imil RE- UNI ON OF THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS NEWPORT, R. I., August 23, 1859. By GEORGE C. MASON. COMPILED AND PRINTED BY ORDER OP THE GENERAL COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. NEWPORT, R. I. FRED. A. PRATT & CO., CITY PRINTERS. 1859. TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF NEWPORT, R. I., AT HOME AND ABROAD, This Volume is RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. iCity Seal.'] Mayor's Office, Newport, R. I., Auguft 31, 1859. My Dear Sir, The Committee of Arrangements for the Re-union of the Sons and Daughters of the Ifland of Rhode Ifland, on the twenty-third inft., have decided to publifh a full and accurate hiftory of the Celebration, in pamphlet form ; and they would be very glad if you would prepare the Work for publication, elpecially as you felt fo much intereft in the Celebration, and labored earneftly for its fuccefs. Yours Very Truly, WILLIAM H. CRANSTON, Mayor, And Chairman of Committee of Arrangements. George C. Mason, Efq., Newport. Newport, R. I., 061. i, 1859. My Dear Sir, I have the pleafure of acknowledging the receipt of your favor of the thirty-firft of Auguft, as Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, requefting me to prepare for publication a full and accurate hiftory of the late Re-union of the Sons and Daughters of this Ifland, and in compliance with that wilh, I herewith tranfmit the manufcript for your confideration. At the time of the Celebration, I prepared for the Provi dence Journal as full a report of all that tranJpired, as the hurry of the moment would permit. That report has been correfted and expanded into the prefent hiftory. To the above, I have added a hiftory of the Redwood Library, prepared nearly at the fame time and for the fame paper, deeming it not out of place in a record of this kind, inafinuch as it was expefted that the inauguration of the enlargement of the Library would take place on the day, following the Re -union, but which ceremony was unavoid ably poftponed on account of the illness of the Orator of the day. Very Truly Yours, GEO. C. MASON. Hon. Wm. H. Cranston, Mayor, and Chairman Com. Arrangements. THE RE-UNION. CHAPTER I. ITS ORIGIN. "Haft thou come with the heart of thy childhood back ? The free, the pure, the kind ? — So murmur'd the trees in my homeward track. As they play'd to the mountain wind. Then my tears gulhe'd forth in fudden rain. As I anlwercd. Oh, ye fliades ! I bring not my childhood's heart again To the freedom of your glades. But I bear from ray childhood a gift of tears. To foften and atone ; And oh ! ye fcenes of thofe blefs'd years. They fliall make me again your own." The twenty-third of Auguft, 1859, witneffed an event in the hiftory of Newport, R. I., long to be remembered with joy and pleafure; for, on that day, her abfent fons, for the firft time fince the colony was founded, returned at a given fignal to receive her greetings, and to 8 THE RE-UNION. renew their vows of attachment to the fpot that gave them birth. It was a happy thought, that of inviting the abfent fons and daughters of places which have been robbed to ftrengthen more profperous towns and cities, to return for a brief period at an appointed time, and no city or town could enter more heartily into the fpirit of fuch a move than Newport ; for, during a period em bracing nearly a century, flie has annually fent forth her children to make a name and a home elfewhere, in preference to bringing them up but indifferently at home. Her refources once were larger; but time and the fluftuations of trade and commerce have greatly reduced them, and rather than educate her children in idlenefs, to leave them helpleffly dependent, flie has pre ferred to fend them forth into the world as foon as they were able to go alone. To coUeft the furvivors in Newport again, ere the grave clofed over the prefent generation, has been the wifli of many ; and to this end, a call was made nearly a year ago, through the columns of the Mer cury, as follows : — " It is gratifying, at this feafon of the year, to welcome our young men, as they come, with enthufiaftic delight, to mingle in ITS ORIGIN. Q familiar fcenes that are ftill dear as ever to their hearts. It is faid, that the inhabitants of the iflands are always diftiriguiflied for the ftrength of their local attachments. This is certainly true of the natives of Rhode Ifland, and it would be ftrange if they did not appreciate its lovelinefs, fince even ftrangers have called their ifland home the Eden of America. How pleaf- ant it would be, if, for once, the abfent ones could all be gathered together to fpend one happy week at home. Go to New York, Bos ton, or any other great centre of trade, even in the cities of the far Weft, and there you will find prominent among the merchants, manufac turers, artifans, bankers and profeflional men, the worthy fons of Rhode Ifland. Who among them will respond to this call for a family meet ing, and name fome fitting day in the fummer of 1859, when the fons and daughters, now "Exiles of Eden," may rejoice together upon our beach, and listen, once more, to the mufic of the ocean. "Breathes there the man with foul fo dead," that he would not make the greateft facrifices to vifit his own dear native ifle, and to be prefent at fuch a family gathering ? We truft not. Let us hear from the abfent ones. lO THE RE-UNION. "It is painful to reflect that the bone and finew of our place is thus continually withdrawn to build up other and diftant cities. Will our cap- italifts ever find it to their interefts to open new avenues of trade, and employ the aftivity and energy of our young men at home ? Is there no feafible plan by which our refources may be developed, and commerce and manufacture receive an impulfe which fliall draw back the capital and induftry of Newport from other channels ? Muft our beloved city continue to bear the ignoble reputation of being nothing more than a fafliionable watering place ? "Thefe, and other queftions of vital intereft to our native ifle, might be profitably difcufl'ed at a family gathering. Again we commend this fubjeft to the " Exiles from Eden." How many will come, with warm loving hearts, to meet their Newport friends at home, if their lives are {pared to Auguft, 1859? Who will refpond to this fuggeftion, and name a day for our family meeting? — R." The St. Louis correfpondent of that paper immediately took it up, and warmly feconded the move made by «R," and this, in time, called out other writers, all of whom as heartily ap proved of the meafure; but no ft^ps were taken ITS ORIGIN. U for the confummation of fo desirable an end till the Spring of 1859 ^^^ finally opened, when a day was finally fixed upon, and the word went forth that the abfent Sons and Daughters . of Newport were expefted to return on the 23d of Auguft, to be entertained by the Sons and Daughters at home. The magnitude of the undertaking, for the inhabitants of a quiet place like Newport, can hardly be comprehended, for up to the laft mo ment, it was impoffible to fay how many would be prefent from abroad. The exodus which has been going on for fo long a period, has robbed. her of the lifeblood which fhould have been retained to infure her own growth and pros perity. It is a fingular fact that, notwithftand- ing the influx of the paft twenty years, during a period of more than four fcore years, the num ber of the inhabitants has not changed. To-day the population is no greater than in 1774. The aftual difference is only one hundred and fifty ; and whilft this old " commercial emporium " has been ftanding ftill, New York, Providence, New Bedford, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and other places, owe not a little of their fuccefs to the energy of men who here received the rudiments of their 12 THE RE-UNION. education, — men who went forth in the fpring time of life, with little more than a change of clothing, to make a fortune and a name. And in this they have been remarkably succefsful. They have done well; reverfes they have met with, (for no man of bufinefs can hope to efcape thefe things,) but they have been fuperior to them, and with the buoyancy of the waves on which they ufed to ride in childhood, they have furmounted every obftacle, and have gained many a noble prize. Newport has reafon to be proud of the fons flie has tranfplanted, and the cities and towns they have benefited by their enterprife and indus try have shown a proper appreciation of their value as citizens, by elevating them to pofts of honor and truft. Providence fent a delegate who has, in times paft, held a diftinguiflied place in the legiflative affembly of the State, and another (one of the poets of the day,) who has been twice honored as the chief magiftrate in the home of his adoption. And, out of fix repre- fentatives fi-om New Bedford to the State Legis lature, four of the number hail from this ifland. In the army and in the navy, in the pulpit and in the legiflative halls, in feats of learning and in ITS ORIGIN. 13 the mart, the fons of Newport maintain an hon orable pofition, and, to-day, they have come from the North and the South, from the Eaft and the Weft, to the place of their birth, as children, long abfent, return to the warm and hearty embrace of a mother who knows no change, and whofe life is bound up in the profperity of her offspring. No people were ever more ftrongly attached to the fpot where their early years were paflTed than thefe fame iflanders, who may be allowed a more than ordinary degree of enthufiafm when they fpeak of " the gem of the ocean.'' There probably is no ftronger feeling in the human heart, than that of attachment to "home," wherever that may be. We see it alike in the Swifs, ftruggling for a bare fubfift- ence amid the eternal fnows of the cloud-capped Alps; in the brawny Scot, whofe hills can fcarcely fuftain a ftunted growth of broom and heath, and in the more favored dwellers of a land flowing with milk and honey.. Men tranf planted to other fields, even where their condi tion has been vaftly improved, have fickened and died without apparent caufe, breathing with their lateft breath the name of " home," and fol- diers who languiflied and drooped have been 14 THE KE-UNION. roufed to deeds of valor by the found of the fliepherd's pipe, which carried the mind back to fcenes dearer to the heart than lite itfelf Moore wrote nothing more touchingly beautiful than " the Exile of Erin ; " no fong has contributed more to make the name of Burns a houfehold word than " Auld Lang Syne ; " and fo long as there is a fpark of love for this facred fpot in the breaft of man, the name of John Howard Payne will be revered for his gift of " Home, fweet Home." Thefe fongs and ballads are entwined around our hearts. We love them becaufe they are true to our natural inftin,as, and fill a place that would otherwife be made void and defolate. Home is the talifman that opens our hearts, the « open sesame " that unlocks all our affec tions, — and "home" was the burden of the fong on the twenty-third. (15) CHAPTER II. THE ORGANIZATION. His Honor, Mayor Cranfton, in his annual addrefs, June 6, 1859, called the attention of the City Council to the propofed Re-union, and at a fubfequent meeting of that body, on the 21ft of the fame month, it was voted to appropriate the fum of one thoufand dollars towards defraying the expenfe of the celebration,, and a Committee of the following named gentlemen were ap pointed to make the 'neceffary arrangements : WM. H. CRANSTON, Mayor. Board of Aldermen, Common Council, John C. Ailman, R. J. Taylor, Pres't. Wm. C. Townsend. Thomas Coggeshall, John Stoddard, Wm. S. Cranston, Jr. At Large, Ex-Mayor Wm. C. Cozzens, and Philip Rider, Esq. This was the firft important move to carry out the wiflies of the many in regard to the Re-union of the Sons and Daughters of Newport. Subfequently, the above Committee invited l6 THE RE-UNION. the different incorporated bodies in the city to fend delegates to a Convention to be held in the City Hall, and in compliance with this requeft, the following appointments were made : Artillery Company, Col. Turner. St. John's Lodge, No. i, Gilbert Chace, Esq. R. I. Lodge I. O. of O. F., Wm. B. Sherman, Esq. Newport Hiftorical Society, Hon. Thomas R. Hunter. Redwood Library, Geo. C. Mason, Esq. Atlantic Div., Sons of T., S. T. Hopkins, Efq. Board of Firewards, Ex-Mayor Wm. J. Swinburne. Mufical Inftitute, Ira N. Stanley, Efq. Philharmonic Society, T. W. Wood, Efq. Hook attd Ladder Co., W. H. Greene, Efq. Engine Co. No. 3, Capt. Julius Sayer. " " " 4. " George S. Ward. 5> Lewis Lawton Simmons, Esq. " " 1, Henry B. Burdick;, Efq. At a meeting of thefe delegates, in conneftion with the Committee appointed by the City Council, Thomas Coggefliall, Esq. was eleSed Secretary and Treafurer, and, on a motion, it was alfo voted that the following named gentle men be invited to take part in the proceedings, as reprefentatives of the Prefs: James Atkinson, Frederick A. Pratt, and George T. Hammond, Efqrs. THE ORGANIZATION. 1 7 It was alfo voted that a meeting of the citi zens be called at Aquidneck Hall, to fecure the hearty co-operation of the whole public in a matter of fuch general intereft. The meeting was accordingly called, and fpeeches were made by Hon. Wm. C. Cozzens, in the Chair, and by Wm. P. Sheffield, John T. Bush, Wm. D. Lake, and Wm. S. Nichols, Efqrs. The following delegates, to reprefent the citizens, were alfo appointed : W. P. Sheffield, Efq., John T. Bush, Efq., N. M. Chaffee, Efq., Wm. Newton, Efq., D. T. Swinburne, Elq. At the next meeting of the Convention, to facilitate matters, and to divide the duties that devolved on the general Committee, the follow ing fub-committees were appointed : Finance. Thomas R. Hunter, William P. SheiEeld, WiOiam Newton, N. M., Chaffee, Julius Sayer, S. T. Hopkins, F. A. Pratt, G. T. Hammond, WilUam S. Cranfton, Jr., G. S. Ward. D. T. Swinburne, Mujic, Salutes and Bells. R. J. Taylor, Thomas Coggefliall, Col. Turner. 2* i8 THE RE-UNION. Illuminations, Arrangement of Tent, l£c. Thomas Coggefliall, Julius Sayer, William S. Cranston, Jr., William B. Sherman, William Newton, John Stoddard, William C. Townsend. Printing, and Record of Vijitors. James Atkinfon, F. A. Pratt, I. N. Stanley, William H. Greene, G. T. Hammond, T. W. Wood, Gilbert Chace. Reception and Arrangement. William C. Cozzens, George C. Mafon, R. J. Taylor, William P. Sheffield, Thomas R. Hunter, Correfponding Committee. William H. Cranfton, Robert J. Taylor, George C. Mafon, William C. Townfend, Gilbert Chace, William H. Greene. James Atkinfon, Philip Rider, Gilbert Chace. Collation. Philip Rider, James Atkinfon, D. T. Swinburne, Thomas Coggefliall, John T. Bush, Wm. Newton. Chief Marjhall. Hon. WILLIAM J. SWINBURNE, who subfequently made the following appointment of Aids. James Phillips, Henry W. Cozzens, James G. Cozzens, Charles H. White, J. Edward Nicolai, Henry G. Cottrell, Ifaac Gould, Wm. James Coddington. THE ORGANIZATION. 19 The Committees, now fairly organized, at once prepared to perform their feveral parts, and the duty devolving on each one received proper attention. That on Finances commenced raifing fubfcriptions in addition to the fum ap propriated by the City. The Committee on Illumination and Decoration made arrangements with Col. Wm. Beals, the well-known decorator, to fupply the neceffary number of flags, feftoons, mottoes, arches, lanterns, &c. That on Colla tion contrafted with Meffrs. G. T. Downing and Isaac Rice, to furnifli refrefliments for twenty- five hundred perfons at dinner, and alfo for the evening's entertainment. The Committee on Tent made arrangements with Meffrs. Prince & Baker, of Bofton, for two large tents, — one capable of feating three thoufand perfons at table, and a fmaller one of the capacity of fifteen hundred perfons. The Committee on Mufic, Salutes, &c., engaged the fervices of the Amer ican Brafs Band, and Shepherd's Cornet Band, and arranged with the Artillery Company to fire a national falute on the morning of the twenty-third, and to have the various bells in the City rung at funrife, and during the time the pro- ceflion was moving. The Committee on Print- 20 THE RE-UNION. ing and Record of Vifitors ordered a handfome record-book, ruled expreiTIy for the purppfe, and fo arranged as to give the name of every returned Son and Daughter, with their father's name and the maiden name of the mother, their prefent place of refidence, and their profellion. The Committee of Correfpondence had a circu lar prepared, to which reference will be had in the following chapter, and the printing of the different badges was alfo ordered, as well as the various tickets to be ufed on the occafion. The Badges worn by the returned Sons and Daughters were of blue fatin, bearing the City Seal, and "Welcome Home, 23d Auguft, 1859." That of invited guefts, members of different focieties not in uniform, or wearing regalia, and citizens who took part in the procefllon, was of white fatin, bearing the City Seal, and " Re-union, 23d Auguft, 1859." Fac-fimiles of thefe badges are here intro duced. The different Committees, and the Marfoals, were furniftied with rofettes. THE ORGANIZATION. 21 WELCOME HOME, 23d august, 1859. 22 THE RE-UNION, (23) CHAPTER III. THE INVITATION AND THE RESPONSE. The following Circular was fent to every abfent Son and Daughter, whofe name and addrefs could be afcertained by the Correfpond ing Committee: Newport, R. I., July 18, 1859. Dear Sir: The Correfponding Committee of the Convention compofed of members of the City Council, and various focieties and incor porated bodies of Newport, organized for the purpofe of providing for the reception and entertainment of the abfent Sons of Newport, who are expefted to affemble in Newport on the twenty-third of Auguft next, to participate in a grand re-union, would moft refpeftfully afk your qo-operation in afcertaining the number of Sons of Newport refiding in your City who probably will be prefent on that occafion, and to call your attention to the following fuggeftions : 1. Every Son of Newport, on his arrival in the City, is invited to call at the Common Coun cil Chamber, in the City Hall, corner of Thames Street and Long Wharf, and there regifter his name in a book prepared for the purpofe, with 24 THE RE-UNION. the names of his parents, his prefent place of refi dence, and his profefTion. This book is to be carefully preferved and depofited in the archives of the Hiftorical Society, or in the Redwood Library — a valuable memorial, to be handed down to the generations that may affemble here on a fimilar occafion, at fome future day. 2, Every Son of Newport, thus prefenting himfelf, will be furniflied with a badge or fome diftinguifliing mark by which his claims to a place in the procefllon, and during the ceremo nies of the day, will be recognized. This, the Committee deem indispenfible, for the crowd on that day will be very great, and it has already been intimated that large numbers will be pref ent, who have no fpecial claims on the Sons of Newport at home, and who, if not thus checked, woyld probably monopolize the places defigned for thofe to whom we wifti to extend a true and hearty welcome. The Committee would alfo refpeftfuUy alk that this communication be laid before the Sons of Newport refiding in your City, and that fome one be delegated to reply, in their behalf, to the greeting of his Honor the Mayor, and others appointed for that purpofe. All fpeeches on the occafion will be Jhort. This, of necelTity, muft be the cafe, for we wifli to hear from all our abfent friends, and numerous long addreffes would not be the way to entertain thofe we wifli to take by the hand and converfe of Newport INVITATION AND RESPONSE. 2^ as it was, ds it is, and as we hope it will be. We fhould like to know, at an early day, the names of thofe who are delegated to refpond. After the ceremonies, and for feveral days fubfequent to the twenty-third of Auguft, the different focieties will receive and entertain thofe formerly connefted with them, or now affociated with fimilar organizations in the homes of their adoption; on which occafion there will be ad dreffes, mufic, &c. Believing that every Son of Newport, who has gone out to gather for himfelf and to make a name, will efteem it a privilege and a pleafure to return to the fcenes of his childhood at a time like this, in behalf of thofe we, reprefent, we bid them welcome ; and may the memory of the day we are about to celebrate add another hal lowed affociation to the paft, and bind yet more ftrongly the ties which have entwined around the hearts and the homes of the Sons of New port. With refpeft, we remain, dear Sir, Very truly, yours, ' WM. H. CRANSTON, Mayor. ROBT. J. TAYLOR, Prejl. Common Council. GEORGE C. MASON, Redwood Library. WILLIAM C. TOWNSEND, Alderman. GILBERT CHACE, St. John's Lodge, No. i. WM. H. GREENE, H. & L. Co. It would be impoffible for us, if we would confine this volume within reafonable bounds, to 3 26 THE RE-UNION. introduce here all the replies received. We ihall, therefore, feleft a limited number, to fliow with what fpirit tl^e invitation was received by the abfent ones. The firft is from P. W- Engs, Esq., a Son of Newport, and now a diftinguiflied merchant in the city of New York. Unfortunately, he could not be prefent on the occafion, a matter of regret to his many friends in the place of his birth. He fays : " It is now nearly fifty-four years fince, leav ing the place of my nativity, I'caft my lot with the people of New York. This period has been, and continues tp be, one of aftive life, ¦ public as well as private ; yet I believe that in the midft of confequent engagements, I have never loft fight of the interefts of Newport, while my frequent vifits there, and intercourfe with my fellow-townfmen, has renewed and pre ferved former endearments, fo that I have never left the ftidres of my native ifland without caft- ing that lingering look behind which fighs for the paft and implores bleffings for the future. With fuch feelings and attachments, you may congratulate yourfelves that I have to fubftitute this communication in place of a verbal one, which would have been anything elfe but ' fliort,' had I fpoken of one tithe of the fads INVITATION AND RESPONSE. 1"] and incidents which my memory has ftored up from tradition and obfervation. If I felt at liberty to fpeak of men, and could do it without being fubjed to the charge of invidioufnefs, I Ihould like to call up the mem ory of our early political fathers, names that have carried with them veneration and refped among all clones, and I would more efpe dally refer to the commercial men of Newport, while I would not omit to name thofe who have hon ored her in the United States Senate, and I would bid defiance to any city of the fame population in our country, to fliow that flie has fent to that auguft body three men of equal qualification with thofe that went from Newport But it will not be invidious to fpeak of John Bannister and Aaron Lopez, becaufe they were fo identified with Newport in the days of her. greateft commercial profperity, that to mention them is to tell of her early commerce — thofe golden days, when, availing of natural advan tages, our little city held a proud pre-eminence in the feaports of our country, and her mer chants gave to their calling that charader of induftrious integrity which is 'religion at the mart' It was my fortune to have a grandfather contemporary with thefe, whofe extenfive expe rience was imparted to many others, of whom I am not afraid to fay, that the records of his capacity as a merchant, caft in the Ihade any thing to be met with in this great commercial city of New York, even in the prefent day." 28 THE RE-UNION. Another letter, dated Waterloo, Auguft I2th, is as follows : " For myfelf, and my three younger brothers, James, John E., and Henry, aU now of Western New York, I have to fay, that although the Quaket in us is fomewhat oppofed to pageants of every kind, yet we do moft heartily approve of the propofed re-union of Old Newport's fcattered Sons. But one of our number has lately returned from Newport, and the others have to regret that it wifl not be convenient for them to revifit that matchlefs ifland of their birth this feafon. Knowing that the programme of Celebration will be carried out by the Committee with that order and true refpectabflity for which my townfmen were diftinguiflied, even in the olden times, and hoping that the now returned Sons and Daughters will there as brothers mingle together in that brotherly feeling that cafteth out all un worthy pride and pretenfion, I fubfcribe myfelf an old, but, neverthelefs, an ever mindful, true, loving Son of Newport. SAMUEL WILLIAMS." The following, from Major Sherman, is dated Fort Ridgely, Min., Aug. ii, 1859. Gentlemen: — Your communication of July 18th, conveying an invitation, in behalf of the invitation and response. 29 citizens of Newport, to the Sons of Newport, to be prefent at the grand re-union which is to take place on the 23d inft., has juft been re ceived. It is with painful regret, fi:om circumftances not within my control, that I fliall be unable to join you on fo interefting an occafion — an occafion, it is hoped, that will be fraught with the -happieft refults for the honor and good name of old Newport, and for the future profperity and fuccefs of our beloved Union of States. The natives of Newport, after enjoying the privilege of tefting the moral and political char acter of other communities in which they have fojourned, will, in this re-union, have the ftill greater privilege of comparing their notes, fo to fpeak, and before their feparation forever, fettle upon, by a mutual interchange of fentiments, a religious and political confervative policy that will redound to the prefervation of the Union, the happinefs of future generations, and more indiredly, but not more furely, the peace and welfare of the whole world. Never could there be a more propitious feafon for the Sons of Newport to unitedly fow broad- caft over the face of this extenfive land that wholefome confervative policy for which the ancient town is fo diftnguifhed, and, by fo doing, unitedly frown upon all thofe who, in recent days, prefume to hold themfelves above the law, ignore the Conftitution of the land, and fome- 30 THE re-union. times even, under the cloak of religion, im- pioufly preach rank infidel<;y, difunion, and difhonor. I truft in God that this happy re-union of the Sons of Newport wifl not diffolve until a unani mous pledge be formally, but fincerely given, to traiiT up their children, fcattered over the whole land, with the Holy Bible in one hand, and the Conftitution of the United States, and Laws enaded in purfuance thereof, in the other ; and without improperly refifting that licenfe neceffary to all human accountability, to teach their children the neceffity, due to all found government, of loyally fubmitting theii: Bible and Conftitution to the interpretation of the proper tribunal. I have the honor to be, gen tlemen, with high regard, Your townfman, F. W. SHERMAN. Another is from Lieut. Marin, ftationed on board U. S. Ship Ohio, Bofton harbor. My Dear Sir: — I thank you for the kind invitation to join in the Celebration to take place in Newport, on the 23d inft., when the Sons and Daughters of the Ifland of Rhode Ifland are to have a re-union. I regret I cannot have the pleafure of being with you on the 23d, for I can weU imagine. invitation and response. 31 Sir, the happy faces that will furreund you on that day, when fo many of thofe now abfent will re-unite in the happy Ifle-home of their childhood. My fympathies will be with you on that pleafant occafion, for the ifland has become my home by adoption, and is the birth-place of my children. May they always be proud of their heritage. In ybur re-union I beg you to accept my humble wilh and fentiment God blefs the Sons and Daughters of Rhode Ifland, wherever they may go. Her Sons are brave and independent. Her Daughters fo fair and good that neither clouds nor fogs change them. I am very truly your obedient fervant, M. C. MARIN, U. S. N. Surgeon General's Office, Washington, August l6, 1859. Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 1 8th of July, inviting me, as one of the Sons of Newport, to be prefent on the 23d inft., has been received. I know of no event which would have afford ed me more pleafure than a re-union with old friends, and vifiting old and familiar fcenes. There are but few Newporters in this city, and they have been made acquainted with the meeting of the 23d. 32 THE RE-UNION. I very much regret that I cannot be with you, but beg leave to tender to you and your aflTo- ciates my cordial and friendly falutation. RefpedfuUy and truly, R. C. WOOD, ASing Surgeon General, [Letter from Chief Justice Ames.] Providence, Thurfday, Aug. 18, 1859. Wm. C. Cozzens, Esq., Committee, &c. : My Dear Sir : — I have already been obliged to decline the polite invitation of the Committee to attend your approaching Celebration, on ac count of the ftate of my health, and of courfe muft requeft you to put into other hands the duty and pleafure of refponding to the toaft in memory of your departed profeffional worthies. They were certainly the glory of the Bar of this State ; and for talent, learning, and accomplilh- ments, were excelled in the Bar of no other State. I am glad that you defign to honor them as they in their day have honored you, and re gret that it will not be in my power to take part in the performance of fo pious a duty. Very refpedfuUy, Your friend and obedient fervant, SAMUEL AMES. INVITATION and RESPONSE. 33 [Letter from Gov. Fish, of New York. J New York, Aug. 22, 1 859. Dear Sir : — I have the honor to acknowledge the invitation which the Committee of Arrange ments for the Re-union Celebration have (through you) kindly volunteered to me for to-morrow. I Ihould be moft happy of the opportunity to be prefent on this interefting occafion ; but fome bufinefs engagements call me to New York, and compel me to deny myfelf the pleafure which the acceptance of the invitation would have afforded. Very refpedfuUy, yours,' J. HAMILTON FISH. Lancaster, N. H., Aug. 22d, 1859. My Dear Sir : — Your very kind note, of the 17th inft., did not reach me until yefterday. I had been hoping for a long time to enjoy the pleafure of meeting many old friends, at your re-union to-morrow. I underftood from Rev Mr. Brooks, whom I met with in Bofton, in May laft, that the feftival would not take place before the very laft of this month; and that I Ihould probably have notice in time to make arrangements for a vifit to the land of my fathers, — to the town, now a city, where the firft twenty-one years of my life were paffed. The delay has been occafioned by your fuppofing my refidence was in Bofton, inftead of this far-off 34 THE RE-UNION. region, among the mountains of New Hamp- fliire, and upwards of three hundred miles from Newport. My profeflional duties yefterday, of courfe prevented all thoughts of a journey to day. Indeed, it would have been impoffible for me to have got ready in fo limited a time. I defire to exprefs my fincere regrets that the only opportunity of meeting old friends in this world, is denied me. It would have pleafed me much, to have me morized the virtues of the excellent men whofe lives were fpent in educating fouls for heaven. I could have given many interefting remin- ifcences of good Parfon Thurfton, of the Baptift Church. Parfon Eddy, Theodore Debon, Dr. Hopkins, John Bradley, Mr. Tenny, Mr. Smith, of the Moravian Society. My own minifter, Dt Patten (I recoiled every family who fat under his preaching, and could defignate each pew they occupied in Clarke Street Church.) There was alfo a IMfethodift minifter, Mr. Merwin; and venerable Parfon Blifs, who lived in "Green End," and who once, on a Saturday, whilft per forming the rite of baptifm at Gravelly Point, on Long Wharf, fell into the water and nearly loft his life. You muft take the wfll for the deed. It may not be wholly uninterefting to you to know that I am preparing a fmaU volume of recoUedions of my native place. Your name is familiar to me ; I knew the "old folks," and frequently vifited them. INVITATION AND RESPONSE. 3^ Pleafe fend me a newfpaper containing the beft account of the Celebration, and oblige Your Friend, GEO. G. CHANNING. Wm. C. Cozzens, Esq. P. S. The above fignature I commenced fub- fcribing in 1803. The initial ftands for Gibbs, my moft excellent uncle. Halifax, N. S., Sept 4th. Sir : — I have the honor to acknowledge your circular of the 18th of Jx^ly, which reached me on the 19th of Auguft. Following its fuggeftions, I found only one gentleman in Halifax, befides myfelf, a native of Nfiwport — the prefent Chief Juftice of Nova Scotia, Sir Brenton Halliburton, Bt, a gentleman whofe high pofition and perfonal worth would at once have pointed him out as the proper one to reprefent the natives of Newport here refident In declining this oflBce from increafing age and feeble health. Sir Brenton defires me to affure you, Mr. Mayor, and his fellow townfmen, of the warm intereft and good wiflies he ftill re tains for his native place, whofe earlieft affocia- tions are mingled with civil difcord, troops and arms. Concerning the political refult of that conflid. 36 THE RE-UNION. he wrote in after years: ' It was a noble attempt to regulate focial happinefs with the flighteft pof- fible interference widi individual liberty.' Thus happily expreffing a fentiment in which all men now concur, though, unlike his, their memories cannot carry them back to thofe unhappy times. With regard to myfelf, I need not fay how honored I feel by your invitation, and how many friends, the companions of my boyhood, I hope I ftill retain among the Sons of Newport. I have the honor to be, Mr. Mayor, Your very ob't fervant, S. BERNARD GILPIN. To His Worfliip, the Mayor of Newport Another from Haverftraw, under the fame date, is figned " Uncle John ;" who Uncle John is has not yet turned up : " On ye morning of ye 23d inftant. Providence grant, may I have the hope and good pleafure to fee aU my dear Newport friends once more. So go on, go on, go on. Love and Friendfliip to old, old, old Newport Ifland. Uncle John." Another is from an old gentleman who left Newport feventy years ago, expreffing his pur pofe to be prefent, and declaring that he was " one of the boys who licked molaffes on the Long Wharf in the laft century." (37) CHAPTER IV. the decorations. The decorations were numerous, appropriate, and, in fome inftances, very beautiful, and we would, gladly, here introduce a defcription of them all, but muft content ourfelves by refer ring to the points which attraded moft attention. Flags and banners were ftreaming from every point; bunting was never more in demand in this old town, even in its days of commercial profperity : flags of every nation in the world, and of no nation under the fun, were given to the breeze ; from fteeple and turret, from win dow and balcony, and from chimney to fign- poft, bright colored ftripes were hung, — here in feftoons, there in wreaths, now fantaftically ei;i- twined around a motto, or there flaunting in the wind, and everywhere proclaiming that the day was one of general rejoicing, — a feftival in which all hearts were to partake, and which was to cement anew ties already the ftrongeft and moft enduring of all that find a home and rett ing place in the heart of man. 4 38 THE RE-UNION. The City Hall was adorned with the national flag, taftefuUy arranged over the front, with fef toons of bunting; and, in the centre, the motto, ''Hope." The ftores on the oppofite comers of the Parade, occupied by S. T. Hubbard and H. H. Young, were handfomely dreffed, as was alfo the whole front of the refidence of Auguftus Goflfe, Efq., where was difplayed the motto, ''Welcome Home." In the centre of the Parade, an arch with a fpan of twenty feet was raifed, the pillars of which were furrounded with evergreens. The whole was decorated with the "ftars and ftripes," and other flags, and the following motto graced the arch: "Welcome to our Ifland Homer The State Houfe was alfo taftefuUy arrayed in bright apparel ; the balcony, being a confpic- uous place, it was heavily draped with the national flag. In front there was a gilt buft of Waihington, with the name of the Father of the Country below it. Ex-Mayor Cdzzen's house, where His Excel lency, Gov. Turner, was fiofpitably entertained, was decorated with flags, and this motto over the door : " Welcome our Governor." THE DECORATIONS. 39 Engine Company, No. 3, covered the whole front of their houfe with flags and various de vices. An arch was carried acrofs the ftreet, dreffed with evergreens, flags, &c., and bearing the motto, "Welcome'." From the tall enfign ftaff there was a triple line of fignal flags reach ing from the truck to the ground, and over the entrance door there were two tigers valiantly defending a coat of arms. The members of the Company here entertained their guefts, Colum bian Engine Company, No. 5, of New Bedford, numbering fifty-feven men, and a band, of fev- enteen pieces, as well as their own band alfo numbering feventeen. On the oppofite corner, the refidence of Wm. Newton, Efq., there was alfo much tafte difplayed in the decorations. The Liberty Tree was an objed of great inter eft, and we may here be permitted to turn afide for a moment, to give a flight outline of its hif tory, In 1765, Capt Wm. Read -deeded his tri- , angle lot, at the jundion of Thames and Farewell Streets, to truftees, a felf-appointed body, and planted a tree in the centre, to commemorate the fpirited oppofition to the Stamp Act on the part of the people of Newport. During the 40 THE RE-UNION. time the ifland was in the poffeffion of the Britifli, this tree was cut down, but on the return of peace another was planted in its place, the remains of which are ftill ftanding. A plate of copper, oval in form, and nearly two feet in the longest diameter, was engraved by Wm. S.Nich ols, Efq., in 1823, and nailed to the tree. The infcription is as follows: "Tree of Liberty, planted April 25, 1783, by John Williams, John Stevens, John Henfliaw, Walter Johnfon, Samuel Simpfon, George Perry, Thomas Mumford, Job Townfend, Noah Barker, Thomas Stevens, Benjamin Lavi'ton, Robert Taylor, William Dodericfc." The tree was brought by thefe men from Ports mouth, on their flioulders. During the lapfe of years, the wood had grown over the plate, fo that but a fmall portion of it could be feen ; a few days prior to the Celebration, the accumula tion of wood, ^ nearly, or quite three inches in thicknefs, was" cut away, the plate was poHflied, and on the morning of the 23d it was beautifully. decorated with a wreath, by the ladies in the neighborhood. In front of the refidence of Rev. Henry Jack- l-HE DECORATIONS. 