The New York Herald Newspaper, April 20, 1875, Page 6

per was served at miduight, apa tl ‘With ita crowd and Wealth of ceremony, was over. INGT . L&xInGron, Mass., April 19. With the thermometer at 20 aeg. a cloudless sky ushered in the 19:0 of April, the anniversary Of that “iorious day for America,” one bund years ago, At 5 o'clock the historic town was instincts wi fe at bus tle, and with tve ringing of bella ana booming of cannon the imagination readily recurred to the distunt past, when tue embattled farmers stood upon che green, resolved “if there Must be war it should begin here.” Long be- fore the day, carriages, wagons aud pedestrians began pouring into the town. Booths and ex- temporized restaurants went up on every cor- Ber, and conspicuous mid the patriotic enthu- @iasm of the occasion shone tne national In | @tinct for gain, Ato A. M. | THR WHOLE TOWN WAS ALIVE with moving, busting humanity, and the muster bents, with their gay decorations; fags and Streamers fluttering from every house, presented at once a most cheering and inspiring aspect. The arrangements in every particular were most com- Dleve. The monster tent, in which was tobe served the grand Venteunial dinner, presented a striking appearance. | The tent was 410 feet long and 70 feet wide, with | Becentral wing 160 feet long, with plates for 3,740 | Person. Every seat had been «disposed of this Morning and the most exorbitant prices were asked and oifered by tose who nad and those wi0 | Bad not tickets. The muin tent, in which the ration, unveiling of the statues, &c., was to take Place, was proviced with seats for 4,000 people, | Jet 1 was not large enougd, | THR FIRST TRAIN | from Boston arrives crowded, and from all the | adjoining towns hundreds came swarming to the Beene, The genialrays of au April sun were fast feducing the temperature to a point of enjoy- ment, and every tuing betokened @ splendid aay tnd a gloriously successiul afair at Lexington. Promptly at teo A.M. the ceremouies in the bent began. The immense Pavillon being crowded tOoverfowing and thousands surging about the entrance unable to gain admission, A raw cold Wind prevailed trom the East, rendering it ex- tremely uncomfortable for all and testing the rriotic enthusiasm of the vast multitude to the | ery utmost, The superintendent of the Lowell road tele. graphed to Boston to sell no more tickets for Concord, tbe single track being so biocked up with the immense trains that tt was impossible to transport tiem beyond tbis point, To this fact Lexington i# indebted {or several thousand per- ‘fant of transportation to Concord, THE EXERCISKS im the tent on the Common embraced tne opening Adaress by Thomas M, Stetsou, President of the Day, who spoke as follows:— ADDRESS OF ME. THOMAS MERRIAM STETSON. The President of the day, upon taking the chair, spoke as fvllows:— PELLOW Citizens—It Is a higb privilege for those Of us who derive descent irom the minute men of April 19, 1775, and from kinship as well as Amerti- van citizenship revere their memories, to see the fPand respect paid to these men and their act by wnia mighty concourse today. Farm and iactory, forum and mart, bave sent tue lovers ol their gountry, the lovers of tne ouly irm, concrete, con, Btitational liberty in the world to this little coun- try town to-day to contemplate the magnificent devotion of your ancestors to freedom, lt is Wise to devote these eyciic centenulal days to our whole country, that the sounds of labor be stilled and tuas Vapitol and Court close, and with” pealing masic, waving fags and ringing bells, witn anthem ana with eulogy to gather to tue historic places of America and study the por- tPait huug lorever in tae galleries os natiwnal “glory. And either the real Declaration of Indepen- fence was written gut inthe stately words of the pDaiwn’s seif-grauted rter, or Was pro- Claimed by »ctions that 5 louder yet—by the shouts of rallying patiio’s and the ratie or their Wuskets upou this patric ground. No oetter use Gan be made of the day than to review its circum- Stances, Tecail its voices and rekinale the flame of Patriotism in our hearts, memorial objects Surround us. On the very spot where you sit the roli of Johu Par 8 company was calied. There Jopas Harrington met nis ceath, out in no sive Muod did that warlike soul depart. There Hi John Browa, battling by tne Wounded slov Prince Easterbrook. [he houses around us have Sheir story. From tust one toe minute men fred Gpon the royal troops, and it still holds the bullets returned. In its mber a Britisu geenadier died that d: The ancient monument is by our side, With ita solemn scripture that one of the bigh priests of the Revolution wrote upon It:— Sacred to Liberty and the Kizhts of Mankind, The Freedom and independence of America, Sealed and cefeaded b) the bivod of her sons. Here, here is the piace to recail the virtue and Blory of your heroic ancestors, Atsimal beroum taudes, et fic’ rentis. Jaw legere—et que sit poteris cognoscere Virtus, Citizens of Lexington—You bave mage it my Brateiui duty to extend your weicome to ine Buests who to-day pay tue irivute of their pres- Boce at the old batile ground. No spiendor ot dis-, y HOF glitier or rinse! vf wealth aud power bas ught them irom (he bounds of the wide Unio but they come with tle deep aud proud respe Which all Awerica pays to the spot where ner Aberty was born, On ints fleid all joval jeaiousi 80d diferences cease. The Diood here shed wi for our woole country. New England tren stood (orto jor ali, aud i{ i the broad land over whica Waves the uational flag there are those who mis- QMderstand and misixe her, all antipatnies are 4 stilled at Bunker Hill, at Concord ton. Toour guests pear and far from the swier colonies of tne Old Thorteen, and trom Other,imperial States undreamed of awong the Abilities Of the then suture, we tender @ cor- and respectiul welcome. We weicome ‘be ancient military corporation of Massachuset's, to whose veneravie antiquity Cexington yields prececence in ‘ime; the pumer- jus Fepresentatives here to-day irom the army QBd Davy, ‘rom the Grand Army of the Repubiic, 80d With loving and fiilai Veneration we greet the giver-cgired veterans o! 1812, whose ‘ew remain- forais yet linger to grace our services and Bal- the great days of tie Kepuolie still. We jcome toe juviclary, Whose dignified posl- Bion is so envanced and relieved Wien 4 people is Peady to dght and die jor tne form anu the sub- Stance of law. And bow, that arms have given place to the robes of peace, we weicome tne deegations from the societies and the universities. And We beartily welcome our guests from the Beighooring towns, whose fraternul raiy saved the 10th of April and changed its morning of @loom and horror into juvilant victory, Never Will Lexington jorge: tne timely aid when the @reat Woburn comp:ny under Captain Baidwio Joined Captain Parker’s men in tue aiternoon and Vengeance was taken for the siaugiter of tae morning. Never will Lexington forget the devotion of Danvers, the town where [srac! Putnam was vorn, move citizens, with the “Sword of tue Lord’! aad Of Gideon Foster, with their deacon as toeir head @Dd their mimister for bis lieatenaut, rened mxzteen Miles in jour hours to the siaughter pea Bbthe foot of the rocks. And must we Low aud Benceforth omit to greet the men of "7, Tee fanerai druws have long since heraioed to tue grave the jase survivor of se venerabie forms who sf0 (jong attended Our celebrations; Dut if jt is true ‘hat tne cead @ver revisit the scenes of their eartily grandeur, mvisible auditors turoog around us to-d Adams and Haucock, whose veiled presenc Qpon this platiorm, ure with us. These thus. For tie rewards waich Heaven gi those who strive and die for their country w Conceive uone more magnifivent than toe grate tude oO: a Nation saved to liverty. Ther heaven to-day will be bere. The dead heroes are