Proceedings on unveiling the monument to Caesar Rodney, and the oration delivered on the occasion
Bayard, Thomas Francis, 1828-1898. [from old catalog] | Rodney Club, Dover, Del. [from old catalog]
'■^A^ / . /{/ ■ A/^^^.-.-^^^- Ik /r / / //^,^r>^ ■/- CiESAR RODNEY 1728 - 1784 .' feZW^//^^. h /A/y' SS^M^//^./ rf///f -l y^^y^^^ /;/ U'/r///7/tZ/7^y Q J/a/^y, /^J 6yen^N',^?//r^?y ^^/r/. /lrr/;u/ /^/ Vr// /'/^//^ /7//^y ije^/^/^/^f <:^v/< r>^T//-^>^/'////r// "^ /J ; 7: ^^^£. p///^,, ^/A^yy^yJ^2z/^^/e^ ^V^^^^z-^. //I. /vvy-^/€. Q^J^^ Q^y^^/^^l^/?yZy ^^^^^ W^^^y y^yyyv,>^z^ (l^/Cry^^/L/ vl^ y^i/y/'cc (^^/p/yyi/z. f yy^- t^Ci^T^ */^- ^ Tn^'/yy///// , %ya Cjy /m<^ ^^ ^^^^Cl/^cf^J^ \/f ^-^ r^/^; 1 ^i?«l JUn&PC ^'^ A PROCEEDINGS ox Unveiling the Monument TO CESAR RODNEY, AND THE Oration Delivered on the Occassion BY Thomas F. Bayard, AT DOVER, DELAWARE, October 30th, 1889. WILMINGTON, DKL. : DELAWARE PRINTING COMPANY. 1889. The History of the Monument. The home of Caesar Rodney was at " Poplar Grove," St. Jones' Neck, Kent county, Delaware, where he died on the 29th of June, 1784. His place of interment was on the estate where he spent his days, and was unmarked save by a stone placed there recently by the Hon. Joseph P. Comegys, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Dela- ware. In this neglected condition the grave of this distinguished Revolutionar}' statesman and warrior remained till the year 1887. In November, 1887, an organization was formed of 3'oung men of Dover to put a fitting monument over Caesar Rodney's remains. The organization thus formed took the name of "The Rodney Club." The officers originally chosen were — President, William G. Kurbix, Secretary, Henry Ridgely, Jr., Treasurer, Robert R. P. Bradford. In September, 1889, Henry Ridgely was elected president of the " Club," vice William G. Kerbin, who had removed to New York ; and W. Lee Cannon was elected secretary. The movement at once received generous pviblic support and uni- versal commendation. The "Rodney Club" brought the matter to the attention of the Delaware Legislature, and the following joint resolu- tion was passed at Dover, February 20th, 1889:— Whereas, It is right and proper that patriots should be especially honored, and the remembrance of their good deeds preserved for the encouragement cf patriotism in future generations ; and as other States have taken measures to honor their patriotic sires, Delaware should not be derelict in herdutj- to those who in perilous times pledged their fortunes and their sacred honor, to gain and secure for us peace, happi- ness and prosperity, unexampled in the history of nations; and Whereas. There is no fitter mode of expressing her appreciation 8 of their patriotism and of immortalizing their noble dsee thdan that of erecting monuments to their memory; and Whrreas, The remains of General Caesar Rodney, member of the Continental Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, one of the presidents of the Delaware State during the war for inde- pendence, an eminent, self-den3nng patriot, a sturdy advocate of Amer- can rights and liberties, lie in the Episcopal bvirying-ground, at Dover, without any stone to mark their resting place; therefore Be it etiaded by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaivare ifi General Assembly met: That, J. M. C. Rodney, Esq., John R. Nicholson, Esq., McKendree Downham, and the "Rodne}^ Club" consisting of Henry Ridgely, Jr., Robert R. P. Bradford, William G. Kerbin, George L. Whitaker, Peter L. Cooper, Jr., James H. Hughes, William Saulsbury, W. L. Cannon, Jr., R. H. Vandyke, and Nelson Spencer, and such others as they shall hereafter associate with them, are hereby appointed a committee to have a suitable monument, with appropriate inscriptions and devices, erected over the remains of General Caesar Rodney in the aforesaid burying-ground. Resolved, That the committee appointed by the foregoing resolu- tion, or a majority of them, are hereby authorized to draw their order or orders on the State Treasurer for any sum or sums not exceeding in the whole the sum of five hundred dollars, for the purpose of carrying into effect the object of the resolutions aforesaid, and the State Treas- urer be and he is hereby authorized and directed to pay the order or orders of the said committee so drawn on him, out of an}' money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated ; and it shall be the duty of the said committee, or a majority' of them, .to make report of their proceedings to the next biennial session of the Legislature, setting forth the expenditures consequent upon the execution of their duties under the provisions of these resolutions. Anterior to the passage of the above resolution, the " Rodnev Club ■ ' had removed the remains of Cresar Rodney from the old home- stead in St. Jones' Neck and had them deposited in the above men- tioned Episcopal Cemetery in Dover. In addition to the five hundred dollars thus secured from the State a like amount was given to the monument fund by the will of the late Mrs. Sally Morris, of Wilmington, Delaware, a daughter of his nephew Ceesar A. Rodney, and it was deemed advisable at once to proceed with the erection of the monument. Wednesda}', October 30, 1889, was fixed as