Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-10-20
MR.. WHIrELEY,S ADDRESS.

BOou hlln iol SrluulnS IHen oorhi Do ~ on-
acted, &C."
They passed also stringent laws in refer |
ence to weights and measures, providing |
"that q true measure or standard be taken |
from the brass half bushel in the town of
Philadelphia"
From this time, however until the idea |
of ''self government" or what 1--WE would
now call "Home Rule" began to !be agita-
ted, they plodded along quietly, Of course
to a great extent an agricultural
people, Wilmington village, the 9TH
founded at all, were hamlets. In this Pc
riod, however, there was tried before the
Lord Chancellor of England a lawsuit
which excited no attention upon this side
of the ocean, nor in our colony, although
the question whether we did not belong to
Maryland, and our separate existence as a
colony and State, and our very name were in
issue. 1t was the now celebrated suit be-
tween Lord Baltimore and the Penns as to
the true boundaries OF their respective
grants. The survey made under the order
of the Lord Chancellor, to fix this bound
ary, having been made by his surveyors,
named respectively Mason and Dixon, the
line established, which was our Northern
and Western, and Pennsylvania's Southern
line, became the line which is now 80 cele-
brated and notorious in our political history
as Mason and DlXon5 line.
THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
The Revolution was approaching. The
4th of July, 1776, consummatedi 1t, and our
small and patriotic colony cast her lot in
with the other twelve, in declaring them
selves free and independent of Great Bri-
tain. Upon the 11th day of September,
1776,a Declaration of rights and fundamen-
tai rules of the Delaware State, formerly
styled "The government of the counties OF
New Castle, Kent, and Sussex on the Della
ware" was made, and upon the Goth of the
same month of September, CONSTITUTION
or system of Government for the said
State, was agreed to and resolved upon by
the representatives in full convention Gas
the title thereto expresses IT'D Of the Della
ware State, ''the said Representatives being
chosen by the freemen Of the said State for
that express purpose"
This was one of the first Constitutions
made after the Declaration of Indepen-
dence.
The part which our State took in the
Revolution is alike creditable to the patiot-
ism and bravery of her people. We had
but about 81, 500 inhabitants, and by the
second year Of the war we had sent to the
front three full Regiments viz Col. Has
let's, Col. Patterson's and Col. Halls, and
partisan company, Col. Allen McLane's,
numbering nearly 2,700 men. The number
of troops we furnished as " Continentals," !"
that is troops called for by the Congress,
according their quotas, was 4,728. In addi-
tion there we're several regiments OF State
troops or militia.
DELAwARE's REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
The limits of this discourse forbid any
thing like history of our Revolutionary
Soldiers, but in less than a month after
the Declaration Of Independence, we had
800 men in the field, who fought at Brook
| lyn, White Plains,. Trenton, and Princeton.
| By April, 1777, we had another regiment OF
like number, who fought at Brandywine,
Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, Cow
pens, Guilford, Ninety-Six, and at Eutaw.
We had 700 men and McLane's Company in
/ the Battle of YORKTOWN. In fact there was
not battle worthy d I the name, during the
Revolution except 1.-THE Battle of Bunker
/ Hill, in which one Of the Delaware regl-
ments did not participate.
| 1t ia dua To these brave men, that theil
names, if not cut In tablets Of brass or mar.
BILE should be handed down through the
| medium of the history of our State. car
| do no more upon THIS occasion than enum-
crate few of the u ore prominent officers
John Haslett, Cunning Bedford, Johr
Mcpherson, Thomas McDonough, Jamei
Tilton, Joseph Montgomery, David Hall,
Charles Pope, John Patten, Josepl
1
Thomas Anderson, Reuben Glider, JohI
Platt, Allen McLane, Robert Kirkwood, AL
exander Stewart, Genethen Harney, Will
liam McKennon, John Learmouth, Caleb
Bennett, Peter Jaquett, John Wilson, Johl
Corse, John Rhodes, William Stewart, ant
others equally deserving Of mention if tim
permitted.
DELAwARE's EMINENT CIVILIANS.
Among our civilians, Caesar Rodney
George Read and Thomas Mexican are es
pecially worthy of notice, but OF their labor
in the cause Of Independence we now hav
no time to speak.
The articles of confederation betweeI
the colonies being very defective, the pres
ent form of government was framed il
convention of delegates from all the States
and the Constitution was signed upol
September the 18th, A. d. 1887, and sub
mitted to the States for ratification. Dels
ware, by her convention, ratified it upo
December 7th, 1887, and was thus the frs
State to adopt the Constitution.
The experiment OF self government
the people was thus fully inauguratet
The nations Of the Old World doubte
our success, and prophecies we're rife br
here we are to.day-one hundred veal
after its inauguration-with country e1
: tending from the st. Lawrence to tn
Rio Grande, from the Atlantic to the Pa
clhc, with 4U millions OF ptople and her
around us in this Exposition are the ocula
evidences of our success in all the pursuit
and acts of life. In this progress what ha
: been Delaware's part? In the Congress, il
the Cabinet in our own State offices, Exc,
. utive and Legislative, we have had repre-
sentativos who have adorned by their tai
] ents the positions held, and illustrated b.
& their conscientious discharge OF the dutie
of their offices the true American idea @
Office holding-that it is not personal emo
ument but efficient and honest dischare
: of duty. We have had from our State a
especial and remarked strength in our rel
resentation in the United States Senate
J We have furnished to the Cabinet an Attol
ney General, Hon. Caesar A. Rodney tw
Secretaries Of State, the Hons. Louis MI
Lane and John NJ. Clayton ; and Secret,
ry of the Treasury, Hon. Louis McLane.
In the wars subsequent to the Revolutio
we have furnished both gallant soldiers an
sailors. With a continuous line of emineI
and distinguished Judges in our Courts, {
]. Lawyers, of successful Agriculturists an
Manufacturers and of skilled mechanic
we present roll Of which any State migl
be proud.