after 
 times. 
 
 When the babel of factions has died away and the Macaulays 
 of history take up the argument before that calm and silent 
 majority which is to render the verdict, the fact that the masses 
 were enlisted in the cause of a particular rebellion will not by any 
 means determine its merits. Other factors will enter the 
 problem. Two or three only can be referred to here. 
 
 One pivotal question will be what promise the insurrection gives 
 of stable and permanent order. 
 
 It will certainly begin by taking away an existing government. 
 
 And measure, if you can, the condition of a country left for 
 the time without any government. 
 
 The maxim sounds like a blundering paradox which declares it 
 "better that laws should be stable than wise"; for stability in 
 laws is itself of the very essence of wisdom. Laws which are 
 constantly changing, like the shifting sands of the Missouri, 
 hardly deserve the name. Fancy a state of society where earth- 
 quakes and revolutions, popular upheavals, with kings and queens 
 on the ' ' skedaddle, " are looked forward to almost as a matter of 
 course. Estimate, if you can, the value of corner lots and bank 
 stocks and the damages for the taking of life or restraint of liberty 
 in such a community. 
 
 In Anglo-Saxon countries we have trial by jury, habeas corpus, 
 a penal code — bulwarks for ages set up in defense of person and 
 estate. Think of the tremendous meaning of these safeguards and 
 then of a community in which they have been brushed away like 
 a cobweb. 
 
8 
 
 Even despotism means some sort of police, some sort of courts 
 — though bad as Jeffrey's — for defense of life and property; 
 better a Nero in Rome, or a Nicholas in Warsaw, than ochlocracy. 
 Better the legions of Pompey than the ruffian clans of Milo and 
 Clodius. Society 7)iust sooner or later have a permanent govern- 
 ment. The people will after a while grow weary of the constant 
 unrest and fever of strife, and. if peace and good order are not 
 otherwise secured will hail as a relief the appearance of the 
 " man on horseback" — coming, as he surely will come at last, 
 like the deus ex machina in the play, to solve the dilemma. 
 
 Society must have order of some sort; it is "Heaven's first 
 law," and the revolution must give pledges, or at least the hope, 
 that order in some substantial form shall emerge from the general 
 cataclysm. 
 
 Another question which the insurrection must answer is : 
 What guaranty does it ofer of equal rights to all citizens ? 
 
 The main spring of rebellion is too often a hatred of class or sect, 
 which wreaks its vengeance in the hour of triumph. A kindly 
 and catholic spirit of reform is a saving leaven in revolutions. 
 
 Causes may have justified the dethronement of the Bourbons ; 
 but the butcheries of Place de la Concorde have made the French 
 Revolution eminent only in infamy. 
 
 Many other questions which challenge the march of insurrec- 
 tion cannot be considered in the limits of this paper. 
 
 It is enough to say generally that brave men will not "take 
 counsel of their fears " ; but if they are wise men they will 
 not war for mere theories. They will count the evils to be reme- 
 died, the cost of the remedy, and the ground for hoping to 
 obtain it. 
 
 Our Declaration of Independence expressly holds "thstpru 
 deuce will dictate that governments long established should not be 
 changed for light or transient causes," and it proceeds to specify 
 the causes which justify revolution, namely, the destruction of 
 "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" that is, when any 
 form of government becomes intolerably oppressive, revolution 
 becomes necessary. 
 
 I have heard it stoutly contended by a man standing high at 
 the St. Louis bar, that a rebellion is justified by success and 
 
damned by failure ; that our own of '76 is glorified not by any 
 special merit, but by the oriflame of victory. Against this 
 assertion I protested at the time and now enter a most emphatic 
 protest. 
 
 The colonies in that war were eternally right or eternally 
 wrong, regardless of the outcome. The wager of battle simply 
 settled the question between Great Britain and her colonies as to 
 which had the better soldiers, not as to which had the better 
 cause. The merits of the controversy were ripe for adjudication 
 before the first shot was fired at Lexington. And subsequent 
 events could not alter the verdict. 
 
 The main question at issue, as you know, was whether the 
 colonies should submit to taxation without representation. And 
 the question was a big one. 
 
 The tax of threepence on tea at first thought seems a trifle, 
 and the squabble in Boston Harbor a sort of tempest in a teapot. 
 How, you are asked, does such a war compare in merit and 
 dignity with one provoked by pangs of the Inquisition and the 
 martyr's faggot? 
 
 But study the question a little more closely. After all, are 
 not the most dangerous assaults on the body politic those stealthy 
 encroachments which are hardly felt, which kill by inches, and in 
 their effects reach the whole community ? Some wrongs are so 
 high-handed and outrageous that the danger is apparent and 
 timely warning is given. Their very atrocity is their preventive. 
 But an arbitrary tax on one article in the hands of a single citizen 
 hardly touches the pocket; and he who thinks only for himself 
 and for to-day will consult his ease by paying it. But measure 
 the tax by the number of those whom it affects throughout the 
 country and by the continuance of the tax in future years, and 
 the precedent established for the imposition of other and greater 
 taxes, and see how the question expands! The tax on tea, or stamped 
 paper, was nothing. But it conveyed the right to take away every 
 dollar of the citizen and to destroy the prosperity of the country. 
 
 "What one character of liberty," said Edmund Burke, "have 
 the Americans, and what one brand of slavery are they free from, 
 if they are bound in their property and industry by all the 
 restraints you can imagine on commerce, and are at the same time 
 made the pack-horses of every tax you choose to impose, without 
 
10 
 
 the least share in granting them ? " Under such a system they 
 "could have no sort of security for theirliberties or any part of them.'''' 
 
 Said the elder Pitt : " The Commons in America, represented 
 in their assemblies, have invariably exercised the constitutional 
 right of giving and granting their own money. They would have 
 been slaves if they had not. " 
 
 Public utterances from leading statesmen of England, the most 
 emphatic, the most conclusive, because in the nature of a confes- 
 sion, can be adduced without stint, declaring that to have yielded 
 that one item of threepence on tea would have been to yield the 
 liberties of the Colonies. It was a question of life and death 
 to constitutional liberty in America. 
 
 Curiously enough, some of the greatest battles for liberty have 
 been fought along these lines. You will remember that such 
 battles are for and not against property rights ; they are for con- 
 servative and not destructive principles ; and the result has been 
 that they have re-established liberty on a firmer basis. 
 
 The cause of the American Revolution was the cause of the 
 revolution of 1640 in England. Said Burke: "The feelings of 
 the Colonies were formerly the feelings of Great Britain. Theirs 
 were formerly the feelings of Mr. Hampden, when called on for 
 the payment of twenty shillings. Would twenty shillings have 
 ruined Mr. Hampden's fortune ? No! But the payment of half 
 twenty shillings on the principle it was demanded would have 
 made him a slave." 
 
 One of the charges in the Declaration against King George was 
 that he had taken away the right of trial by jury, and had trans- 
 ported American citizens beyond the seas for pretended offenses. 
 Read the "Act for suppressing riots in Boston." Then listen to 
 the language of Jefferson touching that topic : "The wretched 
 criminal, if he happen to have offended on an American side, 
 stripped of the privileges of trial by the peers of his vicinage, 
 removed from the place where alone full evidence could be 
 obtained, without money, without counsel, without friends, with- 
 out exculpatory proof, is tried before judges predetermined to 
 condemn. Cowards who should suffer their countrymen to be 
 torn from the bowels of their society in order to be offered a sac- 
 rifice to parliamentary tyrrany, would merit the execrating infamy 
 now fixed on the authors of this act." 
 
11 
 
 One of the charges in the Declaration was that his Majesty 
 had "dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with 
 manly firmness his invasions of the rights of the people." 
 
 In this respect the American Revolution was in essentials also 
 the English Revolution of 1688. Mr. Burke said "he con- 
 sidered the Americans as standing at that time and in that con- 
 troversy in the same relation to England as England did to James 
 the Second in 1688. Says Jefferson : "One of the articles of 
 impeachment against Tresilian and other judges at Westminster 
 Hall, in the reign of Richard the Second, for which they suffered 
 death as traitors to their country, was that they had advised 
 their king, that he might dissolve his Parliament at any time, and 
 succeeding kings have adopted the opinions of these unjust judges. 
 Since the establishment of the British Constitution, however, at 
 the Glorious Revolution, on its free and ancient principles, 
 neither his Majesty nor his ancestors have exercised such a power 
 of dissolution on the island of Great Britain; and when his 
 Majesty was petitioned by the united voice of his people, there to 
 dissolve the present Parliament, which had become obnoxious to 
 them, his Ministers were heard to declare, in open Parliament, 
 that his Majesty possessed no such power under the Constitution. 
 But how different their practice here! To declare as their 
 duty requires the known rights of the country, to oppose the 
 usurpations of every foreign judicature, to disregard the injurious 
 mandate of a Minister or Governor, have been the avowed causes 
 of dissolving the Parliament in America." 
 
 The Declaration of Independence has been characterized as 
 made up of "sounding platitudes and glittering generalities," and 
 it has been conjectured that while in France Jefferson absorbed 
 some of the vague and abstract theories sown by the encyclopae- 
 dists which afterwards cropped out in the French Revolution. 
 But read the Declaration carefully and you will find that it con- 
 tains not less than twenty-seven separate and sharply defined 
 indictments against the king of Great Britain for distinct acts of 
 usurpation and tyranny. 
 
 It closes the arraignment by declaring that King George has 
 "plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and 
 destroyed the lives of our people, " — an accusation which bunches 
 
12 
 
 together in one sentence the blackest crimes of despotism. 
 
 The Colonies were a thoroughly loyal people. They were 
 loyal to the mother country while loyalty was possible and long 
 after it had ceased to be a virtue. At the outset they hardly 
 dreamed of independence. They repeatedly petitioned the Eng- 
 lish Crown and people for redress. Before independence was 
 declared the oppressions had continued through ten miserable 
 years, commencing with the insidious encroachments of tyranny, 
 and culminating in the ravages of war. 
 
 They did not declare their independence when the stamp act 
 was passed ; not when their commerce was crippled ; not when 
 Boston Harbor was closed ; not when Falmouth was shelled ; not 
 until their towns had been laid in ashes, and the blood of their 
 countrymen had dyed the field of Lexington. 
 
 In closing, let me give you a sentiment in line with the lead- 
 ing thought of this response and with the spirit of Bunker Hill 
 and Valley Forge: 
 
 Among the mementos and trophies which adorn the walls of 
 Mount Vernon is an old sword in its scabbard, presented by 
 Washington to some one whose name has escaped me. But the 
 language of the gift, written on a paper attached to the weapon, 
 will not fade from memory. It is nearly as follows : ' ' This 
 sword is given with the injunction that it shall never be drawn 
 save in the defense of country and having once been drawn it 
 shall never be sheathed till her rights have been secured." 
 
 Hon. JOSEPH VAN CLIEF KARNES. 
 
 "THE REVOLUTION: A PRELUDE TO FREEDOM." 
 
 The subject assigned me is exceedingly rich in meaning, and 
 invites attention to the distinguishing features of great movements 
 that have taken place, and the results that have followed after 
 them. 
 
 The development and growth of the world's civilization has 
 not been steady and onward, but has rather been a series of 
 epochs, each possessing its own special characteristics. History 
 shows that certain periods and events have been pivotal, and that 
 
13 
 
 oftentimes upon the decision of an hour, the result of a conflict, 
 the assertion of a principle, great changes have been effected in 
 the whole current of human affairs. It is not always easy to as- 
 certain the forces which bring about these changed conditions, but 
 that they exist stands as admitted facts. The urgent appeal of 
 Miltiades to his associate commanders for an immediate attack on 
 the Persian invader as he lay slumbering upon the plains of Mar- 
 athon, at first appears no more significant than the courage and 
 decisive action often displayed in war; while in fact the few hours 
 thereafter determined the whole course of empire for Europe for 
 ages to follow. This turned the tide. And at Thermopylae and 
 Salamis was decided the crisis in the struggle between the Euro- 
 pean and the Asiatic worlds. The monument with its immortal 
 inscription, "Go tell at Lacadaemon that we lie here in obedience 
 to her laws," marks the spot which saved for mankind the learn- 
 ing and refinement of Greece, and it stamps the Spartan name 
 with a nobility which has been an inspiration to succeeding gen- 
 erations. 
 
 The destruction of the Spanish Armada was much more than 
 the result of a great naval engagement. Philip II. had planned 
 for enlarging his empire into a universal monarchy. He was 
 intense in his religious convictions. All Europe, except England 
 and Holland, was at his feet. And it was his ambition to restore 
 papal power to universal supremacy. The result of this engage- 
 ment involved the two great divisions of religious thought, and 
 forever established the protestant faith as one of the controlling 
 religious forces of the world. Without passing upon the merits 
 of the momentous issues at stake, it is safe to say that from this 
 event effects were produced that will be felt as long as the Chris- 
 tian religion is a controlling force among men. 
 
 When the columns of Wellington and Blucher stood like a 
 wall against the furious assaults of Napoleon and Ney, it was the 
 cause of constitutional government against arbitrary power; and 
 had they wavered, it would have recast the map of Europe, estab- 
 lished new systems of laws, and deflected the entire current of the 
 civilization of the nineteenth century. Since that memorable 
 day, England and English policies have well nigh dominated the 
 world. 
 
14 
 
 Thus, all along the line of history, from its earliest dawn, 
 occur these striking phenomena. The stream for a time widens 
 and deepens, bearing upon its broad surface the richest treasures 
 of thought and human activity, until some apparently adventitious 
 circumstance creates a new outlet, and then the whole tide sweeps 
 away into other channels. 
 
 Probably no other period more thoroughly emphasizes the 
 idea I have sought to advance than that leading up to the Ameri- 
 can Revolution. The thought and action of men are largely con- 
 trolled by environment, and probably never were circumstances 
 and surroundings more favorable for the establishment of a new 
 governmental principle than those of that time. This was really 
 a new world, as much so for social and political experiment, as if, 
 fresh from the creative hand, it had taken its place in the pro- 
 cession of worlds. Those who reached these shores naturally felt 
 as if they had been thrown off into space, and had at last been 
 drawn to another state of existence. Under such conditions the 
 inclination would be to lay aside preconceived notions, to turn 
 away from established precedents, and to erect the edifice of gov- 
 ernment on foundations of absolute right and justice. The terrors 
 of the sea and the privations of the wilderness deterred any but 
 the most energetic and courageous from joining in the work; and 
 the result was, that the early settlers, whether Puritans or Quakers, 
 Huguenots or Catholics, were distinguished for the earnestness of 
 their convictions and their dauntless bravery. They were ever 
 ready to meet any danger, and to resist any aggression. Lying 
 back of this was a very strong religious feeling which made them 
 bold in standing firm for principle. History furnishes no parallel 
 for such opportunities for the development of new ideas in gov- 
 ernment. They were an educated, Christian class, cultivated but 
 not to the extent of effeminacy, taught the brotherhood of man by 
 their constant perils, far removed from the center of authority; 
 so every impulse was to govern themselves in their own way. 
 From the very beginning, republican ideas and feeling, transmitted 
 from the period of the commonwealth in England, were widely 
 diffused. The divine right of kings found but a feeble recogni- 
 tion. The Virginia colony early clamored for the house of bur- 
 gesses chosen by the people, which was the beginning of repre 
 
15 
 
 sentative government in America; and before the Pilgrims 
 landed at Plymouth, they had formulated a government strictly 
 republican. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this feeling, the final declaration of it as 
 the correct principle of government was reluctantly made. There 
 is an inertia of mind as well as of matter. Conservatism requires 
 less effort than radicalism. In 1774 Washington wrote: "No 
 such thing as independence is desired by any thinking man in 
 America." And a month before the battle of Concord, John 
 Adams publicly declared in Boston, ' 'that it was a slander on the 
 province that there are any who pant for independence. " And 
 Jefferson said that "before the 19th of April, 1775, I never heard 
 a whisper of a disposition to separate from Great Britain." Not- 
 withstanding the wrongs that were being inflicted by the ministry 
 in power, there was a strong attachment for the mother country. 
 While it was a monarchy, it contained many of the features of a 
 republic, and through its wise laws had guaranteed to its citizens 
 a large share of liberty and protection. And it is to the 
 credit of those wise men that the final rupture was long delayed. 
 The world has never known a more magnificent body of men than 
 those who constituted the "Old Continental Congress." Of their 
 petition to King George, William Pitt said, "For myself I must 
 avow that in all my reading — and I have read Thucydides, and I 
 have studied and admired the master statesmen of the world — for 
 solidity of reason, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion, 
 under a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation or body 
 of men can stand in preference to the general congress at Phila- 
 delphia. The histories of Greece and Rome give us nothing equal 
 to it, and all attempts to impose servitude upon such a mighty 
 continental nation must be in vain." This action was before Lex- 
 ington and Concord, and they were not then looking to independ- 
 ence, but it was simply a heroic devotion to principle. A large 
 share of the unjust taxation had been removed, but the command 
 K)f the King was, "that there should always be one tax, at least, 
 to keep up the right of taxing," to which the answer of the colo- 
 nists was, that "taxation without representation" was tyranny, 
 and woidd be resisted. When the issue was finally joined, it was 
 not so much the burden imposed as the principle involved. The 
 
16 
 
 King asserted the right to tax much or little, at his pleasure, and 
 undertook to enforce this right by the most offensive measures. 
 Ministerial persecution was specially directed against Boston, but 
 the wrong was promptly resisted by every province. This called 
 forth the patriotic utterance of Patrick Henry, when he said, 
 "British oppression has effaced the boundaries of the several 
 colonies; the distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, 
 New Yorkers and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Vir- 
 ginian, but an American." 
 
 The "Second Continental Congress" was composed of many 
 of the same men as those in the first. They again petitioned the 
 King for a redress of grievances, the answer to which was an in- 
 crease of the military equipment at every point, with an avowed 
 purpose of subjugation. Then the Revolution came. On June 
 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution into Con- 
 gress, declaring "that the United Colonies are and ought to be 
 free and independent states, and that their political connection 
 with Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved." This resolution 
 passed. A committee was appointed to draft a declaration of 
 independence, which was written by Jefferson, and on July 4, 
 1776, was adopted, and a new nation was born. As Guizot says, 
 "They rose into existence as a state under the banner of right and 
 justice." From this hour a new doctrine in government was 
 promulgated; a new source of power and authority was asserted. 
 The germ of self-government which had been planted at Plymouth 
 and Jamestown, and which had been swelling and growing during 
 colonial days, sprang up and became a living reality. A new 
 star had shown out in the firmament, and all eyes were fixed upon 
 it. There had been attempts before to construct republican gov- 
 ernment, but it was reserved for this immortal document to de- 
 clare "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; that to secure these 
 rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
 powers from the consent of the governed.'" This recognized the 
 people as the sovereign power, thus reversing the monarchial idea 
 that all power is from above. When the Queen of England opens 
 Parliament, she says, "My Lords and Gentlemen: The relations 
 
17 
 
 between my government and foreign nations remain friendly," 
 etc. But the President of the United States asks Congress to 
 join with him in passing such laws as will give effect to the will 
 of the people. Since July 4, 1776, every official, high or low, is 
 only a public servant. The Declaration of Independence came to 
 the world like a revelation from Heaven. In fact, next to the 
 Sermon on the Mount, it is the most wonderful production ever 
 penned. It declares that life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- 
 ness are the inalienable rights of every individual. It makes the 
 race of life open to all alike. It puts it in the power of every in- 
 dividual to reach the outside limit of his capacity. All traditions 
 were thrown aside: all the glamour of royalty was dispelled. This 
 was a revolt, not only against England, but it was a revolt against 
 the political sentiment of the world. It challenged the attention 
 of the student of political science in every country, and the gen- 
 eral forecast was that the ship thus launched would soon go down 
 in disaster. Viewed from the standpoint of the present day, our 
 amazement is at the wonderful sagacity and statesmanship of men 
 living in such circumscribed conditions. 
 
 In 1778, bills were passed by the British Parliament repealing 
 all acts obnoxious to the Americans, and efforts were made at 
 reconciliation, but those noble patriots refused to treat on any 
 other basis than the independence of the colonies. They read in 
 the future the destiny that awaited their bold movement. They 
 already heard the plaudits of coming generations. The light they 
 had hung out was casting its rays into the dark places of the 
 earth. And so, with unshaken faith and Spartan valor, all was 
 trusted to the god of war, and not a step was retraced. 
 
 "The old Continentals 
 In their ragged regimentals 
 Faltered not." 
 
 The tide of success ebbed and flowed for seven long years. 
 The surrender of Cornwallis was the closing act in a cycle of 
 events fraught with interests as potent for good as any in the 
 history of the race. There had been both a revolution and an 
 evolution. The controversy had its beginning in protests against 
 unwarranted aggressions. From this were evolved new ideas of 
 civil and political rights. And in the end came a government 
 
18 
 
 whose corner stone was the sovereignty of the people. Appro- 
 priately can it be said that this Revolution was a prelude to free- 
 dom. We have no record of any other carried on as this was. 
 There were no excesses, no violence, no dissensions; but every 
 blow was directed at the enemy, and every movement was made 
 in accordance with the rules of honorable warfare. How unlike 
 the French Revolution which followed so soon after. No doubt 
 the French nation was encouraged to attempt its own liberty by 
 the enthusiasm excited by the ultimate triumph of the American 
 colonies, but they proceeded on different lines. And while there 
 was brought to France a measure of civil and religious liberty, 
 every step was marked with bloodshed. 
 
 They who signed the Declaration of Independence gave to its 
 principles a living force by the formation of the Union, and the 
 adoption of the Federal Constitution. As if guided by a divine 
 hand, every step led to something higher and better. The theory 
 of the American republic is that not a vestige of arbitrary power 
 remains. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is vouch- 
 safed to every citizen by the law of the land, and no one is so 
 strong as to deprive him of them. The freedom won by the Rev- 
 olution must not be understood as the synonym of license, or that 
 it implies a freedom from legal restraint. The freedom of the re- 
 public contemplates a strict observance of the law which the peo- 
 ple have imposed upon themselves, and whenever it is sought to 
 go beyond this, the strong arm of the executive should be inter- 
 posed to enforce the law. 
 
 No estimate can be made as to the extent that the principles 
 upon which our government was founded have been diffused 
 among thoughtful men everywhere. The doors of absolution may 
 be shut against them, yet they break through. Russia may fur- 
 ther add to her infamy by doubling and quadrupling her levies of 
 political recruits for the mines of Siberia; but the very winds that 
 sweep over her vast territory carry the seeds of liberty, and they are 
 finding lodgment; and, call it Nihilism, or what you will, the day 
 is not far distant when the whole people will rise up, and the rev- 
 olution will have been accomplished. The spread of socialism in Ger- 
 many shows the unrest of the people; and the example of France 
 is fast making itself felt in Spain and Italy. The states of South 
 
19 
 
 America will soon all join the republican column. The republic 
 has brought to Mexico a stability of government and prosperity 
 never enjoyed by her before. Away out in the islands of the sea, 
 for imperial rule there is being -substituted the sovereignty of the 
 people. 
 
 Since 1776 to the present time, with every recurring year, the 
 principles developed and promulgated by our forefathers have 
 exerted a stronger influence. In his American Commonwealth, 
 Prof. Bryce says, ' k They are, or are supposed to be, institutions 
 of a new type. * They represent an experi- 
 
 ment in the rule of the multitude, tried on a scale unprecedentedly 
 vast, and the results of which everyone is concerned to watch. 
 And yet they are something more than an experiment, for they are 
 believed to disclose and display the type of institutions, towards 
 which, as by a law of fate, the rest of civilized mankind are 
 forced to move, some with swifter, others with slower, but all 
 with unresting feet." And the same author further says, 
 "Thoughtful Europeans have begun to realize, whether with sat- 
 isfaction or regret, the enormous and daily increasing influence of 
 the United States, and the splendor of the part reserved for them 
 in the development of civilization." 
 
 This splendid heritage of free government is ours. A con- 
 templation of the great work of our patriotic ancestors, and the 
 thought that it is entrusted to our keeping should inspire the 
 loftiest patriotism. No selfish ambition, no party zeal, should ob- 
 scure the fact that the perpetuity of these institutions in all their 
 glory and power is the first duty of every citizen. All measures 
 and policies should be subordinated to the conservation of those 
 great principles upon which our government was founded. As 
 Rufus Choate said, let us "join ourselves to no party that does 
 not carry the flag and keep step to the music of the Union. '' Some 
 nations deify their ancestors; it would be well if the memory of the 
 heroes of '76 could be enthroned in the minds and hearts of our 
 people, holding them steadfast in the faith that life, liberty and 
 the pursuit of happiness are the inalienable rights of every indi- 
 vidual, and that to secure those rights, governments are instituted 
 among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed. The doctrine, sealed in blood at Trenton and Valley 
 
20 
 
 Forge, at Saratoga and Yorktown, that all men are created free 
 and equal, should be treasured as one of the richest legacies given 
 to the world. If the banner of freedom is to be kept aloft, we 
 must hold fast to these cardinal doctrines. These were the prin- 
 ciples on which the Revolution was fought and brought to a suc- 
 cessful close; and on these enduring foundations must rest our 
 future stability as a nation. This freedom thus won in sacrifice 
 and blood is ours to enjoy, but it is ours also to perpetuate. To do 
 this it is not sufficient alone to hallow the memories of those who 
 achieved this great victory for the world. To cherish a pride of 
 ancestry is well, but we have ourselves a duty to perform. 
 
