Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-06-09

American Banquet.
On Thursday afternoon We attended The Amer-
can Banquet, at SAMSON Street Hall, agreeable TO
an Invitation extended by the COMMITTEES.
-Four tables were spread, occupying the entire
length OF the room, upon which were placed hume
rous pyramids ofsugar, representing the American
coat OF arms, decorated with miniature specimens
Of the American flag.
The room was superbly decorated, the American
flag being festooned around the room with the
American shield at intervals.
Ats o'clock the guests entered the Hail. band
playing national airs during the entry, all remain
ing standing until the cessation OF the music, when
the seats were taken.
Hon. Robert T. Conrad then announced the off,
GERS as follows
President. Mayor Conrad.
| Vice Presidents Dillon Luther, Henry Simons,
| w. Whitney, Ed Gratz, A. Flomerfclt 4. II. But
| Ter, Jos. B. Myers B. H. Brewster X. r. Smith,
w. 8. Smith, Jno. w. Ryan, Jno. X Tyson.
| Messrs O. Gibbons, 4. H. Butler, Jos Myers,
W. s. Smith, occupied the lower end Of the table.
| The guests then discussed the merits OF the
| dishes before them. 9t f#sq
| After the cloth had been removed, the band
| played the Star Spangled Banner. At the conclu-
sion Of which, the presiding officer, Hon. Robt I.
Conrad, addressed the assemblage as follows:
| Gentlemen There il 4 parsimony peculiar to
| afluence. We have among US, to-day, such a
wealth Of eloquence and patriotism, that We are
jealous Of time itsclf In our anxiety to enjoy 1t ALL
| Az, In the banquet that we have just shared, an
epicure might desire 70 linger every delicacy,
yet fear that each would deprive him Of another,
we, Of Phihdelchia, In our anxiety 70 greet cvery
friend, and bask in the light Of each Of the many
minds gathered around this fraterna board, regard
| all that diminishes the privilege as wrong My
duty, therefore, Is not to speak, but TO strike the
rock, and invoke the fountains OF eloquence from
others.
Yet higher lsw--would that all higher laws
were a. harmless! requires that, having been hon.
ored with the duties Of guiding the festivities Of
this occasion, should occupy your attention at
least long enough to extend to the strangers-no,
they are not strangers--to tho brothers present
brothers "not in the fashion which the world puts
"but In the communion of patriotism, "brothers
| of the hears welcome true as our cause and
earnest as our devotion to it.
| Pennsylvania Philadelphia answers, throb
/ for throb, TO every pulsation of her loyal heart
| Pennsylvania has never known, in relation to her
kindred communities, even momentary sentiment
false to the religious patriotism which links her to
| them. An she has, and all she is, whenever In
| voked, belongs to the Union. Her valleys are
1 crowded with homes and hearts ever open to the
sons Of her sisters and to their friends; and her
| hills win ever pres their iron wealth, with Gin.
envy arms to wie their enemies To meet
our brothers Of otl. >tates, upon any occasion, is
| esteemed privilege, but to meet them gathered
In such duty, when, under the shadow of the
Hall Of Independence, they are engaged in the
sacred labors that here employed their fathers in
that era hallowed to every American memory and
every American hope, Is niething more 1t Ia an
| exulting joy that must seek expression, not in
words, but in the aacrity Of our corporation, and
in the fidelity that never has faltcred, and never
will 1+S
Gentlemen, what a legacy Of inestimable priv-
leges, what trust Of noble duties, what destiny
Of glorious hopes did those fathers bequeath TO US
For the protection, development, and consumma-
ton of all this, nothing was needed but their vir
tues aud the favor Of that Providence which smiles
upon virtue. 1t was not necessary Il not we'll
| that the thin and tainted blood Of decaysd COM
munides should be poured into the pure and Wig
orous current of our youth and health. Enlarged
population was and Ia here no necessity, and, II OF
| doubtful character, II is doubtful good.
Even the 1.-THE, nay, the tenth Of 1.-THE Of the
wears that ripened Rome, was certain to give us
sufficient population without external supplies--a
population, too, unequalled in every moral trait-a
population drawn from founts lofty and pure the
springs that burst from the bosom Of our Aleghe-
nies-the indebted children Of the compatriots Of
| Washington.
| For protection, even against world In arms,
nature gave US defences sufficient; and virtue and
| valor made them impregnable. What more was
| wanteds Many people have achieved liberty,
| but what people has retained its
| There was an exception here, under such infu-
ences with people selfprotected and protected
| by religion that acknowledges no Vicegerent Of
| Him who reigns alone-a people incorrupt and in
accessible to foreign corruption-here liberty
would have been immortal-a glory setting only
with our last sun, not like that sum- 70 set forever,
/ 4 T.. L. -: Il
| Is eternal When or where else had there, or has
there been such people, such a land such a
| government or such hopes But even they, the
sAgcs and patriots of that illusious era, as they
gaxed with pious gratitude upon the destiny which
4 opened before their children could not suppress
| the doubt" can such blessings be upon earth and
be lasting" How full Of those mingled feelings Of
pride and apprehension are their injunctons to
their posterityi
And can we compare the past with the present,
and under that earth's greatest and best, the
Pdtsr Patrie, uttered in regard to foreign infu-
ence, his solemn BEWARE! or that Jeffersons pro-
pheiic spirit prayed for sea Of fire between the
4 old world and the new; or that, one and all they
the lofty and devoted, the pure, the sage, and nov
the sainted, enjoined U.s. do they not watch over
and bless our efforts to obey that injunction i)to
guard, as the loness guards her young, inesti-
mable heritage Of virtue, liberty, and independence
i IfOul TUG ioItiRu CUhihs-h tuouHhuu loiu HthNitr
and more calling than theirs-which the old world
seeks to wrap around our hearths aud hearts, our
senate houses and our temples, making the land Of
the free the home of slaves the basest--because
willing slaves and therefore worthy only Of letters.
II is true that they, even they, offered refuge
TO the virtuous martyrs Of hberty--how could they
otherwisei but solely as the home offered by free.
dom 70 virtue. They dreamed not Of the COM
merce Of emigration-the rival, with It's annual
half Million Of the slave trade at It's worst-with
all that IL sordd In its motives and fatal In its con-
sequences But esrfully has that privilege been
perverted How has the portal, thus generously
opened, been throngedf not BY the excess Of over
crowded Europe--for no land Is overcrowded-but
by acts and aids Of hostile policy or INSCRIPTIONS
commerce, at home and abroad, which need not
| describe.
But reverting to the times and men Of our Revo-
luton, how appalling IL the contrast They left
us an united and homogeneous people now mixed
and notified, our very original is doubted. l OBJ
serve that the New York press expresses bitter in
dgnation because the late meeting of the Democ-
rscy was not addressed in high Dutch and low
| Irish and you remember that Kossuth, in his
speeches. appealed TO his audiences as II they were