(^ > . " T . . •• '.J-rf > s^.^> V^ .. ' • ^ -^ o « • . •^i** Apvl ^"•%.. ,. ^ Vt" rt"? \ •'i;*'.x7. J^,^^'^^ ??i^?^. THE PILGRIMAGE TO MONTICELLO The Home and Tomb of Thomas Jefferson BY THE JEFFERSON CLUB OF St. Louis, Mo. October lO to 14, 1901. St. Lours: Con. p. Corran Printing Company. mi2. THOMAS JEFFERSON. All hail ! Thrice hail Virginia's stalwart son ! The kingliest man that e'er defied a king 1 Long through the thankful earth thy name shall ring, While swells the breast of sea, or shines the sun Upon the strong free men in whom shall run Red blood of Saxon, Celt, or Frank ! I sing True praise of him, whose words, like David's sling — The scorn of worldly captains — yet shall stun Great trust-kings' greed and gold, and stay their might. So long abused. Fair Freedom's saint ! Thy pen Proclaims Heaven's justice, and the people's right To rule themselves! Just wrath will smite again Lords who enslave ; for, equal in God's sight. We must be equal in the courts of men. — HENNING WEBB PRENTIS. Saint Louis, Dec 13, J90J. TABLE OF CONTENTS. J* J* Page Appendix 67 Brief Statement of the Motives of the Trip, by John T. Fitzsimmons 19 Committ<^e Chairmen 72 Historj- of The JeflFerson Cluli 70 Letter from Hon. F. M. Cockrell 67 Letter from Hon. George O. Vest 68 Letter from Hon. David B. Hill 69 Roster of The Jefferson Clnb Field Band on the Pilgrimage 72 Roster of Pilgrimage to Monticello 73 The Monument 67 The Banquet 35 Address, by Pi'of. WiUiam M. Thornton, LL.D 49 A Few Remarks, by Hon. James T. Lloyd 63 Response to Mr. Boogher's Address, in behalf of the University of Virginia, by Dr. Paul B. Barrinper 36 Short Address, by Rev. James J. Porlong of Kew Madrid, Mo 62 '•The City of St Louis ," by Hon . Rolla Wells ,. 38 "The Doctor in Politics," by Dr. John H. Simon 64 "The Ladies,'' by Hon. Frank H. Farris 57 "The Louisiana Purchase," by Hon. Joseph W. Folk 46 "The Press," by William Marion Reedy 62 "The State of Missouri," by Hon. James A. Reed 40 ' ' The Stjitute of Religious Liberty," by Hon . Cornelius H . Fanntleroy 54 "The University of Virginia,'' by Hon. John H. Boogher 35 The Pilgrimage to Monticello 3 "AV-wlition of the Laws of Entail," by Eon. Chas. F. Cochran 26 Addre.s.s of Wel-'ome. by Hon. Jefferson M. Levy 7 Address upon the Deposit of the Sealed Records, by Henning W. Prentis 15 "Declaration of lndej>endence," by Ex-Gov. Wm. J. Stone 23 "Distinguished Sons of Albemarle," by Hon. R. T. W. Duke 30 "Jefferson and the University of Virginia," by Hon. Frank M. Estes 33 Presentation of Monument, by Hon. M. E. Benton 2(1 R« ^ » The sealed records of the pilgrimage, with a roster of those com- posing the party, copies of the constitution of the United States and of the State of Missouri, copies of the St. Louis daily papers, the constitution and bj--laws of the Jefferson Club, the Jefferson Club's resolutions upon the recent death of President William McKinley were inclosed in a copper box, and with them was stored away in a cavity in the base of the monument, the appended brief statement by Mr. John T. Fitzsimmons of the motives and purposes of the trip, inscribed on parchment : On this 12th d.ay of October, in the year 1901, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundi-ed and twenty-sixth, this monument was set here in Monticello, Va., and dedicated to the memory of Thomas Jefferson, whose home in life and death this beautiful place has been. 20 THE PILGRIMAGE TO MONTICELLO. The "Jefferson Club Association" ot St. Louis, a Democratic political organization, composed of five thousand citizens, anxious to walk in the footsteps of the great American Commoner, reared this rugged block ot Missouri granite in testimony of the devotion of its members to the teach- ings of Thomas Jefferson. Those principles which safely guided this Republic in the trying and dangerous days of its infancy have been assailed in the hour of the nation's triumphant youth; the doctrines of Alexander Hamilton, which were re- jected in Jefferson's time, find advocates in high places. This monument is a protest, designed to be as everlasting as the eternal hills of stone from which it was hewn, against a departure from the rules of national life laid down by Thomas Jefferson. This monument was erected while Theodore Roosevelt occupied the chair of Washington and JeHerson as