semblies. They adopt the common law, not as the common law, but as the highest reason."

But Rutledge thought that the British constitu tion gave them a sufficient foundation; and Duane, that the law of nature would be a feeble support. Joseph Galloway talked learnedly of Greece and Rome, of Saxons and Normans, and tried to look bold as he said: "I have ever thought we might reduce our rights to one, an exemption from all laws made by British Parliament since the emigration of our ancestors. It follows, therefore, that all the acts made since are violations of our rights." Adding, and how his cheeks must have burned as he said it, - "I am well aware that my remarks tend to independency.”

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"A most ingenious, interesting debate," wrote John Adams in his diary on the evening of the first day. But he soon grew anxious for a conclusion; which, however, was not reached till after many discussions, and in the form of a partial compromise. Still, the great end was attained. The men of twelve Colonies - Georgia was not represented in this Congress-had talked together freely about their obligations and their rights; had brought their duties as subjects to the standard of their rights as men; had counted, one by one, the links in the chain of their allegiance, and found that it did not reach far enough to make them slaves.

There was one grave moment in the general de

bate, the moment when Joseph Galloway introduced his insidious plan for a union between Great Britain and the Colonies; a plan so specious and so ingeniously defended, that even the clear-headed Jay was "led to adopt it," and that upon the final trial it failed by only one vote, but a plan which, like all temporizing with principle, would have merely put off upon the children the work that Heaven had appointed for the fathers; and what such puttings-off lead to, we, not as the children of those brave men of 1776, but as the heirs of the first generation of compromisers, have seen and felt, have seen with eyes dimmed by tears that have felt with hearts that can

will not be stayed, not be comforted.

God forbid that we should en

tail the curse upon future generations!

By the 26th of October their work was completed. They had prepared a Bill of Rights, and an enumeration of the acts whereby those rights had been violated. They had prepared an address to the King, an address to the people of Great Britain, a memorial to the inhabitants of the British Provinces, an address to the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, and an association for non-importation.

The Bill of Rights, covering the same ground with the Bill of Rights of the first Congress, starts from a higher point, the immutable laws of nature, and shows, by its fuller development of the principles common to both, that the seed sown in 1765

had not fallen on stony ground. Nothing could be firmer, more manly, or more explicit, than the language of the addresses and memorials; dutiful, respectful, solemnly earnest, to the King; clear, firm, direct, with a mixture of grave exhortation and sober remonstrance, to their fellow-subjects. "When your Lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from America," said Lord Chatham in one of those attempts to awaken his colleagues to a sense of their injustice, which have made his name so dear to Americans, "when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect the cause and wish to make it your own." The agreement of non-importation, nonexportation, and non-consumption was the same in principle with that which had been tried so successfully against the Stamp Act; although it had proved ineffectual against the later encroachments of England. Like the question of voting, it was a severe test of the sincerity of the desire for union. But many looked to it with full confidence; and with an exception in favor of rice, to propitiate South Carolina, it received the official signature of every member. Negotiation, suspension of commerce, and war, are the only three things," said John Jay. "War is, by general consent, to be waived at present. I am for negotiation and suspension of commerce."

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Then, having also taken care to recommend the calling of a second Congress, the First Continental

common cause.

Congress dissolved, and John Dickinson could con. gratulate Josiah Quincy on the hearty union of all America, from Nova Scotia to Georgia, in the And when the report of their proceedings reached London, Josiah Quincy wrote to his friends: “Permit me to congratulate my countrymen upon the integrity and wisdom with which the Congress have conducted. Their policy, spirit, and union have confounded their foes and inspired their friends.”

To crown the triumph of patriotism, it was known that large sums had been sent to New York to bribe the delegates; that this infamous attempt at corruption was openly avowed and vindicated; and that the partisans of the ministers had boasted loudly of their success.

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But how did calm and thoughtful men feel as they endeavored to look into the future? how did John Dickinson feel, that sober-minded, sincere, but not sanguine man, who had done so much towards diffusing correct opinions upon the question of taxation by Parliament? "I wish for peace ardently," said he, "but must say, delightful as it is, it will come more grateful by being unexpect ed. The Colonists have now taken such grounds that Great Britain must relax, or inevitably involve herself in a civil war." Some hoped that she would relax. "Conviction," wrote James Lovel "must be the consequence of a bare admission of light."

It was soon seen that light was not to reach the eyes of the King, nor to be permitted to reach the eyes of the people; and therefore, on the 10th of May, 1775, a new Congress convened. Already the battle of Lexington had been fought; already an indignant yeomanry had gathered to the siege of the British army in Boston; already defences were rising, men were enrolling throughout the land. Twice had the representatives of the people come together to remonstrate and petition, to appeal to the reason of their fellow-subjects, and invoke the protection of their King. They now met for action; to appeal, if needs be, to the sword, and invoke the protection of their God. Independence lay in their path, and, thick set as that path was with obstacles and dangers, they were not the men to falter or turn aside when the only alternative was slavery.

This time they assembled, not in Carpenter's Hall, the gathering-place of a private association, but, as beseemed the acknowledged representatives of a great people, in the State-House, in that fine old hall which Philadelphia, with a wise gratitude, has carefully preserved from desecration; to which the chairs and tables which they used have been brought back with pious care, and on whose walls, thick-clustering with holy associations, hang the portraits of the founders of our Union, — of the men who, by the great things which they did there, and the wise things that they said there, have