the day of unveiling, and the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard was chosen the orator. Opening Ceremonies. Henry Ridgely, Jr., President of the "Rodney Club," introduced Governor R T. Biggs, who said : — " By virtue of my office as successor to Caesar Rodney in the executive office of the State, I have been invited by the "Rodney Club " to preside on this august occasion, and it now gives me pleasure to present to you the Rt. Rev. Leighton Coleman, Bishop of Delaware. ■" Pr.wer bv Bishop Coleman. O Almighty and most merciful CTod, we, thy unworthy servants, praj^ Thee to be especially presT;nt with us at this time and bless the ceremonies in which we are engaged. We praise and magnify Thy holy name as for all Thy goodness toward us, so particularly for the blessings of civil and religious liberty which thou hast vouchsafed this nation, and for the labors of those among our forefathers whom Thou didst inspire and direct in laying the perpetual foundations of freedom, peace and prosperity. And herein we chiefly thank Thee for the good example and efficient services in this glorious work of him in whose honored memor3^ we have set up this monument. We humbly beseech Thee that the devout sense of Thy gracious providence in our behalf may renew and increase in us a spirit of love and loyalty to Thee, a spirit of peaceable submission to the laws and government of our common countr3', and a fervent zeal for our holy religion which Thou hast preserv^ed and secured to us and our posterity-. May we improve these inestimable blessings for the advancement of true knowlege and godliness, and show ourselves a people ever mindful of Thy favour and ready to do Thy will. Bless the President of the United States, the (Governor of this State, the Judiciary, and the Legislature, and endue them with constant wisdom and fidelity. Grant to our land, and especiall}' to our own commonwealth of Delaware, honorable industry, sovind learning and pure manners. Defend our liberties and preserve our unity. Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from ignorance, pride and prejudice. Purge us of corruption, intemperance and coveteousness, and deliver us from, every evil way. Fashion into one happy people, fearing God and work- ing righteou.sness, the multitudes who come hither out of many kin- dreds and tongues. In the time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble suffer not our Trust in Thee to fail. All which we ask in the name and for the sake of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who taught us when we pray to ,say ro Our Father, Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy King- dom come. Thy will be done on earth. As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil : For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power' and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Governor Biggs then introduced Mr. Bayard and said : — "Having been selected to preside over this highly cul- tured and intelligent audience, I would be remiss in duty did I not return my sincere thanks to the Rodney Club for so high an honor, so distinguished a compliment. The State of Delaware, though one bf the smallest in the Union, has always been represented in the councils of the nation by men of intelligence equal to any other State. "We have met here to-day to unveil a monument to one of the great men of the revolution, who was born in Dover about the year 1730. Any one fainiliar with the life of Csesar Rodney cannot but believe that as a patriot he loved liberty, he fought for independence; and no man, living or dead, on the earth or under the earth, was his superior in every virtue which adorns and beautifies the human character. [Applause.] " I will not longer trespass upon your patience. It is my privilege and pleasure to introduce to you a gentleman known to you all, one who has given twenty years of his life to the public service, four of which have been as Secretary of State of the United States. One hundred years ago, from the 30th of April last, his great-grandfather, Richard Basset, one of the signers of the Constitution^ was elected a United States Senator from this State, and took the oath of office in the city of New York. ' ' The pure name and white fame of the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard is not confined to the North American continent, but has leaped over the two mighty oceans which wash our shores and is known all over Europe. It now gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, who will now address you. ' ' [Great applause. ] II Fellow Citizens of Delaware, Ladies and Gentlemen, Gentlemen of the Rodnf:y Club : It would appear that William Penn had beeu of like mind with my Lord Bacon, who held it to be "a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people, and wicked, condemned men to be the people with whom you plant," and therefore when Penn came to let in the sunlight of liberty of the person in conscience and in conduct upon the colony he was planting on these shores, he sought as his companions and assistants men of character and substance ; and he brought out of England men of good stock and standing and excluded " the scum and wicked, condemned men." Among those who in the same