Chapter 38: 1781-1788
Closing Events of the War—Formation of the Constitution

British Efforts Paralyzed—The States Form Independent Governments—Indian Wars—Massacre of the Christian Delawares—Battle of the Blue Lick—Carleton Supersedes Clinton—Commissioners of Peace—The Common Distress—Dissatisfaction in the Army—The "Anonymous Address"—Peace Concluded—British Prisoners; the Tories—Disbandment of the American Army—Washington Takes Leave of His Officers—Resigns his Commission—Shay’s Rebellion—Interests of the States Clash—The Constitutional Convention—The Constitution Ratified by the States—The Territory Northwest of the Ohio—Ecclesiastical Organizations.

On the very day that Cornwallis surrendered, Clinton sailed to his aid with seven thousand men. When off the entrance to the Chesapeake, he learned, to his astonishment, that all was lost. As the British fleet was much inferior to that of the French, he hastily returned to New York.

Washington requested Count de Grasse to cooperate with General Greene in an attack upon Charleston, but De Grasse pleaded the necessity of his presence in the West Indies, and excused himself. The Americans now returned to their old quarters on the Hudson. The French army wintered at Williamsburg in Virginia, while the British prisoners were marched to Winchester.

The capture of Cornwallis paralyzed the efforts of the British and Tories. In the South they evacuated all the posts in their possession, except Savannah and Charleston; before the latter place Greene soon appeared, and disposed his forces so as to confine them closely to the town. In the North, the only place held by the enemy was New York.

Washington never for a moment relaxed his watchfulness, but urged upon Congress and the States to prepare for a vigorous campaign the next year. But so impoverished had the country become, that to raise men and money seemed almost impossible, while the prospect of peace furnished excuses for delay.

The several States now took measures to form independent governments, or to strengthen or modify those already in existence. Some of these had been hastily formed, and, consequently, were more or less defective. The custom was introduced of sending delegates to conventions called for the purpose of framing constitutions, which were submitted to the people for their approval or rejection. The common law of England was adopted, and made the basis in the administration of justice in the courts.

A cruel border warfare was still continued by incursions of Indians against the back settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and against the frontiers of New York, by Indians and Tories.

Many of the Delaware Indians, under the influence of Moravian teachers, had become Christian, and so far imbibed the principles of their instructors as to be opposed to war. Some of these, nearly twenty years before, had emigrated from the banks of the Susquehanna and settled on the Muckingum, where they had three flourishing villages, surrounded by corn-fields. The hostile Indians from the lakes, in their incursions against the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, robbed these Delawares of their provisions. The Delawares became objects of suspicion to both the hostile Indians and the whites. The former accused them of revealing their plans, the latter of conniving at the incursions of their enemies, and the hostile Indians compelled them to emigrate to the vicinity of Sandusky.

In the meantime, murders had been committed by the Shawnees in the vicinity of Pittsburg. A company of eighty or ninety backwoodsmen volunteered, under a Colonel Williamson, to take revenge on the supposed murderers—the Christian Delawares—a portion of whom had returned to their old home to gather their corn. The expedition reached the villages on the Muskingum, collected the victims, it would seem, under the pretense of friendship, then barbarously and in cold blood murdered about ninety of these inoffensive creatures—men, women, and children.

This success excited to other invasions, and four hundred and eighty men, under Colonels Williamson and Crawford, marched from Western Pennsylvania to surprise the remnants of the Christian Indians at Sandusky, and also to attack the village of the hostile Wyandottes. The Indians learned of their approach, waited for them in ambush, and defeated them; took many prisoners, among whom were Crawford, his son, and son-in-law. These three they burned at the stake.

About the same time, a large body of the Indians north of the Ohio, led by the infamous Simon Girty, a Tory refugee, invaded Kentucky. They were met by the Kentuckians, under Colonels Boone, Todd, and Triggs, at the Big Blue Lick, when a bloody and desperate encounter ensued. But overwhelmed by numbers, nearly one-half the Kentuckians were either killed or taken prisoners.

After the capture at Yorktown no battle occurred between the main armies, and but one or two skirmishes. In one of these, in the vicinity of Charleston, the younger Laurens was slain—a young man of great promise, who was universally lamented.

