CONNECTICUT SOCIETY
OK THE
Sons of the A'vierican Revolution
MEMBERS are requested to send to the Secretary the names
and addresses of any persons whom they believe to be
eligible for membership, and whom they would recommend as
desirable members.
A copy of the enclosed circular will be mailed to persons so
reported, and it is hoped and expected that members reporting
them will put them in the way of joining the Society if they are
so disposed. The signature of a member proposing and recommending an
applicant is necessary to make the application suitable for the
action of the Board of Managers. Such signature will be under
stood to mean that the applicant is known to the member as a
person whose statements are reliable and trustworthy, and whose
character and reputation are such as would make him a desirable
member of the Society.
Some of our largest cities and towns are still very inadequately
represented in our membership. It is hoped that each member
will feel a pride in securing a good representation from his own
section, since it is only by such representation that the best results
can be accomplished.
It is also hoped that a number of stations for furnishing blanks
and information to applicants can be estabhshed throughout the
state, in addition to those already established. Any member who
is willing to undertake this duty will please send his name to the
Secretary, who will furnish him with the necessary forms and
place his name in a supplementary list to accompany the enclosed
circular, provided that the same field is not previously occupied
by some other member.
By order of the President,
LUCIUS F. ROBINSON, Secretary.

CONNECTICUT SOCIETY
OK THE
Sons of the A'werican Revolution

President, Jonathan Trumbull, Norwich.
Vice-President, Hon. Hobart B. Bigelow, New Haven.
Secretary, Lucius F. Robinson, Hartford.
Treasurer, Rowland B. Lacey, Bridgeport.
Registrar, Joseph G. Woodward, Hartford.
Historian, Frank F. Starr, Middletown.

The principal objects and purposes of this Society are to
awaken a patriotic reverence for the men who achieved American
independence in the War of the Revolution, to commemorate their
heroic acts, and to impress upon the present generation and its
successors the patriotic principles which governed our ancestors,
and resulted in the establishing of our nation.
It is expected that, from our system of recording the creden
tials for membership, many new facts of family and national
history, which might otherwise pass into oblivion, will be pre
served and transmitted to posterity.
Any male resident of Connecticut, of the age of twenty-one
years or upward, is eligible to membership in this Society upon
giving satisfactory evidence, in the form of written application pro
vided for the purpose, that he is descended from an ancestor who
assisted in establishing American independence in any of the
following capacities :
By service in the army or navy, including the militia and
privateers. By ofificial service in the civil departments of any one of the
thirteen original states or colonies.
As a member of a committee or council of safety, or as a

recognized patriot who rendered similar material service and aid to
the cause of independence.
Non-residents of the state who trace to Connecticut ancestry
of the same character are also eligible to membership.
The membership fee is one dollar, which includes the cost of a
handsomely engraved certificate of membership. The annual
dues are two dollars.
Our by-laws provide for the admission of ladies as honorary
members, under similar conditions and with certain restrictions,
upon the payment of a fee of fifty cents and annual dues of fifty
cents. Our Connecticut Society now leads, in the number of its active
members, all other societies of the National organization of the
S. A. R. It is hoped that its objects and purposes will commend
themselves to every good citizen who possesses the glorious heri
tage of Revolutionary ancestry, and that pride of ancestry and
state pride will continue to keep the organization in its present
leading position.
Until more extended facilities can be provided, blank forms of
application, and further information will be furnished from the
following sources :
Any of the officers of the Society whose names appear at the
beginning of this circular, also
Hon. Lucius P. Deming, New Haven.
Col. Lewis L. Mokgan, New Haven.
Alfred H. Chappell, New London.
Timothy Parker, Wauregan.
J. L. W. Huntington, Danielsonville.

©

GeMMEGJFIGajP Ssdifiw

geris ef ttie j^^rnerieaii J^eielatisri

Meetifig arid Bariqaet^ Feb. 22^ 1S90

HIRJPFBRB, K@MM.

HARTFORD, CONN.
Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company
1890

THE land is holy where they fought,
And holy where they fell;
For by their blood this land was bought,
The land they lotted so well.
They left the ploughshare in the mould,
Their flocks and herds without the fold.
The sickle in the unshorn grain,
The corn half garnered on the plain,
And mustered in their simple dress
For wrongs to seek a stern redress.

GeNNEGTiear S^giety
SeNS QF THE American REveLarioN.

THE first public meeting of the Connecticut Society
of the Sons of the American Revolution was held
at the AUyn House, Hartford, on the afternoon
of Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1890. The
Board of Managers had assigned the duty of arrang
ing for the meeting to a committee of the Hartford
members, to whose admirable management the great
success of the day was due. This committee was
composed of the following members : Charles E. Gross,
John Addison Porter, Lucius F. Robinson, and Secre
tary Meigs H. Whaples.
Long before the time of opening the doors the
Allyn House was crowded with as good-looking a set
of men as ever met anyw^here. At just about 2 o'clock
the doors were thrown open and the Sons of the Rev
olution stormed in and took possession of four tables
— three running the full length of the long hall, the
other, the table of honor, running east and west along
the Asylum Street side of the room. About one hund
red and eighty were present. At the opposite end,
behind screens, was an orchestra, which furnished
music, patriotic, religious, and terpsichorean, by turns.
Back of the head table hung large portraits of Brother
Jonathan Trumbull and George Washington, who had
met before in this city, and there were also the bits of
the famous flags made for General S. B. Webb. Around
jthe walls hung the Stars and Stripes.

When the people had found their places, the Hon.
H. C. Robinson, the presiding ofiicer of the occasion,
called on President Dwight of Yale University, Chap
lain of the National Society, to say grace. He spoke
as follows:We bless thee, O God, for the thoughts and memories
which gather about this day. We give Thee thanks for
the many blessings of our national life, which have come
to us through the one whom it commemorates and through
the fathers and patriots to whom we look back with rev
erence and gratitude. Be with us as we meet together
on this pleasant occasion. Bless to us the gifts of Thy
bounty, and grant that all that we do, or say, or think,
this day, may be to Thine own praise and glory through
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen.
Dinner was promptly served, the following being
the MENU.
Oysters, on half shell.
Olives. Radishes.
Game soup.
Boiled Salmon, lobster sauce.
Cucumbers. Parisienne potatoes. Celery.
Fillet of beef, larded, mushroom sauce.
French string beans. Mashed potatoes browned.
'Roman punch.
Sweetbreads. Saratoga chips. Green peas.
Mallard ducks, roasted, currant jelly.
Celery mayonnaise. Baked sweet potatoes.
English plum pudding, brandy sauce.
Strawberries and cream.
Vanilla ice cream.
Cakes. Nuts. Fruit. Coffee.
After Dinner.
Shortly after 3 o'clock the ladies were admitted to
the hall, and the speaking began, opened and cleverly
guided throughout by Mr. Robinson, whose eloquence,

s
tact, quick wit, and contagious enthusiasm, never
showed to better advantage. After calling to order,
he said :
Fellow Sons of the Revolution :
In 1804, Colonel David Humphrey, patriot, poet, scholar,
and soldier, aide to Washington and his friend, dissolved
the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati.
In April, 1889, an hundred citizens of the common
wealth met in the Capitol to organize the Connecticut
Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
The purposes of the old society were noble, its patrons
were chieftains whose names are now classic, but its
methods, and especially its canons for membership, were
out of harmony with the idea of the republic. The fa
thers, notably the Connecticut fathers, had abolished from
our body of laws the bad principles of primogeniture and
entails. The Cincinnati organization revived it. The
effort should have but one result. It was fighting human
progress. It was looking backward. The organization
lives, or lingers, and the nation views it as a beautiful
and romantic souvenir.
The new association has caught up the best inspira
tions of the old one and is breathing them into living
forms, which are decked with no insignia of royal courts
and are vested with no rights transmitted by vicious laws
of inheritance, but which are clad in garments for living
service in a living republic.
What shall be the future of this association is for us
and our associates throughout the country to say. It will
be tempted to haughtiness, to superiorities, to snobbery.
If it yields to these temptations its life will be feeble
and ephemeral. But if it rejoices most of all in its
American citizenship, that broad blessing which the vision
of the fathers made to include all who choose to come
into the family with pure and patriotic purpose, if it seeks
to uplift the honor of those fathers in filial reverence, if
it seeks to build higher and broader the beautiful walls
whose foundations they laid and hallowed Vifith prayers
and tears, and sprinkled with their blood, then its future

6
will be beneficial and bountiful beyond the guess of
to-day. When President Pierce was asked by a heraldry-maniac
what was his coat-of-arms, he replied, " My grandfathers'
shirt sleeves at Bunker Hill." Fellow Sons of the Revo
lution, let the enthusiasm of that sentiment be our en
thusiasm. Let no un-American spirit ever come as a
guest to our table or as a counsellor to our conventions.
Your committee, to whose laborious and enthusiastic
services we are all deeply indebted, have asked me to
extend to you the greetings of the hour. And I salute
you, brothers, one and all, at this our first banquet. It
is a worthy legacy which each guest brings to this table.
Its price is above all rubies. But let us not forget that
an inheritance, however precious, is honorable only as it
is kept in honor. In the possession of degeneracy it be
comes but a "jewel of gold in a swine's snout."
I salute you, Connecticut Sons of the Revolution ! No
colony sent better men or braver soldiers to battle, from
Cambridge to Yorktown, than did our own faithful Con
necticut. The roll is too long to read, even of the leaders,
Putnam and Wooster, and Humphreys, and Knowlton,
and Spencer, and Chester, and Deming, and Drake, and
Parsons, and Ledyard, and Webb, and Wyllys, and the
rest. What proportion of the troops followed the banner
of the three vines is best told by the official figures :
New Hampshire, 12,497 ; Massachusetts, 67,907 ; Rhode
Island, 5,908 ; Connecticut, 39,939; New York, 17,781; New
Jersey, 10,726; Pennsylvania, 25,698; Delaware, 2,386;
Maryland, 13,912; Virginia, 26,678; North Carolina, 7,263 ;
South Carolina, 6,417 ; Georgia, 2,679 ! total, 231,777.
It is yours to keep green the memories of these heroes,
to set up in type their deeds, not one in a hundred of
which has yet found its way into the pages of history, to
deck their graves, to renew their monuments, above all
to keep warm in your own souls their virtues.
But the subject is too full of electricity, and I dare
not trust myself to go farther lest I trespass upon your
most precious time. Our oratorical firmament is crowded
with stars of the first magnitude. Dr. Johnson said that