 "I am one who finds within me a nobility 
 That spurns the idle pratings of the great, 
 And the vain boast of what their fathers were 
 While they themselves are tools effeminate, 
 The scorn of all who know the worth of mind and virtue." 
 
 Sons and Daughters of the Revolution should set the highest 
 examples of devotion to the principles declared by the founders of 
 the Republic, and by high courage and eternal vigilance strengthen 
 the faith that "Government of the people, and by the people, and 
 for the people, shall not perish from the earth." They should 
 stand on the picket-line, meeting every danger. To every 
 foe the warning should be, "Procul, O procul, esteprofani." As 
 constituent elements of this great political body, their citizenship 
 should be conspicuous, and their work should be earnest and ac- 
 tive in the promotion of that honor and honesty, truth and intelli- 
 gence, which are the only safeguards to free institutions. We 
 should talk of our country, and proclaim its glories. Its mission 
 has but just begun. It can be confidently hoped and expected 
 that in the coming years freedom born of the Revolution will 
 bring all nations under its beneficent rule. Its conquering march 
 cannot be resisted, its glory cannot be dimmed. 
 
 "Forever furl that standard sheet, 
 
 Where breathes the foe but falls before us. 
 With Freedom's soil beneath our feet 
 
 And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us." 
 
21 
 
 Hon. HENRY HITCHCOCK. 
 
 "THE REVOLUTION: A MAKER OF THE WAY CLEAE 
 FOR THE ENTHRONEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL 
 LAW." 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 The patriots who fired the first shots of the Revolution, the 
 "embattled farmers" at Concord Bridge 
 
 "Who fired the shot heard round the world," 
 were minute men. I am officially advised that those who have 
 the honor this evening of recalling to you what those patriots 
 achieved, not for themselves and their posterity alone, but for 
 mankind, are to consider themselves fifteen-minute men, and that 
 they are on no account to exceed twenty minutes. 
 
 The Committee's limit is a judicious one. It has the quality 
 of mercy, which is twice blessed, — blessing both him who is 
 invited to speak and them who are expected to patiently 
 hear. But when applied to the sentiment which the Chairman 
 has just announced, it reminds one of that story of a certain liter- 
 ary Frenchwoman, on the occasion of her first meeting a famous 
 German metaphysician. She greeted him, the story goes, with 
 effusion — "I am enchanted to meet you. It is you who have 
 invented that so difficult and most charming philosophy. And 
 now you will tell me all about it in five minutes." "But, 
 madame," answered the startled sage, "there are some things 
 which do not express themselves in five minutes. " 
 
 Under the present circumstances, a response to that sentiment, 
 by way either of an historical account of the Revolution, or a crit- 
 ical disquisition upon the Constitution, would involve a like em- 
 barrassment. The outlines, at least, of that great struggle are 
 familiar to every American. Its cardinal events and the illustrious 
 names of its chief actors are household words. Lexington, Bunker 
 Hill, Ticonderoga, Fort Moultrie, Trenton and the crossing of the 
 Delaware, Bennington, Saratoga, Stony Point, King's Mountain, 
 the Cowpens, the final surrender at Yorktown, — with what just and 
 patriotic pride do we recall these victories, — for Bunker Hill was in 
 its results a victory — those successive and glorious steps in the march 
 
22 
 
 of human liberty and progress, contrasting them with the many 
 bloody fields where millions of hearts and homes were desolated, 
 to gratify one man's ambition for empire, or to secure the suprem- 
 acy of one nation by the conquest and enslavement of another. 
 
 We cannot forget the darker scenes of that long and doubtful 
 contest. — among them the retreat from Long Island, the long 
 winter of suffering at Valley Forge, the disasters at the Brandy- 
 wine. Germantown and Camden, or the massacres of Wyoming 
 and Cherry Valley, the work of savage allies, the employment of 
 whom Edmund Burke denounced with indignant sarcasm in the 
 British House of Commons. More threatening still were the 
 internal dangers. — the lack of organization, civil ami military, the 
 lack of money and credit, which it was vainly attempted to replace 
 by enormous issues of a paper currency, based upon those pernicious 
 theories of so-called finance and fiat money which have unhappily 
 survived even that terrible experience to delude and distress suc- 
 ceeding generations, — money, of which, before the war ended, as 
 Washington said, it took a wagon load to pay for a wagon load of 
 provisions; the administrative incapacity of Congress, which more 
 than once paralyzed the uplifted arm and sword of Washington; 
 the jealousies and rivalries which bore fruit in the schemes of 
 Conway's cabal to supplant Washington in the chief com- 
 mand; the secret treachery of Charles Lee, and the trea- 
 son which set the name of Benedict Arnold upon a pinnacle of 
 infamy overtopped only by that of Judas Iscariot. 
 
 Against those dark shadows stands out in bright relief the 
 generous ardor of the youthful Lafayette, manifested not more in 
 his filial devotion to Washington and his services in the field, than 
 in his urgent appeals to the French Minister. Vergennes, that the 
 King of France should furnish the aid. naval and military, which 
 should turn the scale in favor of the almost exhausted Colonies. 
 That aid was given; and on October 19, 1781, Lord Cornwallis, 
 shut up in the peninsula at Yorktown, cut off by the French fleet 
 from help by sea, confronted on land by the combined armies of 
 Washington and Rochambeau, laid down his arms. A hundred 
 years later, at the Centennial of Yorktown. this nation welcomed 
 as ancient allies and honored guests the representatives of the 
 French Republic. 
 
23 
 
 But we have not met this evening, nor was this Society estab- 
 lished, to celebrate feats of arms, or to perpetuate, as such, the 
 memory of military triumphs. The sentiment which the Chairman 
 has proposed, by a figure of speech personifying the War of the 
 Revolution, bids us regard its highest significance and glory, and 
 invites us to contemplate and rejoice in its true and noblest work. 
 That work was not to scatter and destroy, nor merely to break the 
 power on this continent of an obstinate king, above whose crown 
 no longer shone the legendary halo of divine right, yet who would 
 still play the tyrant across the sea. It was to prepare for the 
 building of a new nation, according to a plan yet untried, and which 
 was to constitute a new departure in the political history of mankind. 
 The far-sighted statesmanship of Benjamin Franklin, at the Col- 
 onial Conference at Albany in 1754, outlined and proposed a plan 
 which involved the same essential principles: but the time was 
 not ripe, for the contest between England and France for the do- 
 minion of the New World, once more renewed, had to be fought 
 out. The British conquest of Canada, while it relieved the Col- 
 onies from the danger of invasion, also gave opportunity and 
 encouragement to George III. and his parliament to assert arbi- 
 trary powers of taxation and control which the men of the Colonies 
 deemed subversive of their rights as freemen, and which they 
 steadily resisted year by year. At last, in 1774, the Boston Port 
 Bill and its kindred Acts of Parliament brought on the crisis, the 
 Articles of Association were signed, the first Continental Congress 
 met, and in the Union of Colonies thus formed were laid the foun- 
 dations, of that more perfect union which was to come. 
 
 "The Union," — said Mr. Lincoln, in his first inaugural address, 
 — "is much older than the Constitution. It was formed 
 in fact by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured 
 and continued by the Declaration of Independence. It was fur- 
 ther matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States express- 
 ly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Arti- 
 cles of Confederation, in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the 
 declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution 
 was 'to form a more perfect union.'' " 
 
 It is interesting, in connection with this declaration of Mr. 
 Lincoln, and in view of the circumstances under which it was 
 
24 
 
 made, to note the statement made by Alexander H. Stephens, 
 Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy, in his elaborate work, 
 "The War Between the States," that "The first Union, so 
 formed, from which the present Union arose, was that of the 
 Colonies in 1774." 
 
 Thus united, thus already a nation in embryo, represented in 
 all external relations by the Continental Congress, although the 
 feebleness and insufficiency of its powers added enormously to the 
 difficulties of the task, the Colonies went forward in their 
 divinely appointed work of extirpating the last vestige of kingly 
 power or arbitrary control over their inherited rights. Two 
 years of unavailing remonstrance and determined, though passive, 
 resistance convinced the most reluctant that for this nothing short 
 of independence would suffice; and in adopting the Declaration of 
 Independence the next step was taken towards establishing a 
 government based upon the rights of man, and which should 
 reconcile the demands of liberty with the wholesome and indis- 
 pensable restraints of law. It was not merely the wreaking of 
 childish wrath upon a senseless thing, that when the Colony of 
 New York, on July 9, 1776, ratified the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, the patriots of its chief city celebrated the occasion by 
 throwing down the leaden statue of George III. on the Bowling 
 Green and casting it into bullets. It was a very practical expres- 
 sion of their purpose to fight for their rights, since fight they 
 must. But the act, however unimportant in itself, was profoundly 
 typical of the new era, of the political principles whose supremacy 
 it declared, of the displacement of the old order and the ushering 
 in of the new. Till then it might have been said in America, as 
 in Europe, "The king is dead ; long live the king." But when 
 the Declaration of Independence proclaimed, and the Treaty of 
 Paris ratified, so far as the United States of America w r ere con- 
 cerned, the political fact which in technical legal phrase is called 
 the demise of the crown, it can be truly said that the Revolution, 
 in accomplishing the dethronement of George III., made the way 
 clear for the enthronement of the Constitution. 
 
 I repeat, the work of the Revolution was not a work of 
 destruction, but of development, of upbuilding. The old edifice 
 could not endure. The statesmen of the Colonies — and that 
 
25 
 
 Washington, Franklin, Otis, Samuel and John Adams and their 
 associates were statesmen of the first rank, impartial history has 
 long ago declared — building even more wisely than they knew, 
 had laid the foundations broad and deep. And when the clash of 
 arms had ceased, when the pressure of a common external danger 
 had relaxed, still steadfastly toiling through many dark and 
 anxious days, braving and at last overcoming obstacles greater 
 and internal dangers more alarming than any foreign foe could 
 contrive, it was their crowning achievement to erect the new 
 edifice in which to enthrone the Constitution, under which they 
 established a government which could solve, and which — thank 
 God !■ — has solved problems, and overcome perils, such as were 
 never before successfully encountered in the political history of 
 mankind. 
 
 Foremost among these statesmen, by universal acclaim, — 
 "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his country- 
 men," — was the majestic figure of him, the anniversary of whose 
 birth this society celebrates by its first festive meeting. In hon- 
 oring the memory of George Washington, its members proclaim 
 their fidelity to the moral and political principles which his 
 matchless career exemplified, and their deep conviction, — as 
 citizens of a country which to him, under God, more than to any 
 other man, owes its existence, the blessings of its past and the 
 marvellous promise of its future, — that only by the maintenance 
 of those principles, by observance of the prophetic counsels of 
 that unequaled legacy of wise patriotism, his Farewell Address, 
 can the welfare of that country be promoted, the Union be main- 
 tained, or the government established by the Fathers handed down 
 to their posterity. 
 
 To the innumerable eulogies of Washington I shall not pre- 
 sume to add another. But one sentence from an eloquent 
 address of Phillips Brooks, is in itself a description of 
 Washington so admirable and a eulogy so complete, that I ven- 
 ture to repeat it. 
 
 ' ' It was a noble gift of Providence that in one man should be 
 comprised and pictured, for the dullest eye to see, the majesty 
 and meaning of the struggle that gave our nation birth." 
 
 After all, not only to the mass of mankind, but to him who is 
 
26 
 
 most familiar with the study of those underlying principles of 
 which the events of history are only the inevitable working out, 
 the life and character of a great man are the best expression and 
 illustration of those principles. He is the incarnation of the 
 truths which inspired him, the motives which impelled him, the 
 cause for which he stood : and for most of us, the best way to 
 understand these is to study the lives of such men. Above all 
 is this true when they bore some large part in great events, which 
 either promoted or retarded the welfare of mankind. So, Martin 
 Luther stands for the Reformation, Napoleon Bonaparte for mili- 
 tary genius, inflamed by an utterly selfish ambition, and Wash- 
 ington for a sublime patriotism, forgetful of self and devoting the 
 powers of a great soul to the establishment of human liberty pro- 
 tected and regulated by law. Of such men it has been truly said 
 — "Some men are events. It is not what they say, or what they 
 do, but what they are, that moves the world." 
 
 In the few moments that remain, permit me to speak of that 
 other illustrious American, the trusted friend and biographer of 
 Washington, to whom, scarcely less than to those who framed it, 
 the true enthronement of the Constitution was due. For while it 
 is true that the Revolution made the way clear, and that the 
 statesmen and heroes of the Revolution were the men who placed 
 the Constitution upon its throne, it is not less true that by John 
 Marshall, the Expounder of the Constitution, its meaning was 
 interpreted, its principles explained, the novel and unique powers 
 which it conferred upon the different departments of the govern- 
 ment enforced, and the dignity of that great tribunal maintained 
 over which he presided for the period of a generation. 
 
 It was in the year of Marshall's birth, 1755, that Washington 
 bore his memorable part in the disastrous expedition and defeat 
 of Braddock. In May, 1775, at the outbreak of the Revolution, 
 Marshall, not yet twenty years of age, was a lieutenant, in 1777 
 a captain, in the patriotic army, in which he served more than 
 five years. In November, 1775, he was engaged in a sharp tight 
 at Great Bridge, as lieutenant of a company of sharpshooters, 
 who dislodged a force of British regulars from a fort commanding 
 the approach to Norfolk, thereby securing the capture of the 
 town, the British losing sixty-one men, while not a Virginian 
 
27 
 
 ■was slain. Later, he served in the battles of Iron Hill, Brandy- 
 wine, Germantown and Monmouth, also taking part in the bold 
 surprise of Paulus Hook by Major Harry Lee, and in the still 
 more daring and successful assault on Stony Point by Mad 
 Anthony Wayne, in 1779. He shared with conspicuous cheerful- 
 ness and patience the sufferings and privations at Valley Forge, 
 where his singularly sweet and serene temperament made him the 
 idol of his comrades, who regarded him, says a contemporary, 
 as not only brave, but signally intelligent, and constantly 
 appealed to him as the arbiter of their disputes. Often employed 
 as judge advocate, he became personally acquainted with Wash- 
 ington, thus beginning the warm friendship which ever after- 
 wards subsisted between them. In the intervals of leisure towards 
 the close of the war, he studied law, and settling in Richmond 
 when peace was declared, his rapid rise to professional distinction 
 was equalled only by his extraordinary personal popularity. 
 Never seeking public office, he was repeatedly elected to the legis- 
 lature, the last time without his knowledge and against his will. 
 His observation and experience, both during the war and in the 
 still more trying times which followed the peace, convinced him, 
 to use his own words, that no safe and permanent remedy for 
 the public dangers could be found but in a more efficient and 
 better organized government. He was not a member of the con- 
 vention of 1787, which framed the Constitution, but when it was 
 submitted to the States, he was a determined advocate for its 
 adoption, and was elected a member of the Virginia Convention of 
 1788, by a triumphant majority, in the face of strong opposition. 
 In that convention, perhaps the most illustrious body that ever 
 assembled in Virginia, Marshall took a leading part. Patrick 
 Henry, then at the height of his fame, led the attack upon the 
 Constitution, seconded by Monroe, Mason and other advocates of 
 State sovereignty, and opposed by Madison, Randolph, Marshall 
 and other men of note, and during twenty-five days of keen and 
 powerful debate the issue was in doubt; but by a narrow majority 
 the friends of the Constitution finally prevailed. In the political 
 conflicts which followed, the courage, the personal influence and 
 great ability of Marshall became still more conspicuous, and his 
 professional reputation steadily grew. Washington, during his 
 
28 
 
 second presidency, offered him the position of Attorney General, 
 and subsequently the mission to France, to succeed Mr. Monroe, 
 both of which he declined. But in 1797, he reluctantly accepted, 
 from a sense of public duty, an appointment by President Adams, 
 as one of three envoys extraordinary to France, his associates 
 being Gerry and Pinckney, to renew negotiations the failure of 
 which had brought the two countries to the brink of war. Their 
 mission was unsuccessful. Talleyrand in vain attempted alter- 
 nately to browbeat and cajole them into the payment not only of 
 tribute, but of a bribe. The publication in the United States of the 
 masterly official dispatches prepared by Marshall, while arousing 
 universal indignation, greatly increased his reputation. His 
 return home, in June, 1798, was literally an ovation. At a 
 public dinner given in his honor by members of both Houses of 
 Congress, was proposed the sentiment, instantly everywhere 
 repeated and often quoted since, — "Millions for defense, not a 
 cent for tribute." In 1799, at the earnest solicitation of Wash- 
 ington, he became a candidate for Congress, declining an offer by 
 President Adams of a seat in the Supreme Court as successor to 
 Judge Wilson. An exciting canvass resulted in his election, in 
 spite of personal calumnies so gross as to call forth a letter from 
 Patrick Henry, warmly supporting him as "far above any compe- 
 tition." He had scarcely taken his seat, in December, 1799, 
 when the melancholy duty devolved upon him of announcing to 
 the House the death of Washington, and the resolutions adopted 
 on his motion, though written by another, contained the well- 
 known tribute to him who was — "First in war, first in peace, and 
 first in the hearts of his fellow countrymen." He served only 
 part of his term in Congress, being soon called to a Cabinet posi- 
 tion, but during that time took part with distinguished ability in 
 a debate which involved the constitutional powers of the Presi- 
 dent, by a speech which it was conceded admitted of no reply. 
 
 In May, 1800, President Adams appointed Marshall Secretary 
 of War, which he declined; but the Secretary of State also resign- 
 ing, he was appointed to and accepted that position, and again dis- 
 played his great powers in the dignified and skillful conduct of 
 negotiations with France, England and Spain, involving internal 
 questions of the highest importance. On the 31st day of Janu- 
 
29 
 
 ary, 1801, he was nominated by President Adams and unani- 
 mously confirmed by the Senate to the position of Chief Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States. With such training, as 
 soldier, lawyer, legislator, statesman and man of affairs, John 
 Marshall entered upon a judicial career, to which, it is not too 
 much to say, no other in history affords a parallel. 
 
 Of that career, this is not the time nor the place to speak in 
 detail. The estimate placed on his judicial labors by his contem- 
 poraries, the lapse of two generations has confirmed : nor can 
 that estimate be better stated than in the language of Mr. Justice 
 Story, in dedicating to Marshall his Commentaries on the Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 "Other judges have attained an elevated reputation by similar 
 labors in a single department of jurisprudence. But in one de- 
 partment — it need scarcely be said that I allude to that of consti- 
 tutional law — the common consent of x your countrymen has 
 admitted you to stand without a rival. Posterity will surely con- 
 firm by its deliberate award what the present age has approved as 
 an act of undisputed justice." 
 
 In July, 1835, death terminated his labors, and throughout 
 the Union fitting expression was given to the veneration in which 
 the great jurist was held by the bench and bar. I quote a single 
 example from the resolutions unanimously adopted by the bar of 
 Charleston, South Carolina, upon the motion of one of its most 
 eminent members. 
 
 "Even the spirit of party respected the unsullied purity of 
 the Judge, and the fame of the Chief Justice has justified the 
 wisdom of the Constitution and reconciled the jealousy of freedom 
 to the independence of the judiciary." 
 
 It is the praiseworthy aim of this Society not only to celebrate 
 the deeds and to cherish the illustrious memory of the men of the 
 Revolution, but to preserve and inculcate throughout the land 
 the spirit of patriotism and wisdom and righteousness, by which 
 those deeds were inspired and that memory has been consecrated. 
 In that alone lies our hope as a people. To fail in that would be 
 to undermine the foundations of the nation's life, to corrode and 
 destroy its prosperity, and to invoke its doom under the inexora- 
 ble law which governs the destinies of nations as of men. 
 
30 
 Hon. EDWARD HERRICK ALLEN. 
 
 "THE REVOLUTION: A MAKER OF THE PATH STRAIGHT 
 FOR COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY." 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 The consideration of this sentiment very naturally suggests to 
 us the contrasts in the motives under which the first seizures for 
 settlement and possession of this new continent were made by the 
 peoples of Europe. The conquests as they have been called, of 
 that portion of the continent lying south of the southern line of 
 our present state of Georgia, by the Spaniards, was under the de- 
 sire for commercial advantage, and all other considerations were 
 subordinate to this. The settlement of the valleys of the St. 
 Lawrence and the Great Lakes b}' the French, was also under the 
 desire of commercial gain; and magnificently heroic as were the 
 explorations of French missionaries through the western water- 
 ways of this portion of the continent, all this was incidental to the 
 interest in the acquisition and control of the fur trade of the 
 north. In contrast with these, in the occupation of the coast line 
 between the Bay of Fundy and the southern line of Georgia, 
 every settlement, if we except the settlement of Manhattan and 
 the valley of the Hudson by the Dutch, was made under the de- 
 sire of establishing a home of specified advantages, the question of 
 trade and commerce being wholly secondary and subordinate, the 
 natural incident and outgrowth of a fixed and settled community. 
 
 In the light of these contrasts the results of to-day are signifi- 
 cant. For to-day, whatever may be the eminence of Spanish 
 America in literature, art and education, in the line of commercial 
 prosperity she has fallen short of the results in our own United 
 States. No one will deny that our own change from a collection 
 of European Colonies into a consolidated independent government, 
 whilst north and south of us the segregated colonial condition of 
 the territory continued, is a significant feature in this difference. 
 What the significance of this change is will readily appear when 
 we remember that the navigation laws of the British Empire, which 
 restrained and constrained the trade of the colonies for over one hun- 
 dred years, prior to our assertion of independence, continued to 
 lie without any essential change, the controlling navigation laws 
 
31 
 
 of the British Empire for seventy years after the recognition of 
 our independence. The essential feature of these laws which for 
 two hundred years, held in hand the commerce of the British Em- 
 pire were as follows: First, that only British ships should carry 
 any merchandise from any port of the British Empire 
 to any other port. Second, that no ship was considered 
 a British ship that was not built wholly within the domin- 
 ion of Great Britain and wholly owned by British subjects and 
 managed by a British Commander with a crew of which at least 
 three-fourths were British subjects. Third, that no goods which 
 were the growth, product or manufacture of Asia, Africa or 
 America, should be imported into any of the ports of Great 
 Britain except in British ships or in ships of the country of which 
 the goods were the products, whilst no British colony could trade 
 direct even in her own ships with any continental European port 
 north of Cape Finisterre. It is a significant fact that under these 
 laws on the eve of our Revolution more than three-fourths of the 
 ship tonnage employed in British commerce was of American con- 
 struction. Although the Declaration of Independence in its long 
 list of wrongs devotes only one line to these commercial restraints, 
 there is abundant evidence that they were felt to be a serious bur- 
 den upon our trading communities. The great opportunities that 
 would be opened to us by our release from the control of Great 
 Britain were clearly foreseen. 
 
 On the 8th of January, 1776, the day when the King's bitter 
 speech at the opening of Parliament reached America, there ap- 
 peared in Philadelphia a pamphlet in favor of the independence of 
 the colonies, entitled, "Common Sense." In this publication, 
 were the following sentences touching the question of commerce: 
 "Much has been said that Britain and the Colonies in conjunction 
 might bid defiance to the world. What have we to do with set- 
 ting the world at defiance? Our plan is commerce; and that will 
 secure us the friendship of all Europe. It is the true interest of 
 America to steer clear of European combinations which she never 
 can do, whilst by her dependence on Britain she is the makeshift 
 in the scale of British politics." In these sentences lies the key 
 note to the future of the American colonies. In the recognition 
 of the independence of the colonies, Lord Shelburne and his col- 
 
32 
 
 leagues of the existing British Cabinet "were indefatigable in di- 
 gesting a great and extensive system of trade, and sought by the 
 emancipation of commerce to bring about with the Americans a 
 family friendship more beneficial to England than their former de- 
 pendence." In this effort they were opposed by the notable coal- 
 ition of Fox and Burke with Lord North and the Tories. The 
 closing words of Shelburne in defense of the treaty in the House 
 of Lords are of interest: "If better terms could have been had, 
 think you, my Lords, that I would not have embraced them ? If 
 it had been possible to put aside the bitter cup which the adversi- 
 ties of this countiy presented to me, you know I would have done 
 it. The fur trade is not given up; it is only divided, and divided 
 for our benefit. Its best resources lie to the northward. Monop- 
 olies some way or other are ever justly punished. They forbid 
 rivalry and rivalry is the very essence of the well being of trade. 
 This seems to be the era of protestantism in trade. All Europe 
 appears enlightened and eager to throw off the vile shackles of 
 oppressive, ignorant, unmanly monopoly. It is always unwise, 
 but if there is any nation under heaven who ought to be first to 
 reject monopoly, it is the English. Situated as we are 
 between the old world and the new and between southern 
 and northern Europe, all that we ought to wish is equity 
 and free trade. With more industry, with more enterprise, with 
 more capital than any trading nation upon the earth, it ought to 
 be our constant cry, 'Let every market be open;' let us meet out- 
 rivals fairly and ask no more, telling the Americans that we de- 
 sire to live with them in community of benefits and in sincerit}' of 
 friendship." Shelburne and his colleagues were defeated and 
 though the treaty of peace was recognized the new coalition min- 
 istry determined to hold the surrendered colonies as subordinate 
 dependencies in the world of commerce. The effort to subjugate 
 by arms having failed, an effort to subjugate by trade followed. 
 
