186 
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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 The Estate of L.L.'^eamaii 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 E186.3.N56 A5 
 
 Addresses at the tenth annual banquet of 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 030 935 492 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030935492 
 
/DDRESSES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 TENTH ANNUAL BANQUET 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Society of Colonic Wars 
 
 IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 ** 
 
 DELMONICO'S 
 
 JANUARY 10. 1902 
 
H'^=hH- — - 
 
 /\ie>iZlfif(^ 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 TENTH ANNUAL BANQUET 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Society of Colonial Wars 
 
H'^=hH- 
 
 /\(oizifi^ii, 
 
ADDRESSES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 TENTH ANNUAL BANQUET 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Society of Colonial Wars 
 
Officers, Gentlemen of the Council and Standing Committees, igo2. 
 
 Governor, 
 FREDERIC J. de PEYSTER. 
 
 Deputy Governor, 
 JAMES WILLIAM BEEKMAN. 
 
 Lieutenant Governors, 
 T. J. OAKLEY RHINELANDER, 
 WALTER L. SUYDAM, 
 WILLIAM G. DAVIES. 
 
 Secretary, 
 FRANCIS F. SPIES. 
 
 Deputy Secretary, 
 ARTHUR S. WALCOTT. 
 
 Treasurer, 
 CLARENCE STORM. 
 
 Registrar, 
 SAMUEL V. HOFFMAN. 
 
 Chancellor, 
 HON. JAMES M. VARNUM, 
 
 Vice- Chancellor, 
 CHARLES F. DARLINGTON. 
 
 Surgeons, 
 LOUIS LIVINGSTON SEAMAN, M.D., 
 CLARKSON CROSBY SCHUYLER, M.D. 
 
 Historian, 
 SYDNEY H. CARNEY, Jr., M.D. 
 
 Chaplain, 
 THE VERY REV. EUGENE A. HOFFMAN, D.D. 
 
 Genealogist, 
 
 PHILIP SCHUYLER de LUZE. 
 
 3 
 
Gentlemen of the Council, 
 
 Term Expiring 1904. 
 
 WILLIAM BLEECKER SEAMAN, 
 
 SAMUEL P. AVERY, 
 
 EUGENE VAN RENSSELAER. 
 
 HENRY S. CLARK. 
 
 AMORY S. CARHART. 
 
 EDWARD DE P. LIVINGSTON. 
 
 WALTER CHANDLER. 
 
 BAYARD F. FOULKE. 
 
 ANDREW A. BIBBY. 
 
 Committee on Membership, 
 
 GUY VAN AMRINGE, 
 
 LANSDALE BOARDMAN, 
 
 PEARSALL B. JACKSON, 
 
 HENRY E. PIERREPONT, Jr., 
 
 LUIS J. PHELPS, 
 
 WILLIAM H. FOLSOM, 
 
 FRANCIS HILLHOUSE. 
 
 Committee en Historieat Documents, 
 
 EDWARD F. de LANCEY, 
 
 HAMILTON B. TOMPKINS, 
 
 CORTLANDT IRVING, 
 
 CHARLES A, SCHERMERHORN 
 
 GEORGE R. SCHIEFFELIN 
 
The tenth annual dinner of the "Society of Colonial Wars in the City of New 
 York" was held at Delmonico's (Fifth avenue and Forty-fourth street) on the 
 evening of January loth, 1902. The Governor of the Society, Mr. Frederic J. de 
 Peyster, presided. The following members and guests were present. 
 
 SEATING PLAN. 
 
 A Carnochan, Gouverneur M., Table C, Seat 2. 
 
 Abbott, George B., Table GG, Seat 2. 
 Adams, Henry H., Table XY, Seat 6. 
 Aldridge, Frederick T., Table JJ, Seat 2. 
 Armstrong, J. F., Table Z, Seat 3. 
 Ashley, J. L., Table XY, Seat 3- 
 Avery, Samuel P., Table H, Seat 10. 
 Avery, Samuel P., Jr., Table H. Seat 9. 
 Azoy, A. C. M., Table W, Seat i. 
 
 B 
 Bailey, Theodorus, M. D., Table K, Seat 9. 
 Baldwin, Rev. B. Oakley, Table A, Seat 3. 
 Bangs, Fletcher H., Table Z, Seat 6. 
 Banks, David, Platform. 
 Janta, Theodore M., Table P, Seat i. 
 Barlow, Peter T., Table Y, Seat 3. 
 Jarron, Thomas, Table L, Seat 4. 
 Jarrows, Dr., Table M, Seat 3. 
 Jeck, Fanning T. C, Table F, Seat 6. 
 ieekman, Jas. Wm., Table D, Seat 8. 
 tell, Jared W., Table T, Seat i. 
 tellows. Rev. J. McClure, Table G, Seat S- 
 tenedict, Lemuel C, Table U, Seat 3. 
 lenedict, Lernuel C, Table U, Seat 4. 
 lenedict, Lemuel C, Table U, Seat 5. 
 lenedict, Lemuel C, Table U, Seat 6. 
 lerwind, J. E., Table Y, Seat 5. 
 :ibby, Andrew A., Table G, Seat 8. 
 lloodgood, Delevan, M. D., Table GG, Seat 5. 
 
 oardman, Lansdale, Table T, Seat 7. 
 
 ■oucher, Charles, Table A, Seat 2. 
 
 oynton, C. E., Table L, Seat 2. 
 
 oardman, Lansdale, Table T, Seat 7. 
 
 ritton, Charles P., Table U, Seat 2. 
 
 ritton, Henry B., Table U, Seat i. 
 
 rugler, Rev. Charles E., Table JJ, Seat i. 
 
 unker, William, Table H, Seat I. 
 
 ussing, John S., Table D, Seat 10. 
 
 urke, James S., Table JJ, Seat 5. 
 
 C 
 
 ammann, George P., Table G, Seat 6. 
 ammann, George P., Table G, Seat 7. 
 amp, Charles L. N., Table HH, Seat i. 
 amp, Charles L. N., Table HH, Seat 2. 
 arhart, Amory S., Table G, Seat 4. 
 amey, Sydney H., M. D., Table E, Seat i. 
 arney, Sydney H., Jr., M. D., Table C, Seat i 
 
 Carpenter, Augustus T., Table X, Seat i. 
 Carpenter, Charles W., Table V, Seat 8. 
 Carpenter, James D., Table X, Seat 3. 
 Carpenter, William O., Table X, Seat 2. 
 Castle, Dr. F. A., Table H, Seat 2. 
 Chauncey, Elihu, Table Y, Seat 4- 
 Chew, Beverly, Table H, Seat 6. 
 Coleman, Charles P., Table P, Seat 5. 
 Conover, John T., Table XY, Seat 4- 
 Cook, Henry F., Table HH, Seat 3- 
 Cook, E. H., M. D., Table HH, Seat 4. 
 Cook, Ferd. H., Table HH, Seat S- 
 Cooper, William E., Table F, Seat I. 
 Corbusier, Major Wm. H., U. S. A., 
 Table P, Seat 2. 
 
 D 
 Dana, Paul, Platform. 
 Daniell, John F., Table L, Seat 6. 
 Darlington, Charles F., Table F, Seat 8. 
 Darlington, Rev. James H., Table F, Seat 2. 
 Darlington, Thomas, M. D., Table F, Seat 4- 
 Davies, William G., Table B, Seat 3- 
 Davis, Chandler, Table L, Seat 5- 
 Davison, Henry P., Table P, Seat 6. 
 Dennis, Warren E., Table S, Seat 8. 
 de Peyster, Frederic J., Platform, 
 de Peyster, F. Ashton, Table C, Seat 3. 
 de Peyster, Col. Johnson L., Table G, Seat I. 
 Dodge, William E., Table D, Seat i. 
 Dominick, George F., Jr., Table Z, Seat S- 
 Dominick, H. B., Table Z, Seat i. 
 Doughty, Francis E., M. D., Table Y, Seat t. 
 Douglas, J. H., Table F, Seat 3. 
 
 E 
 Eliot, Walter G., Table HH., Seat 6. 
 Ely, Smith, Table H, Seat 7. 
 
 F 
 Ferguson, H. A., Table H, Seat S- 
 Ferris, Morris P., Table G, Seat 2. 
 Fish, Nicholas, Platform. 
 Fish, Stuyvesant, Platform. 
 Foulke, Bayard F., Table D, Seat 5. 
 Foulke, William, Table D, Seat 6. 
 Francis, V. Mott, M. D., Platform. 
 French, Dr. John H., Table S, Seat I. 
 Frothingham, A. W., Table A, Seat 4. 
 Fuller, Linus E., Table Z, Seat 2. 
 
Glidden, John M., Platform. 
 Grant, Norman, Table V, Seat 3. 
 Greene, George S., Jr., Table XY, Seat S- 
 GriflSn, Francis B., Table V, Seat 7. 
 Grinnell, William M., Table L, Seat 7. 
 
 H 
 
 Hagen, Arthur, Jr., Table A, Seat 6. 
 Hall, Dudley, Table L, Seat 3. 
 Hall, George P., Table T, Seat 6. 
 Hamilton, Rev. Alexander, Platform. 
 Hamilton, Henry N., Table L, Seat 9. 
 Hardenburgh, H. J., Table Z, Seat 4. 
 Harriman, William E., Table C. 
 Havemeyer, F. A., Table F., Seat 4. 
 Hayden, Henry W., Table S, Seat 6. 
 Hayden, J. A., Table B, Seat 7. 
 Hill, Robert C, Table P, Seat 8. 
 Hodges, Alfred, Table R, Seat 2. 
 Hoffman, Charles F., Jr., Table S, Seat 5. 
 Hoffman, Samuel V., Table J, Seat 8. 
 Holbrook, Levi, Table W, Seat 3. 
 Holland, Alexander, Table A, Seat I. 
 Holland, Joseph, Table A, Seat 8. 
 Hornor, Wm. Macpherson, Table FF, Seat 8. 
 Hotchkin, Walter R., Table JJ, Seat 6. 
 Houghton, Rev. Dr., Table M, Seat I. 
 Howill, E. T., Table R, Seat 4. 
 Howill, W. E, Table R, Seat 3. 
 Rowland, Henry S., Table JJ, Seat 7. 
 Huest, E. T., Table T, Seat 4. 
 Hulst, E. C, Table T, Seat 3. 
 Hurd, Hon. W. B., Table R, Seat 7. 
 