"words are daughters of earth, while things are sons of
heaven." We have with us to-day those who can call out
the fairest "daughters of earth" to lead in the bravest
"sons of heaven."
Mr. Robinson then called upon Judge L. P. Deming
of New Haven, President of the Connecticut Society,
to speak to the first toast, " The Sons of the American
Revolution." Judge Deming's Address.
Mr. President :
This is an age of combination and organization. In
business and political, social and religious life, we com
bine and organize for purposes of mutual assistance and
improvement, and the promotion of certain common
objects. The old adage, " United we stand," is illustrated in
every department of our complex system, and experience
has demonstrated its truth. The Society of Sons of the
American Revolution is the result of this spirit of organ
ization for common objects ; its growth shows what hold
this spirit has taken upon our people, and the influence
it has already exerted in certain great social movements,
shows what an important factor it may be for public weal
if rightly directed.
You have seen fit, Mr. President, to assign to me the
sentiment, "The Society of Sons of the American Revo
lution : its objects and prospects." As an officer of the
society, I ought to be able to say something about its
objects and prospects, and especially as its objects are so
many and its prospects so brilliant.
The first society of this character, so far as I am
aware, was organized in the State of California, and its
objects as stated were : " To unite the descendants of
revolutionary patriots, perpetuate the memory of those
who took part in the American Revolution, to maintain
the independence of the United States of America, and
to keep alive that spirit of patriotism that wanned the

hearts of our fathers through their fearful struggle for
individual and national liberty."
It is strange that on the far Pacific coast, in a land
which was hardly known to exist by the men of the
revolution, a hundred years after the smoke of battle had
lifted from the hills of Boston and the rattle of musketry-
had ceased at Yorktown, the great-grandsons of the men
who fought those battles should meet and organize a so
ciety to rescue the names and acts of their ancestors from
oblivion. Yet such was the fact, and our society in Con
necticut is the outcome and result of the spirit awakened
by that first society organized in California, July 4, 1876.
One of the first questions put to a claimant for public
confidence and the question suggested by our toast, is :
" For what is this society here, and why should it receive
our support," and this question must be answered before
it can hope to secure public confidence and become per
manent among us.
As we look along the highway of the century, we find
it marked by statues and monumental shafts bearing
known and illustrious names, and other shafts silently
whispering of names unknown ; and as we look upon
these many monuments a feeling comes into our hearts
that there is no room for more, and no need for more
than these to tell the story of the known and unknown
engaged in our revolutionary struggle. As we look to
either side of this highway we see unnumbered fields
stained with blood from bruised feet and slashed bodies,
but the lettered stones seem to tell of all the battles
fought and all the victories won upon them. We look
upon countless library shelves and tomes beyond our
numbering, telling in story and in song of Lexington and
Bunker Hill, of Long Island and Red Bank, of Trenton
and Yorktown, and the names of the sons of Connecticut
stand in the same column with those of Massachusetts
and Carolina, Vermont and Virginia ; and as we look and
read, it seems as if the work had all been done and that
there was nothing in this direction for a society like the
Sons of the Revolution to do. But have all the battle
fields been marked? Does a shaft or a statue tell the

names of all the brave men who fell ? Have all the
deeds of suffering and success been perpetuated in
story or in song ? If this has all been done, then
are we familiar with the tales. Can we repeat the
names of the heroes who fought and fell? Can we
tell the field upon which they fought ? Do we know
the graves among the tangled .grass in which the un
named dead were buried? If there is a battle-field
of the Revolution unmarked, if there is a moss-grown
historic ruin to be preserved, if there is an untold story
to be written, if there is a monument to some hero still
to be reared, then there is a reason why this society
should exist, an object for which it is to labor.
It is true that libraries contain volumes without num
ber, telling the story of the revolutionary struggle ; but
it is also true that there are unwritten histories hid away
in attics and closets and trunks, which have never seen
the light of publicity, but which tell stories of personal
heroism and individual suffering more thrilling than has
ever been written ; and unless these almost forgotten
threads of the great struggle are soon gathered up they
will be lost forever. How many precious documents and
papers are even now lost is beyond all telling. But it is
the object of this society, and an object of no small
moment, to gather up these scattered fragments and save
them for posterity.
It is true that on battle-fields and in public places are
many monuments bearing the names of brave men who
there died in defence of liberty ; but how many sons of
revolutionary sires are now living in this old common
wealth who have actually forgotten that their fathers
took part in that struggle, and that they are heirs to a
part of the glory which that struggle brought to Connec
ticut and the world. They know, perhaps, that your
ancestor was an officer in the Revolution, but the name
of their ancestor, a private, does not appear on bronze or
stone, and their names and deeds have been forgotten.
It is the object of this society to quicken the memory,
and resurrect from oblivion the names of these forgotten
fighters in a holy cause.

IO
It is also the object of this society to create in the
hearts of the men of this generation a pride in their
ancestral blood and ancestral name, and a desire to know
something more of their lineage and descent. A Vermont
poet has said, " A thing for laughter, fleers and jeers,
Is American aristocracy,''
and so it is from the Miss McBride standpoint. But
blood which has fiowed in an unadulterated line from
the men of the Revolution to me, is a thing of which to
boast, even if my ancestor did fight in the ranks and
tramp barefooted, bearing his gun and knapsack through
the snows.
William the Conqueror was the source of no more
honorable line than Israel Putnam, the general, or Na
than Hale, the spy. It is the object of this society to
excite pride in the blood and deeds of our ancestors, if
you will, pride in American aristocracy founded upon
revolutionary ancestry. Again, it is true that our libraries
are full of histories of the building of this nation, but
how much of this history do our children know? How
much American history is read in our homes? How
much taught in our schools? We teach a little of every
thing in our public schools, and a little American history
is mixed in this conglomeration, but hardly enough to
create an appetite for more, hardly enough to call it the
alphabet of history. Patriotism is the corner-stone and
keystone of American history and American institutions,
and patriotism should be taught to American children at
all times and everywhere, and especially in the school
room. The old Israelitish rule of teaching the Jewish law,
" Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and
shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up," should be the rule of
our homes and schools in this matter of teaching Ameri
can history. And this teaching should be not only by
precept, but by object-lesson, which the eye should pho-

II
tograph upon the heart, and one of these object-lessons
should be the American flag, the only recognized emblem
of the only true Republic on the face of the earth to-day.
In whatever lands its starry folds catch the rays of the sun,
it is looked up to by struggling peoples even as the weary
Israelites looked at the brazen serpent in the wilderness.
I trust the day is not far distant, and it is the object
of this society to hasten the day, when North and South,
East and West, the school-house shall occupy the corner
of every highway, and over every school-house shall float
our glorious flag, the stars and stripes, an object-lesson
in patriotism for every child and man ; and then our
youth, with Webster, will say, " I was bom an American,
I will live an American, I shall die an American," and
then will another object of our organization be accom
plished. But, Mr. President, my time has expired, and with a
word I will close. As I look back over the century now
ended, I seem to see our country as a person, and I hear
it confessing, " The mistakes of my life have been many.
The sins of my life have been more ; "
but as I look into the future, a brighter picture of glo
rious progress opens before me. Societies of the Sons
of the American Revolution have now been organized
in twenty-six States. The society is already creating a
public opinion in favor of marking historic places
and preserving historic ruins and documents. It is tak
ing hold of patriotic enterprises and pushing them to
completion. It is awakening a renewed interest in the
celebration of historic events, the observance of historic
days, and more than all, it is enkindling a new and deeper
love of country among all classes and in all sections of
the Republic, and is fanning to a brighter flame the
smouldering fires of love for, and devotion to, distinctly
American laws and American institutions. The South has
clasped hands with the North with a fervor unknown be
fore, and the East and the West have joined in a new
compact for the promotion of these grand objects, and

12
when they are fully realized, then indeed will our country
be one country, our desire for its enlargement will be
truly national, and then shall the song go up in one
united chorus, with no discord and no voice silent :
" My country, 'tis of thee.
Sweet land of liberty.
Of thee I boast ;
Great empire of the west,
The dearest and the best.
Made up of all the rest,
I love thee most." [Applause.]
The National Society.
Mr. Robinson then said:
We had hoped for a response to this sentiment from
the President of the national organization, and a descend
ant of an honored Connecticut soldier of the Revolution.
In our disappointment we are much comforted by the
presence of a distinguished fellow citizen who will fill the
place of oratory assigned to Dr. Webb. He is an associ
ate with the doctor in the executive department of the
national organization, and is a member of the Cincinnati.
These are due to his rich inheritance. But beyond that
he has won our profound gratitude by his own patriotic
services. He is one of the few men, perhaps the only
one, of whom it may be said in words more compliment
ary than to be called one of Leonidas's three hundred,
that he was one of the "forlorn hope" at Port Hudson
under General Birge, and that he also acted as signal
officer in the top of the "Hartford" when our great ad
miral at the main truck carried the fleet into the port of
Mobile. I take great pleasure in introducing Major John
C. Kinney of this city.
Response by Major John C. Kinney.
Mr. Toastmaster and Gentlemen :
You cannot regret more than I the enforced absence
of Dr. Seward Webb, the energetic president of the
national society. But his absence gives me the oppor
tunity to congratulate the Connecticut society, as well

13
as the national, on the fact that our president-general
is a worthy descendant of a distinguished Connecticut
soldier, General Samuel B. Webb of Wethersfield. On
the wall at your back, Mr. Toastmaster, hang the tattered
remnants of two quaint old flags which were made for
him before the Stars and Stripes had been adopted for
the national emblem, and which were carried by Con
necticut troops raised by him. [Applause.] It was, as
you all know, at his hospitable mansion that Washington
was twice entertained, and there in 1780 he held his
famous conference with Rochambeau and "fixed the
plan of the campaign " which ended in the splendid
victory at Yorktown and the establishment of the Re
public. [Applause.] That fine old house still stands,
and is visited every year by hundreds who have heard
of its history.
After the able speech of President Deming, there
remains little or nothing to say about the national
society. It is composed of representatives from twenty-
two States in which flourishing societies have been
formed. Among its vice-presidents are ex-president
Hayes, Bishop Cheney of Illinois, Judge Armoux of
New York, Governors Greene of New Jersey, Dilling
ham of Vermont, Wade Hampton, Fitzhugh Lee,
Admiral Porter, and, from the branch in France, a
grandson of Lafayette. Connecticut, which furnished
the first president of the national society — our own
first president — also contributed the chaplain-general,
the honored president of Yale [long-continued applause],
and, as I have already said, gives to the new president-
general his revolutionary ancestry.
You are aware of the refusal of the society in the
city of New York, whose president boasts Connecticut
ancestry, to recognize the societies of other States unless
as branches of itself, insisting upon being regarded as
the parent society. After all overtures had been con
temptuously spurned by this association, a new society
was formed in the State of New York, of which the
Hon. Chauncey M. Depew is president [applause], and
which contains in its membership many of the promi-

14
nent citizens of the State. I have no doubt that eventu
ally better counsels will prevail in the old society and
a complete union will be made.
The position of the original New York Society is ill-
advised, utterably unreasonable, untenable, and narrow.
It bases its claim solely upon its age. It was organized
in 1883. Its course reminds me of the story of the old
colored man who was so fond of whisky that he would
rather take pay for his labor in that commodity than
in hard cash. One day he was hired by a stingy man
who told him if he would dig a post-hole he would
give him the best drink he ever had. When the work
was done the man took him into his pantry, and pro
ducing a bottle, said, " That whisky is seven years old ! "
Then he poured out a scant thimbleful and handed .to
him. The old colored gentleman held it up admiringly
to the light. "Boss," said he, "does I understand you
to say that this whisky is seven years old ? "
"Yes, Mose."
"Well, I say boss, don't you think it's monstrous small
of its age ? " [Great laughter and applause, at the
close of which the speaker added] : " The New York
society is seven years old."

