USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > A discourse pronounced on the inauguration of the new hall, March 11, 1872, of the Historical society of Pennsylvania, No. 820 Spruce street, Philadelphia > Part 1
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Gc 974.8 W107d 1667615
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01202 7766
A DISCOURSE
PRONOUNCED
ON THE INAUGURATION OF THE NEW HALL !
1
March 11, 1872,
OF
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
No. 820 SPRUCE STREET, PHILADELPHIA.
BY
JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE,
PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY.
PARTS OMITTED IN THE DELIVERY BEING HERE INSERTED.
F
MERCY
L
SIH
VSTICE
PHILADELPHIA : . PRINTED BY SHERMAN & CO. 1872.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/discoursepronoun00wall_0
1667615 TO
JOHN JORDAN, JR.,
BY WHOSE LIBERALITY, CONSTANT THOUGH CONCEALED, AND
BY WHOSE JUDICIOUS COUNSELS
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA HAS BEEN LONG AND LARGELY BENEFITED,
-
THIS DISCOURSE
Is Inscribed.
PREFACE.
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FOR some years past it had become obvious that the collec- tions of the Historical Society of this State were increasing so fast that they could not be well accommodated in the rooms of the Athenaeum, which the Society has occupied for the last quarter of a century. And the managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital having placed at the command of the Society, in a very handsome manner, and for a long term of years, their building on Spruce Street, known as the PICTURE HOUSE, over- looking their spacious and well-kept gardens on the south, it was gratefully accepted by the Society. A sum of $10,000 being cheerfully subscribed upon the intimation of the Secretary of the Society, Mr. Ward, that it was needed, preparations were immediately made, on an extensive scale, to adapt the building to the uses of the new occupants; very large and securely built fire-proof closets being a matter which engaged especially the attention of the Society. The whole house, which it required nearly a year to complete, having been finished in February, 1872, the valuable collections of the Society were transferred to it under the care of the Librarian, the Reverend Mr. Shrigley, and of Messrs. Spencer Bonsal, J. Heacock, and W. J. Buck, his assistants in the matter. This responsible and laborious work being accomplished, a committee, composed of Mr. John Jordan, Jr., Mr. William Duane, and Mr. John T. Lewis, was appointed to inform the members of the transfer; the gentle- men who composed this committee, as it providentially bap- pened, having been the very same who composed a committee twenty-five years ago to notify to the members the then transfer of the Society's possessions to the Athenaeum, which it had now left. To signalize more impressively a step which seemed to be a great one in the progress of the Society onward, it was resolved to inaugurate the hall in form; and the President of the Society was requested to deliver an address of inauguration.
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Accordingly, on Monday evening the 11th of March, 1872, this being one of the evenings of the stated meetings of the Society, a large and elegant company assembled in the new hall. And Vice-President HORATIO GATES JONES having opened the meeting, with appropriate remarks, the President of the Society proceeded to address it in the following discourse; the delivery of the parts of which spoken occupied about one hour.
On its conclusion, Mr. John Welsh moved the thanks of the Society to the President, and these were unanimously given.
B. H. Coates, M.D., then proceeded to read a poetic address, for which the thanks of the Society were also given.
Among the very agreeable incidents of the evening, were the presence of a committee from the Delaware Historical Society,- the Rev. Mr. Hinckley, Dr. Bush, and Dr. Askew, of Wilming- ton; as also the presence of the Centennial Commissioners, that evening, in the city. For both, seats of distinction had been provided, and both were introduced to the Society; the former by Mr. J. A. McAllister, the latter by Col. James Ross Snowden.
The new Historical Hall has been thus correctly described in one of the daily papers of Philadelphia :
"The rooms have been arranged excellently for their pur- poses. There is a vestibule eighteen feet wide on the lower floor, and immediately in the rear a room twenty feet by twenty- six, having on each side other rooms twenty feet square. On the right side of the vestibule there is a fire-proof room, ten feet by twenty, for the deposit of heavy articles of value, while oppo- site this on the left side rises the staircase leading to the second story. The northern wall of the building, however, is not flush with the outer wall of the lot on Spruce Street, but sets back about ten feet, allowing for a future removal of this outer wall to the distance mentioned, and to a line on a level with the fronts of the houses, above Ninth and below Eighth Street. This change, it is thought, will not be long delayed, as an act was passed at the last session of the legislature permitting such setting back of the wall.
