The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. XII, Part 52

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 438

USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. XII > Part 52

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WM. B. MITCHELL, Supt. Col. & Phila. Rail Road.

HARRISBURG, Ang 24, 1833. GEN. W.M. B. MITCHELL, Superintendent, &c.

Dear Sir,-Your letter of the 22d instant, to IIis Excellency the Governor, having been referred to me, I respectfully advise the following course of pro- ceeding, to remedy the grievances of which you com- plain.

It is my opinion, that a Justice of the Peace has no jurisdiction of a claim for damages, occasioned in the construction or obtaining materials for the construction of the Rail-road or Canal; and that in all such suits, no matter who may be the nominal defendants, the l'om- monwealth is substantially the party sued. No court in the State can entertain directly or indirectly, a suit against the Commonwealth, unless such suit has been previously authorised "by law." Before the jurisdic- tion can attach, her consent must be shown to the "manner," the "Court" and the "case."-Const. Pa. Art. 9. S. 11. The cases referred to, instead of being subject to the jurisdiction claiming cognizance, and to the manner of proceeding adopted, have been express- ly submitted to a different tribunal, proceeding in a dif- ferent manner-5th section, act of 6th April, 1830, pamphlet laws, page 220. The Justices of the Peace have no jurisdiction either over the subject matter of the action or the party defendant. Entertaining this opinion, I think on a Certiorari, the Court of Common Pleas seeing the thirteen fires kindled on the hill."

It may be necessary to guard against a recurrence of the evils alleged. If the facts are as stated in your letter, the conduct of the magistrates entertaining juris- diction is exceedingly injurious to the public interest, and evinces but little regard for the policy and as little respect for the sovereignty of the State It is imma- terial whether their conduct proceeds from hostility to a measure of public policy which the Legislature have adopted, or from an honest error of opinion. In either case the public interests seem to require the removal of those whose opinions are so greatly and dangerously at variance with the laws and established policy of the Commonwealth. An erroneous opinion in an ordinary case would be no cause of removal -- but where the er- ror affects extensively the whole community-thwarts the wishes of the people in their system of internal im- provement and tends to obstruct the public agents in their endeavors to carry those wishes into execution, it is ample cause of removal by address. It will be proper for you, therefore, to make a detailed report of the facts in each case, either to the Governor or to the Canal Commissioners, that the whole subject may be laid officially before the representatives of the peo- ple.

Very respectfully, yours, &c. ELLIS LEWIS.

REMINISCENCE .- The following account of the cele- bration, by the citizens of Pittsburg and vicinity, of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, by Virginia, the ninth State, is taken from the Pittsburg Gazette, of 28th June, 1788. The speech of Mr. Brack- enridge we omit for the present, but will probably find a place for it shortly.

"PITTSBURG, June 28.

On Friday last, the 20th instant, the news arrived at this place of the adoption of the new Constitution by Virginia, making the ninthi state. On Saturday evening following, the inhabitants of this town and the adjacent country, to the number of about fifteen hundred, as- sembled on Grant's Hill, a beautiful rising mount to the east of the town, having the two rivers, the Allegheny aud Monongahela, and their junction forming the Ohio, in prospect. Occupying the verge of the hill, they were addressed by Mr. Brackenridge. * *

" Three cheers were now given, and the hats thrown into the air. Nine piles of wood were then lighted, representing the nine states which had adopted the con- stitution. At intermediate distances, four piles were left uninflamed, representing those which had not adopted it. Fire was kindled in them, but oppressed by green leaves and heavy boughs; in spite of all that could be done the pile of New Hampshire burst out, and gave a luminous splendor; that of Rhode Island not having sent delegates to the general convention, or called a convention of their own, had brimstone, tar, and feathers, thrown into it; yet still some boughs of wood that were at the bottom, catched the flame, purg- ed off the noxious vapor and materials. That of New York and North Carolina at length took fire, and ex- ceeded even the other piles. The whole thirteen now in one blaze began to burn. The youths of the village danced round them on the green; and the Indians who were present, the chiefs of several nations, on their way to the treaty at Muskingum, stood in amazement at the scene; concluded this to be the great council,

HAZARD'S

DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE.

EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD.

VOI .. XII .- NO. 12. PHILADELPHIA, SEPTEMBER 21, 1833. NO. 299.