year, but not in the same good ship, the "Welcome," that bore Penn and his shipmates up the Delaware bay and river in 1682, came William Rod- ney, of Bristol, who soon thereafter became a landholder in St. Jones, as it was then called, but since Nov. 25, 1682, has been the county of Kent, retaining the same boundaries. William Rodney was the American progenitor of the family of that name, and his posterity have continued to dwell within the Delaware State, as valued and estimable citizens, contributing important service to the commonwealth. He was of an honorable and distinguished English ancestry and traced his descent from Sir Walter de Rodeney, who came from Normandy in A. D. 1139, in the suite of the Empress Maude, daughter of Henry I and wife of Geoffrey Plantaga- nent. Earl of Anjou. Sir Walter served in the war against Stephen, by which the succession to the crown of England was secured to Henry H. In the subsequent history of England, the Rodneys proved themselves a valiant and honorable race, and these qualities of manhood were transmitted from genera- tion unto generation, and in a marked degree to the Ameri- can patriot in honor of whose memory we meet to-day, to raise an enduring monument to him for the conspicious part he played in the great contest to assert on this side the Atlantic the same principles of civil liberty which his ances- 12 tors had fought for and gained in England. For it was the same spirit of courageous manhood that breathes in the great charter of English liberty which proclaimed itself nearly six centuries later in the American Declaration of Indepen- dence, and to the same political training and same stock of race and blood is mainly due the steadfast courage and persistent moral energy that lent vital force to these ideals, gave them power, and imbedded them in the constitu- tions of their grovernments on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. When Washington, on April i8, 1783, issued from the headquarters at Newburgh on the Hudson, the order to the American armies upon the cessation of hostilities, with a pre- scient comprehension of the magnitude of the results that were to flow to the world at large from the victory God had vouchsafed to his country, he embodied a recommendation which to-day we should reverently follow, and which I will read to you in his own words: " I cannot help wishing that all the brave men of what- ever condition they may be, who have shared in the toils and dangers of effecting this glorious revolution of rescuing millions from the hand of oppression and of laying the foundation of a great empire, might be impressed with a proper idea of the dignified part they have been called to act (under the smiles of Providence) on the stage of human affairs ; for happy, thrice happy, shall they be pronounced hereafter, who have contributed anything, who have performed the meanest office in erecting this stupendous fabric of free- dom and enterprise on the broad basis of independence, who have assisted in protecting the rights of human nature, and establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all na- tions and religions." The words of Washington are ever to be read withfever- encebyhis countrymen, for in them breathed the very soul of the revolution that made it possible for the inhabitants of this continent to become the masters of their own political destiny, 13 and in onr contemplation of the great fabric and superstruc- ture of empire, wealth, power, and all the forces of a pro- gressive civilization which has been reared upon their work, let us be ever mindful that the foundations were laid in the solid personal virtues, the conscientious fidelity to duty, to Almight)' God and their country, of a scanty handful of plain men around the tomb of one of whom we gather to-day in grateful remembrance. Soon after the arrival of William Rodney in the province of Pennsylvania, he settled in St. Jones, now Kent county, and in the annals of the period we find his name connected with the local government. He took part in the separate organization of the government of the three lower counties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, on the Delaware, then com- monly styled " the territories, " in contradistinction from the three "upper" counties, Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester, known, and called by William Penn the "province." We find Mr. Rodney's name in the memorial of the representa- tive freeholders in the year 1700, when they endeavored unavailingly, but as it eventuated, fortunately, to re-estab- lish a Legislative union with the province, under the liberal charter of Penn as it had existed under the settlement of February 1682 ; and when the three lower counties had organized a separate assembly for their own government in 1701, William Rodney was chosen Speaker of the Assembly. His father, whose name also was William, had married Alice the daughter of Sir Thomas Csesar, an eminent merchant of the city of London, and his son William died near Dover, Del., in the year 1708, leaving eight children and a considerable landed estate which was entailed, and by the decease of elder sons, finally vested in his youngest son, Caesar, who continued his residence as a landed