"The second floor of the building consists of one long room, running from east to west, a length of sixty-eight feet, and from north to south in the centre, about forty-two feet. It is this width over the vestibule and entry below, and over a bay win- dow eighteen feet wide and six feet deep on the south side. Beyond the lines of these, the room is twenty feet wide. The space occupied by the fire-proof below is also taken up by one
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above. These have both double iron doors, iron shutters to their windows, are fitted up with shelving and drawers, and have full ventilating properties. The fire-proof chamber up stairs is intended to contain valuable manuscripts, &c., &c. The ceiling of the library proper is eighteen feet high.
"Those of our citizens who recollect the old building will call to mind the fact that the upper story, that in which the paint- ing of West was formerly exhibited, was a room extending in length north and south over the vestibule, and to the width of the bay window above described. This was its entire limit. It will be seen, therefore, that it has been cularged with wings, whose united measurement is fifty by twenty feet.
"The outer portion of the new structure and such of the old as has been renewed, has been built with brick and mortar in imitation of the old brickwork. Except from its newness it would require more than a hurried glance to distinguish be- tween them.".
PHILADELPHIA,
March 25th, 1872.
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INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
WITH peculiar pleasure-with pleasure arising from more than a single source-do I welcome you, FELLOW-MEMBERS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, this night, to this new hall.
I welcome you to it with pleasure, in the first place, because in the article of comfort, convenience, and elegance, it far exceeds any place of meeting which we have hitherto enjoyed. Firm in its structure; central in its situation; com- modious in the distribution of its numerous apartments ; looking out along the whole line where our view chiefly turns, upon the fair face of nature, and bringing from the warmth and breezes of the south, those influences which most contribute to health and cheerfulness ; well ventilated; well warmed; with repositories of unusual security and size for our more precious possessions, I can indeed think of no , spot whatever, in all the length and breadth of Philadelphia, which, if we had had our choice, we would more willingly have selected for the seat of our corporate presence and councils, and as the place where most advantageously to collect and most attractively to show forth our historic treasures.
I welcome you to this hall with pleasure on yet different grounds. I see in the arrangements 'now happily accom- plished, evidence of an interest in the history of our state and city more wide than, till this day, some have been will- ing to believe in ; and a proof that the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which less than fifty years ago was but a thought-" a small seminal principle," " a little speck scarce visible in the mass of our city's interests "-has grown to " the strength of a well-formed body ;" and that by the pro-
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gressive increase of improvement-the liberality of the liv- ing even more than the benefactions of the dead-it is be- coming an institution worthy of our state and city ; this city, which was the birthplace of our mighty nation, and on whose soil the majestic edifice of American Constitutional Liberty, was reared; this state to which the Valley Forge and Gettysburg give, forever, fame. The roomy building in which we have assembled; the treasures of history where- with it is filled; the invested funds which now in part give support to our objects; the constant presence in our halls of . numerous members; the liberal offerings in money from those who, engaged in the active pursuits of life yet partake of none of the mistaken and illiberal spirit which might re- gard our objects as narrow and without use ; all demonstrate that our Society, whose existence seemed so long precarious, and which until even late years required much and tender nurture, stands at length alone; and rejoicing in its own strength, repays the wisdom with which it was formed, and the care by which it was so faithfully brought up.
To you, gentlemen, honored founders of our Society,* the spectacle which you behold this night must be a delightful one indeed !
To you, sir, t to whose taste and skill and experience in the art of building we have been so greatly indebted, and to whose daily and careful supervision, through ten long months, we so largely owe the handsome, complete, and thorough manner in which the reconstruction of this edifice has been accomplished, the sight of it, at last so happily achieved, and so much to the satisfaction and advantage of all, must be, I am sure, a spectacle no less delightful.
Nearly half a century has passed since the Historical
* The speaker here directed his discourse to the two surviving founders of the Society, GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH, EsQ., and B. H. COATES, M. D., for whom seats of distinction had been provided.
¡ The speaker here addressed himself to Mr. Richard L Nicholson, who, from the month of May, 1871, had very generously superintended the work of adapting the old Picture House of the Hospital to the uses of the His- torical Society ; remaining in the city during the oppressive heat of July and August in order to do so.
