d dc *S - d Id' d d' • - d dj - : d] • di d^ ■ d ca d d > d: dc c c «*<£.< < < < c C C < <. c < < o C C c c c o . c c cr < « * : c c <&■ CJ-5 C C C <*3C5y <«*«- *^ c ^ «7 -■ CT ««:<3';. «: [ c c •«_ < c c: c c • ■■<- = CCI ^gl CTC IcCI^KLCC _ < \ y , I A«7rfr- Committee. Richard K. Beits, July 20, 1874, the Committee reported that two of their number, Walter Allison and Richard K. Betts, proceeded to Washington and presented the Memorial to the President and to Congress as directed. CARPENTERS' HALL. 7 Walter xAllison offered the following : Whereas, The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia did present a Memorial to the Congress of the United States, inviting that body to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the meeting of Congress in this Hall on the 5th day of September, 1874, and Whereas, The Congress of the United States have not deemed it expedient to celebrate that event as a national one ; therefore, be it Resolved, That in order to celebrate so important an event in our nation's history, a committee of three be appointed, whose duty it shall be to have an oration delivered in this hall, and any other ceremonies appro- priate to the occasion ;. When, on motion, the pre- amble and resolution were unanimously adopted, and the following committee appointed: John M. Ogden, Walter Allison, Richard K. Beits. The Committee extended a timely and cordial invi- tation to the President of the United States and his Cabinet, the Vice-President, and to both Houses of Congress, the Chief-Justice, the Governors of the States, and other distinguished officials and private citizens. Amongst those present were Hon. Henry Wilson, Vice-President, U. S., " Jos. R. Hawley, M. C. and President of U. S. Centennial Commission, 8 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN. Hon. Wm. D. Kelley, M. C, Leonard Myers, " Saml. J. Randall, " Charles O'Neill, " Eli K. Price, James J. Barclay, Daniel M. Fox, Joseph Allison, Wm. S. Peirce, Jas. Lynd, Joseph R. Chandler, Ex-Minister to Italy, James H. Campbell, Ex-Minister to Sweden, Henry C. Carey, Alex. McClure, Gen. Robert Patterson, Maj. John O. James, Capt. George A. Smith, Hon. Thomas Cochran, J Centennial " John Wanamaker, j Board of Finance, " Fredk. Fraley, Secretary Centennial Board of Finance, J. L. Atlee, Lancaster, Leonard H. Davis, Esq., New Jersey. The assemblage was then called to order by. John M. Ogden, chairman of the Committee of Arrange- ments. He nominated for President John Welsh, Esq. On motion of Mr. Walter Allison, Charles S. Ogden, Esq., was then chosen Secretary. Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Davies, Rector of St. Peter's Church, then delivered the following CARPENTERS' HALL. PRAYER. O God, who art the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Almighty Ruler of Nations, who as at this time didst inspire and direct the hearts of our fathers to lay the perpetual founda- tions of peace, liberty and safety, we adore and mag- nify Thy glorious name for all the great things which Thou hast done for us. The Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers ; let Him not leave us nor forsake us. We render Thee thanks for the goodly heritage which Thou hast given us ; for the civil and religious privileges which we enjoy, and for the multiplied manifestations of Thy favor. Grant that we may show forth our thankfulness for these Thy mercies, by living in reverence of Thy Almighty power and dominion, in humble reliance on Thy good- ness, and in holy obedience to Thy laws. Preserve, we beseech Thee, to our country the blessings of peace, and secure them to all the people of the earth. We implore Thy blessing on all in authority over us, that they may have grace and wisdom so to discharge their duties as most effectually to promote Thy glory, the interests of true religion and virtue, and the peace, good order and welfare of our nation. Shed the quick- ening influences of Thy Holy Spirit on all the peo- ple of this land. Save us from the guilt of abusing our blessings, lest we provoke Thee in just judgment to visit our offences with a rod and our sins with scourges. And while Thy unmerited goodness, O God of all salvation, leads us to repentance, may we IO ORATION OF HENRY ARMITT DROWN. offer ourselves, our souls and bodies, a living sacrifice to Thee, who hast preserved and redeemed us, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath taught us to pray unto thee, O Almighty Father, in His prevailing name and words. [The reverend gentleman then closed with the Lord's Prayer and Benediction.] The Secretary, addressing the Chairman, said that he had been requested by Messrs. Wallace & Keller to present to him in their behalf the gavel which he then handed to him, accompanied with authenticated evidences that it was made from wood used in the construction of Independence Hall, with the assurance that it gave to him great pleasure to be the medium of this presentation. The Chairman, on receiving it, thanked the Secretary, and begged him to ex- press to Messrs. Wallace & Keller his grateful acknow- ledgment for so valuable a token of their kindness, for the presentation of which they had chosen so fitting a moment as this — the centennial of the first meeting of that Congress whose great work had culminated on the 4$i of July, 1776, in the Declaration of Independ- ence in Independence Hall. Having been born under the shadow of the spire of that venerable building, and having often in his cradle been lulled to sleep by the sound of that bell which proclaimed liberty through- out the land, he felt that he could, on looking back through a life now well advanced in years, sfi.y that he had ever been true to the principles of which they were the symbols ; and should it be in the future — which God forbid ! — that he should ever be tempted to waver in his allegiance to them, he trusted that this CARPENTERS' HALL. II relic (the gavel which he then uplifted), connected so closely with the scenes among which and by which our nation was brought into being, would so strengthen him as to keep him true both to his country and to himself. The Secretary then read: Philadelphia, September 4, 1874. To the President and Managers of the Carpenters' Company of PhiladclpJiia. Gentlemen : A few years since I became possessed of the original portrait, painted by C. W. Peale, of the Hon. Peyton Randolph, the first President of the First Continental Congress. I purchased it, intending that it should be preserved for our city and country on the occasion of the Celebration of the Centennial of the Declaration of Independence. To-morrow will be the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Meeting of the first Congress of the people of the original States, over which Mr. Randolph so ably presided. I observe that your Company propose to com- memorate the Centennial of the first Meeting of the First Continental Congress with appropriate ceremo- nies, and I can conceive of no memento that will be more suggestive of the great events that have fol- lowed the formation of that Congress, than the orig- inal portrait of the distinguished patriot and statesman who presided over their deliberations. Being in full sympathy with the purposes of your Company and the spirit of your proposed celebration, I take pleasure in presenting to you the portrait, to be 12 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN. placed among the archives of your Company. With sentiments of respect, I am Very truly yours, E. C. Knight. Also the following note from Mr. John A. McAllis- ter: " It gives me great pleasure to loan to the ' Carpen- ters' Society,' for its ' Centennial,' a portrait of the Rev. Jacob Duche, D. D., Chaplain to the ' Conti- nental Congress.' This portrait was drawn in chalk by the doctor's brother-in-law, Francis Hopkinson (one of the signers), about the year 1770. The late Mrs. Hall, to whom this portrait belonged before it came into my possession, told me that she was a friend and frequent visitor of Parson Duche, and that she considered this the best likeness she had ever seen." Colonel Frank M. Etting, of the Museum depart- ment, Independence Hall, presented a fac-si7nile of the signatures of Congress of 1774 to the first con- vention of Union of the Colonies for presentation. The signatures were made in the Carpenters' Hall by every delegate then representing the twelve United Colonies. Mr. Welsh, President of the meeting, then said: Gentlemen : Official engagements having prevented his Excellency, the Governor of the Commonwealth, from presiding on this interesting occasion, that duty has been assigned to me. The honor thus conferred is most grateful to me. The Carpenters' Company of CARPENTERS' HALL. \$ the City and County of Philadelphia has sustained a most useful and a most enviable position among the numerous associations which form an essential part of the strength of our great and growing city. Its origin dates as far back as 1724, only forty-two years after William Penn first landed on the shore of the river Delaware. Composed of men engaged in a most useful occupation ; designed to cultivate and uphold among themselves the highest standard of excellence in their art and in their personal characters ; em- bracing in their purpose that most excellent gift of charity which feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and makes at one the differences which rise among men, — this venerable Company stands to-day, as it has stood through one hundred and fifty years, in un- diminished vigor, ever growing in strength and useful- ness with its increasing years. Outside of their organization most, if not all, of its members hold a most important relation to our community. Beyond the practical part they take in the pursuit of their calling, there are no classes of men amongst us who labor more earnestly for the public good. Several of those here