" England and the United States."
We are favored, to-day, said Mr. Robinson, with
a presence which would be sought for any dinner
table in the world. He is bound to us by many ties.
He is a Son of the Revolution; a son of the Green
Mountain State, Connecticut's oldest child, and for
months called New Connecticut. He represents our
great National University, which is Connecticut's
pride. He has just returned from a ministry to the
mother country, where he honored himself and his
flag. Preceded by the accomplished Lowell, and suc
ceeded by a son of the great Lincoln, it is not too
much to say of him that few Americans hold as high
place in the esteem of the liberty-loving people of

15
Great Britain as does the Hon. Edward J. Phelps.
[Long-continued applause, the audience rising.]
Mr. Phelps' Response.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
Even lawyers blush, sometimes — at rare intervals. I
perceive that even the president does. My friend, Judge
Shipman, appears to doubt this. It is not the first time
he has dissented from my propositions ; perhaps it may
not be the last. He has been generally wrong — in my
opinion. I may certainly be excused for indulging on
this occasion in the unaccustomed luxury of a blush,
after hearing what my friend your president has said
of me, and after the very cordial and generous manner
in which you have received it. The truth is he uses his
friends as he does his looking-glass ; he sees reflected in
them his own good qualities. I am sure if anybody could
make you believe his kind words to be true, it would be
himself. In stating my claims to your consideration he has
stated some of them correctly. I am a grandson of Con
necticut, I am proud to say, on my father's side, and a
son of the Revolution on both sides. I have, I am like
wise proud to say, some connection with the great uni
versity that has been referred to ; but in that reference
my friend was not so felicitous as he usually is [laughter],
because, if Yale is to be heard from on this occasion, you
have already intimated what indeed does not need to be
intimated, that I am not its proper representative, but
that he sits here on my left, in the person of its dis
tinguished president.
Let me congratulate you, — let me join in the congrat
ulations that have been so eloquently expressed by your
president, on the auspices, the happy auspices under
which this society sets out ; a society, I understand, that
is virtually beginning its life to-day, in this its first great
public meeting; a society that I trust will continue long
after we and our children shall have passed away. I
was glad to hear its objects presented as they have been

i6
presented this morning by the gentlemen who have pre
ceded me, and to learn that the great point and drift
of the whole thing is to perpetuate the spirit of the Rev
olution, not merely its history, but its spirit and its
memories ; and I think it appropriate also, that on this
first public occasion you begin with a kindly sentiment
toward the mother country.
When I was a boy — a great while ago, I am sorry
to say — we used to fight the British. The echoes of the
war of 1 812 had not gone entirely -out of the air; we, in
the play-ground, used to fight the British; on the Fourth
of July we used to fight the British ; on Washington's
Birthday we played "Hail Columbia," and fought the
British again. But now all that has passed away. An
entire change has come over the sentiment of the country
in this respect. You have a right to call upon one who
has been your representative abroad, for some account of
the state of feeling toward his country that he found
there, and I am most happy to respond to such an
enquiry, because what I have to say is gratifjdng and
favorable. Of course there is always likely to be some little
friction between two nations that are as great as Great
Britain and America. There is the fishery question for
one thing, which has never been settled, and never will
be. A fishery dispute between two nations never was
settled, in the world, so as to stay settled. One would
think fishing the most peaceable of all employments, but
it seems to me to be one of the most quarrelsome. I
think sometimes, that the fact that the Apostles were
fishermen was emblematic of the everlasting dissension
which was destined to accompany the cause of religion.
[Applause.] I have read the New Testament as well as
a person can, with no acquaintance to speak of with
the language in which it was written, and I fail to see
any occasion on which one of the Apostles had a good
word to say for another.
And certainly it is true, that if a Briton was to sit
down and put his fish-line into the Atlantic at a wharf
m Liverpool, and an American was in a smack off Sandy

17
Hook, fishing in the same ocean, it would not be long
before you would hear the Englishman calling upon John
Bull to protect the English fisheries from the depreda
tions of America ; and at about the same time you would
find the American taking in his lines and going home
to vote for a President who would keep American fishery
rights intact. [Laughter.] The truth is, there never were
two nations who could fish in the same water, without
disagreement. But a quarrel about fisheries serves as a
vent for blowing off steam without doing any harm, which
is a geat deal better than quarreling about something
that is more serious.
Now, let me say one thing in as few words as I can.
It is not given to many people to speak in few words.
[Laughter.] I perceive by your smiles that you are of
the opinion that I am not one of them. [More laughter.]
What I want to say as well as I can, is this : No intelli
gent American can visit England, as doubtless many of
you have done, and stay long enough and under the
proper circumstances to make himself acquainted with the
real drift and current of public sentiment in- all classes of
society, without finding out that the feeling that inspires
its whole people toward our country to-day, is of the
most cordial and generous and kindly character. [Ap
plause.] I wish all my countrymen might understand
this. I wish they all might have witnessed the first
occasion on which I ever stood before any considerable
body of English people, when several hundred of them
were brought together at a dinner given to Her Maj
esty's judges, and I appeared there absolutely a stranger.
I wish they all could have seen the greeting that was
extended to the stranger — the man with no claims upon
them whatever, when he was announced as the repre
sentative of the United States of America. [Applause.]
Coining there without any prestige, without any distinc
tion, coming to take the place of a most distinguished
minister who had won all their hearts, and with whom
they were sorry to part. Nevertheless, " it was enough
that the stranger was a representative of this country,
to secure him such a reception as made clear the way
3.

that lay before me, and informed me just where I was.
I perceived then that the American minister in Eng
land was a diplomatic character entirely different from
the representative of any other country in the world;
that he was accredited not to the Queen, not to the
foreign office, not to the aristocracy, but to the whole
body of the English people. They all felt that they had
a property in him, that he belonged in some sense to
them, and that when they had anything on hand in
which his presence could be helpful, the American rep
resentative was their representative, and was properly to
be called upon to take part in it. Now, such is the feel
ing that pervades that country. They see as clearly as
we see, that the result of the Revolution which separated
these nations was for their good as well as for ours.
They see that in this country, the first-born child of Great
Britain, is the home and the future for their sons as well
as for ours, and they are seeking it in increasing num
bers. It is not merely the poor that emigrate from their
country to try to find a happier home here. It is the
young men of all classes and the best classes who are
coming here in increasing numbers, to seek for their
careers, and to look for their wives. [Laughter.] They
might do a great deal worse in both directions, and some
of them probably will. The improvement in English in
telligence in the knowledge of our country within the
short period that has elapsed since I first went there as
a representative, is most remarkable. There was origi
nally such an ignorance of this country and its institu
tions as was really surprising to find among intelligent
and educated people. Some of them hardly knew whether
the Mississippi River ran through New England or Cali
fornia, or whether Ohio was the capital of New York or
of Massachusetts.
A very eminent man, a lawyer and judge, once said to
me, soon after I arrived there, "I understand all about
your Supreme Court of the United States. If it was
not for that, your various States would be making differ
ent laws." To which I responded in that fortunate Eng
lish formula which meets so many emergencies, "Quite

19
so." [Laughter.] Because nothing less than a course
of lectures would have set him right, and the occasion
was not favorable for introducing it. But there has been
great attention paid since then to the institutions, and
especially the political institutions, of the United States.
They have been studied ; they have been written about.
Professor Bryce's recent book (probably most of you have
read it) is a wonderful book to be written about this
country by a man who never lived here. They have
found out how much stronger after all in our system are
the bulwarks which defend society and property rights
than they are there. And it is my belief that the in
flux of English capital into this country, which has been
so marked within a short time, and in view of the great
political changes that are going on there, is due not so
much to an expectation of receiving a greater interest, as
it is to the belief that they are placing their capital
under a better protection. Now one word more. When
I hear sometimes, or see in the newspapers, some mean,
ill-natured and vulgar fling at the mother country, some
dirty conduct ascribed to men who are as much above it
as any men who live on the face of the earth, it seems
to me that the authors would be very much ashamed of
themselves if they could go there and experience the
courtesies, the kindness, the consideration, and the cordial
hospitality that are extended to all respectable Americans,
and could hear in what different terms our country is
spoken of by Englishmen. It seems to me they would
never use such language again.
But I must not detain you longer. There are better
voices awaiting you. It was said by Demosthenes, I be
lieve it was, (the president of the University will correct
me if I am wrong, for he knows a great deal more about
the Greeks than I do,) it -was said by some great orator
at any rate, that an after-dinner speech should have three
principal qualities. First, brevity ; second, brevity ; and
third, brevity. And you will allow me, I am sure, with
many thanks for the great kindness with which you have
greeted me, to try, if it is not already too late, to follow
the good example those preceding me have set, and to
obey this excellent injunction of Demosthenes. [Applause.]

20

At this juncture the Putnam Phalanx Drum Corps
and colors marched into the dining h^,!! playing
"Yankee Doodle." Three cheers were proposed for
the speaker and for the "Puts."

" Connecticut."
The next sentiment, "The State of Connecticut —
qui transtulit sustinet," was responded to by Lieut.-Gover
nor Merwin, who was warmly welcomed, and spoke as
follows : REMARKS OF LIEUT.-GOVERNOR MERWIN.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
The existing govemment of Connecticut is in sub
stance what it has been since the adoption of the present
constitution in 1818. Although some twenty-eight amend
ments have been made to that instrument, they are of
minor importance, and the fundamental principles remain
the same. The constitutional provisions distribute the
power of the government into three departments — the
legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The legisla
tive represents the people in the Senate and the House
of Representatives or the law-making department, and in
those bodies will be found representative men of almost
every calling. The sturdy farmer generally predominates,
but merchants, manufacturers, labor, and most of the
professions, find their representatives in every legislature,
watching and caring for their several interests.
To legislate for the good of our commonwealth does
not imply that it is necessary to pass all bills presented.
We make too many laws. Individuals and corporations
are continually asking the Legislature for the enactment
of laws to give them special privileges that are too often
granted. True legislation is for general laws that bear
as nearly equal upon all of the people as possible.
The executive department, of which the governor is
the head, is charged with many duties. The governor
has, or should have, a general oversight of all matters