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Society of Pennsylvania was formed. Of its founders, two, still living in honor among us, alone survive. The occasion invites us, while we can yet do so, to recall a little our annals, that we who preserve the history of every other thing, may not be left at last without a history our- selves.
When we look at our newly admitted Western States, and see that scarce any one of them is received into the Union before a " historical society " springs up within it, we are at some loss to understand why full two hundred years should have passed before our people sought, through corporate effort, to preserve and illustrate the history of our state and · city. I say " two hundred years;" for although the charter to Mr. Penn bore date in 1681, yet for sixty years before, Pennsylvania had been settled by Christian people. Indeed so firm and ancient were certain of these settlements, that notwithstanding the royal charter, Mr. Penn, it has been held, took subject to their pre-existent claim.
One cause why no state historical society ever existed among us until late times, may be found, I suppose, in the diversity of nations which filled our carly province. Unlike the composition of primitive Massachusetts or Virginia- where all were English and all of one religion-the carly population of Pennsylvania was singularly heterogeneous. In our province, the people of three different nations-Finns, Swedes, and Hollanders-were here in force when Mr. Penn landed with the people of yet a fourth,-his colony
of British. 3 Hollanders had made war and conquered Swedes; the British had made war and conquered Hollan- ders. The people on our soil therefore were not only differ- ent people, but they had been warring ones, and hostile. Nor was this diversity an ethnological oue alone. Religious oppositions marked it when national ones began to disappear. The English who came here with Penn were of the Society of Friends. Scarcely had they landed before George Keith threw among them brands which involved the Society in flames of discord. With the death, in 1718, of William Penn, the colony passed to his sons, who belonged to the establishment. And henceforth most of the important people who came here
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were members of the Church of England. So that in 1761, when Mr. Burke put together his well-known " Account of the European Settlements in America" this variety of na- tions and religions was the feature which struck him most when he describes our province. "Pennsylvania," he says, " is inhabited by upwards of 250,000 people, half of whom are Germans, Swedes, or .Dutch." That same wonderful observer-who notes that in 1750 there emigrated to our province 4317 Germans, while of British and Irish but 1000 arrived here, and admits that it was a right policy to en- courage the importation of foreigners into the colony-yet complains that foreigners were still left foreigners, and were likely to continue so for many generations; for that they had schools taught in their own language, with books and even the newspapers so printed. And he inferred "that there was no appearance of their blending and becoming one people with the subjects of Great Britain."
Nor did our diversities in religion strike him less. " Here you see," he says, "Quakers, Churchmen, Calvinists, Metho- dists, Menists, Moravians, Independents, Anabaptists, and Dumplers, a sort of German sect that live in something like a religious society; wear long beards, and a habit resembling that of friars. In short," he says, " the diversity of people, re- ligions, nations, and languages here is prodigious."*
To crown the whole, we had a municipal organization alike widespread and disintegrated. From 1701, when Phila- delphia was incorporated, we had one "city," its limits small and fixed, around which, till 1854 (when all were con- solidated), " districts," "boroughs," and " townships," were growing; twenty-eight municipal corporations, I think, in all; all, in a good degree, separated from each other, and all from it; some near, some far off; some populous, some occupied still by farms.
Thus it was; and less than " mountains interposed " made, so far as consociation for our objects was concerned, enemies of people, who had else, perhaps " like kindred drops been mingled into one."
* Burke's Works, Boston edition, vol. ix, p 345.
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Indeed to those of us born here, and familiar with the national, religious, and municipal complexion of Philadel- phia, these striatures in our society were quite visible, I think, till within a few years. The large influx of new elements, the consolidation of our various local governments, and the mixture and changes brought about by marriages and new generation, have, in this day, largely obliterated them; though some of their effects still remain.
But whatever may have been the cause, the fact is as I have said. Prior to 1824 no historical society existed within this state. As our thoughtful citizens followed to the grave those men who had been actors in the scenes of · which our city in 1774, and for twenty-six years that fol- lowed, had been so much the theatre, it cannot be doubted that some such institution must have often been desired. As far back indeed as 1815, the American Philosophical So- ciety had engrafted on its body a Historical and Literary Committee. But the efforts of this committee were limited, and the results of its formation small.