with as to fF triumptel pagesat. We reverentiy wei come their cumpanionsnip today. Then followed a prayer by the Rev. Mr. West- ott, Lymns by the Boylston Club and the unveil (Bg Of the statues by the Hon. Charles Hudson, Who spoke as follows :— ADDRESS OF CHARLES HUDSON. ery Hation Owes its birth and its preservation @ the gallantry of its soldiers and the wisdom of ite statesmen. Impressed with tuis truth and the Sdligstion it imposes the people of Lexington Bae piaced in their Memorial Hall tue statues o1 tWo suldiers—one a minute man o/ tue Revo\ution, the other @ Union soldier of the late war. In this Way we nave testified our just app: lation of tue military and the value of theirservices. But we feel that our duty is vat haifdoue, We have two fecant niches in our Lali, which we purpose to Oil With the statues of our iliustrious statesmen, in frateiul acknowledgment of their worn, We de- tire that the gallantry of the soldier and (ne wis- fom of the statesman should shed taeir combine Justre in our consecrated hail, and 60 teach t ising generation that the civil and military power are both essential to the preservation of the Repubiic. Nor have we hesitated io the selection of our sudjects Two ames come ‘0 Gs Gnsought We could not | Neither elated vy success nor depressed Ly tem. tons, who were compelled to remain here trom — NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, APRIG 20, 1875—QUADRUPLE SHEET. great day, | overlook the men whose ardent devotion to 300 Spartans marched many weary human rights had excited the wrath of the King, the Ministry and the Royal Governor, These pro- ascribed patriots, known and honored throughout the country, were particularly identified with Lexingtvn and were here on the famons 19tn of April, Retarning irom the Provincial Congress, over woose deliberations one had presided and whose counsela the other bad controlled, they had taken up their anode with their frievd and compeer, Rey, Jonas Clark, whose heart beat in unison WIUD theirs aud whose wisdom and patriot ism made his house a favorite piace of resort to the jeading patriocs of the d Here these dis- tinguished statesmen were sojourning to avoid the threatened seizure and transportation recom- mended by General Gage. Nor was this prompted by mere selfishness. They lived for their country, as their history abundantly shows, The eider of tae two, in the midst of comparative poverty which he might have bartered for boundie weaith, cheerfully devoted the best years of lis lite to the cause of iiberty, and did more to baile the designs of the Ministry and prepare tue colonies for self-government than any otoer man, ile was, in iact, é organizer of the American Kevolution. Fat-seeing and sagacious, he early perceived tne resuls of the controversy and kept THE GREAT END OF COLONIAL INDEPENDENCE constantly in view, But while he labored to in- culca*e the principles Of liberty and equal rights with all Lhe steadiastness of a sturdy oid Puritan be Uad Wisdom tO avold those impracticable ex- tremes ipto whtca many ardent Men are apt to fall. He Kuew thatthe colonies Must ack 1m Wl son; that Massacbusetts, thougao gouded on nearly vo desperation, must bear and forbear tll toe other colonies Were piepared to meet the crisis. He knew that it would ve madness fora single colony to raise the standard ol revolt and at- lempt alone to withstand tne giant power of Great Britain, und so he devoted his best energies to unite the colonies, abd thus make common cause in resisuing oppression. Thougn his ieeungs were ardent, they were restraimed by mis souad judgment, aud tis frm religious piiveiples forever bound Bim to the interestol iis country, Waile be was urging moro moderauon, and ac. tually bolding the people in one section ovack irom overt acts, le used his best efforts in other places (ompiant tue seeds of liberty, aud prepare the people ler the impending struggle. weting his opponents at every polot, he svowed that We #food Upon the broad Uasis oi the kuglso constituuon, aud tuat they were the rebels and the Violators oi the law. When taxation was the theme of controversy, they were told that taxa- Hon Without represch lation Was repuguant tu tue fuudamental principles of Magna Charta. When Woops were seut here to eniorce their arbitrary decrees aud awe the peopie tuto sudiission, they Were told that, by the jupdamenta! law of the ream, tle military must be sudvruinate to tne civil power, and that standing armies in times of peace coulc not be lawlully quarcered among us without the consent of our Legislature, in this Way be deleated the designs of tue Ministry and | laid a firm foundation ior colonial inaependence. Nor sas this 1ufluence confined to his own town or colony. Inevery chauge of affa.rs, in every new scheme Oo! oppression. he was the first to give the alarm una state the true ground Of opposition, and, taking the cue (rom him, ina short time his profound axioms became househcld words in every part of the colonies, He alowed notuing to divert nim (rom iia purpose, porary deleais, be moved steadily onward aud enerally \urned adversity to bis own account. nen others hesitated he was ready jor action, | Wuen others iultered he stood firm and never ap- peated more collected or more truly great tuaa When the storm Was gatherinys or tureatening to burst upoa wis devo'ed head, He met every crisis | with diguity and rose supertor to the Occasion. Trusting in the justice o: Dis cause and leaving upon righteous Providence, when he had taken bis posision he stood collected and frm, immova- bie a8 Mount Atlas, Though storms and tempests thundered on its brow And oceans broke 1n billows at its feet. No wonder that sach @ man, With bis patriotic ken, should, on hearing the Assalliug muskeuy froin tls common on the day we commemorate, excial, “What @ glorious Morulug lor America ds tus 8” THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF SAMUKL ADAMS. [At this point the Vell was removed.) Samuel Adams! The patriut und the sage! There he stands in his murbie firmness anu his marvie purity. Aud who 60 Ut to be associated Witi him a8 bis proserived Companion, tue pener- ous young merchant of Boston, who laid nig prince.y jortune upon the altar of ts country ‘and was ready to ligNt the offering when the pub- lic good shoula require it! He Wes an ardent patriot and unlaitering in bis devotion to the cause of ois country. With a Jortuue and @ posi- on In society Which Would have secured to nim avy place be Would reasunabiy desire, he put ms fortune and bis ail in jeopardy by adhering to the cause of the peupie. Having enlisted under gue banner of freecom v0 man Was mure boid or per- severing to fis efforts, He presided seariessiy over the Provincial Coogress, whose meetings the Royal Governor vad loroidden, He was Chairman of the Committee of Saiety, appointed py tnat Cougress and ciothed with large executive pow- ers, and was, In fact, the Chief Magistra’e o1 the colony and as such the Commanuerein-Unie: of ghe military, and tad power 10 cail them imto the field in any emer- gency. Among otner important positions waien he occupied, he was culied to preside over the Continental Congress—a body of men so re- nowned for prudence, Sagacity and wise states- mansiip 48 to draw irom Lord Chatoam the Bigness eulogium vo the floor o} Parliament, JOHN HANCOCK’S STATUE. But there 1s one eveut in bis lle more interest Ing iu 1tsel/ aud more illustrative of nis character, peroaps, (hau any other, 1 allude to the iact that he (OOK 018 pes and Wrote, in a bDold—I had almost said a defant—hand, ols Bame upon a document which, a the time, in the estimation of thousands, Ws as likely to prove bis death Warrant bis passport to jaime. {At Chis po nt the vell was removed.) ‘hoere is tee G.ure of Joom Hancock, holding in his Mand that immortal seroil woien pro- claimed us an independent