Among the English people at large the desire to close the war had greatly increased. With them it had ever been unpopular; they were unwilling that their brethren beyond the Atlantic should be deprived of the rights which they themselves so much valued. The intelligence of the surrender of Cornwallis created among them stronger opposition than ever to the harsh measures of the Government. Yet the war party—the King and Ministry and the majority of the aristocracy—were unwilling to yield to the pressure of public opinion. They were thunderstruck at this unexpected disaster. Says a British writer: "Lord North received the intelligence of the capture of Cornwallis as he would have done a cannon-ball in his breast; he paced the room, and throwing his arms wildly about, kept exclaiming, "O God! it is all over; it is all over!" For twelve years he had been prime minister. The pliant servant of the King, he had ever been in favor of prosecuting the war, but now the voice of the English people compelled him to resign.

Sir Guy Carleton, whom we have seen winning the respect of the Americans, by his upright and honorable conduct when Governor of Canada, was appointed to succeed Sir Henry Clinton. In the following May he arrived at New York, empowered to make propositions for peace. He immediately addressed a letter to Washington, proposing a cessation of hostilities, and also issued orders, in which he forbade the marauding incursions of the Indians and Tories on the frontiers of Western New York.

Congress appointed five commissioners to conclude a treaty with Great Britain. These were: John Adams, Doctor Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, who, lately released from his confinement in the Tower, was yet in London, and Thomas Jefferson; the latter, however, declined to serve. They met at Paris two British Commissioners, who had been authorized to treat with "certain colonies" named in their instructions. The American Commissioners refused to enter upon negotiations, unless in the name of the "United States of America"—they claimed the right to be recognized a power among the nations. This right was acknowledged by Britain, and on the 30th of November the parties signed a preliminary treaty, which Congress ratified the following April. Negotiations continued, and the final treaty was signed on the 3rd of September following. France and England in the meantime like. Wise concluded a treaty of peace. The American Commissioners also negotiated treaties of commerce with Spain and Holland.

Though the war was ended, the American people had numberless difficulties with which to contend. The army, that through the many trials of the contest had remained faithful, was in a deplorable condition. The half-pay for life, which, three years before, Congress had promised to the officers, proved to be only a promise. Washington wrote confidentially to the Secretary of War in behalf of those about to be discharged from the service: "I cannot help fearing the result, when I see such a number of men about to be turned on the world, soured by penury, involved in debts, without one farthing to carry them home, after having spent the flower of their days, and many of them their patrimonies, in establishing the freedom and independence of their country, and having suffered everything which human nature is capable of enduring on this side of death. You may rely upon it, the patience and long sufferance of this army are almost exhausted, and there never was so great a spirit of discontent as at this instant." At this crisis an address, plausibly written, was privately circulated in the camp. It suggested to the officers and men tho propriety of taking upon themselves to redress their grievances; that they should intimidate Congress and compel it to pay their just demands.

The address seems to have been the embodied sentiments of some half dozen officers, although written by Captain Armstrong, the son of General Armstrong of Pennsylvania. A call was issued for a meeting of the officers, but the next morning, in the regular orders for the day, Washington took occasion to disapprove the meeting as a violation of discipline. He also named a day for the officers to assemble and hear the report of a committee of their number who had been sent to lay their demands before Congress. The next day a second anonymous address was issued, but somewhat more moderate in tone than the first. The officers met according to appointment, and Gates, being second in command, was made chairman of the meeting. Washington presently came in, made them a soothing address, appealed to their patriotism and to their own fair fame in toiling for their country, and now were they willing to tarnish their name or distrust their country’s justice? He pledged his word to use his influence with Congress to fulfil its promises. He then withdrew. The meeting passed resolutions which condemned in severe terms the spirit of the anonymous address.

Congress soon after resolved to accede to the proposition of the officers, and change the promise of half pay for life, to that of full pay for five years. And also to advance to the soldiers full pay for four months.