President of the United States, and whfle the whole nation was mourning the death of President William McKinley, who succumbed to the bullet of an assassin and anarchist, on September 14th last past. The members of the Jefferson Club, in common with all American citizens, deplore his foul assassination. Alexander Monroe Dockery, a Democrat, who has rendered distinguished service to his State and country, is Governor of the State of Missouri, and Rolla Wells, also a Democrat aud a citizen of the highest type, is Mayor of the City of St Louis. Harry B. Hawes is President of the "Jefferson Club Association," and he and those whose names are hereto appended, made the journey from St. Louis to Monticello to place this monument in position. V ¥ ¥ After another appropriate selection by the Jefferson Chib Quar- tette, the gathering moved away from the monument back to the mansion, and there listened to the formal presentation of the monument by Hon. Macaenas E. Benton, Member of Congress from the Fifteenth District of Missouri. Mr. Benton spoke as follows: Ladies and Gentlemen: Thomas Jefferson is the political Colossus of the ages. What Paul the Apostle was to the Christian religion, Jefferson was to individual liberty and local free government. Jefferson's first Inaugural was and is a protest against "Man's Inhumanity to Man." It is yet the pole star of American Democracy. It is an "old, old story," but it is still fresh and sweet to all patriotic Americans. Virginia's "Glory Scroll" is crowned with the names of scholars, states- men, jurists, orators and warriors. At the beginning of the Revolution the "trumpet notes" of her Demosthenes crying for liberty were heard around the world. The Father of his Country has a place in all history above the arrows of envy. Her contribution to American statecraft by the fourth and fifth Presidents sheds wondrous lustre on her glorious record. Her war captains of the sixties are the great soldiers of the century. But of all her sons, Jefferson stands apart. His splendid genius arose to every occasion. His learning was the wonder of his time. HON. MACAENAS K. BEXTON. THE PILGRIMAGE TO MONTICELLO. 21 But, Virginians, lie is not yours alone; he is ours in Missouri; he is America's; he is the world's, wherever honest human endeavor claims its rights. Missouri, the child of Tennessee and Kentucky, and the grandchild of old Virginia, comes with her votive offering to the tomb of Virginia's most remarkable son and deems herself proud to be known as a product of his splendid genius. In the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson carved out the real republic. Mis- souri is the chief sovereignty of that splendid domain made possible by Jefferson's foresight, diplomacy and courage. In these times when so many Americans have forgotten Jefferson's teachings, the Missouri Democracy is devotedly true to his precepts. The virile people of Missouri always, at the ballot box, show how well they have learned the lessons given by this master Democrat, and the most prominent political club in Missouri, and in the West, bears the honored name of Jefferson. One hundred years ago Missouri was French territory. To-day she is the fifth State in the Union and one of the very few with more than one large city. Her wealth is more than a hundred times larger than the price paid by Jefferson for the whole purchase. In the greatest city of the Louisiana Purchase — St. Louis — there is soon to be held a World's E:xhibition in honor of the stupendous results of Jefferson's far-sighted statesmanship, and the Jefferson Club will make strenuous effort to have reproduced as a permanent structure, yonder Pantheon, Jefferson's own creation. We in Missouri honor Jefferson; we admire his genius; we love his courage and avouch his political principles. The first stone erected to Jefferson's memorj' now stands on the campus of i\Iissouri's great State university. The Jefferson Club, for itself and the Missouri Democracy, presents to Virginia another. It is meet that * Missouri, the greatest sovereignty in the Louisiana Purchase, should carve / a stone from her everlasting mountains of granite and plant it in Virginia ( at the resting place of him who made her sovereignty a possibility. From these sunny slopes, overlooking with paternal affection the home of