4I fon, D. D., a red and white flag was difplayed, bearing the motto, — " God blefs you and your Children." In the window of Meffrs. Gould's ftore was feen a flag bearing this infcription : "Rhode Ifland Colony flag; received from Eng land by Gov. Arnold, 1663; ufed till the vacuation of the Englijh, 1779." This was the Colonial flag, and was ufed from the time of the adoption of the Charter, Wed- nefday, November 24, 1663, to the Declaration of Independence, 1776, a period of 113 years. It was hid by the Colony CoUedor, John Wan ton, in the garret of his houfe, and on the re moval of a chimney it was found, after the lapfe of eighty years, with other revolutionary relics. Zenas L. ' Hammond, Efq., difplayed a large white flag in front of his refidence, bearing the American Eagle, furrounded by the names of all the States in the Union. Atlantic Divifion, Sons of Temperance, threw out a flag 40 X 20; and, in front of their hall, they difplayed the triangle and ftar, emblematic of their order, with the motto — " 'Inhere is Safety 4* 42 THE RE-UNION. Here." There were, alfo, decorations in tri-col- ored bunting. The Daily News office was alfo decorated with flags and bunting, taftefuUy arranged, with the motto — " T!he Pen is Mightier than the Sword." Benj. J. Tilley, Efq., draped his houfe with feftoons of white, blue and red, with a Chinefe kite in the centre, which arrived from San Fran- cifco on the morning of the 23d. Decorations of the front of the Hall of Rhode Ifland Lodge, No. 12, /. 0. of 0. F. Streamers of bunting, red, white and blue, were fufpended from the centre of the cornice to the jet over the firft ftory, forming a large tent; the fame, alfo, was feftooned acrofs the whole front Beneath this, and refting on the jet, was a handfome arch bearing this motto — " Our Pafs Word, this Day, is Welcome." Beneath the arch were three female figures, reprefenting Friendfliip, Love and Truth. Suf- pended acrofs the ftreet were flags andftreamers; among which was a white flag reprefenting the THE DECORATIONS. 43 AU-feeing Eye, with the rays; under the former was this motto — " Amicitia, Amor, Et Veritas." Beneath, a pair of hands clafped in friendfliip, "RJiode Ifland Lodge, No.\2, I. 0. of 0. F.," alfo, the Three Links of the Chain. Meffrs. Swinburne & Peckham hung out three flags in front of their ftore, fo arranged as to fhow them all to advantage. The Mercury office was adorned with a gener ous difplay of flags; and there was, alfo, a num ber of flags and feftoons, reaching from that building to the oppofite corners of Thames and Mill Streets. At the corner of Pelham and Thames Streets there was another fine difplay; and Meflxs. New ton & Co. draped their building with flags and ftreamers, furrounding a ftar, with the motto — " Welcome." The Poft Office was decorated, and difplayed the motto — " Union and Re-Union." There was, alfo, a difplay at Kinfley's Exprefs Office. 44 THE RE-UNION. The Cuftom Houfe was taftefuUy adorned, the bunting nearly covering the entire front Engine Company, No. 8, decorated their building with flags and evergreens, with the motto — " Welcome." They alfo kept open-houfe all day, and the many who called there fared fumptuoufly. The members of Engine Com pany, No. 7, alfo decorated their Engine Houfe. Wm. P. Congdon, Efq., drefled his houfe at the head of Broad Street with national flags, with the motto — " Welcome Home " — fet off to ad vantage on a raifed platform. John T. Stanhope, Efq., fo arranged the de^ corations of his ftore on Broad Street, as to repre fent the front of a large marque, with a ftar in the centre, bearing the motto — " General Greener The Old Stone Mill was decorated with fef toons of tri-colored bunting, flags, &c.,- and in front of it there was this motto — " '^hefame Old Mill." There were, alfo, two decorated ftands in Touro Park, for the bands which played there on the evening of the twenty-fecond. The Ocean Houfe prefented a very gay and animated appearance. Every part ^'of its long corridors was hung with bright colors, mottoes and other devices, and the effed of the whole THE DECORATIONS. 45 was heightened by the prefence of the numerous vifitors, gathered there to witnefs the moving of the proceffion, as it entered the tent on the ad joining lot The tent was adorned with hundreds of little flags, furmounted by the Stars and Stripes; and, within, there was alfo a fine difplay of bright- colored bunting, arranged in feftoons, and around the fides were efcutcheons, each one bearing the name of a Prefident of the United States. ( 46 ) CHAPTER V. THE ILLUMINATION. The City, on the evening of the twenty- fecond, prefented a gay and animated appear ance, for many of the buildings in the principal ftreets were illuminated, and from every corner fireworks were fent up, whilft hundreds and thoufands were abroad to enjoy the novelty of the fight. The chief attradion was the "Old Stone MiU," which, with the mufic-ftands on each fide of this venerable relic, difplayed the varied lights of five hundred Chinefe lanterns, arranged with confummate art, and to the ad miration of all who congregated there to witnefs the fpedacle, and to liften to the delicious mufic of the bands, which played alternately for feveral hours. A finer fight was never witneffed in Newport, and it will not foon be forgotten. On the corner of Touro and Beach Streets, S. Abbott Lawrence, Efq., made a fine difplay of brilliant lights and fireworks, on the grounds attached to his eftate. Colored Ughts. were fus- THE ILLUMINATION. 47 pended among the trees, and the whole neigh borhood was illuminated by a blue hght in the centre. ' In Broad Street, the principal illumination was that in front of Mr. John T. Stanhope's ftore, confiftiiag of numerous Chinefe lanterns, arranged in the form of a triangle. On Thames Street there was a fine difplay. Ex-Mayor Cozzen's houfe was illuminated with a few CJhinefe lanterns, and Aquidneck Engine Company, No. 3, made their houfe very attrac tive by the liberal difplay of colored lights. After nightfall, the long lines of fignal flags, ex tending from the ground to the top of their tall enfign-ftaff, were replaced by hundreds of Chinefe lanterns, making a pyramid of colored lights. The refidence of Auguftus Goffe, Efq., on the Parade, was alfo decorated with lanterns and other lights, and the corners of the Parade were very gay and animated. Here, for hours, rockets were fent up, and other fireworks of various kinds were let off by men and boys without ftint Benj. J. Tilley, Efq. Uluminated the whole front of his building, and Engine Company, No. 8, made a fine difplay at the fame time. 48 THE RE-UNION. The Redwood Library was Ughted up on the occafion, and for feveral evenings in fucceffion, much to the gratification of the returned Sons, who expreffed the pleafure it afforded them to witnefs the vaft improvement made in every thing relating to that venerable inftitution. R.L. Maitland, Efq., decorated his grounds in a fuperb manner, and as the Perry paffed with her living freight, her paflengers were delighted with the difplay. The whole fhore in the neigh borhood was in a blaze of different colored lights, taftefuUy arranged, and producing the finest effed. The Steamer Perry was not outdone on this important occafion, for her owner, R. B. Kinfley, Efq., liberally allowed the expenditure of a gen erous fum for colored lights, fireworks, &c. (49 ) CHAPTER VI. THE GATHERI NG. The Gathering commenced a week or two in advance of the day, and as the time drew near, the number of returned Sons and Daughters rapidly increafed. On Saturday, the 2odnof Auguft, the regiftry fhowed more than fix hun dred names already recorded. On Sunday, the influx was very great, and on Monday, at an early hour, the crowd in the Mayor's Office was fo denfe, and increafed fo rapidly, it was found impoffible to continue the regiftry of the names by the flow procefs of writing one at a time; it was, therefore, deemed expedient to unbind the Record, and fpread the fheets on different defks. This ftep afforded greater facilities for recoirding ; but even then, as the day advanced, the Com mittee of Arrangements found it a difficult mat ter to accommodate all who prefented themfelves, and at the laft moment, on Tuefday morning, many arrived only in time to join the proceffion, without having an opportunity to record their 5 ^O THE RE-UNION. names. Subfequently, many reported themfelves at the Mayor's Office, where their names were entered, and the lift, which we give at the clofe of the volume, embraces over eleven hundred names. We print only the names of the re turned Sons and Daughters; the names of their parents are neceffarily omitted, but any perfons desirous of afcertaining thefe, can infped the Record at aU times, at the Redwood Library, where it is kept open for the benefit of all who ar^ interefted in the fubjed. How the large concourfe affembled on this occafion was accommodated and made comfort able during their stay is ftill a myftery, for the city has never at any time had more fummer vifitors than during the month of Auguft, 1859. But ftill there was room for thofe who were fo near and dear to us. Every door was thrown open, and there was hardly a family in the place that did not number one or more guefts on that day. Every heart warmed with emotion at the fight of the retumed Sons and Daughters, and thefe guefts of the city were made to feel that they were indeed at home. How many perfons were adually prefent on the twenty-third, it would be impoflible to fay; THE GATHERING. 51 we can only arrive at the number by proxima- tion. There were no lefs than eleven fteamboats employed in bringing paffengers, fome of them of large capacity, and others making two trips each. The Empire State " brought from Fall River the paffengers who had arrived there per railroad from Bofton; the Eagle's Wing came loaded, from New Bedford; the Golden Gate arrived, once from Briftol, and again from Eaft Greenwich; the Young America and Jenny Lind, from Taunton and Fall River; the latter boat made two trips; the Perry, Canonicus, Ifland Home, Our Kate, and G. W. Lyon, from Providence; the Bradford Durfee from Fall River. To thefe muft be added the fail-boats and veffels in the bay, employed in bringing paffen gers from neighboring places, and alfo the number of paffengers landed here feveral days prior to the day of the Feftival. The fteamer Perry, alone, brought from Providence, on Tuef day morning, one thoufand perfons, and the evening before, Ihe alfo had as many paffengers as flie could accommodate; and the Eagle's Wing, on her return trip to New, Bedford, had on board over two thoufand paffengers. We C2 THE KE-UNION. may fafely fay, that the whole number prefent in Newport on the twenty-third, was not lefs than twenty-thoufand, or more than double her population. ^ CHAPTER VII. THE CELEBRATION. The morning of the twenty-third of Auguft was ufhered in with the ringing of bells, the firing of caqnon, and other demonftratipns of joy, and the decoration of the city, commenced a week in advance, was completed by an early hour. Old men, fome of them ftill ered in form, and others bowed with age, were ftroUing through the ftreets, looking for the landmarks of their earlier days ; others, ftill in the pride of manhood, were hailing with pleafure every face known to them in earUer years ; and children, THE CELEBRATION. 53 gleefome and happy, flocked around the fruit and candy ftores, or ftood with wondering gaze before the triumphant arches and the fhowy deco rations of the numerous public and private build ings arrayed in holiday apparel. At the hour for forming the Proceffion, the Steamer Perry, with the Providence delegation on board, had not arrived, owing to the great number of her paflTengers, and it was not till eleven and a half o'clock that the Chief Marflial and his Aids could form the Proceffion, on the Parade, in the following order, under the efcort of the Artillery Company, Col. Turner com manding. AMEEICAIT BRASS BAliTD, J. C. Greene, leader, 19 pieces. Newport Artillery, Col. C. W. Turner, 44 mufkets. Pawtucket Light Guard, Col. S. R. Bucklin, 45 mulkets ; which, by invitation of Col. Turner, of the Artillery, afted as body-guard to the Governor. His Excellency, Governor Thomas G. Turner, actompanied by his perfonal ftaff, and by Colonel Magruder and Lieutenant Duryea, U. S. A. ; Adjutant General E. C. Maurin and Aid; Quartermafter General T. J. Stead and ftaff; Major General John Gould and ftaff; 5* tA THE RE-UNION. Brigadier General J. S. Pitman and ftaff; all forming, by invitation, the Governor's general ftaff. AID. CHIEF MARSHAL. aid. Carriages containing invited guefts and others. Among thefe.were two officers of Perry's fleet, at the battle of Lake Erie, viz. : Lieutenant Thomas Brownell, of this city, and Dr. Uftier Parfons, of Providence. Torrent Engine Co., No. I, Captain William C. Townfend, forty men. GILMOEB'S CORNET BAWD, of Pawtucket, W. E. Gilmore, leader, 17 pieces. Aquidneck Engine Company, No. 3, Captain Julius Sayer, 47 men. NEW BEDFORD BRASS BAND, Ifrael Smith, leader, 1 7 pieces. Columbian Engine Company, No. 5, of New Bedford, Captain John B. Hyde, 57 men. Hercules Engine Company, No. 7, Capt. W. S. Cranton, Jr., 4O men. —MARSHAL— Divifion of Free Mafons, comprifing St. John's Lodge, No. 2, of this city, Gilbert Chace, Mafter. 40 men ; Wafliington Encampment, No. 1, Knight Templars, of this city, Nathan H. Gould, Grand Commander, 25 men; THE CELEBRATION. j'^ Newport Royal Arch Chapter, No. 2, John Eldred, High Priest ; and Officers of Grand Lodge of Rhode Ifland. — MARSHAL — Divifion of Odd Fellows, comprifing Rhode Ifland Lodge, No. 1 2, of Newport, Samuel Eyles, Noble Grand, 50 men ; Wafliington Lodge, No. 1 1, of River Poiiit, George W. Niles, Noble Grand, 20 men; Friendly Union Lodge, No. i, of Providence, James A. Smith, Acting Noble Grand, 40 men ; Eagle Lodge, N%. 2, of Providence, George Hancock, Noble Grand, 30 men ; Hope Lodge, No. 4, of Providence, J. W. Dench, Noble Grand, 20 men ; Narraganfett Encampment, No. i, Henry L. Webfter, Chief Patriarch, 30 men ; and Officers of Grand Lodge of Rhode Ifland. —MARSHAL— Divifions of Sons of Temperance, comprifing Atlantic Divifion, No. 6, Rev. C. H. Malcom, Worthy Patriarch, 60 men ; and Officers of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Ifland. , — MARSHAL — Newport Mufical Inftitute, 20 men. f6 THE RE-UNION. Newport Philharmonic Society, 20 men. Carriages containing His Honor Mayor W. H. Cranfton, ex-Mayor Cozzens, and the Prefident of the Common Council, R. J. Taylor, Efq. Board of Aldermen, Members of the Common Council, and School Committee, on foot. — MARSHAL — Four carriages, containing invited guefts. His Honor Lieutenant Governor Ifaac Saunders, and other Members of the State Government. SHEPARD'S CORNET BAND, H. F. Shepard, leader, 19 pieces. RETUIiNED SONS, SIX ABREAST. Many of them mingled with , the different organizations, and we noticed a large number who did not join the Proceffion until it arrived at the tent. Sons and Daughters were here from Maine, Maffachufetts, Connedicut, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Louifiana, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Wif- confin, and many other States, and numbered between noo and 1200, THE CELEBRATION. ^J The proceffion, which was a mile in length, proceeded up Broad Street, to Marlborough Street, down Marlborough to Thames, through Thames to Cannon, up Cannon to Spring, through Spring to Broad, up Broad to Mann Avenue, up Mann Avenue to Kay Street, and through Kay Street and South Touro Street to the lot north of the Ocean Houfe, at which point the efcort filed to the right, and the guefts of the day, preceded by His Honor the Mayor and the City Council, entered the tent and took their refpedive places at the tables. The feats to be occupied by different delegations were defignated by tickets confpicuoufly placed at the end of each table, by which means all confufion was prevented. In the fmaller tent, the ladies who were entitled to feats were congregated, and when the proceffion entered, they came forward and joined their hufbands, friends and brothers at table.In the centre of the tent there was a large platform fuftaining three tables; at the centre table. His Honor, Mayor Cranfton prefided, with R. J. Taylor, Efq., Prefident of the Common Council, at the head of the table on his right, Ex-Mayor Cozzens at the head of the table ^8 THE RE-UNION. on the left. At thefe tables many of the fpeakers of the day and of the invited guefts were feated; amongft the latter, were numbered His ExceUency, Governor Turner and Staff, Col. Magruder and Staff; the Rev. Clergy of the City; Rev. Dr. Balch, of Baltimore; Rev. Dr. Vinton, of Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Rev. James McKenzie, Judge Chambers, *Hon. Auguft. Bel mont, Mr. LeRoy, M.Gourand, French Conful; Dr. Parfons and Lieut. BrowneU, furvivors of the battle of Lake Erie; Paul Morphy, Efq., Gov. Fiik, J. A. and James Brown, Efqrs., Prof Mitchell, Hiram Fuller, Esq., the Mayor of Baltimore. The work of feating- fo large a body was by no means an eafy talk, but at laft it was fuccefs- fuUy accompliflied ; and when all eyes were drawn from the viands, temptingly difplayed on the tables, to the centre of the tent, from which point his Honor Mayor Cranfton had called the company to order, filence prevailed, and then, in a clear and audible voice, he thus addreffed the returned Sons and Daughters of Newport : — Returned Sons and Daughters of the Ifland of Rhode Ifland. In behalf of the authorities and the people of Newport, I warmly and cordially welcome you THE CELEBRATION. m home from your various wanderings and tempo rary habitations in different parts of the land. I welcome you to the beloved and hallowed foU which gave you birth ; it is hallowed foil indeed, and we Rhode Iflanders are always and juftly proud of our noble heritage, — for it was on this, our native foil, that the great and glorious prin ciple of religious liberty, which had fearfully agitated the old world, and contending for which thoufands of human beings fuffered a martyr's death,— -it was here in Rhode Ifland, where we were born, that this facred and eternal principle of religious liberty — ^freedom to worfliip God in an unmolefted manner, according to the didates of each one's confcience, and abfolute feparation between church and ftate— was firft thoroughly, pradifally, and fuccefsfuUy demonftrated by Roger WiUiams, John Clarke, and their aflb- ciates. From the firft fettlement of the State to the prefent time, the authorities have ever fcru- puloufly guarded, and the people have ever con- ftantly and facredly cherifhed, this hallowed and immortal right of man. In the dark and ftormy days of the American Revolution, no Colony was more firm, devoted, and enthufiaftic in its oppofition to the oppreffion 6o THE RE-UNION. of the mother country, and the fons of none were more valiant and felf-facrificing in their de fence of the rights of freemen than our anceftors, the bleffed fruits of whofe religious and patriotic efforts we this day enjoy. It was in Rhode Ifland that the firft determined refiftance to Britifli tyranny was heroically manifefted by the buming of the British Schooner Gafpee, in yonder bay. Rhode Ifland gave her noble Greene, (who was fecond only to George Wafliington,) and a hoft of others, to the caufe of freedom ; and fhe fuf fered as much as, if not more than, any other Col ony by the invafions of the enemy. In the laft war with Great Britain, fhe was equally valiant and patriotic, and furniflied our heroic Perry, (who was born feventy-four years ago this day,) and many other brave fons of her foil, who accom- pUflied prodigies of valor, nobly defended our proud and unconquerable ftripes and ftars, and proteded our national honor from all tarnifli and infult. This is, indeed, an interefting occafion; fome of you have returned to your native foil after an abfence of more than half a century; many of you have wandered from home for a quarter of a century, whUe hundreds of others have been THE CELEBRATION. 6l miffing from us for many years. To-day you have all come home. Ah! what Jioly memories and facred affociations are cluftered around and centered in that word — home ! " Mid pleafures and palaces though we may roam. Be it ever fo humble, there's no place like home ! A charm from the ikies feems to hallow us there. Which, feek through the world is ne'er met with elfewhere. Home ! home 1 fweet home I There's no place like home ! " An exile from home, fplendor dazzles' in vain ; O, give me my lovely tha'tched cottage again. The birds finging gaily that come at my call. Give me thefe, and the peace of mind, dearer than all. Home ! fweet, fweet home ! There's no place like home !" Among you, I behold fome whofe hairs are whitened by the frofts of more than three fcore years and ten; many beyond the meridian of life, and a large numljer in the prime and vigor of intelledual and phyfical ftrength. It is im poffible to imagine the varied emotions of joy and fadnefs which throb' in your* bofoms. Our fea-gitt ifland is as beautiful now as it was in the 6 62 THE RE-UNION. days of your childhood ; our climate is as deli cious and healthy as it was then, and many old landmarks in various parts of the city ftill remain to remind you that you are at home once more. Many of you will obferve that the old churches where you once' worfliipped have all difappear- ^ ed, with a fingle exception, — or have been fo re- moddled that you will fcarcely recognize them as the fhrines where you received your early religious inftrudion ; the fchool-houfes where you were educated have moftly, if not entirely, been demolilhed; and on the green fields where you rambled and played in childhood's happy days, coftly and elegant manfions have been ereded. The Newport of to-day is not the Newport which many of you left in your boyhood and girlhood years. Still, there are cheriflied and enduring landmarks remaining which you cannot fail to recognize. The noble beaches, where the fublime and eternal anthems to Jehovah are ever heard; the fpacious and beau tiful harbor, inviting an extenfive commerce to its bofom ; the' rock-bound fliore, which has re pelled the dafliing and maddened waves of the Ocean fince the morning of creation ; the old Stone Mfll, with its alternate claffic and matter- THE CELEBRATION. 63 of-fact traditionary hiftory, — the Redwood Li brary, where Dr. Channing "ftudied theology without an inftrudor;" the "Hanging Rocks," where Bifliop Berkeley wrote his "Minute Phi- lofopher;" "Paradife," and Purgatory;" the old Synagogue, the firft ereded in the United States, where the Jews ever worfliipped in an unmo lefted manner ; the Cemetery, where repofe the remains of the Jews who, nearly a century ago, were among the prominent merchants of New port, at the time the principal importations from Europe were made to this port, and when it was thought by a few progreffive people that, at sorne diftant day. New York might poffibly rival New port as a commercial and mercantile city, — with other monuments of the paft, nearly all remain unchanged, to remind you that you are once more at home, on your green native ifle of the fea. But the companions of your childhood ! where are they "? Here, and there, and yonder, are a few whofe warm hands will give you a token of early friendfliip, and your converfations of for mer days wiU be pleafant indeed. Alas I as you walk through the cemeteries, you wUl find that a large number of the comrades of your youth 64 THE RE-UNION. are there calmly refting in death's long re pofe. "But their fpirits are with you to-day as you roam. O'er the land of your birth-place, your ocean-girt home." , Above aU, and more facred than all, is the refledion that you have returned, once more, to ftand bjj the graves of the loved and the loft, thofe who were near and dear to your hearts, and with whom you have paflTed fo many happy days in this your ifland home, the fond recoUedion of which, will linger facredly in your minds forever. I fincerely hope that the time is not very far diftant when all of youf- will return home and permanently locate on your native foil; if cir cumftances would permit, I am confident that all of you would be moft happy to do fo ; for what ever may be our fancies for roaming, or our in ducements for excitement, and the profpeds of pecuniary gain abroad in early life, as we ad vance in years, there is an inftinct within us which caufes us to yearn for the home of our childhood, our dear native land. " Breathes there the man with foul fo dead. Who never to himfelf hath faid. THE CELEBRATION. 6 J This is my own, my native land ! Whofe heart hath ne'er within him burned. As home his footfteps«he has turned. From wandering on a foreign ftrand ? " We who have remained at home, rejoice that our townfmen abroad have fucceeded fo well in their various avocations in their temporary homes; and we are proud that fo many of you occupy eminent pofitions in your feveral localities. Although you have been fo richly favored, I am confident that you all hope to return, before the evening of life, fo that your clofing years may be quietly paffed in the cheriflied home and amid the beautiful fcenes where you first beheld the wonderful works of Him who creates, who rules, and who will finally judge the world in righteoufnefs by the unerring ftandard of in- faUible juftice. In concluding his addrefs. Mayor Cranfton gave the firft regular toaft : Our Invited Guejis, — The Sons and Daughters of the Ifland of Rhode Ifland ; they are welcome, welcome to the endeared fpot of their nativity. To this toaft Dr. Walter Channing, of Bos ton, a returned Son of Newport, repHed as follows : 6* 66 THE RE-UNION. ADDRESS OF DR. WALTER CHANNING, AT THE RE-UNION AT NEWPORT, IN BEHALF OF ITS RETURNED SONS AND DAUGHTERS. Mr. Mayor :-r-I have been c^puted by the Committee of Arrangements of this great Fefti val to reply to your Honor's welcome to the Sons and Daughters of Newport here affembled. Accept, Sir, our moft hearty thanks for this wel come, and for the invitation from our friends- and brothers, to attend this Celebration, We rejoice to be here — to be once more in the place of our birth, the home of our fathers, and where are their graves. Inftiiidively do our hearts turn to that great congregation of our dead^ — the accu mulations of more than two centuries, and in filial piety and reverence would we fay, Requiefcat in pace. THE CELEBRATION. 67 We have .come. Sir, from voluntary exile, to our father's home; not as prodigal fons, to make Qonfeffion of fins — of wafted patrimony, and wafted lives, but to meet again our old, yes,. earlieft affociates and friends, whom we have not met for many, many years, and, as in a family meeting, talk of the good old times, and give tO' the prefent fome of their heartinefs and freflinefs, and be made happier and better by their memory. We rejoice to be here, to breathe again the pure air in which we drew our firft breath, giving evidence that we had aflTumed independent life. We rejoice to walk again the ftreets our feet firft trod, to fee again the old places, the Parade^^- the fcene of our holiday experiences— and which, though fomewhat changed,' (improved, I believe, is the word,) ftill tells its old ftory. We mifs, indeed, the Boiling Spring, that wonder of our young eyes, where was conftant boiling without fire. The boys had poetry in the fervice of the Spring : Look yonder, look yonder. And fee a great wonder ! Four and twenty pots boiling. And (for fhortnefs,^ nary coal under. The old Court Houfe is in its place ftill, and there is the balcony from which public proclamations were made, on Eledion Day, of 68 THE RE-UNION. the newly induded Executive of the Comrtion- wealth — to us the greateft ceremony within our knowledge, and which we thought could never be furpaflTed. There, at the foot of the Parade, is the old Granary, (which half a century has left in its original proportions,) in which, in my boyhood, was a theatre, and where I went to my firft play — more than fixty years ago was that event of my life, one which is never forgotten. It was the " Caftle Spedre," and that ghoft, at leaft, has never vaniflied. There is the Old Mill — which never was a mill, but is still in its maffive, enduring ftrength — which has outlived centuries, and has not become a ruin yet, and in which we look for and find . the evidences of fettlements in New England, long, long before the Puritan age, from which is dated fo much of our hiftory. We rejoice again to fee and to wander among the places of once folitary beauty which abound within the limits of our ancient town — " The HiU," as it was called — changes, great changes "are there. The Redwood Library, which then, in its architedural proportions, tafte, and beauty, ftood alone, and which we always paflfed to the beach, is now in the centre of many houfes, the refidences of ftrangers who vifit our beautiful THE CELEBRATION. 69 and healthful ifland for pleafure and health, and who, by the tafte and beauty of their temporary homes, have, by happy contraft, added to the attradions and interefts of the natural beauty. We can hardly make out where we are in thefe changed regions, but we are not difturbed by fuch alterations or additions. They give life and charader to the old repofe. Is it not well that it does fo ? The wealth there ufed has given new value to all the furroundings. How much has the healthfulnefs of pure air and the neighboring fea contributed to the enjoyment and good of thou fands who may never have enjoyed fuch before? The benefits of fuch a fpot are not confined to the body. The mind and the heart are made better by them. He or flie who has felt one emotion of pleafure or of joy in the fcenes here prefented to the eye, has by that very fad been made better. A true thought, a true fentiment is never loft. It declares its being and power, through aflTociation, "with all akin to it; nay, it will do more ; it will be the fruitful parent of new and'Vider truths, revealing to him or to her the greateft of them all, the moral and intel ledual conftitution of human nature, and in- ftindively incline thofe to whom the revelation 70 THE RE-UNION. has been- made, to the love of all other beauty and all other truth. ' We rejoice. Sir, to be again within fight and found of the grand old ocean, which holds our beloved ifland in everlafting embrace, and which we again fee, not as in fome bay or arm of the fea, but' face to face. We rejoice that we are again able to liften to .the wide-weltering wave, as it now breaks upon our beautiful beaches, and now daflies againft. our lordly coaft, rock-ribbed and ancient as the fun, and now in its gentle fighing, as, in its pure livery,of foam, it bathes the fmooth, unwrinkled fand. I remember, a few years ago, being on the road between France and Spain, when my atten-- tion was attraded by the fudden appearance of the ocean. I alked what it was, and learned it was the Bay of Bifcay ; in other words, the wide Atlantic. You cannot tell how much I was moved by this old fri'end, in a new place, thou fands of miles from home, and at once appealed to it in a few verfes, of which are the follow ing :— Thou Ocean, from my diftant home. To welconje me haft hither come ? How happy now to ftay ! THE CELEBRATION. n\ I thank thee for thy prefence here. In memory long I will it bear. With thought of Bifcay Bay. How ftrange that to this diftant ftrand. The echoes from my native land O'er thy wild bofom come ! Yes, dark Atlantic, in thy voice There's that which bids my heart rejoice. For ftill it fpeaks of home ! Thus, Nature fpeaks in her thoufand voices of beauty and power, and they are never heard truly in vain. - We rejoice to be again in fight of our noble harbor, with its natural breakwater, old Fort Wolcott. It is not only the handfo<ieft, but, pradically, the fineft of harbors. In its depth of water, eafe of accefs and fafety, it offers to commerce advantages rarely known elfewhere. We, who have reached old age, remember the harbor as it was in earlier times, when it was filled with {hipping, coining from every clime' and region, or' going everywhere to which wife enterprife, and fafe fpeculation, pointed the way. Our population was then, half a century and more ago, nearly, or quite equal to what it is now. Commerce was a moft favored purfuit. 72 THE RE-UNION, / f and wealth its frequent produd. We fent onions from Briftol, and New England rum from everywhere. We fent all forts of articles for exchange, and received all forts of merchandife in return. There was a large China, and Rus- fian, and African bufinefs done, and wealth came from it all. Mercantile bufinefs was a profeffion. Young men were regularly taught its principles, and thefe, when truly taught, are rarely forgotten ; how rare, then, were failures, and crifes, and panics, or fulpenfions of fpecie • payments. No : there was the Newport Bank, on the old Parade, and there was Mr. Calhier- Mofes Sexias, and you got filver or gold for your check, fdlf the aiking. Thofe who recall the Revolutionary war, cannot forget what Newport fuffered from that unnatural battle between parent and chUd, and which led to a final fepa ration between them. No one can remember this without feeling aftonilhment at the healthy reaction, — the abfolut^ recovery to State and national health, nor how foon and how ftrongly it was marked in Newport by fuccefsfiil induftry , and independence. We have thus far fpoken of the natural, the phyfical charaderiftics of our native ifland; let THE CELEBRATION. 73 US, for a few moments, talk of its Social, its Educational, Religious, and Political inftitutions half a century or more ago. Its people were emi nently focial. They had the means, and knew their ufe in contributing to focial life. The neighboring country furniflied food of excellent quality, which was abundant and cheap. Every houfe had its garden, and the fineft vegetables in the country were raifed by all. Fifli were as plenty as blackberries, and caught without trou ble ; and the right to catch was the birthright of all. Then the cow and the pig formed a part of the family circle, and how kindly and carefully were they provided for. Luxuries were within the reach of all. We cannot forget the fruits of that time. Why, peaches were a drug ; we bought them at the cart's tail by the peck or bufliel, and eat them as freely, but much more cheaply, than we now do the few berries which ftill grow wild in our woods. Plums, pears, goofeberries, ftrawberries, apples, quinces, were in profufion offered for fale. To think of depending on Jerfey for peaches, or New York for apples, we Ihould as foon have thought of fending to either of thofe markets for freih fifli, when ice here was only ufed for Ikatingi Talk- 7 74 THE RE-UNION. ing of fruit, a friend of mine, a young lady, went out the other day to buy a peach or two for a friend who was ill. She brought home two for fix cents each, and niiferably poor, I thought,' at that, faying that the beft were a quarter of a dol lar each. Here we are living in a climate which is acknowledged to have been foftened by time, and ftill the produds of the foil, when horticul ture was never more fuccefsfuUy pradifed, are fo fcarce and fo poor that the burgeflTes muft have good ftomachs, and great wealth, to buy or to venture to eat them. Newporters were capital livers. Newport was celebrated for its cooks, and where under heaven did or do people live fo long, and where are the women, I will not fay more, but as beautiful as they were, and doubtlefs ' ftill are, in this little ifland of thirteen by three ? But how of the . Educational fyftem of our early days ¦? It was in exad harmony with its other focial inftitutions. It could hardly be called a fyftem, for every mafter went upon his own hook, (as is the phrafe.) We, had no public fchools. We had no fchool committees with delegated powers, to make a Procuftes bed#for education, upon which every boy and girl fliould be ftretched, to learn leflTons of equal length, THE CELEBRATION. IS whatever their capacity, and who could not get up until they had learned them. We had no medal fyftem to make the ftretching feel lefs un comfortable, while the poifpn of emulation, when fuccefsful in its operation, might lead to reward. Our old fchools were the fimpleft things in the world, and the cheapeft. Few things were taught, and thofe perfedly. There was no flinching, no getting along without work. We were duly whipped and kept, when we failed, and truancy was a high crime. Teaching was cheap, — from a dollar and a half to four dollars a quarter. Books were very few, and very cheap. There were Webfter's Spelling-Book, and Webfter's Third Part. There was the Columbian Orator, abounding in the early oratory of the country, fuch as Hancock's and Warren's Fourth of July orations, and Dwight's and Humphrey's poetry, Morfe's fmaller Geography, Perry's Didionary, and Pike's or Dabol's Arithmetic. The coft of books was nothing compared with what it cofts to buy the books of fome fyftems of this day. In fome of thefe the quarterly expenfe of books is as much as was the quarter's payment for the entire earlier education. If the boy was to enter college, for which but little preparation was then 76 THE RE-UNION. required, then he had a Virgil, a Cicero, a SaUuft, a Greek Teftament, together with a Greek and Latin Grammar, and a book of Geometry, to get. [Here the fpeaker enlarged upon the general fyftem of education in our day, not only in America, but alfo in fome of the countries of Europe.] The next inftitution to which I addrefs myfelf is the Church. I ufe the word here generically, as embracing all places devoted to Chriftian worfliip. In Newport, however, it was diftinctive, the word " church " being only applied to the build ing devoted to the Epifcopal fervice. All others were called meeting-houfes, or, in common fpeech, meetin-houfes. Of thefe, there were numbers, and of fuch variety and fed, that I hardly remember two of the fame. There was the Synagogue, which, being the oldeft of the Temples of India and Egypt, deferves the firft place. The wor- Ihip-day was on Saturday, and how often have I ftood juft within the door, and feen the Ifraelites Ihuffling about with their hats on, and the Rabbi reading the evening fervice, all being in motion, I fuppofe, in imitation of the forty years' travel to Canaan. You may remember the command of a prophet to the people, " Take off thy flioes, THE CELEBRATION. 