nation, bearing his uame, and oy alone, the aMxing of the Other Dames being an aitertuougnt, induced, in some cezree at least, by tne prompt exam- pie o! their presivent. Here, fellow citizens, you have a view of the two distinguished patrivts we delight to honor—patriots wo embody tne zeal, the firmness, t e seli-sacrificing #pirit of tue Kev- olution! Lf they could speak they would kindie in our breasts ap ardent love of liberty, Which Would induce us tu jollow their example and piedge our ives, our foriunes and our sacred honor ty sus- tam the iustitutions they labored to estabusn, But, thank Heaven, they nave spoken and their words have come down to us teeming With patri- otic seli-cevotion. Adams, in the ‘uines# Oi ols heart, in 1774 uses tois eXoressive language :—"1 Would advise perseverance in our strugule for hoerty, though it were revegied irem heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to peris: and only ove in @ thousand survive an ain his lberty, One such person must have more Virtue and enjoy more happiness than & thousand slaves; aod /€¢ Lim propagate his like and transmit to them what be had vobly preserved.” Wits equai ardor and seif-devotion Hancock de- Clared uimseli willing, nay, desirous (tat Boston, Where is large property was situated, should ve attacked and nis property destroyed to promove the weiare of tis country. in an oftictal letter to Wasuingion in December, 1 iniorming nim that Coogress nad given bim authority to attack the Britisn io Boston, if he should deem it ex- dieat, Uancock says, emphatically, i ru ire it, (uough, personaly, | may be the greatess satterer,”” Suco was the spirit of or favorite statesmen, and such toe spirit we should iniuse into our cail- Grea, Upon such principies was our ireedom jognded, and upon such aloue can it be perpet- uated. Hancock «nd Adams! Names (o be held fu everlasting fr ! We bow with reverence in your imaged presence and seem to Tecelve patriotic and ¢evout instraction irom your marble lips RICHARD B. DANA'S ORATION. Bon. Richard A, Daas, dr., delivered tae follo ing oration :— How mysterious is that touch of Fate which gives immortality to & spot of earth—to a name! That vital *park falls upon it and it Gasnes into immor ite, There we count! passes through the Locrian Mountaina, whose sames have perished. The jot feli upon one of them; aod the name of Thermopyla ts as fresu after two my ad years as in the glory’s prime of Greece, 4 the world over is and ever will be, among 1 races and in ail climes, a watchword ior neroie seif-devotion, an electric shock to create a soul of patriot valor ander the ribs of Death. There ere caick studded villages over the piains o| Belgiam unknowa (o fame, and none ies known than Waterivo, whose name on the morn- tng of the 160b of June, 1815, bad oot been heard beyond the sound of its village chimes, By the setting sun Of that day it was to stand forever an appeal of pride and glory to ome great race, while the mere utterance of its syllables stirs to the very depths the resentment and chagrin of another, 80 that ite pli (op buman speech is a standing menace to the peace of Europe. There were many hamiets of New England through which British troops passed and rep do hamiets whose people were no less patriotic and devoted than your owa; but the lot of glory ieli oO Lexington. A few minutes of the dawn of & spriag morning and your nawe was sesled witu the biood of martyrs. It was to be cherished jor- ever in the adectionate memories of the people of @ continent, to be borne on banners above the smoke of butte, inseribed upon the war snips of @ great Nation and proudly carried into every sca, to be adopted in grateiui remembrdnce by hun- drous of ‘owns in ail parts of tas empire; a name Which will ever cry— pattie ones begun a vy Uieeding Fire to sou, baiied ot is ever won, Bat Thermopyi@ afd Waterloo, like many other Dames, OWed their immortality to strangers, Tne h— from the centre of Laconia to defend, agatust the myriads of Asiatic imvaders, those defies fur which the batives Bad Bo thought of contending. It was the accident that the two vast war clouds, charged full with Gallic and british thunders, broke just there, which gave Waterloo what its own uation could never have given it. It was for- eign dint and toreign steel that struck for it the Viial spark. How little have che people of Gettys- burg co do with the consecration of 1ts soil! IP 18 THE PELIO(TY OF LEXINGTON that she was consecrated to the world’s use by the blood of her own sous, The men who fell on this green under the shadow of the village churer, willing martyrs, were mea Lorn and reared here, taught at the village school and from the village pupit, freeholders of your own landa, voters in your own town meetings. organized into the’ mill- tia of your little community. When they stood in line, when they re/used to surrender thelr arms, when they fell beneath tne British volley, it was in sight of mothers, wives and daughters, and that cubalistic Word to all villagers of New Englaud— 0} neighbors. Lt was no chauce confict of foreign or allied armies, and neighboring hands. sixty or seventy iree- holders and voters of Lexington, in their primitive capacity, organized, ner O! their fathers into military array, by au- thority of the town and province, pearing arms by @ right they deemed inal jenuvle birtoright, they stood there ta obedience to the Votce of the people of the town and proy- ince, their hearts, consciences aud understand- lngs fully satisfied and juily instructed, deter. mined not to begin war ina state of legal peace, but resoived, if War must come, if in the provi- dence o| God it was to begin there, 10 meetitin | their own persons, ana, if 1b Was 80 Written, to oe the first to sheu their blood in the common cause, itis one of tne proo!s of the infinite superiority of spirit over matter phat this immortality of a name is nut the accideutal dropping of @ material force. Itis the conscience, the willof man, t clothes with endless lie the spot of earth and forms its syliabies into immortal speech. Tuat spot 18 consecrated to fame or in- famy on which the hnmau spirit has done some great act jor good or evil. And of all the good deeds that men may do for tuetr race, there is noue that speaks to the beart uke voluntary sacri- fice. It 18 not toe blood of Warriors, but the dlood o! martyrs (hat isthe seed of the Church, It 13 written tn the very constitution vi human nature that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of the bonds and penalues which the priue or the justs Of meu pave laid upon even the most innocent, 1t 1s not so mucu the fleld of ever So JUS! 4 battle as itis the block, the scaffold, the burning Jayots, the cross, of voluntary intelli- gent sacrifice, Which speak most effectively to tae heart. Of ali the voices that cull to men Done so SUirs Lhe Soul as the voice of THE BLOOD OF MARTYRS calling !rom the ground. Ana of ail martyrs, 80 itis, hat, whether aiways justly or not, itis tue first martyrs who are lungest known and most wide.y honored. In the first centuries Of the new faith, there were countiess heroes, saints, mar- tyrs aud conie:sors, and armies tought in just and necessary seli-defence. But the worid turns to ove name, tue frst cousecrated and longest re- membered; for he was the irs martyr. He wasa young mau of whum we koow notiimg out that he Was one of seven ordained to the iowest order of the ministry in the Churep ut Jerusalem, The chance came to lim first, and, like ail such chances, il gave ony an opporcunity, A word of retraction, a Gesitation to testity at the instant, and is name Would have died with bia natural deuth, With a brave and willing heart he met tie issue, and jor elgnteen hundred years the until Then UukHOWO Dame of Stepnen Has Leen honored by the dedication of thou-anus of churches aud elapeis uli over