21
pertaining to the State. The constitution and the laws
prescribe many duties, and also give him discretionary
power in great emergencies. It is his duty to see that
the laws are faithfully executed, and when the ci-vil arm
is insufficient he has full power to call upon the military;
and, to the credit of Connecticut, that arm has never
failed in the hour of need. We have met to-day to honor
the memory of those who represented that arm of the
government in 1776 — the heroes of the Revolution. The
patriotic blood that flowed in their veins was transmitted
through succeeding generations and gave us heroes again
in 1861. Should the State or general government need
military to-morrow, the call of the government would be
answered by the loyal heroes of our national guards, who
would bear the blue banner of the State, with the stars
and stripes, again to victory.
The judicial power of our State is vested in a supreme
court of errors, a superior court, and inferior courts,
created from time to time by the general assembly. To
the credit of Connecticut let it be said, that those who
have been called to flU the important position of judge
upon our bench, have almost universally been men of
high character, impartial, and worthy of the distinguished
honor. They are respected perhaps more than any other
of our public servants.
I fear too many of us do not fully realize the impor
tance of their position and the grave responsibilities resting
upon them. They are called upon to settle disputes be
tween those who have been friends and neighbors, to find
what is equitable between man and man after long and
tedious hearings. While we can appeal from the lower
courts, the decision of the higher is final. While corrup
tion in some States has crept into their courts, we should
¦ be thankful that ours still metes out justice and places
an honest interpretation upon our laws.
While the existing government of Connecticut is good,
let us ask ourselves these questions : Are we . improving,
or are we retrograding? Have the people the same re
spect for the law, or for their servants they appoint to
enforce it, as those heroes had whose memory we com-

22
memorate to-day? To those questions I fear we must
plead guilty, and why? It cannot be for want of intelli
gence. I dislike to believe that it is traceable to our
own wonderful prosperity and the great accumulation of
wealth among our people. Such circumstances should
increase rather than diminish our respect for the law and
its servants.
Is it not then traceable to corruption in our politics.
When men are found ready at every election to treat
their ballot as a piece of merchandise, selling it to the
highest bidder, it is not strange that reverence for law,
or for those whose duty it is to enforce it, should be
wanting. Can we not throw around the ballot some safe
guards that will bring it back to the purity of the days
of those whose memory we have met to re-vive. If so, we
shall not have lived in vain, and shall have proved our
selves worthy sons of the heroes of the Revolution.
"The Sons of Connecticut."
Connecticut, said the toastmaster, has even been
distinguished for her patriot families, the Trumbulls,
the Ellsworths, the Shermans, the Wolcotts, the Hunt
ington's, the Dwights, and the rest. One of these
families is represented at our table to-day, by a distin
guished son who has honored us by his presence. At
sixteen years of age he followed the flag to battle for
the Union. If, sir, you deceived the enlisting officer
in the matter of your minority, I am .sure the sin was
one of those which it is a high honor to the " Record
ing Angel to blot out with his tears." Thence to Yale,
thence to Harvard Law School, thence to great success
in the noble profession which he adorned in Colorado,
thence to the United States Senate, from whose cham
ber he has just come to break bread with us at our
banquet. Let me present to you, said Mr. Robinson,
the Plon. Edward Oliver Wolcott.

23

ADDRESS OF SENATOR E. O. WOLCOTT OF COLORADO.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
Your gracious welcome is doubly kind because it is
my misfortune that I was not born quite within your
borders ; but, if I happened to first see the light a few
miles over the line, in Massachusetts, it is because my dear
old father, a minister of the gospel, found more pressing
need of Christian labor in that benighted commonwealth
than within his beloved State. This occasion is one of
the most delightful that can well be imagined. Unlike
Antony, we come not to bury Csesar, but to praise him.
We occupy the charming position of friendly critics, met
to eulogize those who passed away so long ago that none
of us have, respecting them, any sense of personal loss,
and for whose acts we are in no wise responsible. In
fact, we may feel at perfect liberty to suggest how, under
similar circumstances, we would have done differently,
and to point out to each other their shortcomings, if they
had any. I confess myself somewhat inclined to the
latter course, from the fact that on inspection of our
family tree, 1 find that, while one of my direct ancestors
of revolutionary days was a general, and did some fight
ing, the other, also of the name of Wolcott, a commissary-
general, did not wholly eschew sack, and suffered greatly
from the gout. I could have forgiven him for this, had
'he not transmitted, if not his tendencies, at least their
result, and it occurs to me as possible that, if many of
our forefathers had not so carefully looked after their
cider orchards along this beautiful valley, some of their
descendants would not now be quite so fond of looking
upon the wine when it is red, and upon the rum when
it is bay.
Yet I think I but voice the sentiment of this associa
tion, and the assurance, I know, will give pleasure to the
old heroes, if, -from some Elysian shore, they hear our
voices, when I say that, upon the whole, we approve of
their conduct and bearing during the war of the Revo
lution. As loving children of our State, we are probably wise

24
in calling ourselves " Sons of the Revolution." For, while
there are few members of the association in Connecticut or
around this board, whose ancestry does not go back to her
earliest days, yet, in the light of history, it is a little more
palatable to us to call ourselves " Sons of the Revolution,"
rather than, for instance, " Sons of the Pequot War."
Yet, the one war was as essential as the other, and, if
those old ancestors, who feared God and nothing else, did
exterminate six thousand Indians or more, yet history
shows that they educated one of them, and Eliot's Indian
dictionary has furnished a word to designate the most
important lot of superior beings the world has ever seen,
since worlds began. For, by examining the book, you will
find the word mugwump defined as a big chief or leader,
like Gideon or Joshua.
In the light of the history of the century which fol
lowed it, the war of the Revolution occurred at a most
fortunate period, as it enabled the nation to practically
dispose of one pension list before commencing another,
the most stupendous the world has ever seen. The ques
tion of pensions, I understand, is supposed to be one of
some delicacy, especially among the members of the party
to which I belong, but we, who have inherited the Yankee
thrift, may be pardoned the courage of our con-victions.
No true citizen underrates or undervalues the priceless
results of the late war. Even in this society, formed to
preserve the memories of those who fought to establish
the Republic ; perhaps having among its unwritten and
unavowed purposes that of leading our minds and
thoughts and prejudices away from dwelling on sad days
now happily ended, and of leading us to limit our -vision
to the days of '76 and to the glorious present, forgetting
that the fair image of our edifice was ever threatened
with destruction — even the members of this society, I
say must, in this generation at least, instinctively, on the
occasion of its annual gatherings, find their hearts turning
with loving thought to the brave and patriotic descend
ants of the revolutionary days, our fathers and our
brothers, who, animated by the same lofty purposes as
those which stirred our forefathers, made possible this

25
gathering under this flag. If patriotism and patriotic
ser-vices could be measured by money values, no sum
could adequately compensate the survivors of the war.
But they cannot be so measured, and if they could, the
ser-vices would cease to be patriotic. The nation owes
these surviving heroes its ample protection, and no false
economy should prevent those of us who have been en
trusted with the exercise of the legislative functions of
the people from bestowing it. But it is also the solemn
duty of ^citizenship to bear always in mind the fact that
all we have, our property and our lives, belong to our
common country, and without pay or reward, if need be ;
that too great a reliance upon the public coffers offers a
premium on mendacity, and can breed only a loss of self-
respect in the recipient ; and you owe it to Congress to
see that we be not led into making loyalty an article of
merchandise, and patriotism a matter of barter.
Until lately, the man who had even one parent born
within the limits of the country, and who had any
thought of a public career, felt sensitive about referring
to the fact, lest he might offend some freshly landed
immigrant whose rights of citizenship were and are
equal to his own. The socialist riots, the mysterious
assassinations, and kindred tragedies, which should have
no place under free institutions, vrill not have disgraced
us without some recompense, if it shall serve to remind
us that some intelligence, some knowledge of our form
of government, is a pre-reqiiisite to the intelligent exer
cise of the right of suffrage. We cannot all trace our
lineage through a century or more of American fathers
and mothers. We greet as brothers and welcome to a
share with us in the blessings we enjoy, all men whose
eyes, as they grew to manhood, first rested on our flag
and who have known no other. More than this, we
cordially invite the good of every civiHzed nation to
come and cast their lot with us, and the ordeal of battle
a quarter of a century ago brought thousands of our
fellow men of foreign birth the most sacred rights of
citizenship ; yet it is none the less true that the time
has come, in my humble opinion, some time since, when

26
we should declare to those hereafter landing upon our
shores — "If you are decent, law-abiding people, you are
doubly welcome ; our laws shall protect you, and, when
your offspring, bom within our borders, reach the age
of citizenship, the right of suffrage shall be conferred
upon them, if they have the intelligence to comprehend
the character of our institutions, and not otherwise."
[Applause.] The Poem.
Dr. William D. Morgan of Hartford, a great-great-
grandson of Israel Putnam, was introduced as the poet
of the day, and read the following :
Friends, Brothers on the vantage-ground of Time,
With dazzled eyes we gaze upon our day ;
With flying feet we speed our journey's way,
Nor rest to trace our noon-tide to its prime.
For time is briefer than in days of yore
-And Earth is nearer now from shore to shore
Since man hath shackled Lightning, the sublime.
Yet when in cycling seasons of the year.
The suns of human orbit reappear,
And shine upon us from their purer clime,
'Tis well to trace their brilliant rays of Light,
Which, concentrating, make our noon-tide bright,
And ring their praises with fond Memory's chime.
The nations have their differing range of sky,
Aglitter with the sparkling orbs on high.
Of glowing lives of men, who wrought sublime ;
What matter though they vary in their blaze ?
Their Light is surely but converging rays,
To lighten for us lessening night of Time ;
And when God wills, they surely will unite
In the great Focus of the perfect Light.
Our Nation's Light 's the spirit of my rhyme.

"Let there be Light!" "Let there be Light!"
Day flamed throughout the realm of space,
Primeval darkness left its trace
In sable drapery of night.

27
" Let there be Light ! " As falling star
Time flashed from out Infinity,
Vicegerent of Divinity,
To trace its destined course afar.
Time, — pregnant with maturing man,
And voiceless depth of the to be,
Dumb mother of Futurity,
Perfecter of God's wondrous plan.
Not for thy birth unconscious Day,
Nor yet unknowing Time for thine,
God made his gracious Face to shine,
And drove primeval night away.
Forerunners ye, of greater born,
Of man, who was ere ye began,
And shall be ever though his span
Of mortal years ye laugh to scorn.
For gleaming in its shrine of clay
There burns the spark of li-ving Light,
A planet blazing through the night,
Illumining man's silent way.
Through all the endless cycles runs,
Through human life that Holy Fire.
From age to age it sparkles higher,
Transcends the orbits of the suns,
Streams back to Thee, thou Source of Light,
Prophetic of unending day,
When through the steep and toilsome way
We climb the heights above the night.

Reverse the cycles of the years.
Trace back the lives of ancient men.
We find among them now and then,
Who shone as suns 'mid lesser spheres

28
Reflecting but their transient ray,
And cycling round as satellites
Throughout their little range of nights.
Yet vanishing at break of day.
Light, mirrored, in the greater souls
Gave back a purer, brighter ray.
They lived in an increasing day,
They clearer saw Life's greater goals.
They glimmer do-wn as starry spheres
Throughout the deepening night of Time ;
In every age, in every clime.
They make the record of the years.
They light the paths which men have trod.
For History's the lives of they
Who in imperfect human way.
Approached sublimely near to God.
And if their clay no shadows cast,
And left their lives in part eclipse;
We'd doubt they spoke with human lips.
We'd deem them gods, who ruled the past.
Their shadows kin to men, their Hght
Establish kinship to their God.
They lived above the earth they trod,
Strange bridal of the day and night.
Their spirits soared above their clay,
They gained a higher eminence.
They saw with a prophetic sense,
Far seers of a nobler day.
Their Light endures. From East to West,
From peak to peak, with increment
It leaps the human continent.
The world of little clay at rest ;

29
Who slumber on till noon is nigh,
And dream in dim obscurity;
The watch-towers of futurity
Have kept their faithful guard on high.
And Truth creeps on a sleeping world.
Light, streaming down the mountain-sides.
It floods the valleys and abides,
Though Earth be into ruin whirled.