77 for this is holy ground;" but there is no com mand to take off the hat. We had Moravians, Saturday and Sunday Baptifts, Methodifts, Newlights, Calvaniftic, Hopkinfonian, Epifcopalian, Quaker, and oth ers which I do not remember. To the young (and the youngeft were duly carried to meet ing,) Sunday was a day of fevere trial. In fummer we fweated and flept, being hurried up in prayer time. In winter we were frozen. Large and barn-like buildings, full of windows, and thofe often broken, and always loofe in the fafhes, no carpets, very hard cufliions, and rarely thefe, no furnaces and no ftoves, except the old- Dutch foot-ftoves, which the younger members were obliged to carry, much againft the will, to fecure to the older female members warm feet through the moft unconfcionably long difcourfes which ever got the name of fermons. The whole fervice was long, and the longeft prayer feemed to our young minds to partake of that eternity, about the eternal punifliment and eternal mifery of which the minifter fpoke moft, efpe- cially of the firft, Sunday, however, did not end with the bleffing. The interval between morn ing and afternoon fervice, was filled with reading 78 THE RE-UNION. the Bible, fpeaking hymns, hearing a fermon, and, always moft gratefully received, dinner. Now when we remernber, as all of my day muft, that the preaching was ftrictly theological, tech nical, fcientific, not to add metaphyfic, you cannot wonder that the young could not and did not underftand or fympathize with it ; nay more, that there were grown men amongft us who did not believe a word of it, who were open infidels. One of thefe was a flioerhaker. He was an artift in his myftery : no one could fit a flioe like Manchefter. He was a reader, and a thinker. His fliop ftood not far from Mr. Thurfton's Baptift meeting-houfe. It was an octagonal building, which had ferved for a fum mer houfe for many years, and had been car ried to the fpot above referred to, by our artift. He was very flow in fulfilling orders; he had no rival and could take his time. If you wanted flioes, it behooved you to fpeak for them a fort night or month before the time. People of any tiiought for perfonal comfort, nay, luxury, em ployed Manchefter. A minifter of our Second Meeting-Houfe did fo. He had engaged him for the advanced time, when, to his great furprife, the Monday following, Manchefter appeared with THE CELEBRATION. 79 the Ihoes in his hands. Rev. Mr. expreffed his furprife, along with his pleafure, at being fo promptly ferved. " Why, fir," faid Manchefter, to tell you the truth, I worked the whole of yes terday to finilh them." Thus it was, that while our paftor was zealoufly working in his vocation of faving fouls, his faithful Ihoemaker was as faithfully working in his, upon his foles. There was in Newport a clergyman, who is an hiftorical man, and of whom I wUl fay fome- thing. This was Dr. Samuel Hopkins. He was born in 1721, and died in 1803. ^He was a man of confiderable talent, and almoft incredible powers of application. He was the author of a fyftem of dodrines which received his name. Its leading principle was difinterefted benevolence. Dr. Ezra Styles publiflied a work entitled " A Contraft between Calvinifm and Hopkinfianfm." Dr. Hopkins printed many works. I remember him only as a perfon and as a preacher. When I knew him he was an old man of about my pres ent age, of very large frame, of which he made a moft awkward and ungainly ufe. His ¦ face was exceedingly remote from beauty, and muft have been inclined that way in early life. His voice — who can defcribe it. It feemed and 80 THE RE-UNION, was quite beyond the control of his wiU. It was high, and low, and fideways. At times it was almoft inaudible, and fuddenly there came out a roar, or founds of ftrange, ftirring import, and effed. We boys did not know what to make of it, or of him. But with all his phyfical failures he had in beautiful perfection, and exercife, man's higheft faculties, the moral. He was the kindeft, the moft charitable, felf-facrificing of men. You loft in his life, his fedarianifm, his manner, his voice. You felt he was a man in his nobleft development, and you could not but reverence and love him. I have heard that he is the hero in the "Minifter's Wooing," in the Atlantic Monthly. I have not read a word in that frag mentary, ferial fpecimen of publication, a kind of novel printing exceedingly difagreeable to me ; but how Dr. Hopkins could have been manufac-, tured into a lover, it is utterly impoffible fof me to imagine. I know in his advanced age he married an old lady, (a Mrs. Weft, I beUeve ;) but I always fuppofed that it was inftind, not fentiment, which was at the bottom of that mar riage, at leaft. This exceUent man was of great plainnefs of fpeech. He fpoke his mind with as little cir- THE CELEBRATION. 8l cumlocution as poffible. ' He was buying fome cloth one day, and taking up a yard-ftick, he faid, " Mifter, your yard-ftick- is too fliort." This was a rebuke for what he thought unfair meafure. I was for fome years fub-librarian of the Redwood Library, and kept the key,. and had the privUege of making it my ftudy all the time, if I would open the library to the public every Wednefday afternoon. Very rarely did anybody come. Among thofe who did, was Mr. Cleland Kinlock, of Charlefton, South Carolina, who for many years paffed his fummers in Newport. His fight was very poor, "and I frequently read to him. I remember Gen. Scott was an occafional caller. Dr. Hopkins came now and then, and one day came with him, or about the fame time, a very fingular man, named John Stewart, commonly called Walking Stewart. He walked over Europe, and Afia, and America, and often paffed a part of "his fummers in Newport. You might fee him at the clofe of the day, fitting on the ftoop at Mrs. Carpenter's, in whofe houfe he lodged, in , Thames Street, eating his evening meal of bread, fruit, and milk. He never eat meat, and thought the killing of animals for food the unpardonable fin. One day, being in the Ubrary with Dr. 82 THE RE-UNION. Hopkins, he had much converfation with die Dodor, or, ratiier, much talk to him. He was patiently hftened to for fome time, when a paufe occurred. The Dodor now fpoke, and in the moft quiet manner, faying, « You-are-a-great-fool- Mifter-Stewart," and here the dodor and philofo- pher departed together, apparently as perfedly good friends as when they entered. The multitude of religious feds in Newport, did not leflTen individual zeal for one's own. The ftrongeft antagonifm was between the Church proper, the Epifcopalian, and all other denomin ations. Their church was the true one. It was rich, it lived handfomely, luxurioufly, it was ex- clufive. The feeling towards it is remembered. It was called Tory. It was the Englifli Church, adopting the Liturgy, leaving out King and Queen and the Royal family. Lords and Com mons and Parliament affembled. There was one ftriking fad in the Church, ornamentation, which I have no doubt had its effect on opinion. The vane on the fpire was furmounted by a crown. Yes, the diadem was there in open day. The firft rays of the rifing fun fhone upon it; and the laft rays of the fetting fun were refleded from it. It was a matter of thought, how this THE CELEBRATION. 83 fymbol of royalty furvived the revolution. But it did ; and when we left Newport in the earlier years of the nineteenth century, there was the crown, and there I saw it to-day. PoUtics was fpoken of as an inftitution of our native town, as was religion and the fchools. But the parties of that day, fixty odd years ago, were not what they are now. There were but two parties to the great iffue which then divided men, here, and every where elfe, in the nation. I cannot imagine any thing which could have been more infulting to thefe parties than the fug geftion that a fplit could have happened in either. The Federalift, or fometimes the fo-called Tory, or the Democrat, alfo called Jacobin, would have flirunk from the poffibility of fuch, and fo many difintegrations, as rule the prefent political con dition of the country. So various are thefe, and with fuch hair-fplitting diftindions, that one hardly knows where he is, whether on his head or his heels ; the only reliable perfon being he who belongs to neither fradional fide, or better, to none, without a queftion of either. But fo it was not then; no man could find reft on the fence ; it was picketted all over ; the ground was 84 THE RE-UNION. the only fafe place to ftand on. It was liter ally, " Under which king, Bezonian ? fpeak or die." The boys took fides in the univerfal conflid of opinion. The different parties wore cockades. The FederaUfts wore black ones, the Englifli cockade, and were caUed Englifli Tories. They were torn from our hats, and then was battle. Jay's Treaty was a fubjed of terrible debate and conflid. Well do I remember feeing that great minifter, and noble man, carried in effigy to a vacant lot, in an old cart, with a rope round his neck, and burnt there amid the denunciations and yells of a furious party mob. Liberty poles were raifed, with Liberty caps atop. Thefe were cut down by the oppofite party : and then was prepared the tar and feathers for a top dreffing, fliould the political enemy of his country be dis covered. General Wafliington died about this time, and for a moment there was peace. We know that, at the clofe of his life, in his lateft years, even he did not efcape the evil power of party. He had been twice eleded unanimoufly to the prefi- dency of die nation. Would this have happened THE CELEBRATION. 85 again "? His friends fucceeded once, and eleded Mr. Adams, in whom Wafliington had confidence, and who had held offices neareft the throne. At the next trial, Mr. Jefferfon beat Mr, Adams, and fince then to this day only two out and out Fed eraUfts, or fucceflTors of that party, have reached the prefidency. Of thefe, one reigned thirty days and the other lefs than two years. Thank ful fliould we be, and are, that the old and ftrong lines of party are broken — that the people are free to exercife private judgment in politics, as well as in every thing elfe. Why, Sir, how large is the chance for Young America, fo called,, and, as I think, very unwifely too. We have the Whigs, the Democrats, the Hards, the Softs, the Mixed. The diflocation of parties — the de- compofition of forces — is lofs of individual power. What may turn up was formerly a matter of calculation, of figures, which, fome fay, never lie. But this is not the cafe now. No one knows what the political day may bring forth. Thankful fliould we be for this confummation devoutly to be wiflied — this rupture of parties. We may pick and choofe, or do neither, and lie fafely in our beds. Who of us from abroad knows what are the political rulings here in Newport this 8 86 THE RE-UNION. day ? For one, I do not. But this we all know and /eel. It is our home, and by birthright fo, and to us the beft beloved — the moft beautiful fpot under the Ikies. Would not the Father of his country look upon it, as he once did, with deep pleafure, and commit to its hofpitalities, to its pleafures, its wide ocean, thofe dear to him by birth, and doubly fo by apprehended fatal difeafe ? I am fure he would, and in confirma tion of this I will here introduce a letter which he addreflTed to my father, in 1783. Newburch, 7th June, '83. Sir : My Nephew, who will have the honor of prefent ing this letter to you, has been in bad health more than twelve months, and is advifed to try the climate of Rhode Ifland by his Phyficians. Any civilities which you may be kind enough to fliow him will be thankfully acknowledged by Sir, Yr. Moft OBd. Serv. Go. WASHINGTON. Wm. Channing, Esq. I cannot recur to this venerated hero, and moft honoured man, without being carried back again to our eariy days, and to that efpecially in which the news came of his death. His laft fpeech to Congrefs was delivered on the 7th of December, 1796. He returned to Mount Vernon to enjoy THE CELEBRATION. 87 the pleafures of retirement ; but he was not left to perfed repofe. A war with France was threatened, and he was made Lieutenant-General of all the land forces of the country, the higheft office in the gift of any people ; in this never before held, and but once fince. Wafliington accepted the office upon condition that he fliould not be called into the field till his fervices were adually demanded, and to receive no emolu ments until he was in a fituation to incur ex penfe. That time did not come. His public toils were over, but his enjoyment of a J)rivate life was fliort. On Friday, 13th December, 1799, expofure to rain was followed by inflammation of the throat, and he died Saturday night fol lowing, aged 67 years. Well do I remember the day we heard of his death. It was of a Sunday morning, in church. The minifter, having announced it, read the pfalm in which is this line, — " Princes muft die and turn to duft." The leader, in finging, came to this line. He began to fing it, his voice faltered, it ftopped, he buried his. face in his hands and fat down, weep- ing like a child. And why fuch deep emotion, 88 THE RE-UNION. fo ftrongly expreflTed? He was a tall, and very ftrong man. You would have fuppofed that nothing could have fo moved him, efpecially in his place, at that moment : but he had been a foldier under Wafliington, and near to him in die fervice. He had feen and felt his power, his moral dignity, his kindnefs, his devotion to his country. His death to him was as would have been the death of his father. He wept for him as a fon. I was then about twelve years of age. We* have fpoken of Newport as it was more than half a century ago, and in its phyfical, edu cational, religious, and political afpeds, fo far as they appear to us from the ftand-point of the prefent. We have been obliged to recur con- ftantly to our perfonal obfervations and experi ence. I cannot but have fome confidence in the corredness of the ftatements, becaufe they are of events and fads of rny earlieft knowledge, and if it takes old age to know the force with which our earlieft impreffions are made, and the full power of memory with regard to them, have I not fome claim to be heard concerning them ? To the truly old man, who has retained health of miud and body, human life has but two THE CELEBRATION. 89 periods or eras — the earlieft days of conscious youth, and the lateft of age. The time between thefe, and all its events feems compreflTed into the narroweft fpace — fo crowded, fo confufed, that they cannot in their integrity be fummoned before us. In this is the confirmation of that ancient fcripture, " Our life is verily a hand's breadth." The occafion has confined me to my earlieft days, and to its inftitutions, and happy fliall I be in the thought that I have faid any thing to intereft and to ferve you. A queftion may arife, what have our inftitu tions done for us,i — for its people? There is embarraflTment in the queftion. Its anfwer muft trench and that clofely upon the perfonal, which all know is a region into which careful men are never anxious to enter. But Newport is not without witneflTes that flie has done fomething for herfelf and for her country. Gilbert Stewart was an artift of the higheft ftanding in both Europe and America, and his works are with us for mem ory and admiration.* Wafliington AUfton came * Stewart, who was a humorift as well as an artift, was very fond of coming to Newport. He ftopped at Town- fend's, and often, often have I heard him praife the excellent 8* go THE RE'UNION. here a boy, and received here the moft important part of every man's education, for it is in out earlieft youth are laid the foundations of whatever of charader, pofition, and ufefulnefs to which we may attain. A family of many fons was born and educated here, many of whom have been profeffional men, and fome of them profeflTors in a College. Diftinguiflied counfeUors and ftates- men are numbered among the natives of New port, among whom may be named William Hunter, who held a refponfible foreign official pofition, and had the beft confidence of his fel low townfmen, and a wide fphere in his prpfes- fional relations. James Hamilton was educated here; and attained to important political dis- fare and uniform kindnefs in that then famed refort of^ trav ellers. " So eafy is living in Newport," he ufed to fay, " that 1 fear there are many lazy dogs around. Why, there were many pofts up and down Thames Street, for the convenience of country folks, who faftened their horfes to them when they come to town. But at my laft vifit I found the pofts were gone, and I alked Townfend why it was fo. Said he, there ufed always ' to be two or three sturdy men holding on to every poft to keep themfelves from falling down, fo lazy were they : but the Town Council have taken the pofts all away, in hope that their old cuftomers or dependents will go to work." THE CELEBRATION. 9! tindion in South Carolina, his native State. I fat in the fame form at fchool with one whom Newport will always hold in cheriflied memory, and honor, — Oliver Hazard Perry. I fee him now in his youth, yes childhood, and remember how attradive he was by the beauty of his face, and the grace of his form. He was fo delicate in appearance that no one dreamed what he would be. He was, I hardly need fay, bred in the Navy, and, in the war of 1812, had com mand of a fleet, when a young man. The bat tle of Lake Erie, Newport and the country, and naval hiftory, will never forget, for our hero conquered the fleet of a nation which never loft one before. I began by referring to the love of our native place, — to the defire we have to return to it, and the pleafure which coming home always brings with it. Why is it that we thus love the place of our birth ? Why have all men done the fame "? The fon of the mift, in Scott, in his dying hour, begged that he might be turned fo that his eyes could reft once more upon his native hiUs, and clofe with their lateft vifion bent there. Why did the hero of Virgil, in his death- hour, manifeft his love for the place of his births 92 THE RE-UNION. which is fo beautifully narrated by that immortal bard ; — et dukes moriens reminicitur Argos. Why, ' why is this ? It is an inftind which gives to it place in the human heart, and expreffion in human thought, life, word. We know not why or what it is. Like poetry, it is born with us, not made,-^ nafcitur, non fit. It fixes itfelf to fome fpot in God's wide univerfe, and that fpot is, in a word, home, the place of our birth, the land of our fathers, where we got our earlieft culture, where we laid the foundation of charader, pofition, ufefulnefs; where, in a word, we were made, and from which no newTairth can remah us. It was faid to be to circumfcribed regions the inftind of love of place is confined. This is fhowed in the allufion firil made to Virgil and Scott, and which might in thoufands of others be illuftrated. It is fomething other, I had almoft faid, higher than the old word patriotifm ordin arily indicates. Is it poffible to love a whole nation ? Does England love India, or love Can ada ? Can we Americans love our whole world of Union, — who of us loves thofe States which are more than fix thoufand miles from the fpot on which we this moment ftand, — here in our honored and beloved home? What love can THE CELEBRATION. 93 ftand two immenfe oceans of more than 3000 miles each? You cannot know fuch people. I may fay, races, for they confift of fpecimens of all the human races, Parthians, Scythians, Indians, and what not ? Our courfe of life is different from theirs, — manners, cuftoms, habits. They are above law, " a law to themfelves ; " in fliort, they dig gold, and we dig potatoes. Greece was fo loved becaufe it was hardly larger than the State of Rhode Ifland, and its capital was Ath ens. Every body knew his neighbour, and his neighbour was every body. They caUed, and fo did Rome, a man born elfewhere, a barbarian. No matter what his culture, what his refinement, to the Greek he was fooliflinefs, and a ftranger. It is a curious fact in psychology that, though univerfal love is a moral duty, we cannot attain to it. Look at the family, — the family and its children. Here is a relation with which a ftranger muft not intermeddle. " Enter not into my fecret," is the language of every fuch human relation, and courtefy, if not principle, enforces and executes the univerfal law. Is it not fo in the larger relations of one's birthplace, his native home ? Are we not jealous of its dignity, do we not wifli it only good, would we not live for 94 THE RE-UNION. its protedion and welfare, would we not die in its defence? Few, if any, may agree with me in thefe views ; but they are truths to me, truths of experience, and of reafon, and now that we are talking together as members of the fame family, dweUers in the fame home, the fame birthplace, I am not unwiUing to exprefs my views concerning it. I live in a State, and in one of the cities of which a great number of my calling are from other States. We were not at once entitled to the rights of citizens. We were immigrants, and like others of that wide clafs in America, we obtained legal refidence or citi- zenfliip in due procefs of law. A certain time was neceffary before we could exercife the right and suffrage — not that this is pradically a very highly valued right, for though our polls amount to 33,000, we never, whether for city. State, or United States objeds, get half that number checked on our ward voting Ufts. As I go with the majority, I never vote, leaving it to thofe more interefted in municipal and other affairs than I am, to fee that they are legally managed. I think that we fee in this fimple ftatement of fads that he who leaves his birthplace never ac quires or can acquire, for his new, accidental THE CELEBRATION. 9^ refidence, the feeling he has for his natural home. It is to this he clings while life lafts, and how deep is that fentiment is abundantly de clared by this vaft meeting of Newport's fons and daughters. We have left our adopted homes, our occupations, and our bought-pleafures, to come together again to the old family hearth- ftone and altar, and to fee, and to think, and to talk about fcenes and events which made up the earlieft and moft important periods of our lives. The feeling has often been mine, the wilh to come again to my true home, and to pafs the few remaining years of my Ufe where life with me began. Some years ago,. I printed, not publifhed, a fmall volume of verfes, or, as I call them, "lines with rhyming ends." One of the poems is called " A Summer's Day." I go into the country, and in a familiar grove, and pafs the day in narrating what occurred to me while in Scotland and England, more than half a century ago, as a medical ftudent. In the laft paflage of this poem, fo called, occur the following ftanzas, which exprefs the feeling or defire I have to return to the place of my birth. 96 THE RE-UNION. " That vifion of the paft is gone ! In the old grove I fit alone, England beyond the fea : The prefent ruflies on my fight, ' The flanting fun with mellowed light. Gives the near -world to me. I fain would live in earlier years. That day of boyhood's joys and fears,— ^ The homeftead far away, — Stand on that neighbour beach again. Lie on the bofom of the main, A child with it to play. Long years have pafled fince I was there. The willing flave of duty here. Yes, here to live and die; But ftill the thought will often come And woo me to my native home, — To beach, to fea and iky. I greet that thought, and revel there In all it is my lot to bear. And grateful thank it too ; The day may come when to its power, I'll joyful give the willing hour Again to old and new." THE CELEBRATION. 97 Mufic was the next thing in order — "Should old acquaintance be forgot?" — fung by the whole audience. The Mayor now invited the guefts to partake of the collation, and the officiating clergyman. Rev. James McKenzie, offered up thanks to the Throne of Grace. The collation was handfomely ferved, and confifted of profufions of cold meats of various kinds: fruits, cakes, and other refrefliments, waflied down with Iparkling cold water. After the feaft, the Mayor called the audience to order, and the toaft-mafter, James Atkinson, Efq., gave the fecond regular toaft : Our Ifland Home — " The pureft gem on the bofom of the ocean. Which was refponded to as foUows, by ex- Mayor Rodman, of Providence, a returned fon: An old lady fat in an antique chair. In her home befide the fea. With a heart as light and as free from care. As a happy old lady's could be. 9 98 THE RE-UNION. And flie joyous watched the billows wild. As they crumbled along the ftrand ; While cheerful dreams her hours beguiled. Of her children in eveiy land. And each rolling wave, as it danced along ' With its vefture of opal Ipray, To her lonely heart fang the cradle fong. Of her loved ones far away. And while flie fat mufing and watching the deep. Bright fpangled and crefted with foam. Low hymnings were heard, like the whifpers of fleep. Home ! Mother, we are coming home. The old lady fmiling, arofe from her chair, A fong of her girlhood humming. And called on her children at home to prepare. For their brothers and fifters were coming. Then kind *Mrs. Redwood arranged her grey hair. And dufted her mouldering nooks ; And hung all her piftures with order and care. And covered and numbered her books. * Redwood Library has been thoroughly renovated during the paft year, and greatly enlarged ; and Mr. King, a native of Newport, but a refident artift of Wafliington, has pre fented to it a large colleftion of hiftorical piftures from his pencil. 99 THE CELEBRATION. And old *Madam Trinity opened her eyes. With a look of wonder and doubt. And afked Mrs. Redwood, with air of furprife. What on earth flie was fuffing about ? Our brothers and fifters are coming, faid flie. To make us a visit once more; And I'm fixing up and trying to be As handfome and fmart as before. Dame Trinity then prepared a new dreis. And mantled her figure of grace ; And faid to her clock, with pride I confefs. Time leaves on my vifage no trace. And fo they kept chatting and ^working the while, Aflbrting and ranging the things ; Madame Trinity -yielding her crown with a fmile,- Mrs. Redwood the tribute of Kings. And thus all united, the great and the fmall, A welcome for us to prepare. Who are here at our mother's afFeftionate call. This feaft of her bounty to fliare. * Old Trinity Church has been newly painted, and other- wife improved fince the library alterations were commenced. The Ipire is capped with the crown of England, which was placed there before the Revolution. A confpicuous dial plate adorns the bafe of the fteeple ; but the clock, through late years, has ceafed to perform aftive duty. 100 THE EE-UNION. Oh ! then, let us clalp, all united once more. Our mother's loved, tremulous hand ; And pledge to each other the friendfliip of yore. While here round her table we ftand. Aye, here round this table as one let us vow. With life's lengthened fliadows in view. That to her, — to each other, we'll ever as now. Be conftant, and faithful, and true. Though the North and the South, the Weft and the Eaft, May claim and demand us their own. We acknowledge the bond, — but this day, at leaft. We are Sons of old Newport alone. Thefe fields and thefe ftreams, thefe rocks and thefe dells, Thefe orchards, thefe gardens, thefe bowers. The roar of old ocean, its ftrand and its fliells. Are all, by inheritance, ours. Then hail to our ifland ! — the home of our birth — The freeft of all the bleft free ; The lovelieft gem on the bofom of earth. And queen of the ifles of the fea. Third regular toaft : The Early Governors of Rhode Ifland — The influence of their falutary example, as men and legiflators, has not been loft upon their worthy fucceflbrs. THE CELEBRATION. 101 RepUed to by his ExceUency, Gov. Turner, as follows : Mr. Mayor: As I look around upon this beautiful fcene, this gathering of the Sons and Daughters of Rhode Ifland, I can but congratu late myfelf that I have the privilege of being pre fent as one of your guefts. Although not one of the Sons, my recoUedion of the years fpent in this beautiful city, during my boyhood, are of fo pleafant a nature, that I am efpecially gratified to meet on this occafion, my early affociates and friends, many of whom now revifit the home of their youth after long years of abfence. But, Sir, intermingled with this pleafurable feeling, is one of regret, that it, had not been the privilege of fome abler Son of Rhode Ifland to refpond to the fentiment which you have pro pofed — one who could do juftice to the virtues, the patriotifm, and the felf-devotion of my early predeceflTors in office. Rhode Ifland, Sir, is juftly proud of her early governors and legiflators, and flie has caufe to be proud of the men who fo nobly and fuccefs fuUy gave their time, their talents, and their beft ¦ 102 THE RE-UNION. energies to eftablilh and perpetuate a govern ment that fliould promote peace, virtue, godU- nefs, and charity. Under that government, we, their defcendants, now enjoy all that a free and enlightened people can defire. Let us hope. Sir, that " the influence of their falutary example, as men and legiflators," may never be loft upon the people of this State, whofe privilege and whofe duty it is to feled their rulers, as, under our fyftem of govemment, we may always look for good governors, good legiflators, and faithful executors of the laws, while the people remain true to themfelves. Fourth regular toaft : The Hifiory of Rhode Ifland — It has been accurately and faithfully written by one of her honored fons, and will ever be prized as a valuable acceflion to hiftoric literature. This was refponded to as follows, by Hon. Samuel G. Arnold : Mr. President: The terms of the toaft to which I am caUed to reply, enable me (to adopt the language of a learned fpeaker at the late Pilgrim Feftival, at Plymouth,) "to bring to this briUiant feaft, that homely New England commodity — a few fads ; " fads that may illuftrate why it is. the celebration. 103 that this vaft affemblage has come up here to-day, to partake of the hofpitalities of your time-honored city, and to 'renew the holy cov enant of State brotherhood, that, two centuries ago, made the Ifland of Aquidneck and the colony of Providence Plantations one and indis- fmuble; a covenant that withftood the arguments and the menaces of the reft of New England, in defence of the novel idea of felf-govemment, that carried the feeble coloiiy in fafety, although not unfcathed, through the horrors of Indian wars ;» that, through the long period of conflid with France and Spain in the eighteenth century, enabled our forefathers to prepare for that laft great ftruggle for their cheriflied principles, in which it was deftined that they were to take the lead. That covenant of union, formed at Ports mouth two hundred and twelve years ago, when the Parliamentary patent firft united the feeble and fcattered fettlements into one Colony, rup tured four years later, ere its real value was fully recognized, but renewed in November, 1663, upon this fpot, when " a more abfolute, ample, and free charter of civil incorporation" was, " with much becoming gravity, held up on high, and prefented to the perfed view of all the 104 "^^^ RE-UNION, people," (I quote. Sir, from the record of that memorable day,) — that covenant, I fay, which, in the chequered hiftory of our State, has fince been repeatedly renewed in many a council hall, and on many a hard fought field, may well be again renewed by the defcendants of thofe who formed it. It is for this purpofe that we now welcome back to the green fields, and the lovely fhores of our own Narraganfett,- the far-wander ing Sons and Daiughters of Rhode Ifland. There are fads, Mr. Prefident, in the hiftory of this, the fmalleft and (?/^#^ independent* -State in America — (I say the oldefi. Sir, and before I get through, I will prove it,) — which may well warrant a feeling of honeft pride in all who can claim an heirfliip to Rhode Ifland blood; fads which may caufe that blood to pulfate more proudly through the veins, and may mantle the cheek with the flufh of exultant joy, whenever and wherever they are brought to mind. Much has been faid of that perfed religious freedom which firft in the hiftory of the modern world, was realized in Rhode Ifland. It is lefs known that that kindred plant from a common ftock, civil liberty, that was at the fame time proclaimed in this State, was no lefs a novelty. THE CELEBRATION. lOj amid the philofophical fpeculations of the 17th century. The earlieft of modern democracies was the humble plantation at Providence. In the reprefentative men of the two leading fettle ments of the State were united the fpirit of civil and religious freedom, which make up the Rhode Ifland idea of intelledual liberty. The firft charter was obtained by Roger WiUiams, the fecond by John Clarke. Paffing over a period of half a century, every year of which is replete with ftirring in cident of fraternal ftrife, within and without, or of favage warfare, look for a moment at a fingle point conneded with the ufurpation of Andros. The laft ad of the Legiflature, before refigning its power into the hands of a royal governor, was to fall back upon the original fyftem of town governments, exifting prior to the firft charter, by which means the liberty of the individual citizen was preferved, when that of the Colony was cruflied. This ad has been too little re garded, amid the more falient and briUiant paffages of our hiftory, yet it is one that, more than any other, refleds the fpirit of our anceftors, and does equal credit to their courage and their fagacity. lo6 THE RE-UNION. Paffing over another half century, from the refumption of the charter at the fall of Andros, we come down to the period of the fecond Spanifli war. Here I wifli to refer to a fad con neded with this State that has almoft efcaped the notice of hiftorians. One caufe of that war was the trade with the French and Spanifli Weft Indies, which Great Britain defired to grafp. The old "MolaflTes Ad," paffed in 1733, impofed a heavy duty upon Weft India produce im ported from foreign iflands into the northern colonies. Rhode Ifland protefted againft this ad, as a burden upon her commerce. Richard Par tridge, a Quaker, and the fucceffor of Wm. Penn as the agent of Rhode Ifland, was requefted by the AflTembly "ftrenuoufly to oppofe" certain additions to the ad, further reftriding the Weft India trade, that were propofed in Parliament at the commencement of the war. The other col onies, at the fuggeftion of Rhode Ifland, made Partridge their agent alfo for this purpofe. In the Britilh archives at London, upon a Ihelf whofe venerable duft is rarely difturbed except by a moufing bookworm, or fome more pradical ftu dent of hiftory, repofes an ancient document mildewed by the damps of more than a centu- THE CELEBRATION. 107 ry's negled. It is the memorial of Partidge to the Board of Trade, enclofing the Petition of Rhode Ifland againft this bill. Now mark the words of that memorial. It afferts that " the bill divefts the colonifts of their rights as Engliflimen in levying taxes againft their confent, and with out their being reprefented on the floor of Parliament." Taxation without reprefentation, the war-cry of revolution, which in the next generation was to rally the American colonies in the ftruggle for independence, was here firft founded by the Quaker agent of Rhode Ifland, to ceafe only with the difmemberment of the Britifli Empire ! Let not my Quaker brethren ftart at this trumpet-tone of war thus firft founded by one of their peaceful fed. Rhode Ifland Quakerifm, Mr. Prefident, was always rational arid free, and while it claimed to follow no other banner than that of the Prince of Peace, it never would fub- mit to oppreffion. CoUedively, it would not fight ; but it protefted upon paper, it gave fage counfel, in troublous times it did all neceffary and auxiliary duty of the camp, it did every thing but fight ; and had not the more beUiger- ent Baptifts far outnumbered the followers of 108 ¦- THE RE-UNION. Fox, and rendered their fervice in the field fuper- fluous, we might have feen the ftory of the chol eric Friend repeated on a larger fcale, and the ' drab coats thrown upon the ground by regiments, with the injunction, " Quaker, lay there." A quarter of a century later, we find this col ony among the foremoft, if not the firft, to pro- pofe an American Union in 1764, when the renewal of this fame fugar act brought the fame queftion of taxation before the Parliament, and roufed the oppofition of the colonies. Four years later, a moft bitter feud, which had long divided the counfels of the colony, was ended by a union of the rival parties for refiftance to England when the queftion had come to involve the fu- premacy of the Parliament or of the people. Still four years more, we come to 1772. The Revolution had commenced. The firft blood flied in the great ftruggle crimfoned the waters of Narraganfett bay; the firft fliot fired in the war told the fate of the Gafpee. Two years more brought the Continental Congrefs, in 1774, which a town meeting in Providence was the firft corporate body to propofe, and the Af- fembly at Newport was the firft legiflature to adopt, by the choice of delegates to attend it. THE CELEBRATION. 109 Two more years bring us to the Declaration of Independence. And now, Mr. Prefident, I will prove what, at the opening of thefe remarks I afferted, that ours is the oldeft independent State in America. On the 4th of May, 1776, two months before the general declaration of the united colonies, the Affembly of Rhode Ifland, having firft depofed the Governor for lukewarm- nefs in the caufe, fevered the laft link that bound he* to Great Britain, by paffing the " Ad abjur ing allegiance to the Britifli crown." That ad conftitutes Rhode Ifland, by two months, the oldeft independent State in the Union. The records of our Affembly had always clofed with the loyal rubric, " God fave the King." At the clofe of the May feffion, the words were changed, and " God fave the United Colonies," appears for the firft time in the archives of the ancient plantations. But this theme, Mr. Prefident, is one for vol umes, not for fpeeches, and I muft give way for others better able to inftrud and to amufe you. In clofing. Sir, I wiU fay that thefe facts in hiftory all bear upon one point. They all fliow the fpirit of our fathers to preferve the principle which their fathers implanted on this foil, which 110 THE RE-UNION. we are to cherifti as a holy heritage. Permit me to offer, as an appropriate fentiment : The memory of one of the fathen of Aquidneck and of Rhode Ifland — The learned phyfician, the devoted paftor, the accomplifhed fcholar, the Chriftian ftatefiiian — John Clarke. The fifth regular toaft : The Hiflorial Society. — May i] proteft the fair fame of the founders of our political and literary inftitutions, • — the memory of Abraham Redwood, the beneficent founder of the venerable inftitution within whofe walls Channing ftudied theology without an inftruftor. This was refponded to by Dr. David King, the Prefident of the Hiftorical Society, and qf the Redwood Library, as follows : Ladies and Gentlemen : I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the kind reception which you have given to the toaft that honors the His torical Society, in which, as a citizen of New port, I have fo deep and fincere an intereft, I have witneffed, not without deep emotion, the enthufiafm, and the joy which pervade the vaft affeniblage of the Sons and Daughters of New- port, or, if you wiU, of Rhode Ifland. Happy, as if by, an enchanter's wand, has our honored THE CELEBRATION. HI Mayor ereded this temporary ftrudure for our accommodation, fince no edifice previoufly exifting here, could contain within its walls an aflTembly fo large, and animated by feelings fo intenfe and fo univerfal. How can fuch feelings be compreffed within material walls? It is to give a free expanfion to thoughts and feelings honorable to our common nature. It is to allow all who honor this feftival with their prefence, to be within fight, and within hearing of each other. I catch from the audi ence the freedom of the occafion. And you will find me trefpaffing beyond the proper limits of the fentiment to anfwer, which the Prefident of the day has called me upon this platform. Why is it that I obferve this intenfe feeling which glows in this affembly? It is becaufe we have confecrated this day to a fincere and cordial expreffion of our love and admiration of the land of our birth. Outward nature is beau tiful and grand. But while we enjoy the verdure of our native foil, the delicious air that breathes over our fertile fields, the unequalled beauty of our harbor and the ifles that float upon its fur- face and the grandeur of Old Ocean, impreffed upon our imagination from youth with an ever- 112 THE RE-UNION. lafting beauty, we . cannot forget that Rhode Ifland, I mean the ifland of Rhode Ifland, is not only endeared to our hearts by being the land of our birth, but embalmed in our mem ories for her iUuftrious paft, her great virtues, her great men, and her great achievements. What has been the great charaderiftic of our people ? I fay the love of freedom, the true fpirit of liberty, has animated the breafts of Rhode Iflanders from the commencement of the colony. In 1638, Coddington, with a number of noble affociates, exiles from Maffachufetts, purchafed this ifland of thofe magnanimous Nar raganfett Sachems, Canonicus and Miantinimoh, and laid here the foundation of an Englifli col ony. Rhode Ifland "had the image of the Britifli Conftitution." From that time " flie had the fubftance." She eleded her own magi ftrates; flie made her own laws, and regulated all her internal concerns. Coddington, to whom juftice has never been done — I fay it from long and profound ftudy of his charader — Coddington, to whom juftice has never been done, occupied the fame pofition in the Colony of Rhode Ifland that John Winthrop occupied in the Colony of MaflTachufetts. Both were remarkable men, — THE CELEBRATION. 