EULOGY ON CHARLES CARROLL OF "CAR- ROLLTON, BY JOHN SERGEANT, LL. D.

Eulogy on Charles Carroll of Carrollton; delivered at the request of the Select and Common Councils of the city of Philadelphia, December 31st, 1832, by John Sergeant, LL. D.

In the history of our Country, the most memorable epoch is that of the Declaration of Independence. The most illustrious assemblage of patriots, that which de- clared it. The act, favored by Providence, has become, as it were, immortal. Independence was established once and forever. The men, by whom it was achieved, have in succession obeyed the law of our nature, and we are now met to commemorate the event, which has finally closed the living record of that august body. The last of the signers has been united to the mighty dead. Long spared to receive the affectionate homage paid by a grateful nation to the single representative upon earth of the Congress of 1776, to witness the kind- ly and expanding influence of the institutions and prin- ciples which he had aided to establish, even to look upon three generations of his own immediate descendants, partaking with millions the blessings prepared for them raries, he too has become one of "the great majority" whom death always numbers on his side, and of him as of the rest, nothing now remains but the memory.

Thus has the Congress of 1776 again been united af- ter a long separation. Among the dead as among the living, they are associated, in our views and feelings, by their common title to pre-eminent distinction for wisdom, for patriotism, and for heroic courage, and by their common claim to our gratitude and veneration, for their virtues and their services. If all have passed away, they have not done so, without leaving to us the possession of their pure fame to enrich us, their spirit to instruct, and their example to guide us. Cherishing their fame, and resolving to preserve it unimpaired, counselling sincerely with their spirit and obeying its counsels, and truly following their bright example, we may hope, with the blessing of Heaven, to perpetuate the good work which they have handed down to us, and to continue long to enjoy its advantages.

| spirit, upon the first movements of the government, when that Constitution went into operation. From these, as the years rolled on, the sure arrow continued to select its object. But not with eager haste. At the end of fifty years, three of the venerable band were still among the living. On the fiftieth anniversary, in the midst of the jubilee, when the nation with one voice w.s commemorating the day of the great national act which had made us independent, two of tbem gen- tly sunk to rest, and their spirits departed while the hearts and the voices of their countrymen were swelling with gratitude to them and their associates for the bless- ings secured by their services and their toils. One only remained-the venerable Carroll. Fifty-six years were accomplished, and he too was removed, thelast of the fifty-six who, in the sight of man and of Heaven, had solemnly pledged "their lives, and fortunes, and their sacred honor," to abide the issue of their country's for- tunes.

And who were these men? What was the pledge they thus solemnly offered, and so nobly redeemed? What were "their lives, and fortunes, and their sacred honor," which they staked in the cause of human free- dom and of human rights? What was that assemblage

by the toils and the dangers of himself and his cotempo- [ of patriots, who in proclaiming their determination to

be free, proclaimed at the same time the great princi- ples which are every where acknowledged to have the irresistible power of truth? How did it happen that the youngest nation of the earth became the teacher of the world; that the true light of political philosophy broke forth from a region where the forest was not cleared, and the footstep of civilized man seemed scarcely to have made a sensible impression? Where dwelt that informed and assured spirit, which, leading an infant nation, never hesitated and yet never erred-which in the face of difficulty and danger, through a new and untried path, always advanced, yet never missed its course; which by intrepid perseverance, accomplished its glorious purpose so fully, so wisely, and so well, that its friends had nothing to desire, and its enemies nothing to censure?

It was much to declare independence-it was more to achieve it, in so unequal a contest-still more was it, by a display of wisdom and firmness, never surpassed, to fix the attention of the world, to challenge its admi- ration and command its respect, not only for the justice of our cause, but for the ability and virtue with which it was sustained-to exhibit popular representative go- vernment at the outset, in its best form, and to give to mankind at once an example and an assurance of its capacity to fulfil all the just purposes for which govern- ment was designed among men.

