The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-07-05
SECOND CLASS sLooPs.
HAMPTON BOATS.
Sailing Tin
AT CITY HALL.

OAAO~AA
band, followed by Flag of our Ancestors, sung
by the double quartette-Mrs. w. P. Chase,
Miss Lizzie M. Brown, Mrs. Alice earle Sea-
yer, Mrs. Morrison, Messrs Thurston, Pennell,
Doyle and Shaw-with great beauty of execu-
ton and expression. The music was directed
by Mr.. Kotzschmar, who also presided at the
piano. Rev. DIR. Fem then offered prayer,
after which the double quartette sung the Am
erican hymn. The reading of the Declaration
by Miss Minnie A. Noyes was marked by the
same ada'r4ole qualities which won the young
lady such deserved praise last year. The choir
then sang the Flag OF Freedom to the follow
ing words by Rev. DIR. Hill.
Starsl whose lustre evermore is beaming,-
Meath the MONDAY when the moon is cleaning
In the darkest night the brightest seeming
Glowing in the sunniest hour
Glorious stripes as rudy as the dawning,-~
Ever noating in eternal morning,
Thus our skies with beauty stiIi adjoining,
whether suns may shine or tenpests grimly
lower.
Flag OF freedomi grandly waving Ger US,
Guide us still, whatever be before u.s.
While we swear, as now, in solemn chorus,
Foe nor traitor, thee shall harm
When dense clouds shall the horizon darken,
When rough seas the nation shall embark on,
While for wars dread tocsin all shall hearken,
Thoughts of thee shall warm each heart and nerve
each arm.
Flag of freedomI grandly wave fereverl
Guard our coasts, protect each lake and river
Crown each hill, illume each vale and never
Let one stripe or star grow dim
Took up arms full we'll the danger kaowing
God blessed then the seed which they were sowing
Still may He protect their sons,-we trust in Him.
Rev. Henry Blanchard then delivered a
most able and scholarly grafton, of which the
following is an abstract:
REV. MR.. BLANcHARD's ADDRESS.
Mr.. Blanchard began by saying: On the
4th OF July, 1885, there was great rejoicing iu
the city of Philadelphia. Its expression in
outward manifestation was made, not on &C
count OF the Declaration of Independence, nor
the end of the war, nor the Articles of Com
federation 1t was profound because the federal
constitution had been adopted. AS early as
the 10th of June, word had come that New
Hampshire had ratified the constitution She
was the ninth State which had taken that
great step. Virginia was still debating, and
the hearts of the advocates of the constitution
were heavy with anxiety as to her decision.
On July I'd word same that she, too, the great
commonwealth, had ratified, and thus, as she
completed the needed ten States the federal
constitution was tho law of the land Great
indeed was the rejoicing. Preparations for a
magnificent celebration at once began. The
streets were swept, the trees were Topped, ten
vessels were ranged in the river from North
Liberties to South street. When the sun rose
on the morning Of the Fourth, the ship Rising
sun hred national salute, and the bells OF
christ church rang out their peals of ioy
Ihen each OF the ten vessels, representing the
ratiiYlng commonwealth, ran up white flag
| bearing the name of its State. Delaware
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecti-
cut, Massachusetts,, Maryland, South Carolina,
New Hampshire, V:rginia-these, in order,
we're the ratfying States; these were the
names the people saw upon the flags -Four
hours later great procession started. Every
trade, every business, every occupation was
represented. Saddlers, and guLsmiths, and
stone-cutters, tanners, brewers, merchants.
doctors, shipwrights, and stocking makers
were there. The crowd looked on and cheered.
Ihey cheered the representations of Independ-
ence, the French Alliance, the Deinitiye
treaty, the convention of the States, and,
above all, the Federal Roof. This was great
dome supported by thirteen Corinthian col
umns. But loud as was the cheering for
these, it grew louder still as the Federal Shin |
Union came IN sight She had twenty guns
az four ono all boys " Lnan heI. 0ne Gouk a
pilot on board, trimmed the sheets, cast anchor
at Union Green, and sent off dispatches to
the President of the United States. That
night, says McMasters, in his admirable his
tory, the streets were bright with bonfres and
Iesounded with the shouts of jewellers The |
federal constitution had been adopted and
Philadelphia was exultsnt.