 The condition of the colonies as to their future outlook is thus 
 set forth from the English point of view in the following words 
 of Dean Tucker of Gloucester: "As to the future grandeur of 
 America, and its being a rising empire under one head, either re- 
 publican or monarchical, it is one of the idlest and most visionary 
 notions that ever was conceived even by the writers of romance. 
 
33 
 
 The mutual antipathies and clashing interests of the Americans, 
 their difference of governments, habitudes and manners, indicate 
 that they will have no center of union and no common interest. 
 They can never be united into one compact Empire under any 
 species of government whatever; a disunited people till the end of 
 time, suspicious and distrustful of each other, they will be divided 
 and subdivided into little commonwealths or principalities accord- 
 ing to natural boundaries by great bodies of the sea and by vast 
 rivers, lakes and ridges of mountains." 
 
 The five years of confusion that intervened between the recog- 
 nized independence of the colonies and their consolidation under 
 the adoption of the constitution showed that these expectations 
 were not without warrant of fact. Carolina seeking a market for 
 her rice and indigo, Virginia for her hemp and tobacco, New 
 Hampshire for her timber and Massachusetts for her fish and oil, 
 were but separate examples of the manifold diversities of interests 
 that entered into every attempt to build up a commerce negotiable 
 by thirteen independent principalities with the nations of the 
 world. These diversities soon led to hostile trade rules between 
 the colonies themselves : New York imposing burdensome regu- 
 lations upon the trade of New Jersey and Rhode Island, for exam- 
 ple. In this cross-fire of conflicting interests between the separate 
 colonies and the separate nations of Europe, no satisfactory result 
 of the commerce of the whole country could be secured. In the 
 adoption of the constitution destroying all obstacles to the free- 
 dom of trade between the states and committing to Congress the 
 control of all foreign commerce the pathway to commercial pros- 
 perity was made straight. Despite the continued interference of 
 Great Britain and her attempt to subordinate the commerce of 
 America, which were never wholly disposed of till a second war 
 and the treaty of 1815, the growth of American commerce during 
 the twenty years of conflict between England and Revolutionary 
 and Napoleonic France, when we controlled the neutral trade of 
 the world, shows what a pathway this was and how clearly Thomas 
 Paine in his "Common Sense" foresaw the true career of America. 
 
 Great as was the commercial opportunity to America because 
 of the sundering of her colonial relations to Great Britain, the 
 creation of free trade between the separate states under the constitu- 
 
34 
 
 tion and the control of foreign commerce by the national govern- 
 ment, our success in its wise improvement may well be questioned. 
 Our government soon adopted the navigation laws of Great 
 Britain from which she had been freed, with a few minor modifi- 
 cations, and they still stand with an exception of two, of very late 
 date, as the navigation laws of these states, though Great Britain 
 repealed them forty years ago under wiser views of her true 
 interest. 
 
 The presence of so many sisters with us to-night, suggests 
 another thought in this connection. A prosperous commercial com- 
 munity has always been a gatherer of capital and the wise invest- 
 ment of capital has been the basis of improvement in the centuries 
 of life among men. The rarest and most valuable ability among 
 men is the ability to discriminate confidently between a wise and 
 unwise investment of capital, for on this discrimination rests the 
 parting of the ways in national prosperity and perpetuity. Some 
 years since a committee of ladies called upon the President of one 
 of our largest corporations to solicit a change in one of the details 
 of its management, and the leader began with an apology on the 
 ground that as women out of business, they might be thought to 
 have no proper ground from which to prefer their request. The 
 president addressed checked the apology with the declaration that 
 with his corporation women had the best of grounds for being 
 heard, for the majority of the stock of the corporation was owned 
 by women. Some days later this event was under discussion in 
 the office of a broker in New York, and a gentleman present who 
 was supposed to know whereof he spoke, said that the majority of 
 the stock in the New York Central railroad was owned directly or 
 indirectly by women. I have somewhere seen the statement, 
 since made by one who claimed to have the right to speak with 
 probable truth, that more than half the bonded debt of the United 
 States was directly or indirectly owned by womeu. Directly, that 
 is, registered in the names of women or held in the custody and 
 ownership of women; or indirectly, that is. registered in names of 
 men or corporations or in the custody and nominal ownership of 
 nun, or corporations who were simply trustees,of whom the bene- 
 ficiaries are women. As the investments <>t' capital control the 
 work and enterprises of men, if the foregoing assumptions are to 
 
35 
 
 be trusted, with the women of the world rests the balance of 
 power to-day in the determination of the sales of bonds and stocks 
 of the world and the consequent solvency of its heaviest brokers 
 and bankers and constructions of railways and canals, the conduct 
 of national affairs and at last the prosperity and perpetuity of our 
 government. 
 
 Pardon me, ladies, this is no gush of chivalric sentiment. It 
 is true, profoundly true, that the sentiment of chivalry does right- 
 fully bend the head and hand of every man to the service of your 
 comfort and your pleasure. But all that I have said is the cool, 
 unsentimental recognition of the facts of our human life as fixed 
 and irrefragable as the centripedal and centrifugal forces that 
 hold the numberless planets of the universe in the fixed orbits of 
 their continued movement. 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Kansas City Chapter Sons of the Revolution, 
 
 KANSAS CITY, OCTOBER 19, 1895. 
 
 Hon. EDWARD HERRICK ALLEN. 
 
 One hundred and fourteen years ago to-day at four o'clock 
 in the afternoon, seven thousand, two hundred and forty-seven 
 British regulars, with eight hundred and forty sailors, marched 
 out of the fortifications of Yorktown and stacked arms in surren- 
 der to seven thousand French soldiers and nine thousand colon- 
 ial troops and militia men. The news of this brilliant event 
 reached France on the 19th of November, and electrified all 
 classes of the nation. It was known in London on the 25th of 
 November, and it is reported that Lord North, then the Prime 
 Minister, upon hearing the report, strode in anguish up and 
 down his room, exclaiming many times, "It is all over," "It is 
 all over." To measure the height of the joy in France or the 
 depth of the sorrow in Britain, we must remind ourselves that 
 at the beginning of the year 1781, France and Spain had become 
 weary of the war, hopeless of any advantage in its continuance 
 and desirous of peace, the outlook for the colonists was alto- 
 gether discouraging. The British cabinet understood this situa- 
 tion, and were confident that a successful campaign in Virginia 
 would insure an advantageous peace and the restoration of the 
 rebellious colonies to the control of the mother country. Lord 
 Cornwallis' successful campaign through the Carolinas marked 
 him out as the officer sure of success in the Virginia campaign. 
 
 Five thousand picked British soldiers were furnished him 
 and he marched into Virginia occupying Portsmouth, which he 
 selected as the advantageous base of the summer's operations. 
 
38 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton, the Commander-in-chief of the British 
 forces in America, thought Point Comfort the more desirable 
 position. Finally the Peninsula of York was selected as prefer- 
 able to any other point, and on the first day of August Cornwallis 
 received orders from Clinton to occupy the Peninsula of York 
 with all his available forces, which order was promptly 
 obeyed. At this time in addition to a local force of eight 
 thousand men in camp at Yorktown under Cornwallis, the Brit- 
 ish had over eighteen thousand men in aDd about New York, 
 some scattered troops through the Carolinas and a large naval 
 force in New York harbor and scattered along the Atlantic 
 coast. To resist this force, Washington had about eight thou- 
 sand troops in camp north of New York on the East bank of 
 the Hudson, a small force under Lafayette in Virginia, watching 
 Cornwallis, and the French had a strong naval force near the 
 West Indies and a small force in the harbor at Newport, Rhode 
 Island. The outlook was discouraging enough for the Colonists 
 and the French. As soon as Lafayette realized that Cornwallis 
 had abandoned Portsmouth and was concentrating his entire 
 force on the Peninsula of York, he apprehended the fatality of 
 the change for the British and the great opportunity given the 
 French and Americans. He communicated his knowledge and 
 opinion promptly to the Commander of the French fleet at the 
 West Indies and to General Washington and wrote to Maure- 
 pas, the French Minister, "Delay all negotiations for peace, 
 await the result of the Virginia campaign. You will have 
 brilliant news before the year ends." The West Indies fleet moved 
 at once to the occupation of Chesapeake Bay and disembarked 
 troops to aid Lafayette. Washington started at once for Virginia 
 with his whole force. Under a feint of attacking New York City, 
 he crossed the Hudson without opposition, and his troops were 
 crossing the Delaware on their way south before Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton realized their real purpose. Benedict Arnold w&s sent to 
 devastate Connecticut in the vain hope of forcing Washington 
 back. A naval force was despatched to drive the French out 
 of Chesapeake Bay, but the British fleet was driven out to sea 
 with the loss of three ships of the line. On the 28th of Septem- 
 ter, Washington's army reached Williamsburgh and on the 30th 
 
39 
 
 they were united with the command under Lafayette. On 
 the 9th of October, the circumvallation of Cornwallis was com- 
 plete. On the 11th the two chief redoubts of the British were 
 taken by storm. On the 16th Cornwallis made a desperate but 
 unsuccessful sortie. On the 17th he proposed to negotiate for 
 surrender. On the 18th, the articles of capitulation were agreed 
 upon and signed, and on the 19th as stated, the surrender was 
 made. This, as Lord North said, closed the fighting of our war 
 for independence. The British troops scattered through the 
 south, fell back at once into the fortifications of Charleston and 
 Savannah. The rest was a diplomatic contest over the terms of 
 peace. On Christmas Day stubborn King George declared he 
 would never consent to a peace recognizing the independence 
 of the Colonies, but before spring his losing strength in the 
 House of Commons forced him to dismiss the Cabinet of Lord 
 North and to organize a new ministry under Rockingham, 
 pledged to peace, even with independence. The preliminary arti- 
 cles of peace with the Colonies were signed on the 4th of Decem- 
 ber, 1782, so favorable that the French Minister upon a report of 
 the details declared, "Great Britain has not made peace with its 
 American Colonies, it has bought a peace from them.' 1 The 
 preliminary articles of peace were signed by the Commissioners 
 for Great Britain, France and Spain in February, 1783, and in 
 September, 1783, all conditions were approved by the British 
 Government and the independence of the American Colonies 
 acknowledged one hundred and twelve years ago. 
 
 It may interest you to know that the last surviving soldier 
 of the Bevolution died in 1867, aged 106 years. We have still 
 surviving sons and daughters of Revolutionary soldiers. 
 
 The Societies of the Daughters of the American Bevolution 
 have voted to give a souvenir spoon to every member of their 
 Society who is a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. I am 
 told they have during the current year delivered 42 such souv- 
 enir spoons. Amoug the members of this Society who grace 
 our table to night, there sits a recipient of one of these spoons. 
 In this city there lives a lady, whose father was 25 years old at 
 the outbreak of the war of the Revolution, served through the 
 
40 
 
 war and lived over sixty years thereafter, living and dying in the 
 county in which he was born. 
 
 An incident in the surrender at Yorktown gave the oppor- 
 tunity for an effective repartee by an American lady at a Lon- 
 don dinner eighty years afterward. Lord Cornwallis remained 
 in his tent during this 19th day of October, placing the sur- 
 rendering troops under command of Major General O'Hara. 
 This necessitated the selection by Washington of a subordinate 
 officer to receive at the hands of General O'Hara the evacuat- 
 ing army. This service was performed by Major General Ben 
 jamin Lincoln of Massachusetts. At a dinner in the city of 
 London, after the news of the election of Abraham Lincoln to 
 the Presidency of the United States was known there, an 
 English gentleman undertook to chaff an American lady present 
 upon the insignificance of the newly elected President. Among 
 other chaffing queries and remarks, he said he could not recol- 
 lect any eminent family of Lincoln in America. "Your Lord- 
 ship," promptly came the reply, "seems to have forgotten the 
 General Benjamin Lincoln who received the surrendered sword 
 of Cornwallis at Yorktown." 
 
 Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, D. D. 
 
 "PATRIOTISM IN WAR IS PUBLIC SPIRIT 
 IN PEACE." 
 
 Thomas Carlyle has somewhere said: "The ultimate ques- 
 tion between every two human beings is, can I kill thee or canst 
 thou kill me?" That utterance is characteristic of Mr. Carlyle' s 
 exaggerated and at times, somewhat hysterical style, but it is 
 after all a striking statement of a generic fact in human history. 
 The struggle for existence and for precedence has been fierce and 
 long, and it still goes on. 
 
 Mr. Darwin describes man's immediate ancestor as "a hairy, 
 tailed quadruped, probably aboreal in its habits." I may say 
 in passing, Sir, that it has been remarked that if this an- 
 cestor of ours was aboreal in his habits, it is highly probable 
 that in the course of his education he became familiar with 
 
41 
 
 the higher branches ; — but however that may be, it is certain that 
 existence for the creature meant continual struggle; and that if it 
 ever became anything better than "a hairy, tailed quadruped with 
 aboreal habits," struggle was not only the price but the occasion 
 of the ascent. Certainly the early savage man lived by struggle, 
 and by it he was made. We cannot read the history of the past, 
 as the theory of evolution writes it, without perceiving that the 
 struggle for life has been, and is, a first necessity of progress. 
 Nor can we watch human life about us without having the same 
 conclusion forced upon us. Degeneration begins when struggle 
 ceases and reversal towards the original type takes place. Of 
 this may not a young man of a certain type be an illustration? 
 He toils not neither does he spin ; he never contends for anything ; 
 in principle he stands for nothing, and so in his very appearance, 
 the dude of all nations, even of the first generation, seems visibly 
 to approximate some anthropoid progenitor. It is plain, whatever 
 our hypothesis of origins, that it is true as claimed, that not only 
 life and struggle, but health and struggle, growth and struggle, 
 and progress and struggle, have always gone together; and that in 
 the later stages of humanity, morality and struggle, and even re- 
 ligion and struggle are linked together in inseparable and neces- 
 sary connection. 
 
 Patriotism is no exception to this law, for the fact remains 
 as true in the life of the community as of the individual, in na- 
 tional as in personal history. Walter Bagehot in his "Physics 
 and Politics" has a chapter on the "Uses of Conflict." That is a 
 suggestive title. It is a fact that through conflict nations are 
 elevated, trained, developed. This conflict has been on every 
 possible arena; it has been continually on the battle-field. We 
 must acknowledge that in nation-making war has been a powerful 
 and constant factor; and that through war has often come the 
 training which has made a people not only strong but noble. 
 This is not to advocate war, nor to say that it is even a necessary 
 part of national training. The horrors of any war are unspeak- 
 able. Some of you to-night wear insignia other than of the 
 Sons of the Revolution. You have had actual contact with the 
 scenes of war. You know what war means, and you, least of all 
 men, desire war's return. Sometimes in your dreams you 
 
42 
 
 cry out as thousands did in their waking hours, only a genera- 
 tion ago:- 
 
 "O the weary marching men, 
 O the brutal bellowing guns, 
 O the gory fields, when the land lies drunk 
 With the blood of her slaughtered sons ! 
 How long O Lord, how long, 
 How long before Thy day, 
 Ere the angel of peace shall come again, 
 And brothers shall cease to slay?" 
 
 Surely my comrades we do not forget the fields where "gar- 
 ments were rolled in blood and the earth covered her slain." We 
 do not forget the spectacle of the great army hospital, nor the 
 mourning and sorrow carried to numberless households. In the 
 good time coming there will be no wars, but after all, after all, 
 we are sure that there are worse things than war. A peace pur- 
 chased at the expense of principle, and honor, and justice, and lib- 
 erty, and national life, is worse than war, is a peace ignoble and 
 unworthy, out of which with a thrill as of divine life true men 
 sometimes 
 
 "Wake to the higher aims 
 Of a land that has lost for a little her lust of gold 
 And love of a peace that was full of wrongs and shames 
 Horrible, hateful, monstrous, not to be told : 
 And hail once more to the banner of battle unrolled! 
 Tho' many a light shall darken, and many shall weep 
 For those that are crushed in the clash of jarring claims, 
 Yet many a darkness into the light shall leap 
 
 ******* 
 And shine in the sudden making of splendid names, 
 And noble thought be freer under the sun, 
 And the heart of a people beat with one desire." 
 
 When a whole people lifts itself up to undertake together a 
 desperate and noble task, fighting for self-preservation, for truth, 
 for freedom, for justice, all the great ennobling passions of hu- 
 manity are called into play, and so the nation gets education and 
 uplift. There is besides, in the soldiers themselves of such a 
 war, training in the soldierly virtues, in obedience, patience, en- 
 durance, honor, intrepidity, courage, self-sacrifice, qualities all 
 much needed to counteract the enervating influences of commerce 
 and luxury in degenerate days of peace. 
 
43 
 
 What great principle ever triumphed without great self-sac- 
 rifice? None in all history. We do not enjoy to-day a solitary 
 privilege, civil or religious, which is not perfumed with the suf- 
 fering and heroic valor of those who have gone before us. 
 
 If now patriotism in war is to be public spirit in peace, of what 
 sort must that public spirit be ? The patriotism that flamed forth in 
 war was no passive, calculating quality. It was positive, self-as- 
 sertive, generous. It had a definite programme; it meant busi- 
 ness, it was ready to fight, if need be, and to keep fighting; to 
 lose occupation, home, life itself if it must, to gain its end. Self- 
 sacrifice without limit, and unbounded courage, were the charac- 
 teristics of the patriotism of the fathers of the revolution. What 
 is patriotism in war? Ask Saratoga and Valley Forge. Ask the 
 men who after seven years of fighting stood in line in their 
 ragged regimentals 114 years ago to-day to receive the surrender 
 of Cornwallis and his army. What then is the public spirit in 
 peace that is worthy to be the continuation of the patriotism of 
 the fathers in war ? Surely it must have in it the same qualities 
 of courage and self-sacrifice, and it must recognize the fact that 
 conflict is still a necessary condition of progress. 
 
 My contention, Mr. President and companions all, is, that 
 struggle is necessary to preserve what struggle has won. 
 
 We must infuse this element into our public spirit or it will 
 be but a feeble expression of patriotism, nay, a travesty and mockery 
 of the strenuous and exalted spirit of your "firm-pulsed sires." 
 
 There is room and need for toil and hard fighting in the 
 service of country in time of peace as well as in time of war. 
 We live in a day when relief of suffering is the popular virtue 
 when charity is highly honored, and naturally public spirit 
 takes on these forms. There is danger lest the great indigna- 
 tions of our nature against wrong perish, lest the fire and fibre of 
 noble virtue be lost in good-natured acquiesence with evil, until our 
 morals and our politics alike, become a "mush of concessions." The 
 oppositions in the moral world are as inherent and necessary as 
 those of the elements in the physical world. Opposition to evil is 
 only the other side of the choice of goodness. You cannot have one 
 without the other, and the strength of the one will be the measure 
 of the strength of the other. If you will tell me how I can love 
 
44 
 
 my country and not oppose those who would destroy her, I will 
 tell you how there can be a magnetic needle with the positive 
 pole pointing to the north, and no negative pole pointing in the 
 opposite direction. 
 
 If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, perpetual struggle 
 is its defense, for of what use is the watchfulness which lifts no 
 voice or hand when danger threatens? We all, here met to-night — 
 Sons and Daughters of the Revolution — come of fighting stock. 
 This is something, but the fight is still on, and to lend a hand 
 to-day is more and better. Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, 
 but the enemies of free government are vigorous and defiant in 
 Missouri. 
 
 A battle call is often the only key note to success in moral 
 conflict. As occasion requires, let the issue for righteousness be 
 squarely joined ; let the will of the leaders be like a trumpet call 
 to war, and the people will rally to the standard. They will rally 
 to the standard in a fight for righteousness, as they did for 
 the overthrow of Tammany, as they did to put down the 
 Mayor Hopkins regime, as pestilent as Tammany, in Chicago. 
 Of course the work of building is as needful, and always more 
 noble than that of defense of destruction, but the time has not 
 yet come when we can build our walls otherwise than they of 
 Nehemiah's time built Zion, when "every one with one of his 
 hands wrought in the work, and with the other held his weapon." 
 
 James Russell Lowell, at the end of the civil war, in the 
 great access of joy and hope and love which filled many a patri- 
 otic breast, closed his magnificent commemoration ode with this 
 impassioned personification and consecration :- 
 
 "O Beautiful ! my Country ! ours once more ! 
 Smoothing thy gold of war-dishevelled hair 
 O'er such sweet brows as never other wore, 
 
 And letting thy set lips, 
 
 Freed from wrath's pale eclipse, 
 The rosy edges of their smile lay bare, 
 What words divine of lover or of poet 
 Could tell our love and make thee know it, 
 Among the Nations bright beyond compare? 
 
 What were our lives without thee? 
 
 What all our lives to save thee? 
 
 We reck not what we gave thee; 
 
 We will not dare to doubt thee, 
 But ask whatever else, and we will dare !" 
 
45 
 
 Can you not imagine the scornful curl of the lip with which 
 the self-indulgent, easy-going pessimistic club man — and the 
 self-indulgent man is wont to be pessimistic — would read those 
 lines? That is surely a sentiment which kid glove and rose 
 water critics of our republican institutions would not in the least 
 understand; but thank God, there are tens of thousands of men 
 and women in the broad land, South and North, East and West, 
 who do understand it, and would utter it with brimming hearts 
 and eyes. It will also be a fitting and welcome utterance for 
 those Americans who come after us, if only we can lead them, 
 following our example, to undertake in tbeir time, the toil, and 
 sacrifice, and struggle, which are needful to preserve what toil, 
 and sacrifice, and struggle have won. 
 
 Hon. JOSEPH VAN CLIEF KARNES. 
 
 " PRINCIPLE." 
 
 One hundred and fourteen years ago to-day Cornwallis sur- 
 rendered. Though definite articles were not signed until Sep- 
 tember 3, 1783, with this event the great victory had been won. 
 King George refused to negotiate with the representatives of the 
 Continental Congress, and said that "blows must decide," and 
 appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world as to the rectitude 
 of their intentions, the issue tendered was accepted by our fathers. 
 We have no record of a similar war. It had not a commercial 
 feature connected with it. Notwithstanding the arraignment in 
 the Declaration of Independence, yet viewed from the standpoint 
 of the present, after the lapse of more than a century, when all 
 passion has subsided, the conclusion is plain that a people of less 
 earnest convictions could, without great sacrifice, have accommo- 
 dated themselves to the demands of the mother country. Many 
 of the disputes had yielded to petition or diplomacy. One by one 
 the onerous duties had been removed, the stamp act was repealed ) 
 the right to quarter troops had been abandoned, England was 
 ready to yield to everything except a surrender of the inherent 
 right, as it claimed, to legislate for the Colonies. Threepence 
 a pound upon tea was not a grievous burden, but it carried with 
 
46 
 
 it a governmental principle of transcendent importance. Lord 
 Mansfield, in expressing his opinion, said "The people of America 
 are as bound to obey the acts of the British Parliament as the 
 inhabitants of London or Middlesex." The demand of the King 
 was, "that there shoirld always be one tax, at least, to keep up 
 the right of taxing." British statesmen of all schools claimed 
 this right, and in the assertion of it the tax on tea was sustained. 
 On the other hand the Colonists insisted that "by the theory of 
 the British Constitution taxation and consent by representation 
 are inseparable correlatives," and denied the unqualified author- 
 ity of a legislature in which they were not represented. This 
 contention was not confined to taxation alone, but extended to all 
 legislation, thus making representation and legislation insepar- 
 able. The American Colonies had no representatives in the 
 British Parliament, and hence the right of Parliament to legis- 
 late in any way affecting the Colonies was strenuously denied. 
 Never was a line of battle more clearly drawn and the opposing 
 forces represented the best of Saxon blood. The two special 
 points in controversy were the right of Parliament to tax the Col- 
 onies, and the right to change their charters at pleasure. Lord 
 North was willing to restore the charter of Massachusetts, but 
 the King declared that rather than do so he would renounce the 
 Colonies entirely. So all negotiations were focused on this one 
 right of legislation. The colonies at one time would have been 
 willing to have forgotten the past wrongs, but after Lexington 
 and Concord and Bunker Hill, they came to the throne, not on 
 bended knee, but with an open demand for their rights. As has 
 been strongly stated, "their vigorous vitality refused conformity 
 to foreign laws and external rule." This was not through 
 hatred of England, but because they loved truth the more. His- 
 tory does not warrant the assertion made by the English leaders 
 that every demand made by the Colonies was only to prepare the 
 way for independence. Had the right of local government been 
 guaranteed to them, this whole land of ours would today be 
 under the British flag. 
 