 I 
 
 Ihm, Adolph, Table N, Seat 7. 
 Irving, Cortlandt, Table F, Seat 7. 
 Isham, Charles, Platform. 
 
 J 
 Jenkins, E. Fellows, Table P, Seat 4. 
 Jeremiah, John A., Table FF, Seat i. 
 Johnson, Rossiter, Table W, Seat 2. 
 Johnston, Prof. H. P., Table H, Seat 3. 
 
 K 
 
 Keech, Frank B., Table W, Seat 10. 
 Keegan, Dermot W. 
 Kent, Charles N., Jr., Table XY, Seat 2. 
 Kingston, Henry H, Table E, Seat 3. 
 Kretschmar, H. C, Table Y, Seat 6. 
 
 L. 
 Lambert, Dr. Walter, Table Y, Seat 7. 
 Lane, Smith E., Table H., Seat 8. 
 
 Langdon, Woodbury G. , Table C, Seat 4. 
 Lawton, George P., Table W, Seat 4. 
 Leland, Charles H., Table D, Seat 7- 
 Lewis, Edward L., Table K, Seat 3. 
 Litchfield, Edward H., Table N, Seat 2. 
 Little, Frederick S., Table X, Seat 4. 
 Little, Frederick S., Table X, Seat 5. 
 Little, Frederick S., Table X, Seat 6. 
 Livingston, Philip, Table C, Seat S- 
 Loew, William G., Jr., Table W, Seat 9. 
 Lorton, Heth, Table FF, Seat 7. 
 
 M 
 Mabie, Hamilton W., Platform. 
 Mackenzie, George N., Platform. 
 Maddox, Hon. S. T., Table R, Seat I. 
 Martin, John Say re, Jr., Table C, Seat 6. 
 McElroy, William H., Platform. 
 McGuire, J. Clark, Table A, Seat 5. 
 McKeever, I. Chauncey, Table W, Seat 8. 
 McLean, Robert, Table J, Seat 4. 
 McVickar, E. S., Jr., Table W, Seat S- 
 Meeker, Henry N., Table R, Seat 6. 
 Miller, Charles R., Platform. 
 Miller, Hoffman, Table S, Seat 3. 
 Millett, Stephen C, Table A, Seat 7. 
 Miner, Karl R., Table E, Seat 10. 
 Moran, Charles, Table K, Seat 4. 
 
 N 
 Nash, Mr., Table M, Seat 6. 
 Nicoll, Henry D., M. D., Table D, Seat 9. 
 Nichols, George L., Table J. Seat 2. 
 Nichols, Acosta, Table J, Seat 3. 
 Nichols, George L., Table J, Seat I. 
 Nickerson, T. W., Jr., Table J, Seat S- 
 Norris, Henry S., M. D., Table B, Seat 5. 
 
 O'Gorman, Hon. James, Platform. 
 Ord, Mr., Table GG, Seat 3. 
 Ormsbee, Herman W., Table JJ, Seat 8. 
 Orvis, Charles E., Table K, Seat 7. 
 
 P 
 
 Paige, Edward W., Table GG, Seat 8. 
 Peck, A. Drum, Table ZZ, Seat 3. 
 Peck, Thomas B., Table B, Seat 2. 
 Pell, Howland, Table G, Seat 10. 
 Phelps, Luis J., Table J, Seat 7. 
 Phillips, Rowland W., Table C 
 Plumb, J. Ives, Table V, Seat 6. 
 Pratt, Dallas B., Table D, Seat 3. 
 Pupin, Prof. M. I., Table S, Seat 2. 
 
Ransom, Warren A., Table W, Seat I. 
 
 Reynolds, George N., Table P, Seat 3. 
 
 Rhinelander, Philip, Table C. 
 
 Rhinelander, T. J. Oakley, Table G, Seat 9. 
 
 Rhoades, J. H., Table M, Seat 2. 
 
 Rhoades. Lyman, Table M, Seat 8. 
 
 Rhoades, Lyman, Jr., Table M, Seat 7. 
 
 Rich, William T., Table X, Seat 9. 
 
 Rich, William T., Table X, Seat 10. 
 
 Richards, Benjamin, Table B, Seat 6. 
 
 Richards, Charles S., Table N, Seat 6. 
 
 Richards, Jeremiah, Table N., Seat 4. 
 
 Richards, William S., Table N, Seat 5. 
 
 Russell, Averley C. H., Table FF, Seat 4. 
 
 Rutherford, Walter, Table B, Seat 4. 
 
 Ryer, George S., Table N, Seat 10. 
 
 Ryer, James B., Table N, Seat 11. 
 S 
 
 Sanger, Hon. Wm. Gary, Platform. 
 
 Satterlee, F. LeRoy, M. D., Table E, Seat 5. 
 
 Satterlee, F. LeRoy, M. D., Table E, Seat 6. 
 
 Schenck, Charles L., Table JJ, Seat 3- 
 
 Schenck, Willard P., Table JJ, Seat 4- 
 
 Schieffelin, Eugene, Table B, Seat I. 
 
 Seaman, Louis L., M. D., Table E, Seat 9. 
 
 Seaman, Wm. Bleecker, Table K, Seat 2. 
 
 Seaverus, Francis. Table FF, Seat 2. 
 
 Severance, Cordenio E., Table E, Seat 8. 
 
 Shearn, Clarence J., Table E, Seat 7. 
 
 Sherman, William H., M. D., Table F, Seat 5. 
 
 Shippen, Edward, Platform. 
 Simmons, J. Edward, Platform. 
 Simmons, Joseph F., Table FF, Seat 6. 
 Skidmore, William L., Table B, Seat 8. 
 Smith, Sydney L., Table FF, Seat 5. 
 Smyth, Rev. Joseph P., Jr., Table ZZ, Seat I. 
 Sowdon, Arthur J. C, Platform. 
 Spielmann, Charles, Table N, Seat 9. 
 Spielmann, Charles, Jr., Table N, Seat 8. 
 Spies, Francis F., Table K, Seat 10. 
 Starin, John H., Platform. 
 Stedman, Edmund C, Platform. 
 Stewart, William D., Table K, Seat i. 
 Stimson, Mr., Table M, Seat 4. 
 Stires, Rev. Ernest M., D. D., Platform. 
 Stoddard, Enoch V., Table N, Seat i. 
 Storm, Clarence, Table K, Seat 8. 
 Streeter, M. B., Table R, Seat S. 
 Strong, Hon. Alonzo, Table GG, Seat 7. 
 Sussdorff, L. A., Table T, Seat 5. 
 Suydam, Walter L., Table D, Seat 4. 
 Swan, Edward H., Jr., Table D, Seat 2. 
 Swift, Frederick, Table W., Seat 7. 
 
 Swords, Edward J., Table E, Seat 4. 
 Swords, Henry C, Table T, Seat 2. 
 Swords, Henry C, Table T, Seat 8. 
 
 T 
 Talmadge, Frederick S., Platform. 
 Taylor, John H., Table S, Seat 4. 
 Thacher, Mr., Table M , Seat S. 
 Thayer, Frank A., Table V, Seat 4. 
 Thayer, Rodney, Table V, Seat 2. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat i. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 2. 
 Thebaud, Paul G, Table O, Seat 3. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 4. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 5. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 6. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 7. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 8. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 9. 
 Thebaud, Paul G., Table O, Seat 10. 
 Thompson, Philip B., Table W, Seat 6. 
 Tinsdall, H. B., Table E, Seat 2. 
 Titus, W. S., Table X, Seat 8. 
 Tompkins, Hamilton B., Table L, Seat 1. 
 Tryon, Rear Admiral J. Rufus, U. S. N., Table 
 
 GG, Seat 6. 
 Turle, Robert H., Platform. 
 
 U 
 
 Valentine, Samuel H., Table K, Seat 5. 
 Valentine, Samuel H., Table K, Seat 6. 
 Van Amringe, Guy, Table J, Seat 6. 
 Varnum, Hon. James M., Table Y, Seat 2. 
 Varnum, Robert T., Table Y, Seat 8. 
 
 W 
 Walbridge, T. Chester, Table FF, Seat 3. 
 Walcott, Arthur S., Table L, Seat 8. 
 Waldo, Rhinelander, Table G, Seat 3. 
 Weir, Levi C. Table GG, Seat i. 
 Wheeler, John V.. Table GG, Seat 4. 
 Wheeler, Walter R., Table N, Seat 3. 
 Whitin, Frederick H., Table X, Seat 7. 
 Wilbur, Rollin H., Taible P, Seat 7. 
 Wilcox, Reynold W., M. D., Table V, Seat 5, 
 Williams, John O., Table XY, Seat i. 
 Wood, Arnold, Table Z, Seat 7. 
 Wood, Arnold, Table Z, Seat 8. 
 Wood, John H., Table ZZ, Seat 2. 
 Wood, Lieut. Spencer S., U. S. N., Platform. 
 Woolsey, Prof. Theodore S., Platform. 
 Wyckoff, Peter, Table R, Seat 8. 
 
 Y 
 Young, A. M., Table V, Seat I. 
 
LOVING CUP. 
 
 Presented to Frederic J. de Peyster, Esq., 
 
 Jan. loth, 1902. 
 
Mr. Beekman : Yonr Excdflency, your friends take great pleasure on this occa- 
 sion of the tenth annual dinner of the Society in presenting to you this loving 
 cup as a token of their appreciation of your kindness and ability in conducting the 
 affairs of the Society up to the present moment. And, gentlemen of the Society, I 
 propose the health of our Governor, Mr. de Peyster. 
 
 (The toast was duly honored, the entire company rising and singing "For he is 
 a Jolly Good Fellow.") 
 