At such a moment, it is natural to look back. The occasion invites us to re assemble the fathers of our nation, to place them again to the eye of contemplation, in the Hall of Independence, to dwell upon their cha - racter and conduct, and to consider with deep and ear- nest attention, who were the men and what were the means employed, to lay the foundations of a great re- public. Hitherto, they have been among us. Not all of them. Of the fifty-six distinguished patriots, whose In the sight of other nations, the glory of that illus- trious Congress is sufficiently established by its public acts, already consecrated in the page of history. For us, who, as their countrymen, are not only the heirs. of their glory, but bound by every obligation to them, to ourselves, and to our children, to preserve it in all its lustre, and especially to maintain in purity and power, the institutions of free government they established for us, it may not be unprofitable to look carefully and closely into whatever belongs to its composition ard character, in order that no circumstance, however mi- names are ineffaceably inscribed upon the monument they constructed, two were summoned from time to eternity before a year had elapsed. Forty-seven sur- vived the struggle of war with the parent state, and liv- ed to witness the final consummation of their wishes, by an acknowledgment in the treaty with England, of what her arms were unable longer to dispute. Forty- three remained when the present Constitution was pre- sented by the Convention to the people of the United States for their adoption. Forty were still here to shed the light of their experience, and the influence of their ) nute, may escape our notice. The present is a fit oc-

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[SEPTEMBER

casion for some attempt to such an examination, and I am persuaded, that even if it should be found to be fruitlesss of instruction, it will certainly not have the effect of lessening our habitual respect for those whom we rightly consider the fathers of our country.

The common characteristic of the Congress of 1776 is pure public virtue-the striking feature of its mea- sures is mature wisdom. Upon the foundation of virtue and wisdom thus happily united, they built up the edi- fice of their own enduring fame, by achieving for their country what in all succeeding ages will continue to engage the unqualified respect and admiration of man- kind. Passing in a moment from a state of colonial de- pendence into the new condition of an independent nation-making this transition, too, in the midst of a sanguinary and unequal struggle already begun, and at the certain hazard of a war of undefined duration, brought to their very doors, and threatening to deal with them, not as fair combatants, but as traitors and as rebels, it is amazing, indeed, and argues a depth of in- tellectual and moral energy of which history has furnish- ed no parallel, that at such a time, they should not only have been fully equal to all the pressing exigencies of the crisis, but even more than this, that they should have been able to make an accurate survey of the con- dition of their country, to look forward to its future destinies, to combine it into one great republic, and at the instant when they firnily but solemnly declared they liad "counted the cost," should have announced those great principles of free government which were to enter into all our constitutions. To call this heroic, would be to associate it in our imaginations with the fabulous achievements of a remote antiquity, and thus to disfi. gure and degrade it. To compare it with what the great lawgivers of antiquity have done, would be en- tirely inadequate. To confound it with what accident has produced at other periods, and in o her quarters of the world, would be to sink it far below its proper level for foresight and deliberate conclusion. Whatever there is that is worthy of praise in the heroes of fable or of history, whatever there is that commands our approba- tion in the works of lawgivers, whatever of good there is that patriotism has been able to accomplish,-all these combined, and purified by the spirit of philanthropy, and governed by consummate skill, and sustained by unconquerable fortitude, make up the true portrait of that august assembly.

The honor we derive from these our ancestors, who carried our country triumphantly through the perilous trials of the war of independence, and established for us the principles of free government, which are now pervading the world, consists not simply in the reflec- tion upon us of the lustre of their wisdom and their vir- tue, glorious and inestimable as it is. There is much more for us to rejoice in-much more to convey to us a deep and salutary lesson. That Congress was a po- pular representative body, freely chosen by the people of the thirteen colonies, and sustained by that people in its decisions and its acts. At the first meeting in Car- penter's Hall, on the 5th September, 1774, eleven of what in the Journal are denominated "the several colo. nies and provinces in North America" were represented. On the 4th July 1776, the whole thirteen were present by their delegates. The selection of such a Congress is a manifest proof of wisdom and virtue in the people; and the spirit and the energy with which they sustained the measures of Congress under all the trials and suffer- ings of a protracted and cruel war, established forever, that they too understood and appreciated their object, and were one and all resolved to accomplish it, or to perish in the attempt. The representative body was in this respect the image of their constituents. They were selected for their worth, and that worth was made up of a heart entirely devoted to the common purpose, and of a mind so instructed as to be capable of executing it.

Of the composition and character of such a body, its acts may be considered in general as a sufficient expo- /

nent. It is perhaps enough for history. But we may be excused, if with the affectionate veneration of chil- dren, proud of the inheritance of a parent's fame, anx- iously desirous to exhibit and to preserve it in all its lustre, and to transmit it in the clearest light to our de- scendants, we dwell for a moment upon the particulars of the title, convinced as we are, that the closest scru- tiny will only more distinctly reveal its strength. Nor is this all. We may deduce from the inquiry lessons of instruction peculiarly appropriate at the present mo- ment.