 The seven years of privation and hardship and blood were 
 dedicated to one principle alone, and that was that all govern- 
 ments derive their just power from the consent of the governed. 
 
47 
 
 What has since followed in giving form and strength to the re- 
 public, has simply been an application of that principle. While 
 upon such occasions as this we are recalling the wonderful 
 achievements of our revolutionary ancestors, we should even 
 more keep in mind the cardinal doctrine which vitalized their he- 
 roism, and in yielding veneration to their personality almost to 
 the verge of ancestral worship, let our homage be still greater 
 for the immortal doctrines which they declared. Men may come 
 and men may go, but a great truth, like the brook, goes on 
 forever. 
 
 Of the ultimate, full and complete realization of the doctrine 
 that legislation and representation are inseparable, there ought 
 to be no doubt. Wherever the voice of the people is heard at all 
 the demand is loud and constant for an enlarged suffrage. No 
 step has been, or ever will, be taken backward. Efforts may be 
 made to deny representation to large classes of the people on the 
 specious plea that the safety of society demands it. This may be 
 promising in the bud, but in the blossom there lies political 
 death. The measure of a nation is not the intelligence and vir- 
 tue of the highest, nor that of the lowest, but it is represented by 
 the general average. The purpose of government is the greatest 
 good to the greatest number. The strong must help carry the 
 weak, and thus the whole body politic be borne along. The law 
 in its application touches each individual, and if he would be a 
 free man, his contribution to the common intelligence, which 
 finds expression in the law of the land, ought to be received. 
 Take away from a man his voice in the government, and you have 
 forged the first link in his chain of bondage. Make him a par- 
 ticipant, and you place in his hand a weapon with which every 
 aggression may be resisted. 
 
 This principle of the "fathers of the Kepublic cannot be too 
 clearly kept in view. I am no pessimist, but it is proper to ob- 
 serve the dangers that lie hidden along the line of the nation's 
 progress. It may be that in conserving the material welfare, in 
 enacting laws in the interests of property, the highest well-being 
 of the individual has been subordinated. The immortal signers 
 of the Declaration of Independence, looked alone to life, liberty 
 and the pursuit of happiness. It was to protect these that they 
 
48 
 
 declared that representation should go hand in hand with legisla- 
 tion. Whatever policy makes the best men, irrespective of all 
 other considerations, that is the line to follow. 
 
 "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
 Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 
 
 In the exercise of the franchise there is a consciousness of 
 responsibility. The voter feels that he is a component part of 
 the State. Its glory is his glory, and its honor is his honor. 
 Kestricted suffrage is simply oligarchy, and equally indefensible 
 in principle. If we would follow the teachings of the fathers 
 whose heroic deeds we to-night celebrate, the next step forward 
 logically ought now be taken. "Where theory leads, practice 
 should follow. One-half of the people of this country, and cer- 
 tainly we will all agree the better half, just as amenable to the 
 law as the other, stands without representation, and have the 
 same grounds of complaint as did Samuel Adams and Patrick 
 Henry and their compatriots of the Revolution. The intellectual 
 inferiority of woman can be no longer urged. Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge, Harvard and Columbia, and the other great universities 
 are opening their doors for her full admission. Vassar and 
 Smith, Wellesley and Barnard, in science, literature, philosophy, 
 offer to her courses of study covering the widest range. Women 
 are filling chairs in the best colleges in the land. They are in 
 the pulpit, at the bar, in medicine. In the thousand school 
 rooms the youth of the land are at her feet. She owns property 
 and pays taxes. She is in the bank, counting room, the store, 
 the office, and, best of all, she is in the home, the companion, the 
 helpmeet, the thoughtful adviser of her husband, the instructor 
 and guide of her children. They have lives to be protected, 
 property interests to be guarded, personal rights to be guaran- 
 teed. When the colonists complained that they had no repre- 
 sentatives in the English Parliament, Grenville's reply was, 
 while they had no individual, they had a collective representa- 
 tion. Just so the slaves of the South had a supposed vcice in 
 Congress by the increased representation given to the master. 
 That women are represented through and by the opposite sex is 
 just as fallacious. In insisting upon the complete enforcement 
 of the great cardinal principle of free government, I plead for no 
 
49 
 
 "new woman," but for an intelligent, faithful, earnest American 
 woman, knowing her rights and insisting upon them, loving her 
 country and its institutions as she loves her home and her family. 
 If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the 
 governed, why stand halting in the full application of this recog- 
 nized, self-evident political truth ? 
 
 What this country needs more than anything else today is 
 more political courage, the revival of that love of principle, that 
 spirit of martyrdom, that unyielding assertion of right possessed 
 by the fathers of the Republic. It may well be doubted whether 
 the present Boston, with her intimate trade relations with Great 
 Britain, could be induced to throw ship loads of tea into the 
 harbor whatever might be the provocation. The men who defied 
 King George with all his mercenaries never counted the cost of a 
 movement, or considered its expediency. It was then as it will 
 ever be, that between right and wrong there is no ground of 
 compromise, and standing on this rock they were unmoved by 
 fear of the consequences. That dauntless courage, inflexible 
 purpose, and rugged patriotism which characterized their every 
 action needs to be cherished. If the spirit of '76 could possess 
 the civilization of today, we would need no reform parties. It is 
 now as it was then, the demand is for men to stand bravely out 
 for the right, and while they may learn to speak the truth in 
 love, always speak the truth. If the enemies that threaten our 
 safety are to be destroyed, it must be done by brave men, strong 
 in their faith, who love country above party, and who love man- 
 hood and womanhood more than hoarded grain. 
 
 Political bosses want to be dethroned, and all forms of de- 
 feating the will of the people rebuked and punished. Fraud upon 
 the ballot box, the mouthpiece of the people, covert or open, aims 
 at the life of the state, and should be classed as treason. To ac- 
 complish all this it will ba necessary to lay aside our selfishness 
 and cultivate a higher citizenship, form higher ideals of states- 
 men, and require a more faithful public service. This edifice of 
 free government, with the will of the people as its corner-stone, 
 is still building, and to give it strength and beauty and sym- 
 metry, calls for earnest, faithful work. 
 
 Its success depends not upon the results in material prosper- 
 
50 
 
 ity — that has already been assured — but upon the intelligence 
 and virtue of the people. Unless free government makes better 
 men and better women, its mission has failed. For 
 
 "What constitutes a state? 
 
 Not high raised battlements or labored mound, 
 Thick wall or moated gate, 
 
 Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned, 
 Not bays and broad armed ports, 
 
 Where laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; 
 Not starred and spangled courts, 
 
 No: Men, high minded men, 
 Men, who their duties know, 
 
 But knowing their rights, and knowing, dare maintain — 
 These constitute a state." 
 
 Hon. JAMES LAWRENCE BLAIR. 
 
 "PATRIOTISM THE BEST LEGACY OF THE 
 REVOLUTION." 
 
 Permit me, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, to con- 
 gratulate you upon the selection of this day as the time of your 
 annual gathering. It is a day conspicuous in our country's 
 annals; it is second only to that which commemorates the birth 
 of our national independence; and it should ever stand as one of 
 the liberty landmarks in the Nation's life; for if, on July 4th, 
 1776, the nation was born, it was on October 19th, 1781, that it 
 emerged from the baptism of fire and blood which vindicated its 
 right to a name and a place among the great family of nations. 
 
 One hundred and fourteen years ago, when the sun set on 
 the field of Yorktown, the long struggle was ended — the fight 
 was won. National independence was no longer a mere hope, 
 embittered by long delay, but an accomplished fact; for when 
 Lord North learned of the surrender of Cornwallis, he said: "It 
 is all over." And though there was afterwards some fighting, 
 that striking picture of the British Commander delivering his 
 sword, the emblem of his power, to Washington, was really the 
 last scene in the great drama of the war, that war, unparalleled 
 in bitterness, whose changing fortune had at length declared for 
 the weak, but devoted patriots in their desperate struggle for 
 principle against power, and which has added one more monu- 
 
51 
 
 ment to that imperishable spirit of liberty which is the glory of 
 the Anglo-Saxon race. 
 
 The story of the struggle for independence is one which we 
 never tire of hearing. Its smallest details are hallowed to us 
 by association with names which have become synonymous with 
 the greatest virtues, and there is no true American but whose 
 heart throbs when he reads again the impressive lines, written 
 in blood and anguish, which tell of the privations and the death 
 of those consecrated heroes who suffered and died that our 
 country might live. The throes of that mighty contest, though 
 more than one hundred years have passed since the last gun was 
 fired, are felt to-day in the heart of every true citizen of the 
 Republic. Who of us can read to-day of the calm and impres- 
 sive bearing, the moral grandeur of Washington, in the 
 anguish of soul which he endured in danger and defeat, without 
 a thrill of pride in the thought that we have at least that in com- 
 mon with him that we, too, are Americans. Who can read of 
 the daring deeds of Greene and Warren without being proud to 
 be numbered among those for whom these valiant deeds were 
 done. Who of us but exults while we recall the fortitude and 
 valor of Putnam, of Stark and of Anthony Wayne, that in the 
 achievements and above all, in the character of these men, we 
 have our portion as joint heirs of the glories of the American 
 Revolution. 
 
 But is not needful at this time that I should speak more in 
 detail of these events. It is to the credit of American scholar- 
 ship and educational institutions that the history of these times 
 is so well preserved and is made one of the salient parts of the 
 instruction of our youth, and the fact that I am here to-night to 
 address this organization is of itself at once a reason for brevity 
 and for congratulation, since our existence as a Society consti- 
 tutes a guaranty of the perpetuation of the details of the great 
 struggle for liberty. I count it on© of the most assuring signs 
 of the times that though more than a century has passed since 
 these stirring events became history, the spirit which actuated 
 our forefathers in the doing of these mighty deeds is still 
 potent to honor and to immortalize the memory of those who did 
 them. 
 
52 
 
 But while we need not rehearse the oft-told story, it is well 
 that we should consider what was the underlying thought, the 
 motive which stirred men's souls so that they wrought these 
 things; for it is not the deed itself, it is the spirit which prompts 
 it that gives it value to humanity. We do not celebrate the vic- 
 tories of Alexander, of Caesar, or of Napoleon, for theirs were 
 mere wars for conquest, prompted by ambition, deluging the 
 world with blood and working no good to the human race; but 
 the defense of Thermopylae, the death of Arnold Winkelried, 
 will be sung and praised so long as poets and historians shall 
 live, because the spirit that was in these men was not the selfish 
 greed of conquest, but steadfast devotion to principle and willing- 
 ness to die in its behalf. In a word that motive was patriotism. 
 And it is of this in its broader sense that I wish to speak tonight. 
 
 There are some words which we use so often that we do not 
 fully appreciate their meaning. Patriotism is one of them. It 
 is generally defined as love of country, and perhaps, if we under- 
 stand that in its widest application, the definition will suffice. 
 But in every-day life I fear that most of us restrict its meaning 
 to the willingness to do battle for our country in case of need; I 
 believe that this meaning, though one of its best, is by no means 
 comprehensive. In its broadest sense patriotism means not only 
 the willingness to die for one's country, but the willingness to 
 live for it and to work for it. Countries, especially countries 
 like ours, do not often need to be died for, but they do need to 
 have all their citizens live their whole lives devoted to their coun- 
 try's interests. Laws, institutions, even individual virtues, will 
 not suffice either to make or to preserve a commonwealth 
 unless those laws and institutions be guarded with a jeal- 
 ous care, and unless those individual virtues be applied to public 
 as well as private affairs. It is a hard saying, but it is true nev- 
 ertheless, that many a man has one conscience in respect of his 
 dealings with his fellow men and another in his dealings with 
 the Government. Instances are not wanting where men of uniin- 
 peached, if not unimpeachable integrity in business, have not 
 hesitated to smuggle merchandise through the customs, to vote 
 for a back salary grab or a fraudulent subsidy, to draw an un- 
 earned pension, to reap the benefit of a more than doubtful Gov- 
 
53 
 
 ern merit contract, and to pay political debts by the gift of public 
 office; in a word, we are all of us for the old flag, but there are a 
 great many of us, too, who are for the old flag and an appropri- 
 aiion. 
 
 Now these things are not only dishonorable in themselves, 
 but are they not essentially disloyal and unpatriotic? The Gov- 
 ernment and its agencies represent the Commonwealth and what 
 more absurd than to say that one would die for the Common- 
 wealth, yet he will rob it of what is its just due! 
 
 - Again, our laws and our institutions are justly our chief 
 pride. Yet of what value are these laws or institutions, of what 
 permanence can they be unless we give them the time and atten- 
 tion, the capacity both of head and heart necessary to maintain 
 them? The narrowest construction of patriotism is devotion to 
 the institutions of the commonwealth ; if devotion means any- 
 thing, it means our best service ; yet is it not true that while we 
 are all ready to fight for our country, very few of us, and that 
 few by no means the best qualified, are willing to serve her in 
 any but the most exalted positions? And true as this is of our 
 National Government, it is even more so of our states and mu- 
 nicipalities. It is a notorious fact that the best men can rarely 
 be induced to take part in the actual labor of government. Other 
 things pay better, they say, and so they go on in the scramble 
 for wealth and leave the business of government to venal poli- 
 ticians. And it is a fact equally notorious that a very large pro- 
 portion of our people will not even take the trouble to register as 
 voters, and if registered will not take the time to vote. As for 
 participating in primaries and caucuses, the most important part 
 of the whole system, a citizen who does that does it at the peril 
 of being considered either a political trickster or a fool. And so, 
 especially in our large cities, as the best men will neither hold 
 office nor take the trouble to elect good officials, we find that the 
 machinery of government is almost wholly in the hands of men 
 of small capacity, and often, alas, of no character. These are 
 facts which carry amazement to the minds of all intelligent for- 
 eigners who have studied our institutions, and which among 
 others have led one of the most intelligent of these to declare 
 that our whole system of government, so far as municipalities 
 
54 
 
 are concerned, is a failure. They cannot understand a patriotism 
 which will make men die in defense of the Union and yet refuse 
 the small concession of time and trouble necessary to perfect and 
 preserve its institutions. 
 
 I mention these few instances because I deem them typical 
 of a condition of public morals amongst us which imperils the 
 foundation of patriotism, for it has been well said that " Love of 
 country alone is not able to maintain liberty. The people must 
 be trained in the practical conduct of local government and ani- 
 mated by intelligent public spirit." 
 
 1 am well aware that the excuse of most of us is that we 
 haven't the time to give to public affairs. In other words, in the 
 mad rush to turn every conceivable thing into money, we are sac- 
 rificing that for which our forefathers died and which came to us 
 as a heritage upon the sacred condition that we preserve and 
 honor these institutions in the same spirit in which they were 
 founded. 
 
 The Nation is but an aggregation of individuals and the Com- 
 monwealth is but the united interests of all. Loyalty to the 
 Commonwealth means loyalty to every part of it, from the Presi- 
 dency of the United States to the pettiest municipal office. Civic 
 pride, conscientious discharge of local political duty, are as es- 
 sential to true patriotism as the larger sentiment which includes 
 the whole Nation. I need not tell you that infidelity of the in- 
 dividual to the Commonwealth means its dissolution. The repub- 
 lics of Greece and Rome perished from the earth because venality 
 and self interest sapped the patriotism of their citizens. The 
 German Empire exists today because of the loyalty of its people 
 not only to the "Fatherland," but to every city, town and hamlet 
 in it; and the greatness of Great Britain is due in large measure 
 to the fact that her people deem it an honor to serve her in office 
 and are unsparing of their time and means in the maintenance of 
 every one of her institutions. Englishmen are willing to serve 
 their country not only at the cannon's mouth, but in Parliament, 
 without pay, in municipal office or as country squir«. AVe 
 Americans seem to feel that when we have twisted the Brifish 
 lion's tail and made our American eagle scream we have done all 
 that patriotism requires and can relegate the business of the 
 
55 
 
 Government to men whom we would not deem fit to employ in 
 any responsible business office. 
 
 Now is not this a back-sliding from the glorious precedents 
 set by our forefathers, who not only fought in time of national 
 peril, but who were also willing to sacrifice their personal inter- 
 ests in close attention to the details of government? They knew 
 that a government is not a thing which will run itself; that it is a 
 complicated machine which requires the closest study and most 
 painstaking labor; and while no one will deny that the heroism 
 which makes a man willing to die in battle is both good and 
 great, yet the spirit that makes a man sacrifice his 
 wealth, his prospects, his ease, and devote himself to the public 
 service, is no small virtue. The history of the world would not 
 be what it is were it not for the unseen heroisms; those which 
 are not chronicled in books, but which have counted largely in 
 the progress of humanity. The heroes of the Revolution are 
 not all named in the roster of the American armies; and 
 the patriotism which has inspired us for more than a century 
 was found in many places other than the field of battle. Wash- 
 ington, the soldier, is no greater than Washington, the citizen, 
 for it is one of the best attributes of that marvelous man, that he 
 was as true to his country in the smallest detail of citizenship as 
 in the bloodiest battle he ever fought. And to this fidelity, in 
 both Washington and his associates, we are as much indebted for 
 the success of our institutions after our liberty was won as we are 
 for its achievement. 
 
 I would not have you think me despairing of the present or 
 doubtful of the future. I know the hearts of the American 
 people too well to believe that these evils are due to any but 
 transient causes. I would but remind you that without eternal 
 vigilance this fair fabric which we call our State cannot perma- 
 nently endure; that while we have no battles to fight, no wilder- 
 ness to reclaim and no states to found, we have a higher, nobler 
 duty even than these. We are at once the trustees and the bene- 
 ficiaries of the memory of the devoted dead and of the spirit of 
 liberty for which they died. No self-glorification, no complacent 
 self-satisfaction that we are the greatest and best of nations will 
 keep us up to their lofty standard. Nations no more than men 
 
56 
 
 are taken at their own estimate of themselves. Individual char- 
 acter, elevated public morals, honorable conduct, fidelity to these 
 heroic ideals, local as well as national patriotism, all these are 
 needful to discharge our trust and to cherish our inheritance ; and 
 this Society, tracing its lineage and as it does to the fountain head 
 of our national life, is charged with a special mission ; a mission 
 in the fulfillment of which it will best refute that false charge 
 that it is an effort to re-establish caste. That mission is to com- 
 memorate not only the names and the deeds of our heroic fore- 
 fathers, but in our own lives to perpetuate their sturdy rectitude, 
 their clean-handed public dealing, their fidelity to public trusts 
 and that spirit of high endeavor which made them good soldiers, 
 good citizens, and, best of all, good men. Our best heritage 
 from them is not freedom, but those virtues, that exalted spirit, 
 which we call patriotism, which alone makes men worthy to be 
 free. 
 
EXEGI MONUMENTUM AERE PERENNIUS. 
 
 SERVICE 
 
 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY i6,A.D. 1896, 
 
 Commemorative 
 
 OF THE BIRTH OF 
 
 George Washington 
 
 First Congregational Church, Kansas City. 
 MDCCCXCVI. 
 
The Service will be Conducted by 
 
 Rev. Clarence Walworth Backus, D. D. 
 
 Kansas Citv Chapter Sons of the Revolution. 
 
A FORM 
 
 OF 
 
 Prayer and Thanksgiving 
 
 TO 
 
 ALMIGHTY GOD 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE BIRTH 
 
 OF 
 
 George Washington 
 
 SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR KANSAS CITY CHAPTER 
 
 Sons of the Revolution 
 
 First Congregational Church 
 kansas city. 
 
 Sunday the Sixteenth Day of February 
 MDCCCXCVI. 
 
PROCESSIONAL HYMN. 
 
 THE Son of God goes forth to war, 
 A kingly crown to gain; 
 His blood-red banner streams afar: 
 
 Who follows in his train? 
 Who best can drink his cup of woe, 
 
 And triumph over pain, 
 Who patient bares his cross below — 
 He follows in his train. 
 
 The martyr first, whose eagle eye 
 
 Could pierce beyond the grave, 
 Who saw his Master in the sky, 
 
 And called on him to save: 
 Like him, with pardon on his tongue, 
 
 In midst of mortal pain, 
 He prayed for them that did the wrong: 
 
 Who follows in his train? 
 
 A glorious band, the chosen few, 
 
 On whom the Spirit came: 
 Twelve valiant saints, their hope they knew, 
 
 And mock'd the cross and flame: 
 They met the tyrant's brandish'd steel, 
 
 The lion's gory mane; 
 They bow'd their necks the death to feel : 
 
 Who follows in their train? 
 
 A noble army, men and boys, 
 
 The matron and the maid, 
 Around the Saviour's throne rejoice, 
 
 In robes of light array'd; 
 They climb'd the steep ascent of heaven 
 
 Through peril, toil, and pain: 
 O God! to us may grace be given 
 
 To follow in their train! 
 
A FORM 
 
 OF 
 
 PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING. 
 
 1 First shall be sung the following Hymn. 
 
 OGOD, our help in ages past, 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 Before the hills in order stood, 
 
 Or earth received her frame, 
 From everlasting thou art God, 
 
 To endless years the same. 
 
 A thousand ages in thy sight 
 
 Are like an evening gone, 
 Short as the watch that ends the night 
 
 Before the rising sun. 
 
 Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 
 
 Bears all its sons away; 
 They fly forgotten, as a dream 
 
 Dies at the opening day. 
 
 O God, our help in ages past, 
 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 Be thou our guard while troubles last, 
 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 *! 'Then the [Minister shall read the following sentences of Holy 
 Scripture. 
 
 THE Lord is in his Holy Temple; let all the earth 
 keep silence before him. — Habakkuk ii. 20. 
 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers 
 
have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in 
 the times of old. — Psalm xliv. i. 
 
 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and 
 the people whom he hath chosen for his own inherit- 
 ance. — Psalm xxxiii. 12. 
 
 The Lord ordereth a good man's going, and mak- 
 eth his way acceptable to himself. — Psalm xxxvii. 23. 
 
 Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, 
 to dwell together in unity! — Psalm cxxxiii. 1. 
 
 T Then the [Minister shall say, 
 
 The Lord be with you. 
 Answer. And with thy spirit. 
 Minister. Let us pray. 
 
 1" Then, all kneeling, the Minister and the people shall say the 
 Lord's Prayer. 
 
 OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy 
 Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done 
 on earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily 
 bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive 
 those who trespass against us. And lead us not into 
 temptation; But deliver us from evil: For thine is the 
 kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 • Then likewise he shall 
 
 O Lord, open thou our lips. 
 
 Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy 
 praise. 
 
 1 Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say, 
 
 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and 
 ever shall be, world without end. Amen. 
 Minister. Praise ye the Lord. 
 A?iswer. The Lord's Name be praised. 
 
 ^T T})en shall be read responsively the i4jth Psalm, followed by 
 the Gloria Patri. 
 
 O PRAISE the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing 
 praises unto our God; yea, a joyful and pleasant 
 thing it is to be thankful. 
 
 2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, and gather 
 together the outcasts of Israel. 
 
 3. He healeth those that are broken in heart, and 
 giveth medicine to heal their sickness. 
 
 4. He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth 
 them all by their names. 
 
 5. Great is our Lord, and great is his power; yea, 
 and his wisdom is infinite. 
 
 6. The Lord setteth up the meek, and bringeth the 
 ungodly down to the ground. 
 
 7. O sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing- 
 praises upon the harp unto our God; 
 
 8. Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and pre- 
 pareth rain for the earth; and maketh the grass to 
 grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men ; 
 
 9. Who giveth fodder unto the cattle, and feedeth 
 the young ravens that call upon him. 
 
 10. He hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse; 
 neither delighteth he in any man's legs. 
 
 1 1. But the Lord's delight is in them that fear him, 
 and put their trust in his mercy. 
 
 12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, 
 O Zion. 
 