proprie- tor in Delaware until his death in 1745- The Christian name of Caesar, the son of William Rodney, was derived from his great-grandfather. Sir Thomas Caesar. Caesar Rodney, the eldest son of Caesar and grandson of William Rodney, was born in St. Jones' Neck, near Dover, H in Kent county, Delaware, in the year 1728, and died at his residence, at Poplar Grove, in the same neighborhood, on the 26th of June, 1784, in the 57th year of his age. Left an orphan at the ag^ of seventeen, he selected Nicholas Ridgely, Esquire, to be his guardian at an Orphans' Court held in Dover on February 27, 1745- This early step had a most for- tunate influence upon his moral and intellectual training, for he was brought into the family and under the influence of an intelligent, honorable and upright man who wisely nursed his estate, carefully supervised his education and took an affec- tionate interest in his welfare. Mr. Ridgely caused his ward to be instructed in the classics and general literature and in the accomplishments of fencing and dancing, to fit his bearing and manners becom- ingly to the station in life in which he was born. Amid such domestic influences of morality, cultivation and refinement the youth of Csesar Rodney was passed, and the effect of these advantages was made apparent in his career in life. His correspondence is that of an educated man, his chirography, ^)f which I have seen several specimens, was clear and well-formed, with excellent power of expressing his sentiments. His personal disposition was extremely viva- cious ; of an active and vigorous nature he carried with him into whatever society he entered an influence at once engag- ing, attractive and impressive. His courage never faltered or failed, even " in the times that tried men's souls" and in its overflow was contagious among feebler spirits. From his early manhood he attracted the respect and confidence of his fellow^ citizens, and civil distinction commenced upon his attaining legal capacity and con- tinued throughout his life. He served in the legisla- tive assembly of the State prior to the stamp act of Congress in 1765, when his usefulness was extended to a wider field. At the age of thirty he was chosen High Sheriff of Kent county, and upon the expiration of his term was made a Justice of the Peace and Judge of the Lower Courts. In 1762 he was selected by the Assembly to revise 15 and print the laws in conjunction with Thomas McKean, an important duty which was satisfactorily performed. This may be regarded as his educational period pre- paratory to his chief work, and the real extent of his abilities and the true features wherein he excelled, were soon exhibi- ted by his selection in association with Thomas McKean, as "Representative of the Freemen of the three lower counties on the Delaware to the convention proposed by the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, to all the other colonies to be held at New York on the first Tuesday in October, 1765,'' to consult together on the present circumstances of the colonies and the difficulties to which they must be reduced by the operation of the acts of Parliament in levying duties and taxes in the colonies, and to consider of a general, united, dutiful, loyal and humble representation of their condition to his Majesty and to the Parliament and to implore relief. To comprehend the extent and nature of the services rendered by Csesar Rodney and his compatriots, and the per- sonal qualities they brought to the aid of the cause of popular self-government, it is necessary to glance at the condition of affairs. Nowhere in the dominion of Great Britian was the sentiment of loyalty to the sovereign and fidelity to the Imperial government more thoroughly and sincerely evinced than in the American Colonies. Not only had these vig- orous emigrants conquered for themselves homes in a wil- derness and by their sharp axes, wielded with sinewy arms, let in the light of civilization to forests almost impenetrable, but when the counter currents of French and English ambition stri\"ing for control, had been transferred to this continent, the Americans, although left to shift for themselves against Indian assaults, and wholly neglected by the ' ' Mother Country," as it was fondly styled, levied at their own cost armed forces to uphold British dominion in America aild repel the military aggressions of France in her efforts to gain cis-Atlantic supremacy. When Benjamin Franklin, then in London as the agent of the colony of Pennsylvania, in February . i6 1766, was examined before the House of Commons touching the wishes and feelings of the colonies in respect of the ' 'Stamp act," he was asked : ''Do you think it right that America should be protected by this country and pay no part of the ex- pense." He replied: "That is not the case. The colonies raised, clothed and paid durins^ the last year nearly 25,000 men and spent many millions. ' ' And he further testified in relation to the Indian and French wars : "I know that the last war is commonly spoken of here as entered into for the defence, or for the sake of the people of /America. I think it is quite misunderstood. It began about the limits between Canada and Nova Scotia, about territories to which tJie Croivn indeed