Christendow ‘to bis memory; a day in the Chu salendar 18 set apart jor the study of the lesson Of his aeath, and at thus mouient his name 1s borne as & Daptismal des- ignation by no smal percentage o! the human race. Now, ‘ellow citizens, let us never forget that the men of Lexington, on that morning, were martyrs—ioten tionally and inteiligent!y martyrs. Let Us consider this a8pect Ol martyraom a littie mvre closely. That Was @ strange sucht upon waicn the inorning of the 19/0 Of April broke, Sume sixty men oi your militia company, minute meu, stvoa ju line, Under thelr olicers, On tue open Village green. equiyped aod with their joadea muskets in tuelr hands. A lorce of British regulars woicd wes Lweive Umes, «ud was reported to be twenty x their number, Was to pass by, Itwas o ot legal peace throughout the land, The regulars aud the militia were citizens of one empire aod Subjects or & COMMON sovereign. Our miliia had fougnt side by side with Britisa regu- Jars against French reguiars on many a fied, jo.ned in the Same ery O1 batue at Quebec, Ticon- Wer ya, Crown Pot and Loulsuurg and im. the West Indies. Toey bad igen side by side in vatug, lain side by side ou the veds of hospirais In the malartous Sugar Isiauds, aud been buried in common graves on the [routers in the torrid zone. nu of Lexington had so served and ‘ought and died m bo small numbers, Yhe saime wand that bore your standard tiat morning on tue Village green had borne ittarouga the smoke and Gm of the assault at Louisburg; and the Sime arums that rolled the call at break O! that day bad beaten their notes of assurasc the British regulars, aud defiance to the in more than one eacounter, The regulars were not evemies yet. ‘These were not unwelcome as trausieut Visitors, aud most welcome in a cummon cause. THE DEBATED VOLLEY. Were these sixty men tuere by accident? Were they surprised tuere by a visit irom tue reguiars? On Lhe contrary, they assembied because the rege lars were coming. ‘ney disperse? when the ularm was thought false, and came togetner as S00N us it Was KNOWN that the troops Were close at hand. Were they there to obsiruc: or resist the marca o1 the british. They threw up po brea-tworks, however simpie, They were not poste. bemnd stove Wales or bou-es. or in the Thick Woods that Manked the pigaway. They s'00d alo..e, tu live, om the Open comuion, a force tweive tlmes their number marching upop thew, They Were ordered to surréenuer tveir arms and dis- perse by anofMlcer who was entitled to disarm God disperse Luem, oder the new order of tulugs, 1 they Wer? an armed gand unknown to the law, ‘The recurs came out iu part tv do that very thing, li they met any such organization in arms, Our inen reiused to surreader their arms gud ret jused io disperse, Must they not have expecied tue result’ ne volley came, aud one-quarter of that jitie baud fell kiLeu or wousded, They fell where they stoou, their arms tn their hands, ‘They were powerless to resist, but tiey would but obey. Tuey jell Wil ing victims, martyrs by iuten- tion and inact. But what did it mean? Was it an act of fovlhardipess ? Was it a wiliul deiying ald exasperaiing of the soidiers acting vader royal orcers? Was their deatn sometuag they proudly and vainly brought upun tnemseives ? vardon me, My iriends. Pardon me, American, Massachuse(ts, Lexington men and women, that I put these queations as to men whom a whole people bave honored for afull century, for wuom Mouuments staud and to whose memory this day the thoughts of miliogs are given to all lavds and on aiseas, We ought not to be surprised if their act should seem to have seen what! suggest to many inoderate and jaireminded persoas woo donot KuoW well tae MisLory of those days and tho spirit of our peopic. | would give few momeuts now, notto show to you, for you ali Know it too well, Ut Lo piace on record fur ali who may ever need the jesson, the prouis that this act of our ances- tora, in some lights #0 inexplicable, Was @ wise, Well Considered deed of seli-sacrifice; a sad but necessary part of a pian oi action wnica toe best Unaerstandings and bravest hearts of tuis prov. incé and of the other provinces had devised and recommenced, and which, under tne biessing of God, was acted out to its lester on tals Heid, in & way that could not have been bettered, which struck right home, toucneu the deepest chords, gave the surest consecravion to the inevitavis war, aud B ade this day, this spot, aud their Memory, blessed iorever. GWEAT BRITAIN’S WISE NEGLECT. is @ mistake common among European v8, Which iu time may adect new genera- ere, to suppose (hat the people of Mass: chusetta in 1776 Were striking out fur new liber- ties and privileges to Which (hey thought thet seives entitied; that they bravely rose together, aod Uroke (be LOods 01 Oppression aud set them- ves free, Not at ail Notoing of ine kind! vtuing cdg be More unlike than the American strucgle 01 1775 and the social and political revo- lutions attempted op the continent of Enrope for uberUes ‘he revolutioniste do not recognize when they see them and canuot keep when they hove gotthem. We broke no vonds. We were never vound. We were free-born. A homogen ous community, Engiish, with trifling exceptior taking pos-ession Of @ Lew laud, tae peopie oi Massachuset veen ieft lor five generatio by Wilat Burke calied “the wise negiect” of Great Britaio, to sell-governmeut and some rue, We bad grown up iu home rule, Not ony as against Great Britain, but as among ourselves. We calied upon Great Britain for Do coucsel or pecuniary #148, (OF DO assistance IN Gor yovernment ang for LO s0lulers tu garrison OUF (OWng oF iroutier forts. We vad never had on our 011 hereditary titie or hereditary institations. We bad never gad tne rejatiow 0! baron ahd Vasaal, jandiord aod teuaut, or any v1 the relics of shadows of ieudalism. Our smail properties were equaiy distrouted, and no law ef custom tended to bulid up iamiles or privileges or great accnmuistea weaito, but ‘ail Gsages and laws worked directly the Oner Way We were 0. theorzers or experimentaliats on speculative notions 1 civil ature, We did the wok in od io the Way We jound most convenient at tue tume, always keeping in View Wha! ali assented to, the suo+ stantiai political equaity oi men. Weurew up a Lerriorial democra.y of minisiers, lawyers, doc- tors, Merchan's, yeomend, traders, mechaucs and seamen, wi: or nearly ali Leimg stall proprietors of land. We were educateu to the respousipiities, Gu d burdeos o| self-gover ment ao that there Was bo ilverty witnouc vardens and sacrifices, Ine peopie of the towns exercised ihany Sovereigh Powers, bY the «equiescence of tae people of the provinee, because 1 Was convenient und fWOd to be sale, No scieatilic ine of division Wus drawn, but @ line Was practicully set as the oatural resol! of conficting or co-operating a ites, reasons, priveiples and conveniences, Tue peopie, in \ueit town meetings, provived tor 4 Puoiic Worship, outlt the cuurches, called and paid It wri tion: tue clergymen, and exercised ecciesias ical powers. They oa ic t chovlLouses, appointed And paid the ve ad what shoud agit, aniso ercised one G | Toes orgadized tue towo Militia, appoin' “ue It was no work o! even friendly | atter the man- | leagues | officers, built the stockade fort, laid out the train. | cause, They hadstodied It, ie meeting and through tue press, cartied It to the Ing fleid, provided arms and equipments, aud so exercised TUE MILITARY FUNCTIONS OF GOY The towns ordered tue local police, drew the jnrors jor the courts, and so took their part i | judicial affairs. They sent representatives to the General Courtof the province, and so took part in the highest legislative junctions, They assessed, 4t their discretion, and collected taxes tor all these purposes, and so eXercised sovereign powers over property. But, chiefly, these town meetings were