YALE UNIVEHSITY LIBRARY ^ .^ ^ t ^,^ v-^ 3 9002 06447 0280 (^ ^^^^^^^"^^^^^ EEPORT FROCEEDINGS, OS THE occasion OF THE |lecepti0ii0f%S0iiS0l RESIDENT ABROAD, JULY 4th, 1854, CIT7 AUTHORITIES AND THE CITIZENS OF NEWBURYPORT. compiled and reported BY JOSEPH H. BRACiDON. Published by Order of the City Government. NEWBURYPORT : MOSES H. SARGENT, PUBLISHER. MORSS, BKEWSTER & HDSE, PRINTERS 1854. - adelphia, then invoked divine grace upon the repast ; when the company began to satisfy a hunger which a long and arduous march had sharpened. THE DINNER. 53 After the company had thoroughly refreshed the physit:y,l man, the President called them to order by the annexed brief speech : Fkiends and Sons from Abkoad — The citizens of the place of your birth and former horae, are most happy to meet you on this the anniversary of our National Independence, and wo bid you welcome to the hospitalities of our city. In looking round this assembly, and seeing so many of our sons here, gifted with the highest order of talent and eloquence, well may we'your friend^ and brothers, expect a rich intellectual treat ; and for the purpose of calling out some of the talent and eloquence of some of our sons and former residents, I •will call upon the toast-master for the first regular toast. His speech having terminated amid the cheering of the multitude, he proceeded to announce the toast-master, Philip K. Hills, Esq., who read the regular toasts in a loud and dis tinct voice, which were responded to by persons in the manner given below. The Returned Sons of Newburyport — who by their talents, character and attainments, have made her name so honorably known throughout the length and breadth of the land. The President called upon Hon. George Lunt, of Boston, late U. S. Attorney, who responded as follows : Mr. Mayor, Gentlemen and Friends : I gladly fulfil the duty which has devolved upon me by the arrangements of the occasion, of responding to the sentiment which has just been announced. I congratulate you upon the auspicious arrival of this great and happy day. I congratulate you upon those feelings, so honorable to the authorities and inhabitants of our ancient and beautiful town, which has prompted this call for the return of it.3 sons and daughters to the place of their bkth — and upon those kindling emotions which have caught the sarae impulse from city to city and from town to town, and uniting in one common current have borne the returning pUgrims home from many a distant shrine, to mingle their hearts upon the altar of a com mon and sacred devotion. It is thus that this gathering affords the most gratifying evidence, that the young have been unseduced by newer scenes into forgetfulness of what should be most dear to them, that the lapse of time has not been able to obUterate in those of maturer years the memory of early and valued impressions. And I hold this to be most honorable and trae to the better instincts of oar nature, and those higher motives and principles of 'our being, which reason and reflection and experience confirm. For whoever is not trae, if there be any 5* 54 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION". such, to those dear and sacred associations, which in all ages and conntrieff have bound the hearts of men to the place of their father's graves and of their- own boyish sports — to the scenes among which their first ties of friendship and earliest donsestic and religious impressions were formed — must be dead to whatever raises human nature above the degradations of mere animal) existence, Happy is it for us- and fOT yotr, that this day affords such, proof that these ties have not been forgotten or disregarded by those who claim origin here ; that amidst the cares and vicissitudes of life, their hearts have still been at home ; that the boy who went out from yoa burning with the ardor of youthful enterprise, to face the struggles of a more distant world, has corae back to-day with his early feeUngs grown stronger and deeper amidst the settled purposes of manhood ; that if there be any — and well we know that there are many such — who in the language of your sentiment, "by their talents, character and attainments," have xiontributed to the honor of thek native to-wn — be sure ^that thek successes are only more dear to, them, that some warm hand here will clasp their own more warmly, that some kind" heart at home? ¦wiU beat more proudly for their triumphs — and be sure that whatever monur ment they may rear to fortune or to fame has a deeper foundation than that built outwardly, amongst the graves and ashes of their kindred. We come amongst you then not as strangers, not even as guests, merely, •but as children of a common parent. We thank you for your hospitaUty,. but it is as a son welcomes the liberal gifts of his father. We gladly take what you generously bestow, but we cannot help receiving it as a portion aud~ a birthright. And yet, sir, be thanked ! For us all, and I speak for all — accept we pray you, our warmest and most fiUal acknowledgments ; for without this maternal recall, many of us to-day would be mingling- in distant scenes from which our hearts were far, far away. , Not for this day or hour only are we come together. Not vrith this day or this occasion will cease those emotions which have swelled within our hearts. Not here shall we leave the glow of those sweet and holy remembrances, which have led us to the embraces of home. Wherever ourfuture years may be passed, the meraory of the events of this day 'will be -with us. By them we shaU be cheered and soothed and blessed. We shaU feel that they have drawn more closely the ties which bind us to our native soU. We cannot forget — we wUl not forget, things and scenes so dear to us ; and if it should' not be permitted that our dust should here mingle with the ashes of our kin dred— Uke the Greek, who dying remembered his lovely Argos — Uke the Hebrew, who seeks the land of his fathers for his place of supulture — we too, "wiU deske at least that some of this beloved earth may be sprinkled on our ' insensible bosoms. ' I have read somewhere that an eminent EngUsh author, not long since, in addressing some association for mental improvement, congratulated its Members that snch societies tended to break down the fictitious distinctions THE DINNER. 55' of life and to bring human beings nearer to each other by a common motive' and interest. Let us trust that such may prove one of the happy results of our gathering to-day ; and allow me to give you, in conclusion, au illustra tion of the doctrine I would inculcate in the old and bright history of our native town. In the days of her former pride, and of a prosperity, which I trast, she will one day far surpass — more than sixty years ago — the first President of the United States — that great and venerated personage, whom I cannot help regarding as the noblest and happiest of mankind, since he ren dered unequalled services to his country, and went to his grave without a stain upon his pubUc or private fame — was here entertained by the author ities of the town, in the houso of that eminent and patriotic merchant, Mr. Tracy. On the moming following his arrival, he was received by Mr, Dalton, who was, as you well know, a member of the first Senate of the United States ; and in both instances in a mansion yet standing conspicu ously in our streets. The most noted people of the town were present, aud among them one eminent divine,* long since deceased, with whom Washington was engaged in conversation, after breakfast, upon public affaks, in the midst of a distin guished circle of guests. This gentleman