But where shall we begin? How shall we enter upon the analysis which filial piety would thus invite us to institute, or how shall we conduct it? The occasion necessarily limits us to a few particulars, but those it is hoped will be sufficient at once to gratify and to in- struct us.

It is natural to begin then with the places of their birth. A few words will suffice. Of the fifty six mem- bers who signed the Declaration of Independence, ten were natives of Massachusetts-nine of Virginia-five of Pennsylvania-five of Maryland-four of New Jersey- four of Connecticut-four of South Carolina-three of New York-two of Rhode Island-and two of Delaware -making altogether forty-eight, who were born in the colonies. Of the rest, two were natives of England- two of Ireland-two of Scotland-and one of Wales. Of the remaining one I have not met with an account which enables me to speak.

We are anxious next to know something of their age. Were they in the ardor of youth, when zcal is apt to out- run discretion, and a romantic spirit prompts to under- takings of danger, from the mere love of adventure or the influence of a heated imagination? Nothing could be more distant from the truth. 'There sat the venerable Franklin, in his seventieth year, and Hopkins within a few months of the same age, grasping the pen to assert their country's independence with a heart as resolute and a countenance as firm as Rutledge or Lynch, the most youthful of the body. Samuel Adams, too, and John Hancock, excepted in the offers of mercy held out by the crown, as the unpardonable ringleaders in rebellion, were not so young as to be unable to couut the cost, or to be Irurried into danger from want of re- flection. The one was fifty-four, the other was about forty. John Adams was forty, and Thomas Jefferson was thirty-three. There were in the whole convention but two who were under thirty, Rutledge and Lynch, of South Carolina. They were twenty-seven. To sum it all up in a single word, which conveys at once a dis- tinct conception of the finest combination of deliberate gravity and manly resolution, the average age of the whole assembly was about forty five.

Nor were they men tossed up in the whirl of a revolu- tion, distinguished chiefly by revolutionary audacity, and that audacity itself owing to the knowledge that they had nothing at stake, and nothing to lose. Among them were many who had all that as individuals, they could desire, and little to hope, for themselves, from a change. Indeed I doubt not that the observation might be applied umversally. John Hancock, signalized, we have seen, as an unpardonable rebel, and the first of the signers, was in the enjoyment of the largest estate in Massachusetts. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was the heir of perhaps the richest man in Maryland. Heyward, Middleton, Lynch, Floyd, Nelson, and marry more, were gentlemen of independent fortunes, to which they had been born. Others, by their talents and their industry had gained a commanding position in society; and in their private condition, might be considered among the happiest of men. Would you desire to know in what proportion the different professions and pursuits of life contributed from their numbers to form this Congress? It is not easy to ascertain it with precision. Of a part, however, an account can be given. There were sixteen lawyers-nine merchants-five physicians-five plant- ers-three farmers-and one divine. Of the remaining

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seventeen, no single word will characterize them. | executing the laws-nay, if we look even to their indi- What, for example, should we denominate the venera- ble Franklin? Even at the period we are treating of, with the snow of seventy winters on his head, and a re- putation which extended all over Europe, his trium- phant career was not ended, nor the versatility of his mighty powers fully developed. He was yet to conduct

vidual labors and occupations-we shall then be prepar- ed to admit, that in »Il which constitutes the real worth of man-in the gifts of nature-in the advantages of education and culture-even in the lighter acquirements which give currency in society-as men, as patriots, and as gentlemen, it is but the simple truth to say, that, as a the most important and delicate foreign negotiations of body, the Congress of 1776 never was equalled.

his country, and to sit down at table with kings, honor- Besides this, however, there was an instruction they i had received, without which, all else might perhaps have been of little avail. These colonies had, in sub. ing them by his presence more than they could honor him. We must call him Franklin-a name that requires no addition, but is itselfan epitome of the achievements stance, been free representative republics from the be- of sagacious wisdom, applied in almost all the depart- ginning-subject in name to the dominion of Great Bri- ments of human lite, and from their variety become fa- miliar to every class of men.