Revolving on thine axis. Earth,
How many moons since thou began
Have waned upon increasing man.
Since man first understood his birth.
And learned that God had crowned him King,
With diadem of Holy Light,
With sceptre of his free-bom right,
To rule himself, and to him bring
The record of his deeds and Life ?
Hath given him Omnipotence,
Within his little orb of Sense,
And arms to wage the ceaseless strife?
Nay, keep thy hidden cycles sealed.
What matters now thy waning moon?
We live in glowing light of noon,
We know when it was first revealed.
Well nigh three centuries agone,
A little band of starlit men
Saw farther than their fellows' ken.
And kept their twilight watch alone.
The turning page of Time they scan
With anxious eye. They read aright
In brilliance of increasing light.
The covenant of God with man.

30
The quickening spark of Holy Fire
Mirrored within the inner shrine,
Revealed to them the Truth Di-vine,
That man is something nobler, higher,
Than puppets of a King's behest,
The survile flatterers of power,
The scheming changelings of an hour.
Vain seekers on an idle quest.
They scorn the wisdom of the age.
Its tyrant verdict "Might is Right,"
And substituting "Right is Might,"
They blazoned it upon the page
Of coming time in buming flame.
Of voluntary Sacrifice,
They made no weakly compromise,
Right strove with Might and overcame.
The Kingship of their souls they claimed;
Their free-bom right to worship God,
Regardless of the Royal nod,
Careless of what the world proclaimed.
They left their homes. They fled their Land.
The Mayflower speeds across the sea,
To found a nation of the free.
Unfettered by a King's command.
Frail ship pursuing gleaming ray
Of Hesperus across the deep,
Lea-ving the nations in their sleep,
Still dreaming dreams of yesterday;
With glistening sails spread to the -wind.
Deep-weighted with thy noble freight.
Aye, burdened with a nation's weight.
With Liberty to all mankind.

31
Thy hallowed keel divides the sea,
And speeding in the path of Light,
Yet into cavern of the Night
Came into harbor of the free.
As wakes thy namesake in the Spring,
The herald-star of Summer's birth,
And gleams above the silent earth
In Winter's night still slumbering;
So in the Springtime of our race.
There glides from out the silent night,
Thy hallowed image into light.
And infant lips thy story trace.

Thrice fifty years had swelled the flood
Of vocal time, when once again
The royal shackles chafe and strain
The temper of the pilgrim blood.
Light, leaping on from peak to peak
Adown the mountain range of sires
Had glorified the race : and fires
E'en timid natures of the weak
To light the flame of sacriflce.
Upon the altar of their right,
Nor crouch before ignoble might,
Bequeathed by throwing of the dice
From accident's indulgent urn.
They claimed their right : their right denied.
They in its strength the King defied,
Heedless of war's wild overturn
Of sacred hearth of happy home ;
Of Rachels weeping for their sons ;
Of those enshrined anointed ones
Fated to sleep 'neath Earth's great dome.

32
With sightless eyes still tumed to light,
The sunrise of Eternal Day
In crimson red and ashen gray
Upon the face of human night.
They fought for common cause of Man, —
Time's infant strengthening in the Sun
Through all the countless ages run,
Now come of age; — his reign began
In sacrificial smoke and fire.
And sacred blood at Lexington,
The fame of it still flying on
And lighting many a funeral pyre.
Through shadowed sky of restless peace.
The meteor of human wrath
Flares wildly on its flaming path,
And men their wonted labors cease,
And speed them into -wild turmoil
Of seven years of days and nights.
In struggle to defend their rights,
To plant their feet on freemen's soil.
Now open wide ye Gates of Light,
Beam with thy full effulgence do-wn :
Man is of age ; He takes his crown,
His starry diadem of Right.
Through sunny range of hill and mead.
Throughout the land the echoes ring;
The King is dead ! Long Hve the King
Of Self, — if he be king, indeed.
Nor abdicate his Holy Right,
Crowning his passions abject crave,
And dwindle into craven slave,
The plaything of licentious Might.

33
For Kingship, Brothers there must be ;
The King of Right, the King of Wrong,
The King of Weak, the King of Strong,
From Kingship none can set us free.
King of Ourself, or abject slave.
Our fathers gave us choice to be.
Be strong in right;— the only free;
A Kingship reaching past the grave.

Kings, Fathers, in immortal robe
Of sparkling Hght, ye shine as suns
Amid your kindred starry ones,
Your orbits circling round the globe.
Your shrines of clay are formless dust;
Ye Hve beyond the realm of Night,
Yet streaming on us shines your Light,
To us descends .your hallowed trust.
Ye live without us bronzen men,
Weak human type of gratitude ;
Ye live within us as endued,
With strength and light beyond our ken,-
Which quicken us with lofty thought ;
Thought, quickening into noble act ;
Your sublime creed, — a sublime fact
Inspires all, that we have -wrought
Of noble fame, of deathless good,
Of decrease of our lessening Night,
Of increase of our strengthening Right,
Ye towering sires of our blood.
The coming ages chaplets wind, —
And see through mist of grateful tears.
Your gleaming circlets of the years —
With wreaths of glory intertwined.

34
Ah ! Brothers by that sacred tie
Of common blood for common cause.
Engage ye in the holy wars
Man wages for his -Liberty.
Aye, grasp thy helm, and strongly guide
Upon the path of Light, nor be
But dreamers on a shoreless sea
And drifting idly with its tide.
Our fathers gave us fuller day;
Yet day is but a lesser night,
Upon the sphere of strengthening Right, -
The Pharos gleaming on our way.
Our fathers gave us fruitful peace.
Yet peace is but a lesser strife
Within the sphere of human life.
While Earth endures, strife cannot cease.

Bright Spirit of creating God,
Divinest blessing of His Grace ;
Dim revelation of His Face,
Where'er the feet of men have trod ;
Light, the Divine, the pure, the true.
The inward spark, the -vital flame,
The dying hope, the Hving aim.
Shine on our pathway ; guide us through
The swirls of time; — insatiate lust
For greater wealth, for greater place;
The wild commingling of the race
In whirlwinds of a foreign dust;
Wild anarchy's unbridled rage ;
The wily toils of demagogue ;
The noisome pestilential fog,
That office is a party wage

35
The dazzling shower of spendthrift gold
To fascinate the greedy eye ;
To make man barter truth for lie,
And glittering falsehood to uphold.
The secret streams of ill-used wealth,
Which prostitute dull Ignorance
To throne vain-glorious Arrogance,
And so betray the Commonwealth.
Shine on, shine on Thou Holy Light,
And be these shadows downward hurled ;
So keep us vanward of the world,
So keep us ever in the right.

Revolve upon thine axis, earth ;
Roll on through changing day and night,
Roll nearer to Supernal Light;
Fulfill the mission of thy birth.
Roll on through changing night and day,
Accomplish thy predestined course,
We know thou canst not bring us loss ;
That Hght will strengthen on the way.

Kings, brothers, in the ancestry of Light ;
The mountain range of giant men behind ;
The levers of the great Eternal's might,
In fashioning the progress of mankind;
With dauntless soul press onward in the right.
Of every truth which bursts upon the world,
Make foothold to a purer realm of light,
So shall the wrong, the false be downward hurled,
And ye sun-crowned, sure-footed climb the height,
From which our noble ancestry look down.
And finally emerging from the night
The Light Eternal will your labors crown.

36
" George Washington."
This toast was drunk in silence, all standing.
"Brother Jonathan."
Of all the colonial governors in commission at the
call to arms, there was but one, said Mr. Robinson,
who was true to the rights of the colonies. While
Adams and Hancock were at Philadelphia, as they
then were, he was the only man with whom the great
son, whose honor we have just remembered, had per
fect sympathy, and to whose judgment he even de
ferred. That noble man, patriot, and scholar, whose
portrait looks down upon our table, will speak to us
through his lineal descendant and namesake, Mr. Jona
than Trumbull of Nor-wich.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
The serious and unavoidable accident of birth places
me in a position where I fear I may be construed as
making an undue parade of that pride of ancestry which
is the glorious heritage of each and every one of the
Sons of the American Revolution. In the few words I
have to say of an ancestor whose name I am proud to
bear, it would be contrary to my bringing up, and, I be
lieve, contrary to historical accuracy, to speak otherwise
than in eulogistic terms. But since he belongs to history,
and particularly to Connecticut, let me be understood to
speak to-day as a son of Connecticut rather than as one
of the numerous descendants of the original Brother Jon
athan. Fortunately, it is not necessary in this assemblage to
correct misguided impressions regarding his very clothes
and personal appearance. We need have no quarrel, I
think, with that peculiar typical Yankee whom the cari
caturists so freq-iiently impress upon the humorous side of
our patriotism under the title "Brother Jonathan." By
the side of similar effigies of John Bull and the cro-wned
heads of continental Europe he cuts a fairly respectable

37
figure, and, by dint of something quite superior to clothes,
always accomplishes his object. [Applause.] But, unfor
tunately, this embodiment of American patriotism and
authority in masquerade has so impressed himself upon
our people that, to the average American citizen of our
busy day he has become the sole representative of the
nation's household name. Occasionally the leading jour
nals remind us, as a rare historical fact, that, the name
was bestowed by Washington upon Connecticut's revolu
tionary governor, and thus handed down to the nation.
As an example of the accuracy of such journalistic
instruction let me quote a few words of serious historical
description from one of the leading New York papers of
last May:
" When in official dress ' Brother Jonathan's ' personal
appearance was much like what is now supposed to be
the national caricature. He was of tall, gaunt form, and
wore a homespun, swallow-tailed coat  His
genteel, tight-fitting trousers, some six inches short of his
ankles, were made of linsey-woolsey likewise prepared
and spun in his family."
What may have been his unofficial dress we are left
to conjecture. There are certain portraits and copies of
portraits from life, of a calm-faced, venerable man, clad
in the good old costume of '76, to which we Sons of the
American Revolution prefer to point as our authority in
the archaeology of trousers, and for our description of the
original Brother Jonathan. There are, certainly, no indi
cations of excessive height of stature or gauntness of
form in these portraits. For further details we may turn
to British descriptions of his person at a time when the
mother country set a price on his head, and find that five
feet seven inches is set down as his exact measurement.
There is, perhaps, Httle enough of humor in the
solemn, tall-browed face which looks at us from the por
traits. The name Brother Jonathan was given to him by
Washington in a thoroughly scriptural sense, at a time
when our army was in sore need of those supplies for
which he could look to no other source, and only taken