pailiaments ior the free discussion of all questions touching the interests o! the people and | orgaus o! popular communication with the Leos RNMENT, | lature ana Executive, ‘The records of these town meetnys are the wonder and aumiration oj stu. | dents of poittical puilosophy everywhere. They | were afew thing in tue worla's history. It nas | been said that 1 every other record should perish | the true character and iuil history of the civil | struggle frou 1760 to 1775 could ve written irom the recores of the town meetings, including the | resolutions adopted and the tusfructions sent to thelr represeusatives in the General Court. In the provincial goverument, too, we were tree, We chose representatives by towns and the | representatives elected the Council, The judges were appointed and paid by ourselves, We or- dered our oWn militia system, estaolished and regulated our Judicature, and persons charged With crimes were tried within the vroyince by juries drawn by lot in the towns. We laid and collected our own taxes, and no tax had ever been | imposed upon us by imperial power. We held | allegiance to the crown and were parts of the | British Em pir but we were a se.!-governing, | | home-ruling people, loyal, eonteut, well educated | | and industrious, giving no cause o: just complaint | | to the people 0 kugiand, in snort, we had been | for five generations the freest, mos opie the world had ever known. our In an evil THE PRIDE, JEALOUSY AND GREED of the mother country, and quiteas much of its | trading, manaiacturing and miadie classes, as | | of its nobles and geutry, set its eye upon ba colouies for impertal taxation, We denied tae | | Tight, Burke wonld not argue the abstract ques- — | ticn of rigat, which, he said, could only ve salely | disc ssed in the schools, but stood on the practl- | cal p ton that Pariiawent had never taxed tie | colonies; that it was a novelty, or ginating in a | mere theory of Parliamentary omnipotence, was leit by tne colonies to be unjust and oppressive, — and wilght ve dangerous aud would not pay for | itseli; and those, be said, were reasons enough | “jor sturesmen, Tne Stamp act was pas-ed, re- | sisted, peacetully, bat pertinactousiy, and re- pealed. The Parliament returned tothe caarge, | aud toe ted tax WAS passeu, resistes by solemn | leagues and Covenants noo 10 import or use, to | waico nearly ail the people became purties. Lex- | ingt:n resolved, in worus whicn few but a New | Enyland towusm.n cao lu ly appreciate, ‘1 any | head of a famby in this down or any person shalt from ths time forward and uni) the duty oe + taken ou, purcoase uny tea or sel: and consume | any tea im ther fatmy, sucn person shall | be looked upon as an enemy to ths town | end to ui8 country, aud snail by this town be treated with uegiect and contempt.’ (Peace- jul resistance al tals—save In the case of two cargoes at Boston, to whicn water, cold and salt, was prematurely aud urscientifically applied.) | ‘Yhe Boston Port bill was cruel in itsell, highly | tyrannical aad 4 Mean appeal to the jealousy of other towns and provinces, in ‘which it failed, to their infloite credit, aud only exasperated to the | jast point of endurance the seosibiliues of | @ brave and generous people. ing acts restricted our commerce and sought to banish us from tue fisherles. Bur, vad as Were tuese wel known measures, and dangerous vo peace and liverty, it was not they that aimed the jatal biow at our accustomed rights and liberties—tne viow that must ve fatal eitier to Our system Ul Sei! government and hone rue, or to parliamentary and kingly omuiporeuce, | that placed the two systems face to lace in irrec- oncilabie coutict, ‘ine acts of 1774, generically kuown as the Regulation acts, were radical end revo.utionary. Lhey went to the jounaations of our pubic system, abd songht to reconstruct 1¢ trom the base on & tavory of parliamentary om- niputence aud kingly sovereignty. * * * | WE WERE NOT THE REVOLUTIONISTS. | Tne King and Parliament were tne revolutionists. They were the radical tunovators. We were the congervators of existing institutions, They were seeking to overthrow abd reconstruct on a theory of Varliamentary omuipoten We stood upoo the ae euce of what we had jounded ana built up under their acquiescence, and w.thout which we could not be the ireé and sell-governing people we had always been, We oroke nocnain. We pre- pared to strike down any hand that might at- tempt tu lay one upon us, There was no one in- Stitution, Liw or cusvoww, political or social, trom the mountain top to the sea-hores that we cared to change. We were then content togo ou i parts of the British Empire, nolding that slack aud easy allegiaoce we had aiways held oa the old terms Of sell-goverament and nome rule. it was not ugttl more than a year alier Lexingion and Bunker Hill that, finding tne two things hopelessiy inconsistent, we de- ciared our dynastic iudependence, and in that sense ana ior that purpose only became revotutionists. Againss (hese $auversive revo.u- tionary Measures the colonists prepared to re- sat oy loree, lor to that Cuey Knew it aust come, Meetings, caucuses and con:resses of towns, counties, Of the province apd Oi ali the provinces, became the oder of the day. They were all ulegal under tue Dew system, and we weld them at our peril. 8 Tne Provine.al Congress collected muttary wres, Called on the Lowhs ty organize the town and vegan to organize “the Army of nusetts.”? The oll militia. recoznized by »yai Governor, had divappeared, and tue new Mitta was ias) lormins, still 1ucuoate, but It was illegal under the new system, and we joimed itatourp ml. G.ge veterm.ned to disarin and disperse the pew muita, to destroy tae muatary stores, and, ia short, as Lord Dartmouth sug> gested, to effect by (he trovps ‘4 generai dis arming of tue c Toese deciarauon: vegan to be put toto execution. Toe troups | maiched out inio the country t) snow themselves to the peop ce o: 1,100 visited Jamaica Plain, A voy of 10) was permanently quartered at Marsofleld, in the ON Coiwuy. THE TRUOPS SEIZED OUR POWDER at Chariestuwn and two feid pieces at Cambridge. A lew Weeks bewwre toe 1th uf April a large iorce ‘Was sent to Salem to destroy tie muitary stores cullected there; tae uuilitia gatuered, tie people throuved the way. onstructions were interposed, and the Jorce withdrew without bioodsied. The troops cut off supp.les inteuded Jor us, aud we cut Of supplies inteuded for them, Sullso far there bad been no conilict. No irretrievavle act bad been doge, Tudor says, in his “Life ul Otis,” that Notwithstanding the poll.ical excitement whica nued ior ten years, With bardiy ao interrap- netanding the hot zeai of tne Sons of Liberty, tue bitter opposition of as zealous loyal. ists, the preseuce of the military, cases of inai- vidual collision with the soldiers and tne seizure of stores—sull, “throughout this whole period of lerment, not a singie human lite was taken by the inhavitan's, either by assassination, popul tumait or public execution.” The Conven- tion of Middiesex resvived as foliows:—‘If in support of our rigbts we are caiied to en- counter even deatn, we are yet undauated, Seusible that he can never die too souu who Jays down bis lie in support of the jaws and ji. e of his country.” Lexington wrote to Bos- ton, ‘We trast in God that should the stare of our adairs require it we sual! be ready to sacritice our estates anu every (aing de@riu ile—yea, and life ie seli—tn suppport of tue common cause.”’ Quincy wrote from Engiand, “Our couatrymen must seal the cause tn ‘heir b\oog."” THE ATMOSPHERE Was CHARGED WITH WaR. We feititin every vreath, There was a stiloess of deadly preparation and @ patent awaiting of the falling of the buit. The Provincial Vongress appointed a day of fasting, humiuiation and prayer—a measure of deep sigaiticance in those @ays. It ordered tne citizens to pay their taxes to Mr. Gardner, (ne agent ot tie peup.e, and not to the royai collector, and Lexingvon directed the coliectors 10 obey this order and the town ecure them liarmiess. ‘Ihe issue Ww. r |. But 1¢ was solemly resolved that we Must Not precipitate tue war—we must not strike the first biow, We were to endure threats, in- salts and demonstrations of violence; but the British troops must fire the shot. Pnis was not ® jormal resolve wits Our ancesiore, They were close reasoners, could Walk straigbt on a line of duty, aud bad most & perst: ious respect for made w the jaw. They Jelt the 1mwportance o! satisfying the iriende oi our cause in Eug.aad, and in tne owner col. ‘es, some of which were still uncertata, S00 it Was feared chat toe people o| Massacausetis Would outrun their sympathy and support, Ac- cordingiy, the Continental Congress recommended the peuple of this colony to avo: the King’s troops, and ia ali ca: the deiens! This was repeated oy tne Provincial Congress, ecnved by the town meet. Ings, ©B Orced ‘rom the puipits and tue press, and We Were cuwmitted to it ve ore the world. Men Of this day are Sometimes amused to see that, im- diately giter the vattie of Lexington, tae colo- | Dist# took to collecting aMidavite to Bow that the British fired first. But cuey were better judges than we can now be of what was important at | that ime. Woen the British troops marcaoed out toat morning it was DOL merely (0 destroy the mil itary stores Cullecved at Concord, but to disarm only on and disperse auy military organizations not ree copnized vy the new ‘s, and to arrest and com- Mit to prison the leading patriots, If taey bad come across a town ineeting Or a congress, neid Without authority vo) the royal Governor's war. fant, they would have entered and dispersed the meeting by the bayonet; and who will doubs that, like ‘he Roman Senators in their curuie chaira and statey roves, our ancestors in their homespun clothes, and on the plain wooden benches of their odice, Senators of the town and county, would have \ieided up their lives Where tney rather than acknowledge the tyrannical command! it mattered little, and po Ove could predict at ali, Whetuer the Orec blow would fal on the town meeting, the Congress in its session or the muitia company on the training feid. The troops Were to vestroy our intitary stores. If we Could collect men enough to defend them we would fora round them aud stand our ground, and if the troops retired, weil; Mi uot, THEY MUST FIRE THE FIRST SUOT. ‘The troops were to disarm and disperse the new militia. I a company was out in martial array jor the purpose of deience they must stand their ground and retain their arms. 11 toe reguiars with | drew, Wel; li Dot, tue miutia must await tne frst vouey. Now, what was ail this ow itor mar. tyidom? The first chat etl mast fall as martyrs. Toe Whe Would Oegin With tne #hut Waoicn took toc lives. No cali coulu be made acemanaing more jortitnde, more nerve, than this, Many & anh Cah Tush into battie, maddened vs the sce! ‘no Would fod it hard to stand in his tae vu Mois Must come, people were thory ‘everything he wishes, but he must niy inewructed im thet | cua discussed it in the pub- throue of grace, and tried It by every test they Knew, ‘They bad made up tneir winds to the | Issue and Were prepared to accept tis results, When the news came at night that the regulars were ouf and marching that way to destroy the stores at Concord, to arrest leading patriots, to disperse and disarm all assemoled jorces, they came togerher on tits greea in tuilranks. They acted under the eye and counsel o: Adams and Hancock, ana of their own wise, venerated, patriotic pastor, The wivow awaked her only son; theyouug bride summoned ber husvand; the motheriess cuiid her iather. are out and sometaing must ve done!” sometaing must be done, ‘Tat something Was. to slaud on the dejensive and meet death i it came, and then meet war with war, * * © HAVE I NOT DEMONSTRATED what [undertook to sbow, tuat nut we, but the Britisn King aud Parliament, were the revolu- tionists, the innovators, the radical subverters Of institations; that we were tie couservators of time-houored, dearly-loved government and home rule, and that on that morning, oo tits spot, your towusmen were In- tentioually, intelligently, the first martyrs—yet Inartyrs 1a war—and that on this feld war began? Whenever British troops in martial array met the provincial militia in martial array, eacn io line of duty god under oficial commana, and the King’s troops in array fired upon the provincial soldiers in array, the War begab. Waris unilateral, One Party can initiate it, Here both parties stood ready ‘or war, and it began with the volley and the Jalling of the dead and wounded, much account tu any political or military seuse, buta safisiaction to our pride im our ancestors to | know that, rasbly 1t may be, uselessiy, pernaps, -governing | but bravely beyond douot, the fire was returned | by men still standing in tueir line, in their mar. Ual array, und chat the line was not broken until they were ordered to disperse by their captain, Wao saw that the regulars were hasteuing Up, on | both flanks, to surround and ca)ture them, and that woen the survivors withdrew they Look their arms with chem, SEVEN YEARS OF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS. We are here to-day to commemumorate first what was done at Lexington und the neroie con- ductor her sons, This is due to her and to them. lives in the common cause; the seven killed of Danvers, tue six of Camoridge, the five of Necd- ham, tne four of Lynn, the three of Acton, and two each of Sudoury, Woburn, Mediora and Charlestown, aud the one each of Bed.ord, Water- towo, Dedham, Roxbury, Brookline, Salem and Beverly, and the wounded of ail those towns and of Concord, Framizgham, Stowe, Billerica, New- town and Cheimsiord. We are here tojoin heartily im sympathy with those thousands ‘woo at this hour are commemorating at Coucord the events that took piace within ber limits, the second scene in the drama of this day so enacted at vie North Bricge. ‘This dawn of seven years of centennial Memorations all “ over the soil * of is the com- the | old thirteen States, to be joined in by the people of this Vastempire, Of all kindreds and races aud tongues, from Canada to Mexico, from toe Atians | tie to the Pacific—a sight the jike of wich the American nationality. world has never seen, aud scarce a tongue in any art ot the civilized world utters a doubt of the justice Of our cause. Men, Women, coiidret of Lexington, tne curtain of the grea: drama rose hére to be acted out to the last sceue at York town. It began with the first fire of Britusn marual array, aud did not end until tne last Brit- 18h sold.er leit the soil of the new Republic and our Independence was recognized. At tne close of the last ceatury yoo erected your first monu- ment on this spot. Latayetie, who saw the sure renuer at Yorktown, Came in September, 1824, to See the Spot Where Legan the contest im waicnr he took so noble and disinterested a part, and clasped hands with Jourteen of the surviving heroes of the day, In 1835 you reinterred your heroic dead under your simpie monument, conse- crated by tae eloquence of Lverett, In 1852, Loma Kossuth, an exile trom the banks of the Danube, aiter the disastrous war jor the indeveadesce of Hungary, made a pilgrimage to this place, to pay bis devotions “cto the birthplace of American liverty,” aud said of your patriot dead, in woras as tue as they are eloquent: ‘it 1s their sacri- fived bigod with whicb Is written the pretace of your nation’s histor’. ‘Tneir Geath Was aaa ever Will be the firs: ploody revelation Of America’s destiny, aud Lexingtun tne opening scene 0. & revolution toat 13 destined to change the charace ler O: human governments, and the coudivon of the human race? God