ventured the assertion that in "twenty years there would not be a crowned head in Europe" — from which opinion Washington, with a more far-seeing sagacity, dissented, and while gi-ving his views upon this important topic, a messenger came in to inform him that some person at the door insisted on seeing the President. Mr, Dalton directed him to be sent away, but tlje ear of Washington had caught some intimation of the request, and learning, upon enquiry that a poor man ¦wished to speak with him, he requested him to be introduced. As he en tered, he rushed to the President with the cry, " God bless you. Major Washington ! God bless you. Major Washington ! " The President recog nized him at once, and calling him " Cotton," shook him kindly by the hand. It was indeed a person well known to the last generation under the popular name of " Colonel " Cotton, who had been Washington's servant in the old French war, and attended him at Braddock's defeat, that bloody and disas trous day, when the young "Virginian officer saved the army from utter destruction, and grasped those first laurels which grew and flourished until they became immortal as the records of his country's history. This man was cordially received and dismissed with a liberal present in the golden currency of the day — when gold really had a value — which the broken down old soldier wore afterwards suspended about his neck. And I assure you that among many brilliant incidents of his progress through this town and vicinity, nothing of the good and great President's visit has given me more pleasure than reflection upon the kind and gentle feeling thus exhibited, and which the events of this day are so well calculated to promote, and, I trust perpetuate to the latest generation. *Rev. Mr. Murray. 56 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. The Day we Celebrate. Rev. Samuel L. Caldwell, of Bangor, was called upon, and spoke as follows : — Me. Mayor, and to follow my professional fashion. Brethren — It is a tnck of my profession to take a text, and say under it what we choose ; to have the text one thing, and the discourse another. It wiU not be strange, sir, if I do not stick to the text you give me, for the fact is, the Fourth of July is down — " The day we celebrate " is in the shade. The great Republic sinks into the Uttle municipality, and Newburyport takes possession of our memory and our love. Our heroes are not of '76 — not of Bunker HUl and Saratoga — but those who plunged into the " imminent deadly breach " between " Up-alongers " and " Down alongers.'' Our mem ories are not "with Hancock and Adams, Jefferson and Lee, but with onr old schoolmasters — -with the antiquities, the human curiosities "with which this blessed old town used to so abound. Mr C. said he felt at home. He was a boy again : " My foot on is my native heath, and my name is McGregor." He loved Newburyport — he loved her sons — he loved one of her daughters- he loved some of her grandsons, and he hoped one of these days to love some of her grand-daughters. And yet, he said, he must confess, that the New buryport of the present was not exactly the Newburyport that flUed his memory and his imagination and his love. He was a boy here in that quiet interval when she had nothing for her boys to do ; when she only taught and trained them and let them go. He confessed, he thought the locomotive an intrader — the steam mill an impertinence. Improvement and progress did not belong here. He wanted the old place kept as a reUc, and a refuge from a hurrying and working-day world, to flnd here a Sabbath and a rest. He loved to come here in the Indian Summer, when the year was sleeping toward its death ; when the brown and slumbrous air lay soft and loving over " Turkey HUl " and " Old Maids' HaU " and the " Devil's Den ;" when, on the old boy-haunts, there was " a glory and a gleam That never was on land and sea; The consecration and the poet's dream." Then it seemed most like the old tirae. He could sleep and he could dream. But sir, said Mr. C, I retract, I retract. It is not so. The day is great The love of liberty is superior to the love of place. Liberty, and country assert their old and just supremacy. The Republic expands again — the Uttle town, the dear old home cannot fill our love. The Day and the Deed we celebrate, and not these only, but liberty, the principles of Uberty which on this day were inaugurated ; for which Newburyport made patriotic and gen erous contribution, the memory of which makes her dearer; liberty — greater than home or country, without which they are worthless ; the principles of THE DINNER. 57 it, the love of it ; if in any measure they are quenched or dying— let us here at the old altar, among those churches and schools by whose disoipUne and love of liberty, the reverent memory of the fathers who stood by it and for it were nurtured, let us here and now revive and re-kindle it. After a few words of the same tenor about cherishing the spirit of Freedom, impartial and universal, Mr C. closed with the hope and the prayer that no son of Newburyport, heir of her memories, trained in her schools and churches, fiUal and faithful to her, would ever -be recreant to the principles of Liberty of winch this day was the inauguration. The Orator of the Day. Rev. George D. Wildes was called upon. Ho remarked that he belonged to a church of some authoritative pretensions, but he placed these belov;' those of his brother who had preceded him, and was wUUng to s'tand with him. I he had been called upou to respond to " Plail Columbia," or " The Day we Celebrate," he might have said something ; but " The Orator of t'ae Day,'' was decidedly beneath his powers. He had already had his turn at the church. In his feeble manner he had placed his wreath upon the altar of liberty, and should sit down and hold his peace. As for toasting, he bad been toasted by the scorching rays of the sun until he was perfectly satisfied. In Memory of Rufus King — ^For raany years a resident of Newburyport, and one of the brightest jewels in her crown. The venerable Doctor Dana responded to this sentiment, and we regret that his voice was so feeble that but few could catch his words. Mk. President — On this great occasion, and surrounded as I am by not a few who have far superior claims to be heard, I might weU content myself to be a merti listener. But the name of Rufus King has a charm whieh will not stfffer me to remain wholly silent— especiaUy as it is probable few are present who have had equal advantages for a personal knowledge of this great man. Mr. King was not a native of Newburyport, but was early an adopted and favorite son. He pursued his legal studies under the auspices of another great mau, TheophUus Parsons, who for many years was a distinguished jurist and pleader at the bar, and who in later Ufe was no less distinguished as Chief Judge of onr Supreme Court. It is a remarkable fact, that in two years after Mr. King had closed his studies, he was occasionally called to plead causes, in which Mr. Parsons was his opponent. It was thought by many in Ipswich— the place where the court was sometimes held— that the pupil sustained a fair compethion with his preceptor. It was about that time, that being a boy of ten or twelve yeara old, I was repeatedly feasted with his eloquence. 58 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. It mtiy seem strange, but it is a fact, that at the distance of more than seventy years I have as vivid an impression of his person, his air, his voice, his afiluence of ideas and language, as if these were affairs of yesterday. It so happened that at that tirae I was studying the orations of Cicero, and it often occurred to my mind that if there was any living man who resembled the great Roman orator, it was Rufus King. Mr. King early represented the town in the General Court. But he soon after received a more emphatic e.