New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-07-05


lying on the table, and awaiting its final signature and
sanction.
Three weeks before, indeed-on the previous 7th OF
June-his own nozzle col -r. Richard HeHTy Lee, ad
moved tho resolution. whose adoption On the "a O July
had virtually settled the whole question: Nothing 'e
tainly more explicit or emphatic could La'" ueeh
wanted for that Congress than that Resolution se'h-
forb. 1t dbl IN language oil striking simplicity ana
brevty and d entity. "Tnat these Unitcd Colonies are
and right Oue to be, Free and independent States
thar they are absolved from all aeg glance 10 tie British
crow and that all connection bctween them ara the
State OF Great D.itsin is and ought 10 Oe totally dis
solved"
The resolution was, indeed. not only comprehensive
and conclusive enough ior .e Congress which adopted
IT, but, need not say, IL Is comprehensive and conciu
sive auough for us and heartily wish that in the ctu
tuy come its reading might he substituted Tor tat OF
tie longer Declaration which has put Tire patience 81 our
audiences to test for 80 many years past
not TO-DAY.
But tie form in which that resolution was re
nomoed and proclaimed TO the people Of the colonies
ana the by which to I've justified before the
world were that of intense Interest and Of mo
mentions Importance. No cTaVer responsibility was ever
devOved upon young man Ol 30, II, indeed, rpon any
OF any age than thai Oi preparing such paper As
OruD as. have examined tie original drait Of that
paper stIN eXant IN the archives O the state Depart
mont at Washington. and have observed how very lew
Changes were maze suggested, by the iuSrious
men ass. ca!ed with Iis authOr the committee Tor rs
PREPARATION IL has seemed ~ Inc L. be AZ marvellous
composition. of is kind and for its purpusc the annals
of mankind SHOW. The earliest honors OF this day
certainly may well he paid here AMI throughout The
country the young Virgnian Of the inasicTiy pen
And here ~ tue favor Of highly valued friend and
feow,tzcu, to whom 1t gyCI by Jefferson himself
few months only before his Il, ash, an privileged To
hold in my hands aud lift up TIE Of you
an compact and convenient liltie mahogany case
which bears Ills autograph inscription on its face dated
" Monticello, November Il, iS2j -
"1hOmas JcfcIsOu gives thIs Writing Desk ~ Joseph
Coolidge Ju' T., as memorial 81 hS Hhcrton. ~ "'
made from Il drawing OF hs OWL. by Ben Randall tdH
iuet-0'akeT OF P'adelphia, win whom he first lodged
ha arrival in Shat CITY In May, 20 ana Is the utn
Gcai on which he wIote the Declaration oil lnde
yeulcYee"
politics, az well az Religion" the Inscription pro
cceds to say. "has its supeIsttons. These ganins
strength with time NAV, dgy. give imaginary value
to this rec Tor ts association with the birth of te Great
Charter 81 our Independence"
5upersti;iOasl Imaginary value! Not for an instant
can admit ideas The modesy of the writer has
betrayed even the mastery pen" There Ia no
imaginary value 70 this relic, and 10 superstition Is re-
CURED render 1t precious and priceless piece Of
wood tie secular cabinets OF he world have ever
possessed, or ever claimed TO Possess No cahine
maker On earth viii have more enduring name than
this inscription has secured TO Ben Randall OF
Philadelphia" No pen will have a wider moss lasting
fame than his who wrote the inscription The very table
at Rurnymede, which some Of us have seen, on which
Maa Charta Of England is said 10 have been signed
sealed Eve centuries ard half befoe-even were IL
authenticated by the genuine autographs OF ever one OF
those brave old Earons. with stephen Langon at their
head-who extorIed It's grand pledges and promises FROM
King Iohuso soon to be yiOlted-couG hardly exceed
could hardly equal, IN hterest and value, this little
mahogany desk. May 1T long find its appropriate and
approaching ownership IN the successive generations OF
a family in which the blood II Virginia and Mas
sachusctts arc o auspciOusly Cunmingirdl
But the young jefferson Is not alone from virginia on
the day 20 are celebrating, in the Hall which have
entered imaauagy spectators of the scene His vene
ated friend and old legal preoeptor-George Wythe-s
Indeed, temporarily bent from his side; and even
Ri nard Henry Lee, tho original mover of the measure
and upon whom &c might deyolved to draw up ho
Declaration has been called home by DANGEROUS Illness
In bis family. and is not there 10 belp him But The gay
eOod-humOTcd " Fraucis LightfOot lee, younser
brother there Benjamin HARRISON the father Of our
late President Harrison Is there and has ns reported
the Declaration from The Committee Of the Whole of
which nc Chairman. The mild and philanthropio
Carter BraAon is there ia the place of the am"nied P
ton Randolph the first 'sdCut OF the Continental Con
gress, who bad del 20 the OF the Whole country
six OF sey,u months before. Aud the noblobearted
Thomas Nelson tnere-the largest subscriber to the
generous relief from Virginia 10 Boston during the sore
distress occoned ny the shutting Mp Of our port and
Who was the mover Of tole In notions in the ConYen-
ton OF virginia, passed tie l5th May, under which
Richard Henry Lee offered the original Resolution OF IN
I dependence, on TIE 7th of June.
anu particular, fellow-cltilens, in giving 10 the Old
Dominion foremost place In this rapid survey OF the
Fourth Of July, 1916, ard In naming every one 81 her
delegates who participated in that DAVIS dOings for Il Is
hardly too much that the destmos OF our coun
try at U.at period, hung and hinged upon her action,
and upon the action af her great and gorions soiS
without virginia, must all acknowledgement
her Patrick Henry among the people, her Lees and JEFF
erson the forum. and her Washington IN the heidi
! viii not say that the Of American Liberty and
! feated-no no; there ultimate defeat for that
cause DEGREES OF the Most High 1t must have
been delayed postponed, perpexed and to many eyes
and many hearts rendered ningly b0DeeSS ~ was
Union which assured independence End there could
have been Union without the influence and eoopora
| ton OF I ~ great leading Southern Colony To-day,
then as We back the wide gulf Of centdry.
we are ready and glad to forget everything OF alienation
everything of contention and estTangemeDt which has
INTERVIEWED aud to hail her Fathers in
FAneui Hail haed her, in 1875, our noble patriotic
| sister Colony, Virginia"
may not attempt, ths occastoo to speak with
equa, particularly OF all the other delegates whom we
see assemble cd in at Immortal Congress Their names
are all Inscribed where they never be obteraed,
never % forgotten. Yet Others OF them So cha
enge our attention and Iivct orr gaze rs We look IN
upon that old iimehOnored Hall that cannot pass TO
| other topics without = brief allusion TO them.
| III.
! SHERMAN AND HANCOCK.