 Mr. de Peyster responded as follows: 
 
 Well, gentlemen, the most astonished man in this room is myself. They kept 
 the secret well, and I said to the Asst. Secretary of War as it was brought up, "What 
 have they in that red bag?" If I had had time I would give you a most elaborate 
 oration on the subject, but perhaps I shall do a great deal better by simply saying: 
 that I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this token of your appreciation^ 
 of my services, poor as they may have been in themselves, but accepted as they 
 are by you. I will keep this cup through all fortunes, and I trust my descendants- 
 will keep it through many generations to come. Thank you, gentlemen, thank you 
 heartily. (Applause.) , 
 
 Gentlemen, guests and members of the Society of Colonial Wars, it is my 
 pleasant privilege, as well as my duty to welcome you to our tenth annual banquet. 
 
 I wish to say that one of our pieces of good fortune in the Society is that for 
 ten years there has been absolute harmony. And with this evidence of harmony 
 and friendship before me, I do not know but that I can pass over the subject ; the 
 silver for once talks better than words. There has been harmony for ten years. 
 For that time I have been but an indifferent ruler, still my bungling attempts have 
 been kindly received and the Society has done what you see. 
 
 Ten years ago New York was the only Society. At our first dinner a little 
 handful of men met in one of the side rooms of old Delmonico's in Twenty- 
 sixth street. It was a small dinner. I presided as I do now, but I was not one of 
 the starters of the Society; I was an after-thought. (Laughter.) Nevertheless, I 
 ran the dinner, as I have run, more or less, with the aid of the Stewards and the 
 older and wiser heads of the Society, every dinner since, except this. But at this 
 dinner I have been completely floored. Perhaps it is as well that I have had the 
 grip, for if I had my full flow of words you might hate me for the rest of your 
 lives; but for once you will be spared, and you will be spared a great deal. 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 The Society once so weak now numbers not one, but twenty-six chapters in 
 twenty-six different States, stretching from Maine, from which our handsome and 
 venerable looking friend, Mr. Glidden, comes, to far-off California. Then we had 
 some fifty members at the outside. To-night we have between three and four 
 thousand carefully selected men of undoubted Colonial descent. (Applause.) 
 
 You know the old story, that when the animals were questioning which one 
 had the pre-eminence on account of its numbers at birth, they went around com- 
 paring notes until they reached the lioness, and asked her ; she said, "One, but that 
 one is a lion" ! So it is with us — I do not refer to myself, but to you, gentlemen — 
 it is a question of quality, not of quantity. (Applause.) 
 
 The success of the Society has been due to its object. The average American 
 until recently seemed to think that the history of his country began with Bunker 
 Hill and Lexington; and then with a hazy knowledge of the Revolution and no 
 knowledge of the war with France and England, they slid down to what everybody 
 knew something about, the late war of the North and South. As America grew so 
 great, so wealthy and so powerful, people naturally became curious to know some- 
 thing of the remote past and push the story back as far as possible, and as they 
 pushed it back interest in Colonial times revived, and here we are. It has been 
 
cur mission to add one hundred and fifty years to American history; to remind 
 Americans that one hundred and fifty years before the battle of Lexington there 
 were already several colonies in America, and that it was those one hundred and 
 ftfty years which changed the European emigrant and his descendants into the 
 Americans of the Revolutionary period, the great Americans whose struggle for 
 independence was successful. (Applause.) 
 
 Gentlemen, the Colonial Warriors have at least one consolation; whatever 
 their own defects, they have an ancestry of undoubted courage. When you think 
 what the men who left Europe and came over here in the beginning of the six- 
 teenth century had to face, you will realize their courage. Think of sailing 
 from Northern Etirope in the crazy barks of two hundred and fifty years ago and 
 braving the broad, stormy, and to them almost boundless Atlantic, to seek a home. 
 And to what a home did they come ! To a home, with the Indian in the nearest 
 thicket, and, to their imagination, poisonous serpents on almost every side, to say 
 nothing of the superstitious terrors which dominated our fair friends in the East; 
 there were the terrors of the real, which were bad enough, and the terrors of the 
 unreal, which were worse. Our ancestors were undoubtedly every one of them 
 heroic, when each turned his back on the Old World and dared to make the 
 voyage to the New. The voyage to America then required as much heroism as a 
 voyage to the moon would now. And if the men were so brave, what are we to 
 say of the wives? If our ancestors were heroes, every one of the women was a 
 heroine. To be descended from a hero is a fine thing, but think of us who are 
 able to boast of our ancestry on two sides — from the hero and heroine as well. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 If history is agreed on one point, it is that true nobility of blood comes only 
 from courage and rightly directed courage. Surely there are few patents of no- 
 bility in Europe that can show ancestry so stainless as ours, who won honors on so 
 immortal a field. If you look through the history of Europe to learn why those 
 patents of nobility were granted you would bring many of their holders to the blush. • 
 We are none of us ashamed to let the world know why our ancestors were honored. 
 They were honored for the best of reasons, their good service to the state. There 
 has never been an aristocracy since the world began so exclusive and so haughty, 
 so self-satisfied as that of the old French regime. After the downfall of Napoleon, 
 when the old noblesse returned to France, proud of their ancestors who had fought 
 in all the Crusades, they resolved to scorn the nobles who had been created by 
 Napoleon, his princes, his dukes and his counts. They would teach the mushrooms 
 their position. But when they looked at the work those men had done, at the battles 
 which had been fought for France beneath the suns of Egypt and Italy, amidst the 
 fogs of Germany and the snows and ices of Russia, it was impossible to say a cold 
 word to men of such valor as Massena and Davout who had followed the tri-color. 
 The French nobility, haughty as they were, felt that if they respected their ancestors 
 for hard fighting, they would have to respect Napoleon's men for the same reason ; 
 if they honored the men who fought six hundred years before, how could they scorn 
 the men who had just fought so gallantly for the interests of France? They yielded 
 as men of to-day ever must yield when the mere romance of the past is contrasted 
 with the heroism of the present The hero needs no ancestry; he himself is the 
 founder of his family. Courage always wins and always receives recognition. 
 There you have your great claim to renown, it is good the world over. When peo- 
 ple talk of what their ancestors have done and how they have risen in some Euro- 
 pean state, great or small, in the last 250 years you need not dread the comparison. 
 Even if the rise is an honest one, the work of some brave soldier or some jvtet 
 judge, your ancestors have done more. They have raised a little state, a mere 
 fringe of settlements, to the point where it is now the mightiest and most splendid 
 empire upon earth. (Applause.) 
 
 10 
 
And, gentlemen, the day we celebrate is the 288th anniversary of the founda- 
 tion of this good city, in our eyes, in everybody's eyes now, the most important 
 event of Colonial times. A century ago that stateanent might easily have been dis- 
 puted; fifty years ago there might have been dissent; now there Is universal con- 
 sent, there is no doubt of the matter. New York is the great central sun. Her 
 attraction is irresistible. Men of talent, genius, courage and industry come here 
 from all over the world and are here made welcome. She stands with her arms 
 loaded with prizes for good citizenship, for good sons and daughters. And while 
 New York offers the highest prizes and the warmest of welcomes she is sure to 
 draw the best from every part of the world. 
 
 I tell you, gentlemen, it is not numbers that count. The wise man, the genius, 
 weighs more than thousands of incompetents. Napoleon said, speaking of the su- 
 periority of an able man, "It is better to have an army of asses led by a lion than 
 an army of lions led by an ass." The point is to have able rulers and able men. 
 (Applause.) If you have them, the structure soon grows to large dimensions. Led 
 by a fool or a coward, everything goes to pieces. It is not the population, it is the 
 strong man, it is the saints, heroes, honest men and men of brains and industry 
 that make New York infinitely stronger than figures prove her. 
 
 We have built up a. dazzling republic and remember he who holds the pearl of 
 great price — and I who hold this vase of great price — must be prepared to defend 
 it. I shall protect the vase by trusting it to the strong arms of the stewards of 
 the evening. We protect our republic by leaving it, first of all, to gentlemen like 
 the Secretary of War and the mighty staflf of the army (Applause), the Secretary 
 of the Navy and his staff (Applause), and lastly and above all, to the manliness, 
 patriotism and courage of the American people. (Applause.) 
 
 In patriotism and courage the American people have never wanted. If I were 
 only as sure of their courage in civil life as I am of their bravery on the battle- 
 field, I should never have the least concern for America's future. The North and 
 the South proved what they could do in 1860-65. There never was a time when 
 the Northerner and Southerner, when all the citizens of the country, were not 
 ready to die for their State; but we are weakest in our inability, in our unwilling- 
 ness, to be unpopular and contend against a cause which we know is not good, 
 even though our neighbors are willing to go with it. There are times when an 
 American should dare to be unpopular in order to secure the good of his coun- 
 try. As I used to say when Beekman and myself were_a little younger, and 
 1 got it from Mr. Miller's clever article in the "Times," "People must remember 
 and dare to be unpopular. Why, Noah was a minority of one, but luckily for 
 himself he was right." And so must you dare to be right. I know that the men 
 who can charge a battery or who have the courage to live up to their convictions 
 will as Americans find time from their business and from the eager rush and tide 
 of life to look at the questions which are constantly arising; and I am sure they 
 will show the same courage in civil life that they have shown in battle. I am going 
 to be brave, and much braver than usual, and stop. TlLaughter.) 
 
 But, having the Secretary of War by my side, recalls ^n incident to me which I 
 got from my father, who was a regular army officer, an incident that occurred in 
 the older days of the army, before the Civil War ; in fact, in the Mexican War, when 
 the men from all the States were fighting together under that flag which unites them 
 now. It was in the vicinity of the City of Mexico. All the engineers, with 
 the solitary exception of Beauregard, advised General Scott not to attempt an 
 attack on Chapultepec. Beauregard thought it was feasible. General Scott stated 
 that Lee and the other engineers were all opposed to it. Before the fighting began, 
 a New Yorker, General Worth, said, "I will do it. I will take that fortified hill." 
 
I. The President of the United States, Star Spangled Banner. 
 
 *'Pm couptry, our whole country, and nothing but our country." — Webste-r. 
 
 II. The SocieQr of Colonial Wars. His EXCELLENCY Frederic J. De Peyster 
 
 '^ Good, the more 
 Communicated, more abundant grows." — Milton. 
 
 III. New York and the Memory of Hendrik Hudson. 
 
 " Columbus discovered the oyster, he picked out the pearl." — Irvtng. 
 