38
by the nation in a humorous sense, in those exultant days
when the stern realities of war had given place to the
jubilant peals of victory.
Solemn as is that face, I fancy it must have relaxed a
little when he viewed the preparations for that harmless
but notorious ceremony known at the time as " exaltation
on a cart " to be applied to certain Tories, much as he
deprecated acts of violence in such matters. And when
the authorities of New York made upon him an official
requisition for the retum of the types and other mate
rials alleged to have been lawlessly taken by Connecticut
men from the Tory Rivington's press, I can see, even
now, a twinkle in those calm eyes as he decorously and
courteously pens his reply, declining to make it a state
affair, and pointing out to the authorities the fact that
the courts are always open for the redress of private in
juries of this nature.
These huinorous incidents, however, were but passing
ripples upon that dangerous sea through which he so
safely and skillfully piloted Connecticut's ship of state.
Of the twelve colonial governors in the dark days of
1775, eleven were loyal to King George, and one was
loyal to his country. It is the boast of Connecticut that
that one was her governor, who, having already gained
from his king the now enviable title of rebel, was soon to
gain from the Father of his Country the proud national
title of Brother Jonathan. At the age of 65, when the
ominous notes of the Lexington alarm were ringing
through the land, he takes up the burden of duty to his
country, scorning the rest he had earned when a right
eous cause was at stake, and freely devoting to that
cause the wise experience of age, made effective by, the
inbred, Puritan vigor of his ripe manhood.
For the record of the eight dark years that followed,
we have only to turn to the pages of history and follow
his course in the command of those unstinted resources
of men, money, and materials which, under his wise
direction, lent such material aid from our state to the
cause of independence. It is a record of self-forgetting
zeal, earnest devotion, steadfast patriotism. Lacking, no

39
doubt, some of those brilliant flashes which thrill us as
we re^d of the exploits of some of our younger heroes —
all honor to them ! ^ — it shines with the clear, constant
light of patriotism which marks it as an example of that
supreme political honor of the present time and all time
— a clean record. Never appalled by disaster, never un
duly elated by success, he toiled and hoped and prayed
for that victory upon which, at the age of 73, he was
permitted to look in a spirit which leads us to believe
that, as he looked, he uttered his nunc dimittis.
As we celebrate to-day the anniversary of the birth of
that great chieftain who led his country to victory, it is
well for us to ask ourselves if such a man could bestow
upon a wise and venerable statesman like Trumbull the
significant name of brother in any but a most serious,
thoughtful sense. Answering that question in the calm
light of history that has waited a century to be written,
the title Brother Jonathan shines with a luster far
brighter and more significant to us than that of any
order of knighthood ever bestowed by royal accolade.
Worthy that Washington should call him brother ! Upon
that standard of worthiness rests the name which history
has accorded to this son of Connecticut. And upon that
standard may well be fixed to-day the aim of him who
seeks honor from his country in these peaceful, prosper
ous, dangerous times. Some such standard it is the mis
sion of the Sons of the' American Revolution to establish
and perpetuate. [Great applause.]
The Men in the Ranks.
The Rev. Dr. H. C. Hovey of Bridgeport responded
to the toast "The Men in the Ranks."
" In their ragged regimentals,
. Stood the old Continentals,
Yielding not."
Dr. Hovey said :
We are here to do honor to the memory of our sires.
We forbid the dust of oblivion to hide the names of

. 4°
heroes whose sacrifices made America possible and its
myriads of happy homes a bright reality. This society
was created not merely to add luster to names already as
radiant as the sun ; but its laudable design is to perpetu
ate the fame of men in the ranks as well as of their gal
lant officers. Our grateful tribute is due to the men who
marched barefoot in homespun, as well as to their breth
ren in blue and buff, or decked it may be with the sim
ple insignia of knotted ribbons or bits of gold lace.
On a certain occasion, while a guest at the Interna
tional Hotel in Halifax, a citizen of that place paid me
his respects because he had noticed that I was registered
from Connecticut. He was a man of aristocratic bearing
and a patronizing air. He told me that his grandfather
came to Halifax from Connecticut, by the way of Boston.
"Was it in March, 1776?" "Yes, sir, I think it was."
" Well," said I, with a justifiable ancestral pride, " my
grandfather was at that time on Dorchester Heights, and
helped your grandfather go ! " The reply was taken in
good part, and the grandsons of tory and patriot kept the
peace better than their sires.
Roger Hovey, the revolutionary soldier whose name I
flung in the face of that haughty Haligonian, was but an
obscure, russet-clad, barefooted blacksmith of Mansfield,
whose story of hardship and success was never told until
now before a larger audience than might gather around a
farmer's fireside. He was simply a type of the men in
the ranks. If Cincinnatus was doubly honored for twice
leaving his plow to defend old Rome, why should not
at least this brief and only tribute be paid to the young
blacksmith, who twice left his anvil and forge to fight for
American independence ? His sole wealth was his ham
mer, his strong right arm, and his patriotic heart — yet it
was a precious offering laid on his country's altar. He
was but a specimen of the thousands whose lives were
uneventful except as showing the spirit and vigor of the
volunteers without whom victory could never have been
won. Like his comrades, he returned at once to his
peaceful trade. The continental money received as
wages went for iron to be used in shoeing oxen, making

41
andirons, snuffers, and other useful things ; the culmina
tion being reached when, as blacksmith of the Hanover
colony, he had the honor of making the iron-work for
Dartmouth College. [Applause.]
Those men whose very names were hardly deemed
worth retaining in the imperfect record of the times, this
society has diligently sought out, that they might be
written anew in letters of gold. They fought not for
fame, but fame shall be theirs ! Few can realize the
hardships that were .encountered by those brave men who
followed the fife and drum from Mansfield and Durham,
Guilford and Enfield, Fairfield and Windham, and the
other towns of Connecticut, as well as from its cities.
Their very spirit of liberty, as shown in the non-importa
tion agreement, made it hard for them to obtain suitable
clothing, tools, weapons, or ammunition. They trod their
wintry path through matted thickets of laurel and bram
ble, with no bridges across the swollen streams, with few
tents to shelter them at nightfall, with no adequate com
missary department until it was created to meet their
urgent necessities. When, with others, led by Putnam
and Gridley, they laid out noble lines of siege twelve
miles in compass around Boston, amid whose streets the
insolent British soldiery made their grand military dis
plays, they had, according to General Washington's report,
powder enough for only nine cartridges apiece ; and yet
they held their ground for six months, within musket
shot of twenty British regiments from whom they success
fully concealed their desperate condition. Well might
Washington say, in writing to Congress : " It is not in the
pages of history to furnish a case Hke ours!" [Applause.]
Our men were eager for the fight, and as my grand
father used to say, "it was quite a downfall for them to
be told to take their axes and cut bean-poles." And their
natural comment was, "We could have done that at
home." But they obeyed orders, and vast quantities of
poles were bound in bundles and stacked against the old
Roxbury church, until, on the eventful night of the 4th
of March, 1776, 300 wagons were loaded with those des
pised bean-poles, under a guard of 1,200 men, with 800

42
sappers and miners, and carried over to Dorchester
Heights, which by daybreak bristled with an impregnable
fortification, of which the fascines of bean-poles formed
the foundation. The result was historic ; and when in
due time the British fleet sailed with thousands of red
coats from Boston for Halifax, that miracle was wrought
by the blacksmiths, farmers, and mechanics of the colo
nies, the men in the ranks, whose heroism we commemo
rate to-day ! [Applause.]
The "blue blood" we boast of ran in the veins of
just such colonial gentlemen ; and the hour is ripe for a
new and peaceful revolution that shall rekindle reverence
for honest, robust industry, whose fruit is worth more
than aught that can be won by the soft hand of luxury.
The visitor at the Louvre may see the anvil on which
Louis XVI, king of France, pounded iron, -that his arms
might be strong to govern an empire. Recognize the
true dignity of labor ; for when emergencies arise, the
monarchs that rule America are yet, as of yore, the men
in the ranks. [Great applause.]
" Our Revolutionary Mothers."
Mr. Robinson said : This sentiment will be spoken
to by our clerical friend, who, as a member of our
committee, has contributed very much to the brilliant
success of this banquet. Let me introduce to you the
Rev. William DeLoss Love of this city.
rev. MR. love's address.
The 22d of February, by a singular coincidence, was
the Feralia of the ancient Romans. On that day they
were accustomed to make offerings of food on the tombs
of their heroic ancestors. We have kept that festival to
day. But I remember that the Dardan hero in the .^Eneid,
when he went with Acestes, of the snow-white locks, and
the young Ascanius, to pour wine and milk and the
sacred gore on the tomb of Anchises, is said to have
' '  -wreathed his brow
With his maternal mjTtle-bough.''

43
The heroes of the Revolution wear the garlands which
their wives, sisters, and mothers twined. At the close of
the Revolution, when Washington was on his way, in
1789, from Mount Vernon to New York, he was met at
Trenton by the ladies of the town, who gave him an in
spiring welcome. We are told that the place they had
selected was the bridge crossing the creek where the
American troops had made a stand, thus arresting the
British troops on the eve of the battle of Princeton.
Over the bridge was a triumphal arch, supported by
thirteen pillars, and decorated with laurel and flowers.
And here he was welcomed by a company of matrons,
leading their fair daughters, dressed in white, who sang
in chorus, " Virgins fair and matrons grave.
Those thy conquering arms did save.
Build for thee triumphal bo-wers.
Strew ye fair his way -with flo-wers.
Strew your hero's way -with flowers.''
Then they scattered April blossoms in his path.
Washington afterwards said of that moment, that he
experienced "exquisite sensations." Well, most any gen
tleman would. Is there anybody here, in the presence of
this company of the daughters of the Revolution, who
have strewn our way with flowers, that does not experi
ence " exquisite sensations " ? If there is, let him keep
still about it. [Laughter.]
You may remember that Burgoyne .made his boast
when he came to America that he would " dance with
the American ladies, and coax the men into submission,"
but he soon found they didn't dance his step. From what
I have read of his allies, I presume he danced the "ger-
man," but he learned the French lanciers before he went
home. He has only half read history, who supposed that the
revolutionary spirit was first kindled by the alarm from
Lexington. The rights and privileges of the American
Colonies had been the household gods of our fathers for
a century and a half. The generations that had loved
old England had passed away. Love for this new coun-

44
try, redeemed from the wilderness, had grown up from
the talk about their hospitable firesides. The mothers
had, half unconsciously, nourished the spirit of indepen
dence. No vvrar of modern times asked so much from
the women at its very outset as did the Revolution. It
demanded the renunciation of foreign articles of dress.
The mothers brought out the spinning-wheel. They re
called the glory of Solomon's virtuous woman, " She
layeth her hands to the spindle, her hands hold the dis
taff." The homespun bleaching in the door-yard told the
patriotic sentiments of the household. Ladies of wealth
wore dresses of their own manufacture, flax of their
planting, wool from their flocks. In an address "to the
Ladies," issued in March, 1775, ^^^ published in the
Courant, written by one "Philanthropist," who might
have been Brother Jonathan, it was said "upon your
vigilance, fortitude, and resolution, our political salvation
in a good measure depends," and, they were urged to
"forsake the dressing-room" and lay by their "foibles
and gewgaws." What their particular "gewgaws" were
in those days we are not informed. It is probably none
of our business. But it is a fact that they came, bringing
their rings and jewels as an offering for liberty, as those
in that " strange land and time " of whom the poet Tay
lor sings, who cast their gold and silver into the furnace
to found the bell of freedom.
The women were called upon, as you know, to abjure
the use of tea. They did so everywhere. The ist of
March, 1775, was the day for this article of the non-con
sumption agreement to go into effect. Some time before
an enterprising shop-keeper of Wethersfield prefaced his
advertisement in the Courant with this rhyme : —
Fair ladies, 'tis not very arch
To talk of the first of March,
That woful day, -when each of ye
Must leave your darling Nectar Tea.
Yo-ur china, -which delights the eye.
Like lumber must neglected lie.
And dearest Tea-kettle's harder lot
Must change him to a Porridge Pot.

