The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-10-08

the youngest of the delegations, and
yonder sits the oldest of them all. His
form is bent, his thin locks fringing a
forehead bent with age and honora-
bic service, and his hands shake trem-
ulously as he folds them in his lap. It
is Stephen Hopkins, once Chief JUS
tice Of Rhode Island. Close by him
is his colleague, Samuel Ward, and
Sherman Of Connecticut, that strong
man, whose name is to be made hon
orable by more than one generation.
johnson Of Maryland, is here, that
clear, cool head and Paca, his COL
league, wise deliberator.' Bland of
Virginia is that learned-looking
'bookish man. beside Jealous, hot
headed Edward Rutledge. The Penn
nsylvanians are grouped together, at
one side-Morton, Humphreys, Mif.
fin, Rhoads, Biddle, Ross, and Gallo
way, the speaker of the Assembly.
Bending forw'arddsSto whisper in the
latter's ear is Duane of New York,
that shy-looking man, a little tsquint-
eyed (John Adams has already writ
ten Of him), very sensible and very
careful Thtt *large-featured man,
with the broad open countenance, is
William Hooper, thst other, with the
Roman nose, is Mexican of Delaware.
Rodney, the latter's colleague, sits be-
side him, 'oddest:looking man in. the
world tall, thin, pale, his face no big
ger an than apple, yet beaming with
sense, and wit, and humor.' Yonder
is Christopher Gadsden, who has been
preaching independence to South Car
olina these ten years past. He it is
who, reused by the report that the
regulars have commenced to lombard
Boston, proposes to march northward
and defeat Gage at once, before his
renforcements can arrive and when
some one timidly- says that in the
event of war the. British will burn
the seaport towns, turns on the speak
er with this grand reply:
"'Our towns are built of brick and
wood; if they are burned down we
can rebuild them but liberty once lost
is gone forever
"In all this famous company, per-
haps. the men most noticed are the
Massachusetts members. That colony
has thus far taken the lead With the
struggle with the mother country. A
British army is eneamped upon her
soil; the gateeofher- chief town are
shut; against her people the full force
Of the resentment Of King and Parlia-
ment is spent. Her suferings called
this Congress into being, and now
lend a sad prominence to her embas-
sadors. And Of them, surely Samuel
Adams is the chief. What must be
his emotions of he sits here, to-day, he
who eats little, drinks little, sleeps lit
tie, and thinks much; that strong
man, whose undaunted spirit has led
his countrymen up to the possibilities
Of this day. It is his plan of cores
dence, adopted after a hard struggle,
in November, 1772, that first made
feasible a union in the common de.
fence. He called for union as early as
1773. For that he had labored with.
out ceasing and without end: now
arousing the dropping spirits of less
sanguine men; now repressing the en-
thpsiasm of rash hearts, which threat
ened to bring on crisis before the
time was ripe, and all the while thun.
dering against tyranny through the
columns Of the Boston Gazette. Al
he was ten years ago, he is to-day, tht
master spirit of the time; as cool, .:
watchful, as steadfast, now that the
hour of his triumph is: at hand, a
when, in darker days, he took up th'
burden James Otis could no longe1
bear. Beside him sits his yopnge
kinsm.n, john Adams, q man afte,
his own heart :; bold, fertile, resolute
an eloquent speaker anda leader o
men. But whose ie yonder tall anc
manly form? 1t is that of Q man O.
40 years of age in the prime ofvigor
GUS manhood. He has not spoken
for he is no orator but there is (
look Of command in his broad fac
and firm-set mouth that marks hin
among men, and seems to justify tn
Difference with which his colleague
turn to speak with him. He ha
taken back seat, as becomes one |of hi
great modesty-for he is great eve1
in that-but he is still the foremos
man in all this company. This is h
who has just made, in the Virgini
Convention, that speech which Lyme
Of Carolina says is the most eloquen
speech that ever was made: L will
raise 9 thousand men, subsist them a
my own expense, and march wit
them at their head for the relief {
Boston, These were his words-an
his name s'W ashington. Such We
the Continental Congress assemble
in Philadelphia"
Wherever Tilton appears it
) es resslute, selfwilled man, dete
, mined to have his own way, an
bending every one of the parties col
| cerned to his purpose-Beeche