 IV. The Pilg^rim and Puritan Fathers of New England, 
 " Aye. call it holy ground — 
 ; The soil where first they trod !" — Heamans. 
 
 Edmund C. Stedman 
 
 I 
 
 V. The Army of the United States, 
 
 " The Walls of Sparta are Its Sons." 
 
 VI. The New America, 
 
 *' I called the New World into existence to redress 
 jl The balance of the old." — Cannings, 
 
 Col. Wm. Gary Sanger 
 Hamilton W. Mabie 
 
 VII. Virginia and the English Settler, , Rev. Ernest M. Stires, D.D. 
 
 " O for a beaker full of the warm South, 
 > Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene." — Keats. 
 
 VIII. The Navy of the United States, Lieut. Spencer S. Wood, U. S. N. 
 
 " Thy glorious flag, our brave old ironsides." — Holmes. 
 
 IX. The Massachusetts Society, A, J. C. Sowdon 
 
 '* God and our Charter's right. Freedom for Ever." — Whittier. 
 
 X. Our Guests. 
 
 ^' ^ .,*^y '* Welcome, ever smiles. 
 
 And farewell goes out sighing." — Shakespeare. 
 
 DELMONICO'S, 
 JANUARY lo, I902. 
 
Scott said, "It is against my conscience ; I cannot allow it." "Well, let me call for 
 volunteers, then," said Worth. "Very well, call for volunteers," Scott replied. Worth 
 galloped to his own New Yorkers. He said to them: "Gentlemen, General Scott 
 has refused to order any one to take Chapultepec; I am going up the hill; will 
 you go with me?" The colonels of the regiment stepped forward and the men 
 behind them. Then he rode over to the Virginians and repeated the same phrases, 
 ind they stepped forward like one man. Then to the Massachusetts troops, Joe 
 Hooker in command, arid they,, too, pressed forward when he asked them if they 
 w6iild go to the crest of Chapultepec or die in the attempt. And so on to the 
 Carolinians, with the same result. When Worth started up tiiat hill, Virginia and 
 the Cafolinas, Massachusetts and New York advanced like an avalanche, shot up- 
 wards, charged up the hill, went over those batteries and defied shot, the Mexicans 
 <tnd death ; they had but one idea in their heads, and that was, which one could first 
 plant the flag of his State on the highest parapet of Chapultepec. 
 
 That is what the American can do when he is stirred by patriotism. God 
 hasten the day when not only on the battlefield, but in civil affairs, the lives of 
 our countrymen may be devoted to the country's good. (Continued applause.) 
 
 The Governor: Gentlemen, fill your glasses for the first regular toast, "The 
 President of the United States." 
 
 (The toast was responded to, the guests rising and singing "The Star-Spangled 
 Banner.") 
 
 The Governor : Gentlemen, our next toast, and I will ask jjou to clriiik to it, 
 although tlie orator is absent, is "New Yorfe arid the Memory of Hendrik Hudson." 
 In the absence of the orator I could make the speech for you very easily, but I 
 will not. With this magnificent loving cup before me, I am the firm friend of 
 you ail. No more speeches frorii me to-night. (Laughter.) 
 
 But if you will rise and drink to the toast, I will thank you all. 
 
 (After the toast had been duly honored, the Governor again rapped for order.) 
 
 The Governor: Gentlemen, you will please fill your glasses for the niext 
 regular toast: "The Army of the United States," which will be responded to by 
 6ur old friend and fellow member, Colonel Sanger, Assistant Secretary of War. 
 No One knows more about the army than he. He is a thorough soldier, as you 
 know, and he has given years to the study of military matters. He is one of us, a 
 true New Yorker. (Applause.) 
 
 Colonel Sanger: Mr. Governor, fellow members of the Society: It would be; 
 absolutely impossible for me to take this cordial reception to myself, but I feel 
 that the toast is one which does appeal to ihe heart of every true American. I 
 do not think that it is necessary when Americans are gathered together to dwell 
 upon the valor of the officers and men of the regfular army; and yet, thousands 
 of us who are not in that force are always better for listening to such speeches as 
 tliose we have just heard, and for thinking of the unbroken record of bravery and 
 valor which our army has made. That record is not limited to the great leaders. 
 We are proud of names like Sherman and Sheridan and Grant, but we know that 
 the army is not of the kind that was referred to by Governor de Peyster, where 
 there was a difference between the leaders and the men, but they are all alike and 
 the bravest leader always finds his men ready to go with him to the very summit 
 o^ the hill which is to be taken. (Applause.) 
 
 Those of you who are familiar with army life know hpw many reasons there 
 are why the men should love and trust and, follow their officers. ,The day before 
 yesterday in Washington the name of an officer now serving iij Manila happened 
 to be mentioned, and one of the gentlemen smd it reminded him of an incident 
 which took place many years ago when the army was engaged, handfuls at a time 
 
 ' 13 
 
only, in fighting the Indians. He said this ofificer was then a second lieutenant 
 and his troop had met the Indians unexpectedly and had suffered some loss and 
 were compelled to retire to a stronger position. This young lieutenant looked 
 around and missing one of his men, said: "Where is so-and-so?" The men said: 
 "He fell beyond there." "Was he killed?" "No, badly wounded." He went to 
 the captain and said: "I want to go out and get that man." The captain said: 
 "There are only a few of us, I don't know that I can spare you." He said : "Cap- 
 tain, do not refuse this request. I have never disobeyed an order in my life, but 
 I must get that man." And through a storm-swept zone he went until he found 
 that man and brought him back into the lines. (Applause.) 
 
 That is the kind of work our officers have always done. Our officers have 
 always been where there was danger to face, and that is why they have always 
 found their men so ready to follow them. Yet it would not be just to dwell alone 
 upon their valor on the field of battle. 
 
 The strange conditions which we have met in the past few years have brought 
 new and novel problems to army ofiScers, and if you look over the record which 
 they have made in the Philippines and in Cuba you will find these men, of whom 
 some ignorant people have been afraid for fear they might be developing a 
 military spirit which would be harmful to our liberties — you will find them in the 
 custom house and in other places where they have been ordered by superior authori- 
 ties, doing the work with intelligence and interest and ability, and making a new 
 record of which the army may indeed be proud. (Applause.) 
 
 I am tempted before I sit down to tdl you something about what the War 
 Department hopes to do for the army. And I am sure that a gathering like this, 
 made up of many personal friends of the President of the United States, (Ap- 
 plause) and numbering many personal friends and close associates of the Secre- 
 tary of War (applause), can well understand that the energies of the War De- 
 partment are to-day being directed along those lines which will best help the 
 army to develop in accordance with its highest and truest traditions. 
 
 We shall never have a large army. We do not need it. The toast says that 
 "Sparta's walls are its sons" and the defense of this country must inevitably fall 
 upon the great mass of its citizens. But we shall have an army, and it is of the 
 utmost importance that that army should be developed to the highest possible 
 extent along the lines of military excellence. And under the wise guidance of 
 the present Secretary of War it is planned to have at every army post a care- 
 fully thought-out school of instruction for the younger ofiScers. The officers who 
 make the best record in those schools and at the same time in their duties as 
 soldiers, will be selected to go to the service schools, the cavalry, the infantry, 
 the artillery and the engineers' schools. And the men who make the best records 
 there, both in their studies and their practical work, will be selected to go to the 
 War College. This, you will see, provides a plan by which practical and theoretical 
 knowledge can be put within the reach of every officer of the army who desires 
 to secure it, and we feel assured that this is going to strengrthen and help the 
 army. (Applause.) 
 
 But the Department does not stop there. It recognizes that with the limits 
 which will always be placed upon the numerical strength of the army we must 
 have citizens to help our army. There is the National Guard, which is so strongly 
 represented in this Society by men who have done such noble work in the New 
 York regiments. We are going to try to get out of the law which governs the 
 organization of our militia, those obsolete provisions which make the present law 
 almost a farce. We trust before Congress adjourns those of you who belong to 
 the National Guard will not be compelled to supply yourselves with a hanger or 
 
 14 
 
pontoon when about to take the field. We do not believe that the National Guard 
 or militia of the country should ever take the place of an army. It should be 
 given an opportunity not only to serve the State, but also, as the Constitution says, 
 to repel invasion; and for a limited' period it should be given the privilege, a 
 privilege which it longs for, to respond to the orders of the President of the 
 United States when its services are needed to repel invasion. (Applause.) 
 
 But we must all recognize that, constituted as the National Guard is, it is 
 not right or proper that it should be treated as a force to be sent anywhere or be 
 kept in service for the indefinite duration of a war, and we hope to have a care- 
 fully thought-out plan put into effect for the organization of that volunteer force 
 which must in every emergency be enrolled for the defense of the country. And 
 of course you will see that the perfection of these plans carries with it the occa- 
 sional assemblage of regulars and militia at posts where there can be a sufficient 
 number assembled to give the officers of both forces an adequate opportunity for 
 learning not only the administrative work of the staff department which is so 
 essential for the success of an army in the field, but also the duties which devolve 
 upon officers when large bodies of troops are brought together. 
 
 I have ventured to speak somewhat seriously upon this subject because I 
 believe in this gathering there are many, many men who are thoroughly in sym- 
 pathy with the efforts which will be made to bring these plans to perfection, and I 
 am sure, so far as you are concerned, there will be the heartiest co-operation and 
 support in the efforts which will be made in that direction. We should thus have, 
 as you see, when the emergency comes which we trust may not, but for which we 
 as Americans are bound to be prepared — of danger from some foreign aggression 
 — the army as a nucleus, the State forces ready for immediate service when their 
 services are needed for home protection, and the plan for the enrollment of that 
 great body of citizens who are always ready to give their lives in the defense of 
 their country if needed. Thus it seems to me we should have ready a plan so 
 that we should find that the defense of this country is not alone in its army but 
 in its sons, as this toast suggests. (Applause.) 
 