This was not the only instance in which the influence of Washington arrested plots designed to ruin the prospects of the young republic. The condition of the country was so desperate that many feared the States could not form a permanent government. At the suggestion of officers who thus thought, Lewis Nicola, a foreigner, a colonel in the Pennsylvania line, wrote Washington an elaborate letter, in which he discussed the expediency of establishing a monarchy, and finally offered him the crown. Washington indignantly condemned the scheme. Said he: "I cannot conceive what I have done during my whole life, which could cause anyone to imagine that I could entertain such a proposition for a moment."

When these facts became known, it was not strange that the people feared a standing army.

Intelligence came at length of the signing of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain. Congress issued a proclamation giving the information to the nation. On the 19th of April, precisely eight years from the battle of Lexington, the cessation of hostilities was proclaimed in the camp at Newburg.

The soldiers of Burgoyne and Cornwallis were yet prisoners, and had been marched to New York in order to be sent home. A general exchange of prisoners now took place. The prospects of the Tories were dreary indeed. The severe laws enacted against them were still in force, and now several thousand of them had assembled at New York, and were compelled to leave the country. The majority of them were wealthy. During the war many of them had held offices in the British service, and some had grown rich, as merchants, landowners, and sutlers for the British army; others, the unscrupulous, by privateering. Those who lived in the North emigrated to Canada and Nova Scotia, while those of the South went chiefly to the West India Islands.

A clause was inserted in the treaty which prohibited the carrying away of the slaves, large numbers of whom had fled to the British army during the campaigns in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Carleton refused to comply with the demand, on the ground that it would be highly dishonorable to deliver them up since they had sought protection under the British flag. To secure their safety, he sent them away among the very first, while at the same time he kept an accurate list of their number, leaving to future negotiation indemnity for their loss.

These negroes, now liberated, were first taken to Nova Scotia; afterward, a large number of them emigrated to Sierra Leone: "Their descendants, as merchants and traders, now constitute the wealthiest and most intelligent population of that African colony."

Before the disbandment of the army, Washington addressed a letter to the Governors of the several States, urging them to guard against the prejudices of one part of the country against another; to encourage union among the States, and to make provision for the public debt.

On the 3rd of November the army was disbanded. These patriot soldiers returned to their homes, to mingle with their fellow-citizens, and enjoy the blessings which their valor had obtained for themselves and their posterity. From that day the title of revolutionary soldier has been a title of honor.

Before the officers of the army finally separated, they formed a society known as the Cincinnati—a name derived from the celebrated farmer-patriot of Rome. The association was to be perpetuated chiefly through the eldest male descendants of the original members. But as this feature, in the eyes of many, seemed to favor an hereditary aristocracy, it was stricken out; still the society continued to be to some parties an object of jealousy.

As soon as preparations could be made, the British evacuated the few places occupied by their troops; New York on the 25th of November, and Charleston in the following month. General Knox, with a small body of troops, and accompanied by Governor George Clinton and the State officers, entered New York as the British were leaving.

A few days after, the officers of the army assembled at a public house to bid farewell to their beloved commander. Presently Washington entered; his emotions were too strong to be concealed. After a moment’s pause he said: "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable." He then added: "I cannot come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged if each of you will come and take my hand." General Knox, being the nearest, turned to him. Washington, affected even to tears, grasped his hand and embraced him. In the same affectionate manner he took leave of each succeeding officer: "The tear of manly sensibility was in every eye; not a word was spoken to interrupt the dignified silence and the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he passed through the corps of light infantry, to the barge which was to convey him across the river. The whole company followed in mute and solemn procession, with dejected countenances, testifying to feelings of delicious melancholy, which no language can describe. Having entered the barge, he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a silent adieu. They paid him the same affectionate compliment."

On his way to Annapolis, where Congress was in session, he left with the controller at Philadelphia an accurate account of his expenses during the war; they amounted to sixty-four thousand dollars. These accounts were in his own handwriting, and kept in the most perfect manner; every charge made was accompanied by a mention of the occasion and object.

In an interview with Congress, he made a short address. Said he: "The successful termination of the war has verified the most sanguine expectations; and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous contest." Then recommending to the favorable notice of Congress the officers of his staff, and expressing his obligations to the army in general, he continued: "I consider it as an indispensable duty to close this last act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to His holy keeping."