Learning and retreat of Science which its master spirit founded and fos- tered, the Democratic children of this land were first tutored in the wisdom and lore of individual liberty and constitutional law. From the blossoming banks of the Roanoke, where lie the bones of John Randolph, comes the voice of an early pupil of Jefferson. A splendid disciple was the old lion-hearted Ajax of American Democracy whose ashes rest amid the cedars of the Hermitage; and in recent years, we in Missouri have given to the house of the conscript fathers and to the country another worthy exemplar of Jefferson's tenets in the person of our own peerless Vest, lov- ingly claimed as a son by two States. In the history of our country, learned and brave Democrats have everywhere been found who have worshiped with almost idolatrous devotion the basic principles of Jeffersonian Democracy. Here in Virginia the sons of the fathers have been true to the faith "once given to the saints." Accept for old Virginia this modest Missouri monument It is the love offering of Missouri's Democracy at the shrine of her political creator. 22 THE PILGRIMAGE TO MONTICELIvO. According to programme the acceptance of the monument by the State of Virginia was to have been made by Hon. J. Hoge Tyler, Gover- nor of Virginia. The Governor of Virginia, however, was ill at the time and could not appear, but there was a worthy substitute present in -the person of Ex-Governor and General Fitzhugh Lee, who spoke to the audience extemporaneously and in strains of exalted Democratic patriotism. General I,ee, unfortunately, could not furnish to the historian of the pilgrimage even so much as an abstract or synopsis of his address, and it is with the most sincere regret that the recital of the proceedings must be marred by the absence of a report of an utterance that so thrilled and moved his auditors. General Lee was followed by Ex-Governor William J. Stone, of Missouri, in an address upon "The Declaration of Independence." Mr. Stone's address was as follows : Ladies and Gentlemen: Jefferson lived in an age distinguished for many things, but for nothing was it more distinguished than for the num- ber of remarkable men it produced. It was an heroie age — an age in which occurred many of the most important, as well as many of the most tragic, events of history. With the history of that generation are associated some of the most famous names of all time — revered, mighty, immortal names. This is true of both Europe and America, but especially true with respect to the English-speaking peoples of both hemispheres. It was then that those events occurred that led up to the Revolution and precipitated that long death-grapple between the Crown and the Colonies, resulting in the independence of these States and the establishment of the Republic. Of the actors in that momentous period not one bore a more conspicuous and honorable part than Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Contemporary with him, in England, were such men as the Pitts, Fox, Burke, Sheridan, the iron Duko of Wellington, and others almost as illustrious. Besides these men, famous for state-craft and martial prowess, the British Islands in that age were also prolific of men renowned in law, science and letters. And our galaxy of American names, contemporary with Jefferson, is as glorious as that of Britain. Virginia alone could stand her sons before the world and challenge comparison with these great men of England. Washington, Madison, Monroe, Marshall, Randolph, Patrick Henry — what age or country can sur- pass that array of immortals? Add to these the Adamses of Massachusetts, Hamilton, Franklin, Jay and others of equal note from the other States, and there you have a company, made up of sage and orator, statesman and warrior, almost unparalleled in the annals of any nation. Towering high among these, if not above them all, was Thomas Jefferson. For a man to be the peer of any one of these was to make him great, but to stand among them as a leader was to make of him " — A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal To give the world assurance of a man." With me Thomas Jefferson is to politics what the blessed Saviour is to religion — a supreme authority. Taken all in all he is to my mind incom- <;K\. FllAWiiiM l.KK OF VlHfil.VI A. Al* IJHKSSJ .\