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 FROM COLUMBIAN MAGAZINE, JANUARY, 1790. 
 
CONGRESS HALL 
 
 ***»An address by Hon. SAMUEL 
 W. PENNYPACKER, LL.D., at 
 the Last Session of the Court of 
 Common Pleas, No. 2, in Congress 
 Hall, Philadelphia 9**¥vr****vv***v 
 
 SEPTEMBER SIXTEENTH 
 MDCCCXCV 
 
 Printed for the 
 Philadelphia Bench and Bar 
 
Press of 
 
 Edward Stem .Si Co., Inc. 
 Philadelphia 
 
 . ? p4- 
 
On September 16, 1895, the Common Pleas No. 2 of 
 Philadelphia County sat for the last time in Congress Hall, at 
 the southeast corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets. The Hall 
 had been occupied by that Court continuously from its organi- 
 zation in 1875, and before that time by the District Court of 
 the City and County of Philadelphia. It had been the scene of 
 many great trials, and of many of the greatest forensic efforts 
 by the leaders of the Philadelphia Bar. On the day above 
 mentioned, and in order that the occasion might be fitly 
 marked, a large attendance of the Bench and Bar was had and 
 an address by Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, an Associate 
 Judge of the Court, was delivered. 
 
 The Hon. John Innes Clark Hare, LL.D., President of the 
 Court, occupied the chair, and upon the Bench with him, in 
 addition to his associates, Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker and 
 Hon. Mayer Sulzberger, there were present the following 
 Judges : Justices James T. Mitchell and D. Newlin Fell, of the 
 Supreme Court ; Judges James Gay Gordon, and Theodore F. 
 Jenkins, of the Common Pleas ; and Hon. F. Carroll Brewster, 
 of the Old Court of Common Pleas and formerly Attorney- 
 General. There was a large attendance of the Bar. Judge 
 Pennypacker's address was listened to with the greatest atten- 
 tion and pleasure, and with feelings of the liveliest and most 
 
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profound satisfaction. At its conclusion, Judge Hare, in a few 
 remarks, referred to the history of the Hall and to his own 
 long and happy associations with the place, as well as with his 
 colleagues and with the Bar during his judicial career. It was 
 the unanimous sentiment of the members of the Bench and Bar 
 then present, in which it was felt that the entire Bench and 
 Bar of Pennsylvania would most cordially concur, that the 
 learned, instructive and interesting paper of Judge Penny- 
 packer should be preserved, and to that end it was resolved 
 that the thanks of the Bench and Bar should be presented to 
 Judge Pennypacker, and that the address should be printed. 
 
 The thanks of the profession were then tendered to Judge 
 Pennypacker; and the undersigned were appointed a committee 
 to cause the address to be printed. 
 
 Edward Shippen, 
 Samuel Dickson, 
 George Tucker Bispham. 
 
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Address. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Philadelphia Bar : l 
 
 " When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what mean ye 
 by these stones ? Then ye shall answer them." — Joshua, Chap. IV, Verses 6 and 7. 
 
 ' ' Les grands edifices, comme les grands montagnes, son/ 1 ' ouvrage des siicles." — 
 Notre Dame de Paris, by Victor Hugo. 
 
 It is proper and fitting that the Court of Common Pleas 
 No. 2, in finally departing from the building in which its ses- 
 sions have for so longf a time been held, should recall the 
 remarkable associations of the venerable structure. The events 
 of human life are necessarily connected with localities. The 
 career of a man is somewhat influenced by the house in which 
 he was born and the place he calls home, and in the growth and 
 development of nations, such buildings as the Parthenon, the 
 Pyramids, St. Peter's, the Prinzen Hof at Delft, Westminster 
 
 1 In the preparation of this address I have used freely Thompson Westcott's 
 " History of Philadelphia," as printed in the Sunday Dispatch ; John Hill Martin's 
 "Bench and Bar"; Frank M. Etting's " History of Independence Hall," F. D. 
 Stone's edition ; Hon. James T. Mitchell's " Address Upon the District Court," and 
 John William Wallace's "Address Upon the Inauguration of the New Hall of the 
 Historical Society." 
 
 I have been materially aided by Mr. Andrew J. Reilly, Mr. Luther E. Hewitt, 
 Mr. John W. Jordan, Mr. Julius F. Sachse and Mr. F. D. Stone. 
 
Abbey, and Independence Hall, about which important mem- 
 ories cluster, become an inspiration for present action and 
 an incentive for future endeavor. When we search with due 
 diligence we find good in everything and sermons in stones 
 and bricks. 
 
 The idea of the erection of a hall for the use of the county 
 originated with the celebrated lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, to 
 whose efforts we owe also the State House. He, as early as 
 1736, secured the passage of a resolution by the Assembly of 
 Pennsylvania looking to the accomplishment of this purpose. 
 The Act of February 1 7, 1 762, provided for a conveyance to 
 the county of a lot at the southeast corner of Sixth and Chest- 
 nut streets, containing in front on Chestnut Street fifty feet, 
 and in depth along Sixth Street seventy-three feet, on which 
 should be erected within twenty years a building to be used 
 "for the holding of courts" and as a "common hall." The 
 project progressed slowly, and when it was finally carried for- 
 ward to completion, two different funds were used for the 
 purpose. The first of them had a curious origin. It was a 
 time-honored custom among the early mayors of the city to 
 celebrate their escape from the labors and responsibilities of 
 their office by giving a public banquet, to which their constit- 
 uents were generally invited. In 1741, James Hamilton, a son 
 of Andrew Hamilton, and mayor at the time, considering it a 
 custom more honored in the breach than in the observance, 
 gave, in lieu of the entertainment, the sum of one hundred and 
 fifty pounds, to be used in the erection of an exchange or 
 other building for public purposes, and subsequent mayors 
 