^pression of public approbation and confi dence. Though little more than thirty, he was selected as a meraber of the Convention in 17b7, which was appointed to prepare a Constitution of the United States. In that assembly of great and distinguished men, coUected from all parts of the country, he aided in framing a constitution which has been the admiration of the world, and which has been, under God, the principal source of peace and order, the -n-ealth and happiness of our country. But a new and arduous duty awaited him. He was chosen by his towns men a member of the convention in Massachusetts, which was called to ratify the Federal Constitution. It is well known, that before the assembling of thi^ convention, the most formidable objections were raised against the adoption of the Constitution. Had the vote been taken at its first meeting, it would doubtless have passed in the^ negative. But there were giants in those days. The sound reasonings and powerful eloquence of Parsons, King, Ames, and others of similar stamp, triumphantly refuted every objection, and the constitution was adopted. Soon after this Mr. King removed into the State of New York. But his reputation had preceded him, and he was selected, with Gen. Schuyler, to attend the first Congressional Senate, which met under ihe new constitution- In that august body, his vigorous mind, his splendid eloquence, and his stores of political information were called into requisition, and displayed to the highest advantage. His course was undeviatingly firm and decisive ; but he was no violent partizan. He generously cultivated acquaintance and friend ship with gentlemen of sentiments opposed to his own. Of this trait in his character, Mr. Benton, a well known political opponent, has furnished a remarkable instance. He had himself uttered a speech in which, under some excitement, he had uttered expressions somewhat harsh and severe. Mr. King saw him soon afterward, and taking his hand, spoke w ell of his talents, and expressed the kindest wishes for his success in public life. But like a true friend, he uttered the voice of warning, against those asperities to which an excited state of mind soraetimes exposed him. The reproof was gratefuUy received, and Mr. Benton, in pure deference to Mr. King, suppressed the speech which he would otherwise have published. But Mr. King was destined to a still higher elevation. By President Washington, whose discernment of character, and skUl in assigning pubUc men to the stations for which they seem best fitted, was proverbial, he was sent as Envoy to the Court of Great Britain. It is remarkable that, thirty THE DINNER. 59 years afterwards, he was invested with the sarae office by President John Q. Adams- In this highly interesting station, he sustained with great ability, faitlifuhiL'Ss and succi-ss, the rights and interests of his country ; while, by the mingled dignity and elegance of his manners, he secured the admiration of all who knew him. I add in conclusion, that Mr. King gave an ardent and unwavering support to the policy and measures of the Father of his country. This he did under the deep conviction that in that policy and those measures, were involved the dearest interests of our nation. And was not his judgment in this grand point correct ^ Will any one deny that so far as the principles and views of Washington have been carried out, our nation has prospered t Will anyone deny that when this path has been abandoned, we have unfailingly smarted for it ^ I can form, then, no kinder wish for my country, than that in each of its future Presidents, it may find — not a Washington— the wish would be extravagant— the age of miracles has ceased — but one who will follow ui the same path. Let me wish, too, that every such follower of Washington may have the vigorous and efficient support of a Rufus King. TJic Memory of John Barnard Swett, M, D, who fell a victim to the yeUow fever in 1796, while in the discharge of his duty. The virtues and self- sacrificing zeal of the Father, endears to us the Son. Colonel Samuel Swett, of Boston, was called up, and replied as follows : Me. President — My old age is an all-sufficient apology for not making a speech on the pres ent occasion, especially as I made and pubUshed a speech on the subject of our native place, at our last Centennial, twenty years ago. Another one of mine on the subject would be a twice told tale. I pleaded then my inabiUty to speak from my long disuse of pubUc speaking, and that apology has become twenty tiraes more cogent now. I have since that, made a pilgrimage to the bkth place of our adored and beautiful Merrimack, and seen the infant rivulet nourished by the bosoms fair and beautiful of Squam and Winnepisseoge lakes. Soon afterwards he puts on the sport of boyhood, joyously leaping and bounding, Uke a feathered mercury, over the wUd and romantic faUs he encounters, and sporting in lovely dalUance with the fair streams that unite with him on the way, and especially the loveliest of them aU our own sweet Artichoke. Arrived here in our own town at last, in his full maturity of magnitude and grandeur, he enters into bans of marriage with the magnfficent Ocean. When the united beauty of the two, become one, appears to belong to some brighter region than our terrestrial globe. It occurs to me also, on the present occasion, that the most ingenious passage of Pope, the greatest poet of our language, except the bard of Avon, is dkectiy applicable to our connection as townsmen. He compares the various circles of mankind with whom we are connected, to the circular waves 60 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. formed by a pebble dropped on the bosom of a lake. And the very first and most prominent circle he represents as embracing, together with our parents and friends, our neighbors, which is, in other words, our townsmen. And we are commanded by the Almighty, to love our neighbors as ourselves. In my early days, long time ago, two generations have passed away since, it was the custom on convivial occasions like the present, to " drink healths five fathoms deep," and the imperative law of the table was, that every one should give his song, tell his story, or drink a bottle of wine. As to wine, sir I am a sworn temperance man. My story is already anticipated, and my only remaining alternative is to give you my ode or song. Nelson, on his last victorious engagement, telegraphed his fieet, " England expects every man to do his duty." And Newbury demands the same of every son of hers to-day. I yield to no man living in my devoted affection for my native place ; I do love the very stones in the streets of Newburyport. Though no poet, I will do my best. My theme is KrEWBUBY. Here P-U'ker prayed on our Forefathers' landing — Women and children pale around him standing, While tomahawks and scalping knives were gleaming, And fierce war-whoops fell savages "were screaming. Dark pathless woods were lowering around ; Howlings of wild, blood-thirsty be.