laid claim, but which were not claimed by any colony, none of the lands had been granted to any colony and there- fore we had no particular concern or interest in that dispute. " He might also have recalled the signal victory at Lewis- burg achieved by a force composed chiefly of New England fishermen by which "the key of the St. Lawrence, the bul- wark of the French fisheries and of French commerce in North x\merica," as it is well styled by the historian Bancroft, passed under British control. The Stamp Act had passed the House of Conjmons on March 22, 1765, by a vote of five to one, and in the House of Lords without even a division, and it was repealed in the month of March following, in consequence of the arguments presented and, still more, the manifestation of deep and determined feeling by the colonies against it. But the principle against which the colonies protested was not abandoned by the government by the repeal of this single act. Up to 1763 taxes had been laid by Parliament on the colonies, but not for revenue to the home government, but solely for local expenses and as regulations of trade. But it was the passage of a resolution in 1764 by the British Parliament, after full debate, that it was their right to tax the colonies at will, and recommending under the power so asserted the laying of a stamp tax upon all writs and legal process and mercantile documents, that led to the i; solemn protest by the colonies addressed to the Crown, and their connter assertion that " taxes could not be levied upon the people but by their consent in person or by deputation." Thus, although the Stamp Act was repealed, the principle under which the tax had been imposed, and the claim of power it contained, was still insisted upon with a blindness and infatuation which nothing but the long abuse of power could account for Collisions between the officials who represented such claims of authority and the people who resisted became inevitable and frequent, until a sentiment of discontent gradually permeated the minds of the Americans and was not confined to the individuals or the localities that were the objects and scenes of injustice, but a common cause was cre- ated throughout the length and breadth of the colonies, to which adhesion grew gradually, but with a grave determina- tion, so that tlie injury to any one was felt to be the injury of all. These three lower counties on the Delaware were not governed under a Royal Charter as was Massachusetts and mcst of the other colonies, but our forefathers were living in happiness and safety under the benignant, wise and gener- ous charter of William Penn, the Proprietary. They were apparently in the secure enjoyment of all and more than their progenitors had left Europe to secure. The promise of Will- iam Penn, written from London in April 1681, was indeed generous, but it had been more than fulfilled. He had writ- ten : " You shall be governed by laws of your own making, and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp the right of any or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me grace to keep it. In short, whatever sober and free men can reasonably desire for the security and improve- ment of their own happiness I shall heartly comply with." How well and faithfully he kept this promise let his subsequent charters of privileges to the inhabitants of the Province of Pennsylvania and the "Territories," the three i8 lower counties, attest. Not only was every birthright of free- born Englishmen amply approved and secured, but a free- dom from the rule of classes and privileged orders was granted, to which English subjects elsewhere were strangers; local self-government in all its particulars and essentials was the wise basis, and anticipating those golden words placed by the hand of Jefferson nearly a century later in the Dec- laration of American Independence — Penn recognized that "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were 'unalienable rights,' and to secure them governments were established among men 'deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,' " and so, in 1683, when he met the provincial council in which the three lower counties had been united, at their request, with the counties of Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester, each county having an equal representation of nine members, he told them "they might amend, alter or add for the public good," and that he was ready to settle such foundations as might be for their happiness and the good of their posterity. It is little to be wondered that the colony so founded in reliance upon all that is best in human nature should flourish and rapidly attract numbers to share its blessings and benefits. Well might Edmund Burke speak of Penn's charter to his colonists as "a noble charter of priveleges, by which he made the people more free than any people on earth, and which by securing both civil and religious liberty caused the eyes of the oppressed from all parts of the world to look to his counties for relief. This one act of God-like wisdom and goodness has settled Penn's counties in a more strong and per- manent manner than the wisest regulations could have done on any other plan." And the growth was rapid, from 3000 of Dutch, Swedes