 6 
 
followed his example. If our late mayor, when he vacated his 
 office in March last, sent no prandial communication to you, 
 these early qualms of conscience may explain the omission. 
 The other fund was raised in 1785, by the sale of " the old gaol 
 and work-house." On the 29th of March, 1787, fifteen feet 
 were added to the depth of the lot by an Act of the Assembly ; 
 soon afterward work was commenced upon the cellar by gangs 
 of convicts called " wheelbarrowmen," 1 and the building was 
 completed in the early part of 1789, just in time to insure its 
 future fame and importance. On the 4th of March of that 
 year, the Assembly, acting by authority of the representatives 
 of the city and county of Philadelphia, tendered to Congress, 
 for the temporary residence of the Federal Government, the use 
 of the building " lately erected on the State House Square." 
 In the year 1790, Congress, after a long and somewhat embit- 
 tered struggle, finally determined to fix the location of the 
 capital on the banks of the Potomac, and Philadelphia, mainly 
 through the efforts of Robert Morris, and much to the dissatis- 
 faction of the people of New York, was selected as the seat of 
 government for the intervening period of ten years. On the 
 6th of December, 1790, the first Congress, at its third session, 
 met in this building, the House of Representatives on the floor 
 below us, and the Senate in this room. 
 
 In the Columbian Magazine for January, 1790, is a copper- 
 plate representation of the building as it was when completed, 
 taken from the southwest. This view shows five windows in 
 each story of the west wall, two chimneys on the west, a cupola 
 
 1 " Historical Magazine," Vol. X, p. 105. 
 
on top, a brick wall enclosing the square on Sixth Street, and 
 the rear of the building pretty much as it is at present. The 
 text describes it as " a large new building, finished in a neat 
 and elegant style," and the square as " a beautiful lawn, inter- 
 spersed with little knobs or tufts of flowering shrubs and clumps 
 of trees well disposed. Through the middle of the gardens 
 runs a spacious gravel walk, lined with double rows of thriving 
 elms and communicating with serpentine walks which encom- 
 pass the whole area. These surrounding walks are not uni- 
 formly on a level with the lawn, the margin of which being in 
 some parts a little higher forms a bank which, in fine weather, 
 affords pleasant seats." 
 
 From the books of foreign travellers and others we s^et 
 a pretty good description of the internal arrangement and 
 appearance of the building. Isaac Weld, an Englishman, says : 
 
 "The room allotted to the representatives of the lower 
 House is about sixty feet in length and fitted up in the plainest 
 manner. At one end of it is a gallery, open to every person 
 that chooses to enter it ; the staircase leading to which runs 
 directly from the public street. The Senate chamber is in the 
 story above this, and it is furnished and fitted up in a much 
 superior style to that of the lower House." 
 
 The eagle with its thunderbolts, and the centrepiece of 
 grapevine with thirteen stars, still seen in the ceiling, marred 
 by the useless and unornamental glass knobs, scattered over 
 it only a few years ago, is a remnant of that "superior style " 
 in which the Senate chamber was then fitted up. The gallery 
 in the lower room had accommodations for three hundred 
 
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persons. In this room stood a large pyramidal stove. A 
 broad aisle ran through the centre. 
 
 We are told by a contemporary: "The House of Rep- 
 resentatives in session occupied the whole of the ground floor, 
 upon a platform elevated three steps in ascent, plainly carpeted, 
 and covering nearly the whole of the area, with a limited logea 
 or promenade for the members and privileged persons, and 
 four narrow desks between the Sixth Street windows for the 
 stenographers, Lloyd, Gales, Callender and Duane. The 
 Speaker's chair, without canopy, was of plain leather and brass 
 nails, facing the east, at or near the centre of the western wall. 
 The first Speaker of the House in this city was Frederick 
 Augustus Muhlenberg, who, by his portly person and handsome 
 rotundity, literally filled the chair. His rubicund complexion 
 and oval face, hair full powdered, tambored satin vest of ample 
 dimensions, dark blue coat with gilt buttons, and a sonorous 
 voice, exercised by him without effort in putting the question, 
 all corresponding in appearance and sound with his magnificent 
 name, and accompanied as it was by that of George Washing- 
 ton, President, as signatures to the laws of the Union ; all these 
 had an imposing effect upon the inexperienced auditory in the 
 gallery, to whom all was new and very strange. He was 
 succeeded here by Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, a very 
 tall, rawboned figure of a gentleman, with terrific aspect, and, 
 when excited, a voice of thunder. His slender, bony figure 
 filled only the centre of the chair, resting on the arms of it 
 with his hands and not the elbows. From the silence which 
 prevailed, of course, on coming to order after prayers by 
 
Bishop White, an occasional whisper, increasing to a buzz, 
 after the manner of boys in school, in the seats in the lobby and 
 around the fires, swelling at last to loud conversation wholly 
 inimical to debate. Very frequently at this stage of confusion 
 among the babbling politicians, Mr. Speaker Dayton would 
 start suddenly upon his feet, look fiercely around the hall, and 
 utter the words, order, order, without the bar, in such appalling 
 tones of voice that as though a cannon had been fired under 
 the windows in the street, the deepest silence in one moment 
 prevailed, but for a very short time." 
 
 The voice of Muhlenberg seems to have impressed his 
 contemporaries. In " He would be a Poet," a satire upon John 
 Swanwick, published in Philadelphia in 1796, occur these lines: 
 
 " I'll tell them all how great Augustus spoke ; 
 With what an awful voice he called to order 
 Whene'er the gallery did on tumult border." 
 
 In the " House of Wisdom in a Bustle," a satire pub- 
 lished in 1798, we find the following: 
 
 " The clock had just struck ; the doors were extended ; 
 The Priest to his pulpit had gravely ascended. 
 Devoutly he prayed, for devoutly he should 
 Solicit for wicked as well as for good. 
 He prayed for the Gentile, for Turk, and for Jew, 
 And hoped they'd shun folly and wisdom pursue, 
 For all absent members — as some have a notion 
 To dispense with this formal and pious devotion. 
 
This duty performed, without hesitation, 
 
 He left to their wisdom the charge of the nation. 
 
 When the parson retired, some members sat musing, 
 
 Whilst others were letters and papers perusing. 
 
 Some apples were munching ; some laughing and joking : 
 
 Some snuffing, some chewing, but none were a-smoking ; 
 
 Some warming their faces." 
 