-ist resound; Foul and venomous reptiles strow the ground ; Insatiate disease and death abound. His prayer was heard: and God dispelled the gloom, Our native town we see an Eden bloom. Our forest trees are changed to lofty spires. Or to proud galleons, wafting naval fires, Or our rich produce over aU the world; Our friendly greeting borne, or vengeance hurled, Our pallid female 's now the blooming maid, To whom the homage of aU hearts is paid ; WeU versed in letters and refined in taste, As Venus beautiful, as Dian chaste. On Oldtown, Indian, Turkey, Pipestave hills, The murderous beast our race no longer kifis. But floo'-^s aud herds embellish all the land, A beauteous garden, decked by nature's hand. The lurking, fiendlike Indian's stealthy pace Yielded to Anglo Saxon's lordly race. Of patriots, statesmen, warriors, noble band. We've given our quota to our native land, Lowells, Jaoksons, Parsons, Perkins, Tracy, Bartlett, Brown, Immortalized their names and native town. ' A longer list of other names as dear, Our time restricted wont suffice to hear. THB DINNER. 61 But though compelled to name so small a part, Their worth 's recoi-ded ever on the heart. Our floral youth with joyous hearts we see Who will transmit our race to our posterity. He concluded by offering the following : Josiah Little — The accomplished scholar and gentleman, and the benevolen'' man. His noble and munificent donation for a Newburyport Library, ¦demonstrates to future ages, that though his name is Little, his soul is^eat. Judge Jackson — The worthy son of a noble sire — our native town or the Commonwealth has never produced a more eminent lawyer aud judge, a purer patriot, or a more honorable man. The following was then handed to the toast-master : James Jackson, M. D. of Boston, a native of Newburyport — the modd physician and universally loved man. The President ofthe United Stales and his Cabinei. Attorney General Cushing responded to this in a powerful and eloquent speech. Relying upon Mr. Cushing to furnish us with a copy of his remarks, which for want of time he was anable to do, we failed to take notes, and our rpaders will be obliged to bear with us the disappointment in seeing but a sketch of his able remarks, and that taken from memory : Hon. Caleb Cushing arose amid unbounded applause and said in substance, that it was a great pleasure to meet his friends upon this occasion. But he wished to throw off the robes of office, which were an encumbrance, and stand before them untrammelled by party distinctions, to return his acknowl edgments for the occasion ; but before doing so he could not forbear, in behalf of the President, in behalf of his executive advisers, and in behalf of himself, to return his and their thanks for the honorable remembrance of them. Though the President is not a son of Newburyport, yet his blood is of old New bury, and his relation to us was near. His design in addressing this assembly was to present his sympathies, to lay upon the altar of dear reminiscences, his heartfelt respect for Newburyport, to desire its highest prosperity and to dweU on the pleasant recollections ofthe past. He referred feelingly to Rev_ Dr, Dana, whose voice had been heard, and whose venerable presence graced the festive board. He wished to dwell on familiar topics, on home and home scenes, those things so dear to us, but he must be allowed to refer to that more enlarged and elevated subject, our country, which is the raore endeared to us in proportion to our love of home. We must remember that we cele brate the day that inaugurated the freedom, the power, and the greatness of om' country. When we look back upon its history, we can but draw the moral, that we should aU have faith in the success and prosperity of this union. We must 6 62 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. take courage, notwithstanding the perils through which we are now passing, when we look back to the days of our PUgrim fathers. "Through all the diffi culties we will stand, and the country is ready to impose its principles, if not itself, on the crumbling nations of Europe. The Constitution is not destined to go down in our day. Ere the day comes to destroy the Union, many disasters must come. The seventh seal must be broken — the first seal is not yet opened. Before we cease to be can opied by the Constitution of the United States, our cities will be filled with the blood of civil war, and then some successful soldier, some mighty hero, may arise from the smoke of the battle, to rescue us from au oblivious future. Far is it from me to distrust, to waver, and on this 78th anniversary of Inde pendence, we should feel that this is one country — that our interests are indivisible. William E. Currier, Esq., being called on by the President, arose and said : M-E. President and Gentlemen — In that country of farae, where Liberty dwells, there is my Horae ! That is the sentiment of every American this day, the anniversary of our National Independence, whether they are on the soil of these United States, on the southern arm of this western continent, sailing over the wild ocean waves, or on the continents in other sections of the globe. This day we celebrate. It is well. By this demonstration, this celebration, we show to the rising gen eration, aye to the world, that we appreci'ite the independence we en joy, that independence so nobly achieved by the heroes and patriots of the American Revolution, and transmitted to us to foster and defend. The spirit manifested July 4th, 1776, at Philadelphia, when that sacred instrument — the Declaration of American Independence — was signed, has gone out from that central point like the rays of a meridian sun, shedding its genial infiuence over the broad surface of the earth. That infiuence'— a mighty power, destined to crush the monarchy and aristocracy of the old world ; and (I predict) before the close ofthe 19th century, will establish a Republican Government over that vast eastern continent. The continent of New Hol land, now being rapidly peopled by citizens from every section of the globe, feel the influence, and will establish an independent republican government there. And, that there should be but three General Governments on the face of the earth, I propose this sentiment — The Western Continent and the Adjacent Islands — To be the United States of America. E. Pluribus Unura ! with equal judicial, legislative and executive powers. Independence forever ! ! God protect the American Union ! ! ! Massachusetts — Our native State. The birth place of our country's liberty — whose escutcheon r.emains as bright and untarnished as the ocean that laves its shores. Warren Tilton, Esq., Chief Marshal of the Boston Delega- THE DINNER. 63 tion, being called upon to respond, remarked as follows : — Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen — It were better, perhaps, that some one older and abler than rayself should respond to the sentiraent just read. But no son of the Bay State, however humble, ought, in ray judgment, ever to hesitate wheu called upon to ac knowledge the honorable mention of her name. I need say nothing of her history, for as her great statesman whose ashes are at Marshfield, but whose narae and farae have extended wherever our language is spoken, once said, and said truly, " The worid knows it by heart." She is small in territorial extent, but in nothing else. She is rich in mere material wealth, but she is richer in intellectual and moral wealth, which is far better. " Who reads an American book V is the flippant inter rogatory over the water. She can refer you to William H. Prescott as merely one of her sons who can answer tbat question. And again, " Where was ever produced an American Jurist "?" She can point you, in reply, to Daniel Webster, Joseph Story, Theophilus Parsons and Lemuel Shaw ; and 60 on to the end of the chapter. Would you know something of her sentiments ? They were fitly enough expressed on Bunker Hill, and