 The Governor: Gentlemen, in your name I thank Colonel Sanger for his 
 eloquent and clear description of the army as it is to be; and I am glad from my 
 heart that the militia is now to be put in reasonable shape. Colonel Sanger, the 
 changes that are being made now are timely; they would have been timely for 
 some years past. It reminds me of an old story of the Duke of Wellington. 
 Somebody on the Continent from Prussia or Austria or Russia wrote and asked 
 the Duke if he would kindly give an account of the organization of the British army. 
 The staff officers stood around and said: "Your Grace will answer the letter, will 
 j'ou not?" "Humph, not I. There is nothing about the organization of the British 
 army which would not seem absolutely absurd to any military man on the Con- 
 tinent." (Laughter.) 
 
 Now, in times past, long before Messrs. Root and Sanger became Secretaries 
 of War, we seemed to have been devoted to copying the English system, which 
 meant the largest possible percentage of officers to the smallest possible percentage 
 of privates. (Laughter.) At last, gentlemen, we are about to have a real army 
 organized by men of ability and genius. 
 
 Gentlemen, our good friend, Mr. Stedman, one of the best oi the many New 
 Englanders who have come down here for the elevation of our own beloved 
 Manhattan— a gentleman not only of business talent, but of literary attainments, a 
 poet and eloquent speaker, has been kind enough to come here to-night not 
 
 15 
 
only to reptestat the New England Society but to charm us. Mr. Stedman. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 Mr. Stedman: Governor de Peyster, and gfentlemen of the Society: The air is 
 surcharged with valor to-night. (Laughter.) I confess that until now I did not 
 realize the quality of the Society of Colonial Wars. Any league is of importance 
 that can bring men like the gentleman on my left. Colonel Sanger, from the heart 
 of government to speak on matters of national concern. He has interested you, 
 not only as Americans, but as loyal patriots. Many of you, I take it, esteem the 
 National Guard. Some of you have served or are serving in it, possibly, and to- 
 night has strengthened my feeling that New York is misunderstood as to this 
 matter of patriotism, throughout the rest of the country. We are accused of pro- 
 vincialism. Western people come here and say we recognize no part of the country 
 hilt our 6vfn. But not even in my youth, in a country town, did I ever feel that the 
 interests of America and of the United States were more seriously taken than here 
 at thi^ moment to-night. 
 
 Nov?, I have need of all the valor with which this room is charged. I came 
 here supiposing that I was simply to appear as the figurehead of my own ancient 
 league, the New England Society, now in its ninety-sixth year, and I find myself 
 ket down for a toast right at the beginning of your evening's entertainment; and if 
 it were not that I came because it was my novitiate, my first dining oiit as president 
 6f that Society, and that I had been summoned by Governor de Peyster, whom 1 
 first met at a St. Nicholas dinner, and found what a good fellow he was, I might 
 have sent one of my lieutenants ; and even now, if the spirit of this gathering had 
 not entered into my blood, I am afraid I should hardly be able to speak at all. 
 
 Do you know what we dd with the presidents of other societies who Come 
 to the New England dinner? There used to be eight or ten of these guilds: the 
 St. Nicholas, the Ohio, the St. Andrews, which I believe is the senior society of 
 all, and dates back from the middle of the eighteenth century; and we had the 
 St. George, of course, which comes next ; and when the Sons of the Revolution was 
 organized, I happened to be there in the Talmadge mansion, and a new series then 
 began. I wondered whether it would long continue; yet a wave of patriotism has 
 gone over the land, largely augmented by the societies since then formed, the 
 various Revolutionary societies, masculine and feminine, (laughter,) and the Colonial 
 societies, of which this is the most aristocratic of all. But, let me tell you now how 
 we considerately treat the platform guests of the old New England Society, where we 
 think we make reputations and settle the affairs of the nation. We have four or five 
 eminent citizens to respond to the toasts ; we plate the visiting presidents to the right 
 and left, and they make with their badges a very imposing spectacle. We give 
 them a dinner for once that they can thoroughly enjoy. (Laughter.) We ask thera 
 to say nothing, and arrange it so they can keep silent. We have a toast, "Our 
 Sister Societies." (Now, by the way, if you remember that most of the organiza- 
 tions are made up entirely of men, why should they be called "our sister societies?" 
 I shall have to refer that to the Daughters of the Revolution. (Laughter.) And 
 sometimes, after the President or Secretary of State and the British Ambassador 
 have made tKeir speeches, if there is time, we ask (Governor de Peyster to speak 
 for "Our Sister Societies," and his twenty-three colleagues get off without a word. 
 (Laughter.) 
 
 I am here to speak for New England. Well, a man who has that privilege must 
 he a craven indeed, if, in this atmosphere, he cannot find something to say. And 
 first' let me refer to the eloquent episo<;ie in the speech of Governor de Peyster in 
 relation to Chapultepec. I asked the Governor if he knew who was the man who 
 first placed the colors there. He said he did not, but, fortunately, I am able to finish 
 
 i6 
 
his story. The man who did that was Thomas H. Seymour, afterwards Governor 
 of Connecticut, who received a medal for being the bravest man in the war. I 
 suppose there were many others as brave as he, but he came from Hartford, Con- 
 necticut, where I was born. (Laughter.) Consequently I do not intend to flunk 
 to-night. 
 
 Speaking of these Colonial wars, I happen to know something about them also, 
 for I was once engaged in editing ten or eleven volumes of American literature. 
 While going over that with my gifted colleafrue, Miss Hutchinson, I had to read 
 a great deal about Colonial history and Colonial wars, so I am not entirely without 
 ammunition to-night. Our ancestors did not have a National Guard, but almost 
 every man was a fighter, and I think New England did her share of the fighting. 
 I am not going to say that she did any more of it than New Amsterdam did. 
 Remembering that Theodore Roosevelt is President of the United States and being 
 in the presence of Governor de Peyster, and recalling Peter Stuyvesant and others, 
 I am not going to say we fought any more sfurdily than did the Dutch in New 
 Amsterdam. But in fact, we had to fight. We were like the wife who had to be 
 resigned when she died. (Laughter.) But the Yankees were a fighting race from 
 the time of Miles Standish down. If you don't believe it, read Winthrop's History, 
 which I went through; it is made up almost entirely of stories of fighting in the 
 church and against the Indians and with one another. There was a series of Indian 
 wars, as you know. I was brought up within twenty miles of the spot where the 
 Pequod fort was burned, and where seven hundred' Indians of all ages and both 
 sexes were sent to the other world — ^perhaps for fear they would recant after their 
 conversion. (Laughter.) 
 
 Now, I am not speaking very seriously, but Governor Winthrop devotes some 
 attention to Captain John Underbill, who was a valorous Indian fighter. He was 
 present with Captain Mason at that Pequod fort. He was a professional soldier 
 and a very handsome man. By the way, have you ever been told that it would have 
 been impossible for the average member of this Colonial Society to get into the 
 armor of Miles Standish, or into that of the average man of that day? I am an 
 exception, because I come of very pure stock. When I was in Edinburgh a few 
 years ago with my wife, we got a little jaunting cart upon our arrival and went for a 
 drive. We had as driver, a little, wee, canny, yellow-haired, freckled-faced Scotch- 
 man. I admit the Scotchman of that sort are not predominant in this region; if 
 you want to see a different type, look on my right. (Turning to the President of 
 St. Andrews.) After we had driven a little while, our driver said, "Be all the men 
 in your country as sma' as you be?" to me. Well, I was delighted, because I had 
 been in England for four or five weeks, and had seen everybody bowing and 
 truckling, and now, as soon as I got over to the land o' cakes I found this exception. 
 I explained to him that I came from Connecticut, where the Colonial stock was 
 very pure, and we had had no invasion from the north or south but had been able 
 to starve out everybody who had tried to come* there. He looked at me then, with a 
 mournful expression and said, "You do sma' credit to your porritch." (Laughter.) 
 Well, that is what it is to be said of real Colonial stock and of those who fought in 
 Colonial wars. 
 
 But to come back to Captain Underbill, who was a rigid Puritan. My an- 
 cestors all fought with sword or spear in one hand and the shorter Catechism in 
 the other. Cromwell's men, I believe, had the Bible or Book of Psalms. (Laughter.) 
 Underbill was a very doleful catechist, and if he committed any sins they weighed 
 heavily on his mind. After every successful campaign he was peculiarly beset by 
 the widows and other beautiful women, the Delilahs of the Puritan region, for I 
 
 17 
 
"suppose they had as much human nature then as now. He recorded the way e 
 was beset with temptation ; he said, "what with their tears, they will have their 
 way." So after coming home from one of these wars, after fighting the Indians 
 on the border or against the Pequods, he came home and yielded to his tempta- 
 tions; he was even known to go so far as to kiss a handsome widow on Sunday; 
 then there were other things they found out' about him. He did not care to lose 
 bis station in the church, and if he did he would be apt to lose his captaincy in 
 the army; so he had a way of getting up and confessing his sins in meeting and 
 saying that Satan had the better of him — worse still, looking at the handsomest 
 woman in the congregation and calling upon her to confess likewise. (Laughter.) 
 If you will read the records you will find he did that two or three times and more 
 than once was relieved from church censure. At last, I think, the women must 
 have resented his undue tenderness of conscience, for he found it best to join the 
 Dutch settlement. He came down, it appears, to the western end of Long Island 
 and fought Indians under the Dutch, after which he had no trouble at all, because 
 the things he had been accused of were considered no sin in this region. In time he 
 rose to great honor and position, and died and was buried over here at Oyster Bay. 
 
 Now, Mr. Governor, as you say, I will be brief. (Laughter.) I am only going 
 to add that I have been informed by my official predecessor that one of the pre- 
 rogatives of the president of the New England Society is to have twenty-five good 
 dinners during the year, and not have to pay for them. You can judge whether 
 the latter portion has proved untrue or not; at all events, I have been trying to 
 pay for mine. (Laughter.) The problem that troubles me now is whether, at 
 the end of these twenty-four or twenty-five dinners, I can distinguish myself from 
 a Colonial Warrior or Son of the Revolution or Colonial Dame or Friendly Son 
 of St. Patrick or an Ohioan or a member of the Southern Society. (Laughter.) 
 I am afraid I shall feel very much like the "elderly naval man" in the ballad, who 
 said after having eaten his fellow sailors: 
 
 " O, I am a cook and a captain bold. 
 And the mate of the Nancy Brig; 
 And a bosun tight and a midshipmite 
 And the crew of the captain's gig." 
 (Laughter and prolonged applause.) 
 
