rose up. and waited everywhere. In the most dis-nent. I see these villages become wealthy tant hamlet beyond the mountains, in the cities; these colonies, great States; the Union lonely cabin by the sea, eyes were turned to we are about to found, a power among the this place with anxious longing; and yonder, nations; and I know that future generations in the North, the brave town lay patient in shall rise up and call us blessed." her chains, resting her hopes for deliverance Such might have been his thoughts as upon them. And not Boston only, nor these founders of an empire sat for a while Massachusetts, depended upon them the silent, face to face. It was the stillness of fate of humanity for generations was to be the last hour of night before the morning affected by their acts. Perhaps in the still- breaks; it was the quiet which precedes the ness of this morning hour there came to storm. some of them a vision of the time to come. Suddenly, in some part of this hall, a man Perhaps to him on whose great heart was His form was tall and angular, destined so long to lie the weight of all and his short wig and coat of black gave America it was permitted to look beyond him the appearance of a clergyman. His the present hour, like that great leader of an complexion was swarthy, his nose long and earlier race when he stood silent upon a peak straight, his mouth large, but with a firm in Moab and overlooked the Promised Land. expression on the thin lips, and his forehead Like him, he was to be the chosen of his exceptionally high. The most remarkable people; like him, soldier, lawgiver, states- feature of his face was a pair of deep-set man; like him, he was destined to lead his eyes of piercing brilliancy, changing so conbrethren through the wilderness, and, hap- stantly with the emotions which they expier than he, was to behold the fulfilment of pressed that none could tell the color of his labor. Perhaps, as he sat here in the them. He began to speak in a hesitating solemn stillness that fell upon this company, manner, faltering through the opening senhe may have seen in imagination the wonders tences, as if fully convinced of the inability of the century that is complete to-day. If he had spoken, might he not have said: "I see a winter of trouble and distress, and then the smoke of cannon in the North. I see long years of suffering to be borne our cities sacked, our fields laid waste, our hearts made desolate; men trudging heavily through blood-stained snow, and wailing women refusing to be comforted. I see a time of danger and defeat, and then a day of victory. I see this people, virtuous and free, founding a government on the rights of man. that government grown strong, that people prosperous, pushing its way across a conti I see which he expressed-to do justice to his theme. But presently, as he reviewed the wrongs of the colonies through the past ten years, his cheek glowed, and his eye flashed fire, and his voice rang out rich and full like a trumpet through this hall. He seemed not to speak like mortal man, thought one who heard him ten years before in the Virginia House of Burgesses; and a recent essayist in a leading English review has spoken of him as one of the greatest orators that ever lived. There was no report made of his speech that day, but from the notes Essays, by A. Hayward, Esq., Q. C, 3d series, p. 50. which John Adams kept of the debate we may learn what line of argument he took. He spoke of the attacks made upon America by the king and ministry of Great Britain, counselled a union in the general defence, and predicted that future generations would quote the proceedings of this Congress with applause. A step in advance of his time, as he had ever been, he went far beyond the spirit of the other delegates, who, with the exception of the Adamses and Gadsden, did not counsel or desire independence. "An entire new government must be founded," was his This is the first in a neverending succession of Congresses," his prophecy. And, gathering up, as it was the gift of his genius to do, the thought that was foremost in every mind about him, he spoke it, in a single phrase: "British oppression has effaced the boundaries of the several colonies: I am not a Virginian, but an American." cry; 66 My countrymen, we cannot exaggerate the debt we owe this man. The strength of his intellect, the fervor of his eloquence, the eloquence, the earnestness of his patriotism and the courage of his heart placed him in the front rank of those early patriots, and he stands among them the model of a more than Roman virtue. His eloquence was one of the chief forces of the American Revolution, as necessary to that great cause as the intelligence of Franklin, the will of Samuel Adams, the pen of Thomas Jefferson or the sword of Washington. In such times of a nation's trial there is always one voice which speaks for all. It echoes the spirit of the age-proud or defiant, glad or mournful, now raised in triumph, now lifted up in lamentation. in lamentation. Greece stood on the Bema with Demosthenes; indignant Rome thundered against Catiline with the tongue of Cicero; the proud eloquence of Chatham rang out the triumphs of the English name; and France stood still to hear her Mirabeau. Ireland herself pleaded for liberty when Henry Grattan spoke, and the voice of Patrick Henry was the voice of America struggling to be free. Rest in peace, pure and patriotic heart! Thy work is finished and thy fame secure. Dead for three-quarters of a century, thou art still speaking to the sons of men. Through all descending time thy countrymen shall repeat thy glowing