and English when Markham, Penn's agent, came in 1681, to 4000 when four years afterwards the good Pastorius came to found Germantown, to 12,000 in 168S, when in honest exultation Penn exclaimed : "I have led the greatest colony into America that ever did any man upon a private credit, and the most prosperous beginnings are now 19 to be found among us.'' At the time of his death in 1718* the population was supposed to number 40,000. The testi- mony of the venerable Bancroft may be well cited also : "The old Proprietary Government in an existence of more than ninety years, had now the admiration of the wise through- out the world, . by its respect for civil and religious liberty, and had kept itself free from the suspicion of having insti- gated or approved the obnoxious measures of the British ministers, and had maintained the attiutude of mediator between Parliament and America." Under such a beneficent government Caesar Rodney had been born and had lived, taking part in the affairs of the communitv in which there was no manifestation of discontent or a desire for a change of ruler. The population of these counties at the breaking out of the War of the Revolution was estimated by the Federal Convention of 1783, including negro slaves, at about 35,000, and in all the conferences and conventions at any time called during the colonial period and in the Continental Congress each colony was an equal integer, with an equal vote on all questions. Thus, in the Stamp Act Congress, it was resolved that the committee of each colony shall have one voice only in determining any question that shall arise in the Congress, and in the Articles of Confederation of 1778 of the thirteen States it was provided in Article 5 : No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two nor more than seven members. In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled each State shall have one vote. Similarly, in the convention of 1787, under which a more perfect union was formed under the Federal Consti- tution, each State had an equal vote in the determination of all questions. Thus an importance attached to the action and influence of this State disproportionate to the mere number of its inhabitants, but which has operated always for the promo- tion of the welfare of the Union. The character of the individuals chosen to represent the freemen of Delaware on 20 sundry important occasions in the history of the formation of our government, and in the stormy period in which our institutions had their birth, has added justly to the influence and reputation of the State in the federal councils ; and as the stream cannot rise above its source, I am disposed to attribute the disposition of our citizens to select wise and honorable representatives to the good and substantial ma- terial of which the community was composed. The Dutch, the Swedes and English were men of sturdy integrity aud industrious lives. The churches built by them attest their piety to God, and the body of their laws exhibit their respect and appreciation of justice among men. A sketch of the simple life of our ancestors in Kent county will not be out of place here, and by the kindness of Mrs. Henry Geddes Banning, of Wilmington, I have been allowed to transcribe it from the MSS. of her great-grand- father, Thomas Rodney, himself a brave soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a younger brother of Caesar Rodney. I give it vet'bathn ct literatim. ' ' The manners and customs of the white people when I first remember, were very simple, plain and social. Very few foreign articles were used in this part of the country for eating, drinking or clothing. Almost every family manu- factured their own clothes ; and beef, pork, poultry, milk, butter, cheese, wheat, and Indian corn were raised by them- selves, served them with fruits of the country, and wild game for food ; and cider, small beer, and peach and apple brandy for drink. The best families in the country but seldom used tea, coffee, chocolate or sugar, for honey was their sweetening. The largest farmers at that time did not sow over twenty acres of wheat, nor tend more than thirty acres of Indian corn, and there was very few of this sort, so that all the families in the country had a great deal of idle time, for the land being fertile supplied them plentifully by a little labor, with all that was necessary, nay with great abundarce, more than enough, grudged nothing to those who happened to 21 want. Indeed, they seemed to live as it were in concord ; for they constantly associated together at one house or an- other in considerable numbers, to pla)- and frolic, at which times the young people would dance, and the elder ones wrestle, run, hop, jump or throw the disc or play at some rustic and manly exercises. On Christmas Eve there was an universal firing of guns, and travelling round from house to house during the holiday, and indeed all winter there was a continual frolic at on^ house or another, shooting-matches, twelfth-cakes, &c. "This manner of life continued until the war commenced in 1755, but this occasioned a sudden and universal change in the country. Soldiers were raised, the people form'ed into militia, great sums of government money were expended, new taxes were