Washington sentinel., 1854-02-02

public the hardships and sacrifices and SER
wees OF the colonists of jamestown; and Of
nose Who have sprung from them.
lie meeting was called to order by c. w. G.
Dp.nnington, esq, and, on his motion, the Rev.
, homas b. Balch was appointed chairman,
and William M. Overton and Edward A. Cabell
were requested to act as secretaries. After the
chairman had, in brief, appropriate, and forci-
BILE terms, explained the object of the meet
ing
T.. 1. Montague, esq, delivered few re-
marks, and concluded by offering the following
resolution, which was unanimously adopted:
Resolred, That committee of thirteen be ap-
| pointed TO draw up constitution for the forma-
ton of an association TO be called the jamestown
Society, having for its object the annual celebra
ton ofthe first permanent settlement of the United
States, and TO perpetuate the memory, services,
and achievements which that settlement gave to
America and to the American confederacy.
The committee named under this resolution
is as follows
John A. Parker, John S. Caskie, J. H. Wood,
w. II. Page, Beverley Tucker, L. W. Caldwell,
j. A. Throgmorton, VIM. NJ 0verton, Thomas
J. Massie, G. w. C. Dunnington, f. A. Cabell,
l.. L. Loving, Z. G. Darlington and, on notion
the chairman of the meeting was added.
Next, a resolution was offered and unani
mously adopted that a committee of three be
appointed to prepare an address, to be submit
ted to the next meeting, directing the public
attention to the objects Of the society which it
is proposed to form. The following gentlemen
were appointed on the committee under this
resolution:
VIM. NJ. Overton, George G. Whiting, and
E. 7. Montague. a
The thanks of the meeting were rendered to
r. B. Hackney, ESQ.,, the proprietor Of the Uni
ted States Hotel, for the kindness and courtesy
he exhibited in farthering its objects.
Before the adjournment, the venerable chair
man addressed the meeting as follows:
"VIRGISIANs: We have just taken most i'm
portant steps Il is one which ought to have been
taken at least century ago. But delay may pos
sibly prompt to greater zeal and enable us to
redeem that time which has been lost Our pro-
ceedings have been patriotic. We aim al nothing
sectional. No treason 10 this Union turks in any
of our hearts. Virginia has no Etnas within her
chartered boundaries, either in natural or polit-
| cal sense. We hold the Union Of this confederacy
TO be as perfect as that horizon which is sus-
pended over our north, and 0nr south, and east,
and west. What, then, has been done at this
meeting of Virginians! We have agreed that the
| anniversary OF the Jamestown colony shall be
celebrated. To promote this object, we have
formed an association; we have appointed COM
Hiitkcc COnStltutlOu lot our government.
We have also appointed committee to address
the people of Virginia on the importance Of cher
| ishing the memory of her fathers; and, from the
| harmony and fervor which have pervaded our
hearts, no doubt is felt but that interest will be
awakened and attention aroused. But if such re-
suits cannot be accomplished, if Virginians can.
| not or will not meet in confluence at jamestown
| at specified periods and on great occasions then
we reserve TO ourselves the right of celebrating
the events our history in this city or anywhere
else, as we may please.
| ave believe, however, that chord has been
struck tonight which will vibrate from the tide
waters Of our State to where its mountains slum-
ber in their deep repose. II is a chord which will
be felt in our capacious valleys, in our more cir
cumscribed but beautiful dales, In our peaceful
cottages and halls Of opuence. our sequestered
hamlets and commercial towns, and from our
twin capes 10 the Alleghanies. Henceforth,
jamestown shall be spot more renowned than
ever, and more dear TO the children Of Virginia.
Its grassy quays, its gades, and its acres, shall
feel the footsteps of thousands grateful for the
heritage conferred on them by the Ruler of ma
tons The ancient Greeks met at Delphi-Ne
and on the Olympic plain, where unrivalled histo-
| ries were read, and poems were recited, and the
works of the chisel and the pencil were exhibited.
And we intend 10 perform pilgrimage to the
spot where the first settlers planted their feet and
inoored their ships, and felled forest trees and
| erected homes, and reared churches, and braved
the scowl of Powhatan, and planted those germs
1 which are now waving in the golden harvest OF
more than thirty independent empires. The re-
| suits OF that colony have already been immense.
! They are visible in well-ordered government, in
the researches of science, in the flowers of TASTE
IN the works OF architecture, in the lights uris
| prudence, in the landmarks of law, in the rights
OF property in the fruits Of Legislation in the pleas
ures Of education. and in domestic social, civic,
| and political and religious enjoyment They
reach us in all the network veins of the nation,
and through all the channels which give life to the
| commerce. the literature and legislation of Amer
| ica. But il is not my purpose to enlarge. We
pretend 10 no eloquence except the eloquence of
| the subject
III is impossible TO account for the indifference
off ancestry TO the importance of keeping up
| the anniversary of the settlement at jamestown.
| The amor patriG is not less powerful in Virgin
ians than in the people Of Massachusetts. And
yet the people of Massachusetts have evinced not
an evanescent enthusiasm, but an indestructble
interest in Plymouth rock. They would not per.
NIT the hammer OF the geoogist 10 strike that rock
even If the blow were to decide the age of our
world to the fraction of second. And in 1920
Daniel Webster planted his great feet on that
great rock, and, in the presence of assembled d
/ thousands, poured forth stream OF eloquence
! which wound itself out among the delighted null
titude. This was the best effort ever made by
| the Massachusetts senator. We are at a loss for
terms III which TO express our admiration of that
! speech We will only say that in The details OF
colonial history, in phiosophic illustration, in
searching the motives which mpel men into ac-
ton, in defining the lights and shades of character
in picturesque sketchng and views of Divine
aagency, that the orator alluded TO- it must ever be
regarded as the prose lliad of New England. And
the people of New England meet al Plymouth
amid the storms of winter. They face, in their
pilgrimage, keen December winds In this re-
spect We shall possess decided advantage, for
our celebrations will always occur in the genial
month of May. The queen of the year will pre-
side, and difuse abroad her volets over hills and
dales; the woods will have unioded their buds
| into leaves; the roses will be wearing their ample
crowns, and the James will be sparkling in the
sun. The huntsman may have relinquishcd his
wintry horn but the angler will be out in his
skif. There, and under such circumstances will
| we REGAL with fial reverence the deeds enacted
by our fathers at Jamestown. We will muse
over their graves, and retrace their steps We
will reeai ,sto the galleries Of the imagination the
form of Pocahontas, the inspired benefactress and
shepherdess Of the AngloSaxon and Norman
flock; the chvalry, ingenuity, and enterprise OF
Smith, the daring plots of Opechancanough and
Powhatan; and the watchfulness Of Heaven over
our fathers exposed in the desert.
i "Yirginians, these remarks are unprecedented.
They are made on the Impulse Of the nome nj