words, and, as the pages of their greatest bard kept strong the virtue of the Grecian youth, so from the grave shalt thou, who "spoke as Homer wrote," inspire in the hearts of men to be that love of liberty which filled thine own. Great as were at first the differences of interest and opinion among the members of the Congress of 1774, there were none which their patriotic spirits could not reconcile. It was the salvation of the Americans that they had chosen for their counsellors men who believed, with Thomas Jefferson, that "the whole art of government consists in the art of being honest," and who were enthusiastic lovers of their country. No matter how strong had been their individual opinions, or how dear the separate interests involved, there seemed to these men no sacrifice too great to make for the common cause. As the debates progressed different views were reconciled and pet theories sacrificed to the general judgment. Day after day they became more united, and confidence increased. "This," wrote John Adams on the 17th of Septem*Memoir of Thomas Jefferson, vol. i. p. 3. +Ibid., p. 115. ber. was one of the happiest days of my life. In Congress we had noble sentiments and manly eloquence. This day convinced me that America will support the Massachusetts or perish with her."* After a full and free discussion, in which the subject was considered in all its aspects, it was decided that each colony was entitled to a single vote. By this means the integrity of the provinces was preserved, and out of it grew the theory-so familiar to us-of the sovereignty of the State. It was next agreed upon to rest the rights of the colonies on an historical basis. By this wise determination the appearance of a revolution was avoided, while the fact remained the same. Nor was there a sudden break in the long chain of the nation's history: the change was gradual, not abrupt. The common law of England, under the benign influence of which the young colonies had grown up, remained unchanged; and when, in less than two years, the Declaration of Independence created a new government, the commonwealth quietly took the place of king. The revolution was then complete the struggle which followed was merely to secure it; and the American grew strong with the belief that it was his part to defend, not to attack-to preserve, not to destroy and that he was fighting over again on his own soil the battle for civil liberty which his forefathers had won in England more than a century before. We cannot too highly prize the wisdom which thus shaped the struggle. Having decided these points, the Congress agreed upon a declaration of rights. First, then, they named as natural rights the en * Journal of John Adams, vol. ii. p. 380. joyment of life, liberty and fortune. They next claimed, as British subjects, to be bound by no law to which they had not consented by their chosen representatives (excepting such as might be mutually agreed upon as necessary for the regulation of trade). They denied to Parliament all power of taxation, and vested the right of legislation in their own Assemblies. The common law of England they declared to be their birthright, including the rights of trial by a jury of the vicinage, of public meetings and petition. They protested against the maintenance in the colonies of standing armies without their full consent, and against all legislation by councils depending on the Crown. Having thus proclaimed their rights, they calmly enumerated the various acts which had been passed in derogation of them. These were eleven in number, passed in as many years the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, those which provided for the quartering of the troops, for the supersedure of the New York Legislature, for the trial in Great Britain of offences committed in America, for the regulation of the government of Massachusetts, for the shutting of the port of Boston, and the last straw, known as the Quebec Bill. Their next care was to suggest the remedy. On the 18th of October they adopted the Articles of American Association, the signing of which (on the 20th) should be regarded as the commencement of the American Union. By its provisions, to which they individually and as a body solemnly agreed, they pledged the colonies to an entire commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, and such North American provinces as did not join the As sociation, until the acts of which America mies as our enemies, your interests as our complained were all repealed. In strong language they denounced the slave-trade, and agreed to hold non-intercourse with all who engaged therein. They urged upon their fellow-countrymen the duties of economy, frugality and the development of their own resources; directed the appointment of committees in every town and village to detect and punish all violators of the Association and inform each other from time to time of the condition of affairs; and bound themselves, finally, to carry out the provisions of the Association by the sacred ties of 'virtue, honor and the love of country." 