laid, and a great variety of civil and military offi- cers became necessary. Produce became more valuable, &c. , &c. , then in a few years the country became engaged in more pursuits and put on quite a new appearance, yet this operated chiefly on the younger people, and the old habits and customs gradually wore off, until they are at length almost forgot ; for what little remained till then was expelled by the Revo- lution which had naturally wrought a far greater change than the former war. ' ' From the simple and happy pastoral life thus pictured by an eye-witness, Caesar Rodney now emerged and with his colleague, Thomas McKean, took his seat in that convention known as the Stamp Act Congress, which met in New York, in October 1765. I have already read you the objects of that convention which was attended by delegates from nine States, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia not being represented but giving their written assent to what was done. The history of this important congress has never been fully written, and the original records of its proceedings are doubtless to be found among the unpublished archives of the government at Washington, awaiting the day when the uu- 22 blushing importunity of place-hunting and the lofty occupa- tion it begets of office-peddling, shall have been sufficiently intermitted to allow the representive^ of the American people time enough to enact measures for the intelligent editing of the documentary history of their government, and its publica- tion for the instruction and edification of their constituents. Happily for his own conscience, Caesar Rodney left no personal diary, nor did he attempt any record of his own ser- vices or of his daily reflections or criticisms upon his asso- ciates and contemporaries, but simply went on doing his duty as conscience dictated, and died leaving an untarnished rep- utation and no literary sting to discredit those who survived him. To his care and foresight we owe the procurement and preservation of an authenticated copy of the journal of the Stamp Act Congress, which was found among his papers by his nephew and chief devisee, Caesar Augustus Rodney, after- wards Attorney-General of the United States in the adminstra- tion of Thomas Jefferson, and who was United States Minis- ter Plenipotentiary to Buenos Ayres, where he died in June 3824. This important document was carefully published in Niles' ^'Weekly Register" in July 1812. In the prefatory editorial the source of the information is fully set forth, and Mr. Rodney is described as the "esti- mable and patriotic Caesar Rodney, one of the delegates and for many years the great prop and stay of Whiggism in the lower parts of his native State." The MSS. is authenticated by the signature of John Cotton, Esq., the Clerk of the Congress, and was accompanied by a separate paper in the hand- writing of Mr. Rodney con- taining a list of the members. The credentials of Rodney and McKean were signed by the individual members of the General Assembly of the three counties, that body not being in session at the time it was necessary to decide upon the question of taking part in the Convention. 23 The share of Rodney and McKean in this important Congress was conspicuous and influential, and the latter was selected, together with James Otis of Massachussetts, and Thomas Lynch of South Carolina, to prepare a petition to the British House of Commons. Permit me to draw your attention to the address to the King which was adopted by the Congress — because it indi- cates the reluctance with which the colonists took any steps which might tend to disintegrate the Empire and establish themselves in independence. I will read the commencement only and conclusion, although the entire document is well worthy of perusal. \ To the King' s most excellent Majesty, most humbly showeth : That the inhabitants of these colonies unanimously de- voted with the warmest sentiments of duty and affection to your sacred person and government, and inviolably attached to the present happy establishment of the Protestant succes- sion in your illustrious house, and deeply sensible of your royal attention to their prosperity and happiness, humbly beg leave to approach the throne by representing to your majesty that these colonies were originally planted by sub- jects of the British crown, who, animated by the love of lib- erty, encouraged by your Majesty's royal predecessors, and confiding in the public faith, for the enjoyment of all the rights and liberties essential to freedom, emigrated from their native country to this continent and by their successful perseverance in the midst of innumerable dangers and diffi- culties, together with a profusion of their blood and treas- ure, have happily added these vast and extensive domains to the Empire of Great Britain. ******* Then follows a clear and dignified statement of their constitutional rights as British subjects, and the petition concludes : — ' ' The invaluable right of taxing ourselves and trial by our peers, of which we implore your Majesty's protection, 24 are not, wc must hnmbly conceive, nnconstitutional, but confirmed by the great Charter of English liberty. On the first of these rights the honorable House of Commons founded their