113 men of found judgment and great pradical ability. The legiflation of Rhode Ifland, during his adminiftration, was adapted to the exigencies of the colony, and was founded on the beft maxims of the age. But on the fubjed of re ligious liberty, on the 16th of March, 1641, Rhode Ifland, while Coddington was governor, promulgated a new maxim of State policy, and anticipated by more than a century the enlight ened legiflation of a future day. It is with pride that I fay it, that here, on this very fpot, Cod dington and his aflTociates, in 1641, enaded the firft law granting complete religious liberty that was ever embodied in the legiflation .of a civil ized State. And this was accompliflied by " outcafts," noble outcafts, as you and I will beUeve, who, in the language of Burke, were not fo much fent as thrown out, on the bleak and barren fliore of a defolate wildernefs, three thoufand miles from all civilized intercourfe. I fay three thoufand miles from all civiUzed inter courfe, becaufe, at that time, Rhode Ifland was denied all intercourfe with her civilized neigh bors of MaflTachufetts. Let us recoiled, on this day confecrated to good feeling, the motto of their Seal of State— 10* 114 "^^^ RE-UNION. a motto which w'ill be appreciated at leaft by die fairer and better portion of this audience — Amor vincet omnia. Love conquers all things, indicative of the pacific and, confequently, fuccefsful char ader of their poUcy. Rhode Ifland continued in a career of profperity, not, indeed, without fome adverfity, under the succeffive charters of the Earl of Warwick and of Charles II. Her com merce, her fiflieries, and her fliip-building, aU aided in the growth of her refources. In com mon with her fifter colonies, flie fubmitted to the principle of commercial monopoly, impofed by England, from 1660 to 1764. But the Stamp Ad, in 1764, inaugurating a new fyftem of com mercial fervitude, was refifted inftindively from the firit by Rhode Ifland. In October, 1764^ Rhode Ifland denied the authority of Parliament to enad even laws of trade. She appointed a committee of correfpondence, and recommended to the other colonies union for the protedion of colonial rights and privileges. On the 15th of February, 1765, her remonftrance, like thofe of Connedicut, Virginia, and Carolina, was rejeded with fcorn by the Britifli Parliament ; and from that period until the Revolution, with the excep tion of a fliort interval, juft after the repeal of THE CELEBRATION. 115 the Stamp Ad, the fpirit of liberty in Rhode Ifland was in open defiance to the authority of the mother country. In the fummer of 1765, a band of five hun dred men feized one of the boats of the Maid- ftone, an English fliip of war, in the harbor of Newport, dragged it up Queen Street to the public fquare, at the head of Broad Street, where it was burned, amidft the execrations of an indignant people. The Maidftone had tyrannically perfe- cuted our marine, and illegally impreffed our feamen. On the 27th of Auguft, the effigies of Auguftus Johnfon, Martin Howard, and Dr. Thomas Mof fat, the Stamp Mafter, and the two vindicators of the Stamp Ad, were drawn, in open day, in a cart through the ftreets of Newport, and were afterwards hung upon a gallows, ereded near the Town Houfe, amidft the derifion of the people. On the following day, the houfes of Moffat and Howard were affailed and nearly deftroyed by what was called, in the Tory papers of the day, a mob, but which you and I will believe was com pofed of the fons of liberty. On the 17th of June, 1769, the armed revenue Sloop Liberty was boarded by fome of the people Il6 THE RE-UNION. of Newport. Her cables were cut, and flie was allowed to drive on fliore at the Point. Her mafts and bowfprit were then cut away. Her boats were taken by the people and drawn through the ftreets of Newport to the Liberty Tree, where they were burned as an offering on the altar of Liberty. A few evenings after flie was fet on fire, and, drifting from the -Point to the north end of Goat Ifland, her blazing wreck far round illumi nated the harbor. By the diredion of the co^ ledor, this armed floop had repeatedly and provok- ingly annoyed our veflTels, by overhauling them, when leaving our harbor for their deftined ports. In December, 1766, Moffat alked of Rhode Ifland compenfation for his loffes, incurred by the popular tumult at Newport, during the Stamp Ad. His claims were founded on the Refolves of the Britifli Parliament, and the par ticular recommendation of the King. Metcalf Bowler, once a diftinguiflied citizen of Newport, and the Speaker of the AflTembly, declared this claim to be groundlefs, and totally inoperative on the minds of the free and independent repre fentatives of the Rhode Ifland Colony. The prefs in Rhode Ifland was clear and ex plicit in its denunciations of the commercial THE CELEBRATION. II7 tyranny of Great Britain. The Newport Mer cury, in the year 1 770, had for its motto this re markable paffage, — remarkable, becaufe exceed ing in plainnefs and daring any ever adopted by any print, in any other colony, or in any other town: "Undaunted by TYRANTS,— We'U DIE or be FREE." All honor to the memory of Solomon Southwick, the editor and proprietor of the Newport Mercury, in 1770. On the 9th of June, 1772, the Gafpee was boarded by a brave fet of men, our noble brothers of Providence. The crew, with Lieutenant Dud- dington, were overpowered and put on fliore. The veffel was burned. All honor to the mem ory of the men who performed this bold ad. The invafion and deftrudion of the King's veffels, of the Sloop Liberty, in Newport harbor, and of the Gafpee, in Providence river, were re garded in England as the moft daring infults, which colony ever offered to the fovereignty of Great Britain. They inflamed the indignation of Lord Sandwich, and he declared that he would purfue the colony until he obtained the disfran- chifement of its charter. In 1774, on hearing of the prohibition of all importation of army and ammunition in America, Il8 THE RE-UNION. you difmantled the King's Fort, at Goat Ifland," took therefrom forty pieces of cannon, took every ball and cartridge, and drained the magazines of every grain of gunpowder. In 1775, you fent from Newport to the Camp at Cambridge, feveral military companies, of a part of the Army of Obfervation, raifed by Rhode Ifland in the King's fervice. When the drum beat for the commencement of the march, there was a univerfal exclamation from the Tories, affembled near the Court Houfe, (it may have been with a feeling, not of triumph, but of regret,) " There they go with halters about their necks." Many of thefe brave foldiers never re turned. Some periflied in confequence of the sufferings and hardfliips endured in a winter's march through the wildernefs, in Arnold's Expe dition to Quebec. Some fell under the walls of Quebec, many, fighting bravely, on the battle field of the Revolution. Some few, indeed, did return, with laurels of triumph on their brows, but with no fubftantial reward, with nothing around or before them but a defolate home, and the ftern neceffity of laboring for their daily bread. The merits and fufferings of the Army of the THE CELEBRATION. 119 Revolution, its officers and foldiers, it is not neceffary for me to dwell upon, as it has confti- tuted a theme for fome of the moft eloquent efforts of Rhode Ifland Statefmen. The entrenchments on the hiUs around us, remind us not only of the glorious battle fought on Rhode Ifland by the troops of Sullivan, of Glover, and Greene, but of the chivalrous fol- diery of France, Rochambeau, De Chaftellux, Lauzun, and others, who, at the inftance of the good king Louis XVI, our noble ally, came in the darkeft moments of our ftruggle to our aid. Never can Americans, and certainly never can Rhode Iflanders forget the debt of gratitude we owe to France, or ceafe to venerate the names of the French officers who fought fo bravely for independence, whilft we were contending, not only againft England, " but the hireling fwords of German boors and vaffals." On this occafipm we cannot forget thofe true Patriots and able Statefmen, citizens of New port, Samuel Ward, William EUery, and Henry Marchant, who contributed to cherifli, to control, and to dired the Revolutionary fpirit in Rhode Ifland. One only of their number was permitted to figri the Declaration of Independence, WiUiam 120 THE RE-UNION. EUery. We can imagine with what a refolute heart he did it. With the elder Adams he faid, " Sink or fwim, Uve or die, furvive or perifli, I give my hand and my heart to this vote." I have faid enough to fliow that we have caufe to be proud of the land of our birth. But, whUe maintaining our political inftitu tions, and upholding, by noble efforts, American freedom, we have not negleded our literary inftitutions. At an early period, Berkeley, Red wood, CoUins, gave an impulfe to American learning — an influence which continues to be felt in our community, and which may lead, in time, (God grant that it may,) to the founda tion of a noble Univerfity on this ifland of Rhode Ifland. Channing, born here and trained here for his maturer efforts, is undoubtedly the 'higheft lit erary and philofophic charader we have pro duced. He is faid, within the walls of the Redwood Library, in the language of your toaft, to have ftudied "Theology without an In- ftructor." — But we know that the Ecclefiaftical Polity of Richard Hooker was upon our flielves when Channing frequented our Library, and no man could read Hooker without being materi- THE CELEBRATION. 121 ally aided in underftanding that Univerfal Law, to comprehend which, the nobleft minds in every age have afpired. How elfe could it be, for, in the fublime perfonification of Hooker, her feat is the bofom of God, her voice the har mony of the world. Undoubtedly Channing called no man mafter, followed faithfully the diredion of his great and. noble nature, and obeyed only, fubmiffively, the laws of the im mortal intelled, and the higher laws of the Author of his being. Would that we had more Channings, — men who would be true to their nature — true to the noble afpirations which God has implanted in their breafts. Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, in conclufion, in behalf of the Hiftorical Society, I will fay, that we will endeavor, on every and all occafions, to proted the fair fame of our Fathers, and to preferve the memory of their achievements, and virtues. Sixth regular toaft : The Founders of Rhode Ifland Colony, and the Founders of the State of Rhode Ifland. The reply was from J. Stanton Gould, Efq., of Hudfon, New York, a returned Son. II 122 THE RE-UNION. Many a high and thrilling thought fwells in the bofoms of Rhode Ifland's Sons when the memory and the virtues of the patriarchs of their race are the fubjeds of their contemplations. Rome offered divine honors to the iUuftrious men who laid the foundations of her dominion and her glory. Athens commemorated her early heroes and fages in ftory and in fong, and lav- iflied upon them all the wealth of fculpture and of painting. We offer no pagan rites to the Coddingtoris, the CoggefliaUs, the Eaftons, the -Ciarkes, and their iUuftrious compeers who, in - fuffering and in forrow, entered upon this domain, land laid the foundations of that noble heritage which has defcended to their ' fons all robed in lovelinefs and beauty. For them,' no incenfe ¦ fmokes on fculptured altars ; for them no monumental mar ble rifes in cloud-capppd majefty to the heavens ; for them no poet has invoked the mufe, nor has the orator linked their names "with " thoughts that breathe and words that burn." But we, their defcendants, ever bear them enflirined in our heart of hearts, cherifliing their memories with a filial reverence and a tender . love, which needs no, external token to enkindle orintenfify. THE CELEBRATION. 123 We are fca|:tered everywhere over the wide earth; amid the ice-ribbed regions of the Ardic zone, under: the; burning fun of the equator, on the mountain tops and in the valleys, may the Sons of Rhode Ifland be found;: but wherever they are, whether on the land, or, the ocean, they bear with them hearts , full of love and admira tion for the patriots and fages who laid the fourj- dations of liberty and law, fo deep and fo folid in the Eden-like home of their youth and their affedions. , ,, Thefe feptiments of filial reverence which lie fo deep in our hearts at all times, may well find vocal expreffion on this folemn and aufpicious gathering of the long-feparated but now united Sons of Rhode Ifland. i Other men have vplanted, ftates and founded empires ; they havt exhibited phyfical courage on the field of : battle, icunning in diplomacy, and flirewdnefs in legiflation ; they have ¦ even laid down , noble; principles of. civil liberty, but when they attempted to apply thefe principles to pradice they have failed. It is the peculiar glory of the fathers of Rhode Ifland that they did all this, and more, — they adually pradifed what they preached.. 124 "^^^ RE-UNION. When they declared themifelves the cham pions of liberty, it was liberty for fl// that they meant, not for a fed, nor a race, nor a clique, but genuine, unmiftakable, inalienable liberty for every fon and daughter of Adam, without refped to color, or lineage or pofition. In 1652, they enaded the firft law that was ever paffed by human legiflation for unloofing the fliackles of the flave ; they would not daily pray to the Almighty to break everjj yoke and let the oppreffed go free, while they themfelves were impofing the yoke and infliding the op preffion. They fcored no Baptift's back with ftripes, no Quaker languiflied in their jails, no witch dangled an unfeemly fpedacle on their gibbets. With the venerable Roger Williams, they heart ily hated the " bloody tenant?" and as heartily acquiefced- in his famous declaration of foul-lib erty, in that " it is the will and command of God fince the coming of his Sonne, a permiffion of the moft Paganifli, Jewifh, Turkifli, or Anti- Chriftian confeiences and worfliips bee granted to all men in all nations and countries, and they are onely to bd fought againft with that fword which is onely (in foule matters,) able to conquer, THE CELEBRATION.. 12^ to wit, ye fword of ye fpirit^ which is ye word of God." Not only was liberty for the , body and the foul enjoin,ed by, the law and enforced by the Judiciary, but in the focial intercourfe of man with man, and family with family, of all ranks, feds and pofitions, its bleffed influence was felt in all its fulnefs. " An incident related to me when very young, by my grandmother when flie was very old, will illuftrate the kind relations which exifted among various religious feds in the early times, better than any formal ftatement. One pleafant Saturday afternoon in the month of September, a fine brig, with all her canvas fet to the breeze, was feen gracefully rounding the fouthern point of Goat Ifland ; at the fame time an humble craft was paffing the northern point of the fame ifland. The brig belonged to her father, Stephen Wanton, (who refided in what is now known as the Slocum Houfe, and occupied by John V. Hammet, Efq. She was from the Weft Indies, and was loaded with molaffes, Jamaica rum, lemons, limes, and other tropical fruits. The floop was tibe Greenwich packet, having, among other paffengers, Nathaniel 126 THE RE-UNION. Greene, the father of General Greene, of revo lutionary notoriety, who was an approved minifter of the Society of Friends. He came for the double purpofe of a focial vifit to his friend Stephen Wanton, and to attend the Friend's meeting on the enfuing day. The arrival of the brig, and of this old and dear friend, made it a holy day in my great-grand father's family, and they were all prepared for a good time generally. The arrival of Nathaniel Greene was foon known through the town, and fhortly after the tea things were removed, a thundering knock at the front door announced the arrival of vifitors, and the two Baptift minifters of the town were ulhered into the parlor. Hardly had they taken their feats when the Jewifh Rabbi was an nounced, and then, in quick fucceffion, came' others, until at length every clergyman in town was prefent. After the current of converfation had fairly fettied into a regular flow, another gentleman made his appearance, which caufed a great twinkling in the eyes of each of the rev erend divines, — it was Dr. Robert Rodman, the moft celebrated punch maker in the colony. There were many great brewers of this drink in THE CELEBRATION. I27 thofe days, and to be at the head of the frater nity was confidered glory enough for any one man. The arrival of Dr. Rodman, and of the frefh, rum and lemons from the fliip, was, in the united opinion of the clergy, a clear indication that the finger of Providence pointed diredly to a bowl of punch. The huge China bowl (now in the poffeffion of my mother) and ample materials were provided, and the dodor was never before fo happy in compounding them. There was not a claffical fcholar around the table who could be convinced that Jupiter, or any of the Olympian heroes, ever tafted nedar half fo good as the liquor which was glowing in the handfome China bowl before them. The unity of fpirit which enfued was not aftonifliing ; " Like kindred drops, they melted into one." Mr. Honyman thought there was not half as much virtue in a furplice as he had always be- Ueved, and Parfon Clapp became convinced there was not half fo much fin in the government as he had been wont to imagine; while the Jew- ifli Rabbi felt a growing convidion that, if the 128 THE RE-UNION. Meffiah had not already come, the noife of his chariot wheels was even now heard in the air. (My grandmother's own words were, " They were as loving as, puppies,") which, I take it, comprehends all that can be faid on the fubjed. At length the time for parting came ; friendly farewells were exchanged, and the party fallied into the ftreet. The Epifcopalian and the Hebrew interlocked their arms with death-like tenacity of grafp, braced themfelves againft the fide of the houfe, and abandoned themfelves to a wrapt con templation of the heavenly bodies, which were fhining fo glorioufly in the blue vault above them ; the others, lefs devoted to aftronomy,, be took themfelves to the agricultural employment of making Virginia fences, from one fide of the ftreet to the other, w^ith the moft aftonifliing vigor. Nathaniel Greene had been feized with a mild rheumatic affedion in the knees, which, though not fevere enough to prevent him from going up ftairs alone, yet was bad enough to make the affiftance of a negro rather convenient than otherwife. - ?, Next morning, aU the minifters. informed their refpedive congregations that, they Ihould omit their ufual afternoon fervice, and attend THE CELEBRATION. 129 the Friends' meeting, recommending them to do likewife. The old meeting-houfe was accord ingly filled to repletion at the appointed hour, and a folemn filence foon fettled on the affem bled multitude. At length Nathaniel Greene arofe; ftanding filently for a moment, his eyes paffed flowly round the gathering, taking in each individual countenance in his furvey; then, raifing his voice, tremulous with emotion, he told them he had delivered his meffage to his own brethren in the morning, and now his con cern was for all, efpecially for the rifing genera tion of every name ; he felt that the time of his departure muft foon come, perhaps he might never fee their faces more, and the prefent might be his laft legacy of love. His text was, "Be ye temperate in all things." He fpoke of tem perance in the indulgence of the paffions, in the purfuit of wealth and of ambition, in eating and fleeping, and, finally, in the ufe of ftrong drinks ; teUing them how finful it was to abufe fo great a bleffing, and that, while its moderate ufe was to be received with thankfgiving, yet to abufe it until one could neither fiand nor go was a grievous fin, difgraceful both to the gentleman and the Chriftian. 130 THE RE-UNION. I do not commend, the profufe, conyiviality, but the anecdote is interefting, as fliowing the freedom of the fathers of Rhode Ifland from fec- tarian prejudice and bigotry. Nowhere else, on the face of the broad earth, could fuch a harmo nious gathering of men of oppofite feds^ be found." , , , ,, For this largenefs of heart, for this catholjcity of Ipirit, for this wondrous elevation above the prejudices and vulgar paffions of their age, we do, on this occafion, afcribe all honor and praife to the venerable fathers of Rhode Ifland. Seventh regular toaft: Our Native State — The- firft to eftablifli civil and reli gious liberty, the firft to arm in oppofition . to, and the firft to declare itfelf independent of, the mother country. , May peace be within its borders, and profperity within its bul warks. Refponded to by Wm P. Sheffield, Esq., as follows : Upon this feftive day, when our wanderers have again returned to the fcenes of their child hood, to be cheered by the caufes of joy, and to be faddened by the occafions for forrow which have happened fince their departure,. to enjoy a THE CELEBRATION. 131 re-union of hearts with the companions of their earUer life, and be reminded of evehts in our hiftdry by the fight of thefe fields and of the monuments here about us, each one which is affociated with fome event, with fome transac tion which will awakenfome hiftoric, fome inter efting recollection; is it not proper that we fliould recur, for a fingle moment, to thofe great principles which animated our fathers, when they firft held forth to the' world the lively experi ment that a civil State might ftand and beft be maintained with a full liberty in religious con cernments?" They were the firft to eftablifli not only religious, but civil liberty. .Under the • Charter of 1643, ^^^7 declared that the form of their government fliould be democratical. This form of gdvernment vi^as preferved' under the Charter of 1663. There is abundance bf evidence in our hiftory to fliow how exadly our fathers com prehended thefe two cardinal principles of their civil policy, — principles of government then at variance with all the experiences of mankind. They contained' an emphatic denial of the divine right of kings, which refted upon the traditions of all the paft, and yet our fathers, as it were, 'reached forward and 'drew them back from the 132 THE RE-UNION. civilization of future centuries. It is not too much to fay, that their difcovery and adoption was the attainment of one of thofe ftepping ftones, in the advancement of civilization, which is attainable only after an age of trial, and from which fociety ftarts to another and higher eleva tion toward the univerfal brotherhood of the hutnan family. The caufes which induced the fettlement of Rhode Ifland contain evidence of the inflexibil ity of the purpofes of the men who engaged in that work. Having been cut off from affocia tion with all of the other colonies, and from all external aids, felf-reliance with them became a neceffity. Thefe virtues thus induced and thus cultivated, they imparted to their defcendants, and this argument of their hiftory, fo familiar to us all, has been, by every generation of Rhode Ifland mothers, impreffed by precept and exam ple upon their children. It is this inftrudion which has been fo forcibly endowed all Rhode Ifland men, even the humbleft in the State, with that blunt independence of charader, which makes them look upon all men as their peers, and only upon angels as their fuperiors. It was this diftindive element of the charader which THE CELEBRATION. 133 made Wafliington complain that the Rhode Ifland line gave him more trouble than any men in his army ; " to which Colonel Olney made the laconic and no lefs charaderiftic reply — " That is precifely what the enemy fay." The men of Rhode Ifland, accuftomed from the beginning to be com plained of by thofe from without their borders, have, with but little reference to what other people have faid, fought to be faithful to their own con- vidions, and true to the principles upon which the State was founded. Upon the paffage of the Stamp Ad, our legis lature declared that meafure of oppreffion to be unconftitutional, and that it fliould not be en forced in the colony. The people" organized and deftroyed his Majefty's veffels, the Liberty and the Gafpee. This was before the deftrudion of tea in Bofton harbor, and in May, 1776, the King's name was ftruck from all writs and other papers in the colony. Rhode Ifland then de clared itfelf independent of the mother country. The blight which that war brought upon the profperity of our State is evidenced by much that we can difcover at this late day. The bur dens borne by the men of that time, the hiftory of the fons of liberty, of the " Newport Affoci- 10 A THE RE-UNION. ates " (whom Lorenzo Sabine miftakenly charac terizes as tories,) the Rhode Ifland blood fhed upon almoft every battie-field of the revolution, all atteft the fpirit of the men of that time. It is true Rhode Ifland took time to deliberate before adopting the Conftitution and entering into the union of the States. But, upon mature reflec tion, it was adopted as their folemn and deliber ate ad; and palfied be the arm which Ihall ever be raifed to ftrike a blow at that Conftitution, and cloven be the tongue which fliall ever be ftirred to weaken the bonds of that union. Thefe leg acies, fo bountiful in bleffings, confecrated by the toil, and blood, and plighted faith of our fathers, let us venerate and preferve as we ought, and filence, by a univerfal hifs, the voice of the "black-hearted traitor" who feeks to undervalue the bleffings of that Conftitution and that union, or to deprecate either their worth or their obliga tion, for they reft upon the faith of our fathers' pledge, and, as we revere our fathers' memory, we fliall keep that pledge inviolate. The battle of Lake Erie was fought and won by Rhode Ifland men, and, though it is nearly half a century fince that determined band, which fome of you remember, left this, their ifland THE CELEBRATION. 135 home, to engage in that ftrife, God, in his mercy, has fpared a remnant of thofe who participated in the dangers of that great conflict, and of the glories of that victory, yet to be with us. The hiftory of Rhode Ifland, written in the fpirit of philofophy, would prefent a record worthy, and more than worthy, of the palmieft days of the moft renowned State of antiquity. The principles of its founders are at the root, and pervade every part of the government of the United States. All the States of the Old Worid have felt their influence, and moft of them have . yielded fomething to their demands; and the hopeful ftatefman fanguinely looks forward to fome future period of the hiftory of the world, when their application fliall have become uni verfal. Eighth regular toaft. The former Members of the Newport Bar. — Eminent for their talents and legal acquirements, habitually attentive and polite in all their profeffional relations, they won what they well deferved, the refpeft and efteem of all who knew them. Refponded to with great fpirit by C. C. Van Zandt, Efq. 136 THE RE-UNION. Music : — " Wood Up," by Providence Brafs Band. Ninth regular toaft. Our dijlinguifhed Sons of the Army and Navy. — The record of their valor adds imperifliable luftre to our hiftory. This called out Col. Magruder, of the army, and at prefent in command at Fort Adams, whofe remarks were received with great ap- plaufe. Tenth regular toaft. The former Schoolmafiers of Newport. — Men eminently qualified for and devoted to the duties of their profeflion ; we, their pupils, are largely indebted to their labors for any fuccefs that has attended our own. William L. Dennis, Efq., of Philadelphia, faid it afforded him great pleafure to refpond to the fentiment that paid a merited compliment to the former fchool teachers of Newport. They were citizen teachers of focial pofition and moral worth, who entered upon their duties for no brief period, but for life, and they were fur rounded by the fons and daughters of their perfonal friends and neighbors, fent to them to THE CELEBRATION. 137 be educated for life's varied and fevere labors. Eminently qualified for their work, bleffed with good common fenfe, clofe obfervers of men and manners, and, above all, wholly devoted to their profeffional engagements, they rarely failed to fit their pupils for a fuccefsful bufinefs career. It would be extremely interefting, if it were poffi ble, to. fpread out in detail the refult of their labors; but this cannot be done. We know, however, that the comparatively fecluded pri vate fchools of Newport fent out feores of men who have filled, and are now filling, places of higheft truft and diftindion in the religious, lit erary, fcientific and commercial world. It was no uncommon thing for us (I prefume I fpeak the fentiment of all my fchoolmates) to complain a little of the difciplinary meafures ufed to quicken our memories. All of us will probably agree, that feruling was brought to its higheft ftate of perfedion during our pupilage ; (I very well recoiled my firft introdudion to the old ebony ruler, and my clear convidion that it was equal in power to three galvanic batteries and an eledric eel ;) and yet there is not one of us in the maturity of our manhood, who ques tions for a moment the neceffity of the appUca- 12* 138 THE RE-UNION. tion, or its ultimate benefit in fecuring better order, and intenfer ftudy. The fchools of our boyhood were fchools of extraordinary worth; the years we fpent in ftudying DaboU's Arith metic, Webfter's Spelling Book, and Murray's Grammar, were well-fpent years. Our teachers were, in faithfulnefs and friendfliip, next to our parents, and, as fuch, are entitled to, and will ever receive, our moft grateful recoUedions. Mr. D. concluded by offering the following fentiment: • ' , Our Former School Teachers. — Levij Eleazer, Daniel, and John ; men of fc riptural names and fcriptural merit, for they did not fpare the rod and fpoil the child. Eleventh regular toaft : Our Old Paf tors. — Men of fincere and unobtrufive piety, who devoted their lives to the beft interefts of their fellow- men, and went to their graves " like fliocks of corn, ready to be garnered." Replied to in the moft tender manner by Rev. James McKenzie. Twelfth regular toaft : Our Old Doliors. — We are the living monuments of their Efculapian fkill, and while we gratefully cherifli the memory THE CELEBRATION. 139 of a Center, a Turner, and a Waring, we Hazard nothing in laying that their Kingly treatment was fufficient for every Cafe. Dr. Usher Parsons, of Providence, replied to this fentiment as follows: Sons and Daughters of Rhode Ifland: — We have liftened with admiration to the eloquent remarks that have fallen from the gentlemen who have fpoken, and I am highly gratified by the friendly allufion to the medical profeffion of Rhode Ifland. I wifli that a more competent fpeaker had been called upon to refpond to the fenti ment, becaufe I am fure that, if properly treated, the medical profeffion of Rhode Ifland, of early times, would make a briUiant page in its hiftory. Who was the pioneer and founder of New port ? It was John Clarke, a phyfician ; and it was the fame Dr. Clarke who united with Roger Williams in obtaining from Charles II. a Charter that conferred greater civil and religious privi leges than had been granted to any other pro vince, and which continued in force until the adoption of the prefent Conftitution, in 1842. It was he, too, who gathered the Firft Baptift Church, and ferved as a religious teacher until 140 the re-union. his death, meanwhile practifing medicine, and thus miniftering to the wants of both foul and body. He died in 1676, at the age of 68. In 1641, a Dr. Jeffries commenced pradice, and was followed by Doctors Cranfton, the three Rodmans, Ayrault, Vigneron, and Robinfon. Dr. Vigneron came from France about 1690, and died 1764, at the age of 95 years. He was highly educated and a popular praditioner. It gives me pleafure to pay this tribute of refped to his memory, in the prefence of many of his. defcendants now prefent. The name is believed to be extind. Very recently, however, a gallant naval officer of this city, who fought by the fide, of Perry, in the Lawrence, on Lake Erie, named Wifliam Vigneron Taylor, was a lineal defcendant of the dodor. Dr. Vigneron's fon fucceeded to his pradice, and the fon and grandfon extended their profeffional career to nearly a century. There was a cotemporary of Vigneron, a Dr. John Brett, from Germany, a man of good learn ing, and a particular friend and affociate of Red wood, and who affifted him in eftablifliing the Library, which flieds fuch luftre on the fame of its founders, and whofe recent additions and decorations render it one of the moft beautiful THE CELEBRATION. 141 and attradive inftitutions of its kind in the whole country. All honor is due to the enlightened public fpirit and refined tafte of the prefent citizens of Newport, for the renovation of this beautiful inftitution. About the year 1750, quite a member of very eminent phyficians arrived at Newport, who, with Brett and Vigneron, made the medical tal ents of the ifland, equal, if not fuperior, to thofe of any place in America. There were Dodors William Hunter and Thomas Moffatt, from the famous Univerfity of Edinburgh, and foon after came Dodors Haliburton and Oliphant. Dr. Hunter gave the firft courfe of medical ledures ever delivered in America. Yes, Rhode Iflanders, to Newport is conceded the honor of inaugurating medical inftrudions by ledures. They were given by William Hunter, in 1754-5 ^^'^ ^75^' ^^^ ^^^7 ^^^"^ many pupils from Maffachufetts. Dr. Hunter marched to Canada with the provincial troops, as furgeon in the French War. He had the largeft medical library in New England, a por tion of which was given by his fon, the late Hon. William Hunter, to Brown Univerfity. Dr. Hunter died in 1777, aged 48 years. 142 THE RE-UNION. Dr. Thomas Moffatt was beft known by his Tory principles, and his endeavors to enforce the Stamp Ad, which incenfed the public mind to a degree that caufed the facking of his houfe and deftrudion of its contents. He erred in judg ment, in fiding with the Crown, but his medical talents were of a very high order. Dr. Haliburton was highly educated and a popular praditioner, but was ftrongly tindured with Toryifm. Soon after the Britifli fleet left Newport, it was afcer tained that he had held a fecret correfpondence with its officers, and this made it advifable to leave for Halifax, where his defcendants were of the firft refpedability. Judge Brenton Halibur ton, fon of the dodor, -born in Newport, was many years Chief Juftice of the Province, and has this year received the honor of knighthood at the age of 83. Dr. Oliphant' was in extenfive pradice, and much refpeded. His defcendants maintain a high focial pofition in New York. Dr. Ifaac Senter, a native of New Hampfliire, was a pupil of Dr. Moffatt, but diametrically oppofed to him in politics. Fired with zeal in the caufe of liberty, he, after the battie of Bun ker Hill, marched to Bofton as a volunteer, and was foon after appointed a furgeon in the army. THE CELEBRATION. 143 and marched with General Arnold to Quebec, enduring incredible hardfliips. After . the war he fettled in Newport, where, from the death of the diftinguiflied worthies we have named, he took a very exalted pofition as phyfician and furgeon, and maintained it until his death, which occurred in 1799, at the age of 46; though wanting in the advantages of European inftruc- tion he made his name and fame known as a writer abroad, and he was eleded as a fellow of feveral medical focieties. He educated many pupils, among whom were Drs. Danforth, the medical Hercules of Bofton, and Dr. Water- houfe, the accompliflied botanift, profeffor, and writer, and who introduced vaccination into America, performing the firft operation on his own children. Drs. Danforth and Waterhoufe attained to the age of more than 90 years. Cotemporary with Dr. Senter was Dr. Jona than Eafton, whofe tall and dignified figure in a Quaker garb, I remember to have feen nearly half a century ago in Newport. Dr. Benjamin Mafon, father of the late Mrs. Com. Perry, ftudied medicine in Europe, and was highly refpeded in his profeffion. 