66 Having thus declared their rights, and their fixed determination to defend them, they sought to conciliate their English brethren. In one of the most remarkable state-papers ever written they called upon the people of Great Britain, in a firm but affectionate tone, to consider the cause for which America was contending as one in which the inhabitants of the whole empire was concerned, adroitly reminding them that the power which threatened the liberties of its American might more easily destroy those of its English subjects. They rehearsed the history of their wrongs, and "demanded nothing but to be restored to the condition in which they were in 1763." Appealing at last to the justice of the British nation for a Parliament which should overthrow the "power of a wicked and corrupt ministry," they used these bold and noble words: "Permit us to be as free as your selves, and we shall ever esteem a union with you to be our greatest glory and our greatest happiness; we shall ever be ready to contribute all in our power to the welfare of the empire; we shall consider your ene own. But if you are determined that your ministers shall sport wantonly with the rights of mankind-if neither the voice of justice, the dictates of law, the principles of the constitution nor the suggestions of humanity can restrain your hands from shedding blood in such an impious cause-we must then tell you that we will never submit to be hewers of wood or drawers of water for any ministry or nation in the world." In an address to the people of Quebec they described the despotic tendency of the late change in their government effected by the Quebec Bill, which threatened to deprive them of the blessings to which they were entitled on becoming English subjects, naming particularly the rights of representation, of trial by jury, of liberty of person and habeas corpus, of the tenure of land by easy rents instead of oppressive services, and especially that right so essential "to the advancement of truth, science, art and morality," "to the diffusion of liberal sentiments" and "the promotion of union"-" the freedom of the press." "These are the rights," said they, "without which a people cannot be free and happy," and "which we are, with one mind, resolved never to resign but with our lives.' In conclusion, they urged the Canadians to unite with their fellow-colonists below the St. Lawrence in the measures recommended for the common good. They also prepared letters to the people of St. John's, Nova Scotia, Georgia and East and West Florida, who were not represented in this Congress, asking for their co-operation and support. Nor was anything omitted by these men which could soften the hearts of their oppressors. Declining to petition Parliament, they had addressed themselves to the people, recognizing in them, for the first time, the sovereign power. They now decided to petition the king. In words both humble and respectful they renewed their allegiance to his crown, detailed the injuries inflicted on them by his ministers, and besought his interference in their behalf. "We ask," they said, "but for peace, liberty and safety. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant of any new right in our favor. Your royal authority over us, and our connection with Great Britain, we shall always carefully and zealously endeavor to support and maintain." Solemnly professing that their "counsels were influenced by no other motive than a dread of impending destruction," they earnestly besought their "Most Gracious Sovereign, in the name of his faithful people in America," "for the honor of almighty God," " for his own glory," the interest of his family, and the good and welfare of his kingdom, to suffer not the most sacred "ties to be further violated" in the vain hope of effects" which, even if secured, could "never compensate for the calamities through which they must be gained." 66 There remained now for the Congress but one thing to do—to render to its countrymen an account of its stewardship. In a long letter to their constituents the delegates gave a summary of their proceedings, of the difficulties they had encountered, the opinions they had formed, the policy they had agreed to recommend, and, with a mournful prophecy of the trials that were at hand, urged their fellow-countrymen " to be in all respects prepared for every contingency." Such were, in brief, the memorable statepapers issued by the First Continental Con gress. And, terrible as were the dangers which seemed to threaten them from without, its members were to be subjected to a trial from within. On the 28th of September, Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania submitted to the Congress his famous plan.* A man of talent and address, at one time high in the opinion and confidence of Franklin, he stood at the head of the Pennsylvania delegation. The Speaker of the House of Assembly, he had wielded great influence in the policy of the province. Cold, cautious and at heart a thorough royalist, he determined, if possible, to nip the patriotic movement in the bud. Seconded by Duane of New York, he moved that the Congress should recommend the establishment of a British and American government, to consist of a president-general, appointed by the king, and a Grand Council, to be chosen by the several Legislatures; that the council should have co-ordinate powers with the British House of Commons, either body to originate a a law, but the consent of both to be necessary to its passage; the members of the council to be chosen for three years, the presidentgeneral to hold office at the pleasure of the king. Here, then, was an ingenious trap in the very path of the infant nation. Some men-and good ones, too-fell into it. The project was earnestly supported by Duane. The younger Rutledge thought it "almost perfect," and it met with the warm approbation of the conservative Jay. But wiser men prevailed. The Virginian and Massachusetts members opposed it earnestly. Samuel Adams saw in it the doom of all hope for liberty, and * Vide Tucker's History, vol. i. p. 111; Sabine's American Loyalists, vol. i. p. 309; John Adams's Works, vol. ii. p. 389. |