 This picture, indicating a lack of decorum in the House, 
 is, perhaps, not overdrawn, since we are informed by another 
 writer that a few of the members "persisted in wearing, while in 
 their seats and during the debate, their ample cocked hats, 
 placed fore and aft upon their heads, with here and there a leg 
 thrown across the little desks before them." 
 
 A happy chance has preserved this further piece of con- 
 temporaneous color. "At the easternmost part of Congress 
 Hall is a bench, on which stands a pitcher of water to cool the 
 throats of the thirsty members." 1 
 
 Henry Wansey, an Englishman, who was here in 1794, 
 says: "Behind it is a garden which is open for company to 
 walk in. It was planned and laid out by Samuel Vaughan, 
 Esq., a merchant of London, who went a few years ago, and 
 resided sometime in Philadelphia. It is particularly convenient 
 to the House of Representatives, which, being on the ground 
 floor, has two doors that open directly into it, to which they can 
 retire to compose their thoughts or refresh themselves after 
 any fatigue of business, or confer together and converse with- 
 out interrupting the debate." 
 
 1 Note to " House of Wisdom in a Bustle." 
 
John Svvanwick, himself a noted member of Congress 
 from Philadelphia, as well as a poet of reputation at the time, 
 in some verses " On a Walk in the State House Yard, June 30, 
 1 787,'" which he seems to have made with his Delia, "to see 
 her smile and hear her gentle talk," describes it as a place 
 where the young people of that day did their courting. He 
 pays a warm tribute to the man who 
 
 " planned this soft retreat 
 And decked with trees and grassy sod the plain," 
 
 in lines which predict 
 
 " Oh ! how much more shall he be crowned by fame 
 Who formed for lovers this auspicious grove ; " 
 
 and while he does not forget that 
 
 "Even now the sages whom the land convenes 
 To fix her empire and prescribe her laws, 
 While pensive wandering through these rural scenes, 
 May frame their counsels for a world's applause," 
 
 he nevertheless thinks it more suited for enraptured swains 
 who twine sportive garlands and reveal their wishes and fears. 
 Brissot de Warville came to Philadelphia in 1788. He was 
 much impressed by our Quaker people, and was on terms of 
 close and intimate friendship with many of them, including 
 Miers Fisher, the noted lawyer. His head, filled with decided 
 opinions concerning philanthropy and the rights of mankind, 
 was cut off by the guillotine in the early days of the French 
 
 1 " Swanwick's Poems," p. 94. 
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Revolution. He describes what we call the square in this 
 way: "Behind the State House is a public garden. It is the 
 only one which exists in Philadelphia. It is not large, but it is 
 agreeable. One can breathe there. There are large squares 
 of green divided by walks." 
 
 Judge Mitchell, in his interesting address upon the District 
 Court, delivered twenty years ago, says: "There was no 
 entrance on Sixth Street, no partition between the present 
 Quarter Sessions room and the room of the Highway Depart- 
 ment, and no stairs at that point leading to the second story. 
 The entrance was on Chestnut Street into a vestibule, thence 
 into a sort of second vestibule or foyer for spectators, and 
 then a large room, occupied during the time the Congress sat 
 here after its completion by the House of Representatives. 
 The staircase to the second story was in the vestibule next to 
 Chestnut Street, and led up to a similar vestibule, from which 
 ran a broad entry southward to the Senate Chamber, which 
 was the present District Court room No. i. The space now 
 occupied by the District Court room No. 2, and the witness 
 rooms, lately the Law Library, was divided into four committee 
 rooms, two on each side of the broad entry I have mentioned. 
 On the north side of the Senate Chamber was a gallery, attain- 
 able only by a steep spiral staircase leading up from what has 
 since been the east or conversation room of the Law Library. 
 This gallery was not a part of the original plan of the building, 
 and was put there after the room was accepted by the Senate. 
 It was very close to the ceiling, narrow, dark and uncomfort- 
 able. After the room came to be used by the courts the 
 
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gallery was commonly kept closed, as I learn from Judge Coxe, 
 because it became a place of resort for the hangers-on, who 
 frequently went to sleep and snored, to the great disturbance 
 of the proceedings. It was finally removed in 1835." 
 
 The late John McAllister used to tell that once, in his boy- 
 hood days, he and another urchin found their way into this 
 gallery and sat down to watch the proceedings of the Senate. 
 He and his friend were the only spectators. Presently Thomas 
 Jefferson arose and announced: "The Senate is about to go 
 into executive session. The gentlemen in the gallery will 
 please withdraw." Whereupon the two boys took their hats 
 and departed, often afterwards saying, that at least they could 
 claim to be gentlemen upon the authority of Jefferson. Those 
 certainly were days of simplicity, when the only listeners that 
 the debates of the Senate of the United States could attract 
 were two errant urchins over whose heads time hung heavily. 
 
 The same contemporary authority we have before cited 
 describes the Senate in this way : " In a very plain chair, without 
 canopy, and a small mahogany table before him, festooned at 
 the sides and front with green silk, Mr. Adams, the vice-presi- 
 dent, presided as president of the Senate, facing the north. 
 Among the thirty senators of that day there was observed con- 
 stantly during the debate the most delightful silence, the most 
 beautiful order, gravity and dignity of manner. They all 
 appeared every morning full powdered and dressed as age or 
 fancy might suggest in the richest material. The very atmos- 
 phere of the place seemed to inspire wisdom, mildness and 
 condescension. Should any one of them so far forget for 
 
a moment as to be the cause of a protracted whisper while 
 another was addressing the vice-president, three gentle taps 
 with his silver pencil case upon the table by Mr. Adams imme- 
 diately restored everything to repose and the most respectful 
 attention." 
 