as for her notions of all sorts, they are pretty weU known wherever politics, religion, letters, arts, sciences, trading and speculating are recognized, the world over. Her character and her disposition are a study for the quid nuncs. You can scarcely name a subject she hasn't discussed and considered. You can't name a principle she hasn't looked into and weighed; you can't name a virtue she hasn't espoused ; you can't name an ism she hasn't flirted with. She corabines the staidness of the raatron with the pert affectation and charming and attractive nonsense ofthe maiden in her teens. In a word, ¦with some foibles — nay, faults if you please — so many are her noble points, that no one of her sons who believes there is any thing in the world to thank God for, can ever cease to be grateful that he was born on her soil, and educated in her habits — political, moral and intellectual. It has heen said, and with some degree of emphasis, that the American people, as a class, have no idea of local attachment. How far the fact that we have no law of primogeniture has furnished a cause for such a charge, I will not stop now to consider ; but, sir, migratory, restless, and adventurous as we are, who believes there is a class of men living who have more interest in the place of thek birth than the sons of Massachusetts ? Tbey raay be toiling in the mines of California ; they may be penetrating the forests of the far West ; they m^ay be tempting the dangers of distant seas, or walking in strange countries and listening to stranger tongues ; but, wherever they are, their "heart untravelled fondly turns " homeward, for, they can find, they will teU you, no freer, nobler, happier land than the Old Bay State, God bless her I A goodly state is Massachusetts to be born in — a^goodly state to die and be buried in ! To-day, sir, it is natural to look back upon the early struggle of the Revo- 04 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. lution, and eonsider the steps Massachusetts took therein, and it were s grateful task to pass them all in review ; but, on such an occasion, and at such a gathering as this, the mind turas,involutarUy, to that particular spot im Massachusetts which is of peculiar interest to al! of us, from having been the place of our nati^vity. And well may you he proud, sir — (You T — we, for are we not, every one of us, her children, ) for the part she played in tbat eventful struggle. She took her stand early, and I have read somewhere, — probably in the History of Mrs, Smith, whieh has just been pubUshed, (and here let me remark, parentheticaUy, that, for perspicuity of style, felicicity and elegance of diction and occasional passages of simple and nervous eloquence, that work is in ray judgment, comparable to many historical works of far higher pretensions,) I have read, I say, that during the existence- of the Stamp Act, not a stamp was over paid for or nsed in Newburyport. At Bunker HiU, as you know, she was nobly represented, as she was, also., in every battle, probably, up to the surrender at Yorktown. In fact, no place in New England, not even Boston excepted, was readier in the Council or the field. She volunteered her opinion en- the subject of our National Independence, in advance ofthe Declaration, her citizens voting in-fall and open town meeting that, if Congress should declare the colonies independent, they would support them in the measures ¦with their lives and their fortunes. She levied her volunteer companies in the broad aisles of her churches, — on the Lord's day, — in the very presence of the God of battles, and the arhiter^ ofthe fate of nations. Her ministers ofthe Gospel, inspired with the love of Uberty, left the pulpit and the desk to join the army — tajray, and if need be, to fight. As I have walked through tbese streets to-day, I have t'aought Newbury port was no mean town to claim as one's birth-place, I have never yet seen, and I never yet expect to see, the man ashamed toacknowledgs his allegiance-^ to her. As freshly, as if it were but yesterday, though it is eighteen years- ago, this very month, do I remember the feeUngs I experienced when I took my leave of Newburyport for a new home in Boston. If a boy can suffer, I suffered then. My school companions bade me a God speed, and with & heart full almost to bursting, as it seemed to me, I turned my face towards new scenes and new experiences. It was a bright and sunny day, and I am by no means near-sighted, but, as we passed by MerrUl's on the Turnpike, and I looked out from the window of the old stage coach,, rt was so misty I could not see the flag-grounds where we had gathered the "bread and! eheeses" so often together. My esteemed friend of the Transcript says that he has heard the charge- made in Boston that Newburyport people are continually " bragging of their town," and he has always replied to it that they had very good reasons for so- doing. However that may be, 1 don't pretend to know, but I certainly know- that for a year or more at school, after we had moved to Boston, I ¦was nick named " Newburyport " by my companions, because what was alwajs in mj THE DINNER. 65 heart was always on my lips. I told thera then, and I believe it now, that there was no place for swimming like the Merrimack river and the " Four Rocks" or " Fur Rock" as we boys used euphoniously to call it,— no place to skate on like "Litde River" and "tho Pond" — and no candy in all the confectionery shops in Boston, which had or could have the flavor of George Tappan's in Middle street, Newburyport. Speaking of G?orge Tappan's candy, sir, forcibly rerainds me of an incident whieh I cannot forbear relating, but I trust that the Attorney General of the United States whom we have with us to-day, and who, I perceive, has his sharp eye upon mei won't go homo to Washington and procure a cabinet meeting to be sum moned on account of it. It so happened that the younger hroth<-r of the Attorney General and myself were very intimate friends, and being one day upon a voyage of discovery, amongst his aft'airs, we found a box of coins which in his travels through the various countries of Europe he had collated with that same degree of industry, probably, which has distinguished his ca reer frora its very inception to the present day. Many of them, doubtless, were of considerable value, but looking upon them as " bruraagers " which our distinguished guest could not pass, we did him an act of charity by pre- vailing^n George Tappan, from time to tirae, after we had discovered thi-ra, to "take 'era." By degrees, as we thinned them out, and they began to look less and less like cents, Mr. Tappan examined them more carefully, and flnally, on a certain occasion, when we had offered him a "hrnmager" indeed, he was obdurate hearted, and said to us, substantially, what Nat. Willis said to the biy who asked hira for a penny, " individual, I know not the coin ! I perceive, Mr. Mayor, and I felicitate you upon it, that you have ri -mod elled your Court House,^doabtless at a large and considerable expense. You have now, certainly, a very fine and commodious building, and one far handsomer than the old one ; but what, I pray you, has been done with that splendid wooden figu-e of Justice (which adorned the old onp and in which the old one so many years rejoiced) holding aloft those dreadful scales which were a terror to evU doers ^ I have seen sir, and have studied, somewhat, many specimens of ancient and modern statuary, but none win 'h ever ex cited my wonder and provoked my awe Uke that; none so no'ile, majestic, awful, dire. I can never forget it. Nor can I forget, sir, the little brick school house in the Mill, and the kind teachers who there initiated me in the rudiments of application and study. Least of aU can I forget the Sunday School of the Federal street church, and the disinterested men who taught me (which is, after all, the " chhfe-^t thing" in the worid) how to strive with God's grace, to win-by possibilirv— a place in heaven. I thank them now and here for thek kindness, and I assure them their names are graven on my memory and ray heart forever. But, sir, it is time I had said my say. I rejoice in the prosp.rffy of vour eity. 