grant that, tf a day of peril shail come, $he people of tuis Repubic, so javored, sonumer- | ous, sO pru’perous, so rich, 80 educated, sv tri- umpnant, may meet it—and we cau ask no more—with a8 much of tntelligeuce, self-control, self-devotion and jortitude, a did tue men ol th place, in thelr lewuess, simplicity aad poverty, One hundred years ago. A benediction and military music brought the tent exercises to a fuale. THE PROCESSION was immediately formed and followed out the line of route as previousiy afranged. ‘The Presi dent and numerous other celebrities fated to pus in aa appearance, the majority of them devoung the morning to Concord. In point of numbers‘ however, the procession was eveu in excess of the the Most sanguime expectations, extending a dis- tance of betweeu two and three mics. Owing to the non-arrival of the President and party from Concord, wno were to review the troops, @ delay of over an hour was caused, and the immense? throng of spectarors, as weil as the thousands in the paocession, were subjected to @ biting, plercing east wind, anything but con- ducive to patriotism. The many MUTTERED GRUMBLINGS m'ght beea ‘‘beard around tue world,” by a touch of poetic license. At length, about two P.M, tbe march was re- sumed, and, passing in review before ihe President and suite, the procession Was dismissed,and a grana raid was made upon the mammoth diuner tent. Owing to the lateness of the hour at which the procession disbanded, the tent was not thrown open to the ticket hoigers uutil three P. M., and eveu theu, so dease was the crowd surrounding It on ail sides, that ali those entitled to admission did not succeed in effecting an eutrance before four o'clock. THE PROGRAMME 4 contemplated thirty-four reguiar toasts, bat the lateness of the hour and the very chilly weather Becessitated a serious curtailment. The table as- signed to the President and otner distinguisued guests, including members of the Cabinat, Gen- erals Banks, Burnside and Benham, Governor Gaston and staf and others, to the number of about 100, were ranged aiong the side of tue tent upon a raised dais, Hon, Thomas Merriam Stitson, president of the occasion, occupied a seat in the centre, and, as soon a8 proper consideration tor the 4,000 half famished individuais would admit, announced, in @ brief speech, tne expected literary banquet. THR TOASTS, as given, we “The President of the United States.” Re- sponded to, in the usuai manner, vy His Excel. leacy. “phe dead of Lexington.” General Banks. The orator of the day, Mr. Richard H. Dana, J: replied in a witty and most felicitous speech, which elicited unreserved appiaase. “The State of Soutn Caroiina.""—Never will Mas- Sachusetts \orget the proud response of South Carolina the very nignt she beard the war note from Lexington. Governor Caamberlin may veto not veto our earnest respect jor a voice from the palmetto State to the pine. Governor Champeriim, who re- sponded, was received with much applause, 88 were algo his sentiments of earnest desire for the complete and eariy restoration ‘of true fra- ternai feelings between the two great Common- wealtha, ‘the Commonwealth of Massacbusett: Governor Easton believed that on the 19th of April nd the historic grounds of Concord and Lexing- ton, Massachusetts needed o to speak for he ‘England and the United States,” No reguiar Tesponse was given to tnis toast, but in lieu a let- ter Was read from tne ex-Premier of England, Mr. Gladstone, as follows: — Lowpow, March 5, 1875, GENTLEMEN—I have the nunur to receive tie letter im which you convey to me very warts and courteous tuvitation to atiend the banquet which it is prop sed to hoid at Lexingwa in commemoration of the attainment of the independence by the United States of America. [he circum- stances of the war ‘nat yie) that result, the Principles it iliust the remarkabe wers and characters o. tile priucip who Ook part, Whether as soldiers or civilan ue etruggie have aiways investea it with a peca- lar interest in my eyes quite mdaependentiy of the intimate concern of this country im the events themseiy On account of these features that War and its accouipuniments seem to me 10 cou- stitute one Of the most instructive chapters of modern nistory, and | nave repeatediy recom. twended thet \o younger men as subjects 0! espe- cial study, With toese views | need not say how tar Lam irom Lec | the approacning celebration witu imaimerence. Itis entireiy veyoud My power to Cross the sea, even Witn the preseat aomirabie communication, for the parpose of attendance. ‘The preseut time happens to be for m depenuently of my aitendance in Patiiament. one Oi Very Pee occupations which | aim not at liv~ erty (o put aside. But | earnestly hope and | can- Responded to by ot douot that the celebrauon Will be Worthy — H' ri now couvempiave ory “hhoidenws "wiih “the resaiars | Yes, | institutions of sell | tis not of | heroically | even 10+ | | impartiality. Ido not think they should severely | blame theif wneestors, Whose struggle Lo walntait | the goity of tbe Britisu Empire ts one the. ; Must, 1 think, alter the late wreut war o | the North and South, ve viewed in Amen ‘tea with some sympathy end indulzence | We can hardly be expected to rate very highly | the motives of toosa otlier powers wio hew | their wegat into the other scale. and who 80 se sibly contributed towards (he celebrating i uot, | inaeed, toward determning the issue of | tue war, Yet, for a can most truly say “ut whatever the motives, and’ however puiniul the process, they, while seeking to do an injury, Con erred upon us & t benetit by reieasing Us tom efforts, tae ¢ nin | atiog of Wiicn Would ave Oven ao Uumixed evil. As regards the fathers of the American Coustitu: tion “themselves, ,1 believe we can and . do now contemplate their great qualities | Qud achievements, With an admiration as ,ure as | that of American’ citizeus themselves, and cap heartily that in the counsels 0 | Providence they were made the instruments oF & vurpose most beneficial to the world, Th | circumstances under which the United Stati | began their national existence and their nex ampied rapidity of advance tn wealth and popw | lation, enterprise. and power have imposed or thelr people an enormous reapone: Doe ‘huey wil bo tried as: we shall at the | bar of History, but ‘on a greater scale. The} | will be ‘compared with the men, no | only of other countries but of other times. They cannot escape trom the liabilities and burden: | which their greatness imposes on them. No one desires more fervently than [ do that they may be enavied to realize the highest hopes and anticipa tions that belong to thelr great position in the | famiiy of man, J nave the honog to be, gentlemen, your obliged | and taithiul servant, W. £. GLADSTONE, “Tbe Bench and Rar’? was responded to by Chief Justice Gray, of Massachusetts, “The Colleges and Universities,” to which Major General Josnua L, Chamberlain, ex-Q»vernor ol | Maine and President of Bowdoia College, | responded in @ most graceful and eloquent ad- | dress. yejorce po le: | But we are bere aiso to remember the dead of | ‘The Commerce of the United States.” Response | that day from other towns, Who laid down their eS E.iotc ©. Cowdin, Esq. of New York, whe gaid:— | SPEECH OF ELLIOT C. COWDIN, | MR. PRESIDENT AND FeLLow Cirizens:—I beg you | to accept my thanks for the invitation extended | tom: to be present totday, and [ only wish that | the duty of acknowledging the tri.ute you have | just paid to the Chamber of Commerce of the Scate | of New York had devolved upon an abier repre- | gentative. Delegated by that body to bear to you its congratulations on this occasion, my colleagues and myself are proad to take part in the coum | memoration of this memorable anniversary, Tht | pattie of Lexington infused into the lie | of this people the frst sentiment ot It was the