 If we were to suppose, however, that in that early period 
 of the history of the republic the politicians and statesmen 
 treated each other with gentle and kindly courtesy, awarded to 
 their opponents due measure of credit, and fought out their 
 controversies without heat and wrath, we should be very much 
 mistaken. No unprejudiced person can carefully compare the 
 records they have left to us with those of the present without 
 perceiving that in the course of the century which has elapsed 
 there has been a decided advance both in morals and in 
 manners, and it strengthens our faith in the stability of the 
 government to believe, as we properly may, that future gene- 
 rations will look back with as great pride and satisfaction upon 
 the labors of the earnest and worthy men of to-day as do we 
 upon those of the members of the earliest Congress, admirable 
 as was much of their work and great as was their merit. Wil- 
 liam Maclay, United States Senator from Pennsylvania in the 
 first Congress, kept a journal of the proceedings of the Senate 
 while he sat with them in this room. Upon one occasion 
 General Dickinson came and whispered to him : " This day the 
 treasury will make another purchase, for Hamilton (Alexander) 
 has drawn fifteen thousand dollars from the bank in order to 
 buy." Maclay complacently adds: "What a damnable vil- 
 lain!" At another time he gives expression to this devout 
 
 15 
 
wish : " Would to God this same General Washington were in 
 Heaven." 
 
 Giles, the new member from Virginia, is preserved after 
 this fashion : " The frothy manners of Virginia were ever upper- 
 most. Canvas-back ducks, ham and chickens, old Madeira, the 
 glories of the Ancient Dominion, all fine, were his constant 
 themes. Boasted of personal prowess ; more manual exercise 
 than any man in New England ; fast but fine living in his 
 country, wine or cherry bounce from twelve o'clock to night 
 every day. He seemed to practise on this principle, too, as 
 often as the bottle passed him." 
 
 In 1798 two of the members of the House, both of them 
 from New England, Matthew Lyon, of Vermont, and Roger 
 Griswold, of Connecticut, had a series of rencontres, which 
 caused much commotion and comment, and became the subject 
 of squibs and caricatures, and of at least two satires in verse, 
 "The Legislative Pugilists" and "The House of Wisdom in a 
 Bustle." On the 2 2d of January, while the House was voting 
 for members upon the committee to prosecute the impeachment 
 of Senator Blount, some allusion was made by Griswold to a 
 story that Lyon, during the Revolutionary War, had been com- 
 pelled to wear a wooden sword because of cowardice in the 
 field. Lyon made answer by spitting in his face. A motion 
 was made to expel Griswold, a committee was appointed to 
 investigate, the committee reported a resolution in favor of the 
 expulsion of Lyon, and the House negatived the resolution. 
 On the 15th of February, while Lyon was writing at his desk, 
 Griswold came up and hit him over the head and shoulders with 
 
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a club. Lyon managed to get hold of the tongs in use about 
 the stove, and, defending himself, they beat each other until 
 separated. Some time afterward they met in an ante-room, 
 and Lyon struck Griswold with a stick. Sitgreaves ran, and 
 having found a hickory club, gave it to Griswold, but they were 
 again separated. While the matter led to much discussion, no 
 definite action was taken by the House. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting event in the history of the 
 buildingf was the inauguration of Washington as President of 
 the United States on the 4th of March, 1793. The oath of 
 office was administered to him by Judge Cushing in the room 
 in which we are now sitting. Stansbury, in his " Recollections 
 and Anecdotes of the Presidents of the United States," has 
 given this description of the scene : " I was but a school boy at 
 the time, and had followed one of the many groups of people 
 who, from all quarters, were making their way to the hall in 
 Chestnut Street at the corner of Sixth, where the two Houses 
 of Congress then held their sittings, and where they were that 
 day to be addressed by the President on the opening of his 
 second term of office. Boys can often manage to work their 
 way through a crowd better than men can. At all events, it so 
 happened that I succeeded in reaching the steps of the hall, from 
 which elevation, looking in every direction, I could see nothing 
 but human heads — a vast fluctuating sea, swaying to and fro, 
 and filling every accessible place which commanded even a 
 distant view of the building. They had congregated, not with 
 the hope of getting into the hall, for that was physically impos- 
 sible, but that they might see Washington. Many an anxious 
 2 17 
 
look was cast in the direction from which he was expected to 
 come, till at length, true to the appointed hour (he was the most 
 punctual of men), an agitation was observable on the outskirts 
 of the crowd, which gradually opened and gave space for the 
 approach of an elegant white coach, drawn by six superb white 
 horses, having on its four sides beautiful designs of the four 
 seasons, painted by Cipriani. It slowly made its way till it drew 
 up immediately in front of the hall. The rush was now tremen- 
 dous. But as the coach door opened there issued from it two 
 gentlemen with long white wands, who, with some difficulty, 
 parted the people so as to open a passage from the carriage to 
 the steps on which the fortunate school boy had achieved a 
 footing, and whence the whole proceeding could be distinctly 
 seen. As the person of the President emerged from the carriage 
 a universal shout rent the air, and continued as he deliberately 
 ascended the steps. On reaching the platform he paused, 
 looking back on the carriage, thus affording to the anxiety of 
 the people the indulgence they desired of feasting their eyes 
 upon his person. Never did a more majestic personage present 
 himself to the public gaze. As the President entered all arose 
 and remained standing until he had ascended the steps at the 
 upper end of the chamber and taken his seat in the speaker's 
 chair. It was an impressive moment. Notwithstanding that the 
 spacious apartment, floor, lobby, galleries and all approaches 
 were crowded to their utmost capacity, not a sound was heard. 
 The silence of expectation was unbroken and profound. Every 
 breath was suspended. He was dressed in a full suit of the 
 richest black velvet ; his lower limbs in short clothes and 
 is 
 
diamond knee buckles and black silk stockings. His shoes, 
 which were brightly japanned, were surmounted with large 
 square silver buckles. His hair, carefully displayed in the 
 manner of the day, was richly powdered and gathered behind 
 into a black silk bag, on which was a bow of black ribbon. In 
 his hand he carried a plain cocked hat, decorated with the 
 American cockade. He wore by his side a light, slender dress 
 sword, in a green shagreen scabbard, with a richly ornamented 
 hilt. His gait was deliberate, his manner solemn but sell-pos- 
 sessed, and he presented altogether the most august human 
 figure I had then or have since beheld. 
 