144 THE RE-UNION. At the beginning of the prefent century, a new fet of phyficians mounted the ftage of pro feffional life, and pradifed many years. Drs. WiUiam Turner, David King, Edmund T. Waring, Benjamin W. Cafe, and Enoch Hazard, were well known to many who hear me, which renders it unneceffary to fay more of them than that they were highly efteemed where ever known, and were adive, faithful, intelligent and fuccefsful. Thefe two have paffed away, and, having ferved their day and generation faithfully, have gone to their reward. A new fet of praditioners now fill their places. Far dis tant be the day when a future biographer fliall be called upon to notice their obituaries, and portray their merits. You have every reafon to be proud. Sons and Daughters of Rhode Ifland, of your medical anceftry. I give, as a fentiment : The memory of diftinguiflied phyficians of Rhode Iflani who have well played their part in the drama of profeflional ¦fife. Thirteenth regular toaft : The Ladies.— Newport, in days lang fyne, celebrated for the beauty and accomplifliment of her daughters, will fuftain at the prefent day her ancient reputation. THE CELEBRATION. H5 When this was announced, the Mayor rofe and faid : The Ladies. — They always fpeak for themfelves. God blefs them ! When the regular toafts had been read and refponded to, the Prefident called npon Ex- Mayor Cozzens, who fpoke as follows : Sons, and Daughters, and Fellow-Citizens of New port: It is a gratifying fight to look over this vaft affembly, and fee fo many hundreds of the natives of this lovely ifle returned to their early homes, to hold communion and re-union with their fathers and their fathers' friends. The crowd before me to-day fliows how many go abroad to how few remain at home. As one who has flayed behind, and occupied one fpot for thirty odd years, I am known, no doubt, to many of you; but change, that immutable law of nature, has wrought fo much in our prefent condition, that wc are almoft ftrangers. The fafliion of the times with gentlemen, to negled the fcraping duties of the toilet, fo dis- 13 146. THE RE-UNION. figures man, that, in many cafes, hardly a fem- blance of a likenefs to a venerated and honored anceftry can be found, until a formal introduc tion has been made. This has puzzled many of us thefe laft few days, and many a near relative could hardly recognize the face of a returned fon or friend. Different is it, in fome degree, with our old Newport. She has fcraped her face, and renewed many a front of her old buildings, and no doubt, to many of you, long abfent, flie pre- fents a decided change. My eye refts on many who can recoiled, with me, Newport twenty-five, thirty, aye, forty years ago. I fee one now, whofe firft vifit home, after an abfence of nearly forty years, (when I was a boy,) who nettled me exceedingly at his (as I then thought) ridicule of our fleepy condition. I well remember his faying that the only found like that of a hammer he had heard, after feveral days fpent here, was that of a butcher's cleaver in the old Red Mar ket, chopping a mutton bone, and that, in the ftillness of the place, he heard at a diftance of feveral hundred yards from the fpot. That, and the report of a tremendous y«^eze from one of our old fliopkeepers, (always noted for the powers THE CELEBRATION. I47 of his nafal organ,) were the only founds, that met his ear during his vifit. This was Newport dead indeed-. Many of you can realize it, and have no doubt come back to look for the old. Nowhere has more old been preserved ; yet, while you look for the venerated old, you will not negled to witnefs the new. Wherever you look abroad, over our city extended, fee the widened avenue, the new ftreets, the long line of new and elegant manfions which have rifen up ; fee, of a pleafant afternoon, the many hun dred fplendid carriages which roll by as you ftand at a given point, then go back with me to the time when poor old Sammy Place drove the only two-horfe public carriage in town, and that not half fuftained ! But, I hear you afls, is all this real ? Or do we read and hear that all this great difplay is but for a fliort feason ? Alas, too true I You have come at a feafon when our honored home puts on her beautiful attire, — when in life and in earneft. Would that it were otherwife; that it would be perpetual; that I could fay to you, we are extending our commerce, our manufadures, our general bufinefs, our railroad to conned us with the reft of mankind. Thefe may come, muft 1<:|.8 THE RE-UNION. come — but when ? Not fo long as all our Sons go forth to build up other cities, and while fo many of us who remain Uve on doubts and mis givings. I have not ventured to go beyond the limits of my own memory, for tradition has long fince eftabliflied what Newport was a hundred years ago. Could we but '* eradicate the doubting, defpairing charader of our people, created by wars, and the fears of wars, from 1776 to 1820, we might ftill rife and attain that pofition which our natural advantages had given us. But New port is gradually improving, and flie now num bers many adopted Sons, — men who, becoming tired of the toils, cares, and dangers of a city life, have made this Garden of Eden their home ; and may we not hope that fome of you, the honored Sons and Daughters of Newport, will find in this Re-union a rekindling of your early attachments, and a defire to return, and help to fwell the number of our increafing popu lation. His Honor, Mayor Cranston, now called on the Delegates from the feveral States and Terri tories, appointed to addrefs the meeting, defig- THE CELEBRATION. 149 nating Kanfas firft, and in her behalf Benjamin C. Card, Efq., fpoke as follows : I thank you, Mr. Prefident, for remembering our diftant Territory on this occafion ; and I only regret that fome abler reprefentative could not be here to refpond for Kanfas ; but you will ex- cufe your Committee for defignating me for the duty, when you know that they could do noth ing elfe — it was a choice (perhaps not a happy one) between me and nobody — for I am the only returned Son from that remote Territory, and I could hear of no other to return with me. But I truft that, before the next gathering of your fcattered ones, our Territory fliall have received fuch an infufion of Rhode Ifland element as will make it a fecond home for us. If Rhode Ifland is a good place to go from, Kanfas is a good place to go to. It is not the traditional " Bleeding Kanfas " of a few years ago — the Kanfas held up as uncomfortably as Mahomet's coffin, between the North and the South, and receiving from each more kicks than penr^es ; but the prefent thriving, peaceful, and quiet Kanfas, that iijvites earneft labor to her broad prairies, whofe foil 13*- 150 the re-union. waits but to be tickled with the plough and it laughs with a bountiful crop. Or, if you like not to remain in the plain, go up into the mountain, and try your luck among the auriferous peaks and gulches. Is there gold there? That Newport curiofity would foon find out — Newport energy develope, and New port acquifitivenefs appropriate. I fpeak as one of you. Kanfas, too, has her towns and villages; they are all young, and fome are vigorous and flour- ifliing, while others are finifhed, and would be fenced, if we could fpare the lumber. We boaft of one town, only four years old, with a popula- :!on of 13,000, and fteadily increafing. We have our churches and fchoolhoufes, and men and children attend them. We have great rivers, and great fteamers employed on them; we have broad fields of fuperior land, and we want thoufands to till them. We wiU foon have railroads croffmg thofe fields, and reaching to thofe rivers. We have commenced tailing about building them already, and you, perhaps, can teU me how fpeedily railways are finiflied after they are talked of, and how littie there is to do on them that fpeeches will, not pay for. THE CELEBRATION. 15^ Kanfas will foon be praying for admittance into the Union as a State. She has paffed through troublous times to reach the pofition, and I ask for her that you fliall receive as kindly, and welcome as warmly, this young Sifter into the Union, as you have to-day your Sons and Daughters to the Re-uniom. At the conclufion of Mr. Card's. Addrefs, a gentleman, a returned Son, gave the following toaft : Kanfas. — Her only Card is a trump. The Delegate from Providence was now called upon by the Mayor, and Hon. William S. Patten, of that city, fpoke as follows : The Providence members of the Newport family, in joyful refponfe to the maternal invita tion, have come to fpend a day with our brothers and fifters at the old homeftead. After fepara- tions, fome longer, fome fliorter; after experi ences, oh! how chequered with joy and with fadnefs to each of us, we come to join the family gathering in the home where we were born. This fliould be, it is, a happy meeting; yet has 152 THE RE-UNION. it elements of fadnefs ; and the heart is untrue to its beft emotions which does not feel and con fefs them. • Thofe of us who now return find the froft of years, the fnows of winter, upon many a brow on which we left the bloom of youth and the fummer of manhood. • We mifs, too, alas that it is so, many a loved, many " an accuftomed face," and " it is little joy to know " that they have left this good home forever ; but there is confolation in our trust, that they have been removed to that better, where we all hope to be reunited. To thofe of you. Brothers and Sifters, who have always lived at home, many of us feem like fpirits of the departed, revifiting the fcenes in which we and you once lived together. The young wife of Old Robin Gray was not more surprifed by the reappearance of her former lover, when flie fupposed " It was her Jamie's wraith, for flie Could na' think 'twas he," than the changed appearances of fome of us have furprifed you. THE CELEBRATION. 153 That old Caledonian incident is being repro duced before your eyes, with new Yankee illus trations ; for as many ghpfts as have been feen in the ftreets "of Newport to-day, and can be as well authenticated to all coming generations, as are defcribed in Mather's Magnalia. Many a happy year may it be before any of us are laid. This, we have , faid, is a happy meeting. Never before have we come together as a fam ily. Never before, as brothers and fifters, has our mother, Newport, gathered her children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens — under her wings; and truly, are we not a pleafant fight? Glad are we to fee each other — proud, happy and grateful are we in our relationfliip. Grateful and happy we feel that we are — and a juft pride we know we are entitled to for a long line of iUuftrious anceftors ; godly and gifted divines; eloquent patriots and ftatefmen; learned jurifts; celebrated phyficians, poets, painters; brave and magnanimous naval commanders and military ; merchants, enterprifing and fuccefsful ; artifans, intelligent and fl?:illful — among her men — dignity, accomplifliments, refplendent beauty ; every grace that adorns, and every virtue that 154 "^^^ RE-UNION. ennobles woman, that " laft, beft gift of God to man"' — belong to Newport — and illuminate every page of Rhode Ifland hiftory with a bril liancy which far fparkles over an almoft bound- lefs horizon. Such is our family, — here was our birthplace, and here are we met, around our family board, contemplating our paft, enjoying our prefent, and gathering a ftore of pleafant memories, kind feelings, and cheering hopes for our future. Thus reprefenting, (on his native ground,) the fcene your magic painter has fo exquifitely ideal ized in " The Hours ; " the paft, the prefent, and the future. So much. Brothers and Sifters, for ourfelves. Now, juft a word or two for our mother. Till to-day, it is long fince fome of us have feen her loved and beautiful face. Many of us feldom do or can fee it ; for the hard neceffities of life, its engroffing cares, or exading duties, have made us exiles, but have never eftranged our affedions from this, the maternal abode. The voice of the murmur of the diftant beach, (its greeting now on the ear,) was as our cradle hymn. The fight of fwelling ocean, the view of undulating landfcape, verdant and broad- THE CELEBRATION. I55 fpreading in peaceful beauty, smUing in the face of a loving iky ; thefe are the features of our mother, impreffed by her on the hearts and memories of all her infant children, ineffaceably and indeftrudible. On us fhe turns them now, in unfaded youth and lovelinefs, for, " Time writes no wrinkle on her azure brow." And her maternal touch ! How it reftores our ftrength, proftrated in the conflid with giant years and toils ; revives our wilted fpirits ; renews our youth of foul, and we fliall return to the conteft invigorated with freih confidence in vidory, and with a cheerful courage. Such, Brethren and Sifters, is our mother to us, and on her ifland home, as once defcribed with enthufiaftic truth, " A beautiful gem on the bofom of the ocean." May we be worthy of her ; that, when ihe would make her claim of chiefeft honor, flie fliall point to her children, and fay, with exultant joy, " Thefe are my jewels." At this point, the ceremonies were interrupted If6 THE RE-UNION by the appearance, in the neighborhood, of the Antiques and Horribles, and all appeared anxious to witnefs a proceffion fo novel; it was decided to adjourn the meeting till evening, at which time it was announced the Addreffes of the Delegates would be continued. In a few mo ments the Tent was entirely cleared, and the thou fands who had been filently Uftening to the remarks of their friends, were now convulfed with laughter at the fpedticle before them. The Antiques and Horribles ' were under the com mand of the gallant Captain LoUypop, and as it was one of the attradive features of the day, it is deferving of fome fpecial notice here. THE ANTIQUES AND HORRIBLES. ¦ , This unique corps was compofed, on the occafion, of the " Punkinvil Rangers," of this city, and the " Block Ifland Guards," of Prov idence, and never was there any thing in the way of burlefque more fuccefsful than their appearance. All their movements were con- duded in the moft ludicrous manner. The fafhionable belle, with hoops of the moft extrav agant dimenfions, was perfbnified by one whofe THE CELEBRATION. 157 fece had been well blackened with burnt cork. Her gait was unexceptionable, and flie Ihowed the moft tender folicitude for the fafety of her pet cur. Her rival was mounted on— ihall we fay the frame of a horse ? Certainly it was nothing but ikin and bones. But this defed was rendered lefs confpicuous by the fize of her ikirts, which completely covered all but the ani mal's head and feet. The band was compofed of ghaftly performers. Drawing anything but dulcet founds from the moft outlandifli inftru- ments. Brother Jonathan was there, in all his glory. A vidim of Lynch law was riding on a rail, borne aloft in a cart, his body, from the crown of his head to the fole of his foot, reek ing with tar and feathers. A printer appeared, dreffed entirely in newfpapers. Jugglers and clowns jingled their bells and cut many pranks. An old woman carried in a baiket, on her flioul ders, the living head of a man, which bowed and fmiled to the crowd of wondering eyes bent on difcovering the deception, and his Satanic majefty was feen here, and there, and everywhere. It would be impoffible for us now to give anything like a full defcription of this motley proceffion, or of the crazy old vehicles in which 158 THE RE-UNION. many of the figures were drawn by horfes that were literally nothing but fliin and bones. At the Ocean Houfe, the hilarity of the guefts, who had just left the dining room, and were prom enading in the balcony, knew no bounds, at a fight fo novel, and fo unexpeded. There was bowing and fcraping on the part of the " Pun- kin vilites," and burfts of applaufe from the reviewers, who declared this feature to be no .fmall part of the day's entertainment. ( i?9 ) CHAPTER VIII. PRESENTATION OF BANNER. After the ceremonies at the Tent, in the after noon of the 23d, the Artillery Company, as it left the field, was drawn into line, fouth of the Ocean Houfe, and Ex-Mayor Rodman, of Provi dence, prefented to the Company a beautiful Banner, accompanied with the following unique .^drefs : Mr. Commandant : — An unexpeded, yet very pleafant duty, has been impofed upon me. Sir, by my affociates from the City of Providence ; and I approach its performance moft cheerfully, although wholly unprepared with ftudied and fitting words. It is the habit of the human mind to love that which is memorial in its char ader, and to perpetuate the recoUedions of pleas ant events by tangible records. We fee this in youth. In life's early morn, he fees the Temple of Fame rifing in beauty and grandeur before him, and his foul prompts the defire to leave l6o THE RE-UNION. fome little memorial upon its enduring tablets, to tell to thofe who fucceed him in the march of human life, that he has preceded them in the cortibat. We, Sir, ftanding here upon the emerald car pet of our beautiful ifland, feel anxious to leave behind us a memorial of the unclouded pleafures of this feftal day, and to place in your handSj ¦ and the hands of your command this, our Banner, as a teftimonial of our appreciation and gratitude for our generous welcome, by our fellow-citizens, and as an expreffion of our high regard for the old and honored Artillery Company of New port. This little flag is zfac-fmile of the one borne by General Nathaniel Greene, during his heroic wanderings through the Revolutionary ftruggle ; and may the fpirit which infpired him ever aduate us all as foldiers and as men. Obedient to the patriotic impulfes, he armed himfelf for combat, and when " that Quaker brave His anvil tinto freedom gave. And made that anvil loudly ring. With giant blows and ftalwart fwing. PRESENTATION OF BANNER. l6l And every time he ftruck his forge. Vowed vengeance to the tyrant George ; What did his patriot mother fay When from his home he turned away ? Nat, if thou tak'ft the battle's track. Let not a fliot aflail thy back ! " Her fpirit. Brothers, Quaker as flie was, was the true fpirit of lofty valor; and fliould the clarion blaft of war again peal along our borders, may you and I, as foldiers and as men, remember that her's was the true watchword, that the true patriot only kneels to God, and always faces his foe. Take this Banner, Colonel Turner, as our memorial offering, to commemorate this aufpi cious day, and while it fliall awaken pleafant remembrances of the paft, may it ferve to keep our hearts forever green. The Color-Sergeant then took charge of the flag, and Colonel Turner refponded as follows: Mr. Rodman, and Gentlemen of the Providence Delegation of the Sons of Newport: — I have the pleafure of accepting, in the name and behalf of I4* i l62 THE RE-UNION. the ArtiUery Company, the White Flag which you have fo kindly prefented us. It is particularly pleafant to us that, among the different organizations of this city, with which you have feverally been conneded, this old Corps ihould have been feleded as the recipi ent of the liberality and friendfliip of fuch a body of Returned Sons. Allow me to affure you this pure White Flag ihall ever remain unfuUied. ( i63) CHAPTER IX. EVENING FESTIVITIES. At 8 o'clock, the Tent was briUiantly illumin ated with gas, (the gas having been introduced efpecially for the occafion, from the main pipe on South Touro Street,) and Chinefe lanterns. Soon after the opening, the entire fpace within the immenfe canvafs was filled to its utmoft capacity — the number prefent being eftimated at not lefs than ft% thoufand. At half-paft 8, His Honor the Mayor opened the evening exercifes, and thereupon introduced the Rev. Charles T. Brooks, who was received with great applaufe, and, at once, read the fol lowing poem, which was liftened to with the moft profound attention and intereft by the vaft multitude.prefent : RHODE ISLAND'S WELCOME TO HER CHILDREN. BY REV. C. T. BROOKS. A voice from old Newport, — a welcoming call To her wide-fcattered children and grandchildren all ; Come, wanderers, come home to your beautiful ifle. To the feet of your mother — the light of her fmile ! 164 THE RE-UNION. In her mantle of green and her tiar of blue. She long has been fitting and waiting for you ; The arms of her bays, lo ! ftie ftretches out wide. To waft you all in at the turn of the tide. Her foam-whitened headlands run out on the deep. As eager the circling horizon, to fwcep j The tongues of her far-ftretching green flopes explore. Like feelers, each white fpcck on ocean's broad floor. She lends up her hill-tops, that they, too, may fpy Where, haply, fome band of her truants draws nigh ; Old Tammany, Honejwian, Paradife, ftand Looking wiftfuUy out o'er the fea and the land. In their dufky night-mantles they wait there to greet The coming at dawn of the beautiful feet, — And a thrill of expeftancy runs through the hoft Of the night-waves that fleeplcfsly moan round the coaft. On the wings of the morning ye come as a cloud. Like doves to the windows ye eagerly crowd : Methinks the old windmills, with clatter and clack. Fling their white arms to welcome the wanderers back. The tie of your home was elaftic but ftrong ; Though wide were your wanderings, — your abfence though long, — Your old mother's apron-ftrings ftill held you faft. They ftretched, but they 've flirunk, — you are here now at laft. EVENING FESTIVITIES. 165 As the fea-bird wheels home to her rock-begirt neft. Ye come by your old ocean-cradle to reft ; To fit at the feet of your mother awhile. And gladden your hearts with her fong and her fmile. In the murmuring mufic that fteals on your ear. The ftrain, fweet and plaintive of memory you hear; Your mother's old lullaby fwells from the deep. With which, in your childhood, flie fang you to fleep. Say, home gathered exiles, and feel ye not now That mother's mild breathing float over your brow. As it cheered you fo often in morningtide's flufli. As it foothed you fo often at eventide's hufli ? Draw clofe to your mother, and look in her face, — No fign of eftrangement or coldnefs you '11 trace ; Come, fit in her lap without fcruple or fliame, — Old or young, you are all boys and girls, juft the fame. Some changes you'll note in the good lady's drefs. But flie wears her old countenance, neverthelefs ; On her youthful old brow not a wrinkle is feen, Unfaded her apron of emerald green. Some modern adornments you'll find here and there, A sprig or a gem in the old lady's hair ; Some quaintly carved cameo, perchance, on her breaft. Or ftones of rare coftlinefs dotting her veft. l66 THE RE-UNION. Look out on the Nech, once fo bare and fo free. The neck of your mother, the bride of the fea. Where erft (her fole fcarf) his white fpray cloud he flung, And the olive-brown beads of his ribbon-weed flung ; The ftranger has laviflied his wealth and his art. To the matron's plain beauty new cl;arms to impart ; With pofies and pearls fo bedizened and gay. You well might fcarce know your old parent to-day. Yet what are all thefe to the noble old dame ? Defpite all thefe charges, her heart is the fame — Her heart is the fame, and the fame it will be, ' Like the air and the. Iky, and the rock and the fea. Let them deck and improve her as much as they will. Her look wears its true old ferenity ftill ; Her blue eye beamed never more brightly than now. The radiance of Heaven is undimmed on her brow. She looks on her Ikies and flie looks on her feas, And flie fays to proud worldlings. My glories are thefe ! She points to the children her fond arms enfold. And flie says, (the true mother ! ) My Jewels behold ! Then cling round your mother — drink in the loved tones, Not one of you all flie forgets or difowns, — Not you, ye old men, who could fcarcely retrace Through the dim glafs of memory, a line of her face. ,^ EVENING FESTIVITIES. 167 Ye left her in childhood, — ye fee her again Through the mift-obfcured vifta of three-fcore and ten. Yet ftie had not ceafed to remember, if you Had forgotten the mother whofe look ye fcarce knew. To all of her children, — to old and to young — Her greeting is fpoken, — her welcome is fung. The fea, as it murmurs, and kifles your feet. The iky, as it fparkles, her welcome repeat. From Coddington's cove, far acrofs and around. To the Flints of old Sachueft echoes the found; It ripples and gurgles' and fwells in the waves. On fandy-floored beaches, in pebbly-floored caves. Old Spouting Rock, eager the gladnefs to fliare, A feftive white spray- wreath flings high in the air ; And the fpirits imprifon'd below in his den. Growl back a gruff greeting in thunder again. And a genuine old fog, (one of Newport's true fons,) Roufed up by the noife of the bells and the guns, At day-break comes out a fpeftator to be, Though where he is, none elfe can be feen or can fee. But not thefe wild children of Nature alone Are glad, and exult their old playmates to own ; In the heart of the town, in the fquare and the ftreet. Old houfes are nodding old inmates to greet. 1 68 THE RE-UNION. Dear old time-colored houfes ! they feem (and well may,) To hold their heads higher than ever to-day ; For though they had two or three ftories before. To-day they have certainly one ftory more. As ye faunter along by the fliops of old Thames, Some wearing new faces, yet keeping old names. In letters time-darkened or touched with new gold, Unmiftakable figns of your welcome behold ! As ye pioufly turn toward the head of the town. Curt chronicler ftill of her ancient renown. Though fliattered by Time, the old markfman, you fee. Bare, blafted, yet upright, the Liberty Tree. As the hero ftill ftands to his poft on the deck. When the balls of the foemen have left him a wreck. And the flag's tattered remnants are ftiot from the maft, " Don't give up the fliip ! " is his cry to the laft. Come to the Hill-top ; there, waiting for you. With flightly changed coftume, ftill modeft and true. Friend Redwood looks forth with the forehead he wore. Calm, claffic, majeftic and penfive of yore. Fair feat of the Mufes ! of Memory the Shrine ! All hail ! the bright dawn of a new day is thine ! What ftrange alterations of lot thou haft feen. Since thy columns firft rofe on thii hill-top of green 1 EVENING FESTIVITIES. 169 No longer Minerva, as once, with affright. At the tramp of rude Mars, from her temple takes flight. No more it refounds with the hideous noife. The clamor and clangor of bats and of boys. The cobwebs and duft, of negledl Ihall no more Hang over thy flielves as they gathered of yore ; No more fliall their mute, honored occupants lie In the night dews, unmarked fave by Nature's moift eye. New times are upon us, old friend, and thou, too. Henceforth, like the eagle's, thy youth ftialt renew. No more here, the bat or the owl, fliall hold fway„ All hail to the dawn of thy new rifing day !• But now, as you turn round the corner hard by, A veteran, older by far, meets your eye ; The mute, but impreffive and thought-ftirring word. Of the oldeft inhabitant waits to be heard.. For lee, there where filent and ftorm-proof it ftands. And calmly looks down on the waters and lands. The wonder and crown of the beautiful Hill, Myfterioufly fmiles the majeftic Old MilL Strange relic of old, immemorial time !¦ Whofe fliadows float round thee- in filence- fublime, Stonehenge of old Newport ! within whofe charmed ground. The ghofts of the paft move myfterioufly round ! IS lyO THE KE-UNION. Thou wondrous old landmark ! when centuries roll by. And nought but the rocks and the fea and the Iky, Unchanged fliall be left of the darling old town. When every old gable has long fince come down : To grandchildren's grandchildren ftill thou flialt hold High talk of the^ times and the people of old : Shalt tell how their great, great grandfathers, when they Were children, came hither to wonder and play. And when, in fome moon-lighted midnight, the ghofts Of them who once dwelt here,' revifit thefe coafts. And through the changed ftreets feek in vain up and down. Some trace of their dear and familiar old town. As at laft to this Mount of Remembrance they bend Their fteps, to the great upper world to afcend. They'll cry, as their eyes meet the reverend Old Mill, " Here, here is old Newport, it lingers' here ftill ! " But, ye who return to your home here to-day. Thank Heaven, your old haunts have not vaniflied for aye; Some crooked old lanes tell of hide and feek yet. Old gables tell tales that you cannot forget. Yes, children, (ftill children — true hearts grow not old — ) Ye breathe the fame air, — the fame Ikies ye behold. Where with fingers enraptured, your kites ye once flew. And puffing and wondering, your foap-bubbles blew. Perchance the old homeftead fliall greet you once more ; Perchance the old meadow hgs long been built o'er ; EVENING FESTIVITIES. iyi But here is the clime and the foil and the place. Where ye ftooped to play marbles — the whip-top to chafe. And there, fmooth and hard, lies the broad yellow fand. Where ye once wrote your names with a light heart and hand. (Some of you have written your names fince that day In letters that fliall not fo foon pafs away !) For came there not then, from the furf-drum's deep tone, A voice that was heard by the fpirit alone ? The voice you ftill hear in the moan of the fea. That bids you be thoughtful, and reverent, and free ! My children — God's children — that voice feems to fay — Where are ye — whence come ye ? give anfwer to-day ! Howe'er o'er the wide world your footfteps might roam. Say, where have your thoughts — have your fouls — found their home? As ye enter Farewell Street, the mufing heart burns To think of that bourne whence no traveller returns ; What forms of the glorified rife on the foul. Who trod thefe fair fliores,- while they fought the high goal! At Beauty's, at Learning's, at Piety's flirine Fair Liberty's priefthood, with unftion divinCj The Poet, the Prophet, the Martyr they wrought Their work for the ages. Faith's conflift they fought. And where are they now — are they gone ? they are here — The fpirit that quickened them ftill hovers near, — 17'2 THE RE-UNION. Their memories, their names, ftill make fragrant the air. True hearts ! Ye this day their companionlhip fliare. As penfive, that crowded old grave-yard ye tread, A city to you of the living {not dead). Ye there hear a greeting more holy and true Than our loudeft welcomings offer to you. There, there is old Newport, fafe anchored at laft. Where partings are over, and changes are paft. And a voice from that hoft of tranflated. ones cries : Be thoughtful and thankful — be .holy and wife ! Aye, children of freemen who gather to-day. To your great common mother your tribute to pay. It is not the voice of a mother alone That fummons her Sons their allegiance to own; A mother's low whilper fteals forth from the ground. But hark ! in the wide realm of freedom around. In the deep under-tone the wrapt fpirit can hear. The Father of all — the Great Spirit is near. O, then, as ye breathe in this health-giving breeze. The breath of the boundlefs, untamable feas — As ye tread with free ftep the elaftic green turf. With fpirits that dance to the fong of the furf. Drink into your fouls, with a tranfport more rare. Deep draughts of that higher, that heavenly air. And nerve your frail faith, in Temptation's dread fliock, Unihaken to ftand on Eternity's rock I EVENING FESTIVITIES. IJ^ After mufic by the band, the Brooklyn (N. Y.) Delegation was called upon, when Walter Nichols, Efq, a returned Son, fpoke as follows : Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the Committee of Arrangements : It is one of the beneficent provifions of *our nature, that the place of our nativity, as well as every local feature by which it has been diftin guiflied and adorned, is impreffed upon our memory, and retained by it through years of feparation, of trial and viciflitude, — and in the moft gloomy periods of our individual expe rience they will rife again through clouds and furrounding darknefs as vifions of light, and infpire us with frefli hopes and renewed impulfe and increafed faith in the future. Of all places which have given birth to man, and thus become endeared in the hearts of thofe who were born in them, what place is there more worthy of being remembered, or which has more imperiih- able features by which to imprefs itfelf than this, which to-day we hail as our firft home among men, and to which you now welcome us. Beau tiful for fituation, unfurpaffed in natural fcenery. 174 "^HE RE-UNION. genial in its climate, it combines attradions: which have drawn from the moft diftant parts of our common country their richeft, their faireft and their moft diftinguiflied, until wealth, refine-. ment and perfonal attradion and worth here hold their court and make their temporary home. And when we add to this • its hiftory — contem porary with the oldeft cities of our land, — which fliows it to have been a corporation endowed with municipal privileges and immunities, when. moft of thofe which now outftrip it in the race for trade, population and commercial enterprife were in their primeval ftate, and had no corpo rate exiftence, the record reveals it as a chofen refort for men of letters, where, in the refined and cultivated fociety which then diftinguiflied it, they could find fympathy, feUowfliip and in tercourfe, fuch as was afforded by few places on the continent. To this city, then, in which it was the glory of our youth that we were born, and to which for many years we have been counted as ftrangers,— to this city, rich in its reniinifcence and recoUedion, we have this day returned by your invitation, and forgetful for a fealon of other affociations, we accept your hos pitality, and reciprocate the fraternal falutation EVENING FESTIVITIES. 175 and claim it as our own. Moft of us have been abfent many years, and we now come as pilgrims to worfliip at the flirine of our fathers. Citizens of another State, and with the cares and refpon- fibilities of another community refting upon us, we come, and for a moment lay our cares, our pofitions and privileges at your feet. Waihed once more in the waters of the Atlantic as they break upon your fliore, it is to us a facramental rite, — partaking with you of the bread which here is broken and diftributed by your order, we renew the bond which before 6xifted between us, and feel that we are indeed Sons of Rhode Ifland, and fellow heirs of this goodly heritage. It is a glorious privilege that, .though we be removed. From fcenes familiar to our youth, and early friends beloved. We now and then may turn again and reft our weary feet. And mark each old familiar fpot whofe memory is fweet : No change in after life to thofe, who happily were placed. Obliterates the pleafant path their early feet have traced ; The ties which riper years have formed give place to thofe before. And fome memento viewed again, the wifdom will reftore. Let me, then, for myfelf and in behalf of thofe who are with me, and by whofe requeft I fpeak, thank you moft heartily for the welcome 176 the RE-UNION. which you have given ; let me recipropate the kind and brotherly feeling which you have ex preffed, and affure you that while the impreffions which are this day renewed have been an impel ling power in all our paft performance, and an "infpiring caufe of our prefent fuccefs, the mem ory of this day and occafion will mingle with thofe earlier recoUedions, and nerve us to a greater effort, and a more ardent ftruggle, to dis- tinguifli ourfelves among the affembled men of other cities. States and nationalities, and to fus- tain the reputation of the land of our nativity, which fliall hericeforth fliare in the honor of our achievement. The New Bedford, Maffachufetts, Delegation was next called upon, Ex-Mayor Cozzens pre- fiding, when Robert C. Pitman, Efq., of that city, a returned Son, fpoke as follows : With diffidence, Mr. Mayor, fliould I refpond to your call on behalf of the New Bedford Chil dren, were my only claim to be deemed a true Son of Newport bafed upon the bleffed accident of my birth, and refidence for a few weeks of infancy upon this beautiful ifland. But, Sir, EVENING festivities. 