"Having now finished the work assigned me, i retire from the great theater of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life."

The President of Congress, General Mifflin, who, in the darkest hour of the revolution, had favored the Conway Cabal, replied: "Sir, the United States, in congress assembled, receive with emotions too affecting for utterance, the solemn resignation of the authorities under which you have led their troops with success through a perilous and doubtful war. We join with you in commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God; and for you, we address to him our earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be fostered with all His care; that your days may be as happy as they have been illustrious; and that he will finally give you that reward which this world cannot give." Washington hastened to Mount Vernon, which he had not visited for eight years, except for a few hours while on his way against Cornwallis.

Independence was at last attained, but at immense sacrifices. The calamities of war were visible in the ruins of burned towns, in the ravaged country, in the prostration of industry, and in the accumulation of debts. These amounted to one hundred and seventy millions of dollars—a sum enormous in proportion to the resources of the country—two-thirds of this debt had been contracted by Congress, and the remainder by the individual States.

These were evils, but there were still greater which came home to the domestic hearth. Frequently the members of families had taken different sides, some were Whigs and some were Tories; and that remorseless rancor which so often prevails in times of civil discord, extended throughout the land. It is pleasant to record, that in the course of a few years, a forgiving spirit among the people led to the repeal of the severe laws enacted against the Tories, and very great numbers of them repented of their misguided loyalty and returned to their native land.

On the conclusion of peace the English merchants, alive to their interests, flooded the States with manufactured goods at very reduced prices. This operation ruined the domestic manufactures, which the non-importation association, and necessities of the war had created and cherished, drained the country of its specie, and involved the merchants and people in debt. This poverty was followed by discontent, which prevailed more or less, and excited disturbances in several of the States.

In Massachusetts a thousand men assembled at Worcester, under the leadership of Daniel Shays, and forced the Supreme Court to adjourn, to prevent its issuing writs for the collection of debts.

Governor Bowdoin called out the militia, which was put under the command of General Lincoln, who in a few weeks suppressed the outbreak. It was evident, however, that there was among the people a strong feeling of sympathy with the insurgents, for the vast majority of themselves labored under similar grievances.

This distress was overruled for good. It was the means of bringing all the States to view with favor a union under the same constitution, and thus form a government which should have power to act for the good of the whole country.

The States made trial of independent governments, but after an experiment of three or four years the result proved unsatisfactory. This was especially the case in relation to the subjects of legislation which concerned the whole country; such as the regulation of commerce, the common defense, the adjustment of controversies between one State and another, and making of treaties with other nations.

These difficulties were increasing—many interests clashed. Some of the States passed laws which conflicted with those of their sisters; since the close of the war, commerce had increased very rapidly, but American merchants were still excluded by the British from the West India trade. They complained to Congress, but the States had not yet conceded authority to that body, to regulate commerce or to legislate for the whole country.

Some States had good harbors, and imported merchandise upon which duties were imposed at the expense of their neighbors; and ports competed with each other by lowering the rate of imports. Thus there were rival ports on the Delaware; and Mary land and Virginia competed with each other for the trade of the Chesapeake, while New Jersey and Connecticut were laid under contribution by their neighbors of New York and Massachusetts. No State could protect itself by retaliation against the restrictions of foreign countries, as the attempt would throw its own trade into the hands of a sister rival.

Efforts were made to obviate these evils, and those States bordering on the waters of the Chesapeake and Potomac sent delegates to a convention held at Alexandria, to establish a uniform tariff of duties on the merchandise brought into their ports. This led to correspondence between the prominent men of the country and the legislatures. Another convention was held at Annapolis, to which there were representatives from only five States; finally, the people elected delegates to meet in Convention in Philadelphia, to revise the Articles of Confederation.

On the 14th of May the members of the Convention met in the State House, in Philadelphia, in the same hall where the Declaration of Independence was made. Washington, who, since the war, had lived in retirement at Mount Vernon, appeared as a delegate. He was unanimously chosen President of the Convention.

The Convention resolved to sit with closed doors; not even a transcript of their minutes was permitted to be made public. The articles of the old confederation, found to be very defective, were thrown aside, and the Convention addressed itself to framing an independent constitution.