to-day enjoy the sincerest respect and regard of their fellow-citizens because of their un- selfish devotion in the relief of human suffering and to the elevation of the degraded among their fellow- men. Many of its members have, by their judicious enterprise, contributed largely to the material inter- ests of our city, and to their intelligence as a craft we owe the superiority which the private dwellings of Philadelphia possess in convenience and comfort, in H ORATION OF HENRY ARMITT BR OWN. addition to their substantial qualities, over those of most other cities. Of their part in the improvement in our styles of architecture honorable mention should be made, for the purpose of obtaining instruction in the science of architecture is one of the objects named in their act of incorporation ; and in the main our architects are but evolutions from carpenters who have worked at the bench. The practical is the best foun- dation on which to rest an aesthetic superstructure. Nor have the men who, in the long line of succession, have composed this company ever lacked sympathy with the advancing sentiment of the country. In patriotic feeling their hearts have always beat in uni- son with the most ardent advocates of liberty. The occasion of our meeting to-day bears the strongest possible testimony on that point. It was in this vener- able Hall — venerable alike for its age and its honors — that the First Congress assembled. Here, where we now are, that memorable meeting took place, on this clay one hundred years ago. Well might we pause and try to recall that scene, but the attempt to do it is not for me. One mightier far than I am for such a purpose will follow me, and the sketch, with all its circumstances, the actors in it and its consequences, shall be given you by his graphic pencil. Let me, however, ask of you to look for a single moment through the vista of the many intervening years upon the dark background which closes it — dark with the clouds of impending perils, of doubts and fears, of sac- rifices and of sufferings, with here and there upon these clouds slight fissures of gilded light, foreshadow- V/y-.A'.V' HALL. t'5 ing feebly the lofty aims and firm resolves of our fore- fathers, which, like the faint gleams of hope and smouldering sparks of future glory nourished within their bosoms, led them forward ; and tell me whether, in bringing back your vision to the present, the grand- eur of our possessions does not startle you with alarm at your own insensibility as to their extent, anil with the weight of the responsibility resting on you for, the proper use of the material wealth and the civil and religious privileges in which our country literally revels — the fruits of the seed planted under such bitter adversity ? Is not this a thought worthy of our consideration? Is it not the thought which for years past has been making itself a home in the hearts of many of our people, taking them back into the past, and filling them with apprehension for the future, lest, losing sight of the true elements of our strength, our pros- perity should become our weakness? This may well cause us to look toward 1876 with longings for a re- union, that we may study anew the principles of our nstitutions, and honor those who established them here on the very spot rendered classic by the scenes incident to the mighty transformation wrought in 1776, by which thirteen colonies, subject to the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, became an independent nation, based on the principle of self-government, known ever since as " the United States of America," and now respected as one among the great powers of the earth. It is that longing hope, common, as I be- lieve, to every one who claims our flag as his pro-ted t6 ORATION OF HENRY ARMlTT BROWN tion, which has been crystallized into a reality by Con- gress in the act of 3d March, 1871. That act created a commission, drawn from every State and Territory, to make suitable provision for a Centennial Celebra- tion in the city of Philadelphia in 1876, one of the principal features of which shall be an International Exhibition of the arts and manufactures of other na- tions, in contrast with those of our own production ; and beyond this, by every suitable means, to recall the events and the actors in those interesting scenes which radiate from that great central light — the Declaration of Independence, the memories of which have become too faint in the minds of the great mass of our peo- ple. When we look with pride on the progress we have made in a century; when we count the many millions which now people our great cities and broad plains ; bring in array the fields covered with cotton and the golden grain ; hear the busy sound of ma- chinery reverberating from hill to valley, mingling with the bleating and lowing of flocks and herds innumer- able ; descend beneath the surface, where thousands toil for the rich rewards of mineral wealth ; look upon the trains traversing seventy thousand miles of rail- road within our borders, extending from ocean to ocean, and making almost every hamlet in the land accessible ; mark on our great rivers and canals ves- sels of every form in incessant motion ; and see our flag unfurled on every sea and in every harbor, — it is wise that we should recall the events in which our prosperity took its rise, study the principles on which it was based, dwell on the simplicity of the lives and CARPENTERS' HALL. 1 7 the purity and strength of the men who brought about these great results, and make ourselves familiar with them all, that if, because of our departure from their principles or their examples, we are the weaker for it, and are unable to recover ourselves, we may at least teach them to our children, and thus, through them, renew the foundation which can alone support so grand a superstructure. One of the first fruits of this approaching Centen- nial is now at hand. This same Carpenters' Company, which in 1774 opened its hall to the Continental Con- gress, animated by the same spirit as it was moved by then, and in view of the celebration to be held in 1876, has assembled here to-day to revive in the memory of its countrymen a knowledge of the men who met in this Hall on the 5th of September, 1774, one hundred years ago. God grant that in this noble effort they may be successful ! Gentlemen, I have now the pleasure to introduce to you Henry Armitt Brown, Esq., who will address you in furtherance of this patriotic purpose. Henry Armitt Brown then came forward and read a letter, which he had just received, from the Hon. Wm. S. Stokley, Mayor of Philadelphia, desiring him, as Orator of the Day, to extend an invitation, in His Honor's name, to the distinguished company present, to visit Independence Hall and the National Museum after the exercises in Carpenters' Hall. Having dis- charged, in a few words, the pleasant duty thus con- fided to him, he continued as follows. ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN We have come here to-day in obedience to that natural impulse which bids a people do honor to its past. We have assembled to commemorate a great event — one of the most famous in our history. In the midst of prosperity and profound peace ; in the pres- ence of the honorable and honored Vice-President of the United States, of the chosen rulers of the people, of the members of the present and other Congresses — the successors of the statesmen of 1774 — of the rep- resentatives of the learned professions, and of every department of human enterprise and industry and skill, we have gathered beneath this roof to celebrate, with reverent and appropriate services, the one hun- dredth anniversary of the meeting of the First Con- tinental Congress. It is a great privilege to be here, and we have to thank the Carpenters' Company for it. The Carpen- ters' Company of Philadelphia has always been a pa- triotic body. In the months which preceded the Rev- olution it freely offered its hall for the meetings of the people ; and besides the high honor of having enter- tained the Congress of 1774, it can point to its having sheltered the Committees of Safety and the Provincial IS CARPENTERS' HALL. 1 9 Committee for a long time beneath this roof. The Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia is a very ancient body. It came into existence when George the First was king, when Benjamin Franklin was. a printer's lad, and Samuel Johnson was a boy at school. It was founded fifty years before an American Congress met, and it is now half as old again as American independ- ence. And more than this, it is a very honorable body. Its members have been counted among our best cit- izens for industry and character. Both this hall, in which the nation may be said to have been born, and that other, where in 1776 its articles of apprentice- ship were cancelled, are the monuments of its earlier skill, and there are few houses in this City of Homes in which its members have not had a hand. And, after all, how fitting does it seem that the hall of the Carpenters' Company should have been the scene of that event which we have assembled to commemorate ! The men of the First Congress were architects them- selves ; the master-builders of a Republic founded on the equality of man — the highest types of which, in the two struggles through which it has had to pass, have been Benjamin Franklin, the mechanic, and the farmer's lad whose name was Abraham Lincoln. They represented among themselves every rank of life — the lawyer, the merchant, the farmer, the mechanic — and they did more to dignify Labor and advance the cause of Humanity in the seven weeks during which they sat in this place than all the parliaments of the world have done in twice as many centuries. If there be anything good, if there be anything noble, if there be ■20 ORATION OF HENRY A R MITT BROWN. anything precious in the American Revolution, it