Mr.. Blanchard then proceeded to show why |
this event is one OF the greatest events in his
tory, and certainly, in his Judgment, the great
est in the history of America. To do this he |
spoke, first, OF the condition of the country at |
the end OF the war of the revolution,-then of |
the working of the Articles of Confederation, |
then OF the convention to frame a constitution |
then OF the submission of the constitution to |
the states then of the difference between the
articles OF confederation and the Federal Con- |
stitution.
In 1888, our country was really only mar
row strip of land, about fifty miles wide, run- |
ming from Maine to Georgia. Portland was a |
vlllage-Boston had only 1900 inhabitants,
New York only $4,000. Virginia was the lar.
gest State. Difference of climate produced |
difference of occupation. But there was the |
deeper difference of ancestry and thoughts |
New England was of Puritan England. In |
New York the Dutch element prevailed. In |
Maryland, English Catholics had settled. In |
Virginia were the descendants OF the English |
Cavaliers In the Carolinas the Scotch and HUI |
guenot founders had left their mark. There |
was no feeling of nationality. A narrow pro-
vincialism everywhere prevailed. The consti-
tuition existed to bring all together-to make |
nation And since we are nation now. it ia
to this great instrument we must look as the |
mlghtiest agency in making the provincals of
colonies into citizens of an indiVisible republic
Inc working for evil of the articles of con-
federation was easily seen. Under this instru-
ment OF government each state had the right
TO put up minis, to strike money, to levy taxes
to raise miles, to say what articles should en-
ter It's ports free and what should pay duties.
New York, therefore, made Connecticut nav
duty on the wood she brought ands New Jer-
sey on her vegetables. Jealousy, recrimina-
tlon retaliatory legislation intensified the pro-
vlncialism of the day and seriously interfered
with prosperity. Congress could not regulate
not enforce; States fatty refused to obey. The
statesmen saw the great peril; they began to
agltate for convention to frame new articles
OF government.
The orator then described the meeting of
the delegates at Philadelphia to frame a
Federal constitution. He eulogized the great
statesman OF Virginia, James Madison, and
Washington and Franklin and Hamilton.
he described the debates and the final signing
OF the immortal instrument. He quoted the
words OF Franklin about the rising sun on the |
speakers chair typical of the future OF the
country.
Then followed the story Of tbs submission of
the constitution to the people of the state |
the bitter hostility of many-the opposition of
Patrick Henry and Sam Adams, the CONVEX |
sion of THE latter by Paul Revere and his |
Drother mechanics; the noble advocacy by
Madison and Hamilton in the Federalist the |
ratlhcation By Delaware, then by Pennsylvania
and all the rest, Virginia being last These
gave us the constitution. New York North
Carolia, having once rejected Rhode Island
followed later. The speaker gave illustrative
incidents. In order that the nation should be,
the articles of confederation must die. Then
followed the showing of the great difference |
between these articles and the Federal cons ii.
tuition. Alike in other things, they are
diftereHt IN these-the constitution gives the
central government power over individuals
and 1t establishes absolute freedom of OK.
change between all the states, and leaves the
regulation of foreign commerce, which was
and is still regarded as a source of revenue,
exclusively in the hands of the Federal
government.
In celebrating this point, Mr.. Blanchard
spoke of the debt left by the war-the impost
law-the cediug by the states of their great
tracts of western lands, and showed how ab.
solutely necessary it was that the Federal
government should have power over the in
dlVldoal, and how essential to stability and
prosperity was freedom of trade between the
states.
In closing, naming Frothingham's "Rise of
the Republic" McMaster's "History of the
People of the United States, and Bancroft's
History, the orator made an earnest appeal for
thorough study of this story of the adoption
OF the Federal constitution, and for reverence
for those great men who were the makers of
this glorious charter of our liberty and great
creator of the power and prosperity of our
country.
The choir then sang the glorious old Star
Spangled Banner, followed by Chambers
Band with Beyer's "RecolIections of the
War" given with great spirit and finish, after
which all Joined in singing America and DR..
Fem pronounced the benediction.