There is one point still to be adverted to in relation to this distinguished assemblage. It may be stated in a very few words. The greater part of those who com- posed it had been liberally educated. Of the fifty six members, eighteen were graduates of colleges in this country. Three were graduates of the University of Cambridge in England-and one of the University of Edingurgh. Seven had received their education at other public seminaries. Fourteen had been instructed in liberal learning by private tutors or intelligent pa- rents. Eight had received some elementary education, and of three the early history has not been learned. But nature was not entirely without her witnesses upon this eventful occasion. Two there were, who were li- terally self-taught-who had never received the least instruction from others, and, yet, overcoming the diffi. culties of their early condition, had accomplished them- selves in knowledge by their own unaided exertions -- become distinguished in a learned profession, and qua- lified for association with the selected wisdom of the country. These were Sherman and Walton, one of whom was originally a shoemaker, and the other a car- penter.

In the whole number there was not a single titled personage, nor one who in the established language of Europe would have been called a statesman. Perhaps there were few, if any, who, according to the settled arrangements of European etiquette, could then have been received at court. Several there were, such as Hancock, Carroll, and others, who had visited foreign countries, and enjoyed the opportunity of observing society in its different forms. One too had occupied a sort of semi-diplomatic station, as agent in England of several of the colonies, and even in that humble charac- ter had found occasion to manifest and to exercise his transcendant abilities, and with keen and penetrating glance to discern and seize upon the occasions for serv- ing his country. When Franklin stood before the col- lected wisdom of the British House of Commons, as a witness, he exhibited a wisdom above them all. When he stood alone, in the midst of enemies before the Privy Council, he was as unmoved by the deliberate and piti- ful sarcasm of Wedderburn, as when he drew down the lightning from the clouds-in both instances, with an intrepidity equal to his deep sagacity, coolly gathering instruction from the raging tempest, which seemed to be bursting upon his head. Vain, indeed, was the ex- pectation, that he, who had invited a personal commu- nication with the forked thunderbolt in its greatest fury, should be intimidated by the tongue of man, or disturb- ed in his purpose by impotent abuse, though studiously envenomed with all the poison that could be extracted from the stores of classical vituperation.

If from the period on which our eye has been fixed, we follow the members of that illustrious Congress through their subsequent lives-see them in arduous foreign employment, managing the most intricate negotiations with the trained and experienced statesmen and diplo- matists of Europe-in high and responsible stations at home, speaking the language and maintaining the rights of their country, or perfecting the institutions of her freedom-or in subordinate offices, administering and | from time to time, of attempts by their Legislature to

, tain, but actually managing their most important con- cerns by their own assemblies, with little interference on the part of the parent state. They had constantly present to their view the image of republican govern- ment. Republicanism was thus become habitual, a part of the nature of the inhabitants of the colonies-an in- bred feeling, which was always prompt to assert the rights of the colonists, and to resist every attempt at encroachment or oppression in whatever form it present- ed itself. From the first effort of Great Britain to ex- ercise an unwarranted authority over these colonies in the year 1765, the nature of their rights and the limits of the just authority of the parent state, had been the subject of continual and earnest discussion, in the course of which, under the quickening influence of a deep and powerful feeling, the minds of men became rapidly en. liglitened as to the true state of the question, and along with the lingering doubt of their ability to sustain a con- test, and a full sense of the horrors of war brought to their doors, there could still be discerned, in every quarter of the country, a fixed determination, at every hazard, to assert and to maintain their freedom. It was this spirit which the members of the first Congress car- ried with them to the place of assemblage-it was this spirit which presided over their councils-and it was this same spirit which, when memorial and remonstrance had been exhausted, solemnly declared from the Hall of Independence, that the colonial condition was ended -that in its place a nation had come into existence, ready to follow the example of the patriots who had bled at Lexington and at Bunker's Hill, and, feeble, inexperienced, undisciplined, ail unprovided as it was, to maintain the justice of its cause, and relying upon the favor of Heaven, to meet in hostile combat the gi- gantic power and veteran arms of England. From that day, this nation dates its existence. The Declaration of Independence is the authentic registry of its birth.

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The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. XII, Part 52

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870 Publication date: 1828 Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ; Number of Pages: 438

Author: Hazard, Samuel, 1784-1870
Publication date: 1828
Publisher: Philadelphia : Printed by W.F. Geddes ;
Number of Pages: 438