 "At the head of the Senate stood Thomas Jefferson in a 
 blue coat — single breasted, with large, bright basket buttons — 
 his vest and small clothes of crimson. I remember being struck 
 by his animated countenance of a brick-red hue, his bright eye 
 and foxy hair, as well as by his tall, gaunt, ungainly form and 
 square shoulders. A perfect contrast was presented by the 
 pale, reflective face and delicate figure of James Madison, and, 
 above all, by the short, burly, bustling form of General Knox, 
 with ruddy cheek, prominent eye, and still more prominent 
 proportions of another kind. In the semi-circle which was 
 formed behind the chair, and on either hand of the President, 
 my boyish gaze was attracted by the splendid attire of the 
 Chevalier D'Yrujo, the Spanish embassador, then the only 
 foreign minister near our infant government. His glittering 
 star, his silk chapeau bras, edged with ostrich feathers, his 
 foreign air and courtly bearing, contrasted strangely with 
 those nobility of nature's forming who stood around him. It 
 
 19 
 
was a very fair representation of the old world and the new. 
 Having retained his seat for a few moments, while the members 
 resumed their seats, the President rose and, taking from his 
 breast a roll of manuscript, proceeded to read his address. 
 His voice was full and sonorous, deep and rich in its tones, 
 free from that trumpet ring which it could assume amid the 
 tumult of battle (and which is said to have been distinctly 
 heard above its roar), but sufficiently loud and clear to fill the 
 chamber and be heard with perfect ease in its most remote 
 recesses. He read, as he did everything else, with a singular 
 serenity and composure, with manly ease and dignity, but 
 without the smallest attempt at display. Having concluded, 
 he laid the manuscript upon the table before him, and re- 
 sumed his seat, when, after a slight pause, he rose and with- 
 drew, the members rising and remaining on their feet until he 
 left the chamber." 
 
 This graphic and somewhat highly wrought narrative is 
 certainly entertaining and interesting, but there are some fea- 
 tures about it which suggest the query as to whether or not it 
 is entirely trustworthy. 
 
 The celebrated William Cobbett, one of the great masters 
 of the English language and later a member of Parliament, was 
 present upon all but five days of the session of 1795-6. " Most 
 of the members will without doubt," he says, " recollect seeing 
 a little dark man, clad in a grey coat something the worse for 
 wear, sitting in the west corner of the front seat. That has 
 been my post." On the 8th of December, 1795, Washing- 
 ton came before the Senate and House assembled in the hall 
 
of the House, to present his message concerning Jay's treaty 
 with England. He found Congress in a state of "composed 
 gravity" and "respectful silence," and the gallery "crowded 
 with anxious spectators." Cobbett then proceeds : 
 
 "The President is a timid speaker. He is a proof among 
 thousands that superior genius, wisdom and courage are ever 
 accompanied with excessive modesty. His situation was at this 
 time almost entirely new. Never till a few months preceding 
 this session had the tongue of the most factious slander dared 
 to make a public attack on his character. This was the first 
 time he had ever entered the walls of Congress without a full 
 assurance of meeting a welcome from every heart. He now 
 saw even among those to whom he addressed himself numbers 
 who to repay all his labors, all his anxious cares for their 
 welfare, were ready to thwart his measures and present him 
 the cup of humiliation filled to the brim. When he came to 
 that part of his speech where he mentions the treaty with his 
 Britannic majesty he cast his eyes toward the gallery. It was 
 not the look of indignation and reproach, but of injured 
 virtue which is ever ready to forgive. I was pleased to 
 observe that not a single murmur of disapprobation was heard 
 from the spectators that surrounded me ; and if there were 
 some amongst them who had assisted at the turbulent town 
 meetings I am persuaded that they were sincerely penitent. 
 When he departed every look seemed to say : God prolong 
 his precious life." 
 
 John Adams, the second President of the United States, 
 was inaugurated here on the 4th of March, 1 797. As Adams 
 
and Jefferson entered, they were each applauded by their 
 respective party followers. Adams took his seat in the chair 
 of the speaker ; Jefferson, Washington, and the secretary of the 
 Senate were upon his left hand, and the Chief Justice and 
 Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States 
 at a table in the centre. General James Wilkinson, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army, all of the officers of State and 
 foreign ministers were present. Adams made a short speech, 
 and then, going down to the table at which the judges were 
 sitting, took the oath of office administered to him by the Chief 
 Justice, Oliver Ellsworth. After his withdrawal, Jefferson was 
 sworn into office as Vice-President. John McKoy, who was 
 present, wrote a description of the scene for Poulson's Daily 
 Advertiser. He says : " The first novelty that presented itself 
 was the entrance of the Spanish minister, the Marquis Yrujo, in 
 full diplomatic costume. He was of middle size, of round per- 
 son, florid complexion, and hair powdered like a snowball ; dark 
 striped silk coat, lined with satin ; white waistcoat, black silk 
 breeches, white silk stockings, shoes and buckles. He had by 
 his side an elegant hilted small sword, and his chapeau, tipped 
 with white feathers, under his arm. Thus decorated, he crossed 
 the floor of the hall with the most easy nonchalance possible 
 and an occasional side toss of the head (to him habitual) 
 to his appointed place. He was viewed by the audience for 
 a short time in curious silence. He had scarcely adjusted him- 
 self to his chair, when the attention of the audience was roused 
 by the word 'Washington,' near the door of the entrance. 
 The word flew like lightning through the assembly, and the 
 
subsequent varied shouts of enthusiasm produced immediately 
 such a sound as 
 
 'When loud surges lash the sounding shore.' 
 