177 when I call to mind that for generations running far back into the paft, my. anceftors on both fides have lived in Newport, and now fleep in her quiet graveyards, I feel that the mother will not difown the blood in the heart of her child, although he may have gone from home fo young that flie cannot remember his countenance. If you tranfplant from the fartheft north a little fapling, it will retain, in its warmer home, the rigid form that marks its race ; or, if you bring here, from tropic regions, the young flioot, it will have in its growth, the fuperb lift and the airy grace which it inherits. Thus do I find in myfelf feelings, the roots of which reach far back into Rhode Ifland foil. But, though I am proud to call Rhode Ifland my mother, all my years have been paffed in Maffachufetts ; and to it I look up as a child to its father. And io it has occurred to me to fay fomething of the relation of thefe two States, and of the manner in which the influences which furround life in the one, compliment the influ ences which furround life in the other. Thofe of us who have travelled by land hither cannot fail to have been impreffed by the* fudden change which meets us as we enter this Ifland. The rocks 178 THE RE-UNION. give place to level plains ; the rough hard foil difappears, and the earth is decked with genial verdure; and, as if by magic, you have paffed from the workday world into fome fair Arcadia^ where nature loves you, and flieds her bleffings around with grateful profufion. Such always feems to me the tranfition from Maffachufetts to Rhode Ifland life. We pafs from the workihop to the paradife, from the feverifli buftle of life to the place of repofe, where all the air breathes peace, and every influence diftils reft into the weary foul. And how precious are thefe green oafes in this American life of ours ! " Nor lefs I deem that there are powers. Which of themfelves our minds imprefs ; That we can feed this mind of ours In a wife paffivenefs." Do not miftake me ; the bufy Maffachufetts life is good as well as the tranquil Rhode Ifland life. Beautiful are they when blended together, as in the case 'of our own Channing, who furniflies fo apt an illuftration of my thought. We have heard, Mr. Mayor, a great many eulogies, this afternoon, upon Roger Williams. At home. Sir, I fliould be ready to do ftout EVENING FESTIVITIES. I79 battle for him againft all foes; but here, on the foil of Newport, I call to mind that he belonged to Providence, and not to our ifland; and I con fefs to have inherited enough of that traditionary jealoufy of Providence, which, I beUeve, be longed to Newport,' (The Mayor : Providence jealous of us ? Mr. Pitman : Ah, yes I the in ferior jealous of the fuperior, of courfe I) to defire that the memory of one of our own Sons fliould take the place of pre-eminence. Rhode Ifland, we have been told to-day, is "the oldeft inde pendent State in America ;" we know flie was the firft to eftablifli reUgious liberty, but. Sir, civil and religious liberty are but means, and not ends; and they culminate in Spiritual freedom. Of that William EUery Channing is the apoftle. , No man has done fo much to lift the thought of the young men of our__land to that higher atmo- fphere where the afcending foul, fpurning the fetters of party and fed, the bondage of the fenfes, and all the alluring " fliows of things," expands in the contemplation of the* Unfeen and Eternal. Nor is his influence deftined to be fimply local or national. Already are there indications of its growing power over the beft minds of continental Europe. One of her ripell l8o THE RE-UNION. fcholars. Chevalier Bunfen, has recently fpoken of him in terms of admiring enthufiafm. It is to me to-day a pleafant thought that as his cradle was in Rhode Ifland and his grave in Malfachufetts, fo did these two fifter States pour the influences of their life into his being. You all know how he loved our ifland. "No fpot on earth has helped fo much to form me as that beach," was his declaration. But he loved, too, the State and city of his adoption. " I would not exchange Bofton for any city on the earth,", he wrote. And fo his maturer life was made up of thofe beautiful pidures which his nephew has fo finely iketched in his view of " A Day at New port," and " A Day in Bofton." Here, in moft undifturbed communion with nature and with her great Author were created within his foul thofe fublime afpirations and thofe lofty thoughts which the intenfer life of Bofton IHmulated into earneft expreffion. Rhode Ifland, with all its ikyey influences difpofed to reft, to philofophic refledion, to facred reverie, — Maffachufetts, with her more eledric mental atmofphere incited to development, concentration, and utterance. The mention of Channing recalls to my mind, as one of his favorite haunts, the Redwood EVENING FESTIVITIES. l8l Library; and I allude to this venerable inftitution for the purpofe of making a pradical suggeftion. As Returned Sons, the defire would feem to arife fpontaneoufly in all our hearts to ered fome acknowledgment of your bountiful hofpitality, fome memorial of our happy home-vifit. Some rich depofit of love fliould the Sons of Newport leave behind, as the returning tide bears us again away. What jvorthier offering could we of Maffachufetts pay, than to enrich and adorn, with fome new treafure, the youthful Study of Channing. In concluding, let me fay that moft of thofe whom I reprefent have paffed the adive years of their life in the city of their adoption. Yet Newport is ftill their mother; and though in mid-life we may think moft of our father, as the fliadows lengthen it is natural to draw nearer to our mother once again, and as I liftened, Mr. Mayor, to the expreffion of hope with which you clofed, that all might return before the even ing of life, " fo that their clofing years may be quietly paffed in the home of their birth," I felt that the wifli muft rife warm from many a heart when " the almond tree fliall flourifli," and " all the daughters of mufic fliall be brought low," i6 l82 THE RE-UNION. and " defire fliaU fail," that then they might find balmy reft from the fever of life, in this peace ful harbor, — be fung to their laft fleep by the murmuring voices of the fea, which were heard around their cradle, — and be gathered with their fathers. The St. Louis, Mo., Delegation was next called upon, when James G. Cozzens, Efq., a returned Son, fpoke as follows : Mr. Mayor- — Ladies and Gentlemen : Although not officially delegated by the Sons of Newport in St. Louis, to reply on their behalf to the welcome of the Mayor, yet I cannot let this occafion pafs without faying a few words about this glorious Reunion, in which I have, for a long time, felt a deep intereft. I thank you heartily for my fliare of the handfome and cordial welcome extended to us this day, and I think that the reft of the New porters in St. Louis would do the fame, were they here to partake of your generous hofpital ity. I know that they were all anxious to come, and I have no doubt but that they are now thinking of us here, and the glorious time we are having. There are five or fix Newport boys in EVENING FESTIVITIES. 183 St. Louis, and I am forry that no more of them were able to come ; but circumftances, and the great diftance between here and there, has pre vented, them. St. Louis, as you well know,^is a city of no little importance, fituated on the weft bank of the Miffiffippi. Not only is her prefent pofition among the cities of the Union a prominent one, but her immenfe and rapid growth during the paft few years is unequalled in the rife of cities. Twenty-five years ago, flie fcarcely had ten thou fand inhabitants; now flie can count two hun dred thoufand fouls within her limits, which lim its comprife an area of fifteen and a half fquare miles, extending for feven and a half miles on the river bank, and three and a half back. This is not all ; flie cannot flop here ; it is almoft im poffible for her to go back ; fhe muft go ahead, for there is every thing to make her do fo I Politico-economical writers affert that there are three things neceffary to make a great city ; any two will do it ; but the poffeffion of all three cannot fail. Thefe are Agriculture, Com merce and Manufadures. St. Louis has them all. The produds of the States of Iowa, Minne- fota, Wifconfin and lUinois on the north ; of 184 THE RE-UNION. Miffouri, Kanfas, Nebraflia, Utah, and New Mexico on the weft ; and many of the Southern States, — muft find a market here. The trans portation of aU this immenfe wealth of the foil, gives her a commerce unrivalled among weft- ern cities. Then the vaft refources of the " Iron Mountain," and the " Pilot Knob," befides the hundreds of mines of copper, lead and other metals, muft tend, with the other branches of trade, to make her an extenfive and profitable manufaduring place. In noticing the prefent profperity and rapid growth of St. Louis, , I would mention the great ftability which has always charaderized her ' bufinefs tranfadions, and the firm bafis on which all her buildings and affociations have been eftabliflied.' There is not that muihroom-like growth, fo noticeable in many of our weiiern cities. The well-known folidity of St. Louis merchants is finely reprefented in a little inci dent which I will relate as briefly as poffible. ' It feems a Kentuckian had, upon the Levee, a flave mart, and, while fitting at the door one day, he noticed a trim-looking Miffourian look ing in, and thus accofted him : " Would you like to purchafe to-day. Sir ? " The Miffourian EVENING FESTIVITIES. 185 replied in the affirmative, and went in to feled a fervant. He inquired the price of one he thought would fuit him, and was told by the Kentuckian, that the price was $500, and that he might have the cuftomary fix months' credit. The Miffourian thought awhile, not liking to have the burden of a debt for fo long, then, with a knowing fmile, he fays: "Stranger, I had rather pay you fix hundred dollars down, than take the fix months' credit." It is that principle of paying caih, .and relying on their own refources, that has given St. Louis fo found a clafs of merchants. They do not depend on borrowed capital for the means of paying their debts. But, ladies and gentlemen, I will not tire you with a dry account of St. Louis. She ijpeaks loudly for herfelf I muft, however, fay a few words more about this occafion before I clofe. The re-union of the " Sons and Daughters of Newport " was propofed, arranged, and has been glorioufly carried out. Newport now has fome thing to be proud of, and we alj ought to be proud of her. It fliows conclufively that things can be done in Newport as well as anywhere elfe, when flie is worked up to the fad. At the 16* l86 THE RE-UNION. time it was firft propofed, and even up to within three months of this time, no one thought or imagined that it could or would be carried out. It looked Uke a large undertaking, and lb it was. But now, at the clofe of this day, when we can look back upon the brilliant fuccefs, and the great enthufiafm that has attended it, we can but acknowledge it to be the greateft and moft glorious day Newport has ever feen. I have been here all day, and heard fpeeches ; — fome of them brilliant and eloquent fpeeches, all of them very much to the point, but not one word have I heard concerning the benefit New port is to derive from this re-union. We have heard of her beauties, of her advantageous pofition, and of the paft and prefent, but the future, (the moft important queftion before her now,) has been but lightly touched upon. The queftion of " what can be done ? " is in deed a difficult one to anfwer, though the caufe of her prefent inadion is plain enough. New port boys have left their native ifle, and fought homes and employment in other cities, and it is faid they wUl all do well. Why? I do not know that they are any fmarter than boys from odier places, but it is this : Thofe ^that ftay at EVENING FESTIVITIES. 187 home have but little to occupy their time. They fee the older men of the city fitting down in in adion — content to get along juft fo, and human nature entices them to fit down too. But when they get away, and • go to cities where all is ftir and buftle, and mingle in with the hurry and drive of bufinefs, they are excited to adion ; they fee others moving, and they muft rnove too, or be left behind. It is the excitement of having fomething to do, of feeing others at work, that caufes them to do well, while their native town is ftill lagging behind in fpite of all that flie has to aid her on. We fliould look to this. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have already de tained you too long. I thank you for your attention, and for this hearty welcome extended to us to-day. The Nantucket, Maffachufetts, Delegation was now caUed for, and William R. Easton, Efq., (a Returned Son,) fpoke in an earneft and effedive manner, as follows : Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen : I will detain you but a few moments. The field is large, but who would exped to find l88 THE RE-UNION. any choice flowers on any field, however large, over which Newport men have rambled. Sir, I might fpeak of the achievements of my native. State, in the War of the Revolution, and of the laurels flie gained in the laft War with England, but this would be fuperfluous. I might fay fomething of the eminent men whom flie has fent to the councils of the nation; I might fpeak of the brilliant wit arid fcorching farcafm of her Burges,* the calm and dignified logic of her Hunter, the claffical attainments of her Bobbins, who, in the Sejiate of the United States, made a moft eloquent appeal in favor of the claim of Sufan Decatur, the better half of one of the moft gallant and brave of our naval Commands ers, an appeal worthy of himfelf and worthy of Newport. In the abfence of your honored; Mayor from the chair, who has prefided over this vaft affembly with great ability and dignity, I might aflc, emphatically. Sir, what town or city, no larger than Newport, has had two of her Sons in Congrefs, who, for ability, integrity, and fidelity, have excelled the Cranftons? But, Sir, my chief objed in rifing, at this late hour, was * Born in Maflachufetts. EVENING FESTIVITIES. 189 to m'ake due acknowledgment, in behalf of my affociates, the Sons and Daughters of Newport, and refidents of Nantucket, for the kind invita tion, this cordial reception and hearty welcome to the city of our nativity, and the fcenes of our childhood. Sir, in early youth we threaded the ftreets of this interefting and ancient city, we roamed over your fair and fertile fields, inhaling the falubrious and invigorating air; aye. Sir, we roamed over Rhode Ifland, denominated by Morfe the " Eden of America," and by John Quincy Adams, " the moft beautiful gem on the bofom of the ocean." We went to Tammany Hill, to Stone Bridge, to Fort Adams, to the Beaches, to Paradise, and to Purgatory, and, happily, returned even from the laft, unfcathed. I have fpoken of your noble beaches, within the found of whofe waters I was born ; likewife, a long line of anceftors. There, for the first time, as it were, I heard the voice of God in the majeftic roU and graceful undulating waves of the ocean, as they fpent their force and broke upon your placid fliore. Sir, my bofom fwells with emotion, and embarraffes fpeech, as I ftand furrounded by fo many of the fair forms and features of the people of my native ifle. igO THE RE-UNION. defcended from the fame general ftock with my felf, and fit reprefentatives of a noble anceftry. Sir, I wfll detain you no longer, but wiU again thank you for the courtefy and hofpitality ex tended to us on this moft interefting and glorious Re-union of the Sons and Daughters of our far- famed and beloved Newport. The Rev. William H. Moore, of Hempfteadj Long Ifland, a (Returned Son,) was next called upon, and refponded as follows : Mr. Mayor, and my Fellow-Citizens : He is a bold man who, at this eleventh hour, attempts to intereft this crowd, almoft furfeited with good things, and weary of hearing. And were it not that I might feem lacking in courte-; fy in refponding to your call, I fliould remain filent. Of our fathers, and their deeds and virtues, many and noble as they were, I con ceive enough has been faid. My feelings of fatisfadion and delight with what I have this day feen and heard, do, indeed, almoft compel me to fpeak. I had thought. Sir, that I had always entertained a fufficiently ex alted eftimate of this, my native place, and its EVENING FESTIVITIES. 191 citizens. I have felt it a religious duty tp im prefs my children with a love for her, and to relate to them her honorable ftory. But I have feen that to-day which fills me with a greater love for Newport, and impreffes me with a pro- founder refped for her inhabitants. Every thing conneded with this re-union has been arranged with fuch a " liberal heart devifing liberal things," with fuch admirable forecaft, and with fuch refpedful and affedionate intereft in the abfent children of Newport, as to excite my admira tion of the authorities and citizens who have brought to fuch a fplendid iffue this grand idea of a family gathering. And it is your due that it fliould be thus publicly ftated, that, from every delegation, from whatever quarter gathered, I have heard but one expreffion, that of delight and exultation. All honor to thofe who origi nated — all honor to thofe who wrought out fo beautifully this affemblage of your abfent broth ers and fifters ! Wheij, in addition to all this, I confider the felf-refped which has been exhibited by the vaft crowd gathered here and out of doors; when I note the abfence of everything of a difturbing nature-, who muft not feel a pride in calling this 192 the re-union. his birthplace, claim that he is a citizen of ," no mean city," as St. Paul calls his native Tarfus, and thank God that it was ordained his lot to be born here? Sir, after what has been feen to-day, I am con- ftrained to aik what Newport cannot accomplifli if flie but fets her hand refolutely to do it I Be true to yourfelves, my fellow-citizens, be felf-re- liant — feel that your brothers all over the land are with you in every exhibition of enterprife. Feel that you have in your keeping the good name, the honorable fame of this ancient city, and the profoundeft feelings of your abfent kin dred, and Newport muft go forward in a pros perous career. You have founded the filial affedion of the children of Newport, and you have found the plummet finks deep. We have been proud of you ; may you never have reafon to be afliamed of any of us. I give you. Sir, in conclufion, this heart-felt fentiment. " Union and Re-Uniov." — May this ever be the heart throb of every one of Rhode Ifland's Sons and Daughters." Thomas P. Rodman, having been invited to addreis the audience as a delegate from Bridge- EVENING FESTIVITIES. 193 water, Maffachufetts, aiked leave to fpeak for Plymouth County. He faid that the fentiment expreffed in the feftivities of this day was that of brotherhood. Plymouth Bay and Mofliafuch River were bright with the light of memory, and both were full of memorials of brotherhood. The " Welcome, Engliflimen," of Samofet, and the " What Cheer " of the red man who fpoke for his comrades to Roger Williams, were affur- ances of brotherhood. The feeling that glad dens us to-day, he faid, was the fame that warmed the common human heart in the red men and the white men in the earlieft days of New England hiftory. Ruder feelings held fway afterwards, but, in the beginning, friendfliip and brotherhood prevailed. Rhode Ifland claims to have been always true to the principles of broth erhood; and Plymouth, unlike Maffachufetts, ihows, in her annals, a near refemblance to Rhode Ifland. Religious freedom is the bond of brotherhood. As an illuftration of the prin ciples of religious freedom, he would offer a rnetrical rehearfal of an pld tale, which might be fact or fable, but which was, be it one or the other, a parabolic ftatement of a univerfal truth. He then read the following poem : 17 194 THE RE-UNION. THE THRONE AND THE ALTAR. From the vaflal realms of a vanquiflied world the conqueror's throne around. With eyes of anxious queftioning full, and lips that gave no found. Stood minifters of all the rites that fliadow forth the thought, That breathes in every foul of him who leaves no foul untaught. There were thofe in gorgeous fanes that bowed, and at humble wayfide flirines. That filent prayed 'mid furging oaks, or 'mid foft whifpering pines ; That hailed beneath the dawnlit Iky the monarch of the day, And watched him on his mountain march through all his glorious way ; That gazed upon the queenly moon and her bright leaders feven. That fteadfaft on the arftic height marflial the hoft of heaven ; And in the filent voices of the day and of the night. Felt their Maker's and their Father's love, his wifdom and his might. And aU were -wondering why the call that gathered them that day. Was uttered by the fearful man who o'er all lands claimed fway. That wondering but not abjeft throng the monarch proudly eyed. And wakening all their ears at once, with ftartling voice he cried, — EVENING FESTIVITIES. 195 The Living Source of Life in men and all things, do ye own ! In reverent affirmation bowed the numbers round the throne. What is his name, demanded he, — and one by one replied. And he liftened with a mocking look, as one who dared deride The tendernefs of human faith in fatherhood divine ; But ftill the men of humble heart ahfwered with word and fign. And one from India called him Life : and one from Perfia Light ; And one that from Judea came with mitre flafliing bright, Infcribed with an unfpoken name, faid, — From eternity He is, and was, and is to come, and evermore fliall be. And every one a reverend name breathes forth in fervent tones. And calmly thankful felt the ftrength of a power above earth's thrones. * When all had fpoken, then again the proud man's voice was heard. And [the hearts of all the worfliippers were troubled at his word: At the footftool of one monarch, ye behold above your heads The fceptre of his earth-wide fway : no king befides me, treads On aught but tributary foil ; and my altar like my throne. Shall ftand without a rival ; my God ye all muft own ; Zeiis is his name in Macedon, and Zeus fliall be his name In every region of the earth where my fword has conquered fame. Then filently the wife men thought how this imperious change. 196 THE KE-UNION. Would wonder-ftrike the fimple, and all their life derange. But the murmur of remonftrance had not yet gathered found. When a fearlefs man of many years fpoke out thefe words profound : Brothers, the ruler of the day, ye know him, and rejoice. When his lone light fills the boundlefs Iky, can you give his name a voice ? And many names were fpoken, and then the old man faid. And his eye fell on the monarch who gave the -word fo dread. No, call him Heliod, by that name, Alexander calls the fun ; And his name throughout the empire muft hencefort}i be but one. The monarch felt the wife rebuke, and Ihame his face fuiFufed; He felt one moment as a man, and as a man he mufed. He faw, would that men always faw, that the fubftance, not the Ihow, ,,- Is worth the wife heart's notice, that while men dwell below, ¦ By names that partial knowledge writes, fome muft know the All in All,— That he only feels God's fatherhood, who men can brethren caU. Several fentiments were then read by Mr. Cozzens, the prefiding Officer, one of which, offered by George B. Weaver, Efq., of Middle- town, was complimentary to the yeomanry of our ifland. Mr. TouRjEE here fang the Marfeilles Hymn in very fine ftyle. EVENING FESTIVITIES. 197 His Honor, Mayor Cranston, then came upon the platform, and read the following, the produdion of one of the Daughters : OUR HOME BY THE SEA. BY A DAUGHTER OF NEWPORT. We greet thee ! we hail thee, our home by the fea ! Where the fong of the waves fwelleth fad on the fhore ; Sweet fcene of our birth and our childhood, to thee. Thy Sons and thy Daughters are gathered once more. Long years have rolled by fince we bade thee farewell, Our hearts beating high with the fervor of youth. While Hope, with her voice like a filvery bell. Sang fweetly of beauty, and virtue, and truth. Her fyren-like mufic rang foft like a fpell, • As we bade the dear homes of our childhood adieu ; But the wind on the waters rofe high like a knell. As we left the kind hearts that had ever been true. We have fought in the din and the battle of life. Till our locks, that were brown, are befprinkled with gray ; And oft we have paufed in the wearifome ftrife. To figh for our home by the fea far away. Once more do we greet thee — ^but where are the loved Who gladdened the hearth in the bright days of old ? 17* 198 THE RE-UNION. The mother, whofe changelefs affeftion we proved ? — The fweet little fifter, with treffes of gold ? Alas ! in our beautiful home by the deep. There lieth a garden all filent and low. And over it, foftly, the fad willows weep. And over it, gently, the night breezes blow. And there, with her cold, fnowy hands on her breaft. Never more to encircle her child as of old. That mother lies fleeping, and by her, at reft. That fweet little fifter, with trefl"es bf gold. And thus, as we greet thee, our birth-place again. We figh for the fliore where no grave-gardens be — But we joyfully welcome the friends who remain. As proudly we hail thee, our home by the fea. We alfo add a number of Poems, fent in to the Committee, which will be read with intereft. AN ODE FOR THE OCCASION. WRITTEN BY A DAUGHTER OF NEWPORT. All hail to Rhode Ifland ! where'er we may roam. The home of our childhood is ever our home ; And though abfent for years, there is no place on earth Like the home of our boyhood, the land of our birth. There our firft breath was drawn, the firft youthful emo tion. EVENING FESTIVITIES. 199 Was ftrengthened and nurfed by the breath of the ocean ; Like the waves of that ocean, though far we may roam. Again we come back to our old Ifland home. Then hail to Rhode Ifland, &c. Years have paft, we're returned in our manhood and prime. To tread the fame foil of our childhood's bright time ; Old Newport remains, but thofe are not here To welcome us back that in childhood were dear. Our parents, where are they ? alas ! paffed away ; They fleep in " God's acre " the long funny day ; But their fpirits are with us wherever we roam. And rejoice with us now in our old ifland home. Then hail to Rhode Ifland, &c. Their fpirits go with us to-day to each fpot That's fo linked with the paft it can ne'er be forgot. The beach where we bathed, and the pond where we fkated. The fchools, where we ftudied, till with Daboll quite fated. We turned to our grammar, our fpelling and writing. And lefTons unlearned which we aimed at reciting. Till tired of confiement, we all wifhed to roam. Long, long ere the fchoolmafter bade us go home. Then hail to Rhode Ifland, &c. At the end of each week, how we boys would all ftrive To out do each other from two until five. In the fpeeches we made of fo great a variety. They muft fadly have talked our fchoolmafter's fobriety. As we tell of thofe days, no one will refute us. That Cicero, Cato, and Cassar and Brutus, 200 THE RE-UNION. And a great many others were murdered each week By a troop of us boys while endeavoring to fpeak. Then hail to Rhode Ifland, &c. But the school-houfe has gone, and the mafter departed,. And the boys that were with us, fo gay and light-heated,. Have grown into men of bufinefs and care. And are fcattered abroad, we could fcarcely tell where. Till to-day, re-united, together we ftand— A group of all agesy a Rhode Ifland band. Then hail to Rhode Ifland, &c. But many we' mifs from the fchool-room and hearth. That claimed our loved Ifle as the land of their birth; Some reft in its bofom, and fome, far from here. Sleep their long dreamlefs fleep without trouble or fear. They await that re-union that 's pfomifed above ; That " feaft of all nations," the union of love ; But their fpirits are with us to-day as we roam O'er the land of our birth-place, our ocean-girt home. Then hail to Rhode Ifland, &c. HOME, SWEET HOME. Mid pleafures and palaces, tho' we may roam. Our hearts, dear Rhode Island, are true to our home, A charm from the fkies feems to hallow us there. Which, feek thro' the world, is ne'er met with elfewhere. Home ! Home ! fweet, fweet home. Be it ever fo humble, there's no place like Home. EVENING FESTIVITIES. 201 We have travelled abroad — we have failed on the Rhine, But ne'er have we met fuch a cfimate as thine. The fkies are no purer on Italy's fhore Than thofe we now meet in our loved ifle once more. Home,— there's no place like Home. Our Beach, how delightful to vifit once more. And bathe in the ocean again as of yore. To gaze on the Spouting Rock, Lilly Pond Glen, And in Paradife roam througjh the green fields again. Home, — there's no place like home. An exile from home, fplendor dazzles in vain. How gladly we hail this dear ifland again. Our dear native ifland 1 thou gem of the fea. Oh long have we wifhed to return home to thee. Home ! Home ! fweet, fweet home. Be it ever fo humble, there's no place like Home. OUR NATIVE ISLE. We have gathered — we have gathered In our native ifle again. Long divided — widely fevered. Come we now from mound and plain. Crowded mart and lonely valley, Weftern lakes and Southern fea. Now within our native ifland. We will fing of Liberty. >9 202 THE RE-UNION. Let the anthem rifing, fwelling. Float acrofs our lovely Bay, With old ocean's billow blending. And the ripple of the fpray O'er our beaches, hills and valleys, Smiling to the fapphire fky, Churchyard green and ancient homefteads. Wake the fong of Liberty. Anthem meet for Newport's children. Requiem meet for fainted dead. Far thro' every State and Nation, Bid the thundering chorus fpread, 'Till each fetter breaks afunder, 'Till free hands are raifed on high, 'Till thro' all this mighty country, Burft glad fhouts of Liberty. Ellen. ACROSTIC. By p. B. Wake up, gentle morn ! let the ties which hath bound us. Exert us to move in this fplendid array ; Let our Sons and our Daughters who clufter around us, Confefs that our ardor hath felt no decay. Our hearts muft be open as well as our houfes. Magnificence reigning in Newport all day, — Each man muft be true to the caufe fhe efpoufes — The tribute is grand that to JFriendfhip we pay. EVENING FESTIVITIES. 203 O, who, that from home and from kindred have wandered. Need be told of the fweetnefs, the joy and the blifs. Emerging from hearts which in filence have pondered. With long cheriflied hopes of a. meeting like this. Prepare the rich feaft, and emit the libation. Ornament the gay cottage, the palace and dome. Relume the pavilion, recite the Oration, Then tell them 'tis Newport thus welcomes them home. His Honor then introduced the Toaft-rnafter of the day, Mr. Atkinson, who gave, as a clofing fentiment — The Day We Celebrate^ — May it ever be regarded as a day of joyous remihifcences, and remembered, as one of perpetual funfhine, by all the Sons and Daughters of New port. The Mufical Inftitute, under the diredion of Mr. TouRjEE, then fang the VALEDICTORY HYMN. When fhall we all meet again. When fhall we all meet again. Oft fliall glowing hope expire. Oft fhall wearied love retire. Oft fhall death and forrow reign. Ere we gather home again. 204 THE RE-UNION. But while we on earth remain. Oft we'll gather up again, Sweeteft memories of this hour. And our hearts will feel the power Of the tie uniting here, All who hold Rhode Ifland dear. Bearing with us all the while. Loving thought of this dear ifle. Ifle of beauty, fare thee well. Some of us far hence muft dwell. Yet we often hope to come Hither to our cherifhed home ; Brothers ! Sifters ! Fare thee well ! Be it ours in Heaven to dwell, — When the fcenes of earth is o'er. There to meet and part no more. At the conclufion of the hymn, the Feftivities, of this long-to-be-remembered, glorious Re-union were concluded by finging the Doxology, in which the whole audience united, to the tune of " Old Hundred," "Praife God, from whom all bleffings flow." EVENING FESTIVITIES. 205 At twelve o'clock, the vaft affemblage of Sons and Daughters had quietly feparated, all of whom hoping, no doubt, that they may live to enjoy, at fome future time, another re-union, equally pleafant, harmonious and fuccefsful. A number of Addreffes prepared for the occafion, could not be d-elivered for want of time. At the folicitation of the Committee, the feveral delegates have furniflied copies of thefe to be inferted in the record, and it is with pleas ure that we ihere place them before the reader. The firft is from. Thomas Vernon, Efq., a returned Son, and the delegate from New York : Mr. Mayor, 'and fellow-citizens of Newport : When, Sir, 'Grecian colonifts left the mother city, they took, from off the public hearth, the facred fire of home, and carried it with them to their new abodes, where its hallowed glow kept bright within the exile's heart the memories and traditions of his native city. Filial affedion and a common religion rendered ftrong the fealty of the colonifts to the parent city; and, on fol emn municipal feftivals, the rnother city wel comed back to her bofom her abfent Sons. Mr. 18 206 THE RE-UNION. Mayor, the hallowed fire of our old Newport hearths we ftill keep alive in our new homes; and. Sir, the bleffed offspring of the faith of our fathers, "foul-liberty," is ftill our boaft and our pricelefs heritage wherever we go. On this feftal day, joyoufly we return to our mother city, and thank Heaven that we were born on a foil fo rich and precious in its memories, fo eloquent and fublime in its hiftory. Away, Sir, from our home, we ever proudly claim that the principle ; which evoked Rhode Ifland into exiftence has exerted, and ftill exerts an influence upon the fortunes of our race, altor gether difproportioned to the geographical Umifi of the State. And, Sir, confpicuous in the early ftruggle for the affertion of this principle, were our Coddingtons, our Coggeshalls, our Clarkes, our Hiitchinfons, all men of Newport ; and. Sir, I believe that the dignity of charader, and the fuccefs which diftinguiflies the Sons of Newport, wherever they go, are chiefly due to that felf- reliance and individualifm which the religionof " foul-liberty " nurtured. ' How proud and glorious are the hiftorical affociations of old Newport ! We boaft that Newport was once the metropolis of the cole- EVENING FESTIVITIES. 207 nies and the feat of letters and refinement on this continent. Our noble harbor once briftled with forefts of mafts; here lived merchant princes, known all over North America, and whofe influ ence and correfpondence was folicited by Euro pean houfes ; here, too, the thrifty Jews — our Lopezes and our Touros — filled their ftorehoufes with the merchandife of every clime ; while, in yonder fynagogue, they worfliipped the God of Abraham. So eminent was the pofition of Newport in colonial times, that antiquarians tell us that letters for New York from Europe, in order to reach that modeft fea-fliore town, are known to have been direded to " New York, near Newport, Rhode Ifland." Here, too, the lovely climate of our ifland, its pidurefque landfcapes and fea-views, and its elegant fociety, attraded the learned of the colo nies and of other climes. On yonder cliffs the gentle fpirit of Berkeley was wont to mufe pro foundly. Our gorgeous funfets and our mel lower than Italian ikies, infpired the genius of a Stuart, a King, and a Malbone ; and here " An AUfton's foul-enkindled eye Drank in the glories of our funfet fky." 2o8 THE RE-UNION. Here, too, lived famous divines. Here Hop kins preached his ftern theology, and the learned Styles began to run his career of academic honors. And, in boyhood, our own Channing was wont to wander along our ocean fliore, " dear to him in sunfhine, ftill more attradive in the ftorm. There he lifted up his voice in praife amidft the tempeft ; there, foftened by beauty, he poured out his thankfgivings and contrite confefljons,* and there, in reverential fympathy with the mighty power around him, he became confcious of power within." As he gazed upon the ocean, boundlefs, uncontrolled, fave by Deity — fit em blem of human freedom — he conceived the dead- lieft hatred of human oppreffion, and the fondeft devotion to liberty. But, Sir, well alfo may we be proud of the hiftory of Newport during the Revolution.; it is the hiftory of her self-facrifice. Although the favored children of commerce, and certain, from the very pofition of their port, to fall a prey to hoftile plunder, the noble merchants of Newport enthufiaftically facrificed their fortunes to the; caufe of their country. Their argofies were deftroyed, and they were themfelves driven from, * their homes. I beUeve, Sir, it was this devotioiiw to liberty which coft Newport her power. EVENING FESTIVITIES. 209 Dear Sir, to us are thefe memories and thefe affociations; but, dearer ftill, to us, is old New port, becaufe it is the home of our fathers and mothers — the home of our brothers and fifters — the home of our childhood and of our fchool mates. Dear and precious to us ftill are the old church and the fchoolhoufe ; hallowed to us by innocent pleafures, are the harbor, the ponds, the beach, the creek, the boat-houfe. Sacred, for ever, to us, is yonder old North Yard, where fleep fo many of thofe whom we loved, over whofe bofoms affedion wUl lovingly featter -the flowers of fummer. Whether life be drear or joyous, ftorm or fuij- fliine, whatever changes of Ufe await us, yqt thou, fair ifle, wilt ever be the fame to us; the fpray-wreathed headland will ever ftretch its brawny neck towards the fea ; old .ocean's deep- toned voice will ever fpeak to us in 'thofe fame myfterious, majeftic tones with which Ihe awe4 our childhood into thoughtful reverence; the facred duft of our fathers fliall become part.ojf thy hallowed foU ; as lafting and unchanging a/? thefe fliall be our love to thee, dear ifle of oujr fathers ! The fqnd words of a Newport bard, whofe fweet mufe has thrown a gentle halo pv§j: 18 210 THE RE-UNION. the later annals of Newport, have, from child hood, been precious in my memory, and to-day I would gratefully recall them. /'There is a glory haunts thy fapphire fky. Thy emerald fwell and flopes not foon fhall die ; Old ocean's bofoin heaves with pride for thee. And lends the eye of day with love to fee . Thine inland beauties and thy feaward fweep, ,,*- O, fair, midft faireft daughters of the deep ! " The following -is from William E. Almy, Efq., of New London, Conn. : Mr. Mayor: — The Sons and Daughters of Newport, refident at New London, thank , you with their whole heart for this moft gratifying welcome to their native city. The lot of thofe for whom I fpeak to-day. has been caft among a kind, a generous, and a fpirited people. We live in fight of lofty mon uments, which tell of bloody ftrife for liberty; we live where Arnold's torch ferved but to iUume more brightly the pathway to freedom; we live where rocks, and hills, and dales echo and re-echo the fweet ftjains' of their lamented Brainard. Such a people will permit us, on this occafion, to fay that our firft love, and our firft EVENING FESTIVITIES. 211 duty, is to the city of our birth. We are happy to avow it. As, a few days fince, we glided ovev your beautiful bay, we foon recognized the objeds moft famihar to us. There was "Tammany Hill," there the fymmetrical fpire of dear old Trinity Church, to meet the fun in his coming, and be gilded by his morning and evening rays. There the great fortrefs, a monument to the fkill of a Totten ; there the afylum, which humanity has ereded to flielter thofe whom misfortune has fmitten with the feverer trials of life ; there that monument, which reminds us of the battle- thunders of Erie, and of the fplendid naval hero — our own brave and beloved Perry, and thofe of his command — there the lime rocks, the clufter of willows, where hilarity and joyoufnefs have fo often reigned ; there the blue rocks, ftill wiUing to hear the tender tale ; there the dear old State Houfe, the found of whofe bells, on Eledion morn, was fweeter mufic to our juvenile ears than would be that of the combined bands of the world. Here memory comes with a rulh, and claims our tribute to the attradions of that holiday of the old and the young. We fee the tents, the cakes, the colored eggs, the egg-pop. 212 ¦ THE RE-UNION. the proceffion, the Governor, and we hear the proclamation, and the artillery falute ; we fee our bright pennies and hear their magic jingle-^dear and fweet recoUedions, never to be forgotten ! Traverfing thefe ftreets, we have gazed upon that antiquarian jewel,, which, laft evening, was tnade to dazzle by the cunning of man. We. have feen, toOj with renewed admiration and fpell-bound feeling, that claffical gem in archi- tedure, founded by a Redwood's liberality. We have feen the Mall, preffed the verdant turf, luxuriated in the grateful fhade. We paufed by the fountain, gufliing forth a fparklingftreani;' who fliall fay it will ever flake our thirft for our ".ifland home? " We have ftood by the Jewiflt' Temple, that myftery of our childhood, which reminds us of the generofity of a " Touro." We have ftood on yonder beach, and renewed our homage to " the glad waters of the dark blue fea," whofe beautifully-fringed billowSj as they' broke at our feet, feemed to bid us " welcome.*' Wherever elfe we look, changes are fo great aiid fo apparent, that we are wont to exclaim, " There architefture's noble pride Bids elegance ^nd fplendor rife.'' EVENING FESTIVITIES. 