The origin of our own Society I learn was on this wise :
In 1824 a gentleman of our city, himself honorably asso- ciated with names historic in the state and province,* hap- pened, while visiting New York, to be thrown into relations of intimacy with the late De Witt Clinton, then governor of that state. The New York Historical Society was at the time a subject of public interest in our sister city. Mr. Clinton's regard for the institution was always warm and active. He spoke much of it to his visitor; unfolded its plans and objects, expatiated eloquently on its prospects and usefulness. Our friend, upon returning to Philadelphia, sug- gested to certain citizens the formation of a similar society among ourselves. The suggestion was well received. Min- utes of a historical association, kept with admirable order, by its first secretary, now come to our aid. Thus they read :
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At a meeting of gentlemen, native citizens of Pennsylvania, favorable to the formation of a Society for the purpose of eluci- dating the history of the state, held on the 2d day of December, 1824, at the house of Thomas I. Wharton,
* George Washington Smith, Esq.
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ROBERTS VAUX was called to the chair, and GEORGE WASHING- TON SMITH appointed Secretary.
There were present :
ROBERTS VAUX, STEPHEN DUNCAN,
THOMAS I. WHARTON,
WILLIAM RAWLE, JR.,
DR. BENJAMIN H. COATES, DR. CASPAR WISTAR,
GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH.
After an interchange of the views of those present it was, on motion of T. I. Wharton,
Resolved, That it is expedient to form a society for the pur- pose of elucidating the history of Pennsylvania.
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare a consti- tution and by-laws for the government of the said society.
Whereupon, Thomas I. Wharton, Dr. Coates, and G. W. Smith were appointed a committee.
Adjourned to meet on the 27th day of December, 1824.
At a meeting held pursuant to the adjournment, "present fifteen persons," ROBERTS VAUX, ever prominent in useful works among us, still, of course, in the chair, and G. W. SMITH, Secretary, the committee reported a draft of a con- stitution and by-laws, which was approved. The meeting then adjourned till the 29th of January, 1825.
On that day the Society met again, when-
" A list of the names of gentlemen desirous of joining the society was read, and on motion, the persons applying for men- bership were elected and placed on the secretary's roll."
This honored roll preserves for our grateful recollection the following names, well known, every one of them, in our city's history :
WILLIAM RAWLE, GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH,
ROBERTS VAUX,
GERARD RALSTON,
JOSEPH HOPKINSON, WILLIAM MASON WALMSLEY,
JOSEPH REED, WILLIAM M. MEREDITH,
THOMAS C. JAMES,
DANIEL B. SMITH,
JOHN SERGEANT, WILLIAM RAWLE, JR.,
THOMAS I. WHARTON,
CHARLES J. INGERSOLL,
THOMAS H. WHITE, EDWARD BETTLE,
CASPAR WISTAR, 2d, THOMAS MCKEAN PETTIT,
BENJAMIN HI. COATES.
·
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"Nineteen members," says the record, "all of them citi- zens of Philadelphia." It was then resolved, that the con- stitution and by-laws be in force from and after the 28th of February, 1825, and that an election for officers for that year should be held on the day named.
On that day the Society met again, and proceeded to an election, when the following gentlemen were elected :
President. WILLIAM RAWLE.
Vice-Presidents.
ROBERTS VAUX,
THOMAS DUNCAN.
Corresponding Secretary.
DANIEL B SMITH.
Recording Secretary. G. W. SMITHI.
Thus, less than fifty years ago was the good seed sown. Behold the tree, the flowers and the fruit !
The first place of regular meeting of the new association was in the rooms of the American Philosophical Society, then as now on the west side of Fifth Street below Chestnut, and looking upon the State House grounds. Everything contemplated appears to have been upon the most modest scale; since the whole expense of fire and candles for the year was fixed at $50. In this quiet way of usefulness, the Society proceeded for nearly twenty years. But if it was small in numbers, unimposing in possessions, without a habitation of its own, it was not less confident in hope, less zealous in endeavor, less fruitful in good works. Books were brought together. Manuscripts were sought for and rescued from destruction. A scheme of large usefulness was planned and marked out by its accomplished President; standing committees to give every part of it effect were ap- pointed,* and the glories of this present day, scanis decora alta futuris, were beheld not dimly. The first volume of our published "Memoirs," deemed of late by us worthy of republication, filled as it chiefly is with addresses and papers made or presented within the first two years of our existence, shows with what effect our early members labored.
During the twenty years that our members remained
* See Appendix, No. I.