 The Governor: Fill your glasses for the next regular toast In the mean- 
 while permit me to remark that I told you correctly that Mr. Stedman was a good 
 deal more than the mere president of the New England Society, and evidently the 
 Chairman of the Stewards knew Mr. Stedman's reputation — ^he needs no prepara- 
 tion. (Applause.) 
 
 The next toast is "The New America," which will be responded to by that 
 admirable literary man and most charming speaker — and, by the way, that most 
 attractive Huguenot, Mr. Mabie. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. Mabie: Mr. Governor and Gentlemen: When a man is so handicapped 
 by an introduction of that kind, he wishes that there might be a model introduc- 
 tion which should be imposed on all presiding officers, and I want to recom- 
 mend for your careful study during the next year, with the aid which this loving 
 cup will give you, sir, a model speech, the introduction made by the director of 
 the Worcester musical festival. He had to introduce a violinist who was new 
 and he did it in this fashion. He said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am invited to 
 introduce Mr. Vilson, who will play a piece on the violin. I have done so and 
 he will do so." (Laughter and applause.) 
 
 Now, it is such a brief period since I had the pleasure of hearing your elo- 
 quent words and looking at all these distinguished badges borne on affluent bosoms 
 
 i8 
 
on either side of me and facing this audience which has so many claims upon our 
 interest and our admiration, that I really feel as if it were the same dinner and 
 we were back again last year. I suppose I feel as that absent-minded professor 
 did who, on stepping aboard a tram-car in Berlin and looking inside saw the image 
 of himself, exclaimed : "Mein Gott ! I must have got on and stepped off. (Laugh- 
 ter.) Certainly, sir, if faithful and repeated service without reference to the nature 
 of the period of conscription, makes a man a veteran, I am one to-night; I have 
 the rights of a veteran. Next year, gentlemen, when you come here you will not 
 see me at this table; you will find me standing outside, not with audible words 
 begging your support, but like another veteran I once saw, with a banner reading 
 like this: "Casualties, I arm, i leg, 3 wounds, 5 children, total, 10." (Laughter.) 
 You have alluded. General de Peyster — or, to give you a more exalted title — 
 Governor de Peyster, to the fact that the history, or, rather, the knowledge of 
 American history is very much more accurate and extensive than it was twenty-five 
 years ago. Of that I am positive. Two things have been accomplished in our 
 time. The last war has taught us geography; we all know where the Philippines 
 are, for instance. And these societies have instructed us in history. It is not 
 many years ago since I heard a woman of very considerable cleverness, though 
 not of very great tact ask Mr. John Fiske if he really thought American history 
 interesting! If it was not when Mr. Fiske took hold of it, it surely was after- 
 wards, when he finished with it. 
 
 Our history used to be regarded as a century unromantic. Twenty years ago 
 every one taught his children the lists of the presidents, because it was not con- 
 sidered respectable not to know them; but if he wanted to interest the children, 
 he taught them the list of the kings. Now I think I am not exaggerating when I 
 say that no people has had more romantic beginnings or had their earlier records 
 fed with more numerous streams of romance and poetry, interest and heroism than 
 ourselves. 
 
 If you were standing on the citadel of Quebec, looking over that great expanse 
 down towards the ocean, your imagination and your memory, with the aid of Mr. 
 Parkman, would recall the long procession of gifted and audacious and unscrupu- 
 lous men who came from France to explore the river, and, sailing up its course as 
 far as they could, took to the woods and across the wilderness to get to the Missis- 
 sippi and embark their frail canoes on that great river and through the heart of the 
 continent find their way to the Gulf of Mexico ; or if any of you were to come down 
 to Plymouth Bay, where something happened which has been alluded to occasionally 
 in the City of New York, and even in Boston, I am told, and in other places, many 
 years since, where was begun that great tradition of courage and conviction and 
 public service and attention to learning which has been sustained in every genera- 
 tion since, and the finer qualities of which, issuing forth in the beautiful art of ex- 
 pression in prose and verse, have never been more honestly or generously expressed 
 than by the gentleman who has just spoken; or if you will go still farther down, 
 you may stand before that old ruined church which remains alone of old Jamestown 
 and you may stand where those five rivers meet just below you in what- was once 
 so justly called the "Empire of Virginia," and you may recall there what was as 
 brave and attractive i. group of men and women as the world has ever seen, or go 
 down a little farther and take your place at the battery of Charleston and look 
 across that bay, so quiet to-day, at that little island which was the first scene of 
 great modern tragedies, and look at the men who came to that colony first from 
 France. The Huguenots, who brought to the New World not only an integrity to 
 conviction which the Puritans of the North do not excel, but the love of refinement 
 and passion for social life which have preserved and continued the traditions of 
 
 19 
 
courtesy and refinement and exquisite urbanity to this day in that old town and 
 charming old colony; or go farther south and stand in front of the cathedral in 
 New Orleans, where to-night in the middle of January the sweet Cherokee roses 
 are in bloom, the great river sweeping in front of you, and recall the French priests, 
 explorers and adventurers who made the course of the earlier years along the Gulf 
 of Mexico — why, gentlemen, I have just gone over one line of the boundaries of 
 the continent and I have touched all the great sources of modern story in Europe. 
 The reason why these societies have awakened such enthusiasm and why they have 
 gathered aiDout them the best representative citizenship of America is because we 
 feel that in going back to these ancient springs, we are making ourselves strong 
 against any degeneration which may come through the enormous prosperity of these 
 later years ; for I do not need to tell you, gentlemen, that there is only one resource 
 in society which holds men up and keeps the old springs fresh in them, and that is 
 some sort of ideality ; it is the redemption of fortunes by noble usage ; it is the con- 
 secration of a country through all its material interests to some great and civilizing 
 end. (Applause.) 
 
 Out of this country, gentlemen, out of these splendid materials, has come the 
 new America of to-day. If I had time I could prove it step by step, the old char- 
 acteristics preserved and yet enlarged and modified, through the America of explora- 
 tion, and colonial America, the America of this section, the America of New Eng- 
 land, of the Middle States, of the South, the America of which Daniel Webster 
 stands as the last representative at the very close of provincial and sectional 
 America. Of the national America of to-day, that America was born after the 
 close of the Civil War, and its great figure, interpreting and predicting it, was 
 Abraham Lincoln. (Applause.) 
 
 In perhaps one of the finest lives of Lincoln which has been written, the most 
 significant thing is the tracing of the education of Lincoln from the country scho(4 
 in the old town from which he emerged, slowly enlarging his ability to take in first 
 the experiences of his county and then of his state and section and lastly of his 
 country, so that standing in the heart of the bitterest of all modern conflicts he knew 
 no enemies but was with malice towards none, charity for all. Ah, when our 
 country can produce out of such common materials as Abraham Lincoln was bom 
 the sort of a man Abraham Lincoln was when he died, there is nothing we may not 
 expect of the New America of to-day. 
 
 And, gentlemen, that country, that New America, is rising around us to-day 
 out of turmoil and dust and confusion. This is a great building era. Let us not 
 be discouraged in the noise and dirt and debris of the building era about us. Are 
 you going to ask of Momingside Heights, where the first great arch of the magnifi- 
 cent cathedral is rising, what you will of the square on which St Peter's faces, 
 or of that spot whereon Westminster looks? They are the finished cathedrals; from 
 them all trace of toil has gone, the noise of work has ceased; they soar into the 
 air, the finished and final utterances of the genius of their architects and the 
 religious spirit of their time. Are you going to ask of us, who are just laying the 
 foundations and putting on the stones and rearing the arches, the quiet and repose 
 and finish of those whose work is completed, from the buttresses of whose arches 
 and the halls of whose great structures the noise of building has died for centuries? 
 Not for us the quiet of finished work. For us, the hope and stir of labor ; for 
 us the opporttmity in dust and confusion, toil and anguish, and sometimes almost in 
 despair, to lay the foundations of the state that some day in its dignity and beauty 
 and spiritual interpretation shall stand to men for the visible embodiment of the idea 
 which brought our ancestors to these shores. For I am ready myself to agree with 
 the words long ago uttered by Colonel Higginson, that "between Shakespere and 
 
the cradle and Shakespere and Hamlet there was needed but an interval of time." 
 And the same sublime condition is all that lies between the America of toil and the 
 America of art. (Applause.) 
 
 The Governor: I congratulate you, gentlemen, on having heard Mr. Mabie 
 again. (Applause.) I know his value. Whenever he speaks the dinner is always a 
 success. 
 
 We have with us to-night another friend, a new one; not a tried veteran like 
 Mr. Mabie, but a young conscript, Dr. Stires (applause) a son, and an eloquent 
 son, of Old Virginia, Washington's State; a gentleman who was not only born in 
 Virginia but educated at the University of Virginia — ^a Virginian of Virginians. I 
 am sure that when he responds to his mother State, Virginia, and his mother race, 
 the English race, he will do justice to his illustrious ancestry. (Applause.) 
 
 Dr. Stires : Mr. Governor and Gentlemen : I greatly appreciate this invitation, 
 for many reasons. Knowing the different kinds of stress under which the clergy are 
 for certain reasons popularly believed to rest, it has been no little comfort to me 
 to have been invited to a good dinner quite frequently since my arrival in New 
 York some three or four months ago. And yet on two of these occasions I have 
 felt no little embarrassment. I remember when I had the privilege of being the 
 guest of the St. Nicholas Society at this very table in the month of December, noting 
 on the card at the vacant seat next to me the name "Frederic J. de Peyster." 
 (Laughter.) One of the members of the society was kind enough to come and take 
 that vacant chair and make himself most agreeable during the evening, taking pity 
 on my loneliness. A little while after, I had the privilege of being the guest of the 
 Colonial Order. On a card at a plate at the vacant seat next me 1 read "Frederic 
 J. de Peyster." (Laughter.) 
 