213 It is here that this " lovelieft gem on the bofom of the ocean," fpreads for her votaries her richeft and her grandeft banquet. Is it too much to fay that there are thoughts in embryo, affociated with yonder " Spouting Rock," and its terrible conflids with the furging billows, which will yet be fung with rapture by every Son and Daughter df Newport ? Was not Bruce's Addrefs born of the rolling thunder and the lightning's flafli ? There ftands the dear old Market, through whofe arches our youthful eyes have gazed on marly a joyous fcene. We yield it our grateful homage, and may it endure to awaken afrefti the early joys of returning pilgrims to their native home. Mr. Mayor, our hearts glow with a burning gratitude, as we thank the municipal authorities, and the citizens generally of this city, for their affedionate, guardian care over the facred fpot which holds the remains of fo many worthies, and of thofe near and dear to us. Science has limited the ftrings of the mufical harp, but flie Ihrinks from an alike arrangement of thofe of the harp of the heart, which, count- lefs though they be, vibrate in unifon to-day, and echo fweetly all over and around this 214 "^^^ RE-UNION. lovely fpot, Auld Lang Syne, and Home, fweet home. , Lieutenant Thomas M. Brownell was to . reply to the toaft complimentary to the " Heroes of Lake Erie," and thefe remarks he was prepared to offer on the occafion. Mr. Prefident, Ladies, and Gentlemen : — I rife tp tender you my unfeigned thanks for the flatter ing compliment juft paid to me, and my young friend here, by Dr. Parfons ; alfo, in behalf of our abfent comrades — three in number. We, too, Sir, were once abfent from little Rhoda. It was on the loth of September, 1813, and that faft makes us to-day the guefts of the city, to fhafe with you its hofpitalities. Sir, the memorable tenth was on that day that the gallant Perry led us boys to battle and to vidory, and fliowed to an aftoniflied world that the invincibility of the Englifli lion and its wooden walls was broken, and fignally fo ; for, on that day, for the firft and laft time, England loft a fleet. And this, it has been faid, was a Rhode Ifland fight. It was ; for Rhode Ifland had more officers and men in that battie than any other State ; and they were led by that good and brave officer, Oliver H. Perry, our fellow evi;ning FESTIVITIES. 215 townfman. Sir, Rhode Ifland did her duty on tha^ day, and will continue ever fo to do, when menaced by her own, or her country's enemies. Her Sons, I am fure, will be ever proud and wiUing to ftep into the front ranks of danger, to defend the State, or the United States ; and you, who are here gathered together at this happy re-union would, if neceffary, ftep forward in defence of your liberty, gained for you by your fathers, and not only do as others have done, but far outftrip them .in deeds of bravery and daring. In concluding, Mr. Prefident,* permit me to offer the following toaft : The Fair Daughters of Rhode Ifland, may they be ever happy and bleffed in fuch a Union as they may choofe. The following beautiful lines were contributed by Henry T. Tuckerman, Efq., who could not be prefent on the occafion : Though not thy fon. Oh let me claim to be Thy fofter-child, old city by the fea ! For, cradled on thy waters, I have known The heart of Nature piilfate to my own ; Like a loved voice, the fighing of thy trees. Swayed by the dalliance of the weftern breezei 2i6 the re-union. Tender the greeting from that myftic tide, Whofe tepid currents ocean's realm divide ; Kindred the welcome of the fummer day. As flits our bark athwart the peerlefs bay ; Cordial the rude embraces of thy vrave. In whofe refrefliing arms we gaily lave. And free our courfe along the crefcent fand Whence the broad furges limitlefs expand. While from their lucent curves the winds at play Caft on fair cheeks the gliftening pearls of fpray, ' And level funbeams crimfon radiance pour Through filver mifts that veiled the peopled fhore, •On mill and hayftack mellow luftre throw. And bathe the landfcape wilh an amber glow,! Nor lefs endeared the upland where we gaze On the gnarled orchard and the twinklirig maize. And watch afar the inlet'a aZure fheen. Like cryfolites each rocky ledge between ; And gable roofs whofe cafements ftill betray. By fond infcriptions. Love's old holiday. The hill whofe grafs-grown ramparts yet declare How freedom's champions wreftled with defpair. The Druid grove, which hallowed memories grace. As Channing's thoughts inveft his dwelling place; The ancient temple in whofe'mufic ftill The generous heart of Berkeley feems to thrill ; ( The Jews, lone fhrine and grave none haunt to weep ; The fhaft that marks where Perry's aflies fleep ; The Clifl's green marge, yon Doric home of lore; The funfet hues that Malbone loved of yore — This heritage of nature and of fame. Not 'Csxj fons only, but thy lovers claim. ( 217 ) CHAPTER X. CONCLUSION. The Feftival is over, and is now a thing that has paffed ; but long, long wiU the memory of it befrefti, not only here, but all over this broad land; ' and wherever the Sons and Daughters who have recently affembled in Newport have anchored for Me, their old hD.Ti;, the place of their birth, will be held dearer than ever before. The fcenes witneffed during the paft few days can never be forgotten ; they will be handed dawn from father to ion, with many another tale of this old ifland and its people ; and the boys and girls of another generation, filled with the fame love and veneration for a fpot fo dear to their parents, will deem it a pleafure and a privilege to congregate here, as their fathers have recently done, and for a fimilar purpofe. Born though they may be on other foil, they will never lofe their allegiance to Rhode Ifland, the fpot where their forefathers in peace repofe. Nor is the ftrengthening of old ties all the '9 2i8 the re-union. good that is to grow out of a re-unipn, fuch as we have witneffed. Better things than even this will come of it. The affedions have not only been unlocked, but the whole inner man has been deeply ftirred. That vaft affembly was a unit, and, when one of their number alked the bleffing of Heaven on the purpofe for which they were gathered, three thoufand men and women involuntarily rofe, and bowed the head in refponfe to thofe folemn words ; arid eyes, unufed to tears, wept as one eloquent fpeaker after another vividly called up fcenes in which they had all participated, but which, in the lapfe of time, had been almoft forgotten. With all the joy and pleafure of fuch a meeting, there was a ferioufnefs that arrefted the attention of thofe who were there merely as fpedators, and who have fince faid they had a higher refpefl: for Rhode Iflanders than ever before, high as they have ever held them* They have alfo attefted to the bearing of the Sons here affem bled, and the value to be fet on the friendfliip and efteem bf fuch men. Nor is this furpris- ing ; for here were thoufands affembled, taken' from all claffes of fociety — ^men fuddenly called from the homes of their adoption to fee each CONCLUSION, 219 other, and with no reftraint put upon them but that which a fenfe of propriety would didate ; and yet, in all that concourfe, there was not one, fo far as we have been able to learn, whofe condud was not creditable to the whole. This, we take it, is one of the points on which we may dweU with moft pleafure ; for it tells of that difcipline of charader, which marked the early fettlers of the colony; men whofe example has not been loft on their defcendants of to-day. And of the fpeakers it was faid, they were in earneft ; the idea of making a fpeech feemed to be the fartheft from their thoughts. They had fomething pertinent to fay; and they faid it with all their hearts, and with an eloquence, the birth of the moment, which carried convidion to every ear. , Many allufions, public and private, ¦ have fince been made to the pleafure experienced ori that day by thofe who were fo fortunate as to be prefent, or had we the fpace at command, we might infert many of thefe letters and printed articles. The following is a private letter ; but, as it contains that which muft be gratifying to every Son of Newport, we hope we may be pardoned for introducing it here. It is dated Bofton, Auguft 25, 1859 : 220 THE RE-UNION. * * * " Let me fay fomething which I have not faid before. My pilgrimage to Newport has given me the fincereft pleafure, which was too much abridged by duties at home. As the poet fays of Gilpin, let me fay : " And when he next doth ride abroad. May I be there to fee." Not that I rate my beloved town with that hero, nor the re-union with that race of the val iant citizens. O, no. Sir. It was an incident in my long life which I will never forget. With its memory is affociated my deepeft thanks to thofe under whofe generous patronage — the city and citizens of Newport — and thofe alfo in whofe hand were its details. Never was there; a better work, or one more nobly done. Indi-- viduaUy do I feel indebted to them for a high and true pleafure, and to all do I render my deepeft thanks. Accept my true regard, and believe me, very i truly, yours, WALTER CHANNING." And we clofe with an extrad from a letter to the New York Times, from the pen of fome fpedator unknown to the Committee : CONCLUSION. 221 "Among fome of the ftatements made at the re-union, and which your reporter had, doubtlefs neither fpace nor time to prefent, or which were given in the fpeeches deUvered at a late hour of the night to the wonderfully patient audience, there were fome of general intereft, worth noting. It was declared that the firft ledures on anat omy and furgery ever delivered in public in America, were delivered here by Dr. William Hunter ; that the firft inftance of the perform ance of vaccination occurred here ; the firft build ing to be lighted with gas, in this country, was here ; the firft fight of a fleet of the American Navy was under the command of, and principally manned by, Newport men ; the firft feafon of the Revolution was that of the taking of the Gafpee, in Narraganfett Bay, and that the firft refiftance to "taxation without reprefentation" was made in a proteft from this Colony ; a copy, and, per haps, the only one exifting of which, is preferved in London. To thefe ftatements of the paft may be added fome memorable fads concerning the Celebra tion itfelf, viz. : 1. There was more provifion prepared than 19* 222 THE RE-UNION. even the vaft company could ufe, and all of it good. 2. There was not an accident or difturbance, 3. There was not, fo far as is known, a fingle pocket picked. 4. There was not any arreft, nor the neces- fity for any. Whether there is anything unufual in thefe fads, every reader of yours will know as well as your humble fervant." ( 223 ) CHAPTER XI. THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. Every reader of thefe pages is probably aware that, during the paft year, great changes have been made, both in the external appearance and the internal arrangements of the Redwood Library — changes effeded through the liberality of its numerous friends, and which refled the higheft credit on the tafte and judgment of all who have been inftrumental in accomplifhing this great end. When the work was brought to a clofe, it was decided to commemorate the event by an Inaugural Addrefs, to be delivered on the day following the Re-union, and Hon. George G. King was invited to prepare the Addrefs ; but, owing to the illnefs of the orator, the Celebration had to be poftponed, and we here infert a fketch of the Library, with fome account of its early hiftory, which we prepared at the time for .the Providence Journal, as appro priate to the time and the place. 224 the re-union. its rise, history, and present condition, Newport, August 17, 1859. The readers of the Journal, a year ago, were made acquainted with the munificent gift of numerous friends of the Redwood Library, who generoufly fubfcribed and paid in the liberal fum often thoufand dollars, for the enlargement- and general improvement of the edifice, and the increafe of the valuable coUedion of books. At the prefent time, it affords me pleafure to fay that the wiflies of the donors have been carried out in fpirit, and with a fidelity every way com mendable, and the promoters of fo great a good have the hearty thanks of all who are interefted in this venerable inftitution. How the fum above referred to was raifed; and in what way it has been expended, fhall be the fubjed of remark to-day. But firft let me devote a portion of the fpace afligned to your correfpon-' dent, to a general hiftory of the Library, from its foundation to the prefent time. Of necefUtyi^ the fketch muft be brief; but it will suffice to fhow how the fame noble end may be attained in almoft any town of ten or a dozen thoufand inhabitants, if a few public-fpirited men, like the THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 225 founders of this Library — the Redwoods, the Collins, Updikes, Scotts, and others affociated with them, — would but take the initiative, and demonftrate by their own ads the value to be placed on a knowledge of books, not only by the profeflional ftudent, but alfo by men engaged in purfuits which are too often fuppofed to in terfere with a general acquaintance with the whole field of Uterature. The period in the hiftory of Newport to which I am about to refer, was diftinguiflied in many ways. Newport at that day was preem inent for its cultivated and refined fociety, extended commercial relations, and general pros perity. To this mart men of bufinefs reforted from all parts of the country; and here, too, affembled diftinguiflied fcholars from abroad, as well as from the different feats of learning in our own land. Here the ftudent found the fineft chemical laboratory in America, and the only garden in the country deferving the name of Botanical Garden ; here he had accefs to valua ble colledions of books, not only thofe fent out to Trinity Church by the " Society for Propagat ing the Gofpel in Foreign Parts," but alfo the private libraries imported at the expenfe of men 226 THE RE-UNION. deeply engaged in commercial purfuits for their own improvement ; and here he was introduced to a fociety compofed of thefe fame high-minded men, affociated with eminent divines, lawyers and phyficians, who were in conftant correfpond ence with the moft learned focieties in the mothet country. Culture, not wealth, was the mark of diftindion, and he who could add to the literary enjoyment of his friends, was received into the body he was fitted to adorn. This fociety was eftabliflied in 1730, and owed its origin undoubtedly to the prefence of Bifliop (then Dean) Berkeley, who, it is well known, fpent about two years on the ifland at that period, vainly hoping that the promifed grant on the part of the Crown for the founding of a univei'- fity at the Bermudas, would be forthcoming, till at laft circumftances compelled him to abandon his projed and return to Dublin. His landing here, though not accidental, as it has fometimes been ftated, was quite unexpeded to the inhabi tants. He was received on the dock by the rec tor and congregation of Trinity Church, and on finding himfelf furrounded by men of learning, with whom he could affociate with pleafure, he decided to remain here for a feafon, and at once THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 227 joined heartily in their literary purfuits. Mem bers of all denominations were drawn around him, and his whole time was devoted to ads of benevolence, and the promotion of knowledge. It was at this time that the " Society for the Promotion of Knowledge and Virtue " was eftab liflied, and this is nearly all the information in regard to the Society that we have, for its records have been loft, probably burned, and it was by the mereft chance that the names of its founders, and its rules and regulations have been faved from a like mifliap. A century after the Society was formed, (1813,} a gentleman plucked from a burning heap of old papers a difcolored fheet, on which was infcribed all that we know of the Society. The papers confumed belonged to Judge Edward Scott, an adive member of the Society, and the fragment faved is in his hand writing, as Moderator of the meeting in 1735. The following comprifes the names of the original members : Daniel Updike, Peter Bours, James Searing, Edward Scott, Henry Collins, Nathan Townfend, Jr., Jeremy Condy, and James Honyman, Jr. Daniel Updike was the fon of Gilbert Updike, a German phyfician, who emigrated to Rhode 228 THE RE-UNION. Ifland from New Amfterdam, (now New York,) in 1664. Daniel was educated in his father's houfe, and early applied himfelf to the ftudy of, the law, in which profeflion he became diftin guiflied. In Newport he opened an office, and here he fubfequently married a daughter of Gov. Benedick Arnold. In 1722, he was eleded Attorney General, and from that date he was in adive pubUc life. With Bifliop Berkeley he was intimate ; they vifited Narraganfett to gether, and his biographer, a defcendant, has paid a juft tribute to his memory in the Memoirs of the Rhode Ifland Bar. Peter Bours was a merchant — an importer of dry goods — a friend of learning, and not un known in public life. At the time the Library was incorporated, he was Firft Affiftant Deputy in the General Affembly ; at the fame time Dan iel Updike was Attorney General, and William EUery, (father of the figner of the Declaration of Independence,) an early member of the So ciety, was Lieutenant Governor. But little in relation to the Rev. James Sear ing has come down to us, beyond the fad that he was eleded Paftor of the Second Congrega tional Church, in 1731, which office he held up THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 229 to the time of his death, in 1755. He was fuc ceeded by Rev. Ezra Styles, who, at the requeft (as he himfelf ftates in his Diary, in 1772,) of a Committee of the congregation, wrote the fol lowing epitaph, which was engraved on his graveftone : "Here Ues a Chriftian Minifter, facred to whofe Memory the Congregation, late his Pas toral charge, ereded this Monument, a teftimony to Pofterity of their Refped for the amiable charader of the Rev. James Searing, their late venerable Paftor, who was born at Hempftead, on Long Ifland, Sept. xxiii, mdcciv. Received a liberal education at Yale College ; ordained to the paftoral charge of the Church and Chriftian Society meeting in Clarke ftreet, Newport, R. I., xxi. MDccxxxi., where he ferved in the Chriftian Miniftry xxiv. years, and died Jany vi. MDccLv. setat L. He always entertained a rational and fober veneration of the Moft High, whom he regarded as the Father of the Univerfe, the Wife Governor and benevolent Friend of the Creation. He was a fteady advocate of -the Redeemer and his Religion ; by recommending Virtue and Piety upon Chriftian Principles in his public Inftrudions and in his own excellent example. His contempt of Bigotry, his exten five Charity and Benevolence, and an exemplary goodnefs of Life, juftly endeared him to his 2o 230 THE RE-UNION. Flock, and not only entitled him, but gained him, that very general acceptance and efteem which perpetuates his Memory with deferved Reputar tion and Honor." Judge Edward Scott was a lawyer of emi nence, and diftinguiflied for his attainments. I have feen it recorded that he was uncle to Sir Walter Scott's father. Henry Collins was a diftinguiflied merchant of Newport — diftinguiflied not only for his fuc cefs in mercantile affairs, but alfo for his learn ing, refined tafte in literature and the fine arts,, benevolence and devotion to a wife and general diffufion of knowledge. He was thirty-one years of age, at the time that he affociated with the above-named men, for the purpofe of founding a Literary and Philofophical Society, adively engaged in bufinefs, and ready, with heart and hand, to profper every good and noble work — one of the ftrongeft evidences of which was the gift of the land on which the Library now ftands, then known as Bowling Green, to fecond Mr. Redwood's liberal offer, to which I fhall prefently have occafion to refer. Mr. CoUins formed a gallery of paintings — a THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 231 rare thing in America at that day. Dr. Water houfe, recalling, later in life, the impreflion made on him by this CoUedion, fays of Henry Collins : "He was a wealthy merchant and a man of tafte. He caused paintings to be made of Parfon Callender, as well as fome other divines, as Hitchcock, Clapp, and Dean Berkeley, which he often admired in the Collins Collection." Tradition alfo fays that moft of thefe portraits were painted by Smibert, who vifited this coun try with Berkeley, and it is known that Mr. Collins extended a hearty welcome , to, and em ployed the pencil of every artift who touched thefe fliores. There was another noble trait in the charader of Mr. Collins, which fhould not go unnoticed. Deferving young men, ftruggling with the world, and anxious to acquire a liberal education, found in him a true friend, and many who, but for this timely affiftance, would have paffed through life unnoticed, became prominent through their ac quirements, and an ornament to fociety. Every meafure, calculated to promote the public good, he heartily endorfed, and the extenfion of Long Wharf, the budding of the Brick MarkeJ, now the City Hall, and other public works, owed 232 THE RE-UNION. much of their fuccefs to his liberality and coun tenance. But misfortunes fell upon him in his latter days — the loffes attendant on the applica tion of the Admiralty rule of '56, led the way to bankruptcy in '65, from the effeds of which he never recovered; and a few years later, about 1770, he died, greatly refpeded and long to be remembered for his noble ads, his liberaUty, and his generous culture. Of Nathan Townfend, Jr., and Jeremy Condy, I know nothing — the names, as affociated with the Society, alone remain to us. James Honyman, Jr., fon of Rev._ James Hony man, who, for more than fifty years, wasredor of Trinity Church, was born in Newport, and early attained to a prominent pofition in public affairs. A fketch of his life will be found in the Memoirs of the Rhode Ifland Bar. He died during the time the Britifli troops were on the ifland, and was interred in Trinity Churchyard. On the ftone placed over his remains, we find this tribute to his worth : " He was eminent in his profeflion as Attorney at Law, and for many; years was employed in the moft important offices . of government." Thefe were the men who organized the So- THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 233 ciety, and formed a code for the government of its members. Fortunately, as I have already remarked, a copy of these Rules has been pre ferved. They are but little known, and it may not be out of place to introduce a few of them here, for they have a dired bearing on the hiftory of the Redwood Library. Article 1. The members of the Society fliall meet every Monday evening, at the houfe of one of the members, feriatim, and converfe about and debate fome ufeful queftions in Divin ity, Morality, Philofophy, Hiftory, &c. Art. 2. The member who propofes the ques tion fliall be moderator, (pro hac vice,) and fee that order and decency be maintained in all the debates and converfations. Art. 3. Every member in order fhall freely give his opinion, with his reafons, having liberty to explain the fenfe of the queftion, or his own expreffion, and to retract or alter his opinion, as to him fliall feem right. Art. 4. The member at whofe houfe we meet fliall propofe a queftion for the next even ing's converfation, the Society to judge of its propriety and ufefulnefs, only nothing fhall ever be propofed or debated, which is a diltinguifhing religious tenet of any one member. Art. 5. No member fliall divulge the opinion or argument of any particular member, as to any 20* 234 THE RE-UNION. fubject debated in the Society, on penalty of a perpetual exclufion. Neverthelefs, any member may gratify the curiofity of any that may inquire the names, number, general defign, method and laws of the Society, and the opinions and con- clufions of the major part, without difcovering hpw any particular member voted. Art. 6. The moderator, for the time being,, fliall keep a book, in which he fliall regifter the queftions and the folutions or anfwers, and another for the fines and forfeits that may become due. Art. 7. The queftion fliall be propounded by the moderator, exadly at feven in the evening; or, if he be then abfent, another fliall be choferidn his room, and whoever fhall come after that fliall forfeit one fliilling ; whoever is abfent the whole evening fliall forfeit two fliillings and fixpence; only the moderator fliall forfeit double," &c. This article is the longeft, and embraces a great variety of fines, all of which were to be coUeded " every month, and laid out in books, &c., as the Society fliall think beft ;" and it was this coUedion of books, probably, which was the nucleus of the prefent library. Bifliop Berkeley was undoubtedly prefent at all thefe meetings. The late Hon. W. Hunter, in his Centennial Addrefs, (which, by the way, I THE REDWOOD LIBRARY, 235 am happy to fay, will fhortly be printed,) fays of Berkeley's conncdion with the Society : " He propofed many of its themes ; he took a reff:rved and dignified fliare in its conferences ; he derived an exquifite happinefs, much lefs from his own confcioufnefs of fuperiority, than from an opportunity for difcovering and devel oping nafcent literary talent, and confirming and invigorating every germ of rational faith and Chriftian charity. Under a leader and ledurer like Berkeley, he, the prefiding genius, it is hardly to be doubted that this, the oral, is the beft mode of inftrudion. The Society felt but little need of books when he was prefent. When withdrawn, it was natural, in the abfence of Socrates, to afk for the Memorabilia of Xeno- phon, the Dialogues of Plato, and the Treatifes of Ariftotle. Berkeley, therefore, was the remote, not the proximate caufe of the Inftitution, (the Redwood Library,) and this opinion is confirmed by after fads. He praifed and loved Rhode Ifland. He refers to it, and its inhabitants, in his letters, with affedionate regard. He even thinks it a more eligible fite than Bermuda, for the promo tion of his great fcheme of educating and evan gelizing the native Indians. But in clofing his affairs here, he beftowed a large portion of his own valuable library on the Univerfities of Cam bridge and Yale, and on the laft his White Hall 236 THE RE-UNION. eftate, on this ifland. Had the plan of a Ubrary been matured, or even held up in hopeful prom- ife, it is fairly prefumable thefe gifts would have been, in fome degree, otherwife direded." We have feen, then, how the prefent Society was formed, who were the leading fpirits, and in what way a coUedion of books was commenced. In 1735, the number of members had increafed from fix to twenty-four, nearly all of whom were prominent men, and fome of them are known to hiftory. The fines exaded, in Article Seventh,' probably amounted to confiderable fums, which were expended in books; and, in 1747, Abra-: ham Redwood conceived the happy idea of founding a public library. To promote this, he generoufly offered to beftow five hundred pounds fferling for the purchafe of books, if a fufficient fum could be raifed to ered a fuitable building for their reception. Henry Collins, as already ftated, fubfequently tendered a lot of land for a fite, and in a fliort time five thoufand pounds were fubfcribed, by different citizens of the town, for the eredion of a handfome edifice. The Library was incorporated the fame year, and the following year the eredion of the prefent library building was commenced, under the diredion of THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 237 Peter Harrifon,* and completed in 1749. Har- rifon was diftinguiflied in his profeffion, and of him Mr. Hunter thus fpeaks : " He had been the affiftant archited of Van- burgh in the eredion of the Duke of Marlborough's palace at Woodftock. He was undeniably a man of feience and tafte. Survey the public and private buildings of this era. Trinity Church, the North Market, the State Houfe, the Malbone Town Houfe, the Wanton Houfe, the Matthew Cozzens, now the CoUins Houfe, disfigured as they all have been by time, by the fpoliations of war, and by modern improve ments. Any inveftigatbr, comparing them with what exifted in any capital of any one of the colo nies at the fame time, muft admit in this age, what was cheerfully admitted in that, that little pre cocious Rhode Ifland proper ifood at leaft equal to any : and this comparifon is unaided by any reference to the Malbone Country Houfe, which preceded them all in point of time, and furpaffed them all in tafteful magnificence. It is evident there were at this era of 1747, allowing half a generation on each fide of it, the moneyed and the mental means, the tafte, (and, if you will moralize,) the profufion and the reckleffnefs to do all this." * The name of Jofeph Harrifon has been inferted acciden tally on the tablet in the library edifice. 238 THE RE-UNION. The edifice confifted of a principal building with a fmall wing on each fide, ranging in a line with the weft end of the building, the front, which is ornamented with a portico, fuftained by four finely-proportioned columns. In form, and in nearly all its details, the building is in the ftyle of the Roman Doric, with a flight admix ture of the Ionic in the rear. The plan of the building, as contraded for, is preferved in the library, with that for the recent enlargement, and it has been afcertained that the purpofe of the founders was to have it enlarged much after the manner recently adopted, fhould the increafe of the library at any future day warrant it. And here I fliould fay a few words in regard to Abraham Redwood, whofe liberality has fur niflied, for more than a century, the means of culture for the many who have appreciated his generous devotion to the caufe of learning..; It would be a pleafure to know more of him thah has come down to us. His portrait graces the library walls, but of his perfonal hiftory we know but little. He was born in Antigua, where he poffeffed a large fugar plantation, Caffada Gar den, which yielded him an income of froti JE4000 to £7000 fterling. He was educated in THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 239 Philadelphia in a manner befitting one of his fortune and expedations in life. Attraded to Newport, he became enamored of Martha Cogge fliall, to whom he was united in marriage before he was twenty years of age, and here he refided during the remainder of his life, "in a ftyle of opulence," fays Dr. Waterhoufe, " becoming his fortune, mixed with the elegant fimplicity of the Quaker." From the fame fource we gather the following fads in relation to this diftinguiflied man : " His town houfe and country houfe indicated the riches and tafte of the owner ; his botanical garden was ftored with curious and foreign, as well as valuable indigenous plants, in either hot or green-houfes or in the open air. While he indulged himfelf and friends in thefe rational amufements, he was not unmindful of the indigent and unfortunate. Induftrious young men, ftruggling on to obtain a comforta ble livelihood for themfelves, were objeds of his peculiar regard. His munificence was not con fined, however, to the fcenes df ordinary life, but took fo wide a range as to rank him with the Harvards, Yales and Berkeleys. The medical part of them (the books pur chafed by Mr. Redwood) were excellent. They were amply fufficient to give the medical ftudent 240 THE RE-UNION. competent information of all that was then known in the Englifli language on anatomy, furgery, chemiftry, and botany, together with. the hiftory of drugs, and their various preparations and ufes, with the hiftory of the progrefs of phyfic, from Hippocrates to Boerhaave. After receiving fome donations from certain individuals, it was deemed the fecond beft col- ledion of Englifli books in New England. It was the Redwood Library that rendered reading fafhionable throughout the little community of Rhode Ifland, during feventy or eighty years. It diffufed a knowledge of general and particular hiftory, geography, and ethics. It opened to the youth of both fexes an acquaintance with an tiquity; it gave them a knowledge .of Greece and Rome, with Afia, modern Europe, the Eng lifli claffics, and the belles-lettres generally; it fowed the feeds of the fciences, and rendered the inhabitants of Newport, if not a learned, yet a better read and iriquifitive people than any other town in the Britifli Colonies, and this was owing to the judicious liberaUty of Abraham Redwood." To Mr. Hunter's Centennial Addrefs we turn once more, and there find, in the clofely written pages, thefe glowing words : " He (Abraham Redwood) gave freely and deliberately. He needed no prompter. He THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 241 gave in his lifetime. He was his own almoner and truftee. He direded the application of his own gift to its true ufes. He lived to fee his own beneficent purpofes effeduated. Such a procedure avoids all the difficulties and dangers of death bed devises or donations, and obviates or ren der inapplicable all fatire againft legacy-hunting, and all declamations againft: property in mort main. Do you afk for Abraham Redwood the pomp of eulogy ? Do you call upon me to read, from the golden letters of a lofty and highly wrought monument, a grandiloquent epi taph of this meek adherent of Barclay and Penn? You afk for what is inappropriate and inconfifterit. T^his is his monument, and without the formality of the outward infcription, we claim from your inward intelledual emotions the juftice of the application of that fo judicioufly beftowed upon Sir Chriftopher Wren, the re nowned archited of St. Paul's in London — 'Lector, ft- monumentum quaris, circumfpice I ' Do you afk for a moment % look around you." Turning to_another fource for information — the unpublifhed Diary of Rev. Dr. Styles, now depofited in the library of Yale College — foF information in relation to the library, and Mr. Redwood's connedion with it, we find this curi ous paffage : 242 THE RE-UNION. " This fet ^out as a Quaker affair ; Mr. Red wood being a Friend, advifed [and] influenced by his Br. in Law, Thos. Ward, Efq., a Deifti- cal Baptift ; both thefe Gentl. really defigned it fhd. be Catholic & without refped of feds. ThrO' the blindnefs of Mr. Redwood & Ward & Cal lender (the 2 laft men of great Learning and Penetration,) the Epifcopalians flily got into it & obtained a Majority wh. they are careful to keep. At firft of 46 but 18 were Epifco. In 2y of 91 members 43 were Epifco. Since this they are become a Majority. But no body obferves it but the Founder. The Founder has often told me of it, & faid it was contrary to his Inten tion; & that this was one reafon of his refufing to fit in the Diredors' Meetings." The above appears in the Diary under date of January 16, 1773, and will, undoubtedly, be new to all who are interefted in the library at this day. The firft meeting of the Library Company after their incorporation, was held in September, 1747, at which time the following gentlemen were chofen officers of the inftitution : Abraham Redwood, President ; Rev. James Honyman, Rev. John Callender, Henry Collins, Edward Scott, Samuel Wickham, John TiUinghaft, and Peter Bours, Direliors ; Jofeph Jacob, 'Treafurer; THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 243 Edward Scott, Librarian ; and Thomas Ward, Secretary. On the fourth of the following July, the Di redors prefented a catalogue of the books they propofed to purchafe in London ; the order was fent out with Mr. Redwood's draft for iSj'oo fterling, and in return, the Company received about twenty-five hundred volumes. This cata logue, with the lift of the ftockholders at that time, has happily been preferved. I have already freely drawn from Mr. Hun ter's addrefs, for the reafon that it has never ap peared in print, and was only heard in 1847 by a favored few who were prefent at that time. Turning to it again, I give here his opinion of these books : " The books this five hundred pounds purchas ed in 1747, were fuch as our forefathers deemed of ufeful literature. There were among them men wlao had breathed the claffic atmofphere, not only of our own Cambridge and Yale, but of the elder Cambridge, and who had trod the quad rangles of fome of the colleges of Oxford. The original invoice is for fcholars not only a curi ofity, but a relic. There are fome books there that muft be reverenced, as one of the elder church would reverence the bones of bleffed martyrs." 244 THE RE-UNION. And here I find that I muft retrench, left my interieft in the fubjed before me will lead my pen to undue length, if I have not already exceeded the liihits affigned to a fingle article. I have traced the rife and formation of the Company, and for a period of nearly, or quite, thirty years it profpered. Its laws and regulations were drawn up by Daniel Updike, James Honyman, Jr., Thomas Ward, and Matthew Robinfo^i, and early in its hiftory, (1755,) Rev. Ezra Styles was eleded honorary member, and in the follow ing year he became Librarian, which office he filled during a period of twenty years, almoft living in the Library, where " he wrote many of his learned, not controverfial, letters, addreffed to the heads of Jefuit Colleges, to Jewifh Rabbis, and to Prefidents of learned focieties — letters written in Latin or Hebrew." But tbe war of the Revolution came on, and the Library, as well as everything elfe in Newport, felt its blighting influence. The Company* was completely broken up, for its members had no tafte for fcenes of ftrife, and early fought out more retired places for their homes. They were fcattered, never to return, and the library edifice, left without a proteding hand, was defecrated by THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 245 foreign troops, who carried off the books of en tertainment, leaving Uttle elfe than foUos on ferious fubjeds; but when this came to the knowledge of Gen. Prefcott, to his honor be it ftated, he had a fentinel ftationed there to pro ted it from further injury. After the war, the town was greatly depreffed ; enough, however, has been written of thefe times to juftify me in paffing over that period without further comment. No one had then a tafte for reading, for every one had to exert himfelf to fecure a bare fubfiftence, and of the early friends of the Library, few, if any, remained. ¦ In 1788, Abraham Redwood died, in the feventy-ninth year of his age, and this was another ferious lofs to the inftitution, which, after that event, fell almoft into complete difufe. From the obituary notice of Mr. Redwood, made at that time, we make the following extrad : He founded the Library in this town. He fubfcribed largely to a college, to be built in this State, on condition that it fliould be eftabliflied in the county of Newport. He fubfcribed five hundred pounds fterling towards a univerfity, propofed to be ereded in this town; and he offered the fame fum to the Society of Friends, 21* 246 THE RE-UNION. of which he was a member, to endow a fchool in this place, for the inftrudion of Friend's chil-, dren. His lefs public ads of generofity will be gratefully remembered by thofe on whom they were conferred, and the poor will never forget that Abraham Redwood was their conftant friend and benefador." The Library was in this negleded state when James Ogilvie, Efq., a native of Scotland, and a man of learning, vifited Newport, in 1810. He at once became interefted in the Library, ex preffed furprife at its ftate, and volunteered to give a courfe of ledures in its behalf, on the fubr jed of literature. He was very eloquent, arid his generofity was not thrown away, for the in habitants, having recovered fomewhat from the fliock of the Revolution, needed only a guide to turn their attention once more to Uterature. A paper of earneft foliditation was drawn up by the late Hon. William Hunter, reminding his fellow-townfmen of their duty, and the Library again became a place of refort. But it had nothing of the fpirit that marked its early hiftory, and Dr. Channing fays of it, at that period, ' " It was fo deferted that I fpent day after day, and fometimes week after week, amidft its dulty THE REDWOOD LIBRARY.