 13. For he hath made fast the bars of thy gates, 
 and hath blessed thy children within thee. 
 
14. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee 
 with the flour of wheat. 
 
 15. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth, 
 and his word runneth very swiftly. 
 
 16. He giveth snow like wool, and scattereth the 
 hoar-frost like ashes. 
 
 17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who is 
 able to abide his frost? 
 
 18. He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: 
 he bloweth with his wind, and the waters flow. 
 
 19. He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes 
 and ordinances unto Israel. 
 
 20. He hath not dealt so with any nation; neither 
 have the heathen knowledge of his laws. 
 
 Followed by 
 Gloria Patri. 
 Then shall be read for the Lesson the EIGHTH CHAPTER OF THE 
 Book Deuteronomy, followed by the 
 
 Cantate Domino. 
 
 T))en shall be said the Apostle's Creed,fcy the Minister and the 
 People, standing. 
 
 j BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of 
 * heaven and earth: 
 
 And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: Who 
 was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin 
 Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, 
 dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third 
 day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into 
 heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the 
 Father Almighty: From thence he shall come to judge 
 the quick and the dead. 
 
 I believe in the Holy Ghost: The Holy Catholic 
 ( hurch: The Communion of Saints: The Forgiveness 
 of sins: The Resurrection of the body: And the Life 
 everlasting. Amen. 
 
1 Then the Minister shall say, 
 
 The Lord be with you. 
 Answer. And with thy spirit. 
 Minister. Let us pray. 
 
 1 Then all devoutly kneeling, the Minister shall say the prayers 
 
 following: 
 
 zA Collect for Peace. 
 
 OGOD, who art the author of peace and lover of 
 concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our 
 eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend 
 us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; 
 that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear 
 the power of any adversaries, through the might of 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 A Prayer for the President of the United States and all in Civil 
 
 Authority. 
 
 r~\ LORD, our heavenly Father, the high and 
 ^-^ mighty Ruler of the Universe, who dost from 
 thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; Most 
 heartily we beseech thee, with thy favour to behold and 
 bless thy servant The President of the United 
 States, and all others in authority, and so replenish 
 them with the grace of thy Holy Spirit; that they may 
 always incline to thy will, and walk in thy way. Endue 
 them plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant them in 
 health and prosperity long to live; and finally, after 
 this life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity; through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 A Special Thanksgiving. 
 
 OGOD, by whom the whole world is governed 
 and preserved, we give Thee hearty thanks for 
 the privilege of commemorating in Thy Holy Temple, 
 with Praise and Thanksgiving the Birth of Thy servant, 
 
George Washington, whose name Thou madest, 
 throughout the world, a synonym for all that is best 
 in human character and achievement. 
 
 We thank Thee that, having endowed him with 
 every needed qualification of mind and heart and per- 
 son, Thou didst especially train him for the great work 
 which, in Thy far-seeing Providence, he was destined 
 to perform; even the deliverance of this land from 
 political oppression; and the founding of an Empire 
 which now stretches from sea to sea; and exercises a 
 potent, and every increasing, influence upon the nations 
 of the earth. 
 
 We thank Thee that Thou didst cover his head in 
 the day of battle; and protect him from the pestilence 
 that walketh in darkness, and the sickness that de- 
 stroyed! in the noonday; that no weapon formed 
 against him, was permitted to prosper; and that he 
 was carried unscathed through innumerable dangers, 
 to become the first Ruler of the people he had saved; 
 and securely lay the foundations of our national Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 We thank Thee that in his Administration of our 
 civil affairs, he set an example of wisdom; prudence; 
 incorruptible integrity; and forgetfulness of self, in 
 his love for his country; and loyalty to his conscience, 
 and his God: And we earnestly pray that his pure 
 example at the beginning of our national life, may be 
 more faithfully followed in the future than in the past; 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 if n n: Revolution. 
 
 f~\ THOU who turnest the hearts of the children 
 ^—' to the fathers, and has declared that the right- 
 eous shall be had in everlasting remembrance, we 
 thank Thee for the inspiration which called into exist- 
 
ence the Society of the Sons of the Revolution; and 
 the blessing which has hitherto attended it. And we 
 pray Thee to continue to aid our Society in this, and 
 succeeding generations, in the pious work of perpet- 
 uating the memory of the sacrifices, and sufferings, 
 and valour of our fathers, through which our price- 
 less heritage was won. 
 
 And finally, when we also shall have served Thee 
 in our generation, may we be gathered unto our 
 fathers, having the testimony of a good conscience; 
 in favour with Thee our God, and in perfect charity 
 with the world. All which we ask through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 2 Corinthians xiii. 14. 
 
 THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love 
 * of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, 
 be with us all evermore. Amen. 
 
 T Then shall be sung 
 Te Deum. 
 
 Here will follow the Sermon by the 
 
 Rev. CLARENCE WALWORTH BACKUS, D. D. 
 
 Followed by 
 
 The Ascription Anthem. 
 
 Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiv- 
 ing, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our 
 God forever and ever. Amen. 
 
T Then shall he sung the following hymn. 
 
 My country, 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, 
 
 Of thee I sing; 
 Land where my fathers died, 
 Land of the pilgrims' pride, 
 From every mountain side 
 
 Let freedom ring. 
 
 O sons of noble sires, 
 
 Who, through afflictions' fires, 
 
 To victory rode, 
 Proud of the deeds they wrought, 
 With countless blessings fraught, 
 Cherish the land they bought, 
 
 The gift of God. 
 
 Our fathers' God, to thee, 
 Author of liberty, 
 
 To thee I sing; 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With freedom's holy light; 
 Protect us by thy might, 
 
 Great God, our King! 
 
 DOXOLOGY. 
 
 PRAISE God, from whom all blessings flow 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below! 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host! 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen. 
 
 Prayer and Benediction. 
 
Recessional. 
 
 God of our fathers, 
 
 Bless this our land; 
 Ocean to ocean 
 
 Owneth Thy hand. 
 Home of all nations 
 
 From far and near, 
 Give, to unite us, 
 
 Thy faith and fear. 
 God of our fathers, 
 
 Failing us never, 
 God of our fathers, 
 
 Be ours forever. 
 
 Lord God of Sabaoth, 
 
 Mighty in war, 
 Boundless and numberless 
 
 Thine armies are. 
 Thy right hand conquereth 
 
 All that oppose; 
 Launch forth Thy thunderbolts, 
 
 Smite down our foes; 
 Lord God of Sabaoth, 
 
 Failing us never, 
 Lord God of Sabaoth, 
 
 Fight for us ever. 
 
 Lord God our Saviour, 
 
 Thy love o'erflows, 
 Making our wilderness 
 
 Bloom as the rose, 
 Thou with true liberty 
 
 Makest us free, 
 Knowing no master, 
 
 No king, but Thee; 
 Lord God our Saviour, 
 
 Failing us never, 
 Lord God our Saviour, 
 
 Reign Thou forever. 
 
Spirit of unity, 
 
 Crown of all kings, 
 Find us a resting place 
 
 Under thy wings: 
 By Thine own presence 
 
 Thy will be done, 
 Millions of free men 
 
 Banded as one. 
 Lord God almighty, 
 
 Failing us never, 
 Thine be the glory, 
 
 Now and forever. 
 
 * 
 
Press of 
 
 LAWTON & BURNAP, 
 
 706-708 Delaware St. 
 
A. D. 1896. 
 

 ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Society $on$ of the Revolution 
 
 IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI, 
 
 Annual Meeting, February 22, 1896, 
 
 SOUTHERN HOTEL, ST. LOUIS, MO., 
 
 BY 
 
 Right Rev. DANIEL SYLVESTER TUTTLE, D. D., S. T. D. 
 
 Rev. GEORGE EDWARD MARTIN, D. D., 
 
 Hon. ISRAEL PUTNAM DANA, 
 
 Hon. DANIEL SMITH ALVORD, 
 
 Hon. SELDEN PALMER SPENCER, 
 
 Hon. ARTHUR LEE, 
 Dr. ROBERT CHILTON ATKINSON, 
 Prof. HALSEY COOLEY IVES. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 
 
 KANSAS CITY, MO. 
 
 Lawton & Burnap, Stationers and Printers, 706-708 Delaware Street. 
 
 1896. 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 BANQUET, 
 SOUTHERN HOTEL, ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
 FEBRUARY 22, 1S9<3. 
 
 BISHOP TUTTLE. 
 
 My Brothers, Fellow Members of the Missouri Society of the Sons 
 of the Revolution : 
 
 It is with pride and pleasure that I proceed to discharge the 
 allotted duty with which I am honored, in saying "All hail" and 
 "Welcome" to you to-night. 
 
 Pride, in knowing you to be worthy sons of worthy sires, 
 whose memory you will not willingly let die ; and pride, that you 
 count yourselves in among those who, in tale of weight and meas- 
 ure, reckon the strength of self-sacrificing patriotism infinitely 
 preferable to the sweetness of self aggrandizement and ease. 
 
 Pleasure, that in the urgent exactions of the busy nineteenth 
 century and this busiest American life you are willing to turn 
 aside a while and look into the past, and think and be thankful; 
 and pleasure, that so many of you are gathered together, a goodly 
 multitude, to join hands and bow heads and quicken heart throbs 
 in love and loyalty to the country and the flag. 
 
 You may have been too polite to speak it out to me, but I am 
 certain you want me to be a voice for you, to extend also the "All 
 Hail" and "Welcome" to the ladies and other guests who have 
 consented to grace this meeting with their attractive presence, and 
 to cheer our hearts with a sense of comradeship and co-operation. 
 
 Dear ladies, our late Secretary Uhl was to be sent from the 
 official family of our Department of State to be the United States 
 Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Berlin. 
 But ere he went certain preliminary inquiries were made of the 
 august Kaiser whether he were a persona grata. Such inquiries 
 
manifest the existence of a doubt, even in cases of the highest and 
 most worthy of my ovvn sex, as to their fitness and pleasingness 
 for certain positions. 
 
 But I cannot think that my friend Wyman, of the Committee 
 of Arrangements, even though conspicuously painstaking and 
 watchful, or my friend Sloan, chairman of the Invitation Com- 
 mittee, resorted to any such preliminary questionings concerning 
 you. They knew from their Latin grammars that "persona" is 
 feminine, and therefore entitled to "grata" as its attendant ad- 
 jective. We all assent to their findings and approve their decisions, 
 and are ready to say, in Latin and English, in grammar and diplo- 
 macy, in solo and chorus, you are personae gratae, gratiores, 
 gratissimat at this court. 
 
 Fellow Sons of the Revolution, our guests will pardon a bit of 
 manifestation of vanity on the part of you and me. Our Missouri 
 S(iciet} r is only two years old. A year ago we were one hundred 
 and, Hfty-n ine in number. This year we are three hundred and two. 
 So much may be said for the sturdy infant of two years' growth 
 in quantity of arithmetical computation. For quality, I will not 
 use adjectives or adverbs, superlative, but only bid you "cir- 
 cv/mspicite. " 
 
 It is evident that much missionary work has been done. Many 
 even in somnolent and apathetic St. Louis have taken a hand in 
 that missionary work and done nobly. But a little town in the 
 country outranks the metropolis far and high in this matter, for it 
 is the home of him to whom the astonishing success is mostly due 
 "in- diligent, energetic, untiring, irrepressible Secretary. 
 
 Why, if five or six of us of sufficient muscularity could lay 
 hold of his stout and sturdy frame and take him, nolens volens, to 
 the laboratory of some doctor or savant of our modern science, and 
 -■'lire the photograph on the sensitized plate of the inner physical 
 boing of that genial form, by the Roentgen, or X, or cathode 
 rays, I do not say you would find the heart empty; nay, I be- 
 lieve it tilled with kindly and unselfish and noble things ; but I 
 .•mi strongly impressed with the conviction that in the very front 
 "t" it, mikI on m scroll stretched in generous breadth from rib to rib, 
 in letters ton large for need of microscope or spectacles, you shall 
 read, "The Missouri Society of the Sons of the Revolution. Vigeat 
 ndix. h.-rr, Isior 
 
The presentation of the flag touched my heart. Your hearts, 
 too, I am sure, were touched and lifted. It is the symbol of our 
 country. Of all earthly symbols we love and revere it most, save 
 one, the Cross of Him who died that we may live. There are 
 those who, like my friend at the right, General Henry of the 
 United States Army, are charged, by their long training with the 
 direct protection of the flag, in a nearer and more immediate sense 
 than the rest of us. But, sir, you will allow us to come to your 
 side, or close behind you, in undying love, and we hope in un- 
 selfish devotion, to the flag. 
 
 Our fathers helped to make it, in helping to make the country. 
 But the one man who was pre-eminently the maker of it was he 
 whose birth we celebrate this day. 
 
 May I not venture to promise, on behalf of the Sons and 
 Daughters of the Revolution, that, in all future generations, so 
 long as human minds admire the noble, and human hearts love the 
 unselfish, there shall not be wanting in America loyal men and de- 
 voted women, and enthusiastic boys and girls, to manifest their 
 reverence and affection for the birthday of him who was the father 
 of his country and the maker of the flag. 
 
 We Americans, proud as we are of the history of the past, do 
 not, I think, ask to lord it over the other republics of the Western 
 Continent; nor do we wish to take up an attitude of arrogant as- 
 sumption, as that we are the protectors of these republics; that 
 we are the only nation of this Western Continent to which can be 
 accorded much consideration, or which may be regarded as a na- 
 tion of worth and power. 
 
 No, we simply want and insist that the people of this conti- 
 nent shall have peaceful permission to follow out the developments 
 of their national life as God's Providence and their own earnest 
 and noble exertions fit them to do ; and that this may go on, we 
 simply claim as Americans, in the real interest of peace for future 
 generations, and not in threat of war, that the great powers of 
 Europe must be told that they cannot interfere. 
 
 England ! Mother England ! If we but go down deeper than 
 words spoken by the lips, we shall find shut within the heart ad- 
 miration and affection for her. We thank her for the English 
 tongue, and the English Bible and for English law. We thank 
 
6 
 
 her for Milton and Shakespeare, for Newton and Bacon. We 
 thank her for Anglo-Saxon love of freedom, and Anglo-Saxon 
 sense of duty, and Anglo-Saxon strength of control and self-re- 
 liance. Indeed, we greet her lovingly as the motherland, and we 
 pray God to help her and help us that we may always be at peace 
 together. 
 
 But she herself will not forbid such a body as this gathered 
 here to-night from turning from her to greet our own country 
 with u 6>, pulchra matre filia pulehrior 7" And while we speak, 
 we change the "filia' 1 '' to " mater" and the "pulchrior" to 
 
 " pulcherrima.''' 
 
 Our own country, mother near and dear ! For thee and thy 
 best and highest interest we want to live; and under the flag, the 
 protecting a'gis of thy liberties, we want to die, when God calls us 
 away from the sentry duty of this mysterious world. 
 
 Rev. GEO. EDWARD MARTIN, D. D. 
 
 "THE REVOLUTION— MORE THAN A JUST 
 
 REBELLION." 
 
 .)//•. President : , Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 A scene in an early mellow New England summer comes to 
 mind. A few lads, quite ready for their first swim of the season, 
 are standing on the bank of a pleasant stream. The speaker, then 
 a lively boy, is shivering before, his leap into the running river; a 
 playmate tries, "Plunge in, you will find the river broad and 
 deep enough, and, when you are in, warm enough." Without 
 any preface, I plunge into my subject; I shall find it deep and 
 broad enough, and I trust its discussion may evoke some patriotic 
 warmth in us all. 
 
 The American Revolution more than a just Rebellion ? Yes, 
 because it was an emphasis of a principle of life and progress, in- 
 herent in our creation in God's image, viz: Every man has a right 
 to himself and the fruits of his labor, that he may be and become 
 the best possible for himself and all others, with a due regard to 
 the rights of others; or, more tersely stated, every man has a right 
 to himself. 
 
The Reformation, along religious lines, struck for and crystal- 
 ized this principle of life. It was more than a just rebellion for 
 it was a revolt of the individual against the crushing tyranny ot an 
 Ecclesiastical Institution. The finest and most resonant individual 
 expression of the Reformation's gospel was the sturdy monk of 
 Erfurt, single-handed and alone, before the blazing Diet of the 
 German Empire. When retraction was demanded of him, he 
 cried, "Here 1 stand; I cannot otherwise. God help me. Amen." 
 These words, like a bugle call, awoke all sleeping Europe to the 
 dawn of a better day, wherein man should enjoy a larger and bet- 
 ter lease of life. Discipleship of Martin Luther, in the years 
 succeeding his memorable stand for the rights of a man, has ripened 
 into eras of human progress. 
 
 In political and social lines, the French Revolution reissued 
 the gospel of the Reformation. It is not easy to speak in meas- 
 ured phrase of that sanguinary time. Readily Carlyle's acrid 
 sarcasm comes to lip, in substance this, "That was a memorable 
 night, when my lords spiritual and temporal and my parliament 
 president abrogated their untenable rights, their seignorial fees, 
 dues, tithes, and rents; laid them on the altar of their country's 
 freedom, and, then, adjourned about three o'clock in the morning 
 and struck the stars with theii sublime heads." Yet it was a sub- 
 lime thing, this public acknowledgement that the rebellious lower 
 classes were right in striking for the fruits of their labor and the 
 chance to enter upon the rivalry of life on the footing of equal 
 political opportunity. Some one has spoken truly in saying, 
 "The ruling classes in the French Revolution were at one and the 
 same time the enemies and heirs of their own cause.'" Indeed, 
 the strongest ally the struggling classes had was the awakened 
 conscience of the upper ranks, who knew, in their own hearts, 
 that the down-trodden were right. So, the French Revolution 
 writes anew in choice blood that great verity the Reformation un- 
 frocks into individual freedom from institutional despotism. 
 
 The American Revolution clothes this same truth in colonial 
 uniform, and sends it out to another struggle and a memorable 
 victory. What men the forefathers of the Revolutionary heroes 
 were ! It is no wonder great and heroic men grew from such 
 stock. They left old England, which they loved with an English- 
 
8 
 
 man's splendid obstinacy of affection, ;it a time, bidden to be 
 prayed against, in the Good Book, as a time for flight, the inclem- 
 ent winter, in a little vessel, unchartered, ridiculed and unblessed. 
 When, in the stuffy cabin of the Mayflower, and the moral ozone 
 of a new world, these prophetic men drew up the first instrument 
 of Constitutional Liberty ever known, they laid down the fighting 
 chart by which themselves and those to come should strike for a 
 man's right to himself that he might be the most and best for 
 others. That "sifted seed of three kingdoms," so largely sown 
 on Burial Hill, became a strong growth on many a battle field, 
 and bore fruit at Yorktown. 
 
 At its date, the American Revolution was possibly the most 
 tremendous and triumphant declaration of that for which Martin 
 Luther faced the Diet of Worms and the streets of Paris ran 
 prophetic blood. As a struggle it began back in the Saxon for- 
 ests, when our ancient ancestors fought for their rights under 
 stout Arminius against Roman tyranny; was continued on Runny - 
 niede Meadow, when aroused English barons wrested Magna 
 Charta from a reluctant king; at Lewes and famous Naseby, on 
 the Plains of Abraham, and, at last, was crowned at Yorktown with 
 victory. Washington was the flower of De Montfort, Cromwell 
 and Chatham. 
 
 Not long ago men, who are here to-night, and their fathers, 
 fought for a full writing of that which the Revolution but partly 
 decreed. A twilight nation, four millions, prophetically strong 
 and weak, was made free, and now, every man under the Stars 
 and Stripes has a right, unshackled, to work out his own salvation. 
 
 Battle fields for this great legacy our fathers have bequeathed 
 to us from struggle and sacrifice, are not to be on plain or hill, 
 where literal war shall ruin the crops that are, or fearfully fertilize 
 the earth for future harvest of graves and broken hearts. We 
 are not called to rip up the earth with the enginery of war, that 
 leave- behind bad years. We will not fight on ocean or river, 
 which may blush for shame of us, as we spill our brother's blood; 
 bul in legislative halls and around council tables we are called to 
 battle for that which our fathers won and entrusted to our care. 
 Here is our Lexingtoo Green, our Concord Bridge, our Boston 
 Beights, on! Bunker Hill, our Saratoga and Beunington, our 
 Yorktown, — yes, our Appomattox. 
 
9 
 
 While the conditions of the struggle for us are cosmopolitan, 
 yet there is a hopeful sense in which Plymouth Rock rock-ribs and 
 back-bones this nation. No sword to-day is big enough to master 
 the world, no standing army big enough to threaten the peace of 
 the world, yet the spirit of the American Revolution to-day is 
 potent enough to rule a mighty nation and, if need be, protect a 
 continent. 
 
 Sons of the Revolution, while our loyal memories this night 
 beat the old colonial drums and wave the ancient banners we have 
 learned to revere, let us, above all, bear in mind the splendidly 
 obvious fact that now our defense and assertion of the principle 
 for which the men in buff and blue lived, fought and died must 
 be along moral lines ; so far have we come and so high as a 
 nation, that henceforth our supreme inspiration in any toil or bat- 
 tle for the weal of the American must rest in the conviction that 
 God cares. This assurance will lend dignity to our zeal, solem- 
 nity to our struggles, and an almost infinite sacredness to our 
 sacrifices. Somewhere, Whittier says : 
 
 " Our fathers to their graves have gone ; 
 Their strife is past, their triumph won : 
 But sterner trials wait the race 
 Which rises in their honored place, — 
 A moral warfare with the crime 
 And folly of an evil time. 
 So let it be, in God's own might 
 We gird us for the coming fight, 
 And, strong in Him, whose cause is ours 
 In conflict with unholy powers, 
 We grasp the weapons He has given— 
 The Light, and Truth, and Love of Heaven." 
 To which I add, — 
 
 Ah, those men of early days, 
 With their puritanic ways, 
 
 Stern and straight ; 
 On, from hill of graves they went, 
 By Jehovah's order sent, 
 To their fate. 
 
 In our Nation's darkened prime, 
 In that deep prophetic time, 
 
 Those who led 
 Feared no Master but their God, 
 And they hallowed every sod, 
 
 Where they bled. 
 
10 
 
 On the heights of fame they stand, 
 A devoted God-owned band, 
 
 Speaking clear 
 To the men of their own blood, 
 As they stem an evil flood, 
 
 Without fear. 
 
 ' Honor us, who fought and died, 
 That in you we might have pride, 
 
 As you fight 
 That there never may be dearth, 
 Of the right, that comes with birth, 
 In our sight." 
 
 ISRAEL PUTNAM DANA, Esq. 
 
 " WASHINGTON— WITH THE SURVEYOR'S CHAIN." 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 After his father was beheaded at Whitehall, Charles II., 
 while awaiting his opportunity to gain the throne of England, 
 held a mimic, movable court in France and the Netherlands. 
 Ah hough an exile and without a kingdom he dispensed royal 
 favors, and in 1649, at St. Germain, granted to one of his 
 courtiers, Lord Culpepper, a tract of land in the American colo- 
 nics described as the Northern Neck of Virginia. It was indeed a 
 royal gift, for it embraced all the land between the Potomac and 
 Rappahannock rivers, running westerly beyond the Blue Ridge 
 and including most of the Shenandoah Valley. A domain of 
 nearly six million acres ; larger than the entire state of Massa- 
 chusetts ! But the English monarchs were prodigal in those days 
 in disposing of American territory, for you will remember that 
 King James I. gave the London Company, by charter, a sea front 
 of 400 miles— 200 miles north and 200 miles south of Point 
 Comfort — all islands within 100 miles of the coast, and all the 
 country back from this 400 miles of frontage -throughout from 
 sea to sea." The "Monroe doctrine" had not then been heard 
 from ! 
 
 Sixty years after the Northern Neck was granted to Lord Cul- 
 pepper it passed by inheritance to his grandson Thomas, sixth 
 Lord Fairfax, who in 1730 tirst visited the estate. So delighted 
 
11 
 
 was he with the climate and scenery of the country, with the 
 cordiality and frankness of the Virginians and their independent 
 life, that, after arranging his affairs in England, he returned to 
 the colony in 1747 to make it his home and to end his days there. 
 He was an interesting personage and destined to exert a great in- 
 fluence on the life of him, the anniversary of whose birth we cele- 
 brate to-night. At the time of which I speak Lord Fairfax was 
 over fifty years of age and of commanding appearance ; a gradu- 
 ate of Oxford, he had contributed to Addison's "Spectator," and 
 associated with the best society of Europe and its famous authors; 
 he was accomplished in all the field sports of the day and when 
 younger held a commission in a crack British regiment of horse ; 
 of great wealth, he was also of famous lineage, for he had suc- 
 ceeded by right of birth to the title of that Lord Fairfax, whose 
 conservative and yet vigorous conduct in support of Parliament in 
 its struggle with the first Charles entitled him to rank among the 
 most worthy of English soldiers and patriots. 
 