 I began to think that there was something personal in the refusal of Frederic 
 J. de Peyster to sit next the reverend brother who had lately arrived in New York 
 City. (Laughter.) You can imagine, therefore, with what relief I found that he 
 was the Governor of this organization which gave me sue}! a cordial invitation to 
 be here to-night, and to find him in a place from which at last he could not escape. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 I have been much interested in the exercises of the evening, particularly in 
 these two interesting looking vessels in front of the Governor. And as I looked at 
 them I remembered some remarks that Mark Twain made upon the subject of the 
 Heidelberg tun. He said somebody told him that it would hold sixty thousan'3 
 gallons, and another said it would hold sixty thousand barrels. He thought that 
 the first statement was a mistake and the second a lie. But even if it did hold 
 sixty thousand barrels, that a great vessel filled with sixty thousand barrels of 
 emptiness could awaken no enthusiasm in him. (Laughter.) I trust my comment 
 will not be considered as reflecting at all upon the beauty and symmetry of the ex- 
 quisite vessel which I know is going to be treasured by the Governor of the club. 
 
 With a good deal of trepidation I approach the rather extensive sentiment to 
 which I have been invited to speak. I started to say, to which I am supposed to 
 speak, for as speakers on an occasion of this kind are seldom supposed to say any- 
 thing on the sentiment to which they are assigned, perhaps I am not expected to 
 dwell on the subject, although I propose to do so. Yet do I approach it with 
 diffidence on account of the vastness of the subject and because of my inability to 
 handle it properly. 
 
 I feel that I am in something of the position of the dog who was howling 
 dolefully in its master's back yard one day, and the owner of the dog came out and 
 gazed with a good deal of curiosity at the dog, wondering what was the matter 
 with him. An old colored man passing by stopped and gazed at the dog, too. The 
 
gentleman said: "Uncle Bob, what is the matter with that dog?" "Dat dorg, Massa? 
 I'll tell you wha's the matter with dat dorg; dat dorg smells somewha' he caynt 
 locate." (Laughter.) Now I am very sorry indeed for the Virginian who cannot 
 smell something when he is invited to speak upon such a sentiment as this, but it 
 is perhaps nothing whatsoever to the discredit of any Virginian for him to confess 
 that it is difficult for him to locate it properly and speak adequately to such a 
 sentiment. 
 
 I remember that our brethren from the New England section in the early days 
 were disposed to look with ill-concealed disfavor upon the character of the English 
 settlers in the colony of Vir^nia. We were a most worldly lot, and the parsons 
 went to fox hunts, and we were all doomed. The doleful utterances reached the 
 ears of our Virginia forefathers very often from the land where they sometimes 
 did not take quite as happy a view of this life or of any life as the Virginia settlers 
 were all too disposed perhaps to take. And I remember, too, the retort courteous — 
 or discourteous — which often found its way from the Virginia colonists, who were 
 quite disposed to talk merrily about those who fell first upon their knees and then 
 upon the aborigines (laughter) and whose methods of securing the salvation of 
 the souls of Indian converts have been so eloquently described by a New Eng- 
 lander here to-night that I need say no more upon that subject; but when "Hark, 
 from the tomb a doleful sound" came rolling down to us in Virginia, and then our 
 doom was more and more clearly and definitely predicted, it has been said that 
 some of the more godless in the Virginia colony were declared to have retorted that 
 it was a great pity that as the Plymouth Fathers were about to land on Plymouth 
 Rock, that Plymouth Rock had not landed on the Pilgrim Fathers. (Laughter.) 
 
 They were a very happy, gay, debonair, pleasure loving people, but not without 
 courage, withal; and when the time came the tried and tested men from Virginia 
 sent forth no imcertain sound as to where they would take their stand. Has it ever 
 occurred to you that it must have been more difficult for those men than for the New 
 England men in one respect? The latter had come to this country because they 
 felt they had been crowded out of their own land; but these Virginians loved the 
 land which they had left, holding loyalty to the Crown and in love with England 
 and all that she then represented, yet nevertheless appreciating the injustice of the 
 attitude of the mother country towards these colonies. And I say that it must 
 have been a wrench more difficult and severe for those who up to that time had 
 felt in full sympathy with the mother country than for those who for a long time 
 had been not without cause perhaps and that a just cause, to shake the dust of 
 England from themselves forever. (Applause.) 
 
 From Patrick Henry, from the quiet, calm, brave Washington (applause), to 
 Jefferson and the other great men who were what they were not only because of the 
 courage and fortitude and wisdom with which their own lives had been regulated, 
 but because of their inheritance from those early English settlers, when we remem- 
 ber that which they contribute to our land, to the foimdation of our splendid coun- 
 try, surely a Virginian can be pardoned for looking back and saying through these 
 miles that intervene, in words little altered from those once used by a grateful poet: 
 
 The bridegroom may forget the bride was made his wedded wife yest'reen. 
 
 The monarch may forget the crown that on his head an hour has been ; 
 
 The mother may forget the child who smiled so sweetly on her knee ; 
 
 But I'll remember thee, dear State, with all that thou hast done for me." 
 
 (Applause.) 
 
 And when I think of how much we of Virginia in common with the whole 
 country are able to do to acknowledge with increasing gratitude the splendid genius, 
 the great moral power, of great, dear, old New England; and when I see in this 
 
day that line, always imaginary, though at times in the past most pervading, that 
 so-called fiction of Mason and Dixon's line, which, thank Heaven, has faded away 
 forever (applause) ; and when I find the Puritan and the Cavalier who in the old 
 country had banged each other's heads to their heart's content coming here to this 
 land and for a long time quarreling and sparring until in one awful conflict, school- 
 boy fashion, the old quarrel was settled at last and, school-boy fashion, hand in hand, 
 arm in arm and heart to heart, they faced and met each other as brothers, de- 
 termined brothers to be in closest bonds forever more with one sentiment and one 
 purpose, of standing together to make this country of ours what we believe it was 
 meant to be by Divine Providence — the greatest civilizing agency of modern times, — 
 and to do their duty to God and the State as He should give them strength and 
 wisdom to do it; and always to do it with mutual respect and admiration which 
 have come in increasing power through the years as we have seen when the oppor- 
 tunity came for them to stand shoulder to shoulder under that flag facing a com- 
 mon foe, it makes me feel as it must all of you, that Virginia and the English set- 
 tlers, and indeed, all the South land are filled with the old fire as they are with 
 the new spirit, and that in all times of peril, the times of peril in peace as well as 
 those in war, all may be equally depended upon. 
 
 And, sir, when a moment ago the eloquent gentleman on my left was speaking 
 of a vision which came to him in connection with the arch of the great cathedral 
 which lifts its tall head over our city, I thought of an experience which I had once 
 in one of the Old English cathedrals which had taken centuries to build, and how 
 the story was told me there of how in patience the monks, centuries ago, planned 
 the edifice on broad and generous lines, building it large at the beginning, knowing 
 that in all their lifetime they would only see a few feet of the great minster finished, 
 yet content to live only with the vision of the cathedral that some day should be; 
 content to build their little part and leave for the generations to come the possession 
 which would be theirs, when, after each generation's part should be added until 
 some four or five centuries later the whole was completed and dedicated and con- 
 secrated to the service of God. It seemed to me that as the old verger told me the 
 story of the building and consecration of that great church, that when the day of 
 the consecration arrived surely somewhere above those great vaulted walls must 
 have been the souls of the men who had helped lay the foundation of the earlier 
 days; that somehow or other they joined in the great Te Deum of praise to 
 Almighty God. So it seems to me the brave ones of old counted not their lives 
 dear unto themselves for sake of country, for the sake of the great purpose which, 
 though dimly, yet nevertheless to some extent, certainly, they saw in those days 
 before our land, but consecrated themselves to the great task. And let us into 
 whose hands have come the burdens and the responsibilities of building well upon 
 the old foundations, of building honestly, of good stone and honest mortar to last 
 forever this mighty fabric the construction of which God has committed to our 
 hands, we believe the mightiest fabric to be built in modern times, let us be brave 
 as they were; let us be consecrated to our task as they were; that our country 
 shall be governed completely as in increasing measure it is being governed to-day, 
 by objects of high patriotism and of pure unselfishness, when man shall labor 
 primarily not to make money but men and to make money for the purpose of mak- 
 ing men and not for money's sake; that after generations of that kind of building 
 our country shall be the great inspiration of the world and shall undertake what 
 Rudyard Kipling has told us quite properly is a large share of our burden of the 
 world's civilization, and inspire all humanity with high and lofty principles. God 
 grant that we may, as I believe he will, remember that, acknowledging as we have 
 by our very claims to the rights and privileges which make it possible for us tO' 
 
 23 
 
belong to such leagues as this, that in our day the community has a right to expect 
 more of us than of men who have not the right to make such claims and upon 
 whom such responsibilities do not rest (Applause.) 
 
 Therefore I believe in making these claims, making them reverently, facing these 
 responsibilities and facing them bravely, and endeavoring to build as the old 
 colonists built, not on the one hand with such complete forgetfulness of the serious 
 side of life as was the case too often with the Virginia cavaliers, nor, on the other 
 hand, with the dyspeptic attitude which was said to be characteristic of some other 
 sections of the country (laughter), but striving to maintain that happy medium 
 which is said at all times to be desirable; and bravely, cheerfully and faithfully 
 facing our responsibilities and duties, sure of the guerdon that in this and all 
 future times men will be sure to give us. (Applause.) 
 
 I am reminded, finally, Mr. Governor, of a story that is told of a certain gen- 
 eral from North Carolina by the name of Zebulon Banks, a man who had a reputa- 
 tion for being of all men in the Southern army or perhaps in the Southern States 
 the most proficient user of sulphuric language. He is also said to have had other 
 accomplishments, but that is one of them which was well known. An old body 
 servant of his, who had feared that on certain occasions when the general's language 
 was unusually lurid Beelzebub would appear in person and claim him on the spot, 
 but who, nevertheless, had been largely influenced by the general's rather happy and 
 careless life into living a very careless life himself, finally became converted. The 
 general met him on the road one day and said : "Look here. Bob, what is this I hear? 
 I understand you have got religion." "Yes, Marse Zeb." "I understand, too," added 
 the general, "that you have gone and joined these Presbyterians." "Yes, Marse 
 Zeb." "Well, aren't they the folks who think that only some of the people are 
 elected to salvation, and not the rest of us?" "That's the way they teach," replied 
 Bob. "Now, Bob, you love your old Marse Zeb?" "Yes; Marse Zeb." 'T)on't 
 you believe your old Marse Zeb is elected, too?" Well, the old darky was too 
 newly in the church to be able to respond as his heart would dictate to that ques- 
 tion, but his answer was worthy of the cleverest diplomat He replied : "Marse Zeb, 
 has you ever heam tell on any gemmen gittin' 'lected what wa'nt a candidate?" 
 (Laughter.) Now, Mr. Governor, and gentlemen, when it comes to patriotism of 
 the highest and noblest order, the gentleman from Virginia would join hands with 
 the gentleman from New England and claim to be with him a candidate; and pray 
 God we may all be elected. (Continued applause.) 
 