is just this — that it secured for every man an equal chance. Far wiser than those who have attempted a similar work beneath other skies, the men who achieved that Revolution attacked no vested rights, set up no false notions of equality, nor the oppression of the many for the tyranny of the few, nor did they break the chain that bound them to an honorable past. They sought rather to make Virtue and Intelligence the test of manhood — to strike down Prerogative and Privilege and open the gates of happiness to all alike. And as 1 contemplate their glorious struggle at this distance of time, and think of the national life which it has blessed us with — a century of which is surely a great achievement for any people* — I cannot but think it to have been a happy omen that it was inaugurated here. It is impossible, in the time which I can allow myself, to attempt a description of the causes of the Revolu- * The historian Freeman, writing in 1862, says [Hist, of Fed. C,o-,n page 13 of the valuable Early History of the Falls of Schuylkill, etc. etc., by Charles V. Hagner, Esq., will be found an interesting account, taken partly from the Pennsylvania Gazette of May 12, 1768, of the presentation of a laudatory address to Mr. Dickinson by the Society of Fort St. Davids. ( Hher similar addresses were sent to him from various parts of the colonies — one especially worthy of note being signed by Dr. Benjamin Church, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Dr. Joseph Warren, and John Rowe, and enclosing resolutions adopted at a town-meeting held in Boston. CARPENTERS* HALL. 33 William Livingston of 'New Jersey — "no public speaker, but sensible and learned." Beside him, with his slender form bent forward and his face lit with enthusiasm, sits his son-in-law, John Jay, soon to be famous. He is the youngest of the delegates, and yonder sits the oldest of them all. His form is bent, his thin locks fringing a forehead bowed with age and honorable service, and his hands shake tremulously as he folds them in his lap. It is Stephen Hopkins, once Chief-Justice of Rhode Island. Close by him is his colleague, Samuel Ward, and Sherman of Connecti- cut — that strong man whose name is to be made honorable by more than one generation. Johnson of Maryland is here, " that clear, cool head," and Paca, his colleague, " a wise deliberator." Bland of Virginia is that learned-looking, "bookish man" beside "zeal- ous, hot-headed" Edward Rutledge. The Pennsyl- vanians are grouped together at one side — Morton, Humphreys, Mifflin, Rhoads, Biddle, Ross, and Gallo- way, the Speaker of the Assembly. Bending forward to whisper in the latter's ear is Duane of New York — that sly-looking man, a little "squint-eyed" (John Adams has already written of him), "very sensible and very artful." That large-featured man, with the broad, open countenance, is William Hooper; that other, with the Roman nose, McKean of Delaware. Rodney, the latter's colleague, sits beside him, "the oddest-looking man in the world — tall, thin, pale, his face no bigger than a large apple, yet beaming with sense, and wit, and humor." Yonder is Christopher Gadsden, who lias been preaching independence to 34 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT RRoll'N South Carolina these ten years past. He it is who, roused by the report that the regulars have com- menced to bombard Boston, proposes to march north- ward and defeat Gage at once, before his reinforce- ments can arrive ; and when some one timidly says that in the event of war the British will destroy the sea-port towns, turns on the speaker, with this grand reply: "Our towns are built of brick and wood; if they are burned down we can rebuild them ; but lib- erty once lost is gone for ever." In all this famous company perhaps the men most noticed are the Massa- chusetts members. That colony has thus far taken the lead in the struggle with the mother-country. A British army is encamped upon her soil ; the gates of her chief town are shut ; against her people the full force of the resentment of king and Parliament is spent. Her sufferings called this Congress into being, and now lend sad prominence to her ambassadors. And of them surely Samuel Adams is the chief. What must be his emotions as he sits here to-day — he who " eats little, drinks little, sleeps little, and thinks much"* — that strong man whose undaunted spirit has led his countrymen up to the possibilities of this day? It is his plan of correspondence, adopted, after a hard struggle, in November, 1772, that first made feasible a union in the common defence. He called for union as early as April, 1773. For that he had labored without ceasing and without end, now arousing the drooping spirits of less sanguine men, * Historical and Political Reflections on t/ie^Rise and Progress of the Amer- ican Rebellion, by Joseph Galloway, London, 1780. CARPENTERS' HAIJ.. 35 now repressing the enthusiasm of rash hearts, which threatened to bring on a crisis before the time was ripe, and all the while thundering against tyranny through the columns of the Boston Gazette. As he was ten years ago he is to-day, the master-spirit of the time — as cool, as watchful, as steadfast, now that the hour of his triumph is at hand, as when, in darker days, he took up the burden fames Otis could no longer bear. Beside him sits his younger kinsman, John Adams, a man after his own heart — bold, fertile, resolute, an eloquent speaker and a leader of men. But whose is yonder tall and manly form ? It is that of a man of forty years of age, in the prime of vigor- ous manhood. He has not spoken, for he is no orator, but there is a look of command in his broad face and firm-set mouth that marks him among men, and seems to justify the deference with which his colleagues turn to speak with him. He has taken a back seat, as be- comes one of his great modesty — for he is great even in that — but he is still the foremost man in all this company. This is he who has just made in the Vir- ginia Convention that speech which Lynch of Carolina says is the most eloquent speech that ever was made : " I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march with them at their head for the relief of Boston." These were his words — and his name is Washington. Such was the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia. Its members were met by a serious difficulty at the very outset. The question at once arose, How should their votes be cast — by colonies, by interest, or by the 36 ORATION OF HENRY ARMITT BROWN. poll? Some wore for a vote by colonics; but the larger ones at once raised the important objection that it would be unjust to allow to a little colony the same weight as a large one. "A small colony," was the reply of Major Sullivan of New Hampshire, " has its all at stake, as well as a large one." Virginia, responded the delegates from the Old Dominion, will never con- sent to waive her full representation ; and one of them went so far as to intimate that if she were denied an influence in proportion to her size and numbers, she would never again be represented in such an assem- bly. On the other hand, it was confessed to be im- possible to determine the relative weight which should be assigned to each colony. There were no tables ot population, of products, or of trade, nor had there been a common system in the choice of delegates. Each province had sent as many as it liked — Massachusetts four, South Carolina five, Virginia seven, Pennsylvania eight. In one case they had been chosen by a con- vention of the people, in another by a general elec- tion, in most by the Assembly of the province. There was no rule by which the members could be guided. Nor was this the only point of difference among the delegates. On no one thing did they seem at first sight to agree. Some were for resting their rights on a historical basis — others upon the law of nature. These acknowledged the power of Great Britain to regulate trade — those denied her right to legislate for America at all. One would have omitted the Quebec bill from the list of grievances — another held it to be of them all the very worst. Some were for paying CARPENTERS' HALL. S7 art indemnity for the destruction of the tea — others cried out that this were to yield the point at once. One was defiant, a second conciliatory ; Gadsden de- sired independence ; Washington believed that it was wished for bv no thinking' man. . It was with a full sense of the diversity of these views, of the importance of a speedy decision, and of the danger of dissension, that the Congress reassem- bled the next morning. When the doors had been closed and the pre- liminaries gone through with, it is related that an oppressive silence prevailed for a long time before any man spoke. No one seemed willing to take the lead. It was a season of great doubt and greater danger. Now, for the first time perhaps, when the excitement of the assembling had passed away, and reflection had come to calm men's minds, the members realized com- pletely the importance of their acts. Their country- men watched and waited everywhere. In the most distant hamlet beyond the mountains, in the lonely cabin by the sea, eyes were turned to this place with anxious longing, and yonder, in the North, the brave town lay patient in her chains, resting her hopes for deliverance upon them. And not Boston only, nor Massachusetts, depended upon them. The fate of humanity for generations was to be affected by their acts. Perhaps in the stillness of this morning hour there came to some of them a vision of the time to come. Perhaps to him on whose great heart was destined so long to lie the weight of all America it was permitted to look beyond the present hour, like 38 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN. that great leader of an earlier race when he stood silent upon a peak in Moab and overlooked the Prom- ised Land. Like