 Lord Fairfax remained for some time with his cousin, William 
 Fairfax, at Belvoir, the hitter's plantation on the Potomac near 
 Mt. Vernon, and there he became acquainted with the 
 neighboring families. A frequent and welcome visitor at the 
 plantation was a tall, athletic youth, whose manly self-control and 
 modest frankness evinced a character of great promise and made 
 him a favorite with the Fairfax family, into which his half-brother 
 had married. 
 
 This youth was our Washington at fifteen. He had mastered 
 the ''three Rs " under the parish sexton, Hobby, in the "old 
 field schoolhouse;" had escaped entering the navy through his 
 mother's good judgment and had completed a plain and practical 
 education under the tuition of a local teacher, giving especial at- 
 tention to surveying, the theory and practice of which he thor- 
 oughly understood. An accomplished horseman and skilled in 
 the pursuit of game, he became the chosen companion of Lord 
 Fairfax, who was an enthusiastic hunter, and they remained fast 
 friends throughout the hitter's life. Their experiences in the 
 chase displayed the vigor, coolness, activity and courage of the 
 youth, and these qualities, together with his skill as a surveyor 
 and his thoroughness and accuracy in every undertaking, led the 
 
12 
 
 English lord to engage ihc young man in the important work of 
 surveying the more remote portion of his estates, particularly that 
 beyond the Blue Ridge, which had never been surveyed or regu- 
 larly settled and of which but little was known. 
 
 Thus it came about that, in March, 1748, within a month after 
 his sixteenth birthday, Washington stalled with quadrant and 
 chain to survey a vast, unexplored territory, which was still the 
 home of the red man. For three years he continued in this occu- 
 pation, returning occasionally to Mt. Vernon, but spending most. 
 of his leisure at Greenway Court, the name given by Lord Fair- 
 fax to the country seat which he had established on a beautiful 
 site in the Shenandoah Valley, about ten miles from the present 
 city of Winchester. 
 
 Of the details of Washington's experiences during these three 
 years history tells us little. We learn that early in the period he 
 was appointed public surveyor, which entitled his surveys to be 
 recorded, and his services were in great demand; that when 
 actively employed he received from a doubloon to six pistoles ($15 
 to $20) per day; that he explored and surveyed and platted vast 
 tracts of land, much of it wilderness, living constantly for months 
 at a time out of doors, taking toilsome tramps into the mountains, 
 inuring himself to hardships of all kinds and gaining an intimate 
 acquaintance with the nature of the country and of the Indians, 
 woodsmen and few settlers whom he met there. 
 
 But it was not all hard work or prose, for occasional letters, 
 and even his note books, contained evidence that he carried into 
 the wilderness tender feelings for some fair but unresponsive Vir- 
 ginian, and without doubt, as the young surveyor looked up at the 
 stars from beside his camp tire or ate his noonday lunch by some 
 clear mountain stream, the angles and tangents, sines and cosines 
 of his profession faded into such delightful dreams as even unre- 
 quited affection inspires in a generous nature. 
 
 Then during the inclement season, when work was impractica- 
 ble, Greenway Court an 1 its master welcomed him to their hospi- 
 i.ilitv. What pleasure and benefit he must have found there ! In 
 the conversation of Fairfax, whose education and accomplishments 
 and knowledge of the world furnished such a contrast to his sur- 
 rnunding8; and in the books which he had brought into the 
 
13 
 
 wilderness ; and in the field sports, where English lord and pro- 
 vincial surveyor forgot all differences of position or attainments in 
 the excitement of the chase. 
 
 Such, briefly outlined, is the story of Washington's three 
 years with the surveyor's chain. They were years of hard physi- 
 cal toil and self-denial, with little, apparently, to arouse enthusi- 
 asm or develop heroism ; and yet I believe no other three years 
 of his life did more to form the character which made him the 
 greatest of Americans, or are more truly typical of a career full 
 of great achievements. 
 
 In this undertaking, as when five years afterwards he was sent 
 on a mission to the Ohio Indians, and in 1775, when he was called 
 to lead the Continental armies, and again in 1789, when he was 
 inaugurated First President of the United States, his duty took 
 him upon unknown and untried ground. He found no corners 
 marked or boundaries run, but on him it devolved, in surveying 
 the wilds of Virginia, as in directing the development of our gov- 
 ernment under the Constitution, to fix courses and establish mon- 
 uments for succeeding generations. As Surveyor, as General, as 
 Chief Executive of the Nation, he was a pioneer. 
 
 The devotion and success with which he led the armies and 
 builded the State are known to each of us and to all the world. But 
 he was no less faithful or successful when, as a lad, he toiled over 
 the rugged mountains and through the untrodden forests of Vir- 
 ginia, carrying the surveyor's chain ; for so invariably correct 
 have his surveys of that territory been found that the records 
 thereof receive implicit credit to this day. 
 
 The experience of those three years must have exerted a deep 
 and wide influence upon Washington's character. The unshared re- 
 sponsibility of this, his first public work (great for his years), cul- 
 tivated that self-reliance, strong but modest, which marked his 
 discharge of every public trust ; this, his first experience in the 
 actual control and direction of men, aided the development of 
 that firmness, sagacity and moderation which made him a great 
 leader; his conscientious professional pride in doing "good 
 work" stimulated and strengthened that unfaltering courage 
 under adversity, and enduring patience in getting to the right of 
 the matter, whatever it might be, and doing it, which to my 
 
14 
 
 mind were the pre-eminent virtues of our greatest citizen. 
 
 " Endurance is the crowning quality 
 And patience all the passion of great hearts." 
 
 No doubt the young surveyor's assistants criticised at times 
 and murmured and complained, as perhaps we would have done, 
 at the painstaking accuracy which he insisted must be observed, 
 and which he observed himself, in every detail of their work, no 
 matter what the cold or wet or other obstacle. A few feet this 
 way, or a few that, seemed to them a small thing in a great 
 wilderness. But then, as ever to Washington, in small things as 
 in great, the controlling question was, — where lies the right ? 
 And his answer, — there set the quadrant, and thence run the 
 chain. 
 
 "Who hath despised the day of small things? They shall 
 rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel." 
 
 Hon. DANIEL SMITH ALVORD. 
 
 "WASHINGTON— THE FIRST PRESIDENT, BEAZING 
 THE TRAIL OF PATRIOTIC DUTY." 
 
 Washington the surveyor penetrated trackless forests and ex- 
 plored mountain ranges, but he had a Gunter to tell him how to 
 do it. Washington the farmer was born of a family and was 
 reared in a community of agriculturists, and from childhood had 
 constantly before him examples of how best to bring forth from 
 mother earth her choicest productions. Washington the soldier, 
 in his immortal campaigns in the Jerseys, had a Fabius who 
 balked the conquering legions of Hannibal for a model, and in his 
 lasl glorious campaign, which culminated in the capture of York- 
 town, he need bin have followed in the footsteps of a Conde and 
 a Turenne. Washington as President of the Constitutional Con- 
 vention had his manual. 
 
 Bui Washington as First President of the United States blaz- 
 ing a track of patriotic duty, launched forth upon a trackless sea 
 with no precedent to follow and no compass to guide his course, 
 lie was called niton to set in motion the machinery of a govern- 
 ment that had no parallel in ancient or modern history. He was 
 
15 
 
 called upon to establish administrative lines under a Constitution 
 then recently adopted by thirteen colonies, each one of which was 
 jealous of the other and each one jealous of the whole. He was 
 called upon to establish a line of demarcation between the sov- 
 ereignty of the states and the nation, the solution of which was 
 so difficult that it became a subject of heated controversy in the 
 forum and on the rostrum for generations to follow. The line 
 he did so establish was afterwards approved by the greatest jurist 
 among English-speaking people, John Marshall, of Virginia, and 
 further, the same was endorsed by that prince of statesmen and 
 logicians, Daniel Webster, in his memorable rejoinder to Hayne. 
 And above all and before all, the position he assumed on this 
 mooted question was approved by the inexorable logic, born of 
 the result of the bloodiest, costliest and most gigantic war in re- 
 corded history, from Herodotus to the present day. 
 
 It came to Washington to inherit from the predecessor of the 
 young republic, the Colonial Confederacy, a bankrupt treasury, 
 and a financial system that had destroyed the credit of the nation 
 at home and abroad, and failed to furnish the people with au ade- 
 quate circulating medium. He established a financial system that 
 in its essential qualities remains in force even unto this day. A 
 system that restored the credit of the nation at home and abroad, 
 and gave the people an ample circulating medium — a system that 
 received the encomiums of financiers everywhere, and above all 
 and before all a system which declared to the world that repudia- 
 tion, in whole or in part, waa the gravest of offenses in a nation, 
 as it is in an individual. He found our foreign relations in an 
 almost inextricable confusion. On the one hand he had to deal 
 with the jealous, treacherous and hostile George the Third ; on 
 the other hand to deal with France, while she was in the midst of 
 a bloody revolution — a godless, merciless, lawless revolution. He 
 had to deal with this nation who seemed to think that because she 
 aided us in the hour of our need, she had a right to tyrannize over 
 us in the hour of our birth-throes. 
 
 Of all the qualities that give power in man to make and un- 
 make nations, to secure imperishable reforms, or to produce great 
 results in the affairs of men, those attributes that enter into and 
 form great and exalted characters are the most vital and potent. 
 
16 
 
 Washington possessed these attributes in the highest degree. 
 
 Tell me not that the great measures of the Washington admin- 
 istration was due alone to the genius of Alexander Hamilton or 
 the statesmanship of Thomas Jefferson. History does, and ever 
 will, give to these two distinguished men their just dues for their 
 eminent service in the Washington cabinet. But had it not been 
 for the trust and confidence of the American people in the great 
 and exalted character of George Washington, these great measures 
 of the Washington administration could never have been success- 
 fully carried into execution. 
 
 The American people, contemplating this great character, 
 which stood before them like a monument of adamant on the plain, 
 believed in it and trusted it. And this trust and belief enabled 
 "The Father of his Country" to take hold of the helm of the 
 ship of state, and guide her safely through the breakers and 
 dangers that surrounded her, and which enabled him at the close 
 of his administration to transfer that helm to his successor in a 
 placid sea of harmony and good will. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, may we all express the wish that we 
 and our posterity shall ever continue to entertain that same trust 
 and confidence in the wisdom of the teachings of him who was 
 "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his country- 
 men." 
 
 Hon. SELDEN PALMER SPENCER. 
 
 « W ASHINGTON— THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CONSTITU- 
 TIONAL CONVENTION OF 1787." 
 
 It seems almost incredible to us at this day that there could 
 ever have been a time in the history of our government when the 
 propriety and desirability of establishing an American nation on 
 this continent to take, as a Federal power, its high place among 
 the nations of the Earth could have been seriously doubted 
 and yet, fearful as we now know would have been the result of a 
 reparation <.f the Stabs, there were men at the close of the Revo- 
 lution — brave men, patriotic men — who had little confidence in a 
 union of the several commonwealths, and who desired much more 
 their entire separation or at least the establishment of two or 
 three distinct nations along the Atlantic seaboard. 
 
17 
 
 Carolinians were content to remain Carolinians. Virginians 
 were satisfied with the pride of their own commonwealth. New 
 Yorkers had no higher ideal of national life than that found in 
 their own state. The entire people found, after the war of the 
 Revolution which had bound them together in a common cause, 
 was ended that the differences in race and in religious belief — 
 Catholics of Maryland, Quakers of Pennsylvania and Baptists of 
 Rhode Island — tended rather to separate than to unite them. 
 
 The Continental Congress, unable to control commerce and 
 without the power to enforce taxation, was not only impotent at 
 home but was the jest of all Europe. Meeting now at one place 
 and now at another, and losing dignity and prestige at every mi- 
 gration it was a pronounced and a decided failure. All Europe wait- 
 ed in sad expectancy to see these colonies, whose independence had 
 been so dearly won, disintegrate because of internal dissension. 
 Men brave enough to tear their country from England's greedy 
 grasp were unable to rule the land which they had won. Wash- 
 ington, writing to a friend at this time, might well say : ' ' My 
 grief at the death of General Green is lessened now, for he is far 
 better dead than living to see our nation in such a plight as this 
 and to behold a future which we may yet bemoan." 
 
 It was at such a crisis in our national life when the Convention — 
 largely possible by Washington's efforts — met in Philadelphia, in 
 1787, to agree, if agree they could, upon some form of perma- 
 nent government. No man was mentioned to preside over the 
 important gathering save Washington. No man could be thought 
 of at such a time but he whose loyalty to his country stood above 
 question ; he who, when his soldiers were ready and able and 
 eager to make him king, refused with scorn the offer of sovereign 
 power preferring rather to be a citizen of a free country than a 
 ruler over a subject people. 
 
 The records of that Convention show that Washington took 
 but little active part in its deliberations. Once he spoke during 
 the earlier days of the session, and then when men were propos- 
 ing unstable and unsafe compromises because of the fear that 
 their several constituencies, proud of their State's rights, would 
 consent to nothing better, Washington — from Virginia — hushing 
 the deliberations of the assembly for a moment rose from the 
 
18 
 
 president's chair and said : "It is too probable that no plan we 
 propose will be adopted. Perhaps another dreadful conflict is to 
 be sustained. If, to please the people, we offer what we our- 
 selves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work ? Let 
 us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair — 
 the event is in the hand of God." 
 
 With these words he set the mark, he raised the standard, he 
 pitched the tune that rang through all the future sessions of that 
 Convention, and gave us the Federal Constitution under whose 
 strong and beneficent rule we now live. 
 
 We may well ask ourselves what made Washington, unaccus- 
 tomed as he was to legislative life, the great power in that assem- 
 bly? It was his undying loyalty to the Union. It was that 
 same unimpeachable integrity which so characterized General 
 Reed, of Pennsylvania, who, when the emissaries of England 
 offered him 10,000 guineas and high honors to betray his trust, 
 made this reply : "I am not worth the purchasing, but such as 
 1 am, Great Britain's king is not rich enough to buy me." 
 
 It was the same intelligence and tact that was so conspicuous in 
 the life of Benjamin Franklin. Diplomatic history records that 
 when present at a State dinner in a German capital, where each 
 ambassador was requested to propose a toast to his own govern- 
 ment, and the English ambassador had proposed a toast to 
 England: "Who like the sun shines in power and beauty upon 
 the whole earth," and the French ambassador had proposed a 
 toast to France : " Who like the moon makes even the darkness of 
 the night lovely with its radiance," Franklin was called upon. 
 What could he say after such extravagant illustrations ? The 
 company was hushed in expectation, when, with a smile upon his 
 face and lifting his glass from the table, he proposed the toast to 
 the United States of America, "Who, when occasion requires, 
 like Joshua of old, commands the sun and the moon to stand 
 still, and they obey.'' 
 
 It was such patriotism, such honesty, such intelligent tact 
 combined in Washington as in no other single man that made 
 him the guiding and molding, though almost silent power of that 
 greal Convention. 
 
 When the last names were being affixed to the Constitution, 
 
19 
 
 -Benjamin Franklin remarked to those standing near, as be pointed 
 to a picture representing the sun half hidden by the horizon, 
 which hung behind the President's chair : " I have often and often 
 in the course of the session, and in the vicissitudes of my hopes 
 and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun, without being able to 
 tell what the painter intended, but now in the light of this Consti- 
 tution I have at length the happiness to know that it is a rising, 
 and not a setting sun." 
 
 What was his prophesy then we know is a glorious reality now 
 and while we are enjoying the rich blessings of that risen sun we 
 see it still advancing in magnificent grandeur toward its zenith 
 power in a course so wonderful that the nations of the earth are 
 dazzled with its brilliancy and yet so sure that nothing but the 
 unworthiness or indifference of its beneficiaries can ever mar its 
 lustre or hinder its progress. 
 
 Mr. ARTHUR LEE. 
 
 " WASHINGTON— AT MT. VERNON." 
 
 Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 It is as I realize a trial to you, as it is so clearly a hard fate 
 for me, that you should be compelled to listen to what I have to 
 say, immediately after your ears have been enchanted by the sweet 
 song so charmingly rendered by the lady who has preceded me. 
 
 Washington was so much a type and embodiment of patriot- 
 ism during our struggle for independence, that his name alone 
 brings up before us with a freshness almost personal the hopes and 
 anxieties, sufferings and triumphs of the founders of the Repub- 
 lic. When his name is coupled with Mt. Vernon the theme and 
 lesson of patriotism seem suggested with especial emphasis. Of 
 all the motives which led to the fight against England, love of 
 country in its broadest, but in its primitive sense as well, was the 
 feeling which chiefly animated Washington, and love of country 
 has its origin in love of home. In all ages the invocation of pa- 
 triotism has been by an appeal to this feeling, to the Lares and 
 Penates, the household gods, the fireside, the home. 
 
 The patriotism of Washington may be likened to a giant oak. 
 
20 
 
 Its stalwart branches spread over and protected impartially the 
 whole country, but its deepest and tenderest roots were at Mt. 
 Vernon. Every other sentiment and impulse, intellectual and 
 moral gift required in that struggle by our leader seem to have 
 been his, and each was ready when the emergency called for it, 
 but they were all enlisted in the public service by his controlling 
 love of country. Patriotism was exalted and universal in every 
 section of the country where the cause of Independence had ad- 
 herents and evinced various admirable and useful characteristics in 
 different parts of the land, but I think that this love of country, 
 in its primitive sense, had a peculiar and distinguishing phase of 
 its own in the colony and class from which Washington sprang. 
 Virginia was a loyal colony by history and tradition, and was 
 proud of its loyalty. It had been settled in large part by the 
 followers of Charles I. and Charles II. Cavaliers of rank and 
 consequence had immigrated there, and even among those who 
 occupied a subordinate rank were sixteen hundred and ten loyalist 
 followers of Charles II., who were made prisoners at the battle of 
 Worcester by Cromwell and sent to Virginia, both as punishment 
 for their rising against the Commonwealth and because their re- 
 maining in England might be a menace to the Government. The 
 title of " Old Dominion," its motto, " En Virginia dat Quintam" 
 were boasts of loyalty and reminders that Charles II. had been 
 proclaimed King in Virginia before he had been restored to his 
 throne in England. The fox-hunting Virginia planter, glorying 
 in the courage, endurance and sacrifices of his ancestors in the 
 struggles, not only against innovation in Church and State, but 
 also in favor of the King against Parliament, was not likely to dis- 
 turb himself about theories of government in regard to laws hav- 
 ing the approval of both Crown and Parliament, which worked no 
 greater oppression or personal inconvenience than the Stamp Act 
 and the light tax on tea, but when these acts first provoked discus- 
 Bion and resistance in the "cradle of liberty" — Boston — leading 
 to the ultimate closing of that port, the sympathetic feeling of 
 patriotism in behalf of fellow Americans of the North against the 
 Government beyond the ocean was thoroughly aroused in Virginia, 
 and she came with voire, pen and sword, and with an unanimity 
 not surpassed elsewhere to the assistance, as her House of Bur- 
 
21 
 
 gesses termed it, of " The much injured Colony of Massachusetts 
 Bay." This luxuriant, generous and lovely patriotism, as an out- 
 growth from love of home and Colony, was by no one better illus- 
 trated than by Washington in his deeds, career and counsel, and 
 as no one exceeded him in patriotism, so there is ample testimony 
 that he had few rivals and no superior in love of home. He in- 
 herited Mt. Vernon from his brother Lawrence when he had barely 
 attained his majority. His early wedded life was spent there and 
 it was his home always, from the time he acquired it until his 
 death, except when engaged elsewhere in the public service in his 
 numerous employments from Commander of the forces of the Colony 
 to President of the United States. He always longed to return to 
 it when public duty would permit, and said the searcher of hearts 
 was a witness that he had no wishes which aspired beyond the 
 happy lot of living and dying a private citizen at Mt. Vernon. 
 Daring the Revolution he carried with him a plat of the 8,000 
 acres of the Mt. Vernon estate and kept himself always informed 
 of the work done on each one of its farms, and knew what fields 
 were being tilled and what crops were being raised on every field 
 of every farm. He improved and added to the mansion, laid out 
 roads and paths, planted trees, shrubs and flowers, introduced ani- 
 mals of better pedigree and greater usefulness than had before 
 been known in this country, invented a plow for cultivating his 
 fields, and showed generally the keenest interest in all that con- 
 cerned his home and the broad acres that were embraced within it. 
 His love of home, however, though so intense, was subordinate to 
 his love of country, his sense of duty and honor, and his regard 
 for the example he felt he should always give the country. Of 
 this we have an interesting illustration: During the Revolution a 
 British man-of-war came up the Potomac and anchored near Mt. 
 Vernon. Washington, of course, was then absent in command of 
 the Continental forces. His manager, desiring to propitiate the 
 enemy, not only for the safety which he hoped thereby to secure 
 to General Washington's estate., but also because he had property 
 of his own in the vicinity, visited the man-of-war and carried re- 
 freshments to the British officers. When Washington heard of 
 this his indignation was unbounded. He wrote a letter to his 
 manager full of that vigorous and condensed expression of which 
 
22 
 
 he had such command, showed his just wrath that the manager 
 had, as he expressed it, u communed with a parcel of scoundrels,' 1 
 and added, " It would have been less painful to me had they 
 burned my house and laid my plantation in ruins." And still it is 
 sometimes said that George Washington was an Englishman. 
 Certainly he did not feel himself to be an Englishman when so 
 speaking of English officers, and did not regard the Englishmen 
 as countrymen of his during the Revolutionary struggle. It will 
 be a sad day for America, a fateful augury for the Republic, when 
 Americans cease to regard him as the " First Great American, " 
 and fail to appreciate and admire in its full measure the glorious 
 character of Washington, or in any way disturb the apotheosis 
 made of him in his lifetime by our forefathers. Other great 
 Americans have followed him and are entitled to our love and 
 gratitude, but unless we are to be false to the noblest traditions 
 and highest standards of our country, he will always retain 
 his grand pre-eminence far above all others in the pantheon 
 dedicated to the worship of American heroes. Of course England 
 is glad to claim him. Alison, in speaking of him as " the most 
 spotless character in history," says: " It is the greatest glory of 
 England to have given birth in transatlantic wilds to such a man." 
 While we welcome this admiration from abroad and are grateful 
 for it, we must still claim Washington as our own and hold him 
 up forever to the veneration and imitation of all succeeding gen- 
 ir, il ions of his countrymen. The life at Mt. Vernon did much to 
 develop in Washington those qualities which were afterwards so 
 useful to his country. The detailed management which he ap- 
 plied with such minuteness and such untiring zeal to all his duties 
 as ( !ommander-in-Chief of the American forces had their trainino-, 
 in large part, in the regular course of duties connected with the 
 care of his estate. A country property could not have been man- 
 aged with more exactness. His recreations there did much to 
 produce that hardy constitution and strength of body and vigor of 
 mind which rendered in the field such inestimable services to his 
 country. He kept until a few years before his death a fine ken- 
 nel of hounds. Prior to the Revolution they were English 
 hounds. After the Revolution they were French stag hounds. 
 Before the Revolution, during the hunting season, it was his cus- 
 tom to follow the hounds three times a week. 
 
23 
 
 Roads were cut through the woods which could be taken by 
 the ladies and by such of the men as did not care to take the 
 greater perils of the chase, but Washington always followed the 
 hounds through the brush and woods, over the fences and through 
 the roughest country. It was this training that enabled him to 
 bear all the hardships, anxieties and responsibilities of the Revo- 
 lutionary struggle, and gave him the frame and endurance which 
 enabled him to meet the enemy in front, and cabals and treason 
 all around him. It was such training, cultivating his native dar- 
 ing, which led him to dash his charger on the British guns at 
 Trenton and made him such a horseman as to deserve the su- 
 perlative praise of Jefferson in this respect, that he was the most 
 superb figure on horseback he had ever seen. His very appear- 
 ance riding among his troops must have inspired a confidence and 
 a courage whose value it is difficult to limit. 
 
 Washington, himself, added the library to the mansion at Mt. 
 Vernon. It contained, at the time of his death, it is estimated, 
 about one thousand volumes. There were works of great variety 
 among them ; a large portion devoted to farming, agriculture, 
 horticulture, forestry and other subjects useful in farming, but 
 an especially large proportion of them were works of history and 
 of a politico-economical value of such character as might be useful 
 to Washington in directing and counselling in public affairs. Even 
 when not in public employment, he was constantly gathering that 
 "solid information" for which Patrick Henry says he was distin- 
 guished above all others, and preparing himself for that species of 
 paternal guardianship which he exercised over the whole country. 
 He knew with what voice potential he spoke upon public matters, 
 and he wished his advice to be sound and useful. It was from 
 Mt. Vernon that he sent out his circular-letter to the Governors 
 of all the States in regard to the necessity for the constitutional 
 convention. 
 