 It was an unexpected and instantaneous expression of simulta- 
 neous feeling which made the hall tremble. Occasionally the 
 word 'Washington,' 'Washington,' might be heard like the guns 
 in a storm. He entered in the midst and crossed the floor at a 
 quick step, as if eager to escape notice, and seated himself quickly 
 on his chair, near the Marquis Yrujo, who rose up at his entrance 
 as if startled by the uncommon scene. He was dressed similar 
 to all the full length portraits of him — hair full powdered, with 
 black silk rose and bag pendant behind as then was usual for 
 elderly gentlemen of the old school. But on those portraits one 
 who had never seen Washington might look in vain for that 
 benign expression of countenance possessed by him and only 
 sufficiently perceptible in the lithographic bust of Rembrandt 
 Peale, to cause a feeling, as Judge Peters, in his certificate to 
 the painter, expresses it. The burst at the entrance had not 
 subsided, when the word 'Jefferson,' at the entrance door, again 
 electrified the audience into another explosion of feeling similar 
 to the first, but abated in force and energy. He entered, dressed 
 in a long, blue frock coat, single breasted, and buttoned down 
 to the waist ; light sandy hair, very slightly powdered and cued 
 with black ribbon a long way down his back ; tall, of benign 
 aspect and straight as an arrow, he bent not, but with an erect 
 gait moved leisurely to his seat near Washington and sat down. 
 Silence again ensued. Presently an increased bustle near the 
 
 23 
 
door of the entrance, and the words ' President,' ' President 
 Adams,' again produced an explosion of feeling similar to 
 those that had preceded, but again diminished by repetition 
 in its force and energy. He was dressed in a suit of light 
 drab cloth, his hair well powdered, with rose and bag like 
 those of Washington. He passed slowly on, bowing on each 
 side, till he reached the speaker's chair, on which he sat down. 
 Again a deep silence prevailed, in the midst of which he rose, 
 and bowing round to the audience three times, varying his posi- 
 tion each time, he then read his inaugural address, in the course 
 of which he alluded to, and at the same time bowed to, his 
 predecessor, which was returned from Washington, who, with 
 the members of Congress, were all standing. When he had 
 finished, he sat down. After a short pause, he rose up and, bow- 
 ing round as before, he descended from the chair and passed 
 out with acclamation. Washington and Jefferson remained 
 standing together, and the bulk of the audience watching their 
 movements in cautious silence. Presently, with a graceful 
 motion of the hand, Washington invited the Vice-President, 
 Jefferson, to pass on before him, which was declined by Mr. 
 Jefferson. After a pause, an invitation to proceed was repeated 
 by Washington, when the Vice-President passed on towards the 
 door and Washington after him." 
 
 Among the spectators of this interesting scene was Rem- 
 brandt Peale, the artist, who had a seat in the gallery. Mrs. 
 Susan R. Echard, who in 1859 was still living in Philadelphia at 
 the age of eighty-three years, and who was present, wrote a 
 contemporary letter to a kinsman in which she said: "When 
 
 24 
 
FROM PHOTOGRAPH OF 1855. 
 
General Washington delivered his Farewell Address, in the 
 room at the southeast corner of Chestnut and Sixth streets, I 
 sat immediately in front of him. It was in the room Congress 
 occupied. The table of the speaker was between the two 
 windows on Sixth Street. The daughter of Dr. C.(Craik), of 
 Alexandria, the physician and intimate friend of Washington, 
 Mrs. H. (Harrison), whose husband was the auditor, was a 
 very dear friend of mine. Her brother Washington was one 
 of the secretaries of General Washington. Young Dandridge, 
 a nephew of Mrs. Washington, was the other. I was included 
 in Mrs. H.'s party to witness the august, the solemn scene. 
 Mr. H. declined going with Mrs. H., as she had determined to 
 go early, so as to secure the front bench. It was fortunate for 
 Miss C. (Custis), (afterward Mrs. L. (Lewis), that she could 
 not trust herself to be so near her honored grandfather. My 
 dear father stood very near her. She was terribly agitated. 
 There was a narrow passage from the door of entrance to the 
 room, which was on the east, dividing the rows of benches. 
 General Washington stopped at the end to let Mr. Adams pass 
 to the chair. The latter always wore a full suit of bright drab, 
 with lash or loose cuffs to his coat. He always wore wrist 
 ruffles. He had not changed his fashions. He was a short 
 man, with a good head. With his family he attended our 
 church twice a day. General Washington's dress was a full 
 suit of black. His military hat had the black cockade. There 
 stood the " Father of his Country," acknowledged by nations 
 the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of 
 his countrymen. No marshals with gold-colored scarfs attended 
 
 25 
 
him ; there was no cheering, no noise; the most profound silence 
 greeted him, as if the great assembly desired to hear him 
 breathe, and catch his breath in homage of their hearts. Mr. 
 Adams covered his face with both his hands; the sleeves of 
 his coat, and his hands were covered with tears. Every now 
 and then there was a suppressed sob. I cannot describe Wash- 
 ington's appearance as I felt it — perfectly composed and self- 
 possessed till the close of his address — then, when strong 
 nervous sobs broke loose, when tears covered the faces, then 
 the great man was shaken. I never took my eyes from his 
 face. Large drops came from his eyes. He looked to the 
 youthful children who were parting with their father, their 
 friend, as if his heart was with them, and would be to the end." 1 
 While Congress held its sessions in this building, the 
 United States Mint and the United States Bank were estab- 
 lished ; Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee were admitted into 
 the Union ; the army and navy were organized upon a perma- 
 nent basis ; Jay's treaty, determining our relations with Eng- 
 land, resulting in much difference of opinion, was considered 
 and ratified ; the whiskey insurrection was suppressed ; the 
 wars with the Indians, conducted successively by Harmar, St. 
 Clair and Wayne — all of them Pennsylvanians — were fought, 
 and, in the ably managed campaign of Wayne, the power of 
 the hostile tribes was finally broken, and the West won for 
 civilization ; and the brief war with France, reflecting much 
 credit upon our youthful navy and upon Commodore Thomas 
 Truxton, afterward Sheriff of Philadelphia County, was cour- 
 
 1 G. W. P. Custis's " Recollections of Washington," p. 434. 
 26 
 
ageously undertaken and maintained. Here, too, was officially 
 announced the death of Washington, when John Marshall offered 
 a resolution " that a committee, in conjunction with one from 
 the Senate, be appointed to consider on the most suitable 
 manner of paying honor to the memory of the man first in war, 
 first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen," thus 
 originating an expressive phrase destined in America never 
 to be forgfotten. Congress sat here ior the last time on the 
 14th day of May, 1800. The last act of the Senate in this 
 building was to request the President to instruct the Attorney- 
 General to prosecute William Duane, editor of the Aurora, 
 for a defamatory libel. Then, after the passage of a reso- 
 lution extending its thanks to " the commissioners of the city 
 and county of Philadelphia for the convenient and elegant 
 accommodations furnished by them for the use of the Senate 
 during the residence of the national government in the city," 
 that august body adjourned to meet thereafter in the city of 
 Washington, and the eclat incident to the location of the capital 
 of the country departed from Philadelphia forever. 
 