him, he was to be the chosen of his people. Like him, soldier, lawgiver, statesman. Like him, he was destined to lead his brethren through the wilderness ; and, happier than he, was to behold the fulfilment of his labor. Perhaps, as he sat here in the solemn stillness that fell- upon this company, he may have seen, in imagination, the wonders of the century that is complete to-day. If he had spoken, might he not have said : I see a winter of trouble and distress, and then the smoke of cannon in the North. I see long years of suffering to be borne, our cities sacked, our fields laid waste, our hearths made desolate ; men trudging heavily through blood-stained snow, and wailing women refusing to be comforted. I see a time of danger and defeat, and then a day of victory. I see this people, virtuous and free, founding a govern- ment on the rights of man. I see that govern- ment grown strong, that people prosperous, pushing its way across a continent. I see these villages become wealthy cities, these colonies great States, the Union we are about to found a power among the nations, and I know that future generations shall rise up and call us blessed. Such might have been his thoughts as these founders of an empire sat for a while silent, face to face. It was the stillness of the last hour of night before the morning breaks ; it was the quiet which precedes the storm. Suddenly, in some part of this hall a man rose up. His form was tall and angular, and his short wig CARPENTERS' HALL. 39 and coat of black gave him the appearance of a clergyman. His complexion was swarthy, his nose long and straight, his mouth large, but with a firm expression on the thin lips, and his forehead exception- ally high. The most remarkable feature of his face was a pair of deep-set eyes, of piercing brilliancy, changing so constantly with the emotions which they expressed that none could tell the color of them. He began to speak in a hesitating manner, faltering through the opening sentences, as if fully convinced of the inability, which he expressed, to do justice to his theme. But presently, as he reviewed the wrongs of the colonies through the past ten years, his cheek glowed and his eye Mashed fire and his voice rang out rich and full, like a trumpet, through this hall. He seemed not to speak like mortal man, thought one who heard him ten years before in the Virginia House of Burgesses ; and a recent essayist in a leading- English Review has remarked, that, judging by effects, he was one of the greatest orators that ever lived.* There was no report made of his speech that day, but from the notes which John Adams kept of the debate we may learn what line of argument he took. He spoke of the attacks made upon America by the king and ministry of Great Britain, counselled a union in the general defence, and predicted that future gener- ations would quote the proceedings of this Congress with applause A step in advance of his time, as he had ever been, he went far beyond the spirit of the other delegates, who, with the exception of the * Essays, l>y A. Hayward, Esq., Q< C, vol. iii. 40 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN. s Adamses and Gadsden, did not counsel or desire in- dependence. "An entire new government must be founded," was his cry ; " this is the first in a never- ending succession of Congresses," his prophecy. And gathering up, as it was the gift of his genius to do, the thought that was foremost in every mind about him, he spoke it in a single phrase : " British oppres- sion has effaced the boundaries of the several colo- nies ; I am not a Virginian, but an American." My countrymen, we cannot exaggerate the debt we owe this man. The strength of his intellect, the fer- vor of his eloquence, the earnestness of his patriotism and the courage of his heart placed him in the front rank of those early patriots, and he stands among them the model of a more than Roman virtue. His eloquence was one of the chief forces of the Amer- ican Revolution — as necessary to that great cause as the intelligence of Franklin, the will of Samuel Adams, the pen of Thomas Jefferson, or the sword of Wash- ington. In such times of a nation's trial there is al- ways one voice which speaks for all. It echoes the spirit of the age — proud or defiant, glad or mournful, now raised in triumph, now lifted up in lamentation. Greece stood on the Bema with Demosthenes ; indig- nant Rome thundered against Catiline with the tongue of Cicero. The proud eloquence of Chatham rang out the triumphs of the English name, and France stood still to hear her Mirabeau. Ireland herself pleaded for liberty when Henry Grattan spoke, and the voice of Patrick Henry was. the voice of America, struggling to be free! CARPENTERS' HALL. 4 1 Rest in peace, pure and patriotic heart ! Thy work is finished and thy fame secure. Dead for three-quar- ters of a century, thou art still speaking to the sons of men. Through all descending time thy country- men shall repeat thy glowing words, and, as the pages of their greatest bard kept strong the virtue of the Grecian youth, so from the grave shalt thou, who " spoke as Homer wrote,"* inspire in the hearts of men to be that love of liberty which filled thine own ! Great as were at first the differences of interest and opinion among the members of the Congress of 1774, there were none which their patriotic spirits could not reconcile. It was the salvation of the Americans that they had chosen for their counsellors men who be- lieved, with Thomas Jefferson, that " the whole art of government consists in the art of being honest,"f and who were enthusiastic lovers of their country. No matter how strong had been their individual opinions, or how dear the separate interests involved, there seemed to these men no sacrifice too great to make for the common cause. As the debates progressed different views were reconciled and pet theories sac- rificed to the general judgment. Day after day they became more united and confidence increased. " This," wrote John Adams on the i 7th of September, " was one of the happiest days of my life. In Congress we had noble sentiments and manly eloquence. This day convinced me that America will support the Massa- chusetts or perish with her."| After a full and free * Memoir of Thomas Jefferson, vol. i., p. 3. f Idem, p. 115. \ Journal of John Adams, vol. ii., p. 380. 42 ORATION OF HEXRY ARM ITT BROWX. discussion, in which the subject was considered in all its aspects, it was decided that each colony was enti- tled to a single vote. By this means the integrity of the provinces was preserved, and out of it grew the theory, so familiar to us, of the sovereignty ot the State. It was next agreed upon to rest the rights of the colonies on a historical basis. By this wise deter- mination the appearance of a revolution was avoided, while the fact remained the same. Nor was there a sudden break in the long chain of the nation's history ; the change was gradual, not abrupt. The common law oi England, under the benign influence of which the young colonies had grown up, remained un- changed, and when, in less than two years, the Dec- laration of Independence created a new government, the commonwealth quietly took the place of king. The revolution was then complete ; the struggle which followed was merely to secure it: and the American grew strong with the belief that it was his part to de- fend, not to attack — to preserve, not to destroy ; and that he was fighting over again on his own soil the battle for civil liberty which his forefathers had won in England more than a century before. We cannot too highly prize the wisdom which thus shaped the strug gle. Having decided these points, the Congress agreed upon a declaration of rights. First, then, they named as natural rights the enjoyment o\ life, liberty and tor- tune. They next claimed, as British subjects, to be bound by no law to which they had not consented by their chosen representatives (excepting such as might be mutually agreed upon as necessary tor the regula- CARPENTERS' HALL. 43 tion of trade). They denied to Parliament all power of taxation, and vested the right of legislation in their own Assemblies. The common law of England they declared to be their birthright, including the rights of a trial by a jury of the vicinage, of public meetings and petition. They protested against the maintenance in the colonies of standing armies without their hill consent, and against all legislation by councils depend- ent on the Crown. Having thus proclaimed their rights, they calmly enumerated the various acts which had been passed in derogation of them. These were eleven in number, passed in as many years — the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, those; which provided for the quartering of the troops, for the supersedure of the New York Legislature, for the trial in Great Britain of offences committed in America, for the reg- ulation of the crovernment of Massachusetts, for the shutting of the port of Boston, and the last straw, known as the Quebec Bill. Their next care was to suggest the remedy. On the 1 8th of October they adopted the articles of American Association, the signing of which (on the 20th) should be regarded as the commencement of the American Union. By its provisions, to which they individually and as a body solemnly agreed, they pledged the colonies to an entire commercial non- intercourse with Great Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, and such North American provinces as did not join the Association, until the acts of which America complained were all repealed. In strong language they denounced the slave-trade, and agreed to hold 44 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN. non-intercourse with all who engaged therein. They urged upon their fellow-countrymen the duties of economy, frugality and the development of their own resources ; directed the