45
On that day the ladies in all patriotism "swore off."
In a New Haven newspaper it is related that the ladies
of Fair Haven visited the minister on the last day of
February, and, having presented the minister's wife with
109 skeins of well-spun linen, and having drank tea, as
is usual on such occasions, they unanimously voted to
"drink no more of that pernicious weed." By the by.
perhaps that is the origin of the custom which, I under
stand, has prevailed in the neighborhood since of getting
drunk and then singing, "We won't get drunk anymore."
Among those most patriotic in New Haven were
Madam Wooster and Mrs. Roger Sherman, who, on the
celebration of peace, presented the troops with a flag
beautifully wrought. It has been said that it was made
of their own silk dresses, and that the coat-of-arms painted
on its azure field was taken from the Philadelphia Bible
— then read in the town, and so they unfurled the arms
of Penn. But that is not true. I do not mean to say of
my native town that they did not read the Bible in those
days, but they knew the difference between the insignia of
this colony and a Bible plate.
There was not a town in the land that did not cherish
the example of our revolutionary mothers.
What son of old Litchfield is here who has not heard
of the leaden equestrian statue of King George which es
corted Oliver Wolcott from its pedestal in the green of
New York, and was housed in his orchard until it was
melted by the Wolcott ladies and their friends into bullets.
Laura and Marianie Wolcott were no less patriotic and
inteUigent than fair ; the latter, " one of the most distin
guished beauties of her time." Who is here whose sire
fell in the massacre of Groton, who has not heard of the
tender mission of Anna Warner to the dying soldier, and
enshrined in his memory the devotion of the Ledyard
ladies searching that bloody field by the dim light of the
morning? Where is the form that stands out in the
heroism of those days that did not receive an inspiration
from a gentle form now vanished in the mist?
When the ashes of our Joel Barlow shall have been
brought from their icy tomb in Poland to rest in the

46
warm bosom of the land he loved, then let the name and
virtues of his sister-in-law be brought to mirid whose
spirit moved unseen in the lines of the Columbiad and
who won the admiration of Israel Putnam. Read the life
of John Adams in the letters of his noble wife, .Abigail
Smith, in whom purity and loyalty dwelt sweetly together
like the fragrance and color in the flowers, and who wrote
with the savor of a Cromwell, while the guns of Bunker
Plill were sounding afar, " The God of Israel is He who
giveth strength to His people."
When the thrilling scenes of the Revolution shall
become familiar to the Sons, we shall see the interior of
the old meeting-house at Lebanon, galleried round, set
with its ancient pews, its pulpit raised aloft, and before
its altar the noble form of Faith Trumbull laying there
her scarlet cloak, the gift of Rochambeau, to be torn in
shreds to stripe the homespun of the Continental soldier,
who could but fight like Launcelot, wearing the sleeve
of the fair "Maid of Astolat."
And when the daughters of the Revolution shall rear
that most fitting testimonial to " our revolutionary moth
ers," and wipe out what one of their number has called
our " disgrace a century old," then they will consecrate
in the tomb of Mary, " The mother of Washington," an
imperishable memorial to the heroines of this land, and I
know of no words more fitting to inscribe there than
those of Lafayette, " She belonged to the age of Sparta."
Mr. Batterson's Address.
The Hon. James G. Batterson, of Hartford, was
called upon to respond to the concluding toast, " Israel
Putnam." Mr. Robinson spoke of Mr. Batterson as a
noble type of Connecticut industry, culture, and success,
whom I hope yet to see as a Connecticut governor.
Mr. Batterson said : —
In this progressive age there is a reason for every
thing, and there is, therefore, a reason for the fact that
I am a son of the Revolution. It is owing entirely
to the circumstances that in revolutionary days there

47
were 31,000 mothers doing patriotic duty in Connecticut,
and only 15,000 in the State of New York. That settled
the question for me ; for, as the chances of becoming a
member of this society were so much better in Connecti
cut, I concluded to be born here, and as that is the best
point I have to make, I make it first. I am not going to
make a speech, and that is riiy second best point ; but as
a citizen of Hartford, and one of the youngest sons of
the Revolution, I desire to express my grateful acknowl
edgments to our distinguished guests from other States
and cities who have honored us by their presence and
with kindly words, so fitly and eloquently spoken.
It is a significant fact that the young men from the
hills and valleys of New England, who were born of
revolutionary stock, and who in early life sought larger
fields of action in the far West, have generally been heard
from, but never lost.
Sooner or later they all come back to the scenes
of their childhood, only to find that their successes and
their honors have come before them, and that there is a
remnant of the old stock waiting to give them a right-
handed welcome to warm hearts and cheerful firesides.
The old-fashioned firesides, however, I am sorry to
say, have been nearly abolished by the furnace in the
cellar, or that still more hideous contrivance, the stove in
the parlor, both of which contribute more to the revenues
of the doctor and the gravestone maker than they would
gain by an annual visitation of the "grippe."
Some of us can remember the song and the cheer of
the back-log, when a winter's evening at home was more
enjoyable and more profitable than an evening now spent
at the club.
The back-log has gone ; peace to its ashes : but the
kindly hearts have not been displaced, and they are still
inspired by the same emotions as they were in the days
gone by.
We are glad to see the old blood come back to us,
for a Hve Yankee must go away from home as soon as
he gets his first pair of boots, especially if he wants to

48
get rich. He knows full well by that time that he can
never gain riches by swapping jack-knives among the
Yankee boys in his own neighborhood.
We would like to see more of them come back, and
come to stay and bring their riches with them, and,
among other good things, help to pay our taxes, which,
in these days, are getting to be a Httle burdensome.
As an inducement to return we offer them all the
privileges which were sought for by our revolutionary
sires, especially freedom to worship God ; and, as an ad
ditional inducement, we desire them to take particular
notice that Vv^e are now engaged in the good work of
revising the hard words out of all the old-fashioned
creeds, so that our good old Bible is quite likely to be
come one of the most interesting books in the world. In
very truth, it does seem that when our new creed is
finished we shall be able to make it very comfortable for
everybody, both here and hereafter.
I have received a very polite notice that I am expected
to say something about General Putnam ; just a few words,
taking not more than five minutes ; just enough to me
morialize the principal events of his Hfe, including the
French and Indian war, and a concise history of the Ameri
can Revolution. I was not to forget his statue on Bushnell
Park, nor the equestrian monument at Brooklyn, nor the
old gravestone at the State House, nor the wolf story at
Pomfret. Immediately after receiving this notice I sent for the
printed oration of our genial toastmaster, which he de
livered at the dedication of the Brooklyn monument,
intending to read that classic, on this occasion, as the
highest compliment which could be paid both to Putnam
and his silver-tongued orator. But some kleptomaniac
carried it off, and my designs were frustrated. As I
remember it, however, the orator went on to say that
the American Revolution was really a " big thing," and
that General Putnam was not only a principal factor, but
the prominent type of that unflinching zeal and heroic
courage which made the Revolution successful.

49
He said also that Putnam was a man of great per
sonal resources, but as a military captain he was not
strictly orthodox. His rules of warfare had more excep
tions than could be found in the manual, but all the
same our orator said that "he got there," or words to that
effect. He told us how Putnam captured a French war
schooner of twelve guns on the St. Lawrence River,
when he was a loyal subject of the British crown, a fev/
years before the Revolution. The British General, Am
herst, said to Putnam that he "wished there was some
way of taking that infernal schooner, for then he could
take the fort." "All right," said Putnam, "give me a
mallet and some wedges and I will take her for you." The
wedges were supplied, and Putnam was authorized to
proceed without interference. Taking a small boat -with
muffled oars and half a dozen men, he rowed under the
schooner's stern in the night, and drove his wedges be
tween the stern-post and the rudder so that the helm
was unmanageable. He then cut the hempen cable and
rowed quietly away. Before moming the helpless schooner
drifted ashore and struck her colors. By this device both
vessel and the fort were captured ; but the enemy de
clared that it was a mean Yankee trick, entirely contrary
to the rules of war, and they wanted to play it over.
Possibly you may not find anything of this sort in the
oration from which I have been quoting. All I can say
to that is, if it is not there, then I must have found it
elsewhere. Senator Wolcott has told us soinething about Colorado,
but he did not tell you a good story of an incident
during the senatorial canvass which resulted in his
election. There were several citizens of the Rocky Mountain
State who thought their qualifications and their money
entitled them to the honor. One of these had his hench
man scouring the State to secure votes. Reporting prog
ress on one occasion the henchman found his principal
at a neighbor's house and in company. Being uncertain

50
as to the propriety of talking business before strangers,
he picked up a copy of Robert Elsmere which lay on
the table and commenced by saying, " Senator T., what
do you think of Robert Elsmere ? " To this the would-
be senator replied : ' Oh, he's no good, that Yankee
Wolcott bought him up three months ago." [Applause.]

MEinBERS, FEB. 22, 1 590.

AUen, B. Ro-wland .
Allen, Charles Dexter
AUen, Jeremiah M.
Babcock, Cortland G.
Bacon, William T. .
Barnes, Trescott C.
Bartram, Isaac N. .
Bates, Albert Carlos
Batterson, James G.
Beach, George Watson
Beach, Henry Ledlie
Belcher, WiUiam
Belden, Joshua
Belknap, Leverett .
Benedict, Samuel N.
Bid-weU, Charles M.
Bid-well, Jasper H. .
Bigelow, George W.
Bigelo-w, Hobart B.
Bishop, Joseph
BisseU, Thomas H.
Boardman, WiUiam F. J.
Bond, Frank S.
Bond, Henry R.
Brainard, A-ustin
Brainard, Leverett .
Brayton, Charles Erskine
Bronson, Henry Trumbull
Brooks, Isaac W. .
Brooks, John W.
Bro-wn, Freeman M.
Bro-wne, John D. .
Bryant, Thomas WaUace
Bulkeley, Stephen .
BuU, WiUiam L. .
Burbank, James B.
Burro-ws, Wilbur Fiske
Burrows, WiUiam H.

Hartford, Conn.