 At a later period a committee of Congress recommended 
 the appropriation of a sum of one hundred thousand dollars 
 as compensation by the Government for the use of these 
 buildings, but nothing came of the proposition, and this city 
 has the satisfaction of knowing that among its many patriotic 
 services is the fact that without return of any kind, it furnished 
 during ten years an abiding place to the homeless nation. 1 
 
 1 Broadhead's "Location of the National Capital," Magazine of American 
 History, January, 1884. 
 
 27 
 
The subsequent history of the building is less eventful, 
 and, though covering a period when it would seem that the 
 facts ought to be accessible, is in reality much more obscure. 
 A plan in a volume entitled "Philadelphia in 1824," shows 
 that at that time the north room of the lower floor was occu- 
 pied by the District Court, the south room by the Common 
 Pleas, the north room of the upper floor by the Supreme Court 
 of Pennsylvania, the south room by the Circuit Court of the 
 United States, and that between these two rooms on the 
 upper floor on the west was the Law Library, and on the east 
 the Controllers of Public Schools. Definitely when these courts 
 began their sessions here neither Judge Mitchell, nor Thompson 
 Westcott who made a thorough search of the newspapers and 
 most other sources of contemporary information, was able to 
 ascertain. Some further light can now, however, be given. 
 In the printed report of the trial, in 1809, of General Michael 
 Bright, before Judges Bushrod Washington and Richard Peters, 
 in the Circuit Court of the United States, an important case 
 which involved a question of jurisdiction between the State of 
 Pennsylvania and the United States Government, and whose 
 events of a very warlike nature caused the house at the north- 
 west corner of Seventh and Arch streets to be known as Fort 
 Rittenhouse, upon page 201, there appears an affidavit of 
 Thomas Passmore, an auctioneer of the city. He deposed 
 "that, on Sunday last, the 30th of April, ultimo, between five 
 and six o'clock in the afternoon, as he was standing near the 
 door of the County Court House, at the corner of Sixth and 
 Chestnut streets, he heard some voices calling from the balcony 
 
 28 
 
30 
 
 o 
 
 ■v 
 
 I 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 O 
 
 33 
 > 
 
 •o 
 
 I 
 
of the Court House, ' Corless, that's wrong.' Upon looking 
 round this deponent saw Matthias Corless, who this deponent 
 understood was one of the jurors in the case of the United 
 States against Bright and others, passing from the said Court 
 House across the street towards the Shakespere Hotel, a 
 tavern situate at the northwest corner of Sixth and Chestnut 
 streets." That court was therefore sitting here in 1809. The 
 directory for 1809 says that the Orphans' Court then sat "on 
 the third Friday of every month at the County Court House." 
 The jurisdiction of the Orphans' Court was at that time ex- 
 ercised by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas, who were 
 also the judges of the Courts of Oyer and Terminer and of the 
 Quarter Sessions. It is probable, therefore, that the United 
 States Courts and the Common Pleas, with its accessories, 
 commenced their sessions here soon after the building was 
 surrendered by the Congress, and presumably the Common 
 Pleas continued to hold its sessions in the building until the 
 number of criminal cases became so great as to require con- 
 tinuous sessions of the criminal courts. The United States 
 Courts remained until September 15, 1826. According to 
 Westcott, the District Court began to hold its sessions here in 
 1818, and it continued to sit here until its final dissolution on 
 the 4th of January, 1875. The following list of the judges of 
 that court while in this building is taken from Martin's " Bench 
 and Bar " : 
 
 29 
 
PRESIDENT JUDGES. 
 
 Joseph Hemphill, May 6, 1811. 
 
 Joseph Borden McKean, October 1, 1818. 
 
 Jared Ingersoll, March 19, 182 1. 
 
 Moses Levy, December 18, 1822. 
 
 Joseph Borden McKean, March 21, 1825. 
 
 Joseph Barnes, October 24, 1826. 
 
 Thomas McKean Pettit, April 22, 1835. 
 
 Joel Jones, April 8, 1845. 
 
 George Sharswood, February 1, 1848. 
 
 John Innes Clark Hare, December 1, 1867. 
 
 ASSOCIATE JUDGES. 
 
 Anthony Simmons, May 6, 181 1. 
 Jacob Summer, June 3, 181 1. 
 Thomas Sergeant, October 20, 18 14. 
 Joseph Borden McKean, March 27, 18 14. 
 Joseph Barnes, October 1, 1818. 
 Joseph Borden McKean, March 17, 1821. 
 Benjamin Rawle Morgan, March 29, 1821. 
 John Hallovvell, March 27, 1825. 
 Charles Sidney Coxe, October 24, 1826. 
 Thomas McKean Pettit, February 16, 1833. 
 George McDowell Stroud, March 30, 1835. 
 Joel Jones, April 22, 1835. 
 John King Findlay, February 5, 1848. 
 John Innes Clark Hare, December 1, 1851. 
 Martin Russell Thayer, December 1, 1867. 
 Thomas Greenbank, December 7, 1868. 
 Martin Russell Thayer, March 27, 1869. 
 James Lynd, December 5, 1870. 
 James Tyndale Mitchell, December 4, 1871. 
 Amos Briggs, March 25, 1872. 
 
 3° 
 
Upon the abolition of the District Court and the reorgani- 
 zation of the Courts of Common Pleas, the south room of the 
 upper story C and the north room D were assigned to the 
 Court of Common Pleas No. 2, and have been occupied by that 
 court until to-day. The judges of No. 2 who have sat here 
 have been : 
 
 PRESIDENT JUDGE. 
 John Innes Clark Hare, January 4, 1875. 
 