appointment of committees in every town and village to detect and punish all vio- lators of the Association, and inform each other from time to time of the condition of affairs ; and bound themselves, finally, to carry out the provisions of the Association by the sacred ties of " virtue, honor and love of country." Having thus declared their rights, and their fixed determination to defend them, they sought to concil- iate their English brethren. In one of the most re- markable state papers ever written they called upon the people of Great Britain in a firm but affectionate tone to consider the cause for which America was con- tending as one in which the inhabitants of the whole empire were concerned, adroitly reminding them that the power which threatened the liberties of its Amer- ican might more easily destroy those of its English subjects. They rehearsed the history of their wrongs, and "demanded nothing but to be restored to the con dition in which they were in I 763." Appealing at last to the justice of the British nation for a Parliament which should overthrow the " power of a wicked and corrupt ministry," they used these bold and noble words: "Permit us to be as free as yourselves, and we shall ever esteem a union with you to be our greatest glory and our greatest happiness ; we shall ever be ready to contribute alljn our power to the welfare of the empire; we shall consider your ene- CARPENTERS' HALL. 45 mies as our enemies, your interests as our own. lint if you are determined that your ministers shall sport wantonly with the rights of mankind — if neither the voice of justice, the dictates of the law, the principles of the constitution, nor the. suggestions of humanity can restrain your hands from shedding blood in such an impious cause — we must then tell you that we will never submit to be hewers of wood or drawers ot water for any ministry or nation in the world." In an address to the people of Quebec they described the despotic tendency of the late change in their government effected by the Quebec Bill, which threatened to deprive them of the blessings to which they were entitled on becoming English subjects, naming particularly the rights of representation, of trial by jury, of liberty of person and habeas corpus, of the tenure of land by easy rents instead of oppress- ive services, and especially that right so essential " to the advancement of truth, science, art and morality," " to the diffusion of liberal sentiments " and " the pro- motion of union" — "the freedom of the press." " These are the rights," said they, " without which a people cannot be free and happy," and " which we are, with one mind, resolved never to resign but with our lives." In conclusion, they urged the Canadians to unite with their fellow-colonists below the St. Lawrence in the measures recommended for the common good. They also prepared letters to the people of St. John's, Nova Scotia, Georgia, and East and West Florida, who were not represented in this Congress, asking for their co-operation and support. 46 ORATION OF HE.NRY A R MITT BROWN. Nor was anything omitted by these men which could soften the hearts of their oppressors. Declining to petition Parliament, they had addressed themselves \ to the people, recognizing in them for the first time the sovereign power. They now decided to petition the kino-. In words both humble and respectful, they renewed their allegiance to his crown, detailed the injuries inflicted on them by his ministers, and be- sought his interference in their behalf. "We ask," they said, "but for peace, liberty and safety. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant of any new right in our favor. Your royal authority over us and our connection with Great Britain we shall always- carefully and zealously en- deavor to support and maintain." Solemnly profess- ing that their "counsels were influenced by no other motive than a dread of impending destruction," they earnestly besought their " Most Gracious Sovereign " " in the name of his faithful people in America," " for the honor of Almighty God," " for his own glory," "the interest of his family," and the good and welfare of his kingdom, to suffer not the most sacred " ties to be further violated" in the vain hope "of effects" which, even if secured, could " never compensate for the calamities through which they must be gained." There remained now for the Congress but one thing- to do — to render to its countrymen an account of its stewardship. In a long letter to their constit- uents the delegates gave a summary of their proceed- ings, of the difficulties they Jiad encountered, the opinions they had form d, 1 1 1 < ■ policy they had agreed CARPENTERS' HALL, 47 to recommend, and, with a mournful prophecy of the trials that were at hand, urged their fellow countrymen "to be in all respects prepared for every contingency." Such were, in brief, the memorable state papers issued by the First Continental Congress. And, terrible as were the dangers which seemed to threaten them from without, its members were to be subjected to a trial from within. On the 28th of September, Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania submitted to the Congress his famous plan* A man of talent and address, at one time high in the opinion and confidence of Frank lin, he stood at the head of the Pennsylvania dele- gation. The Speaker of the House of Assembly, he had wielded great influence in the policy of the prov- ince. Cold, cautious and at heart a thorough royalist, he determined, if possible, to nip the patriotic move- ment in the bud. Seconded by Duane of New York, he moved that the Congress should recommend the establishment of a British and American government, to consist of a President-General, appointed by the king, and a Grand Council, to be chosen by the seve- ral Legislatures; that the Council should have co- ordinate powers with the British House of Commons, either body to originate a law, but the consent of both to be necessary to its passage ; the members of the Council to be chosen for three years, the President- General to hold office at the pleasure of the king. Here, then, was an ingenious trap in the very path of the infant nation. Some men, and good ones, too, * Vide Tucker's Hist., vol. i., p. ill. Sabine's American Loyalists, vol. i., p. 309. John Adams' Works, vol. ii., p. 389. 48 ORATION OF HENRY ARMITT BROWN. fell into it. The project was earnestly supported by Duane. The younger Rutledge thought it "almost perfect," and it met with the warm approbation of the conservative Jay. But wiser men prevailed. The Virginian and Massachusetts members opposed it earnestly. Samuel Adams saw in it the doom of all hope for liberty, and Henry condemned in every aspect the proposal to substitute for "a corrupt House of Commons " a "corruptible" legislature, and entrust the power of taxation to a body not elected directly by the people. His views were those of the majority, and the dangerous proposition met with a prompt defeat. The Suffolk county resolutions, adopted on the 9th of September at Milton, Massachusetts, had reached Philadelphia and the Congress on the 17th, and awakened in every breast the warmest admira- tion and sympathy. Resolutions were unanimously adopted expressing- these feelings in earnest language, recommending to their brethren of Suffolk county " a perseverance in the same firm and temperate con- duct," and urging upon the people of the other colo- nies the duty of contributing freely to the necessities of the Bostonians. There now came a still more touching appeal from Massachusetts. "The gover- lor," it said, " was suffering the soldiery to treat both town and country as declared enemies ;" the course of trade was stopped ; the administration of law obstructed; a state of anarchy prevailed. Filled with the spirit which in olden times had led the Athenians to leave their city to the foe and make their ships their country, this gallant people promised to obey CARPENTERS' HALL. 49 should the Congress advise them to " quit their town ;" but if it is judged, they added, that "by main- taining their ground they can better serve the public cause, they will not shrink from hardship and dan- ger." * Such an appeal as this could not have waited long for a worthy answer from the men of the First American Congress. The letter was received upon October 6th. Two clays later the official journal con- tains these words : " Upon motion it was resolved that this Congress approve the opposition of the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to the execution of the late acts of Parliament ; and if the same shall be attempted to be carried into execution, all America ought to support them in their opposition." "This," says the historian, "is the measure which hardened George the Third to listen to no terms." f In vain conciliation and kind words ; in vain all assurances of affection and of loyalty. The men of Massachusetts are traitors to their king, and the Congress of all the colonies upholds them in rebellion. " Henceforth," says Bancroft, " conciliation became impossible." Having thus asserted their rights to the enjoyment of life, liberty and fortune ; their resistance to taxa- tion without representation ; their purpose to defend their ancient charters from assault ; having denounced * The spirit of this people is reflected in a letter from Boston printed in the Pennsylvania Packet for Oct. io, 1774, describing a conversation which the writer had with a fisherman. " 1 said : • Don't you think it time to submit, pay for the tea, and get the harbor Opened ?' ' Submit ? No. It can never be time to become slaves. 1 have yet some pork and meal, and when they are gone I will eat clams; and after we have dug iip all the clam-banks, if the Congress will not lei us fight, I will retreat to the woods: I am always sure of acorns !' " ■J- Bancroft's ffist.. vol. vii., p. 115. 