There were present about fifty delegates, representatives from eleven different States, all of whom had the confidence of their fellow-citizens, and were distinguished for their intellectual and moral worth and experience in public affairs. Some had been members of the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, some of the Continental Congress in 1774, and some were also among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Conspicuous was the venerable Dr. Franklin, now in his eightieth year, who, thirty years before, at a convention at Albany, had proposed a plan of union for the colonies.

The various disturbances in different parts of the land had shaken the faith of many in the power of the multitude to govern themselves. Said Elbridge Gerry, in the Convention: "All the evils we experience flow from an excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are under the dupes of pretended patriots; they are daily misled into the most baleful measures of opinions."

It was necessary to have a central government, which could give security to all the States, and at the same time not conflict in its powers with their rights.

It was found very difficult to arrange satisfactorily the representation in the two branches of the proposed government. The smaller States were alarmed, lest their rights would be infringed upon by the overwhelming majority of members coming from the larger ones. This difficulty was removed by constituting the Senate, in which the States were represented equally without reference to their population; each being entitled to two members, while in the House of Representatives the States were to be represented in proportion to their population.

After four months of labor, during which every article was thoroughly discussed, the Constitution was finished and signed by all the members present, with the exception of three: Gerry of Massachusetts, George Mason and Edmund Randolph of Virginia. This result was not obtained without much discussion; at one time, so adverse were opinions that it was apprehended the Convention would dissolve, leaving its work unfinished. It was then that Franklin proposed they should choose a chaplain to open their sessions by prayer. Said he: "I have lived a long time; and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it possible that an empire can rise without his aid?"

The Convention presented the Constitution thus framed to Congress, and that body submitted it to the people of the States for their approval or rejection.

It was a document of compromises; probably not a member of the Convention was perfectly satisfied with it. There were three prominent compromises; the first, the equal representation in the Senate, a concession to the smaller States; the second, that in the enumeration of the inhabitants three-fifths of the slaves were to be included in determining the ratio of representation in the lower house of Congress; a concession to the slave-holders; and the third, permission, till 1808, to the States of Georgia and South Carolina, to receive slaves imported from Africa, as the delegates from those two States refused to sign the Constitution except on that condition. The great desire to secure the moral power of a unanimous vote of the members of the Convention in favor of their own work, alone obtained this concession.

In less than a year after the Constitution was submitted to the people, it was adopted by all the States, except North Carolina and Rhode Island, and by them in less than two years.

This ratification of the Constitution was not brought about without a struggle. The subject was discussed in conventions and in the legislatures, and In the newspapers. The States were for a time unwilling to resign any of their sovereignty to a Federal or National Government.

Many elaborate essays, collectively known as the Federalist, were written by Alexander Hamilton, Jay, and Madison, in favor of its adoption. These essays had an immense influence upon the leading minds of the country; and these in turn greatly influenced the popular will.

It shows the practical wisdom of those who framed the Constitution, that in the application of its principles for almost three-quarters of a century, it has been found necessary to change or modify only very few of its articles.

While the Convention which framed the Constitution was in session in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress in New York passed a bill "for the government of the Territory northwest of the Ohio." That region had been ceded to the United States by the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Virginia. In this bill were introduced provisions securing the exercise of religious freedom, and for the encouragement of schools, and also the proviso that "there shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude in said territory, otherwise than in punishment for crime." The region south of the Ohio was to be afterward regulated. Three years before Thomas Jefferson had introduced a bill, and urged its passage with all his influence, to exclude slavery not only from the territory then held by the United States, but from all which should thereafter be ceded to Congress by the respective States. This bill failed by only a few votes.

The people, though thus engaged in moulding their political institutions, did not neglect to conform their systems of ecclesiastical government to the new order of things. The Revolution had changed the relation of the religious denominations to the State. In New England, Congregationalism was the established religion, and every citizen was required to aid in the support of some church. In all the southern colonies the Episcopal Church was equally favored, and partially so in New York and New Jersey. Only in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Delaware, were all the Protestant sects On an equality, as to their religious rights.