 The Governor: We have only two more toasts. Our old friend, Mr. Sowden, 
 is unable to be present. "The Navy of the United States" is the next toast which 
 will be responded to by Lieutenant Wood, who was the gallant commander of the 
 "Dupont" during the late war with Spain. Gentlemen, the Navy of the United 
 States is dear to us all, and in Lieutenant Wood we have a most gallant and tried 
 veteran. (Applause.) 
 
 Lieutenant Wood : Your Excellency, and gentlemen of the Society of Colonial 
 Wars: Believe me, I appreciate the honor which you have conferred upon me in 
 inviting me to respond to this toast of the Navy, and I thank you for it. 
 
 We of the Navy look with pride on the record of those who have gone before 
 us and the fame that has been brought to its name by their glorious and thrilling 
 deeds. 
 
 But what a contrast there is between the vessels of peace of Colonial times — 
 the little sloops that came into this harbor of New Amsterdam, and the Mayflower, 
 driven by persecution from the Old World — and the vessels of peace of to-day, the 
 modem battleships. I speak advisedly, for what has greater weight with a people 
 or a nation as an argument for peace than the magnificent vessels of war which 
 
 24 
 
are ready to show their flags, protect their citizens and, if needs be, fight their 
 battles? And, with the changes in ships, great changes have come in the character 
 of their officers and men. Then, the hardy sailor, who knew a few simple rules of 
 navigation, the signs of the weather, learned in battling with the winds, and a 
 knowledge of how to handle his ship ; now the man-of-war's man who has kept pace 
 with the civilization of the day and is prepared to go aboard his ship and know 
 bis turrets and his guns as the sailor of old knew his sails. The old gives place to 
 the new, and the ofiicer of to-day must be more than a sailor man, for while con- 
 versant with the art of seamanship, the handling of his ship under all circumstances, 
 he can to a certain extent disregard the weather part of the problem and pay more 
 attention to the safety and welfare of his personnel, the drilling of his men and the 
 preparations for possible emergencies. 
 
 We of the Navy look with especial interest on the first naval fight which was 
 recorded as having taken place in Long Island Sound near Plum Island in 1636, 
 when a band of Indians after having looted a settler's home was captured by John 
 Gallup and four companions. But perhaps of greater interest was the first naval 
 engagement with a Barbary Rover which took place nine years later, in 1645, lasting 
 all day and even then was undecided. So the Colonists early carried their warfare 
 on the sea, a warfare which was destined to bring glory to those who came after 
 them. They taught their sons bravery and courage, and soon the lesson was 
 learned so well that they were able to show their cousins over the water that they, 
 too, knew the art of war. 
 
 But I need not mention their glorious deeds; they are well known. Those 
 beautiful ships of live-oak carried noble hearts whose memory will live as long as 
 the country does. 
 
 And so I pass on to the war which brought forward Admiral Farragut and a 
 score of others and gave them places in the hearts of their countrymen. That was 
 a period of glorious history to our country, but it was followed by a period of de- 
 pression. The Navy was cut down; ships were dropped from the list and the 
 navy list was gradually diminished, and it seemed as if it was almost at its lowest 
 ebb. Those were indeed dark times for naval officers. 
 
 I well remember in those days I was stationed in the South Pacific. Chili and 
 Peru had had their war and the former nation seemed to think she could whip the 
 world. We were represented by a few old wooden ships. She had modern ships 
 and was especially proud of her beautiful "Esmeralda." After our arrival at the 
 port in which she was stationed, we were soon invited to inspect her, and after- 
 wards her officers returned the visit. They did not say a great deal, but we could 
 see that they thought a great deal of the contrast. We also thought of our country 
 and our navy, and it was especially brought home to us when in the near future 
 the president of a neighboring republic, on being told that an American ship was 
 coming into port to press a claim against his country, laughingly asked "What can 
 she do?" Those were indeed depressing times. But think of our countrymen in 
 foreign lands. They, too, felt the loss of ships, and when the news came that the 
 Charleston was coming out to be the flagship of the Asiatic station, it was for days 
 almost the sole topic of conversation. They were filled with joy that the old 
 Monocacy and Palos were to have some modern ship to cheer up their declining days. 
 And so there were many incidents that you at home never heard of. 
 
 But time presses. The Navy has always done its best, and I feel sure that the 
 Qountry will never have cause to complain at the answer which will be given when 
 the next call is made for its services, whether for peace or for war. We are united 
 and will do our duty in upholding the traditions of the Navy, the honor of our 
 country and the glory of our beautiful flag. (Prolonged applause.) 
 
 25 
 
The Governor: The last regular toast, and I call on the Colonial Warriors to 
 stay and drink that, because it is to "Our Guests." It will be responded to by 
 one of New York's most eloquent and cultivated sons, Mr. McElroy. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. McElroy: Governor de Peyster and Gentlemen: The Governor sent word 
 to me as this feast was beginning that he would like me to talk for three mmutes 
 in response to the toast "Our Guests." I told his messenger that I would com- 
 promise on five minutes. (Laughter.) 
 
 A good friend of ours up in the Mohawk Valley wrote lately to a friend of his : 
 "We are all growing old every day— and some nights." (Laughter.) I thought 
 there was great wisdom in that reservation, for there are nights when we do not 
 grow old— nights that so renew our friendships, which so freshen our sympathies, 
 which so awaken our enthusiasm, that when they are over we are younger than 
 when they began. This is one of those nights. (Applause.) 
 
 Gentlemen of the Society, I hope you have found the guests to be as good as 
 they look. (Laughter.) We have had a most graceful and opulent hospitality dis- 
 pensed to us, that best sort of hospitality, when the main thing is not the feast but 
 the fellowship ; not the touch of glasses but of moral and intellectual elbows. Some 
 one tells of an old darky in the South who was supposed to be nigh unto death. 
 They sent for the doctor and the minister, but the old darky said : "I am going to get 
 better, sure," and they asked him why, and he replied, "I have always noticed that 
 if I live over Washington's birthday I always live through the rest of the year." 
 (Laughter.) Now, the Governor has assured me that no man ever lives through 
 one of these dinners but he lives through the rest of the year, so I thank you and 
 think that we are good risks in the life offices. 
 
 One word more. I think societies such as this do a great practical good. They 
 are not as they are sometimes apprehended, merely sentimental societies. Long- 
 fellow sang : "Let the dead past bury its dead ; act in the living present." Yes, but 
 if one is to act his best in the living present he must take counsel of the past 
 The past is not dead; it is alive forever more, because of the great heroic souls 
 who, being dead, yet speak and yet inspire. The record of the Colonial wars brings 
 us face to face with a courage so dauntless, with a patience so exhaustless, with a 
 self-denial so generous, with a patriotism so flaming, that one rises from reading 
 the record elevated out of the sordid and the selfish into an ampler ether and a 
 diviner air. "Whene'er a noble deed is wrought, whene'er is spoken a noble thought, 
 our hearts in glad surprise to higher levels rise." 
 
 My honored friend, Mr. Mabie, and my friend whose acquaintance I have yet to 
 make, the eloquent divine from Virginia, have had something to say of the great 
 cathedral that is to be in his town and the great cathedrals of the Old World. I 
 remember that Emerson wrote that "The hand that rotmded Peter's dome and 
 groined the halls of sacred Rome builded better than he knew." And it seems to 
 me as I listened to those who were forecasting the future of this great country that 
 it fatigues the imagination to consider what the Republic is destined to be. As I 
 try to comprehend it I recall the great words that Townsend uttered in regard to 
 the Constitution : "The little seed that tyrants laughed at in the dark has now be- 
 come a trunk of spanless growth that shoots on every side a thousand mighty arms 
 and rushes to the sun." Gentlemen, in behalf of the guests, I tender you the assur- 
 ance of our distinguished consideration. (Applause.) 
 
 The Governor: Gentlemen, good night The Society stands adjourned. The 
 tenth annual dinner is over. 
 
 26 
 
Stev^ards 
 
 SYDNEY H. CARNEY. Jr., M.D., Chairman. 
 
 PHILIP RHINELANDER. 
 
 WOODBURY G. LANGDON. 
 
 FREDERIC ASHTON de PEYSTER, Treaturtr. 
 
 GOUVERNEUR M. CARNOCHAN. 
 
 WILLIAM E. HARRIMAN, Stcrttary. 
 
 January lotb, ig02. 
 
 37 
 
Annual Dinners 
 
 PREVIOUSLY HELD AT 
 
 I. DELMONICO'S DEC. 19TH, 189* 
 
 TWENTY-SIXTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 II. WALDORF DEC. 19TH. 1893. 
 
 THIRTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 III. WALDORF FEB. IITH, 1895, 
 
 THIRTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 IV. DELMONICO'S FEB. IITH, 1896. 
 
 FORTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 V. DELMONICO'S JAN. 28TH, 1897 
 
 FORTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 VI. DELMONICO'S JAN. 21ST, 1898. 
 
 FORTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 VII. DELMONICO'S JAN. i6th, 189^ 
 
 FORTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 VIII. DELMONICO'S JAN. 30TH, 1900- 
 
 FORTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 IX. DELMONICO'S JAN. 21ST. igoi 
 
 FORTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 
 X. DELMONICO'S JAN. ioth, 190* 
 
 FORTY-FOURTH ST. AND FIFTH AVE. 
 aS 
 
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