4 50 ORATION OF IIEXR) A R MITT BROU'X. the slave trade in language which startled the world, and recognized, for the first time in history, the People as the source of Authority; having laid the firm foun- dations of a Union based upon Freedom and Equality, — the First Congress passed out of existence on the 26th of October, after a session of two and fifty days. Half a hundred men, born in a new country, bred amid trials and privations, chosen from every rank of life, untried in diplomacy, unskilled in letters, untrained in statecraft, called suddenly together in a troubled time to advise a hitherto divided people, they had shown a tact, a judgment, a self-command and a sin- cere love of country hardly to be found in the proud- est annals of antiquity. And their countrymen were worthy of them. If the manner in which they had fulfilled their duties had been extraordinary, the spirit with which their counsels were received was still more remarkable. In every part of the country the recom- mendations of the Congress were obeyed as binding law. No despotic power in any period of history ex- ercised over the minds and hearts of men a more complete control. The Articles of Association were signed by tens of thousands, the spirit of Union grew strong in every breast, and the Americans steadily prepared to meet the worst. The stirring influence of this example penetrated to the most distant lands. " The Congress," wrote Dr. Franklin from London in the following winter, " is in high favor here among the friends of liberty." * " For a long time," cried the elo- * Letter to Charles Thomson, 5th Feb., 1775 ; WATSON'S Annals of Philadel- phia, vol. i., p. 421. CARPENTERS' HALL. 5 1 quent Charles Botta, " no spectacle has been offered to the attention of mankind of so powerful an interest as this of the present American Congress."* "It is impossible," says the Scotch writer, Grahame, " to read of its transactions without the highest admiration." f •' There never was a body of delegates more faithful to the interests of their constituents," was the opinion of David Ramsay, the historian. \ "From the moment of their first debates," De Tocqueville says, "Europe was moved." § The judgment of John Adams de- clared them to be, " in point of abilities, virtues and fortunes, the greatest men upon the continent." || Charles Thomson, in the evening of his well-spent life, pronounced them the purest and ablest patriots he had ever known ; \ and, in the very face of king and Parliament, the illustrious Chatham spoke of them the well-known words : " I must avow and declare that in all my reading of history — and it has been my fa- vorite study ; I have read Thucydides and admired the master states of the world — that for solidity of reason- ing, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication of circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand in preference to the Gen- eral Congress assembled in Philadelphia."** Long years have passed, and there have been many changes * Otis's Botta, vol. i., p. 128. f Hist, of the U. S., by James Grahame, L.L.D., vol. ii., p. 496. X Hist, of the American Revolution, by David Ramsay, M. D., vol. i.,p. 174. \ J. a Democratic at Amiriffue, by ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, vol. iii., p. 182. || John Adams Letters to his Wife, vol. i.. p. 21. T FUld-Book of the Revolution, by I!. J. LossiKR, vol. ii., p. 60 — note. Speech in Favoi R / Troops from Boston, Jan. 20. 1775. 52 ORATION XRY ARM7TT BROWN. in the governments of men. The century which has elapsed has been crowded with great events, but the calm judgment of posterity has confirmed that opin- ion, and mankind has not - i imire the spec- tacle which was once enacted here. " But that you may be more earnest in the defence of your country," cried the great Roman orator, speaking in a with the tongue of Scipio, "know from me that a cer tain place in heaven is assigned to all who have pre- served, or assisted, or improved their country, v they are to enjoy an endless duration of happiness. For there is nothing which takes place on earth more acceptable to the Supreme Deity, who governs all this world, than those councils and assemblies of men, bound together by law, which are termed states : the founders and preservers of these come from heaven, and thither do they return."* The founders and pre- servers of this Union have vanished from the earth, those true lovers of their country have long since been consigned into her keeping, but their memory clings around this place, and hath hallowed it for ever- more. Here shall men come as to a sanctuary. Here shall they gather with each returning anniversary, and as the story of these lives falls from the lips of him who shall then stand where I stand to-day, their souls shall be stirred within them and their hearts be lifted up, and none shall despair of the Republic while she can find among her children the courage, the wisdom, the eloquence, the self-sacrifice, the lofty patriotism * Cicero. De K CARPENTERS' HALL. 53 and the spotless honor of those who assembled in this hall an hundred years ago. The conditions of life are always changing, and the experience of the fathers is rarely the experience of the sons. The temptations which are trying us are not the temptations which beset their footsteps, nor the dangers which threaten our pathway the dangers which surrounded them. These men were few in number, we are many. They were poor, but we are rich. They were weak, but we are strong. What is it, countrymen, that we need to-day? Wealth? Behold it in your hands. Power? God hath given it you. Liberty? It is your birthright. Peace? It dwells amongst you. You have a government founded in the heart of men, built by the people for the com- mon good. Yoii have a land flowing with milk and honey; your homes are happy, your workshops busy, your barns are lull. The school, the railway, the tele- graph, the printing-press have welded you together into one. Descend those mines that honeycomb the hills. Behold that commerce whitening every sea ! Stand by your gates and see that multitude pour through them from the corners of the earth, grafting the qualities of older stocks upon one stem, mingling the blood of many races in a common stream, and swelling the rich volume of our English speech with varied music from an hundred tongues. You have a long and glorious history, a past glittering with heroic deeds, an ancestry full of lofty and imperishable ex- amples. You rjave passed through danger, endured privation, been acquainted with sorrow, been tried by 54 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN suffering. You have journeyed in safety through the wilderness and crossed in triumph the Red Sea of civil strife, and the foot of Him who led you hath not faltered nor the light of His countenance been turned away' It is a question for us now, not of the found- ing of a new government, but of the preservation of one already old ; not of the formation of an inde- pendent power, but of the purification of a nation's life ; not of the conquest of a foreign foe, but of the subjection of ourselves. The capacity of man to rule himself is to be proven in the days to come — not by the greatness of his wealth, not by his valor in the field, not by the extent of his dominion, not by the splendor of his genius. The dangers of to-day come from within. The worship of self, the love of power, the lust for gold, the weakening of faith, the decay of public virtue, the lack of private worth, — these are the perils which threaten our future ; these are the enemies we have to fear ; these are the traitors which infest the camp ; and the danger was far less when Catiline knocked with his army at the gates of Rome than when he sat smiling in the Senate-House. We see them daily face to face — in the walk of virtue, in the road to wealth, in the path to honor, on the way to happiness. There is no peace between them and our safety. Nor can we avoid them and turn back. It is not enough to rest upon the past. No man or nation can stand still. We must mount upward or go down. We must grow worse or better. It is the Eternal Law — we cannot change it. Nor are we only con- cerned in what we do. This government which our CARPENTERS' HALL. 55 ancestors have built has been "a refuge for the oppressed of every race and clime," where they have gathered for a century. The fugitive of earlier times knew no such shelter among the homes of men. Cold, naked, bleeding, there was no safety for him save at the altars of imagined gods. I have seen one of the most famous of those ancient sanctuaries. On a bright day in spring-time I looked out over acres of ruins. Beside me the blue sea plashed upon a beach strewn with broken marble. That sacred floor, polished with the penitential knees of centuries, was half hidden with heaps of rubbish and giant weeds. The fox had his den among the stones and the fowl of the air her nest upon the capitals. No sound dis- turbed them in their solitude, save sometimes the tread of an adventurous stranger, or the stealthy foot- fall of the wild beasts and wilder men that crept down out of the surrounding hills under cover of the night. The god had vanished, his seat was desolate, the oracle was dumb. Far different was the temple which our fathers builded, and "builded better than they knew." The blood of martyrs was spilled on its foundations, and a suffering people raised its walls with prayer. Temple and fortress, it still stands, secure, and the smile of Providence gilds plinth, architrave and column. Greed is alone the Tarpeia that can betray it, and vice the only Samson that can pull it down. It is the Home of Liberty, as boundless as a continent, "as broad and general as the casing air;" a "temple not made with hands;" a sanctuary that shall not fall, but stand on for ever, founded in eternal truth ! 