Stonington, Conn.
Hartford, "
CoUins-ville, "
Sharon, "
East Granby, "
Hartford, "

New London, "
Ne-wington, Hartford, ti tt
East Hartford,
Canton, New Haven, "
West Hartford, "
Hartford, "
It ((
New York City, N. Y.
New London, Conn.
Hartford, "
t( (<
Stonington, "
New York City, N. Y.
Torrington, Conn.
Hartford, II It
Torrington, "
Wethersfield, "
New York City, N. Y.
Hartford, Conn.
Middletown, "

52

y

Calef, Arthur B. Jr.
Calef , Samuel P.
Calef, Thomas
Canfield, Samuel D.
Carroll, Adams P. .
Case, Newton
Catlin, Abijah Jr.
Chandler, William E.
Chaney, Charles Frederic
Chapin, Charles E. .
Chapin, James Henry
Chapman, Henry A.
Chappell, Alfred Hebard
ChappeU, Frank Huntington
Cheney, Charles
Cheney, Frank W. .
Cheney, Knight D.
Chew, J. La-wrence
Clark, Charles Hopkins
*Clark, David
Cofan, Arthur D. .
Cole, Charles J.
Comstock, W. H. H.
Conant, George Albert
Cooley, Francis R. .
Cornwall, Henry A.
Cornwall, Horace .
Cothren, WiUiam
Countryman, Rev. Franklin
Countryman, WiUiam A.
Cowles, Edwin Stephen
Cowles, Frank
Cowles, Samuel W.
Cofi, George D. .
Crump, John G.
Cutler, Ralph WilUam
Deming, Lucius Parmen
Dewell, James Dudley
Douglas, Benjamin
Dunham, Ralph Clark
Dunham, Sylvester Clark
Easterbrook, Nathan Jr.
Edmondaf, John Du Casse
EUis, Benjamin F. .

Middletown, Conn.
Bridgeport,
Woodbridge, "
Norwich, "
Hartford, "
New Haven, "
New London, "
Hartford,Meriden, ' '
Hartford,New London, "
(( ((
So. Manchester, "

New London,
Hartford, ((
Windsor Locks,
Hartford,
New London,
WilUmantic, Hartford,
Portland, Hartford,Woodbury,
North Branford,
Hartford,

Norwich, "
New London, "
Hartford,
New Haven, Conn.
Middleto-wn, "
New Britain, "
Hartford, "
New Haven, Conn.
Leavenworth, Kansas.
liartford. Conn.

* Deceased.

53

EUis, George
EUsworth, Pinckney W.
Elmore, Samuel E.
Eno, Richard B.
Farnham, Elias B. .
Farnsworth, C. B. .
Farnsworth, Frederic
Felt, Levi L.
Penn, John Roberts
Fenn, Linus T.
Fitts, Henry E.
Foster, Frederic Rose Jr.
Foster, PubUus D. .
Franklin, WUliam B.
Gay, Erastus
Gay, Frank Butler .
Giddings, Howard A.
GUlette, Albert B. .
Goodrich, EUzur S. .
Goodrich, WiUiam Henry
Goodwin, Rev. Francis
Goodwin, George H.
Good-win, James Junius
Granniss, Andrew Jared
Grant, James Monroe
Grant, RosweU
Greene, Jacob L.
Griswold, Roger Mervin
Griswold, Rufus White
Gross, Charles Edward
Gross, WiUiam H. .
Halsey, Jeremiah .
Hammond, Rev. Ed-win Payson
Harrison, Henry B.
Hart, Artemas Elijah
Hart, Charles E. .
Hart, FrankUn H. .
Hart, Frederic J. .
Hawley, EUas S. .
Hayden, Jabez Haskel
Hayden, Nathaniel W.
Heaton, John Edward
Hendee, Edward D-wight
Herrington, Alfred G.

Hartford, Conn.

Simsbury, "
Hartford, Conn.
Norwich, New London,
Hartford,
West Hartford,
((
Hartford,
KUlingly, Hartford,
Farmington, Conn.
Hartford,

East Haven, "
Hartford,E. Windsor HiU, "
Hartford, "
Portland, "
Rocky HUl,
Hartford, "

Nor-wich, Conn.
Hartford, "
New Haven, "
Hartford,
New Haven, "

Buffalo, N. Y.
Windsor Locks,
Hartford,
New Haven,
Hartford,

54

Hills, J. CooUdge .
HiUyer, Drayton
Hitchcock, Henry P.
Holbrook, Supply T.
Holcombe, John M.
HoUister, John C. .
Holmes, Joseph
Hooker, Edward Beecher
Hooker, Edward W.
Hotchkiss, George L.
Hotchkiss, Hobart L.
Hotchkiss, Orrin W. '
Hotchkiss, Samuel M.
Hovey, Rev. Horace C.
Hubbard, George A.
*Hubbard, Stephen A.
Hubbard, Walter B.
Huntington, Harwood
Huntington, Rev. John Taylor
Huntington, Robert W. Jr.
Huntington, Roscoe'
Hyde, WilUam Waldo
Jackson, Edwin Thorne
Johnson, Charles C.
Johnson, Charles F.
Johnson, John M. .
Jones, Henry R.
Judson, Stiles
Kellogg, Allyn Stanley
Kellogg, Henry L. .
KeUogg, Henry L. Jr.
Kellogg, John P.
Kellogg, Stephen W.
Kinney, John Coddington
Kirkham, John S. .
Kissam, Daniel W. .
Knight, William Ward
Lacey, Rowland Bradley
Lanman, William C.
Lee, Thomas G.
Lee, WiUiam Henry
Lee, William Wallace
Lewis, Alonzo Norton

Hartford, Conn.

Norwich, Hartford,
New Haven,
Norwich, Hartford,
South Meriden,
New Haven,
Saugatuck, Hartford,
Bridgeport,
New Haven,
Hartford,Middleto-wn, Hartford,

Norwich, "
Hartford, ' '
Middletown, Conn.
Norwich, Hartford,
Nor-wich,New Haven,
Stratford, Hartford, Conn.
Newington, "
Waterbury, "
Hartford, "
Ne-wington, "
Bridgeport, "
Hartford, "
Bridgeport, Conn.
Norwich, New Haven, "
New York City, N. Y.
Meriden, Conn.
Westport, "

* Deceased.

55

Le-wis, John B.
Le-wis, WiUiam J. .
Lincoln, Charles P.
Lincoln, Frederic Miles
Lincoln, George F.
Lincoln, George S. .
Lincoln, Theodore M.
Linsley, Solomon Fowler
Lockwood, David Benjamin
Love, ReV. William DeLoss Jr.

McManus, Alonzo .
Matson, WUliam L.
MaxweU, Francis T.
MaxweU, George
MaxweU, Robert
Maxwell, William .
May, James O.
Merrill, Augustus , .
Merwin, Samuel E.
Metcalf, Charles
Middlebrook, Louis N.
Morgan, Henry C. .
Morgan, James Henry
Morgan, Lewis Lyman
Morgan, WUliam Denison
Morgan, WiUiam Edwin
Morris, John Emory
Morris, Jonathan Flynt
Morse, George N. .
Munson, Byron W. .
Nelson, Robert W. .
Newcombe, George F.
Nichols, Stephen .
Noyes, Franklin Babcock
Ohnstead, Albert H.
Orcutt, Samuel
Palmer, Henry Robinson
Palmer, Ira Hart .
Parmele, George L.
Parker, John F.
Parker, Timothy .
Parker, WUliam Brewster
Peame, Wesley Ulysses

Hartford,

Conn.

North Haven,
Bridgeport, Hartford,
New Britain,
Hartford,
Rock-villa,

Conn.

Naugatuck,

Cheshire,

New Haven,

Rockville,

Bridgeport,
Colchester,
New York City, N. Y
New Haven,
Conn.
Hartford,
"
New Haven,
"
Hartford,
"
Meriden,
..
Darien,
t(
Hartford,
Conn.
New Haven,
n
Bridgeport,
il
Stonington,
tl
Hartford,
Conn.
Bridgeport,
If
Stonington,
Conn.
Hartford,
n
Norwich,
ll
It
Middletown,
il
56

Pelton, Charles Abner
Phelps, Alfred W. .
Phelps, Jeffery O. .
Phelps, Jeffery O. Jr.
Phelps, RosweU H.
Pierpont, WiUiam H.
Pond, DeWitt C.
Pond, William Clinton
Porter, John Addison
Pulsifer, Nathan Trowbridge
Quintard, Henry H.
Raymond, George C.
Rembert, John R. .
Ripley, J. Francis .
Ripley, WiUiam Lewis
Robbins, Edward D.
Robbins, Philemon Wadsworth
Robinson, Henry C.
Robinson, Henry Seymour
Robinson, Lucius F.
Root, Judson H.
Russell, Charles H.
Sage, John H.
SaltonstaU, Henry L.
Seymour, Frederic A.
Seymour, George Dudley .
Shepherd, Carroll Sylvanus
Shew, Jacob W.
Shipman, Nathaniel
SiU, George Elliott .
Sai, George G.
Skinner, WiUiam C.
Slade, Lucius Myron
Slate, Dwight
Spencer, Frederic A.
Spencer, George F.
Stagg, Henry P.
Stanley, WiUiam M.
Starr, Frank Farnsworth .
Stedman, John WoodhuU .
Stillman, Henry Allyn
Strong, Edward D.
Strong, Horace H. .

Middleto-wn, Conn.
New Haven, "
Simsbury, "
Hartford,East Granby, "
New Haven, "
Hartford,

Manchester, Hartford,
Norwich, New Haven,
Hartford,
Wethersfield, Hartford,

Conn.Conn.

Portland,Hartford,
West Hartford,
Bristol,
West Haven,
Hartford,

Bridgeport,
Hartford, Waterbury,
Deep River,
Stratford, East Hartford,
Middletown,
Hartford,
Portland, New Haven,

Conn.

57

Swartwout, John Henry
Swift, Tallmadge .
Taintor, James Ulysses
Taylor, Henry W. .
Taylor, James Palmer
Taylor, Samuel
Taylor, Thomas P.
Thorpe, Sheldon Brainard .
Trumbull, Jonathan
Tyler, Augustus Cleveland
*Tyler, Sylvanus .
Van Douraoy, William Walter
Wadsworth, Edward
Wait, John Turner .
Weaver, Thomas Snell
WeUes, Edwin
Whaples, Meigs Hey-wood .
Wheeler, Robert Brown
Whiting, Charles B.
Whiting, Ezra
Whittlesey, Herman A.
Wilcoxson, Albert .
WiUiams, Ephraim .
Williams, George .
Williams, George C. F.
Williamson, Randolph Washington
Wiley, WilUam H. .
Woodward, Henry .
Woodward, Joseph Gurley
Wooster, Henry R.
Wright, William A.

Stamford, Conn.
Warren, "
Hartford, Conn.

Bridgeport, "
North Haven, "
Nor-wich, "
New London, "
Essex, "
Middleto-wn, Corm.

Hartford,
Nor-wich,Hartford, Newington, Hartford,

Stratford,
Ne-wington, Stratford,
Stonington,Hartford,

Middletown,
Hartford, Deep River,
New Haven,

Conn.

* Deceased.

3 9002 08561 1227

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