Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-01-25
SENATOR WALLACE'S ADDRESS
"PENNSYLVASiA,S FORMATIVE ISFLU.
ENCE On EEDEkAL INSTITUTIONS"

many representative business men and
prominent members Of all the learned pro-
fessions in this city, gathered in the court
house last evening to hear the address of
Hon. w. A. Wallace, delivered for the
benefit of the city poor. Promptly 1T 8
o'clock he was introduced to the audience
by NJ. Brosius, esq.,, and he was listened
to very attentively as he spoke from notes
for an hour and half He devoted him.
self strictly to the announced subject
Of his address, on which he had
manifestly applied very considerable
amount of historical research, inspired by
state pride in the prominent part taken by
Pennsylvania iu the formation of our fed
eral system and the wide influence exer-
cised by the institutions founded by Penn.
He fortified his claims to her pre-
eminence in this work by abundant histor-
ical citations, and the address was gar
nished with 4 number of quaint and ap
propriate stories illustrative of colonial
life and laws. Following is an abstract of
the address, which will be delivered ut
other points in the state, including Viii
Transport, where Mr. Wallace speaks to
morrow evening;
No apology is needed from Pennsylva-
MAN in addressinga Pennsylvania audience
on this theme. Her history, name and
fame as the bounteous mother Of our fed
eral government are worthy of the best
efforts of each of us. Her power, wealth,
agricultural Importance. her great future
and her record in the past, all prompt us
to use our noblest powers in her behalf.
The purpose OF this lecture is to lay hc-
fore you some Of the past history of our
great commonwealth. 1t has lately be-
como the fashion to decry and speak con-
temptuOusly Of her. Are VIC blamcless in
accepting these insults with silence: Have
we striven to keep uusullied her fair fame
1t is not the intention of this address to
speak of those later heroes of the sword
and pen-Wayne, Miifiin, Franklin and
RittenhOuse the desire is simply to trace
the history of Pennsylvania from the lat
ter half Of the seventeenth century to the
Revolution, to mark her prestige OF ex-
ample i'll creating the institutions under
which we live.
Did she follow or leado Who built the
eternal barrier OF common sense betwixt
Church and State. abolished slave trade,
and first gave her people universal snf-
frage? Virginia, New York and Massa-
chusetts all claim these honOrS, but theirs
is an empty pretensiOn. Pennsylvania it
was that planted the seed whose fruit we
behold i'll e..federal institutions OF to-day.
Institutions grow, they are not made in
a breath. AS the infant becomes success
sively boy, youth and man, SD the seed
cannot leap into life as soon as planted
but must grow by slow degrees. Knicker-
booker New York, Puritan Massachusetts,,
the "Old Dominion and Hugueuot
South Carolina all claim to be the fountain
head of our federal institutions. And amid
these conflicting pretens;Ons, Pennsylvania
is silent, not boastful. In a late publication,
entitled A Century of Dishouor." our
state is branded for the brutal massacre OF
the Conestoga Indians. The statements
of a careful and reliable local historian eN-
planatory of this sad event are utterly ig
nored. But let those who charge look to
themselves. The massacre of the 600 Pc
quods and the murder of King Philip
make Pennsylvania's misdeeds pale into
insignificance.
As early as 1G43, Massachusetts, and the
Plymouth colonies formed union against
the French and Indians. But it was not the
broad far-seeing policy that VIM. Penn
formulated and sent to Great Britain for
approval. The latter plan embraced :.
congress, the embryo OF our present Con
gress, which had power to levy taxes,
declare war and adjust the differences be-
tween the constituent colonies. The time,
however, was not yet ripe for these devel-
opments, and Penn's plan was not approx.
ed by the Crown : but the good seed was
sOwn and the day OF it's maturity was not
far distant.
Governments are made for men, II 1t men
for governments, is the underlying prn-
ciple of the constitution of 1890 as we'll as
that OF 1878. And this feature, more
than any other, was made prominent in
the early history of our commonwealth.
In the movement for religious tolerance
our state and Maryland led the way. VIM.
honor of being the first to establish liberty
in theory, but in fact. And Pennsylvania
merit consists in its uninterrupted reten-
ton Of religious liberty, while that of
Maryland for time passed away. Con
trast with these some of the sister states
Virginia from its foundation had its cs-
tablished church and salaried clergymen.
and it was in fighting the exactious OF
these latter that Patrick Henry won his |
maiden spurs before the people. The |
Dutch Reformed and Presbyterans OF
New York prosecuted Qnakers and Cath
olics, while virtuous Massachusetts, i'm
posed tho penalty of hogsing on those
who dared to kiss their wives publicly on a !!
Sunday. These and countless other facts |
that might be narrated emphasize Penn
sylvania's prominence in being the first to i
rightful equality.
And what of popular rights? Penn as
early as 1871 had said, "Lct the peopla 5c |
governed by laws of their own enacting'
The assumed rights of tho Crown were an
tagonistic to the rights Of the people. A
struggle was precipitatcd and tho Revolu-
lion decided in favor of the people.
Power feeds on ITSELF The people never
obtain a right, that they will yield back
without bloodshed. And thus Penn
;ylvania, tenacious of her rights, never al.
Owed her liberties to be trampled on,
md won the proud badge of the most
rebellious of the English colonies. Penn
conceded her the right to levy her own
axes, and she at once demanded equality
If taxation. The manors that had been
exempted from taxation from the begin
hing no longer were allowed this privilege,
he Assembly justly claiming that equality
If protection demanded equality OF taxa
ion. The right of the people TO control
he public purse was another Of the cardi
lai doctrines insisted Oh, and the founda-
ions laid in those early days a:e the self
anne On which rests our modern super
structure.