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under the protecting shadow of the American Philosophical Society, we enjoyed all the advantages which the spacious and well-filled apartments of that institution could afford us. But we were near the Hall of Independence. The spirit of 1776 began to rise. Inferior relation of any sort was not agreeable to some of our members, and in 1844, not without opposition from others, we departed from the ancient pre- cincts in which our infancy and youth were passed. Our new quarters were in a room in the second story of a house then No. 115, now 211 South Sixth Street, much humbler than our former ones, but, while we paid for them, exclu- sively our own. The new arrangements were still upon the modest scale suited to our quarters. The committee who had obtained the room were " directed to procure a book- case of size sufficient to hold the collection of books, &c., a carpet, table, chairs, and other necessary furniture, and to put the room in a proper state for being occupied, provided that the cost did not exceed $100."
As I look around at these beautiful and well-filled rooms, and remember that we have laid out $15,000, and yet get back, we feel, more than the value of every cent expended, I exclaim iuvoluntarily : " Excellent committee, if you ac- complished, ou these terms, the duties with which you were intrusted !"
Our residence in the new abode was short. In about three years-the present Athenaeum, on Sixth Street, being com- pleted-we transferred ourselves to the upper rooms of it ; and there we have remained-a term of five and twenty years-happy years they have been, too-until our transfer to this commodious place in which we now first meet.
In all this term, of near fifty years-from the foundation of our Society till this day-we have had no assistance from the state, whose honor in the past we seek to preserve in perpetual lustre; nor any from the city, equally interested with the state in supporting our endeavors. To private liberality, rarely in large sums, but constant and from many sources, and always unostentatiously rendered, we are in- debted for all that we have about us. We have 600 mem- bers; a library of 12,000 volumes; a collection of near
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80,000 pamphlets, of which 70,000, the bequest of Mr. Fah- nestock, lie carefully stored in boxes till such time as we can bind, arrange, and display them; a gallery of 65 por- traits, and of 12 historical pictures; numerous engravings; and manuscripts-I may say innumerable-including the collec- tions of William Penn and of several of his descendants at Stoke, in England; recently presented to us by some of ont liberal members, who had secured them at a price of $4000. Our building fund amounts to $12,775 ; our publication fund to $17,000; our binding fund to $3500; our life-membership fund to $7000.
Such has been the history, such is now the present con- dition of our Society. It well deserves to exist and to grow, for there is no state, I think, in which such a society can find themes more worthy to engage it. I pass by the history of our province for more than fifty years prior to the arrival of Penn; though that early record is filled with deeds of adventure and with experience of hardship; distinguished by acts of benevolence and by councils of wisdom. I keep within the limits known to all. And certainly I need not recall to this assemblage that from this region the light of letters first shone forth to all the Middle Colonies in the establishment of the PRINTING PRESS ;* that from Philadel- phia first, on this wide continent, came the proposition to print in English the Holy Scriptures and to accompany them by the Book of Common Prayer; } that in Philadel- phia, too, were asserted-first asserted on the face of the round world-the rights of the press against the arbitrary control of Government ; } and again, at a later date, when arbitrary power sought to exercise itself through courts of justice, was proclaimed-first, again, on the face of the round worlds-a principle in the law of libel, " as then," says David Paul, Brown, || " asserted nowhere, but which now protects every publication in much of our Union ; a principle which English
* A.D. 1685; see an Address delivered at the celebration by the New York Historical Society, of the 200th Anniversary of the Birthday of Mr. William: Bradford, May 20th, 1863, p. 26.
+ A.D. 1687-8; 1b. p. 109. · į A.D. 1680; Ib. p. 49.
¿ A.D. 1502; Ib. p. 55. | The Forum, vol. i, p. 281.
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judges after the struggles of the great Whig Chief Justice and Chancellor, Lord Camden, through his whole career, and of the brilliant declaimer, Mr. Erskine, were unable to reach, and which, at a later day became established in Eng- land only by the enactment of Mr. Fox's libel-bill in Parlia- ment itself." In Philadelphia, therefore, was the liberty of the press first asserted and successfully maintained. May that liberty be ever a virtuous freedom !- the freedom where- with the truth makes us free -- and be rescued from the base licentiousness which now, too widely through the land, usurps a sacred name, and threatens, more than every other . thing, to rob us of the blessings of our rich inheritance !
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