inaugura. | tlon of a@ civil war between portions 0 | the foremust commercial nation of the times, ¢ | From such a conflict trade shrinks with instinctive | aread, Yet irom tne outset of tae Revolutionary ‘The Kestraine | oops 10 marual array on American troops 1D | struggle, so unequal on the side of the colonies, tht | patriot cause was sustained by that class which hae | the most to lose im the event of fatiure, ‘War,’ ar | Milton saya, “moves Oy two main nerves, trou vod guid,” ‘ne mercaants of tue heroic period we are contemplaung geuervusly piaced — their woney and credit at the disposal of : the feeble government, In a word, the ms tory of the merchants of the thirveen col onies 18 the Onanciai history of Cue war for inde pendence. What would have becoum+ of ine s' Jeriag soluiers ‘Of Washington, Greene, Gates, Lee and other compatrio®s, In some of the darkest periods ol the contest, except for the marvelion: energy aud skul Ol that eminent mercuane o} Pailadeipiia, Robert Morris, in jurnisoing money to carry on the struggle. and largely too by means © lis ewa credit? But for him tae army woald have been disbanded, His services a3 a Nuancier were ag essential to the successial termigauua of tae war as were tuoxe of Washington in the Beld. Shaiilremiud you that both of the illustriout mea whose sculptured features have this day been unvetied belore us Were engaged in mercan- tile pursuits ? 1.18 @ iatiliar fact vaat | JOHN HANCOCK, among hundreds o! other wealtny merchants that coud be mentioned, staked eVerytuing on the popular cause. Ispeak 0: Him as a merchant, and Mf auy Che asires to Know the kind 0; merchandise be dealt in, vy referring to the Boston Lvening Post vi December 25, 1764, he will oa the lolloms ing advert.sement: | fo be solt, by John Hancock, at his store, No. 4 at | theeastend of raneuil Yall Market. a general assort | mens of tnglish and India goods, also Newcastle coaly aud Irish butter, cheap tor cash. Althougl the bulk of ols property was ina num ber of wooden houses tn Boston, yet when, as President v Cougress, he transauitted to Washing. ton the resoiuttun reluting to ana tack on Boston, theu he by the Briush troops, he said, “May God crown your attempt with success! I moat heartily wisn it, though individually | may be the greatest sufierer.” Toe bombardment, wlica wast Rappily averted, would bave been the flaaveta ruin oi Jonu Hancock. Lite kKuown, perhaps, as @ merchant, aod lar le-s jortunate than Hancock ip woridiy aifuirs, Samuel Adams was equally patriotic aad incorruptible. “i um not Worta Uuys jng.”’ said be, Woen app-oached by aa emissary ob the British Ministry, Wuo attempted to brioe bia to betray his couutr, ‘Lam aot worth During Dut, suchas Lam, ail the treasury o: KBoalang could not pay ior me.” Weil mignt Thomas Jeger. sou promounce him “a truly great wan, wise ip | council, iertule Iu resources, tmmovable in pur pose.” SPRAKS FOR NEW YORK. Bat. Mr. Presideat, | am jorgetting that you Summoned me to speak ior tue New York Cham. ber ui Commerce, That association was tostitu in the year 1768 by @ Voiuntary agreement oF the leading Mercuants o: tue city, Li Was a& period of proiouud excitement. The traders of woat was tuen the colony of New York tad sudered under heavy burdens. The Naviga- uon acts of the British Parliament tended to destroy the commerce u/ the cuiouies, Taey were nut alowed to trade with any ioreign couatry, bor export to England their owu merchandise exe cept in British Vesseis. Iron avounded in the colonies; 0Gt DOr aD article could be Manuiuctured by the people—ali must be imported, Wool was abuodant; but oO cloth could ve manulactured eXcept for private use, aud uot a pound ef the raw Material could be sold ir m town to town, but ali Must ve seat to Engiand, to ve ultimately re- turned as manuiactured cloins, burdened with heavy duties. Beaver was then plenty ail aiong the streams, but Do hatter was peruiitied ‘0 have more tan two apprentices, aud not 4 bat could be sold irom one.colony to auotuer, Tuese are but s ecimens of [that vast network of Testrictious upon trade and commerce in which Great Britain encircled the thircees cO.OMes—— eXumples selected at raodom to tilusirate chat poucy Whien regarded the culonists as oarbariaag rolling in wealth, (he caiel éne of Whose existence Was vo be heavily taxed for rie benultt of tue aris tocracy at home. Tbe Paritament added hamiliae tion to eXvortion. Naval oiicera, acting under the law, Were insolent toward colunial veaseis, ‘They compeiied taem to iower their Mays ta token o! aomage, red ou them at tne slightest provuca- tlou aud impressed their seamea woenever ther ecpose. The Mutiny act, it was Called, required the Ipnavitynts of the coonies to turned quarters and, to some extent, supplies ior all the soldiers (hat might be sent over irom Englaud t oppress them. The passage of the Stamp act, in 1765, though Jess ini@invus than much previous legisiation, aroused saco indigma. tiou 1M ali the principal American colonies as cleariy showed that Enuland must either change her policy or prepare to enorce tt at the point of the bayones, ‘Tue protracted ana violent strage gle over tus act, involving the principie of tax tion Without represeutation, Was the prologue to at mighty drama whose opening scene was the battie of Lexington, aud Whose closing act wae the evacaation o| New York by the rear guard of the Briush army, Nowhere were iound more strenuous oOppunents of the oppressive leaw lation to which | nave referred tuan in the ranks Of (he mercnanis ot New York. COMMERCIAL OPPOSITION TO TYRANNY. Among the most prominent in their opposition Were (huse very same mercuants who alterward became jorewost in the ioundation and organiza. tion o: the Champer of Commerce. Four out of te five New York delegates tv (he first Congress of the American coionies—namely, Johu Uruuer, Philip Livingston, Witiam Bayard aud Leonard Lispenard—were members of tie Coamoer. As early a# Uctover, 1764, @ corre-punding con. | mittee of the New York Assemoly baa tfved apon the other provincial Legisi tures the necessity of holding a general Cougre of the American cojom:es, That Congress. pre Sided over oy fnomas Ruggles, of Massucnusetts, Was actually assemoled at New York, oa tue 7th of Octover, 1765, upon the argent recommendation Of "he Massacnusetts Legisiature, bul tae ofigioal Movement which ied vo it must be crediied (o New York, One of the Gret measures of this Con- gress was the publication of a “Deciaration o| the Rights and Grievances of the Co.oales,” an ad dress adimirabie in tone, matter and manner, like all the State papers or the Kevolutiuary era, aa serting the O68 Of all British COlOuIsS, aud particuiariy iosisting on their excit power Of S@li-taxation, an weir ciaim fo @ trial oy jury. ‘Ins poweriul paper was ‘rom the ped of Jono Cruzer, a mercnant of New York and te first Presiaent of tae Chamoer of Commerce, in those heroic days there Was but oe step irom theory to action, On the 3 of vctover, Lids, the merchants of New York held a meeting anu resoive First=To import mo goods from England until the Stamp act ve repealed. Second —To \mumediately countermand ail orders for spring goods Thira—fy seit 20 goods from Great Bi mission. These resolutions were signed by more than two buudred o1 Che principal merchan’s of New Yor. ‘This determined ovement Was imroediately fob Jowed by @ popular demonstration. On tue very neXt evening (he citizens gathered in what is now the City Hall Park and noog to efficy Liemenant Governor Coiden, the represediative of Kiug George Lil, Who Was intrusted Witu tue duly ot enlorcing (ne Stamp act, Anotner party vroke open the doors of ais carriage Nouse, aud drawing out the carriage, placed his ‘efigy smside Ol It, whesied to the Bowling Green, bui there, ghd ourned =f asnes ¢ | Senipngé aud otigy. Thess Wemonstranous baw: at in on com