The Episcopal Church was more disorganized than any other. It had hitherto been attached to the diocese of the Bishop of London, but now that authority was not recognized.

As yet there was no American bishop, and no means to obtain the consecration of any clergyman to that office, except by English bishops. Accordingly the Reverend Samuel Seabury, of Connecticut, at the request of the Episcopalians of that State, visited England to obtain ordination as a bishop. But the English bishops were prevented by law of Parliament from raising anyone to that dignity, who did not take the oaths of allegiance, and acknowledge the King as head of the Church. Seabury then applied to the non-juring bishops of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, by whom he was ordained. Some Episcopalians, however, were not satisfied with an ordination at the hands of the Scottish bishops.

A convention of delegates, from several States, met and formed a constitution for the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America." After some revision this constitution was adopted by conventions in the separate States. Titles were changed in order to conform to republicanism; such as "Lord Bishop," and all such as were "descriptive of temporal power and precedency." The Liturgy for the same reason was modified. A friendly letter was addressed to the English bishops, requesting at their hands ordination of American bishops. An Act of Parliament gave the desired authority, and William White of Philadelphia, Samuel Provost of New York, and James Madison of Virginia, were thus ordained. Soon after these ordinations, a General Convention ratified the constitution, and the organization of the Episcopal Church in the United States was complete.

About this time came Thomas Coke, as superintendent or bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He had been an able laborer with Wesley, by whom he was ordained to that office. This sect spread very rapidly, especially in the south; in that section of the country were a great many vacant parishes, which belonged to the Episcopal Church, numbers of whose clergymen left the country during the troubles of the Revolution. At this time the denomination did not number more than ninety preachers, and fifteen thousand members.

The institutions of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches required no change to adapt them to the new order of things.

The Presbyterians took measures to organize their Church government on a national basis. Four Synods were formed out of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia. A general Assembly, composed of delegates from all the Presbyteries of the land, was authorized to meet annually.

Soon after the treaty of peace with England, the Pope’s Nuncio at Paris made overtures to Congress, through Doctor Franklin, on the subject of appointing a Vicar Apostolic or bishop for the United States. On the ground that the subject was purely spiritual, and therefore beyond its jurisdiction, Congress refused to take any part in the matter. The Pope then appointed as his vicar apostolic, John Carroll, a brother of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton; the same was afterward raised to the dignity of Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

Almost immediately after the Declaration of Independence the Presbytery of Hanover, in Virginia, addressed a memorial to the House of Assembly, in which they petitioned for the separation of church and state. They preferred that the gospel should be supported by the free gifts of its friends; they asked no aid from the civil power to maintain their own churches, and were unwilling that any denomination should thus be favored. The movement thus commenced was ardently seconded by the Baptists and Quakers, who petitioned the Assembly to the same effect. These petitions were met by counter-memorials from the Episcopalians and Methodists, who urged in behalf of the Establishment, that it was a system which "possessed the nature of a vested right, and ought to be maintained inviolate."

The separation of church and state soon became a prominent question in Virginia. Jefferson took an important part in the animated contest, but the most effective was the united influence of those who first opposed the establishment, and who never relaxed their efforts till the churches were declared independent of the civil power, and every colonial law interfering with the religious rights of the people was swept away.

The example thus set by Virginia was not without its influence; the union of church and stats was dissolved in the other States soon after the close of the Revolution, except in Connecticut and Massachusetts, where the system was retained many years longer.

Thus we have seen the Fathers of the Republic equal to every emergency as it occurred. They carried their country through the Revolution; then through the trying period between its close and the formation and adoption of the Constitution, and the adjustment of the difficult question of the relation between church and state. As statesmen and patriots they are held in higher estimation today by enlightened and liberal men than ever before; while the cause they advocated takes a deeper hold upon the general intelligence of the world. Had they been advocates of principles that could not bear the test of time and experience, though equally honest and sincere, they would still be looked upon as misguided men. On the contrary, they were in advance of their own age, and as time moves on they are more and more appreciated; their cause was commensurate in importance with the zeal and self-denial they exercised in making the principles of true liberty the inheritance of civilized man. It requires a good cause, as well as success, to secure the respect of future generations.