practice of originating money — a right enjoyed by the Kingdom of Ireland, by the clergy of England until relinquished by themselves — a right, in fact, which all other of your Majesty's English subjects, both within and without the realm, have hitherto enjoyed. "With hearts therefore impressed with the most indeli- ble characters of gratitude to your Majesty and to the mem- ory of the Kings of your illustrious house, whose reigns have been signally distinguished b>- their auspicious in- fluence on the prosperity of the British dominions, and con- vinced by the most affecting proofs of your Majesty's paternal love to all your people, however distant, and your imceasing and benevolent desires to promote their happiness, we most humbly beseech your Majesty that you will be gra- ciously pleased to take into your royal consideration the distresses of your faithful subjects on this continent, and to lay the same before your Majesty's Parliament and to aflford them such relief as in your royal wisdom their unhappy cir- cumstances shall be judged to require." ******* It would seem impossible for a people to frame a suppli- cation for simple justice and forbearance from useless op- pression in more humble and affectionate phrase, and yet strange to say, the "timidity," as Bancroft calls it, or "con- science" as the President of the Congress, Brigadier Timothy Ruggle'sof Massachusetts, himself styled it, caused the latter to refuse to sign the papers for transmission. Thomas McKean. in a letter to John Adams, of August 20, 1815, thus describes the incident : "When the business was finished our President would not sign the petition and peremptorily refused to assign any reason until I pressed him so hard, that at last he said 'it was against his conscience,' on which word I rung 25 the changes so loud, that a plain challenge was given by hini and accepted in the presence of the whole corps, but he de- parted the next morning before day  Jersey Assembly, following the example of the President, declined to sign the petitions, although thereby warmly solicited by myself in private and also by my father-in-law. Colonel Borden, his colleague. ' ' The consequence of my mentioning this fact, as I re- turned to New Castle through New Jersey was to Mr. Ogden a burning in effigy in several of the counties, and his removal from the office of Speaker at the next meeting of the As- sembly, and to me menaces of another challenge." Thomas McKean of New Castle, in Delaware, was of Irish parentage on both sides, and even before he had at- tained his majority became a practicing attorney. It is impossible to disconnect his life and labors in the public service from that of Csesar Rodney, so long as the lat- ter lived. Their association and confidential friendship antedated their joint services in the Stamp Act Congress, and they appear to have supplemented the designs and objects of each other throughout in the most zealous and efficient matter, notable instances of which I shall proceed to relate. Of the reputation and services of Thomas McKean to the w^hole country it seems impossible to speak toO' highly, and he was the only man who, without intermission, served as a member of the Continental Congress from the time of its opening in 1774 until after the treaty of peace was signed in 1783. During the whole of this eventful period he continued to represent the three lower counties on the Delaware, although in July 1777, he was selected for the high office of Chief Jus- tice of Pennsylvania, and ably executed its duties inconjunc- c 26 tion with his other important public trusts, among which was the Presidency of the State of Delaware in 1777. As a Judge of the Orphans' Court and Court of Common Pleas in New Castle county, in February 1766, he ordered the issue and service of the courts' process upon luistamped paper and this is believed to be the first court in the colonies by whom such an order was made and executed. When Rodney and McKean returned to Delaware from their attendance on the Stamp Act Congress at New York, they were received with high honor and every manifestation of respect, and their action in the Congress was approved unanimously of the General Assembly, and a vote of thanks for their energy and ability was passed. Upon the repeal of the Stamp Act in March 1766, Mr. Rodney was appointed by the Legislature, together with Thomas McKean and George Read, to prepare an address to the King expressive of their grateful sentiments for the ac- tion of his government, and this paper was marked with the sincere and tenacious devotion to the Crown which befitted the most attached subjects. During the next three years Mr. Rodney was in active service as a member of the Legislature and sought unsuccess- fully to prohibit the importation of slaves into the province. About this time a malady which long had given Mr. Rod- ney uneasiness and disfigured him sadly, had so progressed that he was obliged to leave home for Philadelphia to obtain medical advice. By the favor of Mrs. H. G. Banning, who possesses the original, I am permitted to read to you the letter to his brother Mr. Thomas Rodney, which contains the first information that his disease was cancer and considered incurable. Philadelphia, June the 7th, 1768. 