 His household life furnishes a beautiful example of domestic 
 tenderness and duty. He was as dutiful and as good as a husband 
 and as a father to his adopted children as he had been loving, 
 obedient and good as a son. One slight evidence of his filial piety 
 is the rosebush planted by him at Mt. Vernon and named by him 
 after his mother. 
 
24 
 
 Not to detain you at this late hour with details of Washing- 
 ton's home life, there is one glimpse of it as an example of much 
 of the same sort which strikes me as peculiarly attractive and as 
 illustrating his ever present sense of justice and duty, his famous 
 character for truth, his tenderness and dignity. When Nelly 
 Custis, Mrs. Washington's granddaughter, was a young woman, 
 her grandmother had forbidden her to walk in the woods alone. 
 At this time she was receiving the attentions of some gentleman, 
 I think Carroll of Carrollton. She entered a room upon one occa- 
 sion where General and Mrs. Washington were, and her grand- 
 mother asked her if she had been walking in the woods alone ; 
 she admitted that she had been. Her grandmother reprimanded 
 her severely for disobeying her commands. Washington, in order 
 probably to divert and alleviate the scolding by a remark in the 
 way of pleasantry, said : u It may be she has not been alone." 
 She turned to him and said, " Sir, you have always taught me to 
 speak the truth." The old man, sympathizing with her sensitive- 
 ness upon this supposed imputation on her veracity, and realizing 
 the injustice he seemed to have done her, arose from his chair to 
 his full height of six feet three inches, made her a stately bow 
 and said, "My dear, I beg your pardon." 
 
 His hospitality was unlimited. He spoke of Mt. Vernon as a 
 "well resorted tavern," and said that for twenty } r ears the family 
 had not dined alone. It was, in fact, frequented from every 
 quarter of the world by those who were enthusiasts in. the cause 
 which he represented and desired to lay their eyes upon and 
 pay homage to him whom Lafayette styled "The Generalissimo 
 <>f Liberty." It was the asylum, too, in instances, of those gener- 
 ous Frenchmen who had aided us in our struggle for indepen- 
 dence, and of their children, who had been driven from France by 
 the horrors of the French Revolution. Lafayette's son spent two 
 years there. 
 
 The history of Washington's private life is really a part of the 
 public history and everything that pertains to it is national in its 
 character. Our Right Reverend Chairman has aptly said that 
 Washington was "the maker of our flag." Indeed,in a sense he was, 
 as he \\:i> the architect of the Republic. Without the skill of the 
 American Fabius in the conduct of military affairs and his states- 
 
25 
 
 manlike care and foresight in starting the ship of state in consti- 
 tutional channels, it is hard to say what would have been the fate 
 of our early efforts at establishing a nation. But it is not by 
 mere metaphor alone that we can speak of Washington as the 
 maker of our flag. He would have suggested nothing to his own 
 glorification in connection with it, but the gratitude, devotion 
 and reverence of our ancestors adopted the flag around which 
 they were to hover, and which was ever to be dear to their de- 
 scendants, from the Washington coat-of-arms. 
 
 When we realize the unparalleled greatness of Washington, 
 his unselfish devotion to the country, his integrity, his truth, his 
 far-sighted wisdom and his usefulness of which our country in 
 particular, but all mankind in a degree, has the benefit and the 
 example, when we remember what an august, high-minded, high- 
 souled, true-hearted man he was, and our inestimable obligations 
 to him, and know that Mt. Vernon was the scene of so much that 
 was endearing and ennobling in his career, our confidence in our 
 countrymen assures us that it will ever remain the Mecca of 
 American patriots. Surely, to the Sons of the Revolution, above 
 all others, the spot which was the beloved home of the Father of 
 his country, and where his sacred ashes repose, will always be 
 holy ground. 
 
 Dr. ROBERT CHILTON ATKINSON. 
 
 "THE SPIRIT OF '76. IT IS NOT DEAD BUT 
 
 SLEEPETH." 
 
 The chief object of this Association is to perpetuate the mem- 
 ory of the sleeping immortals, and by holding them up continu- 
 ously as great and splendid examples, to promote the spread and 
 endurance of a patriotic ardor throughout the land, and if possi- 
 ble to the latest generation. It has been written that, " the his- 
 tory of the world is the biography of its great men. " Mindful of 
 that fact, we propose to do our part in the teaching of history, by 
 a religious devotion to the memories of those who lived and died 
 to establish civil and religious liberty in the land for themselves 
 and the millions to come after them. We value beyond price the 
 heritage they have bequeathed us, and 1 believe that we are will- 
 
26 
 
 ing and ready in our humble way to follow in the footsteps they 
 have trod. Material prosperity, with its attendant ease and 
 security, seems to lull into peaceful repose all the warlike spirit in 
 man ; ''when grim visage war has smoothed his wrinkled front" 
 and ik bruised arms are hung up for monuments " we are more 
 disposed to listen "to the lascivious pleasings of the lute" than 
 to conform in either thought or habit to the rugged simplicity of 
 "those times which tried men's souls." Nations illustrious for 
 warlike prowess, whose very names were synonyms for war, 
 whose warlike deeds had conquered half the world, have them- 
 selves been subjected by their own conquests and become supinely 
 inactive under the siren influence of accumulated luxuries. This 
 is a truth of history. So the people of the United States have so 
 successfully cultivated the arts of peace and appropriated to the 
 uses of their daily lives the wondrous conveniences of their own 
 inventions, that it would be difficult to-night to recognize in us 
 the lineal descendants of the men who tracked the snows of Val- 
 ley Forge with bleeding feet or humbled England's flag on Erie's 
 surging waters. Therefore it is often asked what has become of 
 the spirit of '76. Circumstances alter cases. Occasions make 
 the men that they demand. In a people as yet untouched by that 
 senility which lays its palsying hand on nations as well as indi- 
 viduals, and especially a people so characterized by restless energy 
 and assertion as are the people of these United States, there 
 dwellcth a power and an energy, Avhich, once aroused by an urg- 
 ent occasion, would burst into a flame which would warm and 
 dazzle the universal world. More than a century has passed since 
 our forefathers of the bull' and blue suffered and bled for the right 
 of self government. 
 
 •Their bodies are dust, 
 Their good swords rust, 
 Their souls are with their God, we trust." 
 
 But there are still sentinels on the walls of Zion ; and though 
 in certain quarters it is considered the proper caper to obsequiously 
 court imported Dukes and supercilious Lords and to ape ridiculous 
 fashions of speech and dress, because " they are so English, you 
 know,*' yet there are. in city, hamlet, town and county of this 
 broad land, millions who believe that "American Citizen" is the 
 
27 
 
 proudest title, and that under the broad a?gis of liberty and equal- 
 ity before the law, our institutions are eapable of producing the 
 broadest development and the highest manhood. So believing, 
 and relying upon the manifest destiny of their common country, 
 they would defend her soil and her interests with the heroic valor 
 of " Horatius at the Bridge," and the Spartans at the Pass. We 
 have had some sad experiences. We have been torn with civil 
 disorders. We have been wounded with civil war, but we are 
 stronger and more united than ever we were before. What great 
 nation has not had such troubles ? What people, from the equa- 
 tor to the frozen north, have not had their revolutions 'i What 
 family, their disagreements? What individual, his disorders or 
 eruptions? Where thought is free and untrammeled there will 
 be conflict of opinions, and it sometimes happens that great ideas 
 are born in agony. Such travail is in time forgotten ; or, if not, 
 the memory of the parturition only serves to increase the value of 
 the product. After long years of peace, there has lately appeared 
 above our horizon a speck of cloud which for a time threatened 
 to develop into a very storm of war. Thank God, it did not, but 
 until the powers of the earth recognize and acknowledge the prin- 
 ciple which we asserted, and will ever maintain, there will always 
 be the possibility of war. If come it must, we shall be in the 
 right, battling for a principle. A principle almost as important 
 as our very existence and nearly touching our pride as Americans. 
 That will be the occasion to arouse a spirit which may be slumber- 
 ing now. Then will flame again the spirit of '76. Then, — 
 
 " North and South, together brought, 
 Shall own the same electric thought," 
 Shall rally round a common flag, 
 Shall shout a common battle cry, 
 America for Americans. 
 
 Then, forgetting all the dissensions of the past and relying 
 upon the valor and fidelity that has been proven on many a bloody 
 field where they fought each other, Americans will tread together 
 the marches once again for the rights of man. 
 
 " To teach that right is more than might, 
 And justice more than mail." 
 
 We are told that history repeats itself. There were tories in 
 
28 
 
 '76 and there may again be recreant sons to follow their example. 
 Pecuniary interests and commercial combinations may stand, like 
 a lion in the path, seeking to intimidate and control our representa- 
 tives and ministers of war, but should manipulators in stocks and 
 bonds seek to obstruct or cripple the Government in the assertion 
 of a vital principle, we must take a lesson from the great Nazarine, 
 who scourged the money changers from the Temple. It cannot 
 be that a vital spirit like that of '7t> can ever die. Sooner will it 
 reach with its infection far distant shores, leavening with its leaven 
 the whole mass of humanity, until rank and privilege shall be 
 swept away from among men by the rushing tide of man's desire 
 for justice, liberty, equality. There are people still unacquainted 
 with our history ; there are men who never dreamed of civil lib- 
 erty. To them the message must be borne, and the spirit of '76 
 shall be its missionary. Better that it should go as the white- 
 winged Messenger of Peace, but go it will, even if as the eagle 
 breasting the dark storm, the red bolt of war defying, covering 
 and protecting the weak and the defenseless and dropping a liv- 
 ing seed into their hearts, to grow and blossom into a magnificent 
 tree of human progress and perfected manhood. We cannot ex- 
 pect that such a magnificent progress of events shall be without 
 interruptions or vicissitudes. Reverses may come. Financial 
 panics may endure. Yea, even the scourge of pestilence and war 
 may leave a track of grassy mounds and blackened ruins, but the 
 spirit which animated our forefathers and defied fate will yet sur- 
 vive to build again the monuments which error and misfortune 
 may have overthrown. 
 
 Prof. HALSEY COOLEY IVES. 
 
 " HOW SHALL THE SPIRIT OF '76 FIND 
 
 EXPRESSION IN 96 ?" 
 .)//■. Chairman: 
 
 1 feel that the members of the Committee of Arrangements 
 
 displayed a due regard for the proprieties when they placed this 
 
 toast at the end of the list ; it is appropriate that it should come 
 
 last. It naturally takes us out of the past, with its delicate, ten- 
 
 der color-. so often born of imagination and cherished by tradi- 
 
29 
 
 tion ; it takes us away from these delightful pictures, tinged by 
 romance, and brings us down to the plain matter of fact present. 
 
 "What was this spirit ? 
 
 If I were called upon to define the spirit of '76, or to express 
 briefly that which, in my opinion, gave it strength, I would say, 
 unity of action in the discharge of duties affecting the public wel- 
 fare. 
 
 If I were called upon to indicate the birthplace of this spirit, 
 I should be forced to turn back the pages of history to a time 
 long before those early colonists found homes on the New England 
 coast, or elsewhere in this great land, made ours by their strug- 
 gles ; generations before our forefathers turned from their old 
 homes and faced westward ; long before the England of their day 
 was known, back to the tribal life of that strong, patient, Saxon 
 people, to that mother-head of nations, where the beginnings of 
 self government were made in the recognition of individual obli- 
 gation to the general good, to that point where active service and 
 interest in tribal affairs was demanded of, and given by, the indi- 
 vidual ; then was born that spirit which was so strongly mani- 
 fested in '76 ; that spirit which, fostered and cherished by the 
 descendants of those early people, enabled them to plant mile- 
 stones along the road which led toward civilization. 
 
 The pessimist often declares that the spirit of '76 no longer 
 exists. 
 
 It seems to me we have frequent evidence that it is to-day 
 alive, though too often misdirected. For example, two of 
 the most serious outbreaks which have occurred within the last 
 few years, although justly condemned by all, were still, in each 
 case, a striking evidence of this same spirit. It was no wild mob 
 which gathered at the base of the statue in New Orleans ; it was 
 an organized body citizens, called together by the domi- 
 nating will of the people ; a people whose neglect to discharge 
 the duty of citizenship, whose neglect of a daily application of 
 the spirit of '76 had so impaired the working machinery of the 
 city government, by giving it inefficient officials, that wrong and in- 
 justice prevailed in public matters ; honest officials were intimidated 
 and the dishonest openly worked in the interests of a colony of 
 foreign political renegades and professional cut- throats. It seems 
 
30 
 
 strange that such a state of affairs should exist in our day. The 
 men of that sister city, at the mouth of our great river, were 
 rudely awakened and confronted with that terror which their own 
 neglect had made possible. Then it was that they were forced 
 to become executioners. The men who marched from the base of 
 a public statue to the doors of the parish prison in Mew 
 Orleans were not the greatest criminals who had to do with 
 the mafia affair ; they were the thousands of men of that city 
 who, through the neglect of individual duty, who, failing to 
 exercise the spirit of their forefathers in everyday affairs, these 
 same k *good citizens'" — men who would shrink from wilfully 
 committing crime — had brought disgrace upon their city, state 
 and country, and disturbed the peaceful relations existing be- 
 tween two great people ; they were the criminals ! 
 
 Again, a few years ago in our sister city, Cincinnati, this 
 same spirit, misguided, broke forth. You all remember the state 
 of corruption existing in the courts of that city, which led to vio- 
 lence. There, unlike the New Orleans affair, the leaders lost con- 
 trol, and loss of life and great destruction of public property fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 It seems almost sacrilegious to use these incidents as evi- 
 dence that the existence of this spirit of 'TO. aroused and 
 misdirected in "i>G may lead to the commission of crimes 
 against the best interests of humanity. "Wherever this 
 spirit has caused people in our day to struggle against real 
 or fancied wrongs, you will find that the conditions are 
 called into existence by the failure of the large mass of 
 intelligent people, who are rated as good citizens, to discharge the 
 simple duties of citizenship. The people's will is obeyed, and as 
 people act, or fail to act, in the exercise of their duty as citizens, 
 just so their officers will give good or bad service. I have read 
 recently or have heard someone express the following sentiment. 
 I cannol give the words, but 1 express, I am sure, the idea as it 
 came to me : " Ignorance of the duties of citizenship is a crime ; 
 a failure to discharge duties, when understood, is a greater crime ; 
 and, following this failure comes corruption of public morals and 
 bad L r <>\ eminent.'" 
 
 The best citizen to-day is he who expresses the spirit of "76 
 
in the discharge of daily duties ; is he who watches and studies 
 the needs and requirements of his country ; first, the city, then the 
 state, and then the general country, and in turn asks nothing as a 
 reward but protection aud justice. And until this spirit is cher- 
 ished, and finds expression in this manner, the political atmos- 
 phere of local, state and general government will remain so 
 unclean, so impure as to contaminate our whole social life. 
 
 We are taught that there are sins of commission and sins of 
 omission. The highest honor that can be reached in our day by a 
 descendant of those men — our ancestors — who believed in, and 
 lived under, the influence of the spirit of "76, is attained by the 
 expression of that same spirit in the everyday affairs of life, in 
 this year, 1890. 
 

 SERMON 
 
 BY THK 
 
 Rt. Rev. Daniel S.Tuttle, d.d.,s.t.d 
 
 BISHOP OF MISSOURI. 
 
 President of the Missouri Society Sons of the Revolution. 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 State Society Sons of the Revolution and their Guests, 
 
 The Society of Colonial Wars, The Daughters of the 
 
 American Revolution, United States Army and 
 
 Navy Officers, The Missouri Commander y 
 
 Military Order of the Loyal Legion. 
 
 Christ Church Cathedral, 
 
 St. Louis, 
 Sunday, February 23, 1896. 
 
 (PRINTED BY THE SOCIETY.) 
 
F^ESS OF 
 ■ RD & T'.ERNAN FTG. CO. 
 ST. LOUIS. 
 
fTi 
 
 SERMON. 
 
"And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; 
 and they shall hang iipon him all the glory of his father'' s 
 h o use . ' ' — Isa la h , xxii: 23—24 . 
 
 These are words spoken of Eliakim, son of 
 Hilkiah. Bliakim was a good man and true; the 
 prefect in the household of King Hezekiah. He was 
 second to the king only ; as was Joseph to Pharaoh. 
 The Lord Jehovah Himself appointed Eliakim to his 
 place, and he was so to fill it as to be u a father to the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah." 
 A good man set in high position becomes a tower of 
 help to other men. Or, as our text quaintly puts it, 
 he is as a strong nail or a stout peg on which others 
 may depend, and on which they may hang their 
 belongings. "I will fasten him as a nail in a sure 
 place ; and they shall hang upon him all the glory of 
 his father's house." 
 
 Yesterday was an anniversary of the birthday 
 of George Washington. To-day, by request of the 
 Missouri Society of the Sons of the Revolution, I am 
 set to speak some words of him whom all Americans 
 delight to honor; nor Americans only, but all the 
 world who have heard of him and know his history. 
 We are gathered in the courts of the Lord's House. 
 We may not forget reverence for His Sacred Name, 
 or fealty to His holy Commands. When thinking of 
 Washington we are not in the way of any such for- 
 getfulness. For he, more than any other great man 
 of affairs was ever wont to submit, on his knees, the 
 steps of his life and the welfare of his country to the 
 will and wisdom of Providence, and humbly to beseech 
 for all his aims and plans the grace and guidance of 
 Almighty God. To recount the life of Washington 
 and dwell on its details with the painstaking atten- 
 tion of affectionate gratitude is obviously impossible. 
 Nor is there need. School boys and school girls 
 know the facts in their minds, and keep the memory 
 of the facts warm in their hearts. To preach a 
 
sermon upon Washington, to marshall the arguments, 
 to show how love and obedience to God, and love and 
 helpfulness to men, were the sovereign principles of 
 his life ; nor is there need of this either. For his 
 words and acts, his letters and official utterances 
 plainly manifest throughout his loyal and stead}- 
 adherence to this two-fold Whole Duty of Man. 
 
 No, I can only pick out some things to think of. 
 Let the line of selection be indicated by our text. It 
 is no casting of slight upon the goodness and great- 
 ness of Eliakim of old, if we venture to accommodate 
 the application of the prophetic words to him of whom 
 we speak to-day: "I will fasten him as a nail in a 
 sure place ; and they shall hang upon him all the 
 ^glory of his father's house." Jefferson's words to 
 Washington in 1793 are an echo of the text. They 
 were written when the latter was debating with him- 
 self whether to follow what seemed duty and stand 
 for a second term of the presidential office, or to yield 
 to inclination and retire into private life. "The 
 confidence of the whole country is centered in you. 
 North and South will hang together if they have you 
 to hang on." 
 
 I venture to assert that in the history of no other 
 great nation upon earth, as in ours, have its birth 
 and early preservation and development been so con- 
 spicuously dependent, under God, upon one man. 
 
 I. In the War of the Revolution. 
 
 On July 2, 1775, Washington took his place as 
 commander-in-chief at the head of the continental 
 army. It numbered 14,500 men. They were sol- 
 diers in spirit, and soldiers in personal bravery. But 
 the}' were undisciplined. If any person could raise 
 a regiment or a company he was entitled to its com- 
 mand. Sturdy farmers were in the ranks looking to 
 get back to their ploughs after a month or two of 
 service. The militia men had left home avocations 
 
on irregular and short enlistments. The minute 
 men — one-fourth of the militia — were most like active 
 and skilled experts, yet they were not disciplined 
 soldiers. There was no commissariat. The supply 
 of arms and ammunition was scanty. At times 
 barrels of sand were moved about, that the men 
 might be encouraged, believing them to be powder. 
 The chief had no military chest. He felt no solid 
 civil government at his back. There was little 
 money. And no credit. Congress owned nothing; 
 and had no power to enforce anything. The thirteen 
 original colonies were the sovereign rulers, with their 
 rulership cramped by poverty and weakened by dis- 
 sension. Ah ! with what splendid patience Wash- 
 ington met all the difficulties and worked his way 
 through them. More or less of military life he had 
 known since he was commissioned a major of militia 
 at nineteen. No little of service had he seen in the 
 seven years' war between France and England over 
 their American possessions. He had experience in 
 irregular Indian fighting. With Braddock as he had 
 been, he knew the art and necessity of careful drill 
 and strict discipline for large bodies of troops. 
 
 Washington set to work to bring order out of 
 chaos ; and he persevered untiringly. Soldier that 
 he was, he soon made effective, subordination of dis- 
 cipline and distribution of duty. From the very first 
 he enjoined upon the army attendance upon religious 
 services. Rich farmer that he was, just come from 
 the active personal management of his large Mt. 
 Vernon estate, where more than 1,000 persons were 
 employed and subsisted, it was his business habits 
 and methods, his clear and quick grasp of details, and 
 the confidence of others in his judgment and integ- 
 rity, which sufficed to put the necessary supplies for 
 camp and march and siege in decently creditable 
 condition. Then, deeply impressed with the serious 
 work he had entered upon, by earnest pleadings he 
 got from the different colonies, what he knew was 
 urgently needed, better terms of longer enlistments. 
 Hot and resentful, the men wanted to fling themselves 
 
against the enemy in Boston. Congress and the 
 country, impatient, urged Washington to do so. But 
 his far-seeing wisdom and patient firmness kept the 
 army for eight months to the discipline of preparation, 
 before he ventured to take the offensive. Then, by 
 his skill, he compelled the evacuation of Boston by 
 the British without a blow struck, or a life lost. This 
 was success. There were shoutings of triumph. But 
 every tide has its ebb. The disastrous battle of Long 
 Island ensued. Washington, by a succession of wise 
 retreats, by a masterful series of skillful movements 
 along the Delaware, and by standing steady with 
 almost superhuman endurance under sharp criticisms, 
 and military adversities, and even the pangs of hun- 
 ger and the pains of frost, kept his little army from 
 annihilation, presenting the necessary front of organ- 
 ized resistance. Successes of this sort were far more 
 conducive to the ultimate good of the cause than 
 would have been brilliant encounters in the field. 
 The character fitted to win these God gave to Wash- 
 ington. And nature and experience proved and pol- 
 ished the armor, by his surveyor's life when sixteen 
 years of age ; by his wanderings in the wilderness ; 
 by his conflict with treacherous savages ; by his prac- 
 ticed capacity to meet emergencies ; by twenty 
 3'ears of occupation of positions of responsibility in 
 martial life ; and by a magnificently noble patience 
 learned and put to use under the attacks and criticism 
 of those years. Frederick the Great was so struck 
 with admiration of his strategic movements in these 
 times of discouragement that he sent to Washington 
 his portrait with the message, "From the oldest 
 General in Europe to the greatest General in the 
 world." Yet, ambitious generals in the field, and 
 impatient patriots in and out of Congress joined in a 
 cabal to remove him from the chieftaincy as being 
 too slow and timorous. Anyone less favored and 
 fortified than he by God and nature would, I venture 
 to think, have been flung out. His success during 
 the first two critical years of the war, in holding on 
 to resistance and avoiding destruction, was magnifi- 
 
cent leadership. Then the sky brightened. Early in 
 1778 France signed a treaty of commerce and alliance 
 with us. This act helped mightity to give form and 
 consistency to our embryo of a nation. Nothing in 
 the world but Franklin's deep trust in Washington's 
 wisdom and capacity, and his success in inoculating 
 the French court with the same sort of confidence, 
 gained that treaty. Yet, when the French allies 
 came over for help under Count d'Estaing their 
 leaders and the American officers found themselves at 
 loggerheads, and nothing but Washington's personal 
 presence and influence averted disastrous disputes. 
 There is no time nor need to search further. I feel 
 sure that all who read and think are ready to agree. 
 That the army did not waste away ; that dissensions 
 did not outwork their dire results ; that organized re- 
 sistance was kept up ; that France came to the rescue ; 
 that success in arms was finally achieved, and the 
 infant nation was saved, were due, under Providence, 
 to Washington: to his trust in God, his faith in the 
 righteousness of his country's cause, and the splendid 
 qualities of leadership with which God and nature 
 and experience had endowed him. And the modern 
 Eliakim shall be writ larger, and higher, and clearer 
 than the ancient, as a "nail fastened in a sure 
 place ; ' ' strong and true to sustain all the immense 
 interests dependent on him. 
 
 II. At the Close of the War. 
 
 The infant country was born. But there had 
 been scarce strength for the birth. And infan- 
 tile weakness was conspicuously manifest. To the 
 helplessness of infancy was added exhaustion pro- 
 duced by the war. The continental paper currency, 
 like all fiat money which has not a sound fiscal system 
 to support it, had become well nigh valueless. A 
 common saying of my boyhood's days referred to this 
 fact. Of a thing of no value it was said, "It's not 
 worth a continental." 
 