'we read in the Gazetteers ao lon-er that "Newhuryport is a seaport town delightfully situated on the banks of tho Merrimack." I congratulate, 6* 66 THE NB"(VBURTPORT CELEBRATION, you on your extended infiuence, I congratulate you on your rapidly fncreffi-- ing facilities for intellectual and moral culture ; on the euterpriae and thrift of yonr sons, and the refinement of your mothers, wives and daughterss- Newburyport is in advance of Boston in the education of her daughters. She knows full well that the culture of her daughters implies the virtue and stability of her sons, and that thereby on her part, the salvation of the state is- secured. I will give you, in conclusion, the following sentiment : The Patrhtic Daughters of Xe-wbtiryport — w.armly attached to the ardent spirits ofthe Revolutionary times and strongly opposed to tea; but now, (as it is captiously stated) bitterly hostile to ardent spirits and equally fond of tea ; and better stUl every one of them to a man in favor of the Union. Tlie Professions — None more eminent in Divinity, Physic, and Law, than those who were first ushered into existence on the green and lovely banks of the Merrimack. C. C. Felton, Greek Professor of Harvard University, a native of old Newbury, replied as follows : Me. Mayor — I did not know until lately, that I had a right to participate ^ these festivities. The orator of the day, in his elegant and interesting discourse, to which I listened with unbroken attention, notwithstanding the fervors of this July sun, described the early feuds between the inland parts ©f the ancient town of Newbury, and the more cultivated region ofthe sea^board. I belong, sir, to the " rural districts," and not to the commercial and refined quarter of the town by the sea. The orator however went on to show that Newbury was the mother of Newburyport. I am a son of Newbury, and consequently may boast to be the uucle of the sons of Newburyport — of the greater part,. therefore, of this most respectable assembly ; and by ¦vktue of this dignified relationship, as weU as by the cordial invitation with which I have been honored, may claim the right of a seat at this board, among the returning children of this hospitable town. And, Mr. Mayor, I can traly say that I am happy to be here to-day, to meet the gathered sons of Newbury, on this memorable but somewhat scorching anniversary. It is now nearly forty years — " how my heart trembles while my tongue relates"— since, in early childhood, I was borne away from the place of my bkth, caring Uttle and knowing nothing, to what distant shores the currents of life were drifting me. I have but seldom visited New. bury since ; but the scenes which first met my eye wero impressed on my memory, too deeply to be forgotten. The old training field, where an ancestor of mine distinguished himself as sergeant in a militia company, was to me another Campus Martins ; the beautiful Merrimack flowed, in my imagination, like the broad and boundless Hellespont of Horaer; and Pipestaff HiU rose, like the Grecian Olympus to the sky. Indeed, when recently I had the rare pleasure of dashing, on board a British steamer, through the alUed fleets of France and England — as they stretched in double line, from Tenedos to THE DINNER. 6'T Troy— the most magnificent spectacle the eye of man ever gazed upon— it seemed to me the ^-enowned Hellespont was hardly so broad and boundless as my native river, in the memories of my childhood. I Ustened with great satisfaction to the manly, eloquent, patriotic speech of the distinguished citizen, (Mr. Attorney General Cushing,) who holds a high place in the councils of the nation. To every word of that speech, I say a hearty Amen 1 He alluded, in forcible terras, to the sufferings inflicted on the country, and on this town, by the last war with England. Sir, his words brought back to me the circumstances of the time, when I, a mere child, left the place of my birth. Pardon me for dwelling a single moment on the events the honorable gentleman so eloquently touched upon, and so vividly brought back to me. The date of my departure from Newbury — it was one of the coldest days of the winter of 1815— is fixed in my memory by the circumstance, that the news of the peace with England was shouted along the road by the stage drivers. ChUd as I was, 1 had known something of the distress the war had brought npon our people ; of tho poverty it had deepened and aggravated ; of the despair that darkened the poor man's fireside. I have never forgotten the sudden joy the blessed announcement of peace thrilled through every poor man's heart. It was Uke the outburst of Spring, with the green leaves > its very perfumes, its soft vernal breezes, and the song of birds, after the snow and ice, and frozen silence of winter. God forbid— and I CEill upon your distinguished guest to join me in the prayer— God forbid that this prosperous city, and the smiling country around it, should again feel as it did then, the bUghting breath of war. I am called upon to respond to the toast in honor of the professional men who have gone forth frora Newbury. I am not, myself, a professional man, iu the moral acceptation of that term. But I may claim the honor of havmg had something to do with making a great many professional men— of lettmg loose upon society, a great raany lawyers, physicians, and clergymen ; Uke the fat knight in the play, who, though not witty himself, was the cause of wk in others. It is just a quarter of a century since I was called by President Quincy, to an office of instruction in Cambridge, and during that long period, nearly two thousand graduates have passed oat from Harvard, into the pro fessional and practical walks of life. As I have witnessed the frequent and hrilUant successes of these boys of mine, I have been tempted to exclaim, with good old master Cradock, in Miss Sedgwick's charming novel of Hope Leslie " Did I not teach them the tongues '(" In the course of my busy life, it has been my fortune to meet with many leading persons in aU the professions, who have sprung.from Newbury. But I was not aware, until the call for this re-union was sent out, to summon them home to the altars and household gods of their childhood, how justly our native town may pride herself on the aggregate nuraber of her distingmshed ."rrwhat larg'e support religion and morals have drawn from the learmng and piety of those who have occupied the sacred desk; how deeply the 68 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. administration of justice has been indebted to the integrity and ability of those who have sat in the tribunals, or pleaded the cause of the innocent at the bar ; and how much the legislation of the country has been benefitted by the wisdom and patriotism of those lawgivers who trace their origin to this town. This is not the occasion, nor am I the person, to enlarge on the merits of the great aud good men, among the living and the dead, who, born here, have consecrated themselves to justice, their country, and their God. But you -will indulge rae in speaking briefly of one, who but a few months ago, closed a long and eminent professional career. I allude to the late Professor Greenleaf, I had not the pleasure and honor of a personal acquaintance with this respected son of Newbury, until he becarae Royal Profe-sor of Law in the School at Carabridge, then illustrated bythe learning and eloquence of Story. On that occasion I first knew him. He and I were inaugurated as Professors — he of Law, and I of Greek, on the same day. From that time I enjoyed his unbroken friendship, as long as he lived. Of his course and character as a boy in your public schools ; of his struggles as a young man, with poverty ; of his Christian submission to the bitter lot of sorrow and bereavement that fell heavily upon the early periods of his domestic life ; of the success which crowned with triumph these brave conflicts ; many, probably, here have more personal knowledge than I ; but I am sure no one can have a deeper impres sion of the purity and nobleness of character, which came forth tried like gold from the heat of the contest. Mr. Greenleaf was one of those raen, who know how to make the most of time. No client ever suffered wrong from feebleness or neglect, at his hand; for he spared no effort and shrunk from no study that could throw Ught upon the cause he had undertaken to conduct. As a teacher, he shone with peculiar lustre. The large body of inteUigent young men who sat under his instruc tions valued them beyond all price. Calm in his manners ; with the dignity of superior inteliect and extensive knowledge ; with the blandness and courtesy of a Christian gentleman; considerate of the feelings of all who- stood to hira in the relation of scholar to raaster ; conscious of his responsi bilities to t'neni, and through thera to his country — he commanded in an extraordinary measure, their love and veneration. Mr. Greenleaf 's contributions to the literature of his profession, I cannot, of course, professionally speak of. His studies lay in a province far remote from mine. Of his work on Evidence, however, I may say, that besides taking the very highest rank araong the text books of legal science, it is one which any educated gentleman may read with pleasure and profit. Of another work, the ingenious application of the rules of legal evidence to the testimony of the Evangelists — I raay say that it is a striking illustration of the earnest interest he felt iu the establishment of the Christian Faith on the foundation of the most rigorous argument, while the daily beauty of his life proved with what fidelity he made the precepts of Christianity his rale of conduct. Mr. Greenleaf was not, technically speaking, a Uterary man. Ia his youth THE DINNER. G 9 he did not share the advantages of a Uberal education. While other young men were cultivating their tastes, and furnishing thoir minds " in the still air of delightful studies" — with the leisure and exemption from care secured to the favored scholar beneath tho shades of academic groves — he was already fighting hand to hand on the battle-field of life. And yet his mind acquired an exquisite culture. When I have heard him speak, I have admired the chaste simpUcity and attic beauty of his eloquence, and I think no one can read his public discourses — his Inaugural Address, for example — or his Eulogy on Story — without experiencing in his written style the charm of the easUy flowing language, of the sparing but tasteful ornament, and of the clearness and logical accuracy of the thought. In social intercourse, Mr. Greenleaf 's manners were maked by a serene gravity, equally remote from lightness and asceticism. I think we saw the traces of sorrow still lingering about him — fond memories, not painful perhaps, but tempering the joy and exultation of the present, with the reflected sadness of the past. His voice was gentle and low ; his countenance thoughtful, but placid, and often lighted with the sunshine of a genial smile. His conversation was ready and friendly, and though habitually serious, not averse to decent wit, and a becoming hilarity. His quiet tastes and constant occupations had in a measure withdrawn him frora general intercourse, and concentrated his social joys in the sanctuary of home ; but he was no stranger to the delights of intellectual converse, and when the occasion found him out^ he contributed more than an equal share to the common fund. At the close of three score years and ten, after a day of crowded duty and labor, and closed by the worship of God at the household altar, he lay down, by a peaceful euthanasia, and slept the sleep of death, "Like one who -wi-aps the drapery of his couch About him and Ues dowu to pleasant dreams." But he has left us his example of Christian fortitude, which should nervo our hearts when we too are caUed to practice its lessons ; of perseverance under discouragements, which should strengthen us in overcoming the difficulties we too may have to encounter ; of intellectual improvement in youth, with few opportunities and scanty means ; of high moral principle, and religious faith, in the midst of no common perplexities, and under trials of no ordinary severity ; of the faithful discharge of every duty, in every public and every private relation, I feel that I cannot portray the character of Prof. Greenleaf, as it ought to be portrayed here, and as it has been portrayed elsewhere by his genial and eloquent coUeague— Prof Parsons— also a son of Newbury, but unfortunately not present -with us to-day. I could not hesitate, however, to bear my testi mony on this occasion to his eminent claims to be remembered, in any assembly of the men of Newbury; I could not hesitate, especially as iuy absence in a foreign land, deprived me of the melancholy satisfaction of wit nessing the last honors with which aU that was mortal of him was committed to the bosom of our common mother earth. Returmng from abroad, and -TXT- THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. findintj- his place vacant, it seemed to me that one of the old landmarks had been swept away — one of the solid pUlars, on which the temple of justice, virtue and religion reposes, had been overthrown. In former ages, a stdtue would have been raised to comraemorate the exeeUence of such a citizen, that the coraing generations might be incited to lofty duties and generous deeds. If we erect no statue to eternize his outward semblance, let us at least set up in our own souls the image of his vktues, and honor his memory, by making those vktues our own. The Past Captain of the Naoburyport Juvenile Artdlery Company. Rev. T. M. Clark, of Hartford, Conn., the identical Cap tain of tliat well remembered corps, was called upon, and responded as follows : Mr JKyou .