56 ORATION OF HENRY ARMITT BROWN My countrymen, the moments are quickly passing, and we stand like some traveller upon a lofty crag that separates two boundless seas. The century that is closing is complete. "The past," said your great statesman, " is secure." It is finished, and beyond our reach. The hand of detraction cannot dim its glories nor the tears of repentance wipe away its stains. Its good and evil, its joy and sorrow, its truth and falsehood, its honor and its shame, we cannot touch. Sigh for them, blush for them, weep for them, if we will ; we cannot change them now. We might have done so once, but we cannot now. The old century is dying, and they are to be buried with him ; his history is finished, and they will stand upon its roll for ever. The century that is opening is all our own. The years that lie before us are a virgin page. We can inscribe them as we will. The future of our country rests upon us — the happiness of posterity depends on us. The fate of humanity may be in our hands. That pleading voice, choked with the sobs of ages, which has so often spoken to deaf ears, is lifted up to us. It asks us to be brave, benevolent, consistent, true to the teachings of our history — proving " divine descent by worth divine." It asks us to be virtuous, building up public virtue upon private worth ; seeking that righteousness which exalteth nations. It asks us to be patriotic — loving our country before all other things ; her happiness our happiness, her honor ours, her fame our own. It asks us in the name of Justice, in the name of Charity, in the name of Freedom, in the name of God ! CARPENTERS' HALL. 57 My countrymen, this anniversary has gone by for ever, and my task is done. While I have spoken the hour has passed from us; the hand has moved upon the dial, and the Old Century is dead. The American Union hath endured an hundred years. Here, on this threshold of the future, the voice of Humanity shall not plead to us in vain. There shall be darkness in the days to come; danger for our courage; tempta- tion for our virtue ; doubt for our faith ; suffering for our fortitude. A thousand shall fall before us and tens of thousands at our right hand. The years shall pass beneath our feet, and century follow century in quick succession. The generations of men shall come and go ; the greatness of yesterday shall be forgotten to-day, and the glories of this noon shall vanish before to-morrow's sun ; but America shall not perish, but endure while the spirit of our fathers animates their sons ! Letters of regret for non-attendance were read. From the President. Long Branch, N. J., Sept. 5, 1874. * John M. Ogden, J Falter Allison and Richard K. Belts, Committee of the Carpenters Company: Your invitation to me to attend the hundredth anniversary meeting of the Continental Congress in their hall on this day has, from accumulation of papers and letters during my recent visit East, escaped my atten- tion until this moment. 58 ORATION OF HENRY ARMITT BROWN. Please excuse apparent neglect. It would have af- forded me pleasure to attend your exercises on an occasion of so much interest. I hope they will be attended with all the interest such an occasion should naturally inspire. U. S. Grant. From the Secretary of State. Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, writes : Gentlemen : I regret that official engagements com- pel me to decline the invitation with which you have honored me to attend the celebration of the 5th of next month, by the Carpenters' Company of Philadel- phia, of the one hundredth anniversary of the meet- ing of the Continental Congress. But, although I may not be personally present, you will have my sym- pathies and my good wishes for the success of your patriotic celebration. Very truly yours, Hamilton Fish. Washington, Aug. 29. From the Secretary of War. Hon. Wm. W. Belknap, Secretary of War, writes : # Gentlemen: I greatly regret that I am unable to comply with your very kind invitation for Saturday, September 5th. Yours very respectfully, Wm. W. Belknap, Secretary of War. CARPENTERS' HALL. ■ 59 Governor Hartranft writes: Executive Chamber, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Aug. 31, 1874. Messrs. John M. Ogden, Walter Allison, Richard K. Belts, Committee, etc. — Gentlemen : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation, on behalf of the Carpenters' Company of Phila- delphia, to preside at the celebration of the One Hun- dredth Anniversary of the meeting of the Continental Congress in this Hall on Saturday, the 5th day of September, and beg leave to return my thanks for the courtesy. I sincerely regret that an official engagement, made imperative by my relations to the military service of the State, will prevent my participation in this cele- bration of the Carpenters' Company — an occasion that promises to be full of interest, and that will recall the many and thrilling associations connected with the old Hall, within whose venerable walls were held the deliberations that prepared the way for the institutions and liberty we to-day enjoy. Surrounded with stately structures of brick, stone and marble, in the midst of busy marts, noisy with the hum of trade, within sight of wharves crowded with shipping stands the quaint old Hall of the Carpenters' Company, simple and unpretentious in its architecture, but grand in the memories that cluster about it, and eloquent of the change wrought in the prosperity and wealth of the great city that now stretches its ample and magnificent proportions miles away from the plain little edifice in which the First Congress assem- 60 ORATION OF HENRY A R MITT BROWN. bled. Amid the storm and forebodings that attended the first session of the Continental Congress in 1774, would the most sanguine of the patriots there assem- bled have for a moment conceived of the grandeur of a century's growth of the country whose foundations were then so wisely and securely laid ? It is proper, therefore, as your card of invitation states, "to make this Centennial a fitting remembrance of the gratitude the nation of to-day owes to the patriots of 1774." Renewing my regrets that another engagement will forbid my attendance, I again thank you for the graceful compliment paid me in requesting me to pre- side at your celebration, which I hope will prove alike pleasant and instructive. Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, J. F. Hartranft. LETTER OF REGRET. Benson J. Lossing, the historian, concludes his letter thus: .... I rejoice that you have renovated your build- ing, and that henceforth it is to be devoted to the uses for which it was originally erected, and so pic- served in the form it presented when the Congress assembled therein. It is a patriotic act for which you merit and will receive the cordial thanks of every true- American. With that I [all in possession, the Carpenters' Company of Phiadelphia will ever be associated with the most sacred events in the history of our country. CARPENTERS' HALL. 01 There the incisures were begun which led to Inde- pendence; therefore Carpenters' Hall and Independ- ence Hall should hold an equal place in the affections and reverence of the American people, and all de- fenders of the rights of man. With the expression of my sincere thanks for your courtesy, 1 am, gentlemen, your friend and fellow- citizen, Benson J. Lossing. Letters of regret were read from Commodore George H. Preble ; Hon. John A. Dix, Governor of New York ; Hon. Joel Parker, Governor of New Jersey ; Hon. Julius Converse, Governor of Vermont ; John Wm. Wallace, President of the Historical So- ciety of Pennsylvania ; and many other distinguished citizens. The following hymn, written for the occasion, led by De Witt Clinton Moore, was sung standing with great spirit by the whole audience. CENTENNIAL JUBILEE. BY DR. A. BEECHER BARNES. [Sung at the close of the Oration. Tune — " Auld Lang Syne") The rolling hours of time have past, And brought a hundred years ; We sing their requiem at last Amid the world's loud cheers. The chorus of the nation's chime And tuneful anthems rise, Like music of the spheres sublime, And shake the echoing skies. 62 ORATION OF HENRY ARM FIT BROWN. Here, where tolled out the despot's knell, And freedom had its birth, Where Independence Hall and Bell Rang out o'er all the earth — Welcome, thrice welcome, mighty throng, From every land and sea ; Come, join the everlasting song Of freedom's jubilee. God of our Fathers ! first and last Devout we worship Thee ; From every stain of sin and crime, Oh come and make us free. Then pure and strong our land will be, And glory from above Shall crown our first Centennial And city of our love. Come, nations, kindred, tribes ! and see Our freedom sealed in blood, And celebrate our liberty — Freedom to worship God ! A vote of thanks was then tendered to H. Am itt Brown, for his eloquent and thrilling oration, with a request that he furnish a copy for publication. Also, the thanks of the meeting to the Chairman, Mr. Welsh. The meeting then adjourned. The following are the resolutions to which the sig- natures of the members of Congress, as seen in the fac-simile, were attached. "We do, for ourselves, and' the inhabitants of the several colo- nies whom we represent, firmly agree and associate, under the sacred ties of virtue, honor and love of country, as follows : CARPENTERS' HALL. 63 "First. That from and after t lie fust day of December next we will not import, into British- America, from Great-Britain or Ire- land, any goods, wares or merchandise whatsoever, or from any other place, any surh goods, wares or merchandise, as shall have been exported from Great-Britain or Ireland ; nor will we, after thai day, import any East-India tea from any part of the world ; nor any molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee or pimento from the British plantations or from Dominica; nor wines from Madeira or the Western Islands ; nor