The surrender of Cornwallis, October 19, 1781, 
 virtually ended the war, because the British people 
 were tired of it, and compelled Lord North's ministry 
 to resign in March, 1782. But the definitive treaty 
 of peace was not signed till the autumn of 1783. So 
 for near two years Washington was obliged to keep 
 the army in hand for whatever emergency might arise. 
 And two very trying years they were to him and to 
 his country. 
 
 Active war was over. The troops were expect- 
 ing to be disbanded. But large arrearages of pay 
 were due. To be sure Congress had made pledges that 
 the dues to the soldiers should be met, and had voted 
 half pay to the officers for life. But the army saw 
 no steps taken to make the promises good. And even 
 if Congress took steps it was discovered that Congress 
 itself was only a league with facilities for recommend- 
 ing action to the States, but with no power to enforce 
 it. And it was suspected that the States, in their 
 poverty, would not tax themselves to pay. Discon- 
 tent spread wide and sank deep. Inflammatory 
 appeals were circulated. The soldiers were urged 
 not to allow themselves to be disbanded till justice 
 was obtained. The officers were entertaining doubts 
 about the efficiency of the government and of all 
 republican institutions. A guarded proposition was 
 made to Washington that he should remain their 
 leader. It carried with it the implication that they 
 wanted him and needed him for a king. He shrank 
 from the suggestion with indignation and abhorrence, 
 and returned an answer of severe rebuke. Then he 
 met with the officers at Newburgh, and in the meet- 
 ing, after acknowledging their claims and assuring 
 them they would not be disregarded, in a noble and 
 forcible paper he showed how great would be the 
 wickedness which would overturn the liberties of the 
 country so recently secured, and plunge the inheri- 
 tors thereof into fratricidal strife. The waters of 
 patriotism, which had been clogged and diverted, 
 again ran clear. And to the governors of the several 
 States he issued an appeal of consummate wisdom, 
 
that a union should be formed, that justice should be 
 sacredly done, and that much forbearance must be 
 shown. His general orders proclaiming the cessation 
 of hostilities ended with, "The chaplains of the sev- 
 eral brigades will render thanks to Almighty God for 
 all His mercies, particularly for His overruling the 
 wrath of man to His own glory, and causing the rage 
 of war to cease among the nations." 
 
 In this critical biennium at the close of the war, 
 Washington's faith in God, and love of his country, 
 and unselfish and unwearied efforts for the common 
 good made him a strong "nail fastened in a sure 
 place," and upon him hung the freedom of repre- 
 sentative government to the displacing of the pre- 
 rogatives of personal rulership. 
 
 III. In the Constitutional Convention. 
 
 It would be hard to find in history another man 
 made up of such well-balanced qualities of character, 
 as was he whose memory we honor today. A French 
 orator referring to him says, "Audacity destroys, 
 genius elevates, good sense preserves and perfects." 
 Four years after the war the good sense of Washing- 
 ton is put to test in another crisis of his country's 
 existence. He was profoundly convinced that in a 
 Union, and in a strong Union only, could a real 
 national existence be secured, such as to afford pro- 
 tection to the people from foreign interference, and 
 to beget vigor and to promote prosperity at home. 
 He thought about it. He talked about it. He wrote 
 about it. Who doubts, he pra3^ed over it. When the 
 Convention met in 1787 it was a foregone conclusion 
 that he must be its President. Upon the four months 
 of deliberation of that Convention we can not dwell. 
 What difficulties must be surmounted ! What clash- 
 ing interests must be harmonized ! What prejudices 
 must be moderated! What forbearance must be 
 exercised! What patience must be shown! The 
 whole world has eulogized the splendid work wrought 
 
by the men of that Convention in making our won- 
 derful Constitution. Washington presided, though 
 the technical deliberative work was mostly accom- 
 plished in committee of the whole with Mr. Gorham 
 of Massachusetts in the chair. Into the cauldron of 
 that four months' debate were cast thirteen separate 
 sovereignties eternally counteracting each other. 
 Out of it came a birth, the new birth, of a Union, a 
 Nation, which had had no real existence before. If 
 an incantation were sung over the seething elements, 
 faith and love and hope and patience and patriotism 
 gave the notes of that song. And Washington's 
 well known opinions, and confidence in his judgment, 
 and reverence for his integrity, and love of his person 
 were the mightiest factors to produce the auspicious 
 result. Then afterwards, when nine States at least, 
 must ratify the Constitution to make it operative, it 
 was faith in Washington and love of Washington 
 that carried the day in face of opposition everywhere 
 strongly manifested, and led in Virginia by the un- 
 surpassed eloquence of Patrick Henry himself. The 
 stout nail was there ; fastened in a sure place. There 
 was no displacement of its strength of steadiness, or 
 its power for help. The Constitution stands for our 
 very national life. And upon him, the Father of the 
 Constitution, is hung all the glory of his country's 
 house. 
 
 IV. At the Helm of the First Adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 A new political system was to be worked. Sparta, 
 Greece, Rome, Switzerland, with their annals, could 
 not much help. The ship of state was putting out 
 into a reach of waters where no chart was furnished 
 and no soundings had been made. Of course the 
 pilot to be taken aboard must be Washington. It is 
 hard for us to count the great task he had to fix the 
 points for sailing, and to keep the craft steady to 
 her course. His nearest counsellors, Jefferson and 
 
Hamilton, were sturdy antagonists, crying against 
 each other the advantages of distribution or concen- 
 tration of government power. He must keep the 
 peace between them. Wonderfully he did so. 
 Honoring both, helped by both, moderating the coun- 
 sels of both, and adopting the excellencies of each. 
 He was at the helm eight years. Unwearied patience, 
 unswerving constancy, unyielding hopefulness char- 
 acterized his steering. Did the Pennsylvania dis- 
 tillers think his patience weakness? They soon 
 learned how that patience never took its hand off of 
 the stout staff of firmness. Did the French Revolu- 
 tionists count on his soldier spirit to carry him and his 
 country into their warlike ranks? He immediately 
 issued his proclamation of neutrality as between 
 France and Great Britain. Jefferson penned the 
 proclamation, though heartily sympathizing with the 
 French. When disturbing questions between Eng- 
 land and the United States arose, was it thought that 
 he longed again to fight the enemy of former years? 
 Instead he sent John Jay over the ocean to frame a 
 treaty with England, though in connection with its 
 acceptance and ratification such shafts of partisan 
 obloquy and arrows of spiteful hate were shot at 
 Washington as amaze us to read about or think of. 
 All such like things he did because no other consid- 
 eration than personal rectitude, and his country's 
 real welfare, and Liberty's entrenchment, had the 
 value of an atom's weight with him. 
 
 Ah! in the perilously critical period when our 
 infant nation was learning to walk, and the new 
 Government must needs get into working condition, 
 thanks be to God, that there was an Eliakim provided 
 by Him, set as a strong nail fastened in a sure place, 
 upon whom have been hung all the succeeding glories 
 and amazing prosperities of his country's house! 
 
 Fellow Sons of the Revolution ! Brethren all ! 
 Hearken no longer to me. I bring you Washington's 
 own exhortation: — "Reverence religion; diffuse 
 knowledge throughout your land ; patronize the arts 
 and sciences. Let Liberty and Order be inseparable 
 
companions. Control party spirit, the bane of free 
 governments. Observe good faitli to and cultivate 
 peace with all nations. Shut up ever}*- avenue to 
 foreign influence. Contract rather than extend 
 national connection. Rely on yourselves only. Be 
 American in thought, and word, and deed." 
 
 Then come with me in thought to Mt. Vernon ; 
 which the grateful women of America have set apart 
 to be a sacred home-temple for patriotism. Bend 
 down. Your hero is dying. List for the last words 
 as with difficulty they come through the inflamed 
 and impeding throat: "I am not afraid to go." "It 
 is well." 
 
 God help us to follow him, as he obeyed God, 
 and believed in Christ, and loved and served his 
 fellowmen. 
 
I 
 

 ^ SERVICE ^ 
 
 SUNDAY (H.00 A. M.), FEBRUARY 23d, A. D. W6, 
 COMMEMORATIVE OF THE BIRTH OF 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 
 CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, 
 
 ST. LOUIS. 
 MDCCCXCVI. 
 
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A FORM OF PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING 
 TO ALMIGHTY GOD 
 FOR THE BIRTH OF 
 
 George Washington, 
 
 SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR 
 
 THE MISSOURI SOCIETY 
 
 SONS OF THE REVOLUTION, 
 
 TO BE USED IN 
 
 Christ Church Cathedral, 
 
 ST. LOUIS, 
 
 ON 
 
 SUNDAY, 
 
 THE TWENTY-THIRD DAY OF FEBRUARY, 
 
 AT U.00 O'CLOCK, A. M., 
 
 MDCCCXCVL 
 

 The Service will be conducted by 
 
 Rt. Rev. DANIEL S. TUTTLE, S. T. D., 
 
 Bishop of Missouri 
 
 President of the Missouri Society Sons of the Revolution, 
 
 assisted by 
 
 Rev. GEORGE E. MARTIN, D. D., 
 
 Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, St, Louis, 
 Chaplain of the Missouri Society Sons of the Revolution, 
 
 and the 
 
 DEAN and CLERGY 
 
 of Christ Church Cathedral. 
 
PROCESSIONAL HYMN. 
 
 HE Son of God goes forth to war, 
 
 A kingly crown to gain ; 
 His blood-red banner streams afar : 
 
 Who follows in his train ? 
 Who best can drink his cup of woe, 
 Triumphant over pain, 
 Who patient bears his cross below — 
 He follows in his train. 
 
 2. The martyr first, whose eagle eye 
 
 Could pierce beyond the grave, 
 Who saw his Master in the sky, 
 
 And called on him to save : 
 Like him, with pardon on his tongue, 
 
 In midst of mortal pain, 
 He prayed for them that did the wrong : 
 
 Who follows in his train } 
 
 3. A glorious band, the chosen few, 
 
 On whom the Spirit came : 
 Twelve valiant saints, their hope they knew, 
 
 And mock'd the cross and flame : 
 They met the tyrants brandished steel, 
 
 The lion's gory mane; 
 They bow'd their necks the death to feel : 
 
 Who follows in their train ? 
 
 4. A noble army, men and boys, 
 
 The matron and the maid, 
 Around the Saviour's throne rejoice, 
 
 In robes of light array'd : 
 They climb'd the steep ascent of heaven 
 
 Through peril, toil and pain : 
 O God ! to us may grace be given 
 
 To follow in their train ! 
 
 — Bishop Reginald Heber, 
 A. D. 1837- 
 
The Minister shall read the following sentences 
 of Holy Scripture : 
 
 ^^HE Lord is in His Holy Temple : let all the earth 
 ^£ keep silence before him. - Habakkuk „. 20 . 
 
 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers 
 have told us, what work thou didst in their days, 
 in the times of old. -p sa im xu v . i. 
 
 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord ; and the people 
 whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. 
 
 —Psaltn xxxiii. 12. 
 
 The Lord ordereth a good man's going, and maketh his 
 way acceptable to himself. -p sa im ***»««. *j. 
 
 Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to 
 dwell together in unity! -p sa im cxxxm. *. 
 
 Then the Minister shall proceed with the order 
 for Morning Prayer, Prayer Book, page 3. 
 
 Dearly beloved brethren, etc 
 
 The Psalter for the day shall be this J 47th Psalm, 
 to be followed by the Gloria Patri. 
 
 PRAISE the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing 
 praises unto our God; yea, a joyful and pleasant 
 thing it is to be thankful. 
 
 2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem, and 
 gatKer~together the outcasts of Israel. 
 
 3. He healeth those that are broken in heart, and giveth 
 medicine to heal their sickness. 
 
 4. He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them ail 
 by their names. 
 
 5. Great is our Lord, and great is his power; yea, and his 
 wisdom is infinite. 
 
6. The Lord setteth up the meek, and bringeth the ungodly- 
 down to the ground. 
 
 7. O sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises 
 upon the harp unto our God. 
 
 8. Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth 
 rain for the earth ; and maketh the grass to grow upon the 
 mountains, and herb for the use of men; 
 
 9. Who giveth fodder unto the cattle, and feedeth the young 
 ravens that call upon him. 
 
 10. He hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse ; neither 
 delighteth he in any man's legs. 
 
 U. But the Lord's delight is in them that fear him, and 
 put their trust in his mercy. 
 
 12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem ; praise thy God, O Zion. 
 
 13. For he hath made fast the bars of thy gates, and hath 
 blessed thy children within thee. 
 
 14. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with 
 the flour of wheat. 
 
 15. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth, and 
 his word runneth very swiftly. 
 
 1 6. He giveth snow like wool, and scattereth the hoar-frost 
 like ashes. 
 
 \ 7. He casteth forth his ice like morsels : who is able to 
 abide his frost ? 
 
 1 8. He sendeth out his word, and melteth them : he bloweth 
 with his' wind, and the waters flow. 
 
 19. He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and or- 
 dinances unto Israel. 
 
 20. He hath not dealt so with any nation; neither have 
 the heathen knowledge of his laws. 
 
 GLORIA PATRI. 
 
 Then shall be read for the First Lesson the Eighth 
 Chapter of the Book Deuteronomy ; followed by the 
 Benedicite, Omnia Opera Domini. 
 
 Prayer Book, page 8. 
 
Then shall be read for the Second Lesson the 
 Tenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. 
 Matthew; to be followed by the 
 
 BENEDICTUS. 
 
 .ESSED be the Lord God of Israel : for he hath 
 visited, and redeemed his people ; 
 
 And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us : 
 in the house of his servant David ; 
 As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets : which 
 have been since the world began ; 
 
 That we should be saved from our enemies: and from 
 the hand of all that hate us. 
 
 To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers : and to 
 remember his holy Covenant ; 
 
 To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather 
 Abraham : that he would give us ; 
 
 That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies : 
 might serve him without fear; 
 
 In holiness and righteousness before him : all the days of 
 our life. 
 
 And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest : 
 for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 
 
 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people : for the 
 remission of their sins, 
 
 Through the tender mercy of our God : whereby the day- 
 spring from on high hath visited us ; 
 
 To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the 
 shadow of death : and to guide our feet in the way of peace. 
 GLORIA PATRI. 
 
 Then shall be said the 
 
 APOSTLES' CREED. 
 
 BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker 
 of heaven and earth : 
 
 And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord : 
 Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of 
 theVirgin Mary ; Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, 
 
dead, and buried : He descended into hell ; The third day he 
 rose again from the dead : He ascended into heaven, And 
 sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty : From 
 thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 
 
 I believe in the Holy Ghost: The Holy Catholic Church: 
 The Communion of Saints : The Forgiveness of sins : The 
 Resurrection of the body: And the Life everlasting. Amen, 
 
 Then the Minister shall say, 
 
 The Lord be with you. 
 Answer, And with thy spirit. 
 Minister. Let us pray. 
 
 Then all devoutly kneeling, the Minister shall 
 say the prayers following: 
 
 O Lord, show thy mercy upon us. 
 Answer. And grant us thy salvation. 
 Minister. O Lord, save the State. 
 Answer. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee. 
 Minister. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness. 
 Answer. And make thy chosen people joyful. 
 Minister. O Lord, save thy people. 
 Answer. And bless thine inheritance. 
 Minister. Give peace in our time, O Lord. 
 Answer. For it is thou, Lord, only, that makest us 
 
 dwell in safety. 
 Minister. O God, make clean our hearts within us. 
 Answer. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us. 
 
 A COLLECT FOR PEACE. 
 
 GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of 
 | concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our 
 [eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; 
 m ^ Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of 
 our enemies ; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not 
 fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen, 
 
A COLLECT FOR GRACE. 
 
 LORD, our heavenly Father, Almighty and ever- 
 lasting God, who hast safely brought us to the 
 beginning of this day; Defend us in the same 
 with thy mighty power ; and grant that this day 
 we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of 
 danger ; but that all our doings, being ordered by thy govern- 
 ance, may be righteous in thy sight ; through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen, 
 
 A Prayer for the PRESIDENT of the United States, 
 and ALL in CIVIL AUTHORITY. 
 
 LORD, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty 
 Ruler of the universe, who dost from thy throne 
 behold all the dwellers upon earth ; Most heartily 
 we beseech thee with thy favour to behold and 
 bless thy servant the President of the United 
 States, and all others in authority; and so replenish them 
 with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that they may always incline 
 to thy will, and walk in thy way. Endue them plenteously 
 with heavenly gifts ; grant them in health and prosperity long 
 to live ; and finally, after this life, to attain everlasting joy and 
 felicity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 A PRAYER FOR CONGRESS. 
 
 [OST gracious God, we humbly beseech thee, as 
 for the people of these United States in general, 
 so especially for their Senate and Representatives 
 in Congress assembled ; That thou wouldest be 
 pleased to direct and prosper all their consulta- 
 tions, to the advancement of thy glory, the good of thy Church, 
 the safety, honour, and welfare of thy people ; that all things 
 may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours, upon the 
 best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth 
 and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us 
 for all generations. These and all other necessaries, for them, 
 for us, and thy whole Church, we humbly beg in the Name 
 and Mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and 
 Saviour. Amen. 
 
A PRAYER FOR ALL CONDITIONS OF MEN. 
 
 1GOD, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, 
 [we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and condi- 
 Itions of men; that thou wouldest be pleased to 
 | make thy ways known unto them, thy saving 
 ' health unto all nations. More especially we pray 
 for thy holy Church universal ; that it may be so guided and 
 governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call 
 themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and 
 hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in 
 righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to thy fatherly 
 goodness all those who are any ways afflicted, or distressed, 
 in mind, body, or estate; that it may please thee to comfort 
 and relieve them, according to their several necessities; giving 
 them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out 
 of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's 
 sake. Amen. 
 
 A SPECIAL THANKSGIVING. 
 
 GOD, by whom the whole world is gov- 
 erned and preserved, we give thee humble 
 and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and 
 loving kindness to us, and to all men. We 
 thank thee for the privilege of commemorating in thy 
 Holy Temple, with Praise and Thanksgiving, the 
 Birth of thy servant, GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
 whose name thou madest, throughout the world, a 
 synonym for all that is best in human character and 
 achievement. 
 
 We thank thee that, having endowed him with 
 every needed qualification of mind and heart and 
 person, thou didst especially train him for the great 
 
work which, in thy far-seeing Providence, he was 
 destined to perform ; even the deliverance of this land 
 from political oppression : and the founding of an 
 Empire which now stretches from sea to sea ; and 
 which exercises a potent, and ever increasing in- 
 fluence upon the nations of the earth. 
 
 We thank thee that thou didst cover his head in 
 the day of battle ; and protect him from the pestilence 
 that walketh in darkness, and the sickness that de- 
 stroy eth in the noonday ; that no weapon formed 
 against him was permitted to prosper ; and that he 
 was carried unscathed through innumerable dangers, 
 to become the first Ruler of the people he had saved, 
 and securely lay the foundations of our national Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 We thank thee that in his Administration of our 
 civil affairs, he set an example of wisdom, prudence, 
 incorruptable integrity, and forgetfulness of self in 
 his love for his country ; and loyalty to his conscience 
 and his God : And we earnestly pray that his pure 
 example at the beginning of our national life may be 
 faithfully followed by our people, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 A COLLECT FOR 
 THE SONS OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 THOU who turnest the hearts of the children to 
 the fathers, and hast declared that the righteous 
 shall be had in everlasting remembrance, we 
 thank thee for the inspiration which called into 
 existence the Society of the Sons of the Revo- 
 lution ; and the blessing which has hitherto attended it. And 
 we pray thee to continue to aid our Society in this, and suc- 
 ceeding generations, in the pious work of perpetuating the 
 memory of the sacrifices, and sufferings, and valour of our 
 fathers, through which our priceless heritage was won. 
 
And finally, when we also shall have served thee in our 
 generation, may we be gathered unto our fathers, having the 
 testimony of a good conscience ; in favor with thee our God, 
 and in perfect charity with the world. All which we ask 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 2 Corinthians xiii. 14. 
 
 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, 
 and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all ever- 
 more. Amen. 
 
 t&** t^* G^* t£^* 
 
 Then shall be sung 
 
 HYMN 418. 
 
 GOD, our help in ages past, 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 
 Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 Before the hills in order stood, 
 Or earth received her frame, 
 From everlasting thou art God, 
 To endless years the same. 
 
 A thousand ages in thy sight 
 
 Are like an evening gone, 
 Short as the watch that ends the night 
 
 Before the rising sun. 
 
 Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 
 
 Bears all its sons away ; 
 They fly forgotten, as a dream 
 
 Dies at the opening day. 
 
 O God, our help in ages past, 
 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 Be thou our guard while troubles last, 
 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 —Rev. Isaac IVattt, 
 A. D. 1719. 
 
 From the Order for the Holy Communion. 
 
 Prayer Book, page 222. 
 
THE COLLECT. 
 LMIGHTY God, unto whom all hearts are open, 
 all desires known, and from whom no secrets are 
 hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the in- 
 spiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly 
 love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name ; 
 through Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Then shall the Minister rehearse the Ten Com- 
 mandments ; after which shall be said the Collect, 
 Epistle and Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent. 
 
 Prayer Book, page 88. 
 
 Then shall be sung, 
 
 "AMERICA." 
 
 l Y country! 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, 
 
 Of thee I sing ; 
 Land where my fathers died ! 
 Land of the Pilgrim's pride ! 
 From every mountain side 
 Let freedom ring! 
 
 My native country, thee — 
 Land of the noble free — 
 
 Thy name I love ; 
 I love thy rocks and rills, 
 Thy woods and templed hills ; 
 My heart with rapture thrills 
 
 Like that above. 
 
 Let music swell the breeze, 
 And ring from all the trees 
 
 Sweet freedom's song ; 
 Let mortal tongues awake ; 
 Let all that breathe partake ; 
 Let rocks their silence break, — 
 
 The sound prolong. 
 
 Our father's God ! to thee, 
 Author of liberty, 
 
 To thee we sing: 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With freedom's holy light ; 
 Protect us by thy might, 
 
 Great God ! our King. 
 
 —Samuel Francis Smith, 
 A. D. 1832. 
 Died November 16th, 189$. 
 
THE SERMON, 
 
 BY 
 
 Rt. Rev. DANIEL S. TUTTLE, S. T. D. 
 
 ODj 
 
 THE OFFERTORY. 
 
 The offerings will be applied towards an endowment for the old 
 
 POHICK CHURCH, 
 
 MOUNT VERNON, 
 
 the site for which was selected by Washington himself, and of 
 which he was Vestryman and Warden for several years. 
 
 ANTHEM. 
 
 From "The Triumph of David." 
 
 —Dudley Buck. 
 
COLLECT. 
 
 ALMIGHTY GOD, the Sovereign Commander 
 of all the world, in whose hand is all power and 
 might; We bless and magnify thy great and 
 glorious Name for the abounding benefits and 
 mercies which thou hast bestowed upon our land 
 and nation. And, we beseech thee, give us grace to improve 
 these great mercies to thy glory, the advancement of thy Gospel, 
 the honor of our country, and, as much as in us lieth, to the 
 good of all mankind. And, we beseech thee, give us such a 
 sense of these great mercies, as may engage us to a true 
 thankfulness, such as may appear in our lives by an humble, 
 holy, and obedient walking before thee all our days; through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit 
 be all glory and honor, world without end. Amen. 
 
 BENEDICTION. 
 
 HE God of peace, who brought again from the 
 dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd 
 of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting 
 covenant ; Make you perfect in every good work 
 to do his will, working in you that which is well 
 
 pleasing in his sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory 
 
 for ever and ever. Amen, 
 
RECESSIONAL HYMN. 
 
 LORIOUS things of thee are spoken, 
 
 Sion, city of our God ; 
 He, whose word cannot be broken, 
 Formed thee for his own abode : 
 On the Rock of Ages founded, 
 What can shake thy sure repose ? 
 With salvation's walls surrounded, 
 Thou may'st smile at all thy foes. 
 
 See, the streams of living waters 
 
 Springing from eternal love, 
 Well supply thy sons and daughters, 
 
 And all fear of want remove. 
 Who can faint, when such a river 
 
 Ever will their thirst assuage? 
 Grace which, like the Lord, the giver, 
 
 Never fails from age to age. 
 
 Round each habitation hovering, 
 
 See the cloud and fire appear 
 For a glory and a covering, 
 
 Showing that the Lord is near. 
 Thus deriving from their banner, 
 
 Light by night, and shade by day, 
 Safe they feed upon the manna, 
 
 Which he feeds them when they pray. 
 
 — Rev. John Newton, 
 A. D. 1779.