\n-d Fellow Citizens — This wdl hardly do — it seems rather formal, and I have no intention of making a regular speech. You have already had speeches enough and far more able than I could make. I wish just to have a talk with you about old times, and iu remembrance of the Juvenile ArtUlery Company, would rather address you as Mr. MAvaR and Fellow Soldiers — Bat tills will not do. There is not enough left of that distinguished corps whieh w.is disbanded some thirty years ago, to form a Corporal's Guard. Let me therefore say Mk. MiYOR and Fellow Boys — We have come together to revive the reminiscences of our early days, to recall the scenes, the thoughts, the associations which belong to our chUd hood. What were the influences which determinned your character'? How were you taught your first lessons of the discipline of life? What was the first chapter in your daily morning and evening experience, which prepared you for the wearisome routine of this earthly existence ? It was when you drove the cows at sunrise and sunset, to and frora the " old Comn.on Pas ture." I remember often, to have met you on the Guinea thoroughfare, and I can readily recall the expression of sadness and anxiety which clouded your face, when as night drew on, the cow was not to be found. Can you ever forget vour tiresome tramps to the distant slough, around which the cow would sometitnes obstinately linger; that slough of despond, which we supposed to be the veritable spot of Bunyan's pilgrim's troubles, with Tm'- key Hill in the rear, where the interpreter's house stood in ancient days. How many such associations cluster around that somewhat sterile region, which in some strange way furnished summer food to nearly all the cows in l\ewbnrvport. When we used to read of lazarettos, quarantines, hosp'itals, and asylums for plague-spotted patients, it was the black wooden "Pest- House," in Common Pasture, with its horrid charcoal sketches, said to be THE DINNER. 7 1 "drawn upon the walls by delirious inmates, which gave body and pith to our conceptions. Where did you learn your first lessons in botanizing'? It was on that sultry, drowsy Saturday afternoon, when you went a " penny-royaling up to Comraon Pasture." And where did you get your first notions of mineral ogy ? In knocking off serpentine and rag-stone from the walls of tho " Devil's Den." That, too, was the spot to which our minds instinctively reverted, whenever we read -any German tale of diablerie ; for there were authentic traditions connected with tbat heap of rocks which often made us shudder. There stood the Devil's Pulpit, from which it was said, be preached at midnight, to an infernal crew, gathered around its base ; and there was the name cut in the ground, past which it was reported, no creature had ever returned alive. And when we read of the tented field, of the crash of war, of embattled hosts with their white tents and streaming banners, with nodding plumes and pealing trumpets, — where did our thoughts fasten themselves ? What was the actual scene which rose up before our minds, and gave reality to all this splendid description ¦? It was the Fall muster on Grasshopper Plains, ¦with the old gallows stretching out its wooden arm at the summit, and the huckleberry bushes skkting the borders of the field. And when you beard of sylvan retreats, ef dell and dale, of lovers' walks and sweet retirements in the shade, could you think of anything else than "Bartlett's Springs," and the " Laurels? " When you were told of foreign lands beyond the sea, could you ever think. of anything more remote than the mysterious and unexplored regions, which lay " over the river ? " There was no bridge then to bring that hazy and distant locaUty into near contact with us ; but there were solemn ferry-meu who blew the bora at intervals from the " ferry-ways,'' as a signal that the boat was about to move. None knew where these grave men came from-; none knew where they slept at night, if indeed they ever slept ; but there at thek post, they were always to be found, untU the shades of evening had descended, and the merchant-woraen frora " over the river,'' had returned with empty baskets, to the bosom of their anxious famUies. What can even obliterate the memory of Plum Island, and the Piers, and Black Rocks, and SaUsbury Beach ? Can you ever forget that low, moaning roar of the ocean, which you used to hear in the cold winter nights ? Is there a Newhuryport boy who cannot feel and appreciate the poetry of the sea ? I might go on for hours, reviving these early reminiscences, and showing how your character and feelings have been moulded by the scenery, the tra ditions, and aU the various surroundings of yonr childhood. Every thmg- with which we came in contact then, has left its mark upon us. Our thoughts run in the moulds that were grooved in eariy years. And there must have been somethmg peculiar in the infiuences of our venerable mother town, to have produced such an assemblage of men as are here gathered together. 12 THE NEWBURYPORT CELEBRATION. The City of Boston. — As we look around this day, we involuntarily ask what would she have been without Newburyport. Stephen Tilton, Jr., Esq., replied : Me. Mayor and Fellow Citizens — I regret exceedingly that my friends here have called upon me to respond to the complimentary toast just given to the city of Boston. I am conscious of my inabUity to do her justice, and particularly on this occasion, when memory has engrossed my raind ¦with the things of the past, and dispelled every other thought but of Newburyport, the home of my boyhood. The occasion which calls us together is one of no ordinary interest. It is a family gathering, the return of the sons of the old homestead, when hands join and hearts speak and the soul overflows with feeUngs of gratitude and reverence. Besides the day, which is sure to bring up the past to the mind of every trae son of Newburyport, the occasion revives the memories of youth, and both combine to banish the present, and for the time being we exist in the past. This moming as we traversed your streets, the scenes of youth wereunroUed to our view, and every object which our eyes rested upon had its particular association and peculiar interest ; we saw the old school house and the old play grounds ; we looked in the faces of old friends and were reminded of the absent, and of others departed, and fancied we heard their voices ; every thing addressed oar feelings aud awakened the associations of youth, and we feel that our natures have been refreshed at the fountain of joy. Among the many objects which recalled the past, nothing, not even the house in which I was born, more forcibly touched my feelings than the sight of the old stage coach in the procession, perhaps the identical vehicle in which I was seated some twenty years since, slowly wending my way to the old Eastern Stage Office, in Boston. It recalled the emotions experienced at leaving my native town, my home, and my friends of youth ; and it reminded me of the resolves made and the hopes cherished when with a Newburyport boy's fortune — a coraraon school education, a father's counsels and a mother's blessing — I entered upon the untried duties of life in a new home surrounded by strangers. Since that period years have elapsed, new interest's have been created and new connections formed ; and while to-day I bring my tribute of gratitude to old Newburyport for the education she furnished to, and the salutary influ-, ences she exerted over, her sons ; and while I rejoice at the unmistakable evidences of thrift I have observed at every turning, I beUeve, sir, were the questions put by you to the sons of Newburyport, resident in Boston, which home do you love best ?— the answer would be, as chUdren say to parents, " we love both best." Yes, we love the home of our birth and the home of our adoption. We can testify that the city of Boston stands with extended arms and open hands to receive aU who may come to reside within her borders. Her influence and treasury of good gifts are dispensed equally among all her sons, and she hesitates not to acknowledge her indebtedness to the cities and towns of the " old Bay State,' ' for the sons (and daughters too) TEE DINNER. 73 ¦wliich they have furnished her, and she withholds not her gratitude to all the Ifew England States for their aid in rendering her a good specimen of a true American city, • WhUe, sir, the interests of Boston are so closely identified with the interests