 ASSOCIATE JUDGES. 
 James Tyndale Mitchell, January 4, 1S75. 
 Joseph T. Pratt, January 4, 1875. 
 David Newlin Fell, May 3, 1877. 
 Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, January 9, 1889. 
 Theodore Finley Jenkins, January 1, 1894. 
 Mayer Sulzberger, January 1, 1895. 
 
 Three of the judges have gone from this building to the 
 Supreme Court of Pennsylvania — George Sharswood, James 
 Tyndale Mitchell and David Newlin Fell — and perhaps no 
 living American is more widely respected among men of the 
 English-speaking races for his learning and attainments as a 
 jurist than the president judge of this court. The south room 
 of the lower floor was used by the Court of Oyer and Ter- 
 miner until the erection of the brick building on Sixth Street 
 below Chestnut, in 1867, as I am informed by Judge F. Carroll 
 Brewster ; and among- the famous murder cases tried here 
 were those of Richard Smith, Arthur Spring, Charles Lang- 
 feldt, and that most ferocious of Philadelphia murderers, Anton 
 Probst. The Court of Quarter Sessions continued to hold its 
 
 3" 
 
sessions in that room until its removal to the City Hall, at 
 Broad and Market streets, July 31, 1891. From that time 
 until the present, it has been used for jury trials by Judges 
 Craig Biddle and Francois Amedee Bregy, of the Court of 
 Common Pleas No. 1 . For many years the Law Academy of 
 Philadelphia held its moot court in room D. 
 
 The Law Association had its meetings and kept its library 
 upon the upper floor from 181 9 till 1872, and on October 28, 
 1 841, made a circular announcement that "Gentlemen who 
 wish to converse will be pleased to withdraw to the conver- 
 sation room on the east side of the hall." 
 
 The north room of the first floor has been the office of the 
 Prothonotary of the Courts of Common Pleas, Colonel William 
 B. Mann, since January, 1879. Before that date it was occu- 
 pied as the Tax Office, and at a still earlier time by the High- 
 way Department. 
 
 The venerable building has not been without its vicissi- 
 tudes. On the 26th of December, 1821, a fire, caused by a 
 defective flue, burned the northern part of the roof and injured 
 the cupola, but the activity of the firemen preserved it from 
 destruction. During a conflagration at Hart's building in De- 
 cember, 1 85 1, it caught fire several times and was in the 
 greatest danger, but was again happily saved. At one time 
 legislation was proposed and passed by one of the Houses at 
 Harrisburg to tear down the State House and other buildings 
 and sell the ground for what it would bring at auction. The 
 Act of August, 5, 1870, providing for the appointment of a 
 building commission, directed that this hall should be removed, 
 
 32 
 
but, fortunately, that part of the Act has never been carried 
 into effect, and was repealed at the last session of the Legisla- 
 ture. Nor has it been without a suggestion of tragedy. Upon 
 the morning of December 1 1, 1866, Judge F. Carroll Brewster, 
 though holding the Court of Common Pleas, sat temporarily in 
 room D to hear an application for the appointment of a receiver 
 in a case of Vankirk vs. Page. As he leaned forward to talk to 
 an officer an iron ventilator weighing seventy pounds fell from 
 the ceiling and crushed the back and legs of his chair. 1 
 
 On the 1 6th of February, 1893, the case of Lukens vs. The 
 City, which had been on trial in room D for four days, was 
 given to the jury shortly after 3 o'clock in the afternoon. As 
 the judge left the court-room, the plaintiff asked him whether 
 he would not wait and take the verdict. After a momentary 
 consideration, he declined, saying it could be sealed and 
 brought into the court the next morning. A short time after- 
 ward, a mass of plaster and lath, eight inches in thickness and 
 weighing hundreds of pounds, fell upon the bench and chair, 
 crushing the bench to the floor, and so filling the room with 
 debris that for some days the court was held in the lower story. 
 The danger to the judges had no effect to deter a ribald wit of 
 the Bar from suggesting, " Fiat justitia, ruat ceiling" 
 
 The hour for departure has arrived. There is a French 
 proverb which runs, that the man who wears silk stockings is 
 careful about stepping into the mud. It has been the good 
 fortune of the Court of Common Pleas No. 2 hitherto to con- 
 duct its proceedings amid surroundings and influences calculated 
 
 1 The Press, December 12, 1866. 
 3 M 
 
to be helpful in aiding it to maintain a high standard of recti- 
 tude and professional effort. In this place those measures were 
 taken which established the government of the United States 
 upon a firm basis, and started it upon its wonderful career of 
 development and prosperity. Here for the greater part of a 
 century the rights of personal liberty of the citizens of Philadel- 
 phia were decided, and their rights of property, since the judg- 
 ments of the District Court were for the most part final, were 
 determined. The tread of Washington and Adams and Jeffer- 
 son had scarcely ceased to resound amid these walls, before 
 they began to hearken to the learning of McKean and Shars- 
 wood and Hare. The eloquence of Stockton and Morris, of 
 Marshall and Boudinot, strenuous and urgent about matters of 
 state and finance, died away into the past only to give place to 
 the eloquence of Binney, and Meredith, and McCall, and 
 Cuyler, 1 and Brewster, and Sheppard, striving for the solution 
 of abstruse and intricate legal problems, and that of Reed, and 
 Brown, and Mann, and Cassidy, contending over questions of 
 life and death. And it is to be hoped that the end is not yet. 
 We depart with an assured faith that the people of this efficient 
 and forceful community, possessing as they do the sacred fanes 
 of America, and mindful as they are of the importance and value 
 of such possession, will see to it that this building is retained un- 
 changed for the future generations of citizens, and that its hal- 
 lowed memories are carefully preserved and proudly cherished. 
 
 1 An eminent Philadelphia lawyer says of Mr. Cuyler that he possessed the 
 highest qualifications of an advocate, and that " he could persuade a jury to find a 
 verdict against the evidence, and the Supreme Court to render a decision contrary to 
 the law." 
 
 34 
 
LIBRRRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 314 833 6