foreign indigo. "Second. We will neither import nor purchase any slave im- ported after the first day of December next; after which time we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be con- cerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it. "Third. Asa non-consumption agreement, strictly adhered to, will be an effectual security for the observation of the non-impor- tation, we, as above, solemnly agree and associate that from this 'day we will not purchase or use any tea imported on account of the East-India Company, or any on which a duty hath been or shall be paid; and from and after the first day of March next, we will not purchase or use any East-India tea whatever ; nor will we, nor shall any person for or under us, purchase or use any of those goods, wares or merchandise we have agreed not to import, which we shall know, or have cause to suspect, were imported after the first day of December, except such as come under the rules and direc- tions of the tenth article, hereafter mentioned. "Fourth. The earnest desire we have not to injure our fellow- subjects in Great-Britain, Ireland or the West-Indies induces us to suspend a non-exportation until the tenth day of September, 1775; at which time, if the said acts and parts of acts of the British Parliament hereinafter mentioned are not repealed, we will not directly or indirectly export any merchandise or commodity what- soever to Great-Britain, Ireland or the West-Indies, except rice to Europe. " Fifth. Such as are merchants, and use the British and Irish trade, will give orders, as soon as possible, to their factors, agents 64 ORATION OF HENRY ARM 1 If P.ROWX. and correspondents, in Great-Britarn and Ireland, not to ship any goods to them on any pretence whatsoever, as they cannot he received in America: and if any merchant, residing in Great- Britain or Ireland, shall directly or indirectly ship any goods, wares or merchandise for America, in order to break the said non- importation agreement, or in any manner contravene the same, on such unworthy conduct being well attested, it ought to be made public ; and. on the same being so done, we will not. from thence- forth, have any commercial connection with such merchant. •Sixth. That such as are owners of vessels will give positive orders to their captains, or masters, not to receive on board their vessels any goods prohibited by the said non-importation agree- ment, on pain of immediate dismission from their service. "Seventh. We will use our utmost endeavors to improve the breed of sheep, and increase their number to the greatest extent : and to that end, we will kill them as seldom as may be, especially those of the most profitable kind, nor will we export any to the West-Indies or elsewhere ; and those of us, who are or may become overstocked with or can conveniently spare any sheep, will dispose of them to our neighbors, especially to the poorer sort, on moder- ate terms. "Eighth. We will, in our several stations, encourage frugality, economy, and industry, and promote agriculture, arts and the man- ufactures of this country, especially that of wool ; and will dis- countenance and discourage every species of extravagance and dis- sipation, especially all horse-racing, and all kinds of gaming, cock- fighting, exhibitions of shows, plays, and other expensive diver sions and entertainments : and on the death of any relation or friend, none of us, or any of our families, will go into any further mourning-dress than a black crape or ribbon on the arm or hat for gentlemen, and a black ribbon and necklace for ladies, and we will discontinue the giving of gloves and scarfs at funerals. "Ninth. Such as are vendors of goods or merchandise will not take advantage of the scarcity of goods, that may be occasioned by this association, but will sell the same at the rates we have been respectively accustomed to do for twelve months last past. And CARPENTERS' HALL. 65 if any vendor of goods or merchandise shall sell any such goods on higher terms, or shall, in any manner, or by any device whatso- ever, violate or depart from this agreement, no person ought, nor will any of us, deal with any such person, or his or her factor or agent, at any time thereafter, for any commodity whatever. "Tenth. In case any merchant, trader or other person shall import any goods or merchandise after the first day of December and before the first day of February next, the same ought forth- with, at the election of the owner, to be either reshipped or delivered up to the committee of the county or town wherein they shall be imported, to be stored at the risk of the importer until the non-importation agreement shall cease, or be sold under the direction of the committee aforesaid ; and in the last-mentioned case, the owner or owners of such goods shall be reimbursed out of the sales the first cost and charges, the profit, if any, to be applied toward relieving and employing such poor inhabitants of the town of Boston as are immediate sufferers by the Boston Port Bill; and a particular account of all goods so returned, stored or sold to be inserted in the public papers ; and if any goods or merchandises shall be imported after the said first day of February, the same ought forthwith to be sent back again, without breaking any of the packages thereof. "Eleventh. That a committee be chosen in every county, city and town, by those who are qualified to vote for representatives in the legislature, whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this association ; and when it shall be made to appear, to the satisfaction of a majority of any such committee, that any person within the limits of their appointment has violated this association, that such majority do forthwith cause the truth of the case to be published in the gazette; to the end. that all such foes to the rights of British-America may be publicly known and universally contemned as the enemies of American liberty; and thenceforth we respectively will break off all dealings with him or her. " Twelfth. That the committee of correspondence, in the respect- ive colonies, do frequently inspect the entries of their custom- 66 ORATION OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN. houses, and inform each other, from time to time, of the true state thereof, and of every other material circumstance that may occur relative to this association. "Thirteenth. That all manufactures of this country be sold at reasonable prices, so that no undue advantage be taken of a future scarcity of goods. "Fourteenth. And we do further agree and resolve that we will have no trade, commerce, dealings or intercourse whatsoever, with any colony or province, in North-America, which shall not accede to or which shall hereafter violate this association, but will hold them as unworthy of the rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country. "And we do solemnly bind ourselves and our constituents, under the ties aforesaid, to adhere to this association, until such parts of the several acts of Parliament, passed since the close of the last war, as impose or continue duties on tea, wine, molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, sugar, pimento, indigo, foreign paper, glass and painters' colors, imported into America, and extend the powers of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorize the judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might otherwise be liable to, from a trial by his peers, require oppressive security from a claimant of ships or goods seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, are repealed. And until that part of the act of the 12 G. 3, ch. 24, entitled 'An act for the better securing His Majesty's dock-yards, magazines, ships, ammunition and stores,' by which any persons charged with committing any of the offences therein described, in America, may be tried in any shire or county within the realm, is repealed ; and until the four acts, passed the last session of Parliament — viz., that for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor of Boston, that for altering the charter and government of the Massachusetts Bay, and that which is entitled 'An act for the better administration of justice, etc." and that 'For extending the limits of Quebec, etc' — are repealed. And we recommend it to the provincial conventions, and to the committees in the respective colonies, to establish such further regu- CARPENTERS ' J /ALL. 67 lations as they may think proper, for carrying into execution this association. " The foregoing association, being determined upon by the Con- gress, was ordered to be subscribed by the several members thereof; and thereupon we have hereunto set our respective names accordingly. "In Congress, Philadelphia, October 20, 1774. "Signed, Peyton Randolph, President. New Hampshire, < I Nathaniel Folsom. Massachusetts Bay, < Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, r Thomas dishing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine. j Stephen Hopkins, I Samuel Ward. Eliphalet Dyer, x Roger Sherman, [^ Silas Deane. Isaac Low, John Alsop, John Jay, James Duane, William Floyd, Henry Wisner, S. Boerum, ^ Philip Livingston. r James Kinsey, William Livingston, Stephen Crane, Richard Smith, ^ John De Hart. 68 OK ATI OX OF HENRY ARM ITT BROWN. Pennsylvania, New Castle, etc., Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Joseph Galloway, John Dickinson, Charles Humphreys, Thomas Mifflin, Edward Biddle, John Morton, George Ross. Caesar Rodney, Thomas M'Kean, [ George Read. Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, j William Paca, I Samuel Chase. Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, P. Henry, Jun., Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, ^ Edmund Pendleton. William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, [ R. Caswell. 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