- 247 volumes, without interference from a fingle vifitor." In 1813, Solomon Southwick, Efq., of Albany, formerly of Newport, gave to the Library one hundred and twenty acres of land in the State of New York. Abraham Redwood, Efq., of Dorfet Place, Marylebone, England, Baron Hottinguer, a diftinguiflied banker of Paris, and others, fince then, not forgetting King George IV., have made donations to the Library. The laft, and moft importan,t of thefe, is a coUedion of paintings, chiefly portraits of diftinguiflied perfons, painted and prefented by Charles B. King, Efq., of Wafliington, a native of Newport, deeply inter efted in the Library. Art'has its miffion, and it is fitting that an in ftitution, devoted to the diffufion of knowledge, fliould recognize its claims, and aid in the pro-- motion of its. end. Pidures and ftatuary are not defigned to addrefs the eye alone ; they have a nobler purpofe, and, if rightly valued, they will become a fource of pure delight. Men require to be led to the ftudy of the beautiful, and works of art, rightly conceived and harmonioufly ar ranged, are our beft inftrudors, for they elevate 248 • THE RE-UNION. the charader, enlarge our views, and give a dis- relifli for meaner pleafures. It is Goethe, who reminds us that the ufeful encourages itfelf, for the multitude produce it, and no one can difpenfe with it ; but the beau tiful muft be encouraged, for few can fet it forth^ and many need it. The beautiful, in all its forms, is juft as effential to our happinefs as it was to the German poet ; and whilft the friends of the Library cannot but regret that its limited refources, fo far from admitting of the purchafe of works of art, force the inftitution to rely wholly on the generofity of the public for dona tions of this kind, it is pleafant to refled that its wants have not paffed unheeded, nor are we left without the affurance of frefli acceffions to the gallery at fome future day. I have now noted fome of the leading features in the hiftory of the Library, from the date of its organization down to the prefent time. In 1855, the new movement commenced, the fub jed having been brought up at the annual meet ing of that year. A gentleman, who has taken a very prominent part in all that has been done to bring about this , great change, fuggefted the propriety of making an earneft effort to place the THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 249 Library on a more ufeful and popular bafis, which could be done by opening the Library daily, and by taking adive meafures to increafe its influence; and he even went fo far as to ex prefs the belief that the furn of ten thoufand dollars could be raifed, if a determined and organized effort were made. This was a bold projed for an old, confervative inftitution, like the Redwood, to take up, but a committee was appointed to confider the beft means of carrying out thefe views, arid, at an adjourned meeting, the chairman, in behalf of the committee, re ported that they were fully prepared to fay that the plan fuggefted was feafible, if met in the right fpirit ; that there was a call for a larger and freer accefs to the books owned by the Company, and that it feemed but right and juft that the few who held fo large an amount of property, principally handed down from father to fon, fhould not ftand in the way of a wider and more general diffufion of knowledge. It was alfo fliown that the proprietors, num bering only about one hundred, held property valued at twenty-five thoufand dollars, including the Library building, cafh invefted, and eight thoufand volumes and works of art. Thefe 250 THE RE-UNION. books were acceffible to a very limited number of perfons, who only had the privilege of vifiting the Library two or three times a week, for two brief hours on each library-day, and the diredors, having but Umited refources at their command to meet the current expenfes, could annually expend but little in the purchase of new books. Thefe, and other points, I cannot here intro duce, were difcuffed at length, and finally it was propofed that four hundred certj'ficates of new ftock fliould be iffued, at the value of $25, for the purpofe of raifing $10,000, and, to the credit of all concerned, it was voted that it is expedient to iffue the above ftock. This was the firft great ftep — a ftep that, in itfelf, feemed' like a mountain to many, whilft to others who were more fanguine, and, confe quently, more earneft, it was the opening wedge that would prepare the way for the moft benefit cial refults. A circular was immediately' pre pared, setting forth the condition of the Library at that time, reviewing its hiftory in brief, and calling for a liberal refponfe on the part of the public. This refponfe, at the ftart, was not as" liberal as had been anticipated, and when the financial crifis came on, all further efforts were THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 25I arrefted for the time being. One gentleman had headed the paper with the fum of one thoufand dollars, and he was followed by a number of others, who were alfo liberal, but fo late as Auguft 18, 1858, it was ftated, at a fpecial meet ing convened for the purpofe, that lefs than half the amount had been fubfcribed, and unlefs ac tive meafures were taken to complete the fum by the firft of September, the thoufand dollars above referred to, would be withdrawn. The fpirit with which the work was pufhed forward from this time was equal to the emergency, and before the time allowed had expired, the hand fome fum of ten thoufand doUars had been fubfcribed. The number of fubferibers for this new ftock was about one hundred and thirty ; and the library Company, in accepting the money, was bound to comply with the following conditions — to enlarge and improve the building; to open it daily at all feafons of the year ; and to make fuch additions of books and general reading matter as would place the iriftitution on a more popular arid fubftantial bafis. Proper fteps were immediately taken to carry out the views of the donors, and the diredors were empowered to ad 252 THE RE-UNION. for the beft intereft of the library.' An archited was accordingly employed to draft plans for an enlargement of the building, which were ac cepted, and the work, with the amount abforbed in improving the grounds, and its furniture, is about eight thoufand dollars. Five .thoufand dollars were alfo placed at the difpofal of the book committee, who have found it a laborious work to niake up the deficiencies in the feveral departments, and, at the fame time, keep up with the current literature of the day. The books ordered are not all here, but the library building has been completed, and is now open to the public, — a place of great refort, and one of the chief ornaments of the town. The old library room is again ftocked with books, and additional fpace has been fecured by extending the wings parallel with the main building. On each fide of the entrance door there is a fmaU room — one for the librarian and his affiftants, and the other for the diredors. In the rear, and extending acrofs what was the principal room, is the addition provided for a reading room — twenty-fix by fifty feet, and nineteen feet in height, lighted by a dome and windows on each end. This beautiful room is handfomely fur- THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 253 iiifhed, and its walls are adorned with nearly one hundred paintings. The tables are fuppUed with the leading news and literary papers of the day, and the beft magazines and reviews. In this room converfation and reading aloud are prohibited ; but, in the library room, one can converfe with his friends, if fo difpofed. There is alfo a commodious defk, with writing mate rials at hand, a fuggeftion book, a bulletin, &c., &c., and here ladies and gentlemen daily con gregate to read and to enjoy all the privileges of the inftitution. And now I muft bring this lengthy article to a clofe. There are many objeds of intereft in the library of which I may fpeak hereafter ; but I will not tax your readers' patience any further to-day, if you will allow me to touch on only dhe more point conneded with this new move ment. Many of the gentlemen who have fub fcribed liberally towards the ten thoufand dol lars have no ufe for more than one or two of the fhares belonging to them, and they have accordingly difpofed of them in ways calculated to do the moft good. One gentleman has placed eighteen fhares in the hands of the dired ors, to be rented to deferving young men, who 23 254 "^^^ RE-UNION. will pay the annual tax for the privileges of the library; another has provided for the public fchool teachers and the moft deferving fcholars in the high fchools, andfo on, each one choofing fome way in which to turn his inveftment to good account. And if Abraham Redwood and Henry Collins could look in on their fucceffors, to-day, they would fee that they were aduated by the fame defire to promote good, and extend to all facilities for acquiring knowledge. Nor is this all ; for all parties are pleafed with what has been done; and how could it be otherwife?. Thofe who have contributed the means are grat ified to fee a great enterprife carried through fuccefsfuUy, and thofe who have heretofore had no intereft in the library now feel themfelves identified with it, and are anxious to promote its welfare. Under thefe circumftances, the work will profper, and the refining influence of a familiarity with books will be wide-fpreading, till all claffes are brought within its fcope. Of this we are fanguine : but who fliall pidure the future, now fo pleafingly forefliadowed ? Aquidneck. NAMES. The following names were regiftered by Returned Sons and Daughters of the Ifland of Rhode Ifland, at the time of the Re-union, in a book prepared for that purpofe, at the Mayor's Office. There were many other natives in the city, at the Celebration, who were unable to regifter their names for want of time. RHODE ISLAND. John Read, Mary E. Sherman, Fanny R. Sherman, Mrs. Phila Williamfon, William Horfewell, Thomas G. Hazard, John O. Peckham, Ann R. EUery, James H. Clarke, Providence, South Kingfton, Eaft Greenwich, Providence, 256 THE RE-UNION. Jofeph Albro, Mrs. Cromwell Turner, William Cromwell Turner, George F. Boone, Edward V. Weftcott, Robinfon P. Gardner, Sarah E. Rounds, Frederick A. Stanhope, Charies E: Hubbard, John Pratt, Sarah A. Williams, Harriett G. Marfh, Abby Arnold Stocker, William H. Weftcott, John S. Palmer, Henry A. Heath, Nicholfon W. Bufli, Ifaac N. Stoddard, Sufan D. Brownell, Peleg S. Sherman, Sarah A. Sherman, William Cornell Barker, Sarah A. Barker, Julia A. Stowe, Peleg Sherman, Sarah Southwick, North Providence, Provideince, South Kingfton, Providence, Gloucefter, Providence, South Scituate, Providence, NAMES. 257 Catharine M. Pennell, Eliza Pitman, Mary A. Burdick, Thatcher T. Gardner, James Tilley, Elizabeth P. Qxx, Sarah E. Peck, Sarah J. Read, John Read, Jr., F. CoggefliaU, Jr., Ann E. Williams, Sarah R. Goff, Addifon W. Goff, Eleanor E. Goff, Mrs. Nancy Lake, Mrs. Pamelia Aldrich, Mary J. Wilfon, Mary C. Jouvett, Eliza J. Herman, Benedid Dayton, Benedid Dayton, Jr., William Albert Dayton, Robert N. Burdick, Thomas G. Hazzard, Thomas L. Albro, Margaret L. Arnold, 23* Providence, South Kingfton, Eaft Greenwich, Providence, Warren, Providence, Eaft Greenwich, Providence, Hopkinton, Providence, South Kingfton, Pr.udence, Providence, 250 THE RE-UNION. Rebecca Reynolds, Providence, Louifa Ambrofe, (( Stephen A. Gardner, Jr., Kingfton, Edward L. Barker, Providence, Jofeph E. Cranfton, '( Stephen A. Robinfon, South Kingfton, Annie E. Tilley, Briftol, Adaline Glines, Providence, Amanda D. CorneU, Darius D. Buffum, Woonsocket, Samuel D. Walden, Providence, Harriett W. Allen, Sarah S. Oxx, George C. Townfend, W. H. Hudforj, Sarah T. Wilbour, James E. Boone, Mary G. Henderfon, Benjamin H. Wilbour, Maria R. Wilbour, Emily N. Wilbour, Maria H. Wilbour, Clara R. Clarke, James Mumford, George M. Coit, Briftol, Mercey B. Saunders, Providence, NAMES. 259 Samuel Billings, Thomas H. Stedman, Mary E. Champlin, Eliza W. Allen, William B. Spooner, Deziah S. Hoard, Sarah P. Hoard, Lydia Vincent, John B. Manchefter, John C. Clarke, Eliza Coit, Mary Gladding, Henry A. Clarke, Hannah M. Barker, Jane J. Olds, Emma L. Webfter, Cyrus Peckham, Phebe Ann Gray, Henry Burroughs, Richard Palmer, Jofeph L. Burroughs, Thomas Yates, ' Simeon W. Pike, Arnold James, Franklin James, John Tripp, Jr., Barrington, Rocky Brook, South Kingfton, Providence, Briftol, Providence,Briftol, Providence, FaU River, Briftol, Fall River, South Kingfton, Providence, South Kingfton, Little Compton, Providence, Prudence Ifland, Providence, 200 THE RE-UNION. Cynthia A. Cooley, Providence, . , Abby P. Herman, it George Irifli, Hopkinton, John H. Taylor, Providence, Andrew Allen, FaU River, William F. Lawton, Providence, Sufan Burdick, South Kingfton, Margaret W. Hubbard, Woonfocket, Sufan Difley, Providence,^ George Difley, it Benjamin T. Albro, Prudence Ifland, ; Eliza Ann Clarke Providence, Catharine Chace, (( Eliza W. Dennis, Portfmouth, Anna C. Talbot, Providence, Mary E. Clarke, (£ Sarah J. Robinfon, '(( Harriett D. Skinner, Briftol, Harriet Fowler, Providence, Hattie B. Fowler, (( T. Ada Fowler, a Sarah Rounds, . « ? John Vaughn, ii Edward ,S. Lyon, ii Elizabeth A. Lyon, ii Mary 0. Simmons, Little Compton, T NAMES. 261 Eliza B. Lyman, Providence, William B. Rider, a Mary T. Hathaway, ii Henry H. Burrington, (C Charles B. Burringtoi), (( Samuel S. Wilfon, <( Mary A. Chafe, (( Hannah T. Lifcomb ;t WiUiam T. Bull, Kingfton, Julia A. Draper, Providence, Mary E. Woolfey, (( Lydia A. Dawley, a Henry V. Swan, (( Edward Stanhope, Eaft Greenwich, Hannah E. Spencer, (( (1 William Gurney, Providence, Sufan C. Cleaveland, a Cynthia Gladding, Briftol, Charles P. Dring, Fall River, Henry Taylor, Cranfton, Mary Francis Taylor, &c Edward T. AUeUi Providence, Mary C. Bowen, a Dutee J. Pearce, Wefteriy, Rowland R. Hazard, Providence, Eugene E. Hammett. (( 262 THE RE-UNION. Henrietta G. Hammett, Ifaac Hazzard, CoVnelius Nichols, William H. Henderfon, Mrs. James Young, Jofeph Seymour, C. W. B. Bennett, Wm. John Tilley, Samuel N. Burroughs, Benedid Peckham, Angennele C. Barker, Caroline F. Waldron, William H. Townfendjt Arhelia S. Townfend, Benjamin Albro, William Vernon, George W. Taylor, Gardner Thomas, Hannah L. Eaftbrooks, Mary E. Spooner, Mary Cooke, Joanna F. McKenzie, Samuel S. Gladding, Sufan Dennis. Richmond W. Dennis, Charles E. Dennis, Providence, North Providence, Peacedale, Providence, Warren, ¦ Providence, Smithfield,Warren, Briftol, Providence, Warren, Middletown, Providence, a Briftol, Jameftown, Warwick, Providence, Pawtucket, Briftol, NAMES. 263 Mary E. Dennis, Portfmouth, William R. Dennis, (( ' William B. Henfliaw, Providence, Albert W. Luther, Jameftown, Lydia R. Penno, Providence, Rebecca A. Gray, <t Mary C. Cornell, (6 William C. TiUey, a John E. Lawton, Cranfton, W. S. Patten, Providence, Eliflia A. Durfee, CIS Samuel B. Durfee, « Benjamin C. Hubbard, (C Charles H. Lewis, Ci John P. Mumford, (C Cyrus W. Johnfon, (( John H. Peckham, Eaft Greenwich, Gertrude E. Ambrofe, Providence, Anna E. Ambrofe, (( Mary A. Brown, (( Clariffa T. Lindfey, IC Phebe A. Saunders, (C Phebe M. Cook, Warren, Charlotte V. HamUn, Providence, Samuel P. Crins,. « Louisa A. Tibbets, (( 264 THE RE-UNION. Annie C. Crins, Jofeph Dewick, Jane Melville James P. Siffon, M. C. Taylor, Theodore Ambrofe, Wm. H. Ambrofe, Jofeph S. Richardfon, James H. Blifs, Hannah L. Weeks, Jacob G. Anthony, Harriett M. Billings, Hannah Cottrell, Eliza S. Stockford, Charles Prior, Oliver E. Greene, James Eldred, Cornelius S. Greene, Peleg C. Anthony, Elizabeth EUery, Phila p. Taylor, Elizabeth C. Garland, Jofeph Congdon, Gideon Barker, Mary A. Spink, Charles Lawton, Providence, Eaft Greenwich, Providence, Cranfton,South Kingfton. Providence, Eaft Greenwich, Providence. Wefteriy, Warren, n Providence, Wickford, Eaft Greenwich, South Kingfton, Providence,Scituate, Warren, Wickford, Providence, NAMES. John D. Tuell, Warren, E. S. Thurfton, Providence, John Wanton Lyman, 66' M.G.Ellis, Briftol, Harriett L. Stanton, a Abby Stanton, (t James A. McKenzie, Tiverton, Catharine M. Goddard, Coventry, Cyrus B. Peckham, Smithfield, Anna E. Kenyon, Providence, Lavanah M. Kenyon, «( Annie E. Fofter, (( Jofeph Almy, Smithfield, Jofeph Coit, Briftol, John P. Dunbar, Providence, James G. Keith, Portfmouth, George Sears Rathbone, Providence, Howard Smith, Kingfton, John B.' Wilfon, Providence, Caroline Eafterbrooks, ii Martha Hill, Cranfton, Edward C. Cranfton, Woonfocket, Mrs. S. H. Thomas, Providence,, Mrs. Mary A. Townfend, a Mrs. Sarah Belph, Briftol, Mrs. Martha' B. T,awton, Providence, 24 265 266 THE RE-UNION. Abby Prenfort, Charlotte Douglafs, C. E. Richards, James Warner, Cyrus Peckham, WiUiam L. Williams, William H. Goffe, Lydia E. Thompfon, Abby G. Anthony, John T. Anthony, George A. Mumford, Sarah Read, R. P. Dunn, Robert G. Cory, David A. Coit, Phebe V. Lyon, Hannah S. Harvey, George H. Potter, John Horfwell, Benjamin Cornell, Sarah Ann Whitford, Mary J. Sweet, Alexander M. McG. Bliven, Thomas E. Hudfon, Thomas D. Hudfon, Mary C. PhUlips, Providence, FaU River, Providence, South Kingfton, Little Cornpton, Providence, South Kingfton, Providence, Briftol,Providence, Portfmouth,Providence, North Providence, Providence*, Hope Village^ Aquidneck VUlage, Providence, NAMES. 267 John E. Burroughs, Providence, George H. Pearce, Briftol, Richard Boyd, 6' Caroline B. Spooner, 66 Mary E. BaUey, Providence, Jeremiah C. Blifs, 66 John Gladding, 66 Thomas M. Clarke, Hopkinton, Hannah R. RandaU, Providence, Caleb Corey, 66 WiUiam L. Martin, (6 Mary E. Snow, Phenix Village, Minnie V. Snow, 66 Eliza C. Pickering," Providence, Mary O. Reynolds, Wickford, Nancy Sweet, Providence, Almira Sherman, 66 Harriett G. Dennis, Portfmouth, Benjamin Anthony, Smithfield, James P. Taylor, Providence, Sarah S. Horton, Briftol, Stafford S. Nickerfon, Providence, Sufan P. Thurfton, 66 George M. Carpenter, Jr., 66 Albert M. Hewitt, 66 Gardner T. Swarts, 66 268 THE REtUNION. WiUiam G. Swarts, Giles Manchefter, Silas H. Manchefter, Peter T. W. MitcheU, John S. Thurfton, William H. Dart, B. C. Brown, John O. Potter, Alfred B. Chadfey, Elizabeth H. H. Otis, Alfred Potter, Albert Harrington, George W. Thomas, John B. Cook, Jr., John T. Cornell, Jofeph Watfon, Emeline Pitts, Almira P. Collins, Nathaniel C- Peckham, Eftella Hazzard, Humphrey Almy, Hannah Siffon, John B. Eddy, Nancy Brown, Sarah L. Howard, Mary Biftings, Providence, Wickford, Providence, Wickford, Providence, Tiverton^ North Providence*,, Providence, Coventry, South Kingfton, North Kingfton, Providence, Barrington, NAMES. WiUiam A. Greene, Providence, James Handly, Portfmouth, Samuel H. Wales, Providence, Eliza S. Brown, 66 Charles Spooner, Briftol, Lewis D. Lawton, Providence, Michael Freeborn, 6( James M. Maxfon, « Abby W. Palmgru, (6 Charles H. Kenyon, Tiverton, John H. Spooner, Portfmouth, John Gladding, Jr., Briftol, ¦ Mary J. Baker, Pawtucket, Miles B. Lawfon, Cranfton, Sarah A. Lawfon, 66 Henry A. Weeden, Providence, John H. Ailman, « Hannah H. Peckham, Smithfield, William T. Lawton, Providence, Mary Potter, «( Sufan H. Seamans, (6 William Fofter, Cranfton, Henry A. Lawton, Scituate, Mary Stoddard, Providence, George W. S. Burroughs, 66 Ifaac Lawton, Jr., Central Falls, 269 24* 270 THE RE-UNION. William S. Clarke, Abby S. Snow, Phebe L. Siffon, B. L. Burdick, Margaret Briggs, Daniel T- Rodman, Edward H. Burroughs, Richard W. Bufli, WiUiam S. Holt, Thomas Dennis Updike, Albert C. Bennett, , Robert L. Thurfton, Gideon T. Peckham, Jane D. Scott, Sarah L. Harrington, Amey E. Burdick, Lizzie B. Burdick, James H. Mumford, Mary P. Searie, Nathaniel S. Greene, Lydia T. Greene, Mary T. Knight, , William Maxon, Mary P. Bentley, William M. Rodman, Phebe Ann R,ofe, Providence, North ProvidencCj South Kingfton, Providence, 66 Exeter,Wickford,Briftol, Providence, ; Smithfield, Providence, Briftol, (6 Provi;dence,. , Wefteriy, 66 Providence,Narraganfett, , NAME Jofliua W. Tripp, S. 2; Providence, E. B. Anthony, Briftol, Daniel Chase. Jr., Prudence Ifland, Robinfon Chafe, (i Benjamin F. Goddard, Providence, Henry Bull Lyman, 66 Charles Potter, Prudence Ifland, Thomas C. WiUiams, Warren, John Gardner, Briftol, Elizabeth French, Providence, Mary Pierce, (6 Frank A. Vars, Briftol, B. Reynolds, Wefteriy, Mary M. Dunham, Providence, Sarah J. Dunham, (6 Ann G. TUley, 6( WiUiam S. Simmons, Briftol, Leonard C. Marble, Providence, John S. Gladding, Wickford, Hannah Sherman, Providence, James Perry Butts, 66 Jofeph Sanford, North Kingfton, Benjamin N. Wilbour, Providence, Adaline Townfend, 6( John W. Spooper, Briftol, George S. Harwood, Providence, 272 THE RE-UNION. Mary S. Harwood, Providence, * Abby Hawkins, 66 Eliza T. Gardner, 6( William H. Simmons, Pawtucket, Freeborn CoggefliaU, Providence, Edmund Albro, Little Compton, William R. Landers, Providence, Mary E. Herrick, 16 Olivia H. Stanhope, 66 Patience B. Whiting, (t John A. Townfend, 66 Alexander M. McGregor, Jr. Charles Davis, Briftol, Jane Richardfon, Johnfton, Charlotte Lawton, Scituate, Elizabeth C. Balch, Providence, William J. Wyman, (6 Mary T. Richardfon, <( James B. Hofkins, 6( Michael M. Friend, Block Ifland, A. L. Young, Eaft Greenwich, W. A. Wilfon, Providence, Remington Sherman, 66 Ann Eldred, Jameftown, Peleg Eldred, 66 Mary S. Burroughs, Providence, NAMES. 273 Samuel Burroughs, George F. Stanton, Henry B. Potter, Robert Dunbar, WiUiam B. Phelps, William H. Clinton, EUza A. Burroughs, George S. Tilley, Nathaniel C. Vars, M. Juliet Vars, Charles.Siffon,Hiram Barker, Ifaac A. Sherman, George Rodman, George P. Smith, Matilda B. Humphrey, WilUam Dunbar, James C. Molten, SaUie Brown Cranfton, Gardner CottreU,, Abby Underwood, George Cooke, Mary Ann Chace, Perry M. Peckham, Stanton Peckham, Sarah Allen Peckham, Providence, Briftol, Providence, Warren, Briftol, Portfmouth, 66 Providence, Tiverton,, South Kingfton, 6( Proyidence,,Briftol, Woonfocket, Providence, Greenwich, Providence, Warwick, Middletown, (6 Fall River. 274 THE RE-UNION. John J. Peckham, Lizzie A. Peckham, Edward W. Lawton, Jr., Sarah A. Gladding, Mrs. Salma M. Spink, Clarriffa H. Shaw, • Abby Shaw, William G. Sherman, Sarah C. Tallman, EUza J. Kenney, Francis Pitts, Hannah M. Stoddard, Jofeph S. Peckham, Mrs. Sarah B. Anthony, Mary C. Bowen, Annie C. Rider, Fall River, 66 Middletown, Providence, North Kingfton, Fall River, 66 Middletownj. Portfmouth, Briftol, Providence, 66 Fall River, Providence, (6 MASSACHUSETTS. William H. Weaver, William H. Alrhy, Elijah Sherman, William Milne, Theodore A. Barton, Mary M. Barton, Sarah C. Barton, Springfield, Cambridge, Eaft Cambridge, Fall River, New Bedford, NAMES. James T-awton, New Bedford, WHliam H. King, Gardner, J. P. Burdick, 6C B. Hazzard Stevens, Bofton, Wniiam B. HiU, Gardner, Oliver P. Barker, New Bedford, Benjamin T. Lawton, Fairhaven, Nathaniel Adams, Jr., Yarmouth, Sarah B. Burdick, Gardner, Sarah Burdick, « » William Y. Potter, Worcefter, William Rogers Taylof, Charleftown, George P. Hammett, Springfield, James G.- Dougherty, Andover, George E. Faifneau, New Bedford, Abbf F. Barker, (6 Mary S. Lawton, 66 John A. Albro, Cambridge, Sarah H. Bird, Taunton, Olivia Ellis, New Bedford, John P. NeweU, Bofton, George B. Dunham, New Bedford, Benjamin G. Palmer, Wrentham, Alice Allen, Belchertown, WiUiam H. Taylor, New Bedford, Elizabeth Ann Taylor, a 275 276 THE RE-UNION. John W. Hill, Gardner, Henry C. HiU, 66 Thomas Coggefliall, New Bedford, Caroline S. CoggefliaU, 66 Peleg Lawton, <; Mrs, E. W. Allen, Nantucket, John H. Swan, Bofton, James Hill, Springfield, Caroline Hill, Gardner, Nathan E. Hammett, New Bedford, Catherine C. Hammett, 66 George L. Peckham, Gardner, Abby C. Peckham, (C Rebecca E. Brownell, New Bedford; Daniel A. Chappell, 66 James M. Lawton, (C Mrs. William Whitton, 66 Mrs. David Cochran, 6( Mrs. Philip Macey, Nantucket, Mrs. Pheby B. Sherman, Eaft Cambridge;' Elijah Sherman, • 66 C. C. C' Jernegan, N. Bridgewater, Robert S. Covefl, Bofton, Caroline W. Covell, 66 N. U. Lyon, EaU River,' EUen S. Church, 66 NAMES. 277 EUzabeth S. Church, John C. Wilfon, Frederick A. Euftis, Betfey Dean, Jane L. Folger, Emma L. Tilley, Charles S. Lloyd, Arthur A. R. Bittner, Francis G. Jack, James Horfwell, Solon W. Bufli, Jane R. B. Almy, Lydia Howard, Benjamin Ruffell Allen, Clarke Crandall, Mary Ann Crandall, Paul Faber, David Mitchell, Jofeph Clarke, Charies W. CoggefliaU, Mary E. Wilcox, WiUiam Weftgate, Elizabeth H. Pitman, Francis M. Siffon, James M. Siffon, Charles .Lawton, 25 Fall River, New Bedford, Milton, Fall River, Nantucket, Gardner, South Weymouth, Bofton, New Bedford, Bofton, Medfield,South Dartmouth, Fall River, Marblehead,Fall River, 66 Bofton, Nantucket, New Bedford, Nantucket, New Bedford, Fall River, North Dartmouth, Taunton, 270 THE RE-UNION. Sarah A. Cook, Fall River, D. S. McDougall, North Attieboro', G. Barker Peckham, Weftport, Caroline S. Peckham, Cb John P. Sanford, FaU River, Sarah Young, (( Mary Wrightington, (( Silas Davoll, ii J. D. Hall, New ^Bedford, Otis Seabury, 66 Luke Bliven, Somerfet, F. C. Rodman, FaU River, Samuel D. Hopkins, Bofton, Thomas P. Rodman, Bridgewater, Atherton Shearman, Swanfey, Junius M. Stevens, Bofton, Walter Channing, 66 Chariotte M. Stall, Taunton, George A. Wilfon, Jr., New Bedford, E. T. Taber, 66 Amanda G. Taber, 66 James W. Cornell, 66 Benjamin Lawton, 66 Benjamin Peabody, Fall River, WiUiam M. Almy, (( John W. Peabody, Freetown, NAMES. 279 John B. Winflow, Alexander P. Moore, Thomas Cooke, Mary H. Leach, Anthony D. Richmond, Jofeph Brownell, George E. Peabody, Martha F. Howland, Robert S. TiUey, Ann Maria Tilley, Edward W. Watfon, Langworthy Almy, Phebe T. Chace, Alfred Peckham, Charles Brownell, Jr., William B. Gifford, Martin, V. B. Peckham, WiUiam H. Almy, George W. Little, James Weftgate, Jofeph R. Dunham, Stephen Y. Dunham, Nathan Barker, Nathaniel Richmond, Charles Brownell, Robert Allen, Cambridge,Nantucket, New Bedford^ Roxbury, New Bedford, Gardner, 66 New Bedford, FaU River, Middleborough, Gardner,New Bedford, 66 Eaft Cambridge, Charleftown,Nantucket, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Bofton, New Bedford, 200 THE RE-UNION. Samuel S. Sherman, FaU River, Ruth T. Sherman, 66 Phebe H. Richmond, New Bedford, Mary Ann H. Cook, (6 Robert C. Pitman, 66 Charlotte A. Perry, Fairhaven, James W. Shaw, Eaft Brighton, Sarah A. Davis, Somerfet, Sarah Ann Swain, Nantucket, Mrs. A. V. Wheelock, Roxbury, Lucinda Lufcomb, New Bedford, Francis Howland, ¦ 66 WiUiam B. StaU, Bofton, Ruffell J. Peckham, Fall River, George W. Peckham, 66 Mary B. Hudfon, '66 Ehza J. Allen, 66 Mahala Allen, 66 Hiram Sherman, New Bedford, Mary A. Read, 66 James Peckham, 66 Wniiam B. TiUey, Taunton, Mary P. Booth, New Bedford, Mary E. Stanton, 66 Perry M. Peckham, Fall River, Elizabeth B. Stedman, Bofton, WilUam Sanford, Taunton, NAMES. 281 Emily P. Stall, Charles Had win, William H. Alger, William G. Langley, William McClaflin, Ifaac Fifli, Jane G. Fifli, ' WilUam S. Clarke, Ruth B. Clarke, Defire Nichols, Albert Jack, Thomas H. Melville, Robert C. Topham, John B. Atkinfon, Eliza W. CorneU, Charles A. Swafey, Mary F. Hammett, EUza R. Hammett, Edwin Sanford, Charles Sanford, John L. Chafe, J. C. Burdick, Benjamin H. Chace, Sarah C. Chace, George C. Tew, Alfred S. Stanhope, zi;* Taunton, Worcefter, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Salem, FaU River, 66 New Bedford, 66 FaU River, New Bedford, Taunton, New Bedford, Lawrence, New Bedford, FaU River, Springfield, 66 New Bedford, 66 Pawtucket, 66 Fairhaven, 66 New Bedford, Lawrence, 282 THE RE-UNION. William T. Wyatt, Benjamin P. Braman, Almira C. Booth, Harriett T. Cafwell, William R. Eafton, William Hadwin, Thomas R. Peabody, Thomas F. Southwick, Edward Coddington, James D. Slocum, Henry Lyon, Richard Swan, Jr., Sufan A. Pengelley, Catharine B. Fiflier, Thomas R. Miles, Samuel R. Boone, B. G. Wilfon, B. S. CoggefliaU, J. S. Peckham, Benjamin Almy, William H. Keenan, Samuel R. Keenan, Mary T. Harrington, J. Henry Boone, Jeremiah Greenman, Jofiah Greenman, Fall River, New Bedford, Nantucket, 66 Taunton, Attieboro'. Bofton, New Bedford, FaU River, New Bedford, Wareham, Fall River, New Bedford, Bofton, Wrentham, New Bedford, FaU River, it Milfbrd, Fall River, New Bedford, NAMES. 283 Benjamin C. Ward, Deborah Townfend, Sufan B. Lewis, Dorcas B. Stret, Ifaac E. Peckham, Oliver H Bufli, Mary Ann Bufli, Sarah C. Vickery, Mary Ann Pratt, Caroline S. Grey, Nancy B. Green, WiUiam B. Scott, Francis Lake, Ifaac P. Siffon, Samuel C. Barker, Alfred Wilfon, T. Hervey EUis, Abby F. Knipe, Nancy B. F. Brown, Henry F. Thomas, Catharine Dexter, John E. Lyon, Samuel S. Allen, Richard S. Peckham, John R. Peckham, WilUam Gibbs, • New Bedford, Fall River, New Bedford, Rehobeth, New Bedford, Fall River, 66 New Bedford, 66 Bofton, New Bedford, Mattapoifet, Taunton, FaU River, 66 Attieboro', New Bedford, 284 Jofeph Southwick, Jr., Henry Sanford, Fanny B. Sanford, Caroline L. Taber, Ifabella C. Taber, William Cranfton, Samuel Watfon, Abby A. French, WiUiam T. AUen, David Huntington, Samuel J. Carr, Stephen B. Perry, Benjamin W. Spooner, Richard Mitchell, William H. Sherman, Charles B. Peckham, Mary A. Ide, Jofeph G. Albro, Hannah B. Godfrey. Jofeph H. Lawton, F. C. Lawton, Martha P. Whiting, Edward E. Carpenter, Daniel Cook, Jr., Jofeph S. Freeborn, WiUiam H. Chappel, THE RE-UNION. Hyannis, New Bedford, Fall River, 66 Nantucket, New Bedford, Fairhaven, New Bedford, Fall River, Bofton, Somerfet, Attieboro', North Attieboro', 66 FaU River, 66 Worcefter, Attieboro', Palmer, Fairhaven, Uxbridge, NAMES. 285 Jofeph C. Tew, George R. White, James Hammett, Rebecca A. Goodfpeed, Lydia D. Hammett, George W. Goodfpeed, George W. Taber, Peter G. Munroe, John T. Lawton, Lewis R. Winflow, B. Goddard Mumford, Jane Mumford, Caleb A. Carr, Abby S. Carr, WiUiam W. Stewart, George H. Church, Pardon TiUinghaft, Jofeph S. TiUinghaft, James Taylor, Amelia F. Taylor, George B. Pitman, William Potter, Charles Cannon, Henry R. Wilcox, John B. Tilley, Thomas W. Wilbour, New Bedford, Hingham, New Bedford, Bofton, New Bedford, Bofton, Stoneham, Bofton, 66 Eaft Cambridge, Bofton, 66 New Bedford, 66 FaU River, 66 New Bedford, Pelham, Lawrence, New Bedford, 66 Gardner,Attieboro', 286 THE RE-UNION. John B. AUen, Sufan E. Boyd, E. B. Williams, William H. Freeborn, Tryphena Jackfon, Stoneham, New Bedford, Foxboro', Fairhaven, Quincy. NEW YORK. Abby P. Lathers, New Rochelle, William B. Goodwin, New York City, John W. Downing, 66 66 John Hammond, Norwich, John H. Baker, Brooklyn, Philip B. Sherman, Troy, George Knight Thorndike, New York City, Mrs. Mary Ann Sheffield, Homer, Sarah B. Phillips, 66 Elizabeth S. Lane, Brooklyn, Harriett G. Marvin, 66 Charles Brooks, New York City, William H- Moore, Hempftead, Mrs. J. S. Safford, New York City, Caroline M. Thurfton, (6 61 Charies M. Thurfton, 66 <C Harriet Silliman, Brooklyn, NAMES. WiUiam H. Cranfton Francis Vinton, Jr., William G. Read, Charles T. Freebody, S. F. Gardner, Maria Lewis, James H. Douglafs, Henry Cottrell, Ruth A. Champlin, William L. TiUey, Chriftopher E. Lewis, Benjamin A. Mumford, John R. Mumford, George Sherman, Joanna S. Sherman, Richard W. Swan, James Robinfon, Stephen Cahoone, Jarvis P. Calvert, Philander Shaw, Nancy W. Shaw, Eliza H. Day, Eliza D. Peckham, Thomas T. Sheffield, Anna B. Sheffield, Julia A. Sheffield, 287 New York City, Brooklyn, New York City, Waterloo, New York City, (6 66 Brooklyn, New York City, Buffalo, New York City, Caton, New York City, Brooklyn, New York City, 66 66 Brooklyn, 288 .THE RE-UNION. Harriett N. Bell, Brooklyn, Henry T. Irifli, 66 William Engs, New York City, Thomas T. Brewfter, Syracufe, John Stanton Gould, Hudfon, Frank M. Breefe, New York City, OUver Hazard Perry, 2d, 66 (6 Ann Caroline Foley, WiUiamfburg, WiUiam ChUds. New York City, Samuel V. Mann, 66 66 Thomas P. Nichols, Brooklyn, Stanton Beebe, 66 M. Louifa Cranfton, New York City, Thomas H. Stacey, Brooklyn, Mary C. Stacey, .6 Barbara M. Peckham, Montgomery Co. George H. Melville, New York City, W. H. Lawton, Troy, A. H. D. Peterfon, Brooklyn, EUzabeth S. Tilley, New York City, Benjamin Hathaway, Brooklyn, Benjamin Bryer, 66 Benjamin Newton, New York City, Harriett S. EUery, 66 66 Conrad C. EUery, 6( 66 Elizabeth S. Peckham, 66 et NAMES. 289 Thomas Vernon, Theodore K, Gibbs, John A. Braman, John P. CoggefliaU, Edward J. Mann, Eugene B. Stacey, Charles March, Julia Jay Pierrepont, John E. Williams, Samuel EUery Vernon, William G. Turner, George H. Eafton, Abby P. Lathers, Octavia McClure, Eleanor B. Smith, Charles H. Ruffell, Joanna H. RuffeU, Mary G. Ruffell, Robert Hone, Jr., Mrs. G. M. Chamberiin, William B. Blifs, William Coddington Davis, James Eldred Brentoii, Harriett S Wright, Mary G. Farpum, J. Louis Northam, 26 New York City. a 66 Brooklyn, Haverftraw, New York City, Brooklyn, New York City, New Rochelle, Brooklyn, 66 New York City, Brooklyn, 66 Jamaica, New York City. Mechanicfville, Brooklyn, 290 THE RE-UNION. Cornelius Wilbour, Brooklyn, Walter Nichols, 66 Henry Molten, New York City, Sufan E. Brewfter, Syracufe, WilUam H. Douglafs, Brooklyn, Mary A. Douglafs, tc George S. Coe, 66 Thomas E. Townfend, Syracufe, Mary R. Brower, Brooklyn, William C. Moore, New York City, Francis B. Cole, 66 6e E. Van Zandt, Jr., 66 66 Thomas S. Marvel, Newburgh, Auguftus Whiting, Jr., New York City, George Bowen, Jr., 66 66' Elizabeth Bartlett, Weft Pobt, Harriet Bartlett, 66 William A. Watfon, Aftoria, Jeffe Dunham, New York City, Charles B. Babcock, Jr., 66 66 Alfred G. Peckham, 66 66 Alfred S. Childs, 66 66 Phebe C. Phillips, Brooklyn, Jofeph C. Phillips, 66 George F. Turner, New York City, Irving Atkinfon, Brooklyn, NAMES. 291 Benjamin Lake, John C. Davis, William White, Thomas C. Mumford, Mrs. C. M. Rogers, Hannah R. Freebody, Benjamin Jahleel Brenton, Henry A. Clarke, WiUiam P. Coe, Elam Anthony, R. M. Shaw, Brooklyn, New York, Waterloo, New York, 66 Brooklyn, Springport, New York. CONNECTICUT. Edward P. Marfli, William EUery Almy, Richard H. Norman, Thomas P. Norman, James Pitman, George Irifli, Catharine D. Barker, James A. Brown, Abner Weaver, James Allen, Elizabeth Allen, Mary C. Marfh, Bridgeport, New London, Ledyard, 66 Stonington, Lebanon, Myftic, Colchefter, New London, Lebanon, ^ 66 Bridgeport, 292 THE RE-UNION. Sufan Brown, Gardner Hall, Jr., Phebe M. Peckham, Harriet A. Higgins, William H. Higgins, William E. Marfli, Chriftopher V. Peckham, Benjamin Coe, H. C. Bridgham, Elizabeth M. Bridgham, Lydia Lewis, W. W. Peckham, William B. Greene, Stephen A. Greene, Lydia W. Davis, Charles S. Devens, Rebecca J. Fofter, Ralph Malbone, Charles Devens, Jr., Julia A. Barker, George Engs, WiUiam A Mumford, Harriet A. Greenman, Charles L. Bofs, Benjamin T. Cranfton, John McDougall, Colchefter,Weft WiUington, Lebanon, Stonington, 66 Bridgeport, Stonington,Groton, Myftic Bridge, Lebanon, RbckyhiU, Meriden, Pomfret, Hartford, 66 Pomfret, Hartford,Lebanon, New Haven, Hartford, Myftic Bridge, New London, Norwich, NAMES. 203 Samfon Almy, Lydia Brown Congdon, Andrew Winflow, W. H. Chafe, Plainfield,Norwich, Bridgeport, Hartford PENNSYLVANIA. William L. Deniiis, Philadelphia, Edward Gould, Lizzie C. Ives, IVfery T. Kirtley, WiUiam H. Dennis, James C. Congdon, Sarah C. TiUinghaft, Sarah Throop Munroe Babb, Jerfey Shore. NEW JERSEY. Edward Taber, Jofhua B. Manfon, Sophia A. P. Woolfey, Iffachar Cozzens, Thomas C. Clarke, 26* Jerfey City. Stephentown, Jerfey City. Guttenburg, Camden. 294 THE RE-UNION. NORTH CAROLINA. J. L. Barlow, Thomas W. Swan, Wm. K. CoveU, Jr., C. H. Richmond, Margaret A. Lawton, Lewis N. Barlow, Henry M. Shaw, Wilmington, North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina, Wilmington, 66 Indian Town. SOUTH CAROLINA. William T. Hazzard, James F. Stevens, CaroUne A. Bufli, Sarah C. Stevens, Helen D. Reynolds, S. R. Carr, H. D. Stevens, Thomas S. Tilley, Georgetown, Charlefton,Georgetown, OHIO. Eraftus P. Coe, . James R. Newton, Cincinnati, NAMES. Oliver H. Geffroy, Richard B. Geffroy, Caroline M. Shultz, Catharine A. Geflroy, George H. Calvert, J. G. Mofes, 295 Cincinnati, Newburgh. OTHER STATES. Jofeph W. Taggart, Charles Bird King. Anna C. Weeks, Auguftus Bufli, WiUiam Gardner, James G. Cozzens, Benjamin C. Card, Benjamin EUery, Robert Dennis, George A. Downing, Mary E. Scammon, William H. Townfend, Charles C. Stevens, Detroit, Mich., Wafliington, D. C, Sanbornton, N. H., De Witt, Iowa, Illinois, St. Louis, Mo. Fort Leavenworth, [Kanfas, Mobile, Ala., Wafliington Co.,[Ind., Mobile, Ala. Franklin, Me. New Orleans, La., Wyoming, Lee [Co., 111., 296 THE RE-UNION. Ruth A. Seabury, Margaret E. Silfby, Thomas J. Cotton, Charles H. Mumford, Martha G. Townfend, Jofeph A. Townfend, Andrew V. Townfend, Mary A Wilbour, Martha S. Purcell, Albert C. Green, John G. Faxon, John Topham, Sarah E. Marccy,. George W. Gibbs, James Lovie, Eliza C. Marks, Maria C. Marks, Abby Beckwith, Mary Hunter Pierce, Walter Pearce, Emily Carrafco, Anaftafia F. Townfend, Daniel L. Clarke, Lynchburg, Va., Georgetown, D, C, Green Bay, Wis., Chicago, lU., New Orleans, La., Detroit, Mich., Springfield, 111., Alleghany County, [Maryland, Walpole, n! H. Wifcaffet, Me., Detroit, Mich., San Francifco, Cal., New Orleans, La., Hamilton, Canada [Weft, 66 (6 (6 San Francifco, Cal., Bedale, Yorkfliire, [England, Mobile, Ala., Cardenas, Cuba, New Orleans, La., Sangamon Co., Ill, NAMES. 297 James W. MitcheU, S. C. Spooner, Sufan M. Brown, Charles H. Northam, Mary C. Babcock, Caroline Spooner, S. R. Ennis, Hiram W. Dawley, Mahaley L. Babcock, David Bowen, Gilbert C. Bowen, Mrs. "Mary Folger Wheeler, apt. Peter Chafe, Mobile, Ala., Andover N. H., California, Sacramento, Cal, Lewifton, Me., Lewifton, Me., Rock Ifland, III, 66 Fort Smith, Ark. Lancafter Co. Va. FINIS. ERRATA. Page 57, 8th line from top, for north of Ocean Houfe, read fouth. Page 58, 9th line from top, for M. Gourand read M. Gouraud. On fame page, 12th line from top, for Gov. Fifk read Gov. Fifh. Page 89, 4th and 7th lines from bottom, for Stewart read Stuart. Page 1 10, laft .line but One, for Happy read Happily, , Page 1 1 7, laft line, for army read arms. Page 157, loth